The Conservative Soldier

I am watching the world end — in hi-def and via high-speed Internet.

Barack Hussein Obama was back in Chicago today, boasting that he’ll be wrapping up a second term in the White House right around the time the 2016 Olympic Games are about to begin in the Windy City. (What will it cost to fuel the Olympic flame in eight years?)

Crude oil barrel prices spiked more than $10 today to record highs north of $138 as commodity speculators carelessly threaten the stability of the U.S. economy. And why do they do it? Because they can.

Americans, with the help of the wrist wringing cable media, continue to talk themselves into an economic malaise, as if cheap food and gas are some birthright. Today’s 394-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average will have them positively giddy at CNBC, where execs find breaking news of a perfect storm of $6/gallon gas, inflation and a protracted housing downturn like music to the ear. Given that scenario, no one would drive a car. They’d sit home watching CNBC and all those pretty red numbers and arrows.

The Chinese are buying oil they don’t really need. Why? Because they can. And some wacky Israeli politician, who thinks he should be the nation’s next leader, says Israel has no choice but to consider a military attack on Iran, which is hording something like 25% of the world’s oil reserves.

B.H. Obama, who is going to heal the sick and lift up the needy (in a nation of 94.5% employment) while taxing the rest of us (who eat what we want and shamelessly set the thermostat at 72) into economic Armageddon, is probably rooting like hell for an Israel-Iran conflict. He can then blame it on President George W. Bush — who has actually been elected twice, not theoretically elected — and U.S. foreign policy post-9/11.

This is the same Obama, keen observer of foreign affairs that he is, who was for the sanctity of an undivided Jerusalem until he was against it, the change of viewpoint coming to pass in fewer than 24 hours. In front of a Jewish conference in Washington, Obama said that “any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

Not a lot of gray area there, but that was Wednesday. On Thursday, Obama was forced to react to a Palestinian uproar. Obama the Diplomat, on Day 1 of the General Election, has already stepped in it, by failing to grasp that peace in the Middle East probably will never be borne of black-and-white statements like “Jerusalem … must remain undivided.”

So, as he has before with Mr. Wright’s remarks, and Mr. Rezko’s conduct, and Mr. Ayers’ terrorism, Obama reached into the oratorical bullpen to try to wiggle out of a bit of a jam. On CNN, he said: “Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations.”

Why won’t Obama say the P-word (Palestine)? A range of issues? Barry, I know you and Michelle are busy picking out Oval Office furniture, but don’t you read the papers?

As I contemplate the end of the world as winds swirl outside my window and images of another 9/11 swirl inside my head, I think I know the reason why Obama is struttin’ it today in downtown Chicago at the 2016 Olympics rally, and why he doesn’t worry about verbal miscues too much.

I think it’s because John McCain’s campaign has been so incredibly benign so far. Sen. McCain, this is the battle of your life and the battle for America’s future. We need that old soldier to come out of hibernation. Now. This morning, I observed one of your economic advisers on CNBC trying to combat an Obama adviser over policy issues. Your guy did little more than recite message points.

And that’s when it struck me like a barrel of light sweet crude upside my head. At their peril, Americans do not care very much — average, American Idol-addicted, gun polishing Americans — about the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, or the global ramifications of an Israel-Iran war, or the imminent threat posed by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to Middle East peace initiatives.

So I am sending an urgent wake-up call to the McCain camp. It is imperative that you assemble an economic all-star team of media savvy men and women who can blanket the nation, spreading the McCain gospel. They must address gas prices, job protection, health care, sub-prime mortgage reforms and an aggressive plan for energy independence tied to oil exploration on U.S. soil. This needs to be a sweeping, comprehensive display. Voters need clear, credible proof that Reaganomics and sound, conservative policies will return the U.S. to economic prosperity under a McCain administration.

The world feels like it is ending today. Obama thinks he will be swiftly anointed a two-term President.

Chicago thinks it should host the Olympics because American corporations are the principal underwriters of the Olympic financial engine, though within the International Olympic Committee the U.S. is positively loathed. This is, after all, the same IOC that can’t wait for this year’s Games in smog-shrouded Beijing.

As summer arrives, Americans could care less about the incredible achievements by our military in Iraq, nor do they wish to think about the long-term importance of those achievements within the region.

And here is what tears me apart. As we obsess about our $4/gallon gas and our little, insignificant economic hiccup here in America, the Islamic radicals are licking their chops. Even as Sen. Obama pledges change, the radical martyrs are clamoring for another shot at an increasingly vulnerable United States. You want to see change? Terrorism can bring it to your doorstep before lunchtime.

Jet fuel on 9/11 was incredibly cheap compared to the here and now. But why should the radicals care? It accomplishes their goals, at any price, and somebody else always picks up the tab.