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Barack Obama appeared before the American Medical Association today and once again gave a speech designed to sell his national health care program.

Listening to the speech required some level of “reading-between-the-lines” in order to de-code the underlying cryptic messages being set forth. One such example is the centralization of all medical records via a government controlled database.

President Obama wants all records codified, centralized and much, if not all of the paperwork files, removed from medical offices and placed in a national database. Amazingly many AMA members applauded; but who doesn’t want less paperwork?

Imagine the federal government and its legion of bureaucrats, politicians, lawyers and lobbyists with access to your private records? This is more frightening than the manila file folders we all see behind the glass window when we visit our Doctor’s office.

Personally, I like the idea of my chosen physicians having my records…and no one else. I’m seeing some benefit in paper and never thought I would.

Like all great ideas stemming from the elite Washington culture, the notion of centralizing medical records as a means of cost effectiveness and efficiency sounds good, until the details are created and examined.

Washington wants access to and control of the banks, executive salaries, the type of automobiles we will be allowed to drive, insurance and now health care and your records. All of this is a result of our inability to take care of our businesses and ourselves and the new Obamanation where bureaucrats make the critical decisions for inept Americans.

Hmmm. Imagine first, Washington with access to your health records. Then, imagine how that information might be used to create health care profiles and service actuaries for all Americans at various phases of our lives.

Now take another step and imagine the data being used to shape shape health care policy for the elderly as that demongraphic continues to climb. Imagine the relationship between projected health care costs to taxpayers and social security, medicare and other insurance issues.

Imagine for a moment, Washinton bureaucrats dictating the pay of brain surgeon’s, cardiologists and family physicians as a precursor to qualifying for payment and insurance. Hmmm.

One answer…no, thanks!

In speech after speech, candidate Barack Obama reassured the American people that he was going to be their change agent if elected.

He assured us that “politics as usual” would not be a part of his Presidential decision and policy making. He triumphantly declared in his acceptance speech that “Change has come to America!”

When he stepped forward to champion the so-called bailout plan, President Barack Obama told the American people “there are no earmarks in this package.”

Prime Timing the Obama Marketing Machine

Was he telling us the truth when he stated the following in his prime time address to the American people on February 9, 2009?

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But when they start characterizing this as pork without acknowledging that there are no earmarks in this package; something, again, that was pretty rare over the last eight years; then you get a feeling that maybe we’re playing politics instead of actually trying to solve problems for the American people.

Has change come to America? We suppose that depends upon what that definition of change is (as in the definition of “is”). Has President Obama misled the American people with respect to the stimulus package? Bluntly asked, did he lie to us?

Is it really true that there is no special spending in the stimulus plan known to us as “pork” and to those in Washington as “earmarks?”

Catching a Whiff of the Stench of Rotting Pork

Prior to his prime time address, the President appeared in Elkhart, Indiana for a town hall meeting which was designed to float the deceptive trial balloon prior to going prime time. The pork message needed to be taste-tested first in Elkhart. If people swallowed it, the Obama crew would slap on an additional layer of BBQ sauce and serve it up prime time. In Elkhart the President served up the pork concept with this statement:

And, listen, I know that there are a lot of folks out there who’ve been saying, “Oh, this is pork, and this is money that’s going to be wasted,” and et cetera, et cetera. Understand, this bill does not have a single earmark in it, which is unprecedented for a bill of this size, does not have a single earmark in it.

We at iVoteAmerica know a good barbecqued pork rib when we smell one on the grill. Although it may be true that the special projects contained in the stimulus package are not classified as “earmarks” the common sense American public doesn’t draw a line between “pork” and “earmark.”

Hard working Americans don’t have time to spend each day refining what the meaning of “is” is.

Most Americans are not good at parsing the language in order to pull off a marketing ploy. We spend most of our time working, raising our families and trying to do what is right. However, we do know what a good batch of B.S. looks like when we see it and especially when we smell it. Rotten pork makes you sick no matter how you cook it on the gas grill.

There is another thing we Americans do. We tell our children that lying is wrong. We tell them that when we twist things in order to deceive others, it’s the same as lying. We teach our children that it is wrong to use words to make people believe something that isn’t true.

In Washington, words are used to push agendas through Congress. Words are used to paint mental images in the minds of Americans that sometime deceive them. In fact, in Washington, words are used to create public responses to political agendas that are often designed to exploit honest Americans.

