Hammer and Stickle

Hey, you, psssst. C'mere. No, closer, so you can hear me whispering. That's better. Listen up:

DID YOU KNOW THAT BARACK OBAMA IS A COMMUNIST?

Surely you have heard. It is possible that the only reason this did not raise an alarm in your head is that you've already heard so many other things about our president. Depending on who's saying it, the man has also been labeled a socialist, a Marxist, even a terrorist.

While nobody alive can remember any Communist government ever wanting to "spread the wealth around", it is generally that obstinant minority of right-wingers among us who are spreading the unpatriotic slander around today.

It's interesting to note that Bill Clinton, too, was called such unflattering and inflammatory names. He only presided over the largest economic boom in our nation's history, wiping away nearly all of the debt we had incurred under Reagan.

Obama does not appear to be on such a strong fiscal projection, but nobody with a brain would expect such, considering the depth of the mud in which his predecessor left our economy. The actions he has taken so far, in as much as they have negated this recession already, smack more of pragmatism than Communism.

That will not matter to those who make this foul accusation. They are too foolish to understand that their behavior is so un-American as to make Aldrich Ames blush. When it comes to painting the town red, though, they really ought to take notice of their own conservative heroes.

There is but one great bastion of Communism left in the world, that being China, which really blossomed as a superpower during the last administration. When George W. Bush took office in 2001, the U.S. trade deficit with China stood at $83 billion. By the time The Great Manipulator shit-kicked his way out of the White House, it had swollen to $268 billion.

Last summer, when Beijing hosted the Olympics, Bush was the first sitting U.S. president to attend the games on foreign soil. I am sure his Communist hosts made sure he was very comfortable. But what could he say? After all, it was the Chi-Coms who were bankrolling his fraudulent war in Iraq.

China's Communist neighbor, North Korea, also went ballistic in the last eight years. Under the Clinton administration, their plutonium reactor was shut down, and inspectors were allowed to monitor their nuclear ambitions. With Bush on duty, Kim Jon-Il kicked out the inspectors and put together several nuclear weapons.

It was Bush, again, who so lovingly called his Russian counterpart "Pooty-Poot". It was Bush who claimed to have looked into the former KGB leader's eyes and taken measure of his soul. Apparently, Dubya liked what he saw, as he went on to make any dictator proud with his use of torture, wiretaps, renditions and gulags.

President Obama may do many unorthodox things during his tenure, but none of it will compare to all of that. So I chuckle out loud whenever some conservative struggles to spell these big words on their rally signs. I can only think of one thing to say to them.

Look in the mirror... Comrade.

pH 9.21.o9