Obama's Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 2013.
Embarrassing
Predictions Haunt the Global-Warming Industry. [Scroll down] In his second-term inaugural address, Obama also made some climate claims, saying:
"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and powerful
storms." Ironically, all three of the examples he provided of what he called the "threat of climate change" actually discredit his argument. [...]
Regarding hurricanes and tornadoes, it probably would have been hard for Obama to choose a worse example to illustrate the alleged threat of man-made
warming. Contrary to predictions by global warmists, hurricanes and tornadoes have been hitting in record-setting low numbers.
Don't Stop Believin'. Obama took to the podium following several musical
performances and speeches to address what he said are America's myriad and ongoing crises. Global warming, the ailing middle class, the
social safety net, and healthcare all received mentions in Obama's second inaugural address, which highlighted the president's left-of-center
second term agenda without offering any concrete proposals. "We, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking
few do very well and a growing many barely make it," Obama said.
Inverting the Founders.
President Obama has become a master at the trick of couching progressive prescriptions in the language of the traditional American
creed — thus effecting a deliberate inversion of that creed's actual meaning. That's exactly what he did with his
second inaugural address, using the language of the American Founding to promote collectivism in almost all areas of life.
The Significance of Obama's Inaugural
Address. In his inaugural speech he did what he seemingly cannot keep himself from doing: portraying himself and his followers as
Children of Light and portraying his opponents as Children of Darkness. You are either with Obama — or you are with the forces
of cruelty and bigotry. In Obama's world, there is no middle ground. He is the Voice of Reason; those who oppose him are the voice
of the mob.
Obama's second inaugural is a
political speech. President Barack Obama never mentioned the words Democrat or Republican, yet his second inaugural address was a
decidedly political speech.
A
flat, partisan and pedestrian speech. Missing from the speech was the first inaugural address's perhaps naïve dream of uniting
America. This second speech seemed to accept that America is divided and, as Obama put it, "progress does not compel us to settle centuries
long debates about the role of government for all time." He called out those who would "treat name-calling as reasoned debate" —
I wonder who that could mean? — but Obama's plan seemed to be to roll the negativists, rather than try any longer to reason with them.
A President Who Has Learned Nothing.
President Obama's Inaugural Address [...] had the usual obeisance to the traditions of American democracy and the virtue of relative brevity.
Yet there was nothing in it that showed that he had learned a thing in the four years since he first took the oath of office.
'A Decade of War Is Now Ending'.
Someone needs to inform the jihadists. On a day when we are still counting the bodies — including the American bodies —
from the deadly terror attack in Algeria, this statement from President Obama's inaugural address was particularly jarring.
Obama's
Target is Not Just Republicans, but the Constitution Itself. President Barack Obama's second inaugural address has been described
as one of the most partisan ever given, heralding a sweeping left-wing agenda and demonizing his opponents. But President Obama's target is
not simply the Republican Party: it is the Constitution itself, and the values of liberty that it enshrines.
Moments After Inaugural Address,
Obama Launches Battle Machine. Shortly after delivering one of the most divisive inaugural addresses in American history,
President Barack Obama doubled down on his ram-it-through strategy by sending out an email on behalf of his newly-converted permanent campaign
instrument, Organizing for Action.
Well, the Good News Is, Obama's
Honeymoon is Already Over. President Barack H. Obama took the oath office and delivered a forgettable, partisan address to
the nation. He offered no solutions to the nation's pressing debt problem, because he does not have one.
Fox's Brit
Hume: Obama's Speech Confirms That He Is An 'Out And Out Liberal,' Not A Moderate. "I think we had a clarifying moment today in
that the president's speech served a real purpose," Hume began. "It should put to rest for all time the idea that Barack Obama really is a
moderate. "Barack Obama is a liberal," Hume continued. "I don't think he's a radical, but he is an out and out liberal. And
now, newly reelected, he intends to pursue the course of that liberalism."
CNN's Slobbering Love Affair with
Obama's Inaugural Speech. Anderson Cooper, Gloria Borger, Dana Bash, David Gergen, etc. not only couldn't bring themselves to
criticize anything in Barack Obama's Inaugural speech (really, he's going to make hard choices to reduce the deficit and health care costs?), but
after a good half-hour of post-speech analysis, the gushing became nauseating. And what won CNN's hearts? Well, what always and so
easily wins over this simplistic crowd: identity politics.
Inauguration
2013: Obama saved the world, but nobody knows how. Platitudes, slogans, and talking points are not policies. "Cleaning up the
mess" of his predecessor is nonsense unless one can state exactly what policies caused the mess to begin with. Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003
have nothing to do with the financial crisis of 2008 in the same way that Clintonomics does not deserve credit for the 1990s dot-com economy or
blame for the 2000 crash. If liberals cannot name a single successful Obama economic policy, then maybe it is possible that he has never
had one.
Obama
inauguration: the President starts his second term with a declaration of class war. Obama's second inaugural was far from the
unifying speech that we were promised but instead a declaration of (continued) war on the conservative movement and a rallying cry for liberals.
Does the President not realise that he won the 2012 election and doesn't have to carry on campaigning?
Chris
Matthews: Obama 2nd Inaugural Akin to Gettysburg Address. Barack Obama is perhaps the only modern president who has had the
burden of swatting away comparisons between his own soaring rhetoric and that of our 16th president. You may recall that, in the wake of
the Newtown massacre, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Maraniss gushed over the president's remarks, writing, "People will long remember
what Barack Obama said in Newtown," and calling the speech "[Obama's] Gettysburg address."
Mark Levin's Inaugural Day
Message — Fight! "I don't think Obama knows exactly what he's going to go for in his second term," Levin
said, "as he will look for opportunities to exploit as events unfold. I am sure they've drawn up a partial a list, and we
already know that it includes, but is not limited to, gun control; attacks on the First Amendment such as religious liberty;
amnesty for illegal aliens; union expansion; institutionalizing Obamacare; institutionalizing voter corruption; de-industrialization
via the EPA; destroying the capitalist-based economy via tax increases, smothering regulations, massive deficit spending, and
endless borrowing; and hollowing out our military; etc.
Where Are
the 23 Executive Orders? The President has found a winning formula to push through his extreme
policy views: campaign, grow support, give the appearance of action and fund raise off pseudo-action.
The President is now applying this campaign tactic to gun control, giving the appearance to America that he is taking
action to protect children from madmen.
Second
Inaugural Address: Obama Declares War on Liberty As We Know It. Sounding the same themes of class warfare that propelled his
re-election campaign, President Barack Obama devoted his second inaugural address to laying out his second term agenda: a struggle to undo
the seeming injustices of America's past, and to overcome the army of straw men that stand in opposition to progress. In the process,
President Obama attempted nothing less than an assault on the timeless notion of liberty itself.
Obama Speech Ignores Failed
Economy; Media Gushes Anyway. Imagine an alternate universe where it was George W. Bush, or any Republican, sworn in for a
second term yesterday — but with Obama's economic record. Imagine if after spending nearly a trillion dollars on tax cuts
(instead of stimulus), Bush stood before the nation and gave an ideological address that focused almost solely on divisive social issues and
never once mentioned his struggling economy.
What Obama
really said in that inaugural speech (And what he left out). [Scroll down] "We have never relinquished our skepticism of
central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through government alone," said the president, who
is trying to cure society's healthcare ills by centralizing control in the hands of unelected Washington bureaucrats. "Our celebration
of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character," said the man
who's expanded food stamps by nearly 50% and surreptitiously had work requirements dropped from welfare benefits.
President Obama's
socialist agenda will make existing divisions even more bitter and rancorous. What a contrast last night's Inaugural Address was
compared to the one President Obama gave four years ago. Gone was any attempt to reach out to his Republican opponents. In its
place was an aggressive assertion of modern liberalism, with the emphasis on gay rights, gun control, gender equality, combating climate change
and — if his remarks about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and income inequality are anything to go by — redistributive
taxation. This is a fully-fledged socialist agenda that will leave the the 47.2 percent of Americans who didn't vote for Obama feeling
ostracised and angry. If this is going to be the tone of Obama's second term, the next four years are likely to see America more divided
than at any time since the 1960s.
From Kill Romney to Kill the Constitution.
When one hears the President of the United States use his inaugural address to favorably cite the most infamous phrase associated with the
disastrous Neville Chamberlain — that would be "peace in our time" — there can only be trouble ahead. The
mechanics for this march backwards to failure are already in place. First and foremost is the Orwellian use of his language.
Tyranny is freedom. Collectivism is liberty. "Together" is shorthand for government control.
Obama's Mention
of Gay Rights May Raise Eyebrows Among Black Backers. By linking the founding moments of women's rights (Seneca Falls, N.Y.),
African-American rights (Selma, Ala.), and gay rights (Stonewall Inn), President Obama stepped forcefully into a politically charged zone.
He became the first president to mention the word "gay" and the issue of gay rights in an inaugural address, according to ABC News. While
praised by gay-rights advocates, the remark might raise eyebrows in the African-American community, where social conservatism runs deep, as does
skepticism about gay rights.
The
Audacity of Fluff: A Critical Reading of Obama's Inaugural Address. Were hard truths expressed? Were complicated concepts
rendered in clarifying language? Were the disagreements that divide us insightfully characterized? Was an argument advanced?
No, the craftsmanship was marshaled in place of substance rather than in support of it. The president expertly associated himself with
certain ideas and evoked certain impressions. He burnished his brand rather than acting like a leader.
