Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China 20.

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?

No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans.

We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are.. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan. But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course.

It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.

In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."

Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that. Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.

Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."

"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union

"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." � Tacitus

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.." -

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From Cook County Republican Party

Dear Fellow Republicans:

I am very excited about the strength of our County ticket from top to bottom, and especially the resounding primary victory by Roger Keats for County Board President. Senator Keats has demonstrated that he is a proven vote-getter and will be a formidable opponent to the tax-and-spend liberal Toni Preckwinkle. The other contested race was also won by our endorsed candidate for Cook County Board of Review, Dan Patlak.

At the statewide level, Congressman Mark Kirk is the early favorite against in the race to fill Barack Obama's old Senate seat. Kirk's experience in Congress and his strong record of opposing the Obama Administration on spending and socialized medicine have in positioned him well for victory.

The Governor's race remains at a razor-thin margin with Senator Bill Brady holding a 406 vote lead. We'd be proud to have either of these two fine candidates represent the Republican Party through the General Election. The running mate to the gubernatorial candidate is downstater Jason Plummer who ran an excellent campaign and will also carry the Republican message with honor and a clear focus to victory in November.

Lee Roupas, Chairman

Illinois Republican Links:

Illinois Republicans cranked up: Battle Cry, "Illinois isNext"
Illinois Republicans, giddy about their 2010 prospects to grab the Senate and governor seats from Democrats are holding a unity breakfast here underscored by the slogan "Illinois Is Next," a reference to GOP wins in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey...read more...

Quinn says running mate should consider stepping down

Gov. Pat Quinn today said his new running mate, a Chicago pawnbroker with a 2005 domestic battery arrest, should consider withdrawing from the race because his background could hurt the Democratic ticket in the November general election...read more...

GOP Gubernatorial Race neck-and-neck

The wild GOP race for governor remained too close to call Wednesday, as top contenders Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard were separated by only a few hundred votes...read more...

Roger Keats decisively wins Primary for County Board President

Looking to retake control of Cook County's $3 billion budget -- and the 25,000 jobs on the county payroll -- Roger Keats won the Republican nomination for County Board President on Tuesday, defeating John Garrido...read more...

Click here or below to view the Illinois Republican Party Unity Party video "Illinois is Next:"