Posts Tagged ‘Barack Obama’

John Boehner’s Patriotism Deficit

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Does John Boehner give a damn about our country? Or is he motivated purely by politics. The answer’s obvious.

John Boehner’s Patriotism Deficit (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

John Boehner has made his aims clear
As the debt ceiling deadline draws near.
Doing good ain’t his role.
“Stop Obama’s” his goal.
What a cavalier, faux budgeteer.

Limerick Ode To Unbalanced Republicans

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Obama threatened to veto that cockamamie Republican “cut, cap, and balance” bill.

Limerick Ode To Unbalanced Republicans
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Republicans, please cut your crap.
Enough with your “balance,” “cut,” “cap!”
While you’re busily bashing
Obama, you’re crashing
Our credit and markets. What pap!

Limerick Ode To Mark Halperin

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

By now you surely know that MSNBC has suspended its senior political analyst Mark Halperin for calling President Obama “a dick” on Joe Scarborough’s Morning Joe. (Halperin, who is also an editor-at large for Time) usually does a better job of hiding his pro-Republican bias.)

Limerick Ode To Mark Halperin
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I always suspected that Mark
Had a bias unspeakably stark.
Well he gave it away
In a dickish display.
With his epithet, Mark jumped the shark.

Obama Fund Raising Haiku

Monday, June 27th, 2011

President Obama has been courting wealthy donors with a new program called Presidential Partners — the kind of donors who can afford a $75,800 donation to the Obama Victory Fund.

The effort to court deep-pocketed backers comes amid uncertainty about whether Obama will be able to reproduce the level of small donations that were estimated to have made up about half of the $745 million he raised in the 2008 campaign.

That brings me to this haiku:

Prez seeks large donors.
Small donors already gave
at the groc’ry store.

Limerick Ode To Economic Sabotage

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Are Republicans deliberately undermining and sabotaging the economy and jobs creation to make sure Obama’s a one-term President? Of course they are!

Limerick Ode To Economic Sabotage
By Madeleine Begun Kane

The Republican scheme: Block a rally!
Cuz a surge in the job market tally
Helps Obama retain
His prize seat; paycheck pain
Will ensure an Obama finale.

Who’s Our President, Again?

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

A good way to gauge a Republican pol’s classiness quotient is his or her response to Osama bin Laden’s killing:

Do they congratulate everyone who deserves credit, including President Obama?

Do they act as if Barack Obama was merely carrying out Bush’s bidding?

Do they pretend Obama doesn’t even exist?

Needless to say, Sarah Palin has failed the classiness test.

Who’s Our President, Again?
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Some Republican comments show class
And give credit where due without sass:
Mitt Romney and Dub
And Pawlenty don’t snub
Prez Obama. But Palin’s an ass.

Limerick Ode To Bin Laden’s Death

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Limerick Ode To Bin Laden’s Death
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Republicans had a great plan:
Make Barack seem an alien man.
So bin Laden’s demise
(A stunning surprise)
Turns their plot to a flash in the pan.

Donald Trump Outsmarts Himself

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

People tend to assume that Trump owns all the stuff his name is emblazoned on. However, he isn’t nearly as wealthy as he’d have us believe. But he still has his good name. Or does he?

Donald Trump Outsmarts Himself
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Trump is playing a dangerous game:
His most noteworthy asset’s his name.
He gains media drama
With lies re Obama,
But devalues what’s left of his fame.

Open Limerick To Birthers

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

Hey Birthers, in between mouthing off about Obama and demanding the already-furnished proof that Obama was born in the U.S., I have a fun new assignment for you: How about ranting about Mitt Romney and demanding Romney’s elusive certificate of live birth?

What’s the matter Donald “Birther” Trump? Can’t you afford any more investigators?

Open Limerick To Birthers
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Certifiable birth record pests
Keep beating their paranoid chests.
Yet they don’t have a fit
Over Romney, yes Mitt —
Where’s their int’rest in Mitt-record quests?

Author’s Note: For the record (and for the sarcasm-challenged) I’m confident that both Obama and Romney were born in the United States.

(You can find born-related haiku here.)

Newt Strikes Out Again

Monday, April 4th, 2011

I really have to give Newt Gingrich credit — he’s consistent in his visceral hatred for all things Obama. Here’s Newt’s latest gem of a quote in response to President Obama’s reelection campaign announcement:

“Here’s a president who 18 months before the election is going to use his office to extort contributions on a scale we’ve never seen before,” Gingrich said in New Hampshire where he addressed the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “He’s in effect trying to create a Chicago style machine for the whole country with a billion dollars.”

That brings me to my latest limerick:

Newt Strikes Out Again
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Here’s another new Newt-think contortion —
(Newt’s brain cells seem packed with distortion.)
He was fine when Prez Bush
Had a fund-raising push.
Let a Dem do the same? It’s extortion.

That Newt’s A Beaut (Limerick)

Friday, March 25th, 2011

I have very mixed feelings about Obama’s handling of Libya and U.S. involvement in military operations against Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. But unlike Newt Gingrich, I don’t routinely contradict myself on the topic, while pretending to think about running for president.

That Newt’s A Beaut
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Newt Gingrich is caught in a bind
Cuz he can’t resist changing his mind.
Unable to choose
From his Libyan views,
He’s had lots of them — all ill-defined.

There’s a method behind Newt’s mad song:
It’s condemning Obama as wrong.
If Obama should do
What Newt counsels, on cue
Mister Newt to that view says “So long.”

A Pair of Limericks for a Pairless President

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Unlike many of my fellow progressives, I never thought Obama was a liberal. But now I’m beginning to wonder if he’s even a Democrat. In any event, he certainly isn’t a leader.