The Most Dangerous
Sentence in Obama's Second Inaugural Address. In an otherwise unmemorable second inaugural speech, I was struck by one sentence:
"But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry
those lessons into this time as well." Two points: First, our forebears were only able to "win the peace" because they first crushed
our enemies in war. But under President Obama we're not committed to winning our wars. We're committed to ending them.
Does Obama really think we're going to win the peace after not winning the war?
A
defiant Obama reminds Americans why he is the most liberal president in US history. If anyone remains in any doubt that the next
four years will be a relentless exercise in left-wing presidential radicalism, look no further than Barack Obama's second inaugural address.
This was not a president in any mood to reach out across the political aisle, or to give words of comfort to the nearly 60 million Americans
who did not vote for him last November. His address was defiant and divisive, projecting his firm commitment to seeing through his avowedly
liberal agenda in the face of concerted opposition on Capitol Hill and in the 30 states which have Republican Governors.
Obama declares war on reality.
[Scroll down] Concerted global action so far to deal with the threat of climate change has resulted in: higher energy prices; more deaths
from fuel poverty; more intrusive regulation; the destruction of rainforests and the squandering of agricultural land on biofuels; higher food
prices; famine and food riots — as a result partly of the drive for biofuels; the entrenchment of corporatism and rent-seeking to the
detriment of free markets; the ravaging of the countryside with ugly solar farms and even uglier wind turbines; the deaths of millions of birds
and bats; the great recession. How any of this has in any way benefited either our children (who are going to find it far harder to find a
job) or future generations is a complete mystery.
Inaugurating President Chamberlain.
Reading through the speech (I will be honest: I couldn't bear to listen to it live, I just couldn't), I was haunted by an echo.
The speech reminded me of something, of someone. Who was it? Woodrow Wilson? Yes, in part. But there was another ghost
in the wings ... Got it: "Peace in our time," the president said, "requires the constant advance of those principles that our common
creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice." [...] Where have we heard that before? Who was the last
politician to strut across the world stage proclaiming "peace in our time"? Why, Neville Chamberlain, of course.
A 'limitless' vision: Obama
lays out liberal agenda for second term. Perhaps the most surprising passage of Mr. Obama's speech was his emphasis on the
need to address climate change, an initiative that he ignored in his re-election campaign after failing in his first term to advance a "cap
and trade" plan for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The president used the example of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated portions
of the East Coast in late October, to revive his call to combat climate change. "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing
that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," Mr. Obama said.
Obama's
Inaugural: If God 'Truly' Created Us Equal, Homosexual 'Love' is Equal as Well. President Barack Obama opened his
second inaugural address by quoting the statement from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence that all men "are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." He then went on to say that if men were in fact created equal, then
homosexual "love" must be equal as well.
Obama's Bogus Journey. The world will little
note nor long remember anything President Barack Obama said in his second inaugural address; still less will it remember any of the gushing
encomiums his admirers in the press reliably produce, comparing him variously to Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln and Jesus.
Obama said that developing "sustainable-energy sources" is "what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared." Does anyone
believe that in a week anyone will find that an arresting and compelling thought? Or credit it for being a thought at all?
The Peaceful Transfer of Mobocracy.
The disturbing hollowness of Obama's inauguration derives from this more subtle form of revolution. All the usual trappings of tradition
were on display but at the service of a revolutionary ideology antithetical to them. Obama swore to uphold the Constitution, by which he
meant his lawless reading of it. He invoked God-given rights, by which he meant man-made ones.
Obama
Rips 'Name-Calling,' Inaugural Full of Name-Calling. In yesterday's inaugural address, President
Obama stated, "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling
as reasoned debate." But Obama was not shy about discarding reasoned debate in favor of brutal name-calling in
order to ram forward his agenda.
More Calculated Deception.
The President did not present to the nation any agenda in his Inaugural Address. There were only a few code words, with double, even
multiple, meanings. That is the fundamental innovation Obama has brought to our politics: deniability. His methodology is,
as I have long exposed, Calculated Deception.
Obama's Living Declaration.
I think it would be a serious mistake to ignore or fail to attend closely to President Obama's second inaugural address. [...] In Obama's
telling, "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God" have dropped out. Before you know it, devotion to the founding principles serves up the
welfare state, the campaign against global warming (evolved into "climate change"), gay marriage, open borders and something to ameliorate long
lines to vote. We shall overcome. While Woodrow Wilson gave us "the living Constitution" — the Constitution unmoored from
its ascertainable meaning and constraints — Barack Obama gives us a living Declaration of Independence. Those self-evident
truths are an evolving thing.
Obama's Second Inaugural.
[Scroll down] In fact, in my opinion the lumbering and bogged-down character of our economy is the chief threat to the very economic
security (not to mention prosperity) that the progressives say they are after. But Obama's speech expressed no grasp of our current
situation. It is for that reason that he relied so heavily on straw men and absurd caricatures of his opponents' positions.
At one point, almost despite himself, the president stumbled upon the kind of thinking those opponents now actually offer, though he quickly
picked himself up and continued to march in the opposite direction.
Good Sense and Gun Control.
President Obama has said that anything is worth it "if even one life can be saved." Citing Newtown in his inaugural address Monday, he
said that our journey as a nation will not be complete until we know our children are "always safe from harm." First, common sense tells us
that's ridiculously impossible. Moreover, a Nestorite standard would not only do terrible violence to the First, Second, and Fifth
Amendments, it would indisputably hold the freedom, health, and happiness of the many hostage to the potentially bad actions of the few.
Left off Bam's train. To hear
Obama, you would think he was anointed by unanimous consent. The more than 63 million people who voted for someone else were cited
only as obstacles to his vision. Apparently, his victory makes all other views illegitimate. The banana-republic approach was one of
many demoralizing flaws in a speech that fell short of the grand occasion. In tone and content, it struck me more as an omen of trouble
than a celebration of our democracy.
Obama
Promises To Fix Inequality He's Made Worse. A centerpiece of President Obama's second inaugural address was a call for greater
economic equality, with the president saying that "our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely
make it." But that's precisely what's happened over the past four years, as Obama's economic policies left the majority of Americans
falling behind while the wealthy few got further ahead. Evidence of this is everywhere you look.
Lawmaker wants Obama
to prove climate change. Rep. Thomas Massie challenged President Obama to roll out the proof that humans have played a hand
in climate change. Mr. Massie, Kentucky Republican, said he was "disappointed" that the president in his second inaugural address
blamed droughts on "human activity" and accused some of "denying the evidence of scientists."
Obama's speech lauds government,
dismisses opponents. President Barack Obama's second inauguration speech promised a sharply ideological second term
where "the people" will use government to accomplish the tasks that he declared cannot be accomplished by individuals.
Chris
Christie knocks President Obama's inaugural speech. The brief honeymoon between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and
President Obama appears to be over. The Republican lawmaker slammed Obama's second inaugural address earlier this week,
calling it excessively partisan. "Instead of trying to bring people together it was a manifesto for, 'Hey, it's my way or
the highway,'" Christie said during a radio interview reported by PolitickerNJ.
Holding Obama to his
inauguration promises. Left unchecked, the president's addiction to borrowed money will jeopardize the future of the next
generations — of our children and grandchildren. The time to act is now. In his inaugural address, Mr. Obama
said he agrees, insisting we must "reduce the size of our deficit." Good. We can hope he means it, but we'll believe it
when we see it.
Did
you catch Neville Obama speaking on peace? Apparently history was not a strong suit in college days for Barry Obama —
or his highly-paid speechwriters. In his 2,106 word aspirational tone poem from the Capitol steps at Monday's official inauguration,
Obama called for many people to do many things and vowed a myriad of vows, already faded in the memory of millions — as usually
happens to inaugurals and State of the Union shopping lists. [...] Among those 2,100 words, four shockers leapt out at the eyes and
ears of many not in the American news media. "Peace in our time."
Obama highjacking the American Revolution.
[Scroll down] Our "union," Obama went on, was "founded on the principles of liberty and equality." Nice prose —
and transparent nonsense. How could the American Union have been founded on the principle of equality, when "equality" is not
mentioned in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the Federalist papers? How could equality be a founding principle of a nation,
six of whose 13 original states had legalized slavery, and five of whose first seven presidents owned slaves all their lives?
What Obama preached in his inaugural was not historical truth but progressive propaganda, an Orwellian rewrite of American history.
Surprise!
Obama Comes Out As A Real Leftist. The media herd is stunned to discover that Barack Obama is a man of the left.
After 699 teleprompted presidential speeches, the commentariat was apparently still oblivious. Until Monday's inaugural address,
that is.
Obama's
Declaration of Collectivism. One of the least remarked upon aspects of President Obama's inaugural speech was his
attempt to co-opt the Founding Fathers' Declaration of Independence to bolster his liberal-left agenda. [...] Mr. Obama is arguing
counter to the Founding Fathers that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of equality of results, not the equality of opportunity,
and that he will do what he can to use government to make everybody more equal in terms of their income and life work.
We the Government.
President Obama's second inaugural address won't be remembered for stirring lines, but then its purpose seemed to be more political
than inspirational. Mr. Obama was laying down a marker that he has no intention of letting debt or deficits or lagging economic
growth slow his plans for activist, expansive government.
Carbon Use and GDP. In his
inaugural address on January 21, President Obama invoked great ideals of human dignity, equality, and most especially "progress" to
justify his second-term agenda, a cornerstone of which will be a crusade to limit humanity's use of carbon. In fact, nothing
could be more antithetical to the goal of advancing the human condition than restricting carbon consumption.
