"Fast and Furious," That is the name given to this ongoing, blood soaked debacle of the Obama administration's scandal, running guns to Mexican drug cartels. One of these guns has already been used to kill at least one ATF agent, and as many as 11 other people have been killed by guns traced back to Operation "Fast and Furious." Yet mainstream media coverage of our administration's gun running scam has been anything but fast or furious. Until recently. coverage has been all but non-existent.
I first learned the Obama administration was involved in gun running, to the already crime riddled cities of Mexico, about a week ago. It was a very short item on one of the mainstream news channels. I looked up Fast and Furious on the internet, thinking I'd find a few recent stories. Instead, I was astounded by the massive volume of information I found, and even more astounded when I saw that some people have known our president was involved in running guns for years. Of course, Obama has denied not only that he authorized this operation, but denied even having knowledge of it. Others involved say he knew from the beginning.
[http://www.youtube.com/...]
Next, an ATF agent says he was ordered to allow the sale of guns to cartels.
[http://www.youtube.com/...
Which one do you believe? Regardless, it's hard to believe that a story of this importance could be so ignored. I mean, the Obama administration, via the ATF, selling assault weapons, to the ultra-violent drug cartels in Mexico struck me as news worthy. Yet, aside from some youtube videos, and articles and blogs on small, on the edges sites and publications, this story has been well under the media radar.
It's also known now that these same weapons, so breezily sold to hardcore criminal cartels who take human lives without hesitation, have made their way right back across the border and used against Americans. These drug cartel folks don't follow the rules. Now it appears that our own government doesn't either. But it seems some important people don't think the American people have the right to know what their own government is doing? Or at least not until Obama is locked in as the Democrat's nominee?
Obama apologist are quick to point out that this operation started under the George Bush Jr. administration, though this is also a suspect claim. Still, this is just like the wars that Obama was supposed to end, and the economic problems that he was supposed to have been working so hard to fix. Remember the "Change" we were all told Obama was going to bring about. How we would all move ahead, change the way our government had become corrupted by politicians, bringing home the troops, focus on America's problems first, and finding new ways to deal with the rest of the world?
The promises from candidate Obama were Fast and Furious, but once in office, a change seemed to come over him. His impassioned speeches, which could had had great effect from his presidential "bully pulpit," suddenly stopped. People asked "what the hell?" This guy came into the presidency with vast support from the American people, and Democrats holding the majority of seats in both houses of Congress. We can only imagine what we Democrats might have accomplished, if only we'd had the leader so many people believed we had just elected. Obama's actions. or lack of them, will remain a mystery to most of us. There just seems to be no logical reason for him to have gone from fiery candidate to weakling commander in chief.
His lack of keeping his promises is bad enough, his giving away the store to the GOP is even worse, but what could he possibly have been thinking to sell guns to Mexico's already powerful drug cartels? What sort of change is this? And back to the original question, why is the mainstream media not reporting on this story?
Well, I believe the mainstream media is bought and paid for by a few billionaires, and so they are told what stories they can and cannot report on. But, anyone who watches mainstream news channels knows that there are now channels that report stories, working under either a right or left wing agenda. So, why hasn't one or the other broken this scandal wide open yet.
I think the left wing news folks are hoping that, magically, this story will never surface. A pretty silly notion when you consider the sort of people who now run Republican campaigns. The term "Swift Boating" springs to mind. Back in the 2004 elections, John Kerry got a up close and personal experience with what Rove and other GOP propagandist are capable of. If they could do this to Kerry, who had no real scandals to work with, think about what they will do to Obama and "Fast and Furious."
Now, with the 2012 elections looming, and Obama's approval ratings in the polls hovering around a dismal 40%, it doesn't take too much imagination to guess what's coming. I believe that they are just waiting for Obama to be locked in as the Democrat's nominee, then Fast and Furious will bob right to the surface of this campaign. In fact, I think that every American, and the rest of the world, will hear about little else than this scandal, should he be nominated.
All things considered, "Fast and Furious" does not make the possibility of Obama winning a second term in office very likely. Recent polls have shown that Republicans are already more fired up about voting in 2012, even though they don't have a candidate yet, than Democrats are about about voting for Obama. Most Democrats seem to be willing to vote for Obama only to block any Republican from getting elected.
The GOP does have a sad line up of candidates, but once this scandal really breaks, the present disappointment in Obama could turn to open disgust. It could well energize the GOP, while knocking what's left of the wind out of the sails of Obama's flagging support.
What's more, if the Democrats don't go to the polls, this could easily lead to a Republican sweep in political offices all across the nation. It would also mean that the next president will likely be a Tea Party candidate. You decide for yourself what this would mean for the middle and working class Americans now hanging on by their finger nails, hoping desperately for things to get better.
With our Supreme Court Justices aging, the next president will very likely be able to stack that all important court with right wingers. Decades of progress could be turned back in a Fast and Furious flurry, and these justices could rule that court for decades to come. All and all, it's a pretty grim situation for the Democrats, unless they open their collective eyes and convince Obama that he should step aside and allow someone else to run in 2012. Someone who the Democrats can have some faith in, who hasn't failed to keep promises, someone without a scandal hanging over them. If the Democrats hope to have a chance in 2012, they will need a candidate they can trust, and, sadly, Obama is not that candidate.