Day513 Tuesday 01/24/12

ran 3.7 miles
President Obama’s first three State of the Union Addresses were enough for me. He has been deemed. He had three years and based on his performance there is nothing he can say or do to remove the dye he has cast in that time.

Our president and his Democrat-led Senate have not passed a budget in over 1,000 days. There is a great amount of necessity for individual Americans to have budgets. There is even more necessity for households to have budgets. But a government representing 300-something million people has not had need for a budget in over 1,000 days?

We have over $15 trillion in debt. Our government spends over $7 million dollars per minute. That is more than $420 million per hour and over $10 billion per day.

What about that Mr. President?

What significance does any other word that comes out of his mouth have if we keep spending the way we do---without a budget! It is pure irresponsibility. Our president has a lot of expensive ideas but mentions little about entitlement reform are slashing spending. He paves a path that inspires millions of people but costs trillions of dollars to unborn Americans who will be born owing a debt they had nothing to do with. Our president only seems to see what is right before him and not the perils his actions place on the horizon beyond his sight.

512.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day148.

Day512 Monday 01/23/12

ran 3.9 miles
According to a December 2008 internal memo from Lawrence Summers, at that time an incoming senior economic adviser to president-elect Obama, he and other advisers rejected the idea of a giant stimulus package.

The 2009 stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which totaled $787 billion, was passed regardless of Summers’ warning that “it would be hard to spend more than $300 billion on government investment and anything above that would have to come from transfers to the states and tax cuts”. He also said that a giant stimulus of more than $1 trillion aimed at rapidly reducing the unemployment rate “would likely not accomplish the goal because of the impact it would have on markets”.

The memo lays out four different stimulus approaches ranging from $550 billion to $890 billion. In an article from FinancialTimes, written by Robin Harding, Harding points out that Obama’s advisers “made a serious political misjudgment, believing that if they asked for too small of a stimulus, it would be easy to go back to Congress and ask for more”.

That was obviously not the case after looking back at how furious Americans were when they voted out so many House and Senate democrats during the mid-term elections of 2010.

516.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day147.

Day511 Sunday 01/22/12

ran 3.1 miles
Today ends week seventy-three of running against Obama. I ran 24.0 miles this week, averaging 3.43 miles per day.



They say the typical American voter has a political memory span of two years. I don’t know who “they “are but I think that is an acceptable average. So, as Barack Obama begins unloading his millions upon millions of campaign dollars on fresh, new plans for the next four years, here are some videos to remind you of where his fresh, new plans in 2008 got us.



It’s not that we forget about what once frustrated us two years before, but that we tend to slowly accept it, make the best of it, and move on.



It’s like an anthill getting kicked over. Hundreds of ants come rushing out ready to bite anything that threatens what is left of their hill. But five minutes later they are all gone. They’ve gone back into their hill to repair what they can and to move on with their short lives. The ants’ five minutes of fury is like our two-year political memory. And that proverbial foot that keeps kicking the anthill is the federal government.

520.2 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day146.

Day510 Saturday 01/21/12

ran 2.8 miles

After Chuck Norris’ endorsement of Newt Gingrich yesterday the state of South Carolina had little choice in Gingrich’s primary win today. What Chuck wants, Chuck gets.

On a serious note, I posted about Chuck Norris and his beard-fisted authority yesterday and discovered that Mike Huckabee’s biggest fundraising day in 2008 was the day that Chuck Norris endorsed him. That is a fact and Chuck Norris’ endorsement is one of the most coveted approvals available for Republicans during presidential election cycles.

Florida is the next primary and it will serve as an ample barometer to measure a state with a large and diverse population. Florida is also an unpredictable swing state with a critical twenty-seven electoral votes, which makes it one of the most important states to win.

So far Santorum won Iowa, Romney won New Hampshire, Gingrich won South Carolina, and Paul is trailing just behind.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama will be delivering his State of the Union address on Tuesday and he will be in full campaign mode. More than likely, it will be filled with blaming others, raising taxes, giving everyone as many “fair shots” as they would like at the expense of others who have already seized their own “fair shot”, and defending the middle class (which is odd because I believe I am a member of the middle class and I'm not buying what he's selling).

523.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day145.

Day509 Friday 01/20/12

ran 3.7 miles
Well, we can all sleep a little easier now. Chuck Norris, best known for feats like counting to infinity twice and knowing the whereabouts of Carmen Sandiego, has officially made his presidential candidate endorsement. Newt Gingrich is the candidate he endorses and Chuck Norris gets what Chuck Norris wants.

“We need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath.”

In 2008, Chuck Norris endorsed Mike Huckabee and the former Arkansas governor had his best fund raising day of his campaign. I know that sounds like another Chuck Norris joke but it is actually true.