His Queeg Moment. Obama's second inauguration
speech may be his Queeg moment — an undeniable demonstration that, in an emergency, he is incapable of grappling with reality.
For all his unceasing invocation of the word "change," the outstanding thing about Obama has been his apparent inability to react, even to
an imminent crisis.
The Real Barack Obama. The country may be
catching on: Barack Obama is our first knee-jerk liberal president. And now that he will never face the voters again, he doesn't mind
showing it. [...] In his second inaugural address, he gave a full-throated defense of the entitlement state and made no mention of reforming
Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security before they go bust. He is issuing a stream of executive orders, and he backed the Pentagon's
recently announced plan to lift the ban that kept female soldiers out of combat positions.
Second Inaugural Blues. To begin with, it is not only
Obama's second inaugural of the past four years, but his second inaugural in as many days. Obama, of course, was formally sworn in on Sunday at the White
House. But his actual address and the pomp and circumstance associated with it was reserved for the following day. In other words, Obama just
had to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day about him.
Adolf Hitler — Progressive
Pioneer. President Obama's second inaugural was a speech that the Obama Media literally drooled over as a straight
forward and forceful expression of progressivism unmatched in American history. I agree, it was, but there was one thing
that bothered me... the tendency of these media personalities to ignore the sources of many of the ideas the president expressed
so well.
Déjà Vu —
You Think? Sadly we know the Obama boilerplate speech by heart, and so the inaugural address was by now unfortunately
straw-man psychodrama. Five years ago, the well-delivered script caused fainting, now it should earn mostly yawns: Fault
the well off; invest more borrowed money in more federal programs that have no demonstrable record of success; blame the bad news on
others; ignore the $1 trillion-plus annual borrowing; threaten to use more executive orders; demonize the opposition; take bad
news abroad and declare it good, and fluff everything up with the hope-and-change cadences that address the trivial and avoid the
fundamental.
Obama still chasing 'green
jobs' will-o'-the-wisp. It's one thing to say we have to throw a lot of money at solving global warming to save the planet. It's quite
another to pretend that there is a "green economy" just waiting to happen, filled with hundreds of thousands or even millions of good jobs, as Obama has often
promised. The new "green energy economy" that Obama has repeatedly spoken of — a future of lower ocean levels in which Americans work at
good-paying jobs manufacturing windmills and solar panels — has always been among the most optimistic features of his vision for America.
But given that it is an economically impossible pipe dream, it is also one of the biggest flops of his presidency.
Obama's Bonfire of Green Energy Inanities.
President Obama, as his Inauguration Address confirms, is in denial about both the climate and energy realities. Repeating the most alarmist
rhetoric of ideologue-turned-salesman to oil interests Al Gore, Obama appeared ignorant of the fact that data shows global warming isn't happening.
The president has re-stated his desire for yet more backing to a green energy industry that is collapsing being wholly reliant on the lifeline of public
subsidy. And that can only mean dumping further on the oil, gas and coal industries that made the US the powerhouse it still is.
Keystone vs. religion. A common take on the inaugural
speech was that it signalled a No More Mr. Post-Partisan Nice Guy. In fact, there never was such a guy. Mr. Obama's attitude to opponents has always
been dismissive. His self-righteous approach was summed up in the assertion that "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for
politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate." You see? Only liberals have principles to which they must stick; Republicans are just
bone-headed "absolutists."
Inaugural Lies and the Big Chill.
In his second inaugural speech, Barack Obama said, "We must respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would
betray our children and future generations"[.] To what "climate change" is Obama referring? Is it the now thoroughly debunked "global
warming" hoax? [...] Did any among the thousands in attendance at the inauguration, shivering in the frigid weather, wonder what the President
was talking about or why?
Conservatism
Means Replacing Big Government With Civil Society. The president's second inaugural address was an advertisement for the
biggest, most expensive government the world has ever known. It was a pitch for new government solutions, more government programs,
and the promises of government-made utopia. Of course, no mention was made about the future cost of the president's vision for the
country, how to pay for it, or the damage that will occur from increasing our debt.
Obamacare: The World's Ugliest Toddler.
On Saturday [3/23/2013], President Obama marked the birthday of his "most important domestic achievement" with a statement in which he
catalogued the miracles this prodigy has already performed in its first three years. Among these, you may be surprised to learn, is
that it is saving us money: "Most importantly," he said, "the growth of health care costs is beginning to slow." He made the
same claim in his SOTU address, and his toadies in the establishment media dutifully repeated it, but the facts reveal this to be just
another example of Presidential prevarication.
Las Vegas Immigration speech, January 29, 2013.
Obama to Fly Over
9 Hours Just for Speech on Immigration. President Barack Obama will fly over 9 hours tomorrow [1/29/2013],
round-trip from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas, Nevada, just to deliver a speech on immigration, according to the president's
White House schedule. With Air Force One estimated to cost $182,000 per hour in flight, Obama's trip —
that is, only his travel to and from Vegas — will cost taxpayers over $1.6 million.
What Was the Point of
Obama's Immigration Speech? I know the president likes the sound of his own voice, but, really, what was the point of his
immigration speech today in Las Vegas? He didn't deal with any of the hard issues — like guestworkers or spousal
immigration rights for homosexual couples or how many millions more people a year he wants to admit — and just regurgitated
the usual boilerplate about how we're a nation of immigrants and our system is broken, etc.
Obama Flunks Archaeology 101 in
Vegas. "Unless you were one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else, somebody brought
you," President Barack Obama told the assembled throngs in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The Editor says...
Who brought me to Texas? I was conceived and born here, and I have lived here all my life. I am a Native Texan; therefore,
I am a Native American.
The Editor says...
My ancestors came here legally and didn't mooch off the people who were already here.
Obama Uses Failing High School as
Backdrop for Immigration Speech. President Obama, looking for a high school with a majority Hispanic population to use
as a backdrop for his demagogic speech on immigration reform, settled on Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately,
the same children to whom Obama spoke of opportunity are deprived of it at Del Sol, which dramatically underachieves academically.
GOP: Obama
Still Campaigning, Not Leading on Immigration. President Obama's remarks on immigration reform, delivered Tuesday at a
campaign-style event in Las Vegas, were not overtly partisan. However, his message to congressional Republicans was perfectly
clear: Get with the program, or suffer politically. Republicans are wary of the president's call to "finally put this issue
[of immigration reform] behind us" by not allowing it to "get bogged down in endless debate." For one, they are eager to have that
debate, which they believe has only just begun. Obama's remarks did not inspire much enthusiasm.
The United States of Mexico. At a recent
major policy speech in Las Vegas, Mr. Obama pushed for comprehensive immigration reform. In particular, this reform contains one seminal proposal:
a pathway to legalized status for 11 million to 20 million illegal aliens. In short, the president is calling for amnesty.
State of the Union speech, February 12, 2013.
In anticipation of the speech:
Obama's Latest Jobs Promise —
Deja Vu All Over Again. President Obama says his State of the Union speech will be "focused on job creation." Seems as though we've heard
this song before from Obama. And we already know how it ends.
Why the GOP Should Walk Out on Obama. President Obama is expected
to eviscerate Republicans during tonight's State of the Union address tonight. It will be a speech that builds on his second inaugural address last month.
As Charles Krauthammer put it during an appearance on FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier: ["] In fact, if the inaugural address was this sort of extraordinarily
ideological address, I think the State of the Union is going to be extremely aggressive and partisan.["]
Obama
has state of the delusion speech shovel ready. The State of the Union address has always been little more than a nationally
televised stump speech. As all presidents believe that anything happening anywhere in the country is a direct result of their
policies, none have ever wanted to paint a less than rosy picture about the supposed "state of the union." After all, if it's in a
bad state, it must be their fault. However, with the U.S. now in full-fledged collapse, the speeches have become so detached from
reality that they should be called "state of the delusion" addresses.
Reaction to the speech:
Obama's Most Dishonest State
of the Union Address. Obama's ridiculous 6600-word marathon is also not a lengthy speech; it is the party's program.
The professional flatterers and fawners in the media have long since given up describing the teleprompter-in-chief as a talented
speaker. These days Obama gives speeches that not only sound like they were read from a teleprompter, but also written by a
teleprompter.
Tragedy and Comedy at the SOTU.
Obama stressed the need for job creation, but the fact is that artificially raising the minimum wage to $9/hr will stifle jobs.
Faced with increasingly tighter budgets due to a shrinking economy, higher taxes, health care costs and overly burdensome regulations
imposed by Obama, the average business of any size will be forced to cut back on employees if they are compelled to pay higher wages.
Obama
recklessly claims America is 'Stronger' in State of the Union. During Barack Obama's first State of the Union address of
his second term, the President claimed that the United States is seeing more economic growth and that as a nation we are "stronger" today
than we were before. Though when President Obama claimed that the state of our union was "stronger," one could only ask: for whom?
22.7 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work under the Obama administration.
The unemployment rate when Obama took office was 7.8%; four years later, it stands at 7.9%. Are these Americans living in a
"stronger" nation?
Sen. Ted Cruz: Obama SOTU 'Unabashed
Liberalism'. The first State of the Union address of President Obama's second term was too partisan and failed to
address the nation's economic problems, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told CNSNews.com. "I think the president missed a real
opportunity tonight to reach across the aisle, to find bipartisan cooperation on productive steps to get our economy going and
get people back to work," Cruz said. "Instead he chose to embrace unabashed liberalism."
Obama's agenda is
simple — take more of your money. The state of our union, President Obama now tells us with "renewed"
confidence, is "stronger." Stronger than what, exactly? The deepest bowels of a recession? "There is much progress to
report," he says, dreamily. Tell that to the millions of Americans who are still unemployed.
