The president's newest power player

At a recent speech in Peoria, Joe Biden said something very revealing.

During the annual Partners in Peace Celebration on Tuesday, Biden said [Transportation Secretary Ray] LaHood was Barack Obama's first choice for an appointment out of all the Cabinet positions he needed to fill.

"I remember my saying, 'Isn't he Republican?'" Biden said. "Which goes to show you, this is an all-Illinois team."

"He is the star of the Cabinet and he is the reason, he is the reason more than anyone else, why this Recovery Act is actually working, saving people's jobs, rebuilding infrastructure," Biden said. "He's a hands-on guy. There isn't anything, any detail, too small to attend to. And that's the way it gets done.

BIden has been known to exaggerate, but on this he's completely accurate. Ray LaHood's name seems everywhere lately. Most recently, he led the government's crusade against Toyota for allegedly dangerous defects and worked with the EPA to issue new greenhouse gas emission standards for cars. Prior to LaHood, the Department of Transportation was viewed as relatively unimportant, especially compared to the Pentagon or State Department. But this administration has made going green one of its top priorities, and that means getting people out of their cars. As LaHood forthrightly said of his collaboration with the EPA, "It is a way to coerce people out of their cars."

LaHood is a Republican, as Obama never tires of mentioning, but a very moderate one. A former congressman from Illinois, he refused to support George W. Bush's tax cuts and led a crusade against the death penalty. He also gained a reputation as one of the worst porkers and patronage men in Congress. The Club for Growth gave him a 0% rating for 2007 and Citizens Against Government Waste awarded him an 11% rating. Tellingly, LaHood was one of three congressional Republican candidates who didn't sign the Contract for America in 1994, one of the main designs of which was to curb excessive spending in government.

This wasteful fiscal liberal is now presiding over stimulus grants, which he's awarding largely to clean energy projects and bike paths. There's a reason the Amtrak-loving Biden praised LaHood so lavishly. LaHood's aim has been to promote and fund public transportation, particularly rail projects, at the expense of private car ownership. His campaign against Toyota led Rush Limbaugh to remark that LaHood was behaving like "one of the brand managers" for GM, which is now owned by the government.

Indeed, in a cabinet dominated by big names like Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner, LaHood has probably been the biggest showboater. He's also been one of the most dangerous radicals.

White House aides tried to stop ObamaCare

Barack Obama has previously declared himself a "pragmatist" rather than an "ideologue" and insisted that he listens to all points of view. Not so, according to a recent White House expose by Bloomberg. According to the article, several of Obama's closest advisors tried to talk him down from his health care dreams, worrying about the practical and electoral consequences. The president, a profile in stubbornness, refused to listen.

-- Rahm Emanuel, the most moderate of Obama's advisors, "suggested the president consider a scaled-back version and declare victory" after Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts. Obama refused. Earlier on, in a meeting shortly after Inauguration Day, Emanuel also warned the president about taking on health care reform.

-- Joe Biden is described as being "pessimistic" about health care reform from the very beginning. At the post-Inauguration Day meeting, Biden "said Americans didn’t care enough about health-care coverage to make it a priority".

-- David Axelrod "voiced caution" at the same meeting. Later on in the debate, he confronted the president and explained, "The polls are difficult and there’s a lot of grousing on the Hill about it, and this is going to cost a lot politically in the short run." Obama still refused to back down.

-- Even Ezekiel Emanuel, a rationing-obsessed budget advisor to the president, was skeptical. After Scott Brown emerged victorious in Massachusetts, he wrote in an e-mail that health care reform was "dead...F---ing dead."

In the end, Obama ignored all of them, along with countless Democrat legislators and a majority of the American people. He did have one key ally though. Politico has reported that the president was pushed hard by Nancy Pelosi to ignore Emanuel's concerns and still pass the bill. Ultimately he sided with her over virtually everyone else.

Clash between two of Obama's czars

One of the downsides about appointing unelected and unaccountable officials is there's usually no one to reign them in. As Obama's treatment of Israel creates tremors throughout his administration, Central Region Czar Dennis Ross and Mideast Peace Czar George Mitchell are having at it.

