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Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
VDH pens the latest conservative prediction that the American electorate is finally on the verge of seeing through the Barack Obama facade.

Is he right? Not likely.

His thoughtful analysis is worth reading (and mostly correct in terms of substantive objections to the ill-conceived Obama policy agenda). However, his mistake--and it is the same fatal mistake that most conservative analysts make in these pieces--lies in his assumption that the public will see the folly of the President's plan in advance of its implementation.

This is mostly wishful thinking.

Dramatic and overwhelming buyer's remorse is not the fashion in which political tides turn in America. The People are invested in this president and are determined to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Public is unlikely to wake up one day soon and "come to their senses."

Why? A critical mass of Americans do not follow national politics and policy regularly. Voters have made their big decision. They are now otherwise occupied, perhaps glancing at Washington intermittently while waiting optimistically for good things to happen. Obama enjoys a friendly media and a relatively unengaged (and hopeful) citizenry. How would a significant majority gather enough information to experience a collective epiphany in the near term?

Yes. This radical change in direction most likely will be disastrous--but not enough voters are going to believe it until the disasters are actually upon us.

Therefore, the fall of Obama is not mere months away. The slow reappraisal of this President is actually years and years in the future. For that reason, I continue to counsel patience and long-term planning. America will find itself in desperate need of principled conservatism at the conclusion of this sanguine interlude. We need to be ready and credible.

Just for kicks (and fodder for a future post):

When are we actually viable again?

My best guess is 2014.
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
For several days I have struggled to find the time to write a defense of Dick Cheney as a principled American statesman exercising his right to publicly disagree with the government without being nearly as disagreeable as so many of his opponents over the years. You think Cheney is dead wrong? God Bless America! Let the debate begin.

Today Carl Cannon offers this MUST READ explanation of Cheney's character, his motivations, and his sacred right to speak freely.

From Cannon:

[W]e...do damage to ourselves when we substitute political debate with name-calling and ad-hominem attacks. I think Dick Cheney is wrong on important matters. I also think he is a patriot. And I hate to think that we have lost the ability to hold two such opinions in our heads at one time.

Excellent. Read the whole thing. The essay offers some much-needed perspective to the mob-driven anti-Cheney orgy.

One more essential thought: if not for Dick Cheney, this necessary conversation regarding the tensions between liberty and power (as well as national security and national morality) would be mostly one-sided and/or completely outside the public consciousness.