Obama's State of the
Union: 6,419 words and almost as many clichés. Obama used to be known as a Real Good Talker. He made his
initial national bones with a speech. But the last two — his Inauguration and State of the Union — are
tired, boilerplate, bits and pieces of campaign rhetoric cut and pasted into recycled collections of empty phrases that sound
swell — until you read them.
Barack
Obama outlines his big government vision for American decline in State of the Union address. There was no talk of tax
cuts or freeing businesses from red tape and suffocating regulation. Not a word about advancing economic freedom, but acres of
language about government intervention, in the economy, the workplace, education system, and practically every aspect of American life,
plus a job-killing costly minimum wage hike, which will hit small businesses hard and undoubtedly add to the unemployment rolls.
Tonight the president demonstrated once again how out of touch he is with public opinion on the economy.
Obama's
'bipartisan' State of the Union paints Republicans as anti-science, job-hating Neanderthals. The State of the Union
repeated a lot of the same themes of the past few years. That's because a lot of Obama's promises remain unfulfilled and are
still reliant on slipping them through a hostile Congress. Take his signature pledge to raise the minimum wage to $9, which
he insisted will stimulate the economy and create jobs. Back in 2008, Obama said he's raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011.
U.S. Rep.
Kerry Bentivolio Responds to President's State of the Union. "President Obama keeps trying to convince us that giving up
our freedoms and letting the government make our decisions on how to run our lives is a sign of progress. He wants the
government to tell us how to run our businesses. He wants the government to get between us and our doctors. He wants
the government to take more of our nation's hard earned money instead of letting us spend it for ourselves. All of these
intrusions make us less prosperous, less healthy, and less free.
Obama's Most Audacious SOTU Lie.
It is difficult to say with certainly which of the many whoppers President Obama told tonight took the most crust to utter, but my
money is going on this assertion, made a few minutes into the speech: "Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the
growth of health care costs." I know "Orwellian" has now become rather hackneyed, but there is simply no other adjective that
better describes this statement. It is not merely a lie. It is the precise opposite of the truth. It is just as
absurd as "war is peace" or "freedom is slavery."
What Second Term Agenda?
The lesson from the State of the Union address is this: Barack Obama has no second term agenda. Oh, sure, he campaigned
furiously for the job, starting in about January of 2011. But his campaign almost never outlined his plans for a second term,
focusing instead on interest group payoffs and demonization of his rival.
Nothing New in the
State of the Union. President Obama's second term wish-list — his ideas for jump-starting the job-starved
economy — looked a lot like his warmed-over, half-baked proposals of the past. With rare exceptions, Obama's fifth
State of the Union address was a costly laundry list of more big government programs aimed at his party's political base.
Welcome to fantasy world of
gov't as cure-all. Last night, Barack Obama told Congress that "The American people don't expect government to
solve every problem." They might not expect it, but don't worry, he's got a plan for every problem — and in
every case, the solution is more government.
There He Goes Again. Did I miss
something? Or was the State of the Union Address delivered by President Obama last night unusually pedestrian, packed to the
gills with clichés, promises, gimmicks, and endless talk of partnerships, goals, challenges, and commissions for which
Washington is famous?
Fact Checking The State of the
Union. Is Congress really to blame for the looming sequester? Has manufacturing really shot up under President
Obama? The Daily Beast sifts through the Internet's best fact checks to assess the State of the Union claims.
The State of Our Union
Rendered in a Fractured Bizarro Lens. The state of our union is weak and fraying. This president has launched attacks
on faith and is going out of his way to divide our people. Our economy is not growing, it contracted in the final quarter of
2012. Our economy is not growing jobs. On the international front, North Korea greeted President Obama's 2013 rendition
of Give Me More Money with a nuclear test — a sure sign that his strategy of engagement, which his soon-to-be defense
secretary supports, is a failure. But like with all of his other failed policies, Barack Obama declared that he will just
keep on doing them all.
Chris Stevens Was Not Even
Remembered. In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama failed to mention the late Ambassador Christopher
Stevens and the three other Americans who died on Sep. 11, 2012 in the terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
He mentioned the victims of the massacre in Newtown, CT in December, and invited the families of victims of other violent gun crimes
to watch from the gallery. But the Benghazi victims' families were not present at all.
Krauthammer
on SOTU: 'This speech is about spending your way to prosperity'. Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor
Charles Krauthammer on Tuesday [2/12/2013] criticized President Barack Obama's State of the Union address as unrealistic and
egocentric, arguing that the president made clear he is more concerned about his own image than the realities of governance.
State of the Second Amendment. Obama's "more
than a thousand" claim is confusing. Was he implying there were 1,000 firearms-related deaths in the last two months?
Gun banners like the Violence Policy Center claim "more than 30,000 Americans die in gun suicides, homicides, and unintentional
shootings." According to the FBI, a monthly average of 715 firearms murders occurred in 2011, or 1,430 over two months.
If Obama based his claim on government data not yet publicly available, this means America is experiencing a historic drop in
firearms-related fatalities.
The State of Obama.
[Scroll down] Obama also claimed credit for the energy revolution of hydraulic fracturing, which exists only despite the
concerted efforts of Obama's leftist allies to destroy it. For the most part, though, Obama did what he does best:
promote government control over people's property and lives. He repeatedly called for raising taxes on the "wealthiest and
the most powerful." He called for more corporate welfare for (useless) "renewable" energy and for "efficient" building
construction. He called for more government funding for scientific research. He called for a "market-based solution
to climate change," one of his many euphemisms for more government regulation of the economy.
Obama's State of the
Union lowest-rated since 2000. In general, viewership for Obama's State of the Union addresses has been in constant decline.
He drew 52.4 million in 2009, 48.0 million in 2010, 42.8 million in 2011 and 37.8 million in 2012. His
2013 address was the second-lowest rated since Nielsen began recording viewership in 1993.
Trent Franks:
'Astonishing' that Obama Never Mentions the Muslim Brotherhood. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) says "it's astonishing"
that President Obama never mentions the Muslim Brotherhood and its control of the Egyptian government. "He never mentions the
Muslim Brotherhood. It's astonishing. If there's anything that has been a trend in this administration related to
terrorism, it's their unwillingness to call it for what it is," Franks told CNSNews.com immediately following Obama's State of
the Union address Tuesday night.
Obama's Big
State Of The Union Lie. 'Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health-care costs," the
president claimed Tuesday. This ranks as one of the biggest State of the Union whoppers ever told. In fact, not only
are health-care costs climbing, but employers are also shifting those costs onto the very "middle-class" families Obama spent
much of his speech championing.
State Of The Union
Shtick: Obama's 5 Unintentionally Comical Lines. "It is not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government."
That's rich coming from the guy who jacked up spending to record levels. According to the Congressional Budget Office,
the federal government is now on track to consume an average of 22.1% of GDP over the next decade. That's bigger than all
but eight of the 60 post-World War II years before Obama took office. [...] Then there was this: "As long as countries
like China keep going all in on clean energy, so must we." All in? Sixteen of the world's top 20 most
polluted cities are in China.
Obama
attempting to redefine the word "citizen". Throw out your Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, folks. President
Barack Obama is now redefining words. During Tuesday night's State of the Union address, the POTUS expressed his belief
that U.S. citizenship is only partly about one's legal status. "We are citizens," the President said. "It's a word
that doesn't just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we're made."
Statism: Obama's Real Version of
Fatherhood. Last night, President Obama made a bold defense of fatherhood in his State of the Union address. "What
makes you a man isn't the ability to conceive a child," he said, "it's the courage to raise one." This piquant comment spiced up
the worn out menu of an unappetizing first term. The president who will fix the economy "without increasing the deficit by a
dime," and provide a middle class income by upping the minimum wage to 9 bucks an hour also plans to keep investing in green
energy (Solyndra), while he pays lip service to the oil and gas revolutions that — without any federal help — have
saved our fledgling economy from utter ruin.
Obama's SOTU Speech: Government Unbound. Needless to say,
there was no shout-out to the families of police officers murdered or shot by [Christopher] Dorner, much as there was not a word about the death of
Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi. Stevens and the entire Libyan fiasco were inconvenient and best left ignored during the
president's speech, as had been the approach from the time of the attack on the diplomatic outpost until after the election.
President
Unleashes a Nationwide 'Community Organizing' Campaign. The president's State of the Union address (SOTU) was merely a
prelude to a massive undertaking to go nationwide with his community organizing methods and objectives. This is a president who
operates in campaign mode 24/7.
No debt
crisis in Obama's State of the Union. From President Obama's State of the Union address, one might have come away with
the impression that the nation's finances are hunky-dory. Obama suggested that most of the heavy lifting on deficit reduction is
already done, and that the rest can be accomplished by making minor adjustments to spending and closing tax loopholes on wealthier
Americans.
President
Obama's No-Growth State Of The Union. Even with average wages, adjusted for inflation, dropping for 21 of the
last 23 months, higher rates of poverty, 23 million Americans unable to find regular work, ongoing $1 trillion deficits,
ObamaCare pushing employers to cut full-time workers and hire part-timers, and the gross domestic product falling during the last
quarter, there wasn't much in President Obama's second inaugural address about job creation, debt reduction or economic growth.
Instead, it took only a few minutes into the speech before the rich became the target.
Rubio's
Thirstiness Trumps Obama's Untruthfulness. Why does a re-elected chief executive, dubiously claiming a mandate from
the people, insult the intelligence of millions of Americans struggling to stay afloat in a contracting economy during the worst
economic recovery on record with ludicrous contentions like this: "After years of grueling recession, our businesses have
created over 6 million new jobs"? Why does he present an electorate that just returned him to power with the wild
claim that "already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs"?
