It's the Libya Thing, Stupid.

No, I don't pretend to have my finger on the pulse of the Black Nation. But I do observe, and I've spent my share of time with assimilated black Americans, many Catholic -- the ones who are proud to participate in the bigger cultural pie we call a country, nevermind the "nation" talk of separatism, perpetual victimhood, or "I can't succeed as a black man without help."

Guess what?

Libya matters. Really.

Plenty of libs voted for Barack Obama for the historical "first". Remember Harold Washington? First Black Mayor of Chicago, when he split the white Democratic vote in Chicago between Jane Byrne and Richie Daley. Then made it past Bernie Epton in the first semi-competitive election Chicago had in years.

But then came the heart attack in office; Eugene Sawyer as the second black mayor of Chicago; and a dearth of color for the coming decades.

Will President Obama's reign be similar? Well, I don't think even the "black vote" will be enthusiastic about supporting him again. Might pull the lever, but here's what he promised:

To get us out of GWB's ineffective foreign wars. Enough already. Vote for the new black intellectual -- he'll get us "out". Now. Bring it on home.

But he didn't. Hasn't. We're collecting crippled veterans to support by the dozen -- the costs of their continuing health care, disability, house-buying help, etc. When they tell us the costs of fighting these wars overseas, are the related future costs to society even calculated in?

Now, we're blowing billions in Libya. I get it -- the guilt over the Muslim slaughter in Bosnia has led advocates like Hillary Clinton and Christiane Amanpour to pretend that it's in our moral best interests to ... "help".

We're still "fighting" (nation building?) in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the numbers of dead and maimed adding up. And still nobody in power will stand up and question whether it's right to hand over taxpayer dollars to continue fighting other people's civil wars...

It's the economy, sure.
But it's the whole idea of Libya too. Don't tell me we have no money to pay our seniors, but we can afford to (try and) remake the whole Middle East. Don't tell me this is "protection money". Not anymore. Not after the intervention in Libya. That was a war of choice if ever I saw one. We hung Saddam, and now "the noose is tightening" around Quaddafy...

Meh. Who cares?

Spending cuts? Stop killing other peoples. Focus on America first. Tackle illegal immigration to help solve our labor issues at home. Enough with the entitlement promises. Pull back the healthcare insurance mandates (before the Court pulls it back for us), and let people/states CHOOSE whether this "solution" will be fiscally helpful or not.

Begin with real spending cuts.

The mood out here is: no more. No more money, when we can't afford to pay for what some have already consumed. Nevermind shared pain. If we hadn't had that first round of bank and corporate bailouts, maybe we'd have learned a lesson when local car dealerships closed; financial firms closed their doors for good; and we reaped what we have sowed.

Instead, here we are again. It's as though the Dems have just adopted GWB's same ways: take care of the fatcats who are too big to stop sucking from the system, and toss a few trinkets to the special interest groups too.

Harold Washington was a symbolic first. That's all really. Didn't make much change. Didn't make much of a lasting effect from any work done during his term. You might say, it perhaps would have better served black people, black leadership in Chicago had he not been elected on that platform alone. ("You want Harold??? You gotHere's Harold ...")

Perhaps Barack Obama might have been able to make change in the city had he only selected the lesser option of a smaller pond. With everything well within his paygrade. Some say Rahm is just now keeping the seat warm for Nora Conroy -- Richie Daley's daughter -- that after another historical first, things will play out as before.

I don't know about that , but I do know this. Not many regular black folk support indiscriminate killing just because we can, and many know the value of life. (Added: Plus the horrors of violent/ill-timed deaths.) It's not just a commercial transaction, nor something we can buy our way out of.

Libya will be this president's downfall. Libya, and the dismal numbers game here at home. We wanted a real Democrat -- a man (or woman) for the middle. Those who don't want a government program, but an opportunity to live free.

This ain't it. We haven't changed a bit. Our pundits can't or won't connect the dots, and people quite simply are fed up with Washington.

Life goes on, but political careers don't.
Listen to the people, who are saying: Cut military spending abroad, concentrate solely on defense, and spending at home. Stand up for a "surge" -- an investment in infrastructure and jobs, but whatever you do, don't have them managed by a big, overbearing program of bureacrats. There's plenty of untapped talent -- give them incentives to perform well, and localize the dollars. The amount of waste that could be saved if only you did away with the entitled gov'mint bureacrats and gave the money -- in incentive programs -- to those who perform, not those who play victim the most convincingly.

Help the poor and unfortunate sure, but remember: it's investing in the best and brightest, the disciplined and the achievers, those who successfully assimilate and work their way up -- with proof in the pudding, that will put this country back on track. Not creating a newer, bigger, more entitled victim class. (boo hoo)

Finally,
it's time -- long past time -- for Nancy and Harry to step aside. (TimmyG. too.) Gracefully, but gotta go. If they are the faces of Congressional Democrats today, well wasn't the last presidential election all about change and freshness? Behind the scenes roles, if indeed, they can contribute something there. Nancy Pelosi is not representative of the potential Democratic voters who want to see that you hear them.

Get us out of these foreign wars. If we have to cripple the country to stop paying, in money and flesh, so be it. That's the message I hear out here: if the ship is going down, the Capt'n (oh my Captain) ought to be prepared to go down with us. He's wising up, no doubt about it. The ping-pong games, beer drinking, dress up with the royals overseas visits are over. He's spent a good month in office working on the home front, enough to lecture the Republicans now on working ahead and sticking around until the job is done to go out playing and partying with our friends abroad. It's a late admission, but I think the R&R will be at Camp David now...

Nobody wins in these games, of course.
The country loses. But if we gain change, real change, even if it hurts us, we've got a shot at righting the ship and casting some of the dead weight overboard.

That's why you see the pundits and pols, more than the people, worried about a potential default. They don't know pain, their worlds would be turned upside down... Ours already have.