Like the rest of America, the “Today Show” is looking at President Obama’s lousy poll numbers, brewing White House scandals, and one lousy jobs report after another. But unlike, oh, 62% of Americans, the MSM is panicked at the thought of Obama not winning a second term. And since the President has already failed and is unlikely to un-fail over the next 13 months, the MSM is looking for what’s known in the political business as a game-changer.

And so, the charlatans disguised as journalists over at NBC are trying to craft one:

The White House is getting irked about persistent speculation in the media that President Obama might dump Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his running mate in 2012 in favor of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

After hosts of NBC’s “Today” show questioned both Mr. Biden and Mrs. Clinton on consecutive days about a possible switch, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted this on his Twitter account Tuesday morning:

“I have noticed a weird @todayshow obsession with faux story of Sec. Clinton replacing @VP…Have asked both about it last 2 days on the show.”

This is also a welcome distraction for NBC. This kind of ginned-up speculation allows the “Today Show” to pretend the biggest political story of the day is anything but Fast and Furious, Solyndra, and another lousy jobs report issued just this morning. MSM-created distractions are a very large part of the MSM’s 2012 gameplan.

But is this really just the desperate MSM acting desperate and is the White House really as put-out over this as they seem?

Obviously the White House floating a Hillary-for-VP trial balloon would create havoc and an air of defeatist desperation, but…

• NBC is owned by GE.
• The Chairman and CEO of GE is Jeffrey Immelt.
• Jeffrey Immelt is a crony, supporter and adviser to President Obama.

Joe Biden might want to watch his back.

A good rule of thumb is to watch NBC and MSNBC if you want to get an idea of what the White House wants and what they are thinking. This will be especially true as 2012 heats up.

The Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced an arbitrary September 2011 cutoff for waiver applications, but right up to this deadline these exemptions continue to proliferate. According to The Hill, 106 new waivers were granted in July, bringing the total to 1,472 unions and companies that have been granted exemptions from Obamacare. And yet, the Obama administration continues to be super secretive regarding just how these waiver applications are evaluated.

But here’s one thing we do know. Approximately 50% of the waivers granted cover employees of unions even though union workers represent about 12% of the total workforce according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics!

Why are unions seemingly getting a disproportionate number of waivers? That’s just one of many questions at the center of a Judicial Watch investigation.

Recently, for example, we obtained 3,497 pages of Obamacare documents from the Obama HHS pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed on January 4, 2011.

The records include internal HHS email correspondence and strategic documents, as well as email communications with Medicare and Medicaid, and with unions and companies applying for waivers. The records also include preliminary drafts and multiple versions of the health care plan itself, along with comments from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other agencies with concerns and suggestions for revising the plan.

The majority of the email communications relate to the waivers granted by HHS exempting companies and unions from the minimum annual cap on the amount payable to an individual in benefits. (Many companies argue these caps will force them to either drop coverage or raise premiums.) The Obamacare waivers enable these companies and unions to keep their existing plans in place until January 1, 2014, when covered expenses will no longer be limited by a cap. (Just wait and see the chaos that occurs should Obamacare somehow withstand judicial scrutiny and become the law of the land.)

In a general sense, Judicial Watch simply wants to know the criteria by which a company or union is granted one of these waivers. We want to know who got them and who didn’t. We want to know what conditions mandate approval and which mandate rejection. But HHS is mum on these questions. This first batch of 3,500 pages is, believe it or not, just the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of other documents the “transparent” Obama administration continues to withhold from us in contemptuous violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

Which is an especially troubling problem considering the fact that Big Labor seems to be getting big favors from HHS in the form of these waivers.

You may recall Judicial Watch previously obtained documents from HHS regarding closed-door health care meetings between Big Labor and Vice President Joe Biden, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and then-Obamacare Czar Nancy-Ann Min DeParle.