SOTU: Energy
Fabrications, Falsehoods and Fantasies. [For example,] That's why my administration will keep cutting
red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. Drilling permits that once took 30 days to be approved
now take more than 180 days. Even relatively simple things like the approval of development plan (DOCD) revisions
are sometimes drawn out to nearly 300 days.
Obama's Voting
Initiative Greeted With Skepticism. President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to create a nonpartisan
commission to "improve the voting experience in America" has triggered reactions from the election-overhaul community that
range from guarded optimism to overt disappointment.
Marco
Rubio's Impressive Response to Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address. In [...] one paragraph, Sen. Rubio captured the
fundamental flaw in the so-called Affordable Care Act: it makes health insurance more expensive, in turn making hiring more
expensive, and our health-care entitlements more expensive.
Obama's Minimum Wage Increase
Fallacy. [In his State of the Union speech,] Obama called for raising the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour, and to
index the minimum wage to inflation. Sounds great! In ObamaWorld, in a static economy where the economy will not
react to a minimum wage increase, what Obama proposes would be fine. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your
perspective), we don't live in a static economy; rather, we live in a dynamic economy that will react to a minimum wage
increase.
State of the Union blues. No matter what your political
persuasion, even if you're the biggest Obama supporter in the world, you have to wince when he says things that are obviously
untrue. I copied the transcript of his speech into Microsoft Word and started highlighting the lies, but that was an
exercise in futility. Almost everything was highlighted. He lies obsessively. [...] Then I tried limiting myself to
outrageous, interesting lies, but that's not really much of a limit with this guy. For example, he started by talking
about the economy and his very first sentence on the subject boasted about creating six million new jobs.
Six million! Just a few months ago he was running for re-election claiming four million, which was up from
three million, which itself was a figment of his overactive imagination.
No, Mr
President, the war against al-Qaeda is far from won. There are times, such as last night's State of the Union address,
when I think President Barack Obama has taken leave of reality. How he can claim, when half the Arab world is being overrun by
Islamist militants, that al-Qaeda is now a shadow of its former self is beyond comprehension.
The latest proof that President Obama is a freebooting Marxist. Obama and the Pirates. You probably
heard again last night that President Obama still thinks "the rich," a crass term implying low class social envy, do not pay their
"fair share." He has been barnstorming America saying precisely that for his more than four years in office now. But
the indisputable facts from official government sources say otherwise.
Remember
Your Oath To Protect The Constitution, Mr. President. Mr. President, perhaps amidst the merriment surrounding the inaugural
festivities you misremembered your oath. Sir, you solemnly swore "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." But
these few weeks hence, your State of the Union speech essentially disavowed America's cherished founding charter. Many
left-leaning pundits applaud your "bold" vision to radically redefine America. President Obama, you are understandably
emboldened by re-election, but you were not made king. Regardless of whether you agree with constitutional precepts,
you're still legally bound; still compelled by the sacred oath you swore.
Obama Unveils His
Economy-Killing Cap-And-Tax Plan. A nonexistent crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and in justifying his proposal for a
cap-and-tax scheme, President Obama claimed in his State Of The Union that "the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the
last 15." He was lying. The fact is, according to new data released quietly last October by Britain's Met Office, the world's
natural post-Ice Age warming trend stopped about 16 years ago. From the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no
discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.
Obama waging an 'endless
campaign'. Thursday [2/14/2013] brought the latest example, with a rally-style event in Decatur, Ga., intended
to build support for the administration's proposals on pre-K education. It was preceded by a similar stop in Asheville,
N.C., to advocate for manufacturing plans, and two major speeches — the State of the Union and the second inaugural
address — that were notable for their vigorous liberal tone.
Why
his Cap and Trade threat to Congress is Obama's — and America's — Rubicon. First came the warning:
Congress must pass a cap-and-trade bill to combat global warming because, Obama said, "the 12 hottest years on record have all
come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, all are now more frequent and more intense." (Set
aside that, as the Climate Depot's Marc Morano documents, the facts make it abundantly clear that the president is quite wrong
on each point in that sentence.) Then came the threat: "And if Congress won't act soon to protect future generations,
I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take."
No, America's roads and bridges are not
crumbling. Among President Obama's most persistent demands for new spending is the perennial call for large-scale "infrastructure"
spending. To hear Obama tell it, the United States of 2013 is a "Road Warrior" wasteland filled with disintegrating roads and bridges,
desperately awaiting billions of dollars in government spending. In the past, he has amusingly set up photo ops near bridges that wouldn't
be affected by his plans to plump for "infrastructure," selecting them because they looked good on camera, or straddled key congressional
districts. He's currently agitating for $40 billion in "urgent upgrades." It is considered extremely rude to ask him what
happened to the countless billions he appropriated for "infrastructure" in his trillion-dollar 2009 stimulus plan.
The Minority Youth Unemployment Act.
One paradox of the Obama Presidency is how it has retained the support of young people and minorities despite the damage its policies have done to
their economic prospects. In his latest attempt to increase the minority youth jobless rate, President Obama is proposing to raise the
minimum wage. In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama proposed an increase to $9 an hour by 2015 from $7.25, and then indexing the
minimum to inflation.
The data doesn't support Obama's proposal, but his party won't
waver in its commitment to the mythology of left-wing class struggle. Obama's Minimum Wage Welfare State.
Real median household income in the United States has fallen more than 8 percent since Barack Obama was first sworn in as president,
and has even fallen during the course of the Obama "recovery." That, of course, is the fault of George W. Bush, John Boehner,
rich people, and ATM machines. Fortunately, President Obama and his economic advisors have come up with a solution to this problem:
force businesses to pay their employees more.
Recycling old and failed ideas.
In his State of the Union address, the president recycled the idea of spending more on education, though prior increases have not changed the unsatisfactory
results — a fact he inadvertently acknowledged by saying we're not keeping up with other countries in science and math. He maintained there
are tens of thousands of jobs available but companies can't fill them because public schools aren't teaching students what they need to know. We
spend huge sums on education already, so money and achievement must not be related. Infrastructure? We've heard that before, too. Why
is nothing ever fixed with all the money that's been spent during the last four years?
Would New Gun Laws Spark Widespread Civil Disobedience? In his State of the Union
address, President Obama doubled down on his gun-control proposals, again demanding that Congress ban so-called "assault weapons" and "high capacity
magazines." This is not a surprise. What has been a surprise are the increasingly open calls for defiance from gun owners, state legislatures,
and local law enforcement. If the president's proposals become law, he may move the country into turbulent waters we haven't seen in many years.
State of the
Union speech: The president's annual letter to Santa. Nobody expands his promises with expensive abandon quite
like Barack Obama. His State of the Union this week was a classic of its kind, delivering nothing of substance, something
of value only to the pundits who recycle nothing with greater skill than even the politicians they celebrate.
State of the Union: Failure. Our failure in chief gave us his
annual blurred vision of America again Tuesday night.
State of the Government Speech
'13. What was most apparent in the speech was the underlying assumption that the government not only was A solution,
but THE solution. The President is the prototypical statist, in that that he believes that the instrumentality of the state
is indispensable to curing society's ills, and is the principal mechanism by which reforms need to be made.
Obama and his 1 percent.
In the State of the Union, Mr. Obama once more went after "the few," and "the wealthiest and the most powerful," whom he blasted
as the "well-off and the well-connected" and the "billionaires with high-powered accountants." Like clockwork, the president
then jetted to West Palm Beach, Fla., for yet another golfing vacation at one of the nation's priciest courses, replete with
lessons from a $1,000-per-hour golf pro to improve the presidential putting.
Explaining the Inexplicable.
The president, as is his wont, blasted the "one percent," the "millionaires and billionaires," and the "well-connected" in his
recent State of the Union speech — and then he flew off to golf and hang out with the one percent of the one percent in
South Florida while his wife and kids jetted to Aspen to ski.
Obama's Thirteen Words. [Scroll
down] Fast forward to 2013, and President Obama's State of the Union, where he said, talking about global warming: "Heat
waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods — all are now more frequent and intense." That statement was demonstrably
false, as SEPP's The Week That Was points out. [...] Of course, there were so many other untrue statements in Obama's SOTU that it is
understandable that the 13 words on global warming got lost in the shuffle.
The
Crushing Impact Of A 24% Minimum Wage Hike. Barack Obama, during his State of the Union speech, declared that he
wanted to raise the minimum wage to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. It was obviously written into his
speech to garner applause from the Democrats in attendance and, no doubt, resonated with many low-income workers who might have
been watching. It is also a good bet that those Democrats and many others who think raising the minimum wage is a good
idea have never run a business, as they do not understand (or care?) about the compensation problems of wage compression.
Human-Caused
Climate Change Less Than Expected. President Obama is determined to do something about global warming, telling Congress
in his State of the Union address that if they won't act on it, he will. The president's refrain is familiar, but unfortunate.
Obama continues to ignore new science suggesting that the threat posed by human-caused climate change is substantially less than previously
thought.
Obama's Energy Plans [are] Not
a Triumph But a Tragedy. [Scroll down] The inclusion of this comment in the SOTUA aligns with Obama's ideology of pushing
less energy usage. This is troubling because it is widely accepted that energy consumption and economic growth go hand-in-hand.
A successful country uses more energy. For example, one of the reasons the US is using less gasoline is that so many people are unemployed.
