"Voter's Remorse"

Have you ever made a large purchase, such as a car or major home appliance, taken it home and then had second thoughts about the purchase and perhaps the price of the purchase? This is commonly known as "buyer's remorse". This is similar to the condition that many Democrats have found themselves in; only it is "voter's remorse". They spent their time, energy, money and the most valuable of all, their vote, on the election of Barack Obama to the White House and the Congressional control by the Democrats and now they find themselves disappointed. This disappointment can be seen in the many recently taken polls measuring Obama's job approval rating and the approval rating for Congress, as they have plummeted since the inauguration. Obama's approval rating is hovering in the upper 40s - lower 50s on average and Congress' approval rating is at an all time low of 11%. This is surprising given the massive wave that swept all of them into power in 2008. Other polls show that the country is fairly equally divided between three political parties; Republicans, Democrats and Independents; yet the approval ratings are nowhere near the same breakdown. Real Clear Politics has the Obama approval rating at 45.5%, a significant decrease from his upper 60s after the inauguration and it continues to decrease. The reasons for this are pretty clear - the conservatives are angry at all the far left policies that Obama and Congress have passed and the liberals are angry that they haven't done enough to create the "change" they were all promised. This is not the position that the incumbent Democrats hoped to find themselves in heading in to the midterm elections. Unlike the 2008 elections when every Democrat wanted to be associated with Obama, many are distancing themselves and their re-election campaigns from the President.

This is obvious in many Congressional districts and can be observed by watching their commercials. In my district, for example, the incumbent is a newly elected Democrat that voted for Pelosi as Speaker and allied himself with Obama in 2008. Now, a look at his campaign commercial shows that he is attempting to fool the voters of his district by distancing himself from Obama and Pelosi regarding major votes, such as healthcare and the stimulus package. I have seen many commercials like his across the country. Democrats are running scared this year and know that they have a real chance of losing control of Congress next term. I personally find this humorous since it is their leadership and radical policy changes that have put them in this position in the first place. For example, the polls all showed that a majority of the country disapproved of the healthcare bill; not to mention the general disagreement expressed at rallies and town hall meetings; but the Democrats ignored the will of the people and pushed it through without even reading it in full. Now they maintain that the wasteful stimulus package actually was successful in ending the recession and saving and/or creating millions of jobs in spite of the general feeling amongst voters that it did not work and certainly did not help as much as it was promised to. The demise of the Democrats this election is inextricably linked to their blatant disregard for the will of the people. Minority Leader of the House John Boehner warned them during the healthcare debate that the will of the people will only be ignored for so long until the people take back the control.

All generic ballots between a Democrat or a Republican show Republicans up by an average of 5.2% and some have them up by 13 or more points. This is a new tidal wave that is sweeping across America and will bring REAL change to Washington. The Republicans' "Pledge To America" may not go far enough for some conservative voters, but it represents a promise of new beginnings for the next Congressional term starting with the repeal of Obamacare. Some say the Republicans have peaked too early and may not be able to sustain this lead until the election, but that was said in the early summer and we are now 3 weeks out from the November midterm election. It appears that they are only gaining ground, not losing it. I definitely hope that is the case. Much will be said by both sides of the aisle in these next few weeks via rallies and campaign commercials and the American public will decide what they want Washington to do for them. The Republicans have made a real pledge to listen to the will of the people and pull this Nation back from the brink. The Democrats simply promise to continue the failed policies of President Obama with the hope that now they will work as promised earlier.

When you have buyer's remorse, it is not often that you will return the item that is causing you discomfort. November 2nd will determine if "voter's remorse" is enough to return this government to the store it came from: the people.

Freedom of Religion?

I have been wanting to write about the Ground Zero mosque controversy for quite some time and I finally have decided to do it. This debate has captured the attention of the Nation and is even being used in political campaigns. For me, the decision is easy. I am of the opinion that although the developers have every RIGHT to build a mosque there, it is not appropriate for them to do so. Islamic history tells us that Muslims like to build mosques at the sites of their greatest victories; IE. Jerusalem and Constantinople. Ground Zero is the site of one of their greatest victories, as perceived by Muslims. For Americans, it is a site of great tragedy and the rebuilding of One World Trade Center represents great triumph. Although 2, 711 Americans lost their lives there, America has risen to the challenge of answering the terrorists and have been striking out against Al Qaeda. For many Americans building a mosque at this site represents a slap in the face to all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and the families and friends that lost a loved one.

President Obama is missing a great opportunity to demonstrate that he is not completely out of step with the American people, as so many have said lately. He should have spoken out against the building of the mosque, but instead he equivocated their project by saying that they have a right to build it there. Then he tried to clarify and messed it up even further. The right thing to say would have been that the right of the developers to build there is not in dispute, rather it is the wisdom and situational awareness that is being questioned. Several polls have been taken lately regarding the President and his job approval rating as well as questions about his religion. Over 24% of the Americans questioned believe that President Obama is a Muslim. His response to this issue has done nothing but solidify this possibility in the minds of the voters. Obama has governed from the far left and has enacted many things that most Americans do not agree with; healthcare, the wasteful stimulus, pushing cap and trade and other pieces of unpopular legislation. This was a clear opportunity to dispel the religion questions by demonstrating his disagreement with the Muslim developers of Ground Zero's choice of location. The mantra for selling real estate has always been "Location, locations, location!" This has never been more true than in the case of the Ground Zero mosque. Many Democrats have spoken out against the building of the mosque and have probably won a few votes from their constituents for their willingness to oppose the President's opinion. This was a smart move made by the Democrats.

Another concerning aspect of the development of the mosque is the funding of its building. It has been discovered that the developer, Sharif el Gamal, has not paid his property taxes for quite some time and only has a few thousand in the bank. This is a far cry from the 100 million dollars that is needed to build this mosque or as they call it, the Cordoba Center. The imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf continues to insist that the center will be a place for multi-cultural worship. This is simply not true. According to the Quran, a Muslim may lie to an infidel if it serves the greater purpose of Islam. Therefore, the imam can say anything to get the "Cordoba Center" built and then change his mind about the multiculturalism aspect of the center. Also, what red blooded American or New Yorker, for that matter, would want to go pray at the site of a great victory for Islamic terrorists. Have we forgotten the images on television and in the newspapers the day after September 11th? The images of Muslims rejoicing in the streets and burning the American flag as the towers fell. These images will forever be ingrained in my memory and although 9-11 was perpetrated by radical Islamists, I feel that the collective rejoicing of the Muslim world truly demonstrates how most Muslims feel about America and the awesome people who call her home. Building this mosque at Ground Zero is not only a very bad idea, but to allow it to be built represents a total lack of regard for the people who call it their resting place. Just think about this: would we ever build a Shinto temple at Pearl Harbor?