BARNEY SMITH’S FATUOUS POLITICAL FOLDEROL

[a Sbynews exclusive report]


This is the last report on the Democratic National Convention by a
disillusioned delegate.


"Yesterday (Thursday) the Denver airport was swarming with delegates – mainly
those who came here committed to Hillary – leaving with unhappy faces and plans
to hit the ground running to promote John McCain. They are the core of those so-
called PUMA’s. Unable to reschedule my flight, I remained here and experienced
the Obama coronation up close and personal. The spectacular that took place at
Invesco Field was mind altering in my case, but first the facts.

The run-up to the main event featured a group of “ordinary people” who were
anything but that in their grievances against the Republican Party and George
Bush. Several saw themselves as victims of his administration because of
matters that are bipartisan and involve issues that predate his presidency. All
obviously had been well rehearsed and professionally “prepped” for their 15
minutes of fame, which likely will be longer for Mr. Barney Smith of Indiana
because of his quip that it is more important and better to bestow governmental
largess on him, stating his name again, rather than on Smith Barney. I laughed
at that one, too, but doubt that he coined it.

This Hoosier hotshot said that he had lost his job when the RCA plant
(actually, Mr. Smith, it was a “Thomson RCA” facility at the time) in his
hometown, Marion, closed in 2004 and the jobs were “shipped overseas,”
suggesting that Bush and the Republicans were to blame for that. He simply and
how conveniently overlooked the reason why that happened and that manufacturing
plants in America (and several others in Marion, Indiana) have been closing and
jobs being relocated elsewhere in the world for several decades, including
during the Clinton Administration. The prime reason is the high labor and other
costs resulting from the wage level and benefits for employees as well as
regulatory matters that have been promoted by the Democrat Party and its core
union-based members for many years.

The Obama oration was bombastic and more or less predictable but for his
strident posturing. In that open stadium setting, and due in part to the stage
design, it seemed eerily like those performances by Adolph Hitler at the Sports
Palace in Berlin that sometimes appear on the History Channel. I heard someone
say that the spectacle made her recall the extravaganzas of Juan and Eva Peron.
In either case, there’s a very disturbing similarity in tone and substance.

Obama’s presentation was businesslike and clearly articulated, but otherwise
lacking in merit beyond the ordinary. About half of it was a personal attack on
McCain that was absurd in some respects. Most of the rest was a general
statement of his plan for his potential presidency that consisted of broad
sketched promises and goals that would cost huge amounts. And, of course, the
promise to cut taxes for almost everyone while doing universal health care
and “first-class” college education for all.


The man is dangerously divisive. His promise to cure all ills and provide
everything to everyone is impossible to perform, even with the massive taxes
that will surely occur if he is elected. And, Mr. Smith, that will lead to no
manufacturing jobs in Marion, Indiana, and elsewhere in the United States. His
presidency, if it occurs, could result in such widespread dissatisfaction as to
cause civil disobedience or worse, and would lead to much greater class
conflict in any event.

Obama is highly skilled and adept at fomenting friction between different
socioeconomic strata. He’s an Ivy League educated rabble-rouser cut in the same
mold as Bill Clinton, and possibly a better Pied Piper than he was at his
prime. Mr. Obama has already demonstrated remarkable talent to vilify his
opponents for every social ill and shortcoming. His ability to attract those
who believe that they have been wrongly treated or downtrodden – especially
persons who don’t understand or cannot accept the reality of their
circumstances – is not unlike the chemistry that propelled Hitler and Mussolini
onto the World Stage.

That’s why, when I return home next week, I’ll work to organize a Democrats for
McCain group. Well, just heard the boarding call for my flight – so long,
Denver, it’s been a high level (topographically, at least) blast, but the
fallout could be devastating."