They are not driving to and from work every day. They are not taking long driving vacations. They are hunkered down. Heavy
manufacturing requires abundant, available, and affordable energy. Energy is one of manufacturing's biggest expenses. But because of
closed factories, we are actually using less electricity in the industrial sector than we did in 2000.
Obama's insults expose
his ignorance and mental laziness. [Scroll down] At some point during the State of the Union, the President mentioned his "plan"
to spend $1 billion dollars to create 15 manufacturing "innovation centers." The President didn't talk about any details,
though, because there were none.
The Lost Era of Economic Growth.
President Obama highlighted the need for strong economic growth in his State of the Union address in February, citing it 11 times.
He mentioned it 5 times in a speech in Illinois in mid-March. [...] Obama hasn't a clue about actually generating economic
growth — his policies thwart it — but he's awfully good at messaging.
Obama's most fervent follower is himself.
It's worth remembering that when Mr. Obama took up gun control in his State of the Union address, he set the bar at shin level for himself and
Senate Democrats. He didn't demand victory; he demanded a mere vote on the issue. Running through a list of victims he was all too
eager to politicize [(]"The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote," etc.[)] he brought the
Democrats in the audience to their feet. Many in the press hailed it as one of the most moving moments of his presidency.
In Six Short
Months, President Obama Has Lost His Mojo. Obama turned his inaugural and State of the Union addresses into a left-wing dream factory, from
his declaration of war on global warming (on a planet where temperatures are the same as 16 years ago and in a country whose CO2 emissions are at a
20-year low) to the invention of new entitlements e.g., universal preschool for 4-year-olds for a country already drowning in debt.
Good Fathers Do
More To Stem Violence Than Gun Control. Obama, in Chicago, finally talked about the lack of fathers and the impact this has
on crime rather than complain about the number of rounds in a magazine: "For a lot of young boys and young men in particular, they
don't see an example of fathers or grandfathers, uncles, who are in a position to support families and be held up in respect. And
so that means that this is not just a gun issue; it's also an issue of the kinds of communities that we're building. [...]" He
offers no alternative. Why would he? That would require a wholesale rethinking of the welfare state and of the perverse
incentives that work against the interests of the very people the left claims to care about.
In Chicago,
Obama stresses community, family in curbing violence. Obama arrived in Chicago after weeks of not inserting himself
into the scourge of violent crime in his hometown, a city now run by his former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. In recent weeks,
many here have called on him to come to Chicago to speak about gun-related violence, much as he did in Newtown, Conn., after the
elementary school massacre there.
Obama's Chicago Speech On Gun Violence Tells Blacks A Skewed
Story. [A]fter much prodding, Obama returned home to the city of Chicago to offer his thoughts on gun violence that is
currently ravaging one of the most-impoverished sections of the city. Unfortunately, Obama's point of view harkened more to the
hackneyed than anything especially helpful.
Press conference, March 1, 2013.
Obama: 'I am not a dictator,
I'm the president'. Asked Friday by CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin why President Obama can't simply
refuse to let congressional leaders leave a room until they reach a deficit-reduction agreement, the president said he can't "force
Congress to do the right thing."
Nixon: I am not a crook. Obama: I am
not a dictator. Obama: 'I
Am Not A Dictator,' Can't Just Use 'Jedi Mind Meld' To Force GOP Into Deal. During his lengthy press conference this
morning, President Obama joked that he is unable to use a "Jedi mind meld" to force the Republican House to go along with his plan
for avoiding budget sequestration. He also said "I am not a dictator" when asked why he doesn't just force the GOP opposition
into agreeing on a deal.
Transcript: Obama's
press conference on spending cuts. President Obama stepped into the White House Press Briefing Room to give a statement
and take questions about the forced spending cuts scheduled to begin Friday.
Israel, March 21, 2013.
Obama's Mix of Reality and Fantasy.
President Obama continued his charm offensive with the people of Israel with his speech to an audience of students in Jerusalem that
reaffirmed his support for Zionism and Israel's "unbreakable" alliance with the United States. [...] The speech demonstrated that,
despite the new warmth between Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, there is still considerable distance between their positions.
Obama encouraged Israelis to rebel.
In his speech, Barack Obama encouraged the Israeli public to rebel; to rebel against the concept that has existed here [in Israel] for
the past 20 years; rebel against the narrative of PM Netanyahu and the Right; rebel against the Barak-Sharon-Netanyahu
legacy, according to which there is no one to talk to on the other side, Mahmoud Abbas is no different from Ismail Haniyeh
and settlement construction must continue. Despite the expressions of fondness toward Netanyahu, the American president
does not believe the Israeli leader.
'Obama's greatest speech,' say commentators.
American news outlets crowned United States President Barack Obama's speech in Jerusalem Thursday [3/21/2013] as a "great speech,"
comparing it to his milestone "Cairo speech" at the beginning of his first term.
Obama Goes To Israel
And Talks Down To Israelis. Waiting until his fifth year in office to visit our staunch ally, President Obama showed the real
purpose of his trip: to bully the Israelis in person. It takes gall to lecture Israelis that "you have the opportunity to be the
generation that permanently secures the Zionist dream." "Trust me," is Barack Obama's message on what the White House calls a
"listening tour." But what loyal citizen of the Jewish state would place faith in him?
Obama
Compared the Palestinians to Canada? Networks Ignore The Gaffe. Radio hosts like Mark Levin and Web sites like Canada Free
Press are mocking President Obama's statement in a press conference yesterday [3/21/2013] with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, where
he compared the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to U.S.-Canada relations. What? Levin called him a "moron" for the comparison.
But ABC, CBS, and NBC failed to notice. They acted like a press release service for Obama on their newscasts Thursday night and Friday
morning [...]
Planned Parenthood, April 26, 2013.
Editor's note:
This speech was originally scheduled for Thursday the 25th.
Obama Is Ducking
the Gosnell Abortion Controversy. Up in Pennsylvania, abortionist Kermit Gosnell is on trial, accused of having killed a
handful of babies who survived his procedures. And Planned Parenthood is in the thick of it all.
Obama to deliver keynote at
Planned Parenthood annual gala. President Obama will deliver the keynote address at Planned Parenthood's annual gala Thursday
[4/25/2013], highlighting his close ties to a group that spent millions in support of his reelection campaign. The speech follows a
hard-fought election cycle in which women's health issues dominated several Senate campaigns and figured prominently in the race between
Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Obama backs out of Planned
Parenthood keynote address. President Obama has canceled plans to deliver a keynote address at Planned Parenthood's annual
fundraising dinner Thursday night [4/25/2013], citing a desire to spend more time with family of the victims of the fertilizer plant
explosion in Texas. White House spokesman Jay Carney announced the decision to cancel the keynote speech at the gala during his
daily press briefing with reporters Wednesday. He said Mr. Obama will still address Planned Parenthood and its supporters Friday
morning.
Megyn
Kelly Guests Slam Obama For Giving Speech To Planned Parenthood In Wake Of Gosnell Trial. Megyn Kelly and her two guests
dished out some serious criticism of President Obama's upcoming keynote address at Planned Parenthood's gala this afternoon on Fox News.
Kelly opened the segment by questioning Obama's decision to speak at the event "just as the group comes under fire for reportedly knowing
about some of the horror stories" from the Kermit Gosnell clinic "but not doing more with that information."
Obama: 'Planned Parenthood isn't going anywhere'. During a
speech this morning at the Planned Parenthood gala, President Obama vowed he would never allow Republicans to cut taxpayer funds for the
abortion provider. "If there's one thing the past few years have shown is that Planned Parenthood isn't going anywhere," Obama said
as the crowd cheered. "It's not going anywhere today, it's not going anywhere tomorrow."
Obama: Abortion foes want [us to]
return to [the] 1950s. President Barack Obama vowed Friday to join Planned Parenthood in fighting against what he said are efforts by
states to turn women's health back to the 1950s, before the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide, and singled out the GOP-governed
states of North Dakota and Mississippi for criticism.
Obama Trades Night-time Planned Parenthood Appearance for Today.
With the unabashed presence of President Barack Hussein Obama at today's Planned Parenthood Fundraising Gala, acclaimed 'Stars of Obama'
twinkle as brightly in the glare of daylight as they do in the dark of night. Obama ducked last night's keynote speaking engagement
at the Planned Parenthood dinner, only to show up at the event today [4/26/2013].
Broken Justice for the Unborn. Tonight was
going to be the night for President Obama's keynote at Planned Parenthood's Washington Gala. But the White House announced yesterday
afternoon that the president had changed his schedule. It would be a wonderful thing if the cancellation indicated the president's
moral reconsideration rather than a mere political recalculation following Planned Parenthood's recent statements indicating its awareness
of complaints about Kermit Gosnell's squalid abattoir and its overall toleration of late-term abortions. But Obama will now speak to
Planned Parenthood on Friday morning [4/26/2013] — a less visible and celebratory occasion, of course, but still an event
signaling a presidential endorsement.
Obama
Avoids [the] Word 'Abortion' in [his] Speech Defending Planned Parenthood. President Obama gave a speech slamming
critics for trying to turn Planned Parenthood "into a punching bag" while notably avoiding the word "abortion" in the entire address.
"The fact is, after decades of progress, there's still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than
the 21st century. And they've been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes
to women's health," Obama said.
Palin
Hammers 'Radically Pro-Abortion' Obama for Planned Parenthood Speech. Governor Sarah Palin, responding to Barack
Obama's speech to Planned Parenthood today, took on Obama on her Facebook page. She noted that it was no accident that the
same day Obama addressed the giant abortion provider, she was addressing a pro-life woman's resource center.
