Who's that guy running for president?

After the spectacles of the first three election debates, I'm not surprised I haven't seen any Obama/Biden re-election posters.

Well actually, driving around my neighborhood yesterday, I noticed one Obama lawn-sign. I did a double take and almost ran off the road!

It was the only Obama sign I've seen anywhere and speaks volumes about the extent of Obama's loss of his base – or what was his base.

I live in the belly of the liberal beast in Northern California – San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Walnut Creek, San Jose and innumerable other cities.

Democrats get elected and have a lifetime job with all the bennies and connections.

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Dianne Feinstein: San Francisco Board of Supervisors, then president of the Board, then mayor, then three terms as California senator and now running again; if she wins, it would make 24 years in the U.S. Senate.

Pete Stark was first elected to Congress in 1973, representing the 13^th District. That's 39 years; he's running again.

Nancy Pelosi has represented the 8^th Congressional District, which encompasses most of San Francisco City and County, for 22 years and she's running again.

Barbara Boxer was first on the Marin County Board of Supervisors and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. She's still there.

But a lifetime in Democrat politics doesn't just refer to the Bay Area. A classic case is Jerry Brown: Board of Trustees for the L.A. Community College District, then California secretary of state, then California governor, then mayor of Oakland, then California attorney general and now governor again!

In the middle of all that, he was chairman of the California Democratic Party, made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate and tried three times to win the Democratic nomination for president.

Remember: His father was California governor, too.

Jerry never gives up, and the Californian sheep keep re-electing him and many others statewide.

These politicians are so confident of re-election that they barely campaign, and they're so contemptuous of opponents that they never agree to a debate.

For challengers to these entrenched Democrats, the opponent is always an empty chair.

Thanks for that concept to Clint Eastwood.

During Obama's first presidential campaign, there were signs everywhere to capture the imagination of potential voters.

My mailbox overflowed with mail from every lesser candidate hoping to latch onto the Obama bandwagon.

The media were filled with commercials, speeches, pundits, and what we loosely call "news coverage" of the candidate. If you wanted specifics on what this new and mysterious candidate had in mind for our future – you were hard pressed to know.

We got "hope and change" with glitz and showmanship. It was fancied up with adjectives but limited on specifics.

We were told he had compassion and that he cared.
We weren't told what we were "hoping" for, nor were we told what the promised "change" would entail.

Obama assumed Americans were so soured on everything that vapid promises for the future were enough for victory.

He told us he was promising "fundamental change" for our country.

Strange isn't it, that not one enterprising reporter thought to ask him just exactly what that meant?

They didn't ask, and there weren't enough thinking voters to press the issue.

But enough voters bought the Democrat Kool-Aid and elected Obama, and he's spent the last four years steamrolling that hidden agenda on the country with more in store if he's re-elected.

Nothing's changed. He speaks to us in platitudes and attempts to sell the same flim-flam.

But something's different now. Obama has a record, and unfortunately for him – and for the country, too – it's not a record he can run on.

Oh, he pushed through Obamacare – except that the majority of Americans don't like it and don't want it, and that becomes more evident as people learn what they'll lose and how much it will cost them.

Oh, there's the fact the war in Iraq ended – except the decision to pull out was made under Bush; Obama just followed the plan.

Oh, and we're getting out of Afghanistan on a date certain – as Obama and Biden keep repeating.

But Americans increasingly notice that while we count down the calendar, our troops remain sitting ducks for roadside bombs and "friendly fire" from people we've trained to replace us when we leave that God-forsaken country – if we ever do. There are allegations discussions are under way in the administration to extend that "end" date.

Obama brags about "ending" the war – but he never uses the word "winning."

What's the point of war if you don't plan to secure victory against the enemy?

Oh, I forgot, Obama doesn't name the enemy. There are no terrorists, and there is no terrorism.

Fort Hood? 9/11? Benghazi?

But, Osama bin Laden is dead.

Wow! That sure put an end to terrorism.

Americans know all this. They also know Obama has put this country on the economic cliff.

All this is reflected in the only Obama sign I've seen.

The homeowner is reusing his '08 Obama sign. With black paint, he crossed out the '08 date and wrote in '12.

It really is the economy – stupid.

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