Sources say within the inter-agency process, White House Middle East strategist Dennis Ross is staking out a position that Washington needs to be sensitive to Netanyahu’s domestic political constraints including over the issue of building in East Jerusalem in order to not raise new Arab demands, while other officials including some aligned with Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell are arguing Washington needs to hold firm in pressing Netanyahu for written commitments to avoid provocations that imperil Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to preserve the Obama administration's credibility.

Ross is perhaps Obama's sanest czar. A product of the president's "team of rivals" thinking at the beginning of his term, Ross fervently supported the Iraq War and worked as a Fox News contributor. Mitchell is a former Democratic Senate Majority Leader and is widely respected throughout the Middle East. Nevertheless, his comment about staying tough on Israel so Obama doesn't lose "credibility" is very telling. In other words, the president has hurt feelings because Netanyahu announced the apartments' construction in East Jerusalem while Biden was in the country. But it's difficult to see how snubbing the leader of one of America's strongest allies in the White House boosts their credibility.

Either way, Ross will now have to be destroyed by the more radical elements of the Obama Administration. An unnamed official is leading the charge.

“He [Ross] seems to be far more sensitive to Netanyahu's coalition politics than to U.S. interests,” one U.S. official told POLITICO Saturday. “And he doesn't seem to understand that this has become bigger than Jerusalem but is rather about the credibility of this Administration."

So American-Israeli relations are in shambles, the president doesn't care, and the one czar who expresses concern is practically accused of treason.

Relations with America's two strongest allies in shambles

Barack Obama campaigned for president promising to "restore our standing in the world" after eight years of the war on terrorism under George W. Bush. Two years later, the fighting is still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. But worst of all, Obama has continually snubbed Britain and Israel, our strongest allies in the world. Last week, Joe Biden scolded the Israeli government after they announced the construction of apartments in a contested area of East Jerusalem while he was there. Today Obama made the situation much worse.

For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Benjamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Obama walked out of his meeting with Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a U.S. congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”.

In the ultra-sensitive world of diplomatic relations, this is an absolute cataclysm. It will affect American-Israeli relations for a long time. Prior to Obama's presidency, Israel and America viewed themselves as natural partners in a fight against a common enemy. George W. Bush supported a Palestinian state and occasionally clashed with the Israelis, but never so arrogantly as this.

It also sheds some light onto why Rahm Emanuel has been dropping lines he might leave the administration. Rahm fought for the Israeli army and is widely known to be a firm supporter of Israel. He must be hopping mad over Obama's deplorable treatment of Israeli diplomats.

America's other closest ally is Great Britain, a country for which Obama has shown disdain from day one. The president insulted the British Prime Minister by giving him a collection of American DVDs, sent back a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office, and sent Hillary Clinton to Argentina to support diplomacy over the Falkland Islands, among many other offenses. The Brits are atwitter over their "special relationship" with America being over.

Obama is a product of the same radical thinking that haunted the 1960s and produced men like Bill Ayers. Through this lens, western white nations like American and the U.K. are the true practitioners of evil in the world. True virtue lies in third-world peoples of color. This is why Obama gave a speech in Cairo sucking up to the Muslim world. It's why he stood alone among western nations in supporting a Marxist coup in Honduras. If this thinking persists, it could harm our diplomacy for a long time.

Biden honors death of Irish PM's mother who's still alive

Saints preserve us.

Vice President Biden added to his lengthy list of gaffes Wednesday when he took a moment to honor the memory of the Irish prime minister's mother -- a woman who's very much alive.

"God rest her soul," Biden said as he introduced Brian Cowen and President Obama at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House Wednesday.

The vice president was quick to correct the mistake, noting that it's Cowen's father who is no longer living.

"Wait ... your mom’s still, your mom is still alive. It was your Dad (who) passed. God bless her soul. I gotta get this straight," Biden said.

As we've documented repeatedly, the British already feel slighted by the Obama Administration. Biden's gaffe isn't likely to help improve relations. Biden was last seen outraging the Israelis by condemning their decision to build settlements on their own land in East Jerusalem.

Biden makes things worse in Israel

Joe Biden just finished off a diplomatic trip to Israel that almost destroyed America's goodwill there.