Obama 12-Minute
Speech to Planned Parenthood [was] Time for 7.6 Abortions at Planned Parenthood . President Barack Obama praised the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America for saving lives and helping women and families in a 12-minute, 3-second speech on Friday, which was enough time for 7.6 abortions
to take place at Planned Parenthood clinics, based upon the abortion data in their latest annual report.
Women Deserve Better than
Planned Parenthood. The cheering at the president's speech this morning reminded me of Andrew Cuomo's state-of-the-state
address, where he took on a similar tone of abortion triumphalism. Gone is the talk of "safe, legal, and rare." The posture
is instead one of expectation (as in, abortion is just expected of women who didn't plan to be pregnant) and increase. Gosnell
should make us reconsider this all. But not under this president's leadership, it would seem.
Will Doug Kmiec Please Stand Up?
This week, Obama addressed Planned Parenthood, going so far to close his address by saying "God bless you." This is an organization
responsible for hundreds of thousands abortions a year. Obama's attendance was timed to coincide with the Kermit Gosnell trial — a
wicked saga so gruesome that I can barely contemplate the facts. Make no mistake — Obama went to the Planned Parenthood event this
week because of the Gonsnell trial. Planned Parenthood needed a cheerleader after a very bad month.
President's
speech to Planned Parenthood: a reminder of the Left's dishonest abortion views. The other "abortion in the news" moment was Obama's slobbering love
letter to Planned Parenthood, when he spoke at their big hoo-ha. If you doubt that it was a love letter, you need only listen to the very last few seconds of
his speech: ["]As long as we've got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we've got to fight to
protect a woman's right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right there with you,
fighting every step of the way. Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.["]
30 Reasons To Dislike
Barack Obama. [#10] He actually said, "Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you." We're
talking about people who murder babies for a living and he's asking God to bless that? What a despicable man.
First Black
President Makes Racist White Woman's Dream Come True. Last Friday, Obama became the first sitting president to address a
Planned Parenthood national conference. In his introductory remarks, Obama paid homage to a "health clinic" (one of his many
euphemisms) which opened in Brooklyn "nearly a hundred years ago." Since he was being careful with language, Obama didn't bring
up PP's founder, Margaret Sanger, who along with her sister and a friend started the Brooklyn clinic he referenced.
News conference, April 30, 2013.
Obama on Obamacare: This
is as Good as it Gets. President Obama had some gnarly news for the Democratic campaign committees: This is as
good as it gets for his signature health law. In a press conference on the 100th day of his second term, Obama found himself
on the defensive and short on answers. Syria genocide? We're looking into it. Benhgazi whistleblowers? Never
heard of them. Intelligence gaps on the Boston Marathon bombing? "This is hard stuff."
Dubious call to
chill. With his own administration saying chemical weapons have been used in Syria, a Democratic senator saying ObamaCare
has become a "train wreck," and others worrying that the failure to neutralize the Tsarnaev brothers before the Boston massacre indicates
a systemic failure in the nation's homeland defense, Obama spent an hour in a press conference yesterday morning Chip-Dillering America.
Who We Must
Blame For Boston. Barack Obama promised Tuesday [4/30/2013] that he would be taking lessons from the Boston Marathon jihad
bombing: "When an event like this happens, we want to review every step that was taken, we want to leave no stone unturned, we want
to see if there is in fact additional protocols and procedures that could be put in place that would further improve and enhance our
ability to detect a potential attack." Sounds great — but ultimately all Obama offered were words. Words that
are unlikely to be backed up by real action.
Issa:
Obama 'aids those' who are intimidating Benghazi whistle-blowers. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman
Darrell Issa, R-Calif., accused President Obama of "aid[ing] those in his Administration who are intimidating" potential Benghazi
whistle-blowers, because Obama pleaded ignorance when asked about the issue today [4/30/2013].
Obama pledges inquiry on
Benghazi survivors' testimony. President Obama said he is unaware of longstanding efforts by Republican lawmakers to question
survivors of the Benghazi attacks but pledged to investigate the issue. "I'm not familiar with this notion that anybody has been
blocked from testifying," the president said during a White House news conference on Tuesday. "So what I'll do is I will find out
what exactly you're referring to."
Obama Not
Familiar With Benghazi Whistle-Blower Threats. Administration officials actually need to lawyer up to reveal the truth about
the Benghazi disaster that left our ambassador and three others dead. This from "the most transparent administration in history."
Obama 'not familiar'
with intimidation of Benghazi whistleblowers. President Obama on Tuesday said he was unaware of complaints from Benghazi
whistleblowers inside his own administration who contend that they are being intimidated over their cooperation with investigators into
the September 2012 attack, but pledged to look into the matter. "I'm not familiar with this notion that anybody's been blocked from
testifying," Mr. Obama said in response to a question during a press conference in the White House briefing room. "What I'll do is
find out what exactly you're referring to."
The Un-Lyndon Johnson. It finally seems
to be dawning on much of the Washington press corps that President Obama doesn't much like the way governance works in a democracy and so
he just doesn't do what presidents are paid to do: get things done. It seems that his press conference yesterday, marking the
hundredth day of his second term, was more or less of a disaster. He whined that his failure on gun control, cybersecurity, and
removal of the sequester was all the fault of Congress, and especially congressional Republicans.
The Clinical Definition of 'Insanity'.
President Obama made a number of ill-conceived remarks in his press conference Tuesday, but the topper was the one reported by the New
York Times regarding the performance of federal investigators in the aftermath of a 2011 warning from Russian intelligence that
Tamerlan Tsarnaev — one of the eventual Boston Marathon bombers — was an Islamic radical.
Just How Ignorant Is Obama About
ObamaCare? At his press conference this week, President Obama tried to reassure Americans about ObamaCare. Instead, he displayed
either an incredible lack of understanding about his own law, or something far worse. Asked about increasing Democratic concern over what Sen.
Max Baucus called a looming ObamaCare "train wreck," Obama claimed that it's all much ado about very little. But almost nothing he said in
defense of ObamaCare was accurate.
Presidential Followership.
Tuesday's meandering mess of a news conference exposed that his first term's permanent campaign — attempting to reframe all issues
to maximize him and minimize his opposition — is going to be inappropriate for the only thing Mr. Obama has got now: a mere
American presidency. Whether Roosevelt, Nixon, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, every second-term president must in time come to
grips with the reality that it can't be about just his agenda or just him.
Train Wreck: ObamaCare
Blocking Job Creation, Economic Growth. On Friday [5/3/2013] the government will release its unemployment report for April. The jobs
numbers last month were a huge disappointment. Americans can't afford more bad news. Washington needs to break the cycle of weak job growth
month after month. To do that, we need to honestly deal with one of the main roadblocks to job creation: President Obama's health care law.
At a press conference this week, the president proved once again that he doesn't understand how his law threatens Americans' jobs, their care and their paycheck.
Obama plays Truth or Dare with your health care.
At his impromptu news conference last Tuesday, President Obama demonstrated he is either so detached he doesn't know what's happened as the Affordable Care Act (aka
ObamaCare) is being implemented or that he knows but intends to brazen his way through an emerging policy debacle. Whichever it is, it's likely to be a
political disaster for the president and his party.
Mexico City, May 3, 2013.
Obama Spins Furiously On Guns.
Barack Obama's comments about guns in Mexico today [5/3/2013] demonstrated a curious lack of self-awareness. "[M]ost of the guns used to
commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States." So the violence perpetrated by Mexican drug cartels is our fault?
That seemed to be the implication. But obviously, if there were not a single firearm in the U.S., the drug cartels would be just as well
armed as they are today.
Obama, in Mexico, Credits Latinos for Winning Presidency.
Speaking to a Mexico City crowd on Friday [5/3/2013], President Barack Obama said he would not be president if not for Latino voters, and then he pledged immigration
reform in the United States to legalize those who are here illegally. "Without the strong support of Latinos, including so many Mexican-Americans, I would not be
standing here today as president of the United States," Obama said. "That's the truth."
Obama: Americans 'Are Root Cause of
Violence That's Been Happening Here in Mexico'. President Barack Obama, speaking in Mexico City on Friday, said the United States is responsible
for much of the crime and violence in Mexico because of the demand for drugs and the illegal smuggling of guns across the southern border. [...] Obama
acknowledged the illegal smuggling of guns into Mexico by American criminals, but did not mention the Justice Department's Operation Fast and Furious that
allowed the flow of about 2,000 U.S. guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
Obama Blames U.S., Repeats 90% Gun Lie In
Mexico. Once again blaming his own country for Mexico's gun violence without mentioning Fast and Furious, the gun runner in chief pledges to find and
jail gun smugglers. Perhaps he should start with his own administration.
Ohio State University, May 5, 2013.
Obama: The Only Thing We Need to Fear Is Fear
of Tyranny. On Sunday, President Obama delivered the commencement address at Ohio State University. He once again
gave voice to the essential element of his philosophy of government.
Obama's
message to the Class of '13: So much is wrong with America. Seventy-five months into his perpetual campaign to transform
America into something else, Barack Obama is still talking about all that's wrong with the country he's spent almost $2 billion of
other people's money to lead. You might think by now the unhappy warrior would be capable of touting some progress in his annual
string of commencement addresses to inattentive audiences sitting in hot sun. But, No.
Obama's Demeaning Commencement Address.
