My collegiate mentor and friend Dr. Susan Fillippeli has written an interesting post on Obama’s new “rhetoric of fear.”

Since the inauguration, what has become of Obama’s message of hope?  Quoting Dr. Fillippeli:

It is no accident that Obama’s rhetoric has shifted significantly from one defined by hope to one defined by crisis. It has nothing to do with worsening economic conditions or with any discovery that upon assuming the presidency he has found things to be even worse than he thought. This is a planned rhetorical shift necessitated by the size and scope of the changes that Obama seeks to implement.

Upon reading this, I thought of the “ridiculous” idea of taxing drivers per mile—something Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called an idea “we should look at.” The Obama administration has since dismissed the idea.  However, I suggested to fellow blogger nhfalcon that this could easily be a “float,” designed to mine the worst of the public’s shock and skepticism now, to better prepare the way for it later.  Gas is $2, or just under, right now.  When it gets back to $4, Obama could easily point back to his earlier dismissal as appropriate for the time, but now we have a real problem, and we must do something.

To those opposing the hard-left ideologue in the Oval Office:  remain principled, firm, and unceasingly attentive.  Now is the time for hope—real hope—but it must be bolstered by a practical understanding of the conditions on the ground.  I fear we face a brutal and sustained assault on common sense, and the power of the aggressor to package his socioeconomic poison as necessity must not be underestimated.

Obama’s rhetoric hasn’t changed for nothing.