Hawkeye Review

Mr. President, You're out of sync!

Could this possibly get any worse?  For all the "Bush-ism's" complete with grammatical fumbles, you knew George W. Bush was being himself.  Now, President Obama just violated the very trust he had worked so hard to earn with college students at the University of Michigan in his speech yesterday.  Obama Caught Lip-Syncing Speech.

The onion network picks up on the drama and takes a little "license" as they finish out the video.

The experts are befuddled and wonder: What could possibly come next?

This is why Culver will lose...

 

We knew things were dismal at the Culver campaign but this clip shows a virtual free fall by a sitting Governor.  It's one thing to read the transcript, the words themselves offer no plan, no positive direction and nothing that would motivate an Iowa voter to support Culver.  The most instructive lesson from this video is the body language.  Look into Chet's eyes.  He is clearly lost.  I think we're now to the point where..."All the king's horses and the the king's men, can't put 'Chester Dumpty' back together again."

Signs of the times...

This sign now looks down on Wisconsin motorists as they commute to work.  Small business owners nationwide have expressed disgust and contempt for the reckless spending and punishing regulations added to the daily burdens faced by small business owners.

Even closer to home.  That's downtown Cedar Rapids in the background and this sign just popped up today along 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street S.W. (Hat tip to Bob "Billboard Bob" Klaus for the picture)

It's obvious the strain of the Obama administration is weighing heavily on Democrats.  There were rumors circulating this past weekend that longtime Democrat Senators Evan Bayh (Indiana) and Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)would retire instead of running for election.  The front page of the Drudgereport has the headline, "Bayh, Bayh" and the embattled Obama administration continues to lose ground in both Washington D.C. and main street USA.

President Obama: Stop Campaigning and Start Governing

Someday in a store near you, I won't be surprised if we can buy our own Barack Obama doll where you pull the string in his back and out come the words, "It's all George Bush's fault."

Just for the sake of argument today, let's accept that premise.  George W. Bush had governed us into the housing meltdown, the banking crisis, massive unemployment and two un-winnable wars overseas. 

We have one irreconcilable problem here.  In the months and days before the near meltdown of the financial markets, did then candidate Barack Obama identify any of these major issues as problematic to the health, wealth and long term stability of our country?  No.

Let me be clear: NO HE DID NOT.

Before the election, the Obama campaign dispensed it's message through the "Organizing for America" platform.  House parties were conducted to rally voters and the key issues were free health care for 30 million Americans, bringing transparency and ethics back to our government and don't forget the Obama "green" house parties to save our country from foreign oil by installing new light bulbs. (Yes, in the process of saving our country that evening, you were also to raise $2000 for the campaign checking account).  You campaigned against a war that your own Vice President now considers one of your administrations's greatest achievements.

Fact Check WebSite for all issues here.  Hat tip to my faithful reader "Smurfy."

To my point: The key reason the Obama administration is severely failing our country is their inability to govern based on "Political Reality" as opposed to "Political Promises."

Exhibit A is the President's Annual Economic Report.  My eyes still hurt from pouring through the health care bills this last summer but if you're a glutton for punishment, here's another 462 pages to dive into.

Yes, to save you the pain, I'll simply refer to you a powerful example found on page 40 in the report:

Slowing the growth rate of health care costs will have benefits throughout the economy: it will raise the standards of living for families, help reduce the Federal budget deficit relative to what it otherwise would be, benefit state and local governments and encourage job growth and improved macroeconomic performance.

Did you get that?  To paraphrase; the health care bill will remedy all that ills our country, save money and create jobs.  Remember the soaring campaign rhetoric?  The promises. The transparency?

The critical thinking skills necessary to repair all levels of government is absent from this report.  The paradigms contained within this document are the very reason Barack Obama will serve one term as President of the United States.

Even seasoned analysts are starting to agree, it's almost too late for a game change and Obama didn't moderate and move to the center as Bill Clinton did so deftly back in the 90's.  Obama fought back and so will the electorate.  He'll lose because he's too proud to listen to the common sense members of his own party but more importantly, his own country.

Trying to Channel Ronald Reagan, Obama Sounded More Like Al Capone.

Good morning "HR" readers...

Of course you would expect partisan rhetoric from the publisher of a conservative web site. Yet I find myself somewhat stunned this morning after gaging the public and political response from last night's SOTU address.

You see, it's the Democrats who are lashing back at their own party, platform and yes, President.

Bill Pascrell - (D) New Jersey had already called his own party "arrogant" long before he heard the speech and serves as the lone voice, crying out from the Democratic wilderness for his party to sit up and take notice of what just transpired in Massachusetts. 

Obama's speech was not well crafted and quite frankly, it sounded more like a lecture, filled with soaring platitudes of campaign rhetoric and contradictions.  It was not Presidential.  Confronting the Supreme Court Justices, the Chiefs of Staff and Republican leaders was a serious breach of protocol.  Of course, there was virtually no reaction to this, that's because the victims of Obama's insults did practice protocol, remembering happier days when the chamber was filled with those who still commanded the respect of the American people.  But don't think for a moment these powerful institutions will simply forget this incident.