The documents include a list of all of the labor union leaders who attended a meeting with President Obama, along with brief biographical information on each participant. The list included: Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO; Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union; and Jim Hoffa, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, among other Big Labor leaders.

What assurances did the Obama administration give to labor leaders in exchange for their support of the plan? The documents we previously uncovered suggest that the key provisions of the Obamacare law were written solely to address the concerns of union interests. (And now we see Big Labor getting 50% of the waiver haul.)

Speaking over Labor Day Weekend, at a rally for organized labor attended by Barack Obama, Hoffa attacked the Tea Party and urged attendees to get out the vote for Democrats: “President Obama, this is your army…Everybody here has got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”

So the unions appear to be getting what they want, a reprieve from Obamacare. And the Obama campaign is getting what it wants, union cash and support. And where does this leave the rest of America? In the dark. The Obama administration continues to push forward with Obamacare under a veil of secrecy, especially the details of these Obamacare waivers.

Waiving the law for 3.4 million Americans is unfair and an affront to the rule of law. And it seems corrupt when political supporters in Big Labor are getting a disproportionate number of waivers from Obamacare. Unions helped write Obamacare and then get exempted from it! And now Big Labor is paying back these waiver favors with campaign support for Barack Obama. Judicial Watch is committed to bringing as much transparency as possible to the thoroughly corrupt Obamacare, especially this ongoing abuse of the “waiver” process.

From Politico (quoting Biden in reference to the Tea Party):

They have acted like terrorists.

It is one thing when Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania decided to embrace the crazy when he compared the debt ceiling dealings to a virtual hostage situation, with the Tea Party essentially running around the House strapped with C4, waving Ak-47’s at the Democratic Caucus. It is a different story entirely when the Vice President of the United States engages in this type of violent rhetoric. Apparently, Mr. Biden did not receive the memo that terrorism, and those who commit terrorist acts, has never, will never, and can never be a laughing matter.

Is it unreasonable then to ask for the resignation of the Vice President? Mr. Obama suggested that Anthony Weiner resign over allegations (which were later confirmed) that he used Twitter to provide one too many dirty photos to several different ladies over a three year period. Certainly this situation is much more foul, much more divisive, then the one involving a man who seemed incapable of keeping it in his pants. And while Biden will cater to his need to not be overly criticized for his remarks with a “sincere” apology delivered via secretary, it will be some time before those on the Right who associate themselves with the movement, including members of congress, forget what was said during that closed door meeting.

But such remarks can be taken much more personally.

Even now, in 2011, the events of September 11th still haunt many. When we are having a conversation about building mosques near Ground Zero, and fighting a war that was inspired by extremist violence, and when everyday we are in immediate danger of possible attack again on our own soil, for the right hand man of the leader of the free world to insinuate that a powerful, anti-establishment movement is driven by a desire to completely dismantle the U.S. economy through fiscal jihad, is unthinkable. Unthinkable, that is, until you realize that we live in the Age of Obama. These remarks, made by our Vice President, and democratic congressmen, and liberal media journalists, may do much in placating the needs of Media Matters and its constituents, but it does nothing to unite the American people.

So what can we then say about accusations of Tea Party terrorism by the Left? We can clearly assess that these statements are inspired by un-American principles. No reasonable person with a heart for this country like the Tea Party’s could allow such hateful rhetoric to slip from their mouths. And if roles had been reversed, and it was Speaker Boehner accusing the Left of wanting to commit a mass murder on American ideals, the Left would have been up in arms, and someone would have had the honor of making Keith Olbermann’s ‘Worst Person in the World’ hit list. To the Left, this really is a game, and as conservatives focus on fixing a broken economy, liberals have focused their attention on whether the Tea Party is transporting Yellowcake in their shoes to the Capitol Building.

Biden owes the Tea Party much more than an apology. In 2012, he, and President Obama, will pay them with their jobs.

OBAMA:  Serendipity.   Egypt couldn’t have blown up at a better time.  Judge Vinson’s ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act got just a paragraph on A18.