U.S.-Israeli relations have hit a 35-year low over a contentious east Jerusalem building project that threatens to derail peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians, Israel's envoy to Washington was quoted as saying Monday.

Ambassador Michael Oren's remarks clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assurances that the political turmoil resulting from the settlement announcement, which the Obama administration slammed as "an insult," was under control.

"Israel's ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 ... a crisis of historic proportions," the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted Oren as saying to Israeli diplomats in a phone briefing over the weekend.

The row started when the Israelis announced plans to build 1,600 new apartments in East Jerusalem, an area contested by Palestinians who consider it religiously sacred. Biden was in Israel when the announcement was made and immediately condemned the decision. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the timing but pledged that the plan for the apartments would proceed as planned. Privately, it seems, many Israelis were outraged by Biden's meddling.

Obama came in to office with ambitious plans for the Middle East and wanted to usher in a new age of peace. Instead only a year into office, he's completely botched the most important diplomatic initiative anywhere in the world. Obama's approval rating in Israel currently stands at 7% and will likely only fall after this.

Biden snubs Britain

Today Joe Biden made a serious diplomatic gaffe trying to atone for an earlier diplomatic gaffe.

Biden appears to be trying to calm a diplomatic row that erupted during his visit over Israeli settlement plans for disputed east Jerusalem.

The vice president told the audience at Tel Aviv University on Thursday the U.S. has "no better friend" than Israel. He also spoke about his long connection to Israel.

Biden had previously suggested that Israel should halt the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem, which were impeding the peace process. But in calling Israel America's best friend, Biden has made a more devastating diplomatic error. Traditionally, America has always referred to Great Britain as its greatest ally. In his address following the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush declared, "America has no truer friend than Great Britain." At a subsequent meeting with the British prime minister, Bush said, "We've got no better friend in the world than Great Britain. We've got no better person that I like to talk to than Tony Blair."

That was then. Lately, many British commentators have speculated that their "special relationship" with America is over.

Iraq is a success, no thanks to Obama

Yesterday, Iraqis flocked to the polls to democratically elect a new parliament. Turnout was high at the more than 50,000 voting booths, with some voters waiting in line for hours to exercise their freedom. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis risked their lives to serve as poll workers. There were a few attacks as was to expected, but for the most part the election went incredibly smoothly. Iraq, after decades of rule by brutal tyrants, has finally embraced democracy.

No thanks to Barack Obama.

The president gave a brief statement today in which he congratulated Iraqis on their "courage." It's a shame Obama didn't have that same courage three years ago. The only reason Iraq is a peaceful democratic haven today is President Bush's surge of more than 20,000 troops in 2007. Obama opposed that surge and spent most of the Democratic political primary railing against it.

From a CBS News article in January 2007:

Another probable presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), said rather than increasing troops, the governemnt should be bringing them home in a phased withdrawal.

"Senator McCain and the president seem to believe that only a military solution can accomplish our goals there," he said. "And every objective observer that I've talked to believes that in fact what we have is a political problem between Shia and Sunni, and it's important for us to get that political track moving. That was absent from the president's speech."

Obama said Congress needs to find options to constrain the president, but also needs to make sure that the troops have all the supplies and equipment they needs. He said he wasn't ready to support the resolution proposed by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to cut funding for the war.

"I personally think that, if there are ways that we can constrain and condition what the president is doing so that, four to six months from now, we are beginning a phased withdrawal while making sure that the troops on the ground have the equipment that they need to succeed, then that is going to be the area that I'm most interested in supporting," he said.

And from a New York Times article in August 2007:

“No matter how brilliantly and bravely our troops and their commanders perform — and they have performed brilliantly and bravely — they cannot and should not bear the responsibility of resolving grievances at the heart of Iraq’s civil war,” Mr. Obama said. “No military surge, no matter how brilliantly performed, can succeed without political reconciliation and a surge of diplomacy in Iraq and the region.”

And then from the AP:

"Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was," Obama said in excerpts of the speech provided to The Associated Press.

"The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year - now," the Illinois senator said."