Majoring in Minor Things:

No, you won't see me trash Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid because the camera caught him trying to hold back a massive yawn during the the address last night, (he lost the battle, by the way).  There's always someone in the press corps who likes to point out the personal faux pas and thankfully, there was no dramatic "liar" moment from the floor.

What I will do is highlight Secretary Janet "Nap"olitano's new nickname as she was caught asleep during the speech.  Quite frankly, it's the first time I've agreed with her on anything related to our President! Actually, this imagery is quite appropriate, her entire department has been asleep at the wheel, allowing terrorists to board planes with no passport or luggage, ticket paid for with cash....what a shame.

While Rahm adores, Janet snores!

President Obama missed an opportunity last night.  I sense more anger percolating from public sentiment each day and his combative tone will serve only to fracture a political process that is only a few bills away from a total "meltdown."

Ronald Reagan inspired us to become part of a better country.  Those were the days.  Now, Obama sounds more like Al Capone, the consummate Chicago politician who "tells us" what we're going to do and moreover...that "we're going to like it!"  (Or else).
 

Transcript: Governor Culver's Condition of the State Speech

Speaker Murphy, Leader McCarthy; President Kibbe, Leader Gronstal; Leaders Paulsen and McKinley, and Members of the General Assembly – thank you for this opportunity to address this joint session of the Legislature.

I’m glad to be with you this morning for this extraordinary 80-day session. There’s much to do, and no time to waste.

We face some real challenges. Ones we did not create, but ones we will overcome.

The Governor Who Forgot How To Coach...

Where were you last Saturday night, say around 9 p.m?  Unless you were sleeping, you were probably one of about 3 million other Iowans who heard the collective "gasp/roar" in the closing two seconds of the Iowa / Michigan State game.

Here's some head scratching math that will stop you in your tracks today...

Iowa Governor Chet Culver leads a team of bureaucrats with a budget nearing $6 Billion dollars and earns $130,000 dollars per year. (I'm being generous folks, I just gave him a 10% raise) Working about 50 weeks per year at 40 hours per week, that computes to $65 per hour.  Sure, throw in free housing and a few perks, but all in all, we're not borrowing any money to pay the Governor.

It's no secret that Kirk Ferentz earns $3.02 million dollars per year and if you break this down to the bare bones, that's $250,000 per hour for each of 12 regular season games, each lasting 60 minutes as the scoreboard clock goes.  (Stay with me here)

Now it's fair to say there's a lot of extra time that goes into each of their jobs respectively.  Leadership is a quality that must exist for any coach to survive, much less to thrive and succeed.  When you listened to the players interviewed after the game Saturday night, there was a unanimous sense of "team" articulated and a sense of we "play for the coach."

For all the hours spent governing the state each year, it might be fair to compare the 12 hours of Hawkeye football to the 12 hours the legislature spent voting on our budget in the overnight hours last spring.  Where was the coach? 

More importantly, where was the leadership?

Do you sense Gronstal and Murphy as "team players?"  Listen to them today.  Is there team unity?  Is there a united vision and a game plan for the Hawkeye state?  Clearly there is not.

After losing a football game, (I know, it's been awhile Hawkeye fans) did you ever hear coach Ferentz sit down for the post game press conference and spew out a diatribe of excuses?  It's too bad we couldn't have a Governor/coach that could stand up to the Iowans he serves and give us a straight story.

Certainly a lot of irony in play these days.  One coach is now credited for capturing the imagination of our state, not counting the innumerable fans around the country and is credited for great leadership while another coach has captured the "ire" of our state for a clear failure to lead his team and "score points" for our states economy and play "defense" for the hard working tax payers.

One coach uses X's and O's while the other uses surpluses and deficits.  When you compare their records, you have to go back a long ways to find a loss and with the other coach you have to go back even further to find a single win.

It's too bad for our state that we are led by a leader who forgot how to coach. 

Next season, I predict Iowans will show up in record numbers to vote for a new coach.

Iowa can't afford to continue this losing streak.

Culver's Smoking Gun...

Now it's all starting to make sense...

Our Governor cancels all public appearances and disappears to Washington D.C. under the guise of defending the interests of "flood victims" and returns home with some very "delayed" flood aid as he once again postures his role as the "champion of flood recovery." (Story for another day)

It's more likely the "adults in the DNC" summoned Culver to DC on the eve of the release of a "Final Report" by the US Election Assistance Commission which includes a lengthy and detailed audit by Clifton Gunderson LLP.  The entire read is available here.  (This will make you sick to your stomach)

The smoking gun reveals what many will consider the origin of Governor Culver's incompetence to manage anything larger than an inter-department budget as evidenced by the results of this audit and the terrible train-wreck that's about to occur in our state finances with a $1 Billion dollar shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year.

Below, I have included some excerpts from this report:

In its audit of the SOS, Clifton Gunderson concluded that the SOS did not account for and expend HAVA funds in accordance with the HAVA requirements or comply with the financial management requirements established by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

There were errors in computing interest on state matching funds. 

Interest on HAVA funds on deposit at the counties was not deposited for the credit of HAVA.  Equipment inventories at the sampled counties did not include required information or include all HAVA equipment acquired. 

