The world, always an interesting place, has not disappointed for news in the last few weeks. Below are some thoughts on just a few recent events.

President Obama appeared this morning, the 87^th day of the Gulf oil spill, to discuss the spill and BP’s relief efforts. According to the Heritage Foundation, today was the first time since June 22 that Obama had publicly acknowledged the spill’s existence. If you’re keeping score, that’s 24 days of publicly ignoring the spill’s existence, beginning 7 days after Obama used his first Oval Office address to tell us all what a tragedy this disaster was, and how its occurrence somehow meant that we needed to pay his government significantly more in taxes.

I guess he was so busy in the intervening 24 days — nearly a month — looking for an “ass to kick,” he couldn’t find the time to mention the ongoing spill. Or maybe he was just too busy playing the latest of the 10 rounds of golf he’s enjoyed since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster — nearly half the number of rounds his predecessor, George W. Bush, played in his entire 8 year tenure.  If Nero earned permanent notoriety for fiddling while his Empire’s capital city burned, what should Obama face after playing round after round of golf while the greatest man-made environmental disaster in human history was going on?

Obama’s decision to finally acknowledge, for the first time in nearly a month, that oil is still spewing into the Gulf is a very good sign for BP’s current relief effort. His 24 days of silence on the topic suggest that there’s no way Obama would be talking oil spill now if he hadn’t been assured that there was some major ongoing, or imminent, improvement in the situation he could safely take credit for.

And speaking of energy taxes and dependence, here’s something worth noting: even the backward (to say the least) Islamic “Republic” of Iran is taking significant steps to reduce its dependence on foreign fuel sources, upping its refining capacity in hopes of cutting gasoline imports by up to 75% in the next five years. Score one for the Persian state, which has shown itself, in at least one area, to be more truly “progressive” than the rigid ideologues currently attempting to lead America while permanently sojourning in energy independence fantasyland.

A real – and “comprehensive,” to use a pet liberal term in its correct setting – solution to America’s imported energy problem can be found in more efficient use of our domestic fossil fuel sources, and in expanding our use of nuclear energy. However, rather than seeking to implement actual solutions to our energy problem, the American left remains obsessed with their radical – and incredibly unrealistic ideas of what so-called “clean energy” should be. This, unfortunately, will do nothing but further increase our dependence on foreign energy sources, while further driving down an already failing Obama economy.

Speaking of backward nations, the world’s largest gathering of them — the United Nations — finally came to a decision on what action to take with regard to North Korea’s sinking of the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan, which resulted in the deaths of 46 ROK sailors.  Unsurprisingly, that decision was to condemn the act, but to make no mention whatsoever of the culprit. The Presidential Statement released by the UN Security Council paid lip service to South Korea’s claim of North Korean culpability, but then proceeded to “[take] note of the responses from other relevant parties, including from the DPRK, which has stated that it had nothing to do with the incident.”

The result, according to the statement, was that “the Security Council condemns the attack which led to the sinking of the Cheonan” — whoever the unnamed culprit might be.  Unsurprisingly, the former community organizer’s administration declared this milquetoast condemnation of an act with no mention of its culprit to be a strong, bold move against the out of control regime in Pyongyang.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that the UNSCR’s statement “sends a clear message that such irresponsible and provocative behavior … will not be tolerated.”  North Korea, on the other hand, declared the non-condemnation condemnation a “great diplomatic victory” for Pyongyang.

I’ll leave it to you to decide which party — Obama administration official Hillary Clinton, or the Pyongyang regime — hit closer to the actual truth with their post-Presidential Statement spin.

Via our own Dan McLaughlin, it looks like Mitt Romney is polling better with disaffected Obama voters than he is with Republicans.  This tells me two things about those respective groups of potential voters: (1) That the former hope-and-changers who are now disaffected Obama voters remain as gullible as ever, and (2) that Republican voters are more knowledgeable about their potential candidates in general, and the architect of the RomneyCare disaster in particular, than we often give them credit for.

I’ll look with interest for further degradation of Romney’s numbers among Republicans in the next week, now that an “adviser” of his has been reported as saying former Alaska Governor, and current Tea Party/activist Republican darling, Sarah Palin is “not a serious human being.”

If you need a crystal-clear sign of how radioactive Democrats have become during their period of governmental dominance under President Obama (D-IL), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), look no further than South Carolina, where the idea of supporting the Democrat establishment candidate was so distasteful to voters that they nominated an unemployed veteran with a dishonorable military discharge who had no campaign apparatus, and no cash on hand other than a stack of unemployment checks (thanks, Democrats!) he saved up to afford the $10,440 qualifying fee.

The fact that Rep. Clyburn (D-SC) and his allies in the crumbling Democrat establishment have called Greene a “Republican plant” speaks to just how out of touch the Democrats in government really are with those they purport to represent. Expect a lot more of this kicking, screaming, and Obama-style reflexive finger-pointing this November, when the American people exercise their right and their desire to throw out the dictocrats who are currently piloting our ship of state into the rockiest shoreline they can find.

I’ve been skeptical of The Daily Caller — from its name, which sounds like the shady guy living up the street who your mom tell you to call “uncle,” to its overall usefulness as a news site — for quite some time now.  However, Tucker Carlson has truly hit one out of the park with his appropriation of http://keitholbermann.com, his personal utilization of the email address [email protected], and his promise to hand out @keitholbermann.com email addresses to TDC readers.  The pleasure gained from watching militant leftists’ heads explode at this (here’s a sample) is only exceeded by the eminently gratifying experience of watching an arrogant windbag who makes his meager living calling out individuals as “The Worst Person in the World” on a nightly basis absolutely flip out over an enterprising commentator’s gall in poking some good-natured fun at him.

Way to go, Tucker!

Even The Politico has woken up to the fact that the Left’s New Great Communicator, Barack Obama, and his administration as a whole, have turned out “to be not especially good at politics or communications.” Add to that the fact that more people are realizing that, as NRO’s Andy McCarthy put it, “race obsession of the Obama administration is a sight to behold,” and the public perception woes of this administration may only increase in the near future.

I was at Turner Field last night for the Atlanta Braves’ 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.  Like a fair number of Braves fans this year, I watch the team as much to see rookie phenom Jason Heyward as anything else.  The young man — at 20 years old, he just barely qualifies as a “man” — is not only a phenomenally talented baseball player, but his striking level of humility, poise, and maturity sets him apart from his peers.  Compare this young man, who is the consummate team player and who goes about his business on the field and off with maturity and professionalism, to those in his age cohort who are (or in some cases were) playing college football up GA Highway 316 at my alma mater, the University of Georgia, and the difference between a young man raised to have humility, and those who have been raised to feel 100% entitled, could not be made more clear.

Is there a better metaphor for Barack Obama’s out-of-touch presidency than his statement this morning that he didn’t feel the record earthquake that shook DC this morning? Okay, okay — there are plenty of metaphors for Obama’s amazing lack of a connection with the American people, but this is a pretty good one.

In the interest of time, space, and your sanity, that’s it for now. I’ll be back next week with more food for thought.