I cannot claim credit for this. The author remains ananymous though. I am genuinely interested in your reaction and comments.
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"If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and referred to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States, would you have said that he is clueless?
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas, would you have thought he was a self important, conceded, egotistical idiot?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything?
Don't worry. He did all this, and more, in his first year as president -- so you'll have three years to come up with an answer."
1969: Elected to Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees.
1974: Elected governor of California, succeeding Ronald Reagan, who had defeated his father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, in 1966.
1976: In the middle of his first term, Brown runs for president. Loses to eventual nominee, Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.
1978: Property-tax cutting Proposition 13 passes. Brown opposed the measure, but later called himself a "born-again tax cutter."
1980: In the middle of his second term, Brown again seeks the Democratic nomination for president. He finishes a distant third behind Sen. Edward Kennedy and the eventual nominee, incumbent President Carter.
1982: Brown doesn't seek a third term and instead runs for U.S. Senate, losing to Republican Pete Wilson.
1980s: After losing to Wilson, Brown studies Buddhism in Japan.
1989: Elected chairman of the California Democratic Party.
1991: Briefly explores running to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston.
1991: Brown makes his third run for president. Often clashes with eventual nominee, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.
2010: Announces campaign for California governor.
Opposed Prop. 13 before he was for it: Tax surpluses that accumulated during Brown's administration led to the voter revolt that produced 1978's property-tax-cutting Proposition 13. Brown opposed Prop. 13 when it was proposed. (After it passed, he called himself a "born-again tax cutter.") Even the hint of opposition to Prop. 13 is political uranium in California.
Opposes the death penalty: Brown has proposed many severe punishments for criminals over the years, but the former seminarian's lifetime opposition to the death penalty has been a staple of many campaigns run against him. It will be again this year - as a majority of Californians support it.
Oakland public school system: Though he had no direct control over the schools as mayor of Oakland, Brown promised to transform the city's public schools after he took office in 1999. In 2003, the state took over the district after loaning it $100 million - one of the largest bailouts in history. The district returned to local control in 2009.
Oakland crime: Upon assuming office in Oakland, Brown promised that "by the time we're finished, there will be a lot less crime in Oakland than there is in Walnut Creek." The number of homicides rose from 60 when Brown began as mayor to 109 in 2003 before falling slightly by the time he left office. Overall crime dropped during his tenure in office.
Outtakes from his "We the People" radio show: Brown's comments on his 1995-98 talk show on KPFA in Berkeley are rife with attack-ad fodder, which Brown defends as provocative talk show bait. Like his take on the prison system: "Here's the real scam - the drug war is one of the games to get more convictions and prisoners."
Blaming Brown for gridlock: Drive-time radio ads are coming that criticize Brown's '70s-era support of high-occupancy-vehicle lanes and a slowdown of highway construction as a contributor to the state's snarled traffic.
Rose Bird: As governor, Brown appointed Bird to be chief justice of the state Supreme Court. After she invalidated the death sentence of every case she reviewed, voters in 1986 made her and two others the first judges unseated from the court. To voters older than 45, Bird's name is shorthand for "liberal judges."
Same-sex marriage: Brown signed a state law banning same-sex marriage as governor, and later defended that law and a similar ballot measure as attorney general. Then he changed position and refused to defend the voter-approved Proposition 8, which re-enacted those laws as a state constitutional amendment.
Gray Davis: The governor recalled by California voters in 2003 was Brown's chief of staff as governor.
Does the fire still burn? After running for president three times, mayor twice, U.S. Senate once, and alternately embracing and trashing party politics, voters can expect to hear plenty about Brown's unusual career path.
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