ROBERT GIBBS:  Damn the Times!  It was supposed to be two sentences on B37.  Well, the distraction won’t last forever, sir.  It’ll be big news when the courts finally kill the PPACA. We need to deflect responsibility for the fiasco from you.

OBAMA:  Agreed.  Bob, at your next briefing, blast Republicans for goading me into signing the bill before I was able to study it.  Consigliere?

BILL DALEY:  Won’t do, sir.  Let’s get ahead of the wave.  Order Holder to join Virginia in seeking an expedited review of the health-care overhaul before the Supremes.  We take our medicine, lose 5-4, and walk away.

JOE BIDEN: Bad idea. We’d still be twisting in the wind for months. I say, throw your weight behind immediate Congressional repeal, Boss.  Cauterize the wound.  Start over fresh.

VALERIE JARRETT:  But . . . without the House, we can’t pass legislation covering the 145 million uninsured Americans and proto-citizens with preexisting conditions.

BIDEN:  Who’s sayin’ we wanna actually pass another bill?  The whole shebang blew up in our faces only after the Big Guy signed the original into law.

OBAMA:  Hmm.  So, when the act’s repealed, Democrats initiate another health-care debate and fight the good fight with no hope of a second devastating success in a divided Congress.  Stalemate.

BIDEN:  Which works for us, Chief.  Having nothing to defend, Democrats can reoccupy our usual gauzy moral high ground.  We’ll keep the White House and Senate next year, and take back the House.  At that point we push through PPACA 2.0.  Wait a sec.  [grabs pen, makes note on wrist]

OBAMA:  What’d you write, Joe?

BIDEN:  [reads from wrist]  “Don’t forget ‘severability.’”

OBAMA:  Oh.  You know, I’m going to catch holy hell for reversing field from people we twisted like pretzels in the run-up to passage last year—Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, some Blue Dogs.  Wish I could do something to make it up to them.

BIDEN: Media Matters can plant fake stories in the National Enquirer about ‘em, sir.  Drugs, gambling, infidelity, bathroom assignations.  Then the DOJ discovers “evidence” Glenn Beck ginned it all up.

OBAMA:  Excellent!  They’ll be eternally grateful I used the power of my office to clear their names.

GIBBS:  The Enquirer won’t take unsourced material, Mr. Vice-President.  Instead, I’ll use the Times to spread the rumors, even though it doesn’t have the credibility or stature of the Enquirer.

VALERIE JARRETT: Who’d be the best person to lead our devious and doomed-to-fail pre-election health insurance reform push?

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS:   Senator Baucus of Montana.  He understood the PPACA better than anyone.   But the doctors say his mind is gone now.

OBAMA:  Waxman, then.  He has a nose for this stuff.  Bill, inform Reid I want the repeal measure on my desk in two days.  I’ll sign it in a Rose Garden ceremony, then tell the nation I plan to host a week-long “Teddy Kennedy Bipartisan Memorial Health Insurance Reform Conference” at Camp David in early spring.

DALEY:  Proactive PR . . . nice.  What’s your plan, sir?

OBAMA:  Controlled environment.  At the Republican breakfast caucus each morning, SEIU stewards will spike Paul Ryan’s coffee with ativan.  Let’s see how he does against me with a little buzz on.

PLOUFFE:  I’ll arrange to have AFL-CIO plants wearing Palin T-shirts outside the gates holding up signs like, “Hands off Insurance Companies” and “WellPoint IS America.”  Friendly anchors can switch to them whenever a Republican seems about to score.

OBAMA:  Perfect.  Oh, I’ll need a reason to cut out early every day to get nine holes in.  Leon, you wait in back.  When I scratch my forehead, come up to me looking worried and whisper something in my ear.  I’ll nod and leave hurriedly.  Sweet, no?

PANETTA:  Yes, sir.  When I scratch my head, you’ll approach me looking concerned and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.  Then we leave together.  Got it.