Needless to say, I’m furious about the Bush tax cut extension deal Obama made with Republicans, and I’m glad that Speaker Pelosi is taking a strong stand against it.

Here’s a pair of limericks about Obama’s abject surrender to the GOP:

A Pair Of Limericks For A Pairless President
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Obama, you’re being a heel
By making this terrible deal.
You’re acting the fool
With this “compromise” gruel
Which will damage our land’s commonweal.

Obama’s demeanor is frayed
He seems ornery, angry, dismayed.
Will he finally fight
The Republican right?
No, he’s mad at the Dems he betrayed.

Premature Concession Syndrome — A Remedial Limerick

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

I’ve finally figured out what’s wrong with President Obama: He suffers from PCS (Premature Concession Syndrome.) The latest example is his proposed federal employee wage freeze. But as Rachel Maddow said last night in her Charlie Brown commentary: “This White House consistently gives up its concessions at the start, before getting anything in return.”

Here’s hoping this open limerick to President Obama helps:

Premature Concession Syndrome — A Remedial Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Obama, it’s Law 101
That in deal making don’t jump the gun:
Never give stuff away
With the hope that one day
You might get something back — this ain’t done.

Your opponent will simply want more.
He will threaten to walk out the door
Unless you accede
To his limitless greed.
Learn this rule or you never will score.

You claim that you earned a JD.
I’ve got one of my own, so you see
Why I don’t understand
How you fail to demand
Quid pro quo from the damn GOP.

Selective Memories Bail Out Bush

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

President Obama is hoping Americans won’t have “selective memory” and blame him for problems he inherited from Bush. Unfortunately they do, as this poll illustrates:

Only about a third of Americans (34%) know that the government’s bailout of banks and financial institutions was enacted under the Bush administration. Nearly half (47%) incorrectly say that the Troubled Asset Relief Program – widely known as TARP – was signed into law by President Obama.

And you can bet that the bailout misinformation percentage is a lot higher for the virulently anti-bailout crowd. It sure would be nice if they knew the truth about the bailout:

For the record, the financial industry bailout passed in October 2008. It was requested by a conservative Republican administration (George W. Bush and Dick Cheney). It was enthusiastically endorsed by the House Republican leadership (John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Roy Blunt), the Senate Republican leadership (Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl), both members of the Republican presidential ticket (John McCain and Sarah Palin), and assorted, high-profile conservative voices (Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck).

That leads me to my latest limerick:

Selective Memories Bail Out Bush
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Disliking Obama is fine,
But please be correct when you whine.
Don’t like bailouts of banks?
It’s to Bush you owe “thanks.”
Was it signed by Obama? No! Nein!

Those Sorry Republicans

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Those Sorry Republicans
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Just what’s the Republican mission?
To oppose each Obama position.
He gets tough on BP—
Gets an escrow, then see
Their response to the BP contrition:

Reps Joe Barton and Bachman and Price
By default claimed Obama ain’t nice.
He’s been mean to BP.
It a shakedown, you see.
Cuz unthinking objection’s their vice.

But fighting this fund makes no sense.
To do so’s an error immense.
The people approve.
It’s a positive move,
And opposing it makes them look dense.

Even Boehner and co seem to know
That defending BP’s a no-go.
Strikes a terrible tone,
So they rushed to disown
The pro-BP speech made by Joe.

But a hundred-plus others expressed
The same viewpoint in print. Not addressed!
It seems Boehner and co
Are pretending as though
The have solved their BP PR test.

It is clear where Republicans stand.
They are naught but a pro-corp’rate brand.
They put citizens last
And are only aghast
When a Dem gives the people a hand.

Related Posts: Kick-Ass Limerick, Haley’s Barbaric Attitude and Oily Obstruction.

Kick-Ass Limerick

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

The language police are at it again. Republicans and Fox News (sorry to be redundant) are simply horrified at President Obama’s “unpresidential” language.

What are they so pretend-upset about? Obama used the word ass in response to Matt Lauer’s oil crisis question about kicking butt.

Apparently this is extremely shocking to the same folks who had no problem with f**ks from Bush, Cheney, and McCain.

That brings me to my latest limerick:

Kick-Ass Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

The Republicans’ delicate ears
Are offended by ass, it appears.
F**k is fine from McCain,
Bush, and Cheney — that’s plain.
But ass from Barack begets jeers.

Leery About Elena

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Apparently, anti-Kagan attacks from the right have been inspiring some liberals to rally around her. But I’m not among them. Not yet, anyway.

Now for all I know, Elena Kagan may be a closet liberal. I sure hope so. But so far there’s little to suggest that Kagan’s any more liberal than President Obama, and that scares me.

Leery About Elena (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

There’s no doubt that Ms. Kagan’s quite smart.
Some say brilliant, but does she have heart?
We’ve a liberal hole.
Will she fill it with soul,
Or tip the court “right” from the start?

Dear Obama, Enough With The Voltaire!

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really tired of this line frequently used by Obama and other pols: “America can’t afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Obama usually uses this Voltaire paraphrase as an excuse to disappoint progressives yet again.

The original Voltaire quote is “The perfect is the enemy of the good,” translated from the French, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” (The literal translation actually should be, “The best is the enemy of the good.”)

This brings me to my latest double limerick:

Dear Obama, Enough With The Voltaire!
By Madeleine Begun Kane

There once was a guy named Voltaire,
A Frenchman whose wisdom pols share.
They say, “Perfect, though fine,
Is hardly divine
When it blocks the essential. So there!”

Dear Obama, this line is just guff —
An excuse for not doing enough.
So instead of excuses,
Fight right-wing abuses.
Voltaire is annoying. Hang tough!