Rotten pork is best swallowed after it has a heavy coating of Washington barbecque sauce applied to it. Think of it this way. Out of the full $800 billion in the stimulus package most Americans will be receiving $13 a week in tax reductions/rebates/refunds for a grand total of $754 annually. Never mind that Washington is strapping a huge debt on our individual and collective backs in exchange for chump change.

Have we traded our futures for $13 a week?

Oddly enough, iVoteAmerica is headquartered in Prescott, Arizona, the place where John McCain is scheduled to give his last political campaign speech.

He’ll do so at approximately midnight on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse located in downtown Prescott, Arizona adjacent to the historic Whiskey Row. The downtown square is being sealed-off, metal detectors setup and tickets to the event are being distributed by the local Republican office.

It’s Cold at Midnight in November

Cold as it will be, iVoteAmerica will be there, camera and recorder in hand, to listen to John give a speech that will either set the agenda for his Presidency or alternatively, give us a glimpse of the way he will exit national life and be remembered. There is a slim chance, that if defeated in his bid for the Presidency, that John McCain will return to the Senate.

After his speech, John will either head north to his to Sedona home or south to Phoenix, his other Arizona residence. The political weather will determine his compass point.

The leaves have already fallen from the trees in downtown Prescott, signaling the climate shift and its accompanying changes. It’s November. It’s cold at midnight in November at the Prescott, Arizona Courthouse. Those die hards who show up to hear John will be layered in sweaters and coats and wrapped in blankets to hear what will be watershed words.

Barry and Ronnie Created their Own Weather

John McCain, by all accounts, has run a horrible campaign. Forgetting George Bush for a moment, the once feisty, former maverick has at times sounded like Obama himself, endorsing government bailouts and talking about social reform.

Ever since he endorsed McCain for the Senate, John has often been heard laying claim to the mantra of Barry Goldwater. John, you’re not Barry Goldwater. Besides the millions of Americans that will vote for Barack Obama have no idea who Barry Goldwater is.

John has claimed to be a “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution.” This too is a bit of stretch. The truth is, he was around during Ronnie’s revolution. John, you’re no Ronald Reagan.

Barry and Ronnie had more than one thing in common. But the one trait they both possessed was the ability to create their own political weather. They were engaged in climate control long before it was a chic political buzz phrase.

John McCain being John McCain

John, you are John McCain! That’s a lot…that’s enough…that should have been the campaign story from start to finish but it wasn’t and after your midnight speech at the Prescott, Arizona courthouse, you may be headed to Sedona for rest and relaxation rather than to Phoenix to begin work with your transition team.

John, we needed you to be like Goldwater and like Reagan but always John McCain. The straight-talk express made an exit from the interstate when you uttered these campaign killing words, “I am suspending my campaign to go to Washington…” Yikes!

No, John, the words should have been, “See, this is what I am talking about…Washington is in chaos and that is why I am out here and this is where I will stay until I am elected to return to Washington to fix it!”

The marble steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in downtown Prescott, Arizona are going to be cold tomorrow night, John. If you win, no one will notice and the crowds will be record and the partying on Whiskey Row will be raucous.

If you lose, it will be a bone-biting and bitterly cold night. John, all great political leaders have been able to create their own weather. If the polls are wrong (some will be) and if you are elected (you might be) it will be sunny and warm at midnight in November on the steps of the Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona.

Someone recently said, “If the stock market can climb 800 point for 5 days before the election and if Osama Bin Laden is captured John McCain might have a chance to be elected President of the United States.”

iVoteAmerica agrees. Although, recent calls for a shake up in the McCain campaign would also help, together with a strong showing in the next debate.

Let’s get real, however. The Barack Obama train has implemented the most sophisticated election strategy in history.

Obama’s skillful use of the Internet, early focus on caucuses, new registrations, younger voters, smaller contributions, rejection of public funding, carefully targeted advertisement and his self-styled low-keyed, reasoned persona has truly transformed election strategies of the future.

McCain’s bulky, old-line approach leaves him with a serious image issue. He looks old, he sounds old and he debates with an old line style. If it walks like a duck…well, you get it.

McCain still has time to win but it will require him and his staff to walk, error free, on the razor’s edge for another 22 days.

It may be too little, too late for John McCain.