http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/120313-681403-ofa-obama-newtown-shooting-anniversary.htm Obama political group sets house parties for Newtown shooting anniversary
By Andrew Malcolm
Posted 09:00 AM ET
Never let a crisis -- or tragedy -- go to waste.
So, here we are now with a weakened ObamaNation building an organizing event around the awfulness in Newtown, where a 22-year-old nut-job killed 20 innocent youngsters and six adult caretakers.
No horrified parent or adult watching Connecticut a year ago needs reminding of what a national gut-kick that was. We tried to deal with that day here back then.
President Obama, of course, went to Newtown to utter another empty vow. He launched a new "national discussion," public distractions that go nowhere but keep Americans from talking Benghazi, NSA, FBI, IRS and millions of jobs that never come.
Obama had Joe "I Ride the Train, You Know" Biden draw up new gun restrictions, another cynical symbol, knowing full well they'd go nowhere in Congress.
Now, with gun legislation still dead, the president's political arm, Offal for America, is staging an anniversary event. OFA is where the Chicagoan parks political cronies in donor-paid jobs ostensibly mobilizing gullible grassroots to drive Obama's political agenda in Washington. How's that working?
You can count OFA successes on the fingers of your family dog.
But, hey, OFA needs to update and grow its massive email list for you-know-what's, a few dollars at a time. And what better time to get that done than during an event ostensibly marking an awful one? OFA wants people to host "remembrance events" in their homes to talk up deeper background checks for civilian gun buys, among other things.
However, December's a really tough month to graft yet another grassroots organizing extravaganza onto the calendar. It's pretty full of existing observances -- those late-month holidays that all malls and some religions observe.
December 7 was taken. The 12th seemed like a possibility, but that's the 15th anniversary of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment vote on Bill Clinton.
Exactly 74 December 15th's ago was the huge Atlanta premiere of "Gone With the Wind," as in bye-bye good Obama poll numbers.
The 16th could have worked, except that's the 240th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. (Obama doesn't do tea party.)
How about the 17th, the 110th anniversary of flight? The Wrights' crude craft flew for barely a minute, but that's still longer than the ObamaCare website can stay up.
The 19th has that Clinton problem again, the whole House voted to impeach No. 42.
Maybe the 20th? Turns out, that's the same day Russia's Czar Peter the Great simply ordered New Year's moved from September 1 to January 1. (Obama likes imperial, but he can't do czars post-GM bailout.)
Well, what about the next day, the 21st?
Uh, no. That's the 20th anniversary of President Boris Yeltsin abolishing Russia's KGB, rendering Secret Agent Vladimir Putin unemployed. (Obama can't offend the Shirtless One.)
The 23rd is close to Christmas. Also the same day a depressed Vincent van Gogh lopped off an ear. (Boss doesn't appreciate big-ear talk.)
The 29th looked good for a while. But that's the same knight that King Henry dispatched four hired swords to whack the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett for resisting executive orders.
The 30th could have worked. The 210th anniversary of the American flag-hoisting over New Orleans, finalizing the Louisiana Purchase. But now that state's got a no-nonsense Republican governor.
The 31st marks the 134th anniversary of Thomas Edison unveiling the electric light-bulb in New Jersey. (Oops, another popular GOP gov.)
So, that pretty much left OFA with the 14th. Not ideal. George Washington died that day and Obama doesn't like any GW. But 1799's a long time ago. And the Newtown anniversary problem might be finessed dubbing the political lobbying meetings as 'remembrance events.'
But then, watch out. Some snotty columnist is sure to point out that December 14th is also the birthday of Nero, the haughty Roman emperor who feigned caring for the people but played basketball while his capital city burned.
