Barack Obama as Tom Cruise in “Top Gun”

For those of you old enough to remember the film, “Top Gun”, there is a point in the film where Tom Cruise, playing the part of “Maverick”, has lost his good buddy “Goose” in an accident for which he blamed himself.  A once sure, cocky, guy who felt that he could do no wrong, and was up to any challenge, lost his confidence.

When engaged in a dogfight with Russian MiG’s, Cruise found himself seriously outgunned and outnumbered.  However, he and the other Top Gun pilots had received training to make them the best in the world.  The odds really were not as bleak as they seemed as the Top Gun pilots had air-to-air combat skills that the Russian MiG fighter pilots could not even imagine.

However, once the dogfight began in earnest, Tom Cruise froze.  He did not know how to join the fight.  His feelings of loss of his friend had left him reluctant to rely on his skills.  Back on the aircraft carrier, they were monitoring the engagement.  The men were yelling at Tom Cruise telling him to “Engage!!!,  Engage, Damn it!!!”.  Several crewmen said, “I knew it!  I knew it!” because they had warned others that Tom Cruise was not ready to fly in combat.

While precious seconds tick by, the other pilot starts screaming, “Engage!  Engage!  Maverick, where are you!!!”.  Tom Cruise looks at the dog tags of his friend hanging in his cockpit and says, “C’mon Goose talk to me.  Talk to me.”  Sweat is beading up on his forehead and his eyes look glazed and confused.

Tom Cruise portraying “Maverick” is actually acting out Barack Obama’s performance in the cockpit known as the White House.  He has superior tools, superior skills, and he’s got the “right stuff” to make a difference, but he doesn’t “engage”.  People are shouting at him all the time, “Engage, damn it!!”.  But he doesn’t.

In fact, the only time Obama does become engaged is when someone like Breitbart on Fox News cries “Foul!” and tries to discredit a member of the Obama Administration with edited video.  It happened with ACORN, and it happened with Shirley Sherrod this week.  Right-wing distortions of their views brought Van Johnson and Dawn Johnsen down, although Dawn Johnsen never even had a chance to confront her accusers.  Obama requested that she withdraw from consideration since the Republicans whined and cried and complained about her nomination.

On Progressive issues, where Obama feels little pressure, he simply does not engage at all, and leaves his supporters saying, “I knew it.  I knew it!”, believing he is not ready to make the hard decisions necessary to get this country back on track again.  We are still waiting for single payer Health Care reform.  We are still waiting for the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, even as Lt. Dan Choi, the decorated veteran, was discharged from the military this week.

Global climate change legislation has been put on hold without even a fight.  Obama has endorsed off-shore drilling, even though most Americans do not understand that the oil obtained does not go into U.S. oil reserves, it is simply sold on the open market, increasing corporate profits.  Financial reform was completely watered down at the last minute, which has now become standard operating procedure with controversial legislation.  The midnight, or in this case 3 AM, changes in the legislation always benefit the corporations.  No consumer or middle-class American benefits have ever been inserted into a bill at the 11th hour.  They do this because they believe voters are too stupid to know better and hold them accountable.

Elizabeth Warren will not be appointed to become the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency because she is not friendly enough with Wall Street.  Geithner remains Treasury Secretary and Summers remains as an adviser to President Obama, despite their lies, distortions, and culpability in the financial meltdown and the failure to monitor the bail-out process.  Rahm Emanuel remains as Chief of Staff despite calling Progressives, “F—-ing retards.”  Above all, we remain in two wars where we have no clearly defined goals and no end in sight.  These are draining our treasury, our national will, and are costing us the lives of the best America has to offer.

Tom Cruise regained his composure, and “Maverick” pulled it together, took out several Russian MiGs and saved the day.  The question remains, will Obama finally regain his composure, pull it all together and engage, saving the day in the end?  Only Barack Obama knows that answer.

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