To be honest, I wasn't until yesterday when I read a great article on National Review about Obama and his pal, the U.N.
Obama being a huge fan of the United Nations, it's only to be expected he will be strongly encouraged to pursue their unique brand of "dialogue" with terrorist nations. It was then that I remembered that what I love the most about American politics: my Constitutional right to watch what's going on and voice my opinion about it all.
So, what do we need to keep a close watch on in the first term of Mr. Obama? Here are a few tips:
1. The so-called Fairness Doctrine.
What will be affected by it's implementation? Conservative talk radio, of course, as well as Conservative news websites that do not have enough "Democratic" balance in their repoting. When it was first brought to Congressional vote - in 1993!- the Fairness Doctrine worked against Conservative radio programs by essentially using scare tactics; when frightened by the possibility of losing sponsorship or licensing because of "unbalanced" coverage of major events, many stations opted not to cover controversial events at all. But, ironically, the more "fair" news and radio programs were not covering these events either!
The same is true today; which stations covered the Bill Ayers connection to Obama, the Barney Frank shirking of responsibility for the mortgage mess, or the Democrat's law suit against Obama involving U.S. citizenship proof? "Unfair" conservative talk radio and Fox news. And which stations did not even report on these stories, giving Obama a free pass on these erratic behaviors and associations? MSNBC, ABC, CNN, NBC; the "fair" ones.
Congress will most likely make a major push to resurrect this legislation as soon as possible. Be prepared to write to your congressmen and women in opposition, unless of course you've enjoyed the biased coverage of the election!
2. Retreat from Iraq.
Obama supported the war. Then he opposed it. Then he supported the surge. Later, when it was working the best, he denied its effectiveness. Toward the end of the campaigns, he was just plain vague. You can expect the same kind of waffling when determining an "exit strategy."
A few things to remember: the surge IS working. Iraqis desirous of the freedom they have tasted a little of are committed to working with American troops to succeed in their democracy. They even voted in their first ever democratic election.
Salon.com joked in April that Obama's position on the Iraq war is: "The factions in Iraq that show little sign of reconciling five years into the war will somehow reconcile if lots of U.S. troops leave. In other words, start pulling out now -- the Iraqis won't step up until we do, and we can no longer afford to stay."
Funny, sort of... except that Obama will be in charge of this war come January. And with his proposed government expansion program, we really won't have the money to support the troops in Iraq. But, is it realistic to think that suddenly, under their own supervision, Iraq factions will choose to get along?
Salon concluded: "They [Obama and Clinton] consistently vow to withdraw U.S. troops - with little discussion about exactly what would be an acceptable outcome in Iraq or how it would be achieved." So, even if you're growing weary of talking about it, keep your eye on Iraq and what's working there. The war is a financial burdon, but is fighting it now any less important than it was when we went in the first place?
3. Israel and the blame game
The U.N. favors giving most of the Strip to Palestine. They strongly oppose the state of Israel's counters against outside forces that seek to demolish it. What can we expect with an Obama presidency? The blame placed squarely on Israel once and for all, in hopes that will solve all the problems they're perceived to cause.
Oddly enough, the U.N. website itself provides a glimpse at its favorable leanings toward Palestine over Israel; just check out their "Question of Palestine" section and, specifically, their chronology of events surrounding the "question." You'll notice a trend in their reports: Palestineans were just minding their business when Israeli soldiers forcibly arrested or attacked them for no good reason. Mean old Israel.
Now, I'm not saying that you should blindly support Israel and think they can do no wrong, either. But, if this issue has particular significance to you, keep yourself informed on what both sides- Palestinean and Israeli- are doing.
4. The mainstream media
Lastly, the question is "how am I to be best informed" is an issue in and of itself. Remember those liberally-slanted news stations mentioned previously (ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC)? Chances are they won't be making a return to balanced, objective reporting any time soon, if ever. They have a conflict of interest now: how do we point out any flaws in Obama's tactics when it was our biased coverage that helped him into office?
My advice is the same to you now as it was to McCain during the campaign: ignore these "news" stations. Accept that, if you are on the conservative side, they are not going to report without skewing the facts such that liberal policy ends up on top. If you can't beat 'em, leave 'em.
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