“I’m tired of watching our country being torn to shreds by those who think the answer is more government debt and control. I’m tired of being in bondage to a tax system that robs U.S. citizens like the King of England did before the Revolution. I’m tired of watching our sovereignty being sold by foreign loans and loose borders. And I will not sit back and merely watch this decay and degradation of the U.S. and then hand it over to my children and grandchildren to deal with.”

The South Carolina primary is tomorrow so we’ll see how powerful Chuck Norris’ roundhouse endorsement is.

526.1 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day144.

Day508 Thursday 01/19/12

ran 2.2 miles
President Barack Obama seems to have run out of people and organizations to blame his problems on. He has actually sunk to the level of blaming the press for forging an image of him that was “aloof and disconnected” from the rest of Washington. Who will this guy not blame? Here is the story.

Isn’t this the same press that painted a messianic picture of him in 2008? That’s no way to thank the people who control the information and decide what is and what is not printed---especially when they have served his needs for so long.

I think this is what people are talking about when they say someone is “spineless”, or refuses to take responsibility for their own actions. I wonder if our president has ever genuinely asked himself if maybe he was “aloof and disconnected”, not only from Washington but from America, too.

On that note, here is a great ad to kick off the 2012 presidential election cycle:



529.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day143.

Day507 Wednesday 01/18/12

ran 5.2 miles

Thank you Wikipedia, Mozilla, Google, Reddit, Wordpress and the more than 7,000 other websites that protested SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) today by blacking out your sites or supporting the protest by offering information on what these bills mean.

SOPA is a Senate bill and PIPA is a House bill. As usual our politicians have managed to tack on a fancy name to some new bills that may sound decent on the surface but are actually gateways to an unprecedented amount of power to censor and control the Internet. This is free speech we are talking about and that is something the federal government has no right to pry its grimy, manipulative tentacles into.

If you want to be fed news selected by and written by your government, and you want to be limited to only certain sources or portions of information, move to China or North Korea. It does not belong in America and it is a disappointment that the House and Senate are even proposing ideas like these.

Another story in the news, President Obama said “no” to the Keystone pipeline today. Goodbye jobs. Goodbye tax revenue for the federal government. Goodbye economic growth. Goodbye self-reliance on our own energy resources. There will be no strengthening of our economy or opportunity for Americans from the Keystone pipeline. And, if Canada does not feel like waiting until November for a new American president who has a greater interest in creating jobs and wants to work toward refining its own resources, then they will direct it to China instead.



532.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day142.

Day506 Tuesday 01/17/12

ran 3.3 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 22% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 41% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –19.

• Overall, 46% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance while 53% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 44%, Democrats 38%

• Election 2012: Republican 47%, Obama 42%

• South Carolina: Romney 35%, Gingrich 21%, Santorum 16%, Paul 16%

At this point in time, after three years of Obama, it is no longer even worth the time to discuss issues like why his college transcripts are locked away, but lets have some fun and do it anyway. For all of the speculation that surrounded Barack Obama early in his term, such as college transcripts, a lack of fellow students to say they went to school with him, professors to say they taught him, and even his reticence to hand over his birth certificate until Donald Trump inflated the issue, today his past once again resurfaced during a press conference with press secretary Jay Carney.

A Fox News reporter, Ed Henry, asked Carney why President Obama hadn’t released his college transcripts. Carney simply said, “I would refer you to the campaign.” Then he started talking about something completely unrelated.

Nice dodge.

537.2 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day141.

Day505 Monday 01/16/12

ran 3.7 miles

I had a radio interview this morning on KPEL965.com. For you out-of-towners that is a station in Lafayette, Louisiana. I was able to discuss why I started this blog and what I am trying to achieve. If you’re new to RunningAgainstObama, take a look around and keep checking in!

540.5 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day140.

Day504 Sunday 01/15/12

Today ends week seventy-two of running against Obama. I ran 23.7 miles this week, averaging 3.39 miles per day.

Tomorrow morning I will be interviewed on a local radio station around 7:35. The station is KPEL 96.5 FM for readers in Lafayette. For any readers not from this area there is a free app you can download, radiopup, and stream it live. KPEL's website also airs the morning show.

Thanks for following this blog and I hope you tune in!

544.2 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day139.

Day503 Saturday 01/14/12

ran 3.3 miles

In an article from Investors.com, written by John Merline, we can take a close look at how uniquely unsuccessful Barack Obama’s efforts have been to create jobs. Merline titled the article “Nearly 1 Million Workers Vanished Under Obama” and here are some of the numbers to prove it. And keep in mind the failed stimulus package Obama pumped into the economy, which our children and grandchildren will be born into America owing, when you read them.

It has been thirty months since the recession officially ended and approximately one million people have slipped through the cracks of the labor force. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force has diminished by 170,000 in just the past two months.

In the past nine documented economic recoveries, the labor force numbers had increased by an average of 3.5 million by this point.