OBAMA:  Bill, I want Panetta’s office moved from Langley to a corner of your suite here in the West Wing.  Keep an eye on him.

Despite what European Socialists may think of us, Americans are not entirely stupid.  While the well-oiled hype machine of the Left-biased news media and the air headed Hollywood crowd helped to induce the large scale brain freeze that got Obama elected, as his serious failures of policy have mounted and the significant impact of those failures is felt, no amount of propaganda will suffice to resurrect the messianic fervor that once surrounded the heady days of Obama’s campaign.  Daily some new facet of the administration’s incompetence (at best) and fecklessness (at worst) is displayed, and increasing numbers of those who initially fell under his thrall are awakening to the profound danger Obama’s Presidency poses to both world peace and our American way of life.

Despite the Left’s inability to speak the word “evil,” the world has always had some very bad people who delight in bringing misery to others.  Add to them the corrupting influences of power, religious fanaticism, or monetary gain, and the result is a toxic brew that must be fought by people of good will in every generation.  Evil exists in every age and simply morphs from one guise into another.  Now that Nazism and Communism have largely been vanquished, the greatest evil has manifested itself in Islamism.  Make no mistake, those evil people are watching carefully as the Obama administration lurches between its ruinous domestic agenda (the government health care takeover, cap and tax, quadrupling the deficit, etc.) and its catastrophic foreign policy decisions (legitimizing thugs like Chavez, abandoning the missile defense of Eastern Europe, dithering for months over the decision to send troops to Afghanistan, appeasing Iran, etc.)  This weak indecisiveness projected by the Obama administration is perceived around the world as a sign of America’s renewed vulnerability and it is not a coincidence that soon after castrating our intelligence forces, (is our Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, truly as brain-dead as she appears?) Muslim fanatics have become reenergized and are beginning to probe our defenses again.  We have been kept safe for the past eight years due solely to the dedication of those charged with protecting us and thanks to their extraordinary show of resolve and might, Islamists have, until now, been cowed.  However, Al Qaeda and their ilk can see we are no longer serious about maintaining our national security.  Had we been, monstrous events like the Fort Hood Jihadist and the Christmas Day airliner attack would not have taken place.  Both events had ample warning and could have easily been prevented were it not for the systemic rot of political correctness and the corrosive impact of incompetent leadership.

What will it take for our President, his administration and the Far-Left-commandeered Democratic Party to grow up and seriously address issues of national security?   Increasingly, it has become apparent that children have been elected to govern us.  These children maintain a stubborn belief that they can force the world to conform to their fantasies just because they wish them to be true.  (If we simply extend the hand of friendship and/or grovel sufficiently, the Jihadis will like us and leave us alone.)  In light of the sober reality of hundreds of crazed Muslim killers lined up in Yemen to blow themselves to pieces, is there no one in this present administration with the grown-up sense to advise that the “reset button” be pushed to return us to proven policies of the Bush years – policies that demonstrably kept us safe?  Or is the hubris of Obama, Biden, Holder, Napolitano, Pelosi, et al so overwhelming that they are willing to sacrifice American lives for the sake of clinging to their naive ideas about human nature and the existence of evil in the world?

I hope the former takes place, but I’m not holding my breath.  More than anything else, the 2008 election proved that whom we elect has consequences.  Not once during the run-up to that election did Democrat candidates mention the subject of Islamic terror in their debates, while it was discussed in every single one of the Republican debates.   That said a lot.  It underscored the fact that the feelings-based, childish worldview of the Left makes it impossible for them to understand what it takes to protect American citizens.  Now, in the immortal words of President Obama’s mentor and spiritual counselor, Jeremiah Wright, “the chickens are coming home to roost” as the consequences of voting children into office are becoming painfully apparent.  Our first chance to begin to undo some of the damage will come in 2010.  I just pray that enough Americans awaken in time.