Job-searching for Obama

Things are not going well for Barack Hussein Obama and his stay in the White House. Obama's poll numbers are down below 40 percent. Even the Chicago Tribune, Obama so-called hometown newspaper, recently ran an editorial suggesting he should withdraw from the 2012 campaign.

Steve Chapman sums it up: "His approval rating is at its lowest level ever. His party just lost two House elections – one in a district it had held for 88 consecutive years. He's staked his future on the jobs bill, which most Americans don't think would work."

What if Obama does withdraw? What will he do and where will he go?

Job openings for ex-occupants of the White House are few. Most of the positions are already filled. The office of "failed ex-president and Palestinian promoter" is held by Jimmy Carter.

The office of "ex-president with a global initiative that includes women" is held by Bill Clinton. Furthermore, if Clinton and Obama are in the same room, Clinton takes up all the oxygen.

The offices of "ex-president as gentleman" is jointly held by the Bushes. With all those positions filled, what will Obama find?

It's unlikely he can get a job in Chicago. There is friction between him and his old chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, so working for the city of Chicago is unlikely.

Even the Democratic Party does not offer a viable option for employment. The DNC got what it wanted from Obama in the form of Obamacare – so why should they use him any longer, especially if he withdraws?

Maybe Obama could withdraw and go on the lecture circuit with another book, like Sarah Palin. There are two problems with this plan: He has to write another book and, well, Obama is no Palin.

Obama is not as quick-witted as Palin when he is without a teleprompter. He won't last long as a TV personality. In today's politics, if you live by the press you will die by the press.

Perhaps audiences overseas will pay millions to hear Obama give a teleprompter speech. This being the case, he may be forced to relocate there. That may make him an international personality and open up a position at the U.N.

But on second thought, that's not an option, either. Obama is not viewed by the powers that be at the U.N. as a talented diplomat.

Maybe Obama can get his old job back teaching at the University of Chicago. That's unlikely, too, because the faculty there is already overloaded with socialists.

Without a job, where will Obama go? He has a house in Chicago's Hyde Park, but the taxes on it are high, and his probable government pension of about $191,000 a year may not allow him the standard of living his life in the White House provided.

Obama cannot run for mayor of Chicago, nor will he be slated again for the office of U.S. senator. He's already been a senator, and the Democratic Party wants fresh meat, not someone who folded amid scandal and failed policies.

Maybe he can move to Hawaii or Kenya and see what happens there. But no matter where he goes, Obama will not be left alone.

Certainly, the Birthers are not going to give up on investigating Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." Documents to support the Birthers' case may be easier to obtain after Obama is out of the White House.

Furthermore, the support Obama has will evaporate after he leaves Washington. More and more scandals and examples of pay-to-play will be publicized. With that, his reputation will suffer.

If the Birthers are successful in proving their case, then a felony conviction may void Obama's pension. He will go from the White House to the big house. What kind of state funeral do we give a presidential usurper?

Who will contribute to an Obama Library after he is gone from the White House? The question of where Obama was born and other suppressed documents about Obama's life will open up again as soon as the idea of a library is floated. Do you know anyone who will contribute to such a library?

Then there is Obama's memory and the impact of that memory's going forward. Harold Washington Jr. was the first black mayor of Chicago. A downtown library is named after Washington, but his controversial term in office has been mostly forgotten by Chicagoans.

Will Obama be forgotten the same way? After Harold Washington, Chicago never had another black mayor. The city never will. Has Obama ruined it for blacks by being the first affirmative action resident of the White House? Because of Obama, there may never be a black U.S. president.

If there is an "After Obama," it won't be a pretty picture for the Democrats or Obama, himself. That's why Obama may not withdraw, but instead take the Democratic Party down in flames with him.

Robert Klein Engler, a long-time contributor to the now defunct Chronwatch-America.com, lives in Des Plaines, Ill.