The number of people either working or seeking employment compared to the total working-age population is currently 64%, down from 65.7% when the recession was declared over in June of 2009. That is the lowest level since women started joining the workforce in far greater numbers decades ago. The current official unemployment rate of 8.5% would adjust to 11% if this drop were taken into account. And, to raise that number even higher, only those individuals who actively seek work are actually counted as “unemployed”.

547.7 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day138.

Day502 Friday 01/13/12

ran 2.6 miles

This was an ad from the 2010 midterm elections. That election was pivotal in slowing down Barack Obama's agenda and firing a huge number of Democratic members of congress who voted for the legislative pieces that an obviously large number of Americans did not want. There is going to be an information overload and a lot of distractions between now and the 2012 presidential election but one important thing to keep in mind is this:

What has changed? Why should November 2012 not be a repeat "shellacking" of Barack Obama and his congressional counterparts? All the blame he lays on congress is actually blame he lays on American voters because we voted his majority out of the House and we nearly voted out his majority of the Senate. We replaced these individuals with new elected officials who campaigned on the ideas we, as a majority of people from across the country, wanted. The 112th Congress he blames is simply performing the task we elected them to do.

I have some exciting news! I am going to be interviewed on a Lafayette radio station on Monday, January 16. Check back in for more details over the next couple of days.

551.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day137.

Day501 Thursday 01/12/12

Another $1.2 Trillion?



ran 4.0 miles

Barack Obama requested another $1.2 trillion today. We need more monopoly money to pay off our debts. Our current president is on pace to outspend every other president combined if reelected. At the risk of sounding completely materialistic, our economy and our national debt are a couple of my top issues as a voter. These topics are essentially one of the few things I want to here candidates talk about.

What is more important than stopping America from losing all credibility, going bankrupt and eventually losing the identity it has held for so long as the greatest nation on Earth? How important are the other issues we value in America if our nation falls into a state of economic chaos similar to what happened in Greece?

And while we are dangling off the edge of a cliff by a single finger, let's go ahead and figuratively cut that finger off with an expensive health care overhaul that a majority of this country wants no part of.

553.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day136.

Day500 Wednesday 01/11/12

ran 3.6 miles

Today ends 500 days of running against Obama. After 500 days of campaigning against him, this is what I have come to realize.

I have never taken on an endeavor of this size in my entire life. I have set out far less time and energy-consuming goals, which I came nowhere close to following through on, but this man and his ideas compel me to make a stand with a determination I have never before experienced.

This president had two years to do anything he wanted with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Ever since his “shellacking” on November 2, 2010, his fire of the first two years was put out and since then he has been blowing on the embers to get it started again. Frustrated by Republicans throwing sand on every flame he painstakingly sparked, he has been backed into a corner, due to his own actions and America’s disapproval of them, and there is little left for him to do but simply get out of the way or blame Congress for all of our woes. He has chosen the latter.

America was on the cliff’s edge of a recession, possibly another Great Depression, in 2009, and Barack Obama came along and signed sweeping health care legislation in tandem with a colossal stimulus package that amounted to nothing. Almost immediately he executed these actions with no regard for the dire circumstances our nation was in.

For decades Washington D.C. has been kicking the can down the road and prolonging the inevitable moment for this wasteful bubble to pop, just like the housing bubble and the banks, waiting and waiting, packing as much air into that balloon until it would explode. Well, it popped Mr. President. And your solution was to enact some of the most immediately costly health care legislation in America’s domestic history and to stimulate the economy with monopoly money, giving China and other nations even more ownership of America, which was spent to no avail. What we needed in 2008 was a hero with a different sort of hope and change. We needed a boot to kick this country in its rear-end and to step on the greedy fingers of what we have come to know as the typical politician. Barack Obama was the exact opposite of that.

Two nights ago I had posted about Barack Obama’s newly appointed chief of staff, Jack Lew, who will take the place of Bill Daley. This guy was the chief operating officer of Citibank’s alternative investment division in 2009. He received a bonus exceeding $900,000 that year after billions of American tax dollars bailed Citibank out for the housing crisis they played a part in. His outrageous bonus was paid for by taxpayers.

Digging even deeper in the rabbit hole, Bill Daley, the current chief of staff who is stepping down, is the brother of the former mayor of Chicago. Bill Daley’s father was the mayor of Chicago before his brother. And Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff, is currently the mayor of Chicago, who took the place of Bill Daley’s brother.

Maybe you don’t feel it but this gets under my skin. It makes me feel helpless as I grasp for logical reasons why America has gotten to the point it is at. 2012 welcomed in a national debt that actually exceeds GDP. Our president is weeks away from requesting a trillion-plus dollar debt-ceiling hike. None of this makes any sense and I have no answer for why our federal government continues in the direction it does. It is a helpless and chaotic feeling to be a part of something you cannot understand.

This is why I run.

557.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day135.