CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, May 18, 2009

Better watch out: Here comes the bus!

The Obama Administration is going to need a bus with a higher road clearance. First, Barack H. Obama (BHO) threw his white-racist grand mother under the bus. Then, it was Rev. Wright, his pastor of 20 years, the hate-America preacher who officiated at his wedding. When Michelle Obama polled poorly on the campaign trail, she went under the bus. Not to be seen again until after the election.

Some of BHO’s most ardent supporters wanted our troops out of Iraq yesterday. BHO has thrown them under the bus. Our troops are coming out of Iraq on almost the same time table agreed upon by the previous Administration, and the Iraqi government.

As Gomer Pyle used to say: “Surprise, surprise.” BHO has discovered that millions of taxpayer dollars have turned Club Gitmo into a place even Martha Stewart might approve. However, all that lamb and couscous might be a bit much. But the prayer rugs do have a nice weave.

During the campaign, BHO said the Gitmo detainees (there are no enemy combatants) were entitled to the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens, and he would have the Gitmo detainees brought before U.S. civilian courts. Now, he says the military tribunals set up by his predecessor are just fine.

Earlier, voters were divided on whether to close Club Gitmo or not. But once those who wanted Gitmo closed realized that the detainees might come to this country and be released by civilian judges, the latest Rasmussen poll shows that 75-percent do not want Club Gitmo alumni released in this country. A classic case of NIMBY – not in my backyard. More tellingly, ‘BHO’s recent budget submission did not ask Congress for any funds to close down Club Gitmo.

BHO’s supporters wanted him to bring criminal charges against the CIA operators who waterboarded Khalid Sheik Muhammad (KSM), the man who planned the 9/11 attacks. Instead, BHO went over to CIA headquarters to praise its employees. BHO says there is no need for a special prosecutor or a commission on the lines of the 9-11 commission to delve into the matter. BHO says the Justice Department lawyers who wrote the memos saying waterboarding was not torture will not be prosecuted.

BHO said he would release photographs showing examples of CIA “enhanced interrogation techniques.” In liberal-speak, that means “torture.” Now, if you want to see the photos, you have to look way back under the bus.

When House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said she was never briefed by the CIA on enhanced interrogation techniques (to include waterboarding), BHO authorized Leon Panneta, his hand-picked CIA director, to deny Speaker Pelosi’s version of events. Panneta is just back from throwing the Israelis under the bus by telling them that if Iran develops or obtains nuclear weapons, then Israel will have to go it alone.

Most recently thrown under BHO’s bus are those who invested their savings in GM and Chrysler. But it is not just “money people.” Also thrown under the bus are ordinary folks whose 401K and other pension plans have been investing in GM or Chrysler, or both.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is now at the wheel. BHO has given the controlling interest of GM and Chrysler to the UAW. With the UAW driving, what are the chances that GM and Chrysler can solve their basic problems of wages and benefits being paid to auto workers and retired auto workers that are already higher than the wages and benefits received by most of the taxpayers who will now have to make sure those auto workers’ wages and benefits get paid?

To paraphrase the late Hollywood star, Bette Davis: Better fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy four years.”

William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist and a featured commentator for USA Today, studied at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Dr. Hamilton, a former intelligence officer, is a member of the Association For Intelligence Officers (AFIO).

©2009. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com