Diamonds and Toads

I have walked, eyes wide open, back into the political arena where the Clintons and the Obamas circle and call each other names. Bill called Barack an amateur and Obama called Clinton a scene stealer. Both are right. That's what you get with twins, even the political kind.

As I read Dereliction of Duty, I was not surprised to find Slick Willy's trademarks still alive and slithering from between Obama's lips, reminding me once again of an old fairy talk about sisters who were touched by a witch and given exactly what they deserved. Some sources called the story by Charles Perrault Diamonds and Toads (or Toads and Diamonds) because of the gift each girl was given. The eldest girl, proud and disagreeable at the best of times, and her mother's favorite, was lazy and rude and disinclined to help anyone out, no matter what was at stake. The younger daughter, biddable, sweet, and courteous, was generous with her time and her mother's least favorite child.  Had there been 10 daughters, the mother would still have disliked the third child because she was kind and sweet, a real doormat in her mother's eyes. No one got anywhere good by being kind and thoughtful. The way to get up in the world is to show the world that everyone else is beneath you and you deserve to be treated as royalty.

The younger daughter gave a poor woman a drink at the well, drawing the water herself, and was rewarded with every word she spoke as diamonds, pearls, and roses dropped from her lips. Mama was ecstatic and vowed her eldest daughter, her favorite, would also be rewarded. I can still see the glitter in mama's eyes while she waited for her reluctant eldest offspring to come back from the well.

The eldest daughter waited at the well and found no poor old hag waiting for her. Along came a stately woman of style and wealth who asked the eldest daughter to draw a cup of water for her. The eldest daughter was not to be so put upon when she had only come to be rewarded by the old hag. She sniffed and tossed her hair and told the beautiful woman she could use her own two hands to get her own water. Alas, the wealthy woman was the old hag and the eldest daughter received her gift in due course. When she returned home, toads and vipers dropped from her lips with each word.

So what do diamonds and toads have to do with Bill Clinton, the president who gave us 8 years of a balanced budget, and Barack Obama, who has given us the longest and deepest depression in American history? Diamonds and toads.

Clinton and Obama (when Obama has time to prepare and can read from a teleprompter) are great communicators, pearls of political maneuvering and double-speak falling from their lips. Both have the power to sway the people, as Bill demonstrated at the 2012 Democratic Convention when he painted Obama as a centrist who wants only what is best for the people and the economy of this less than great country that has fallen on hard times. Gone were the petulant and snide comments to Congress ("I won.") and the video clips where Obama said he would use any means necessary to go around Congress since they (Republican controlled House) would not bow to his will on immigration, taxation, and health care. Gone was the smirking Obama who voted present during his 3 terms in office in the Illinois senate and the one unfinished term in the U.S. Senate. Gone was the lie that Obama opposed the Iraq war, the same man who promised to have all U.S. troops out of Iran within 18 months and Afghanistan in 2 years. Gone was the man who blamed George W. Bush and the Republicans every time one of his policies failed and his promises never materialized. In his place stood a man who was no longer an amateur but a great statesman willing to compromise and put the will of the American people first, who worked tirelessly to create jobs, and who was a wizard of foreign diplomacy. Bill's diamonds and pearls and roses fell like rain as he praised and reimagined Barack Obama, lionizing the clueless and petulant child who handed off all the hard work to advisors and allowed himself to be bullied by Michelle and masterfully manipulated by Valerie Jarrett just so he could play golf, appear on television, and raise money for the DNC war chest.

The whole point of the illusion Bill created was a trade-off. Bill was banking points with Obama so Obama would in turn back Hillary for her second run for the Oval Office in 2016. Bill didn't realize that Obama would renege on his part of the deal, though Bill and Hillary were aware of the strong possibility Obama would shut them out once he had what he wanted -- a second term in the White House, to be closely followed by Michelle's turn in the Oval Office under Valerie Jarrett's guidance.

Yes, the Clintons want another 8 years to party hearty and fleece the people of the United States while they groom Chelsea for her turn in the Oval Office. The Clintons want their legacy preserved -- even if it means making nice with the Obamas and Jarrett.

Here we are 2 years later still struggling economically while our military is gutted and living on food stamps, a legacy we have the Clintons to thank. Bill and Hillary and all the Clintonistas continue to point to the economic prosperity of the 1990s and the balanced budgets, but the average person has no idea how all that came about.

The Obamas, like the Clintons, detest the military and have in their turns gutted the military infrastructure and the morale of the men and women who serve and have served. Our military presence at the beginning of the Clinton administration was the envy of the world, but not for long as Clinton balanced his budgets by cutting the materiel, supplies, and hardware (ships, planes, tanks, etc.) while freezing military pay until it dropped below the poverty level and into the arms of government for food stamps and WIC for their families. As far as the Clintons were concerned, the military were glorified valets and servants and they treated their military aides and the Joints Chiefs of Staff as lackeys, often forbidding aides working in the White House to wear their uniforms. Clinton closed bases during his tenure, several of which he deeded to the Chinese on American soil, thus creating a Chinese presence on American soil with the same immunity as the Chinese embassy as the land is owned and thus protected by immunity. China in North America, a strong foothold in some of the counry's prime real estate from a military standpoint. And let us not forget how much of American military technology and hardware Clinton sold to the Chinese while making room for them on American soil. That was Clinton's bow to the enemy as deep and as complete as Obama's bow to the Saudis during his Apology Tour in his first year in office.

Obama in his turn does the same thing, gutting the military budget while Michelle lambasted communities around military bases to step up and support the military and their families financially and emotionally. After all, the government can only do so much to support the military complex that protects this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The Clintons had their noses bloodied in Mogadishu in the same way that Obama did in Benghazi, and basically for the same reasons. Clinton left bin Laden due to his lack of action and unwillingness to stop schmoozing and golfing when bin Laden was cornered and could be taken out without too much fuss or efforts. The military assets were in place, but Clinton could not be bothered to take the call or give the order. Obama took out bin Laden, so we are told, and shown in a grainy, barely visible video, and his body buried at sea.

Neither Clinton nor Obama know much about foreign policy as evidenced by the 40 military events/skirmishes, the constant deployment and redeployment of soldiers overseas tour after tour, and the misreading of military intelligence. Say what you will about Bush the younger, at least he did his best to build the military back up to strength, only to have Obama tear it down and cede the high ground to Russia time and time again while doing nothing to avenge or support U.S. military forces. Clinton's claims of shock and outrage during every single international faux pas is echoed by Obama's chock and outrage and neither man did anything to back it up, Obama going to so far as to draw a line in the sand.

Clinton ceded control of U.S. armed forces to the United Nations and Obama takes full advantage of that little wrinkle in U.S. military readiness. In other words, U.S. forces are controlled and deployed under UN generals and colonels. Mercenaries for lease by anyone and everyone.

Clinton ran from the many scandals during his tenure in office by going out and creating incidents on the international stage, like the bombings during Ramadan, while Obama dithers, cries foul, and goes off to a fund raiser or to play golf while leaving Iranian marching for democracy, Egyptians struggling to throw off the Islamic yoke, and Israel stands alone against enemies on all fronts.

The list goes on. Clinton and Obama are cut from the same cloth, except that Clinton is much savvier where politics are concerned and Obama plays where Jarrett allows him to.  Both are narcissists greedy for power and prestige who will use and abuse everyone to get their way. Obama uses illegal immigrants to swell his ranks while Clinton charms them and changes faces and costumes whenever it fits his -- and Hillary's -- agenda, both men dropping toads and vipers among the diamonds and pearls with each and every word.

That is all. Disperse.