Obamaganda

As always, anybody who pays attention to this stuff already knew it was going on, indeed knew the Obamunists would flagrantly violate federal law to engage in Orwellian propaganda efforts of all sorts from the day he declared his presidential candidacy.  For us, this is simply confirmation of what was already long suspected.

But Congressman Issa's report isn't for us, but for that burgeoning groundswell of suckers who are only now figuring out just how badly they got taken two years ago.  For them, it is a major piece of the bitter education they've been undergoing for the past year:

Since the beginning of the Obama Administration on January 20, 2009, ordinary Americans have financed and been exposed to an unprecedented number of public relations and propaganda efforts. Federal spending for public relations contracts rose to historically-high levels during the Bush Administration. Under one-party rule in 2009, the White House used the machinery of the Obama campaign to tout the President’s agenda through inappropriate and sometimes unlawful public relations and propaganda initiatives. Congress buoyed the administration’s propaganda efforts by increasing federal spending on public relations for the first time since 2005.

The Obama administration frequently used federal resources to promote the president’s agenda. In many cases, the administration relied on the reach and resources of federal agencies and their personnel to promote certain of the President’s favorite programs. The White House also leveraged ties to the arts and entertainment community to embed propaganda in the content of television programming and artwork. These propaganda efforts violated appropriations riders and federal law prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda purposes.

The White House also used its inherent visibility advantages to multiply the effectiveness of websites containing misleading and controversial information. The White House used its resources to push visitors to websites that urge grassroots activism based on false and misleading information. The president’s right to sell his policy recommendations to Congress and the public is not disputed; however, using the resources of the federal government to activate a sophisticated propaganda and lobbying campaign is an abuse of office and a betrayal of the president’s pledge to create “an unprecedented level of openness in Government.”

Instead of facilitating openness, the public relations and propaganda activities of the White House have had precisely the opposite effect. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has historically deemed activities involving “covert propaganda” to be unlawful. In those cases, the source of the public relations or propaganda materials did not disclose his or her identity as a federal employee or contractor. Many of the Obama administration’s propaganda activities are unlawful because they are covert. Furthermore, several programs closely resemble those decried by Democrats and ruled unlawful by GAO during the Bush Administration.

This report examines several of the most visible public relations and propaganda efforts during the first year of the Obama administration. Viewed collectively, these activities reveal an administration better suited to campaign-style self-promotion than to providing transparent and honest leadership.

Like I said, nothing new to those of us who've been paying attention the whole time.  Ensign Ed and Ace have some of the aforequoted examples.

T'will be fascinating to watch how many of the Clintonoids' stonewalling and "the best defense is a good offense" smear tactics the Obamunists employ against Chairman-in-waiting Issa's oversight offensive.  One of the (at least) side effects of the partisan blitzkrieg Red Barry has pursued on all fronts since his immaculation is that he's thrown so much crap in the air that the incoming Republican overseers will practically have to hold hearings 24/7 for the ensuing two years to even make a dent in the workload.  And you KNOW how the Obamedia will spin those efforts: "Racist Republicans persecuting poor, oppressed First African-American president".  "High-tech lynching".  "Do-nothing Congress" that "doesn't care about the American people" but just "carrying out a witchhunt" against "The man who finally gave us health care".  Just think of the most gag-inducing, stomach-turning, well, propaganda you can imagine, and the Obamupress - and Obama regime, right in Chairman Issa's face - will spew it full force.

The new majority might have to pick its spots on all this garbage.  Might not constitute the carrying out of pure justice, but we can't get so lost in the 2011 trees that we lose sight of the 2012 forest - of which investigating illegal Obamunist propagandizing will be but a plank in the foundation.