A Pundit Pete Piece of History from 2008

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PPPS (Denver) With the fate of our economy hanging on debt limit negotiations in Washington, DC, we thought it might be instructive to look back at Pundit Pete's first opinion piece, written on the eve of the 2008 elections. To Pete's great astonishment, this piece was rejected when originally submitted to several newspapers and media outlets. But out of the ashes of that initial disappointment rose the Pundit Pete Press Service, to become the media giant that it is today. We offer this bit of history to our loyal readers -- Pundit Pete's first opinion piece printed here for the first time.

Thoughts on the Coronation 

by Pundit Pete, October 24, 2008, Littleton, Colorado

Hey folks, let's take a moment away from our euphoria over the upcoming historic election (or has it already happened? It's hard to tell).

With an Obama win, these are the folks who will be in charge of our country:
 
1) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whose leadership in a crisis consists of rants against the opposition party bordering on "hate speech", followed by demonstrations of joy when announcing new records in bailout and earmark spending.

2)  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who with each speech seems intent on taking "whining" to a new level, interrupted only by pronouncements of defeat in Iraq.

3) The Mainstream Media, whose fall from the high standards of journalism is now complete, as evidenced by the irrational attacks on Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber, the yawning responses to Joe the Senator's rhetorical embellishments; and a total lack of curiosity about domestic terrorists, pastoral bigots, professional purveyors of voter fraud, or corrupt politicians, all found paling around with a certain Senator from the South Side.

At the same time, the media has been demonstrating a remarkable curiosity about book banning, the Bush Doctrine, women's clothing, pregnant teens, the definition of "paling around", and the life of a citizen who asked a question of the Messiah.

All of this curious media behavior, of course, is small stuff when weighed against the backdrop of all the Progressive pundits, editorial writers, and editorializing reporters at media outlets and newspapers across this nation who have been actively trying to influence an election. (ACORN should be taking notes. Perhaps they will be submitting a few earmarks to Congress to establish a new media division.)

A new media mantra should be enshrined in stone somewhere in New York or Washington to read: "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak Evil Only of Republicans."

4) Finally, we have Barack Obama, the Messiah, the One, the man with the golden voice, whose actual accomplishments consist of running for office, setting records for missed votes, and a period of educational and community organizing exploits for which we have little or no paper trail.

Apparently, the only documented record of administrative accomplishment we have for Mr. Obama concerns his service as Chairman of the Board for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education grant organization which funded programs in the Chicago schools. After five years and from $50 to $150 million spent under Mr. Obama's direction, the organization's own 2003 report concluded that the programs "had little impact on student outcomes" and "little evidence of a school improvement effect."

Obama's campaign web site states the he "has been a leader on educational issues throughout his career", yet makes no mention of the Annenberg Challenge. Perhaps fellow board member William Ayers isn't the only reason why Barrack would prefer we overlook that part of his resume.


Now I like Barrack Obama. I'd love to sit down and have a beer with him, or better yet, go on a trip with him to Kenya or Europe, where he is much admired.

But, is this the guy we want to defend our country, to improve education (or anything else), and to be put in charge of billions (trillions?) of our tax dollars, along with Nancy and Harry and our friends in the media?

I don't think so!

Good government operates with checks and balances. I can't think of two better checks on the excesses of power than John McCain and Sarah Palin.