Capital improvements paid from HAVA funds were not approved by the EAC. 

There was a lack of competitive bidding for procurements and services. 

HAVA funds were used for promotional activities, unrelated to educating voters. 

HAVA funds were used for radio commercials that did not provide voter education. 

Supporting documentation was not provided to support personnel charges to HAVA. 

An equipment lease payment was made with HAVA funds for which no tangible benefit was received. There were errors in the financial reports filed with the EAC.

 

We concluded that the SOS did not account for and expend HAVA funds in accordance with the requirements mentioned above. Exceptions identified include state’s failure to timely deposit the remainder of state matching funds and the related interest earnings owed into the election fund; interest earnings due from counties from delays in the use of HAVA funds; non-compliant property inventories; the questionable use of sole source procurements; questioned costs for voter outreach; unsupported personnel charges; a payment for which no goods were received; and accounting and reporting errors. The SOS is working to resolve the exceptions described further below:

 

 

VIII. Personnel Costs

The SOS did not complete periodic certifications for employees that worked full-time or solely on HAVA activities. During the audit period, $885,573 for salaries and benefits was charged to the HAVA program. Although the employees and their supervisors signed bi-weekly time sheets documenting hours worked, they contained no description of what work the employees performed. Each time sheet indicated the number of hours worked, overtime hours, leave taken, and holidays, but they did not indicate that any of the work was for HAVA-related activities. We asked for position descriptions of the employees and based on our review, determined that they were assigned to HAVA-related activities, but the SOS had no after-the-fact certifications that they actually worked on the HAVA-related activities.

 

Recommendation:

We recommend that the Iowa SOS either return the questioned costs of $885,573 or resolve with the EAC the appropriate corrective action regarding the lack of periodic certification.

 

This is where I take great personal offense, realizing that Culver has been spending countless hours working the phones in his campaign office raising cash for his re-election bid.  Instead, Culver should have been burning the midnight oil in order to get his administrations's arms around the fiscal mess that is emerging before our very eyes.

"Where there's smoke...there's fire!"

I'll go on the record here and now that Governor Culver should pay restitution to the state of Iowa for these flagrant errors from his own campaign account.  The people's trust has once again been violated and in this specific case, our Governor should be held to account for the gross neglect and mismanagement during his tenure as Secretary of State.

 

Inside the beltway: The Rest of the Story...

As President Obama continues to perform his duties well below expectations, I had wondered if this political charade could get any worse.  Well this story confirms that notion and I can't help but to shake my head in disbelief.

As I've written before, Barack Obama ran one of the best campaign organizations ever to exist at the Presidential level.  Great strategic planning, sound message discipline and a formidable army of ground troops at the grass-roots level to mobilize votes.

 Now Obama competes with the failed legacy of Jimmy Carter...

When Presidents Obama and Clinton met for a 90 minute intimate lunch last week at a posh Greenwich Village restaurant, many political observers credited Obama for his willingness to "consult" with former President Clinton on the key issues of the day, health care reform, Afghanistan/Iraq and the economy.

Members of the Democrat elite all drew great comfort sensing a reconciliation between two political rivals that had become heated in recent months.

Truth be told:  Insiders have leaked the topic of discussion and this really fires me up today. Instead of consulting on the high stakes crisis that Obama has governed himself/and us into over these many months...

 Obama was consulting Bill Clinton on the topic of going after his enemies!

Now we learn there is an enemies list. (Top 20) and the driving force behind this wasn't who you might suspect. (Of course, we expect Rahm Emanuel to champion dirty political tricks) Believe it or not, it was first lady Michelle Obama who badgered Barack into fighting back!

Bill Clinton is now counseling Obama on taking on his fiercest critics and then taking them down one by one.

Now I want to be clear on this:  I don't find the Globe to be a reliable front line source of journalistic integrity.  Yet, I can't help but to "buy-in" on this exclusive as Obama has proven himself ill-suited to handle political criticism.

Will Michelle Obama now imitate the politcal antics of first lady Hillary Clinton?

I suggest you simply put this on the back burner and continue to watch for further evidence that members of this now famous "enemies list" are targeted by agencies of the US government.  Certainly the IRS comes to mind, but don't forget free speech and talk radio may come under attack too.

Here's the bottom line.  I'll continue to watch for validation of this story and if indeed this is true, it is a damning revelation that proves President Obama is unfit to govern.  He spends his precious time meeting a former President to discuss a political enemies list while the war, economy and health care crisis require his urgent, day to day hands-on attention.

I suspect it's now clear.  This President is over his head.  Clearly, we've lost hope.  Now it's time for change.  This change is enacted peacefully by the power of your vote.

Mr. President...We don't trust you!

Remember the high arching campaign rhetoric?  The promises, the indignation from then candidate Obama?

Reality is all together different.  Watch for yourself.

The reality compared to the rhetoric is devastating to the American voter.

President Obama, we have learned your game.  Certainly you are a gifted individual and you use these gifts in a manner that is deceptive, yet damaging to our republic.

Here's the bottom line:

It's not what you say...it's what you do.

Take note America.  We elected a President...not a king.