As we now know, Obama was spectacularly wrong. The only solution in Iraq was the military solution and its effects have been dramatic. Attacks of any sort in Iraq have plummeted to less than twenty per day. You now have a greater chance of being injured in Southeast Washington, DC than in Baghdad. Joe Biden has said that he thinks Iraq will be one of the Obama Administration's greatest successes. But the tranquility there was only possible by doing the exact opposite of everything Obama wanted.

Stick to Amtrak, Joe

When is Joe Biden's motorcade going to stop injuring people? The drivers shuttling around Barack Obama's vice president have racked up a series of accidents that would make the worst of the Kennedys blush.

The most recent came yesterday in Vancouver when an accident damaged three of the vice president's vans. The van hit hardest was carrying former figure skating champion Peggy Fleming, former bobsledding champion Vonetta Flowers, and hockey Olympian Mike Eruzione. Fleming and Vonetta were hurt, although not badly.

This is nothing new for Biden's reckless drivers. In November, two more vehicles in his motorcade killed a pedestrian just outside Washington, DC at 2:30 in the morning. A week later, a car in the motorcade collided with another car in Manhattan while rounding a corner. Meanwhile another of the vice president's escorts caused an accident in Albuquerque that same week.

Note to readers: If a loud Irishman with hair plugs in a limousine offers you a ride, don't get in. If Obama is going to insist that we all drive smaller cars, shouldn't he make sure his veep's vans and SUVs stop hurting people?

Barack Obama gets Serious about cronyism

General Electric isn't the only company profiting from Obama's environmental nuttiness. Here's a conflict of interest so outrageous it will make your head spin.

Cathy Zoi is the Assistant Secretary for Energy. She's a first class green loony who has said the United States needs to "reorient the economy" to produce more green buildings. And if that doesn't work, then there's always "neighborhood-by-neighborhood mobilization that may be like the Peace Corps meets the military where literally SWAT teams go into neighborhoods and they retrofit every single house and every single business on Main Street."

Yes, Obama's assistant secretary of energy has actually called for a Green Gestapo to kick people's doors down. If only that were the worst of it.

Zoi is married to Robin Roy, a top executive at Serious Materials, which manufactures "sustainable green building materials." Zoi and Roy (yeah, really) own 120,000 stock options at Serious. Specifically, Serious Materials is responsible for manufacturing green windows, which are apparently all the rage in the new green economy. Obama is a huge fan of the idea, so much so that he allotted $16.8 billion in the stimulus bill for green programs, including a $1,500 tax credit for any homeowner who installs energy-efficient windows like the ones made by Serious Materials. The bureaucrat overseeing the distribution of that stimulus money? Cathy Zoi.

In fact, it looks like the Obama administration practically created Serious Materials. Prior to Obama's green binge, Serious was just a small manufacturing company in California. But with Zoi whispering in his ear, Obama gave the company front-and-center attention, holding a 22-minute press conference to praise Serious and beginning an address to the nation by mentioning the company. Joe Biden called Serious the "poster child" for a green recovery. Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious, has said that his company is "very close" to both the White House and the Department of Energy. Business for Serious has since exploded.

For more, the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota has put together a brilliant video documenting Obama's disgusting cronyism with Serious Materials.

Again, when it comes to Barack Obama, follow the money every time. For anti-capitalists, these left-wing crazies sure like to make a quick buck. Too bad it's with our tax dollars.

Biden has friends in high places

Joe Biden was the poorest member of the Senate who traveled most often by Amtrak, something he never grew tired of reminding everyone. But Biden is moving up in the world thanks to Barack Obama. For his Thanksgiving vacation, Biden went to Nantucket where Obama took some time off earlier this year. The everyday working man touched down at Nantucket Memorial Airport last Wednesday in Air Force Two and was whisked off by an 11-car motorcade. The vacation was courtesy of another old Obama friend, Louis Susman, who owns the seaside estate where Biden stayed for the holiday. Susman is so wealthy, he helped rake in $247 million for the Democrats in 2004, earning him the nickname the "Vacuum Cleaner" and the eternal friendship of Barack Obama. Obama appointed Susman ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Obama begins his "jobs tour" today to meet with unemployed Americans, who likely can't afford to vacation on exclusive estates in Nantucket.