[P]residents rarely speak off-the-cuff, and their every word is carefully chosen for exactly the message the White House wants to convey to
the public. Their graduation speeches, like all presidential addresses, go through many drafts and are reviewed by high-level
administration officials to ensure that they accurately reflect the administration's policies and priorities. That's why President
Barack Obama's speech at Ohio State University's 2013 Commencement should trouble all Americans.
The Biggest Threat Of Government Tyranny Says There Is
None. The president told college graduates over the weekend to dismiss those warning of government tyranny. But he wouldn't have brought it up if
he didn't feel the need to defend his administration's heavy hand.
Morehouse College, May 19, 2013
Obama's Black lie to Black
Graduates. While delivering the commencement speech at historically black Morehouse College, President Obama predictably utilized
"victimology 101" to access the inner victim that presumably exists inside all black Americans. He disingenuously reminded the all-male
graduates, "As an African American, you have to work twice as hard as anyone else if you want to get by." Unsurprisingly, this underhanded
insinuation that racism is so pervasive that no amount of individual effort will overcome it received a thunderous ovation, even though this
recycled notion has the legitimacy of a three-dollar bill.
Obama Uses Commencement Address to
Recall Jim Crow, Racism. In a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, President Barack Obama recalls Jim Crow
laws and racism of the 40s and 50s. Morehouse College is a historically black college.
Obama 'The Jerk' Gets Personal About Race.
Our half-black, half-white, half-Muslim president addressed his ilk at Morehouse College today — "another historically black college".
National Defense University, May 23, 2013
GOP's
Chambliss: Obama speech will be 'viewed by terrorists as victory'. The senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said
President Obama's national security speech will be "viewed by terrorists as a victory." Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) made the remarks
in a statement released moments after Obama's speech. He focused his criticism on Obama's plans to move toward closing the Guantanamo
Bay detainee camp. "We knew five years ago that closing Guantanamo was a bad idea and would not work," Chambliss said. "Yet,
today's speech sends the message to Guantanamo detainees that if they harass the dedicated military personnel there enough, we will give
in and send them home, even to Yemen."
Obama
Narrows Scope of Terror Fight. Nearly a dozen years after the hijackings that transformed America, President Obama
said Thursday [5/23/2013] that it was time to narrow the scope of the grinding battle against terrorists and begin the transition to a day when
the country will no longer be on a war footing.
'You Can Close Gitmo Today!' — An audience plant? Code
Pink Heckler Completely Derails Obama's Counterterrorism Speech. Another major political speech, another Code Pink
heckling. During President Obama's counterterrorism policy speech at National Defense University on Thursday afternoon, Code Pink
co-founder Medea Benjamin interrupted when the topic turned to the closing of the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
"I'm about to address it, ma'am," Obama said as Benjamin went off about the hunger strike currently taking hold amongst Gitmo detainees.
"Why don't you sit down? But you've got to let me speak."
The Editor says...
It is safe to assume that if a Tea Party heckler interrupts an Obama speech, an IRS audit is sure to ensue.
Obama
Calls for Gitmo Inmates to Be Transfered to the United States. In a speech today, President Obama is calling
for the transfer for Gitmo inmates to the United States. "The original premise for opening GTMO — that
detainees would not be able to challenge their detention — was found unconstitutional five years ago.
In the meantime, GTMO has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law. Our allies
won't cooperate with us if they think a terrorist will end up at GTMO. [...]"
The Editor says...
I find that hard to believe. Name the "allies" who are opposed to putting terrorists away at Guantanamo Bay.
The End of the Perpetual
War. President Obama's speech on Thursday was the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001
attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that
the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the
not-too-distant future.
Who Invited Code Pink's Medea Benjamin to
Obama's Speech? President Barack Obama was heckled Thursday by leftist terrorist ally Susan 'Medea' Benjamin while giving
a speech on national security issues at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C. Curiously, Obama's staff
let Benjamin interrupt and engage Obama several times on issues like Guantanamo and drones over several minutes before she was forcibly
removed from the press rows in the back of the auditorium where the speech was being given.
Obama 'Respects
Inherent Dignity of Every Human Life' — When Deciding Whether to Abort Terrorists. Giving a speech on counter-terrorism policy
at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., today, President Barack Obama explained that when deciding whether to target terrorists with
drones — whether or not the terrorists are U.S. citizens — he has set a "high threshold" of respect for human life. "But
the high threshold that we have set for taking lethal action applies to all potential terrorist targets, regardless of whether or not they are American
citizens," Obama said. "This threshold respects the inherent dignity of every human life."
What scandals? Obama tries
tacking to terror, drones and Gitmo. In an hour-long speech of nearly 7,000 words, interrupted by a persistent heckler, the former Real
Good Talker reminded his audience at the National Defense University, whose mission is to study war, that the United States has "constitutional
principles" that have survived many wars during more than two centuries. No kidding. And that "having fought for our independence,
we know a price must be paid for freedom." Strange words indeed coming out of the mouth of an alleged constitutional law lecturer and president
whose Internal Revenue Service has been illegally targeting and intimidating Americans of a certain contrary political persuasion.
War against terrorism
must end, Barack Obama says. America's perpetual war against terrorism since September 11th must come to an end, President Barack Obama
said today as he announced new restrictions on drone strikes and a fresh effort to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp.
Obama's Speech: Hamlet as Wartime Leader.
In seventy lugubrious paragraphs, President Obama today asked America whether as commander-in-chief he should bomb terrorists. He concluded
that sometimes he should, and sometimes he shouldn't. He couldn't quite make up his mind. Therefore, he would appoint a panel to
advise him. Mr. Obama has already authorized more than 200 such drone bombings. His staff has bragged that before ordering a
bombing, he personally reviews who lives and who dies. Imagine if Prime Minister Churchill or President Truman had appeared on television to
announce an advisory panel before bombing our enemy. We would be appalled. The president appeared before us not as our leader, but
as our Hamlet.
Obama signals retreat in the fight
against terrorism. President Obama delivered an address today at the National Defense University called "The Future of our Fight Against
Terrorism." Actually, part of the speech was about the past, including much self-congratulation and some shots at President Bush.
Obama: Increase in domestic
terrorism fueled by Internet. During his foreign policy speech Thursday afternoon, President Obama warned that domestic terrorism
would increase in the modern age of the Internet. "[T]his threat is not new," Obama said. "But technology and the Internet increase its
frequency and lethality." Obama warned Americans that materials on the Internet could influence people to commit terrorist acts. "Today,
a person can consume hateful propaganda, commit themselves to a violent agenda and learn how to kill without leaving their home," he said.
President Obama dreamily wants to scale back the war on terror.
President Obama declared on Thursday that it's time for the U.S. to leave behind the global war on terror. He might first try convincing America's
war-waging global enemies to do the same. Almost a dozen years after 9/11, the President wishfully hopes to demilitarize national security in the
age of Islamist radicalism. He judges the country ready for such a step because a long fight has markedly degraded the attacking capacities of Al Qaeda
and affiliates.
Heckled by an Activist, but Getting
the Last Word. At times on Thursday, it seemed President Obama was taking part in a debate rather than giving a speech. Deep into an
address at the National Defense University, where Mr. Obama sought to redefine America's approach to fighting terrorism, a heckler repeatedly interrupted
from the back of the room, demanding an end to drone strikes and the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba. The
heckler — though she objected strenuously to being described that way — was Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of Code Pink, a
group opposed to United States military actions. She is a familiar face on Capitol Hill, where she has repeatedly interrupted proceedings.
The Editor says...
I find it interesting that the heckler objected to being called a heckler. That might indicate that she was just following orders as
an audience plant, and should instead be called an enabler.
O 'ends' terror war. Amid
catcalls from a Leftist heckler too blitheringly stupid to understand her dream was coming true, President Obama yesterday declared his intention to
end the War on Terror — not quite 12 years since the 9/11 attacks. In what may have been the most important speech of his presidency,
Obama said he would ask Congress to join him in efforts to "refine, and ultimately repeal," the Authorization to Use Military Force passed three days
after 9/11. In other words, he intends to write the War on Terror out of US law.
How Obama Bungled the Guantánamo
Closing. President Obama called today for a renewed effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But back in 2009, the
White House dropped the ball on closing the controversial military prison by failing to come up with a plan in time, refusing to help House Democrats
who were fighting for its closure, and then abandoning the plan altogether and blaming Republicans.
Obama's
war on leaks undermines investigative journalism. For the past five years, beginning with his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama
has promised that his government would be the most open and transparent in American history. Recently, while stating that he makes "no apologies"
for his Justice Department's investigations into suspected leaks of classified information, the president added that "a free press, free expression and
the open flow of information helps hold me accountable, helps hold our government accountable and helps our democracy function." Then, in his
National Defense University speech Thursday, Obama said he was "troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative
journalism that holds government accountable."
Questions
Obama dodged in terror speech. US President Barack Obama set out Thursday to redefine the US fight against global terrorism.
But despite calling for a more targeted and not "boundless" theater of global operations, Obama left the specifics and timelines for action, by
which his success or failure can be measured, out of his big speech.
Obama
Surrenders Just As Islamic Jihad Intensifies. In arguably the weakest national security speech by a commander
in chief, Obama denied Thursday that our terrorist enemy is inspired by Islam — while at the same time appeasing
Islamic critics by apologizing for drone strikes and agreeing to throttle back on such precision bombings, and close down
the terrorist prison at Guantanamo. He vowed to wind down further military actions in the war on terror, arguing he can
protect America through law enforcement actions, instead, as if the threat comes from bank robbers or other common criminals.
His mea culpas and capitulations will only embolden the Islamist enemy.
Obama's Head-in-the-Sand Speech on
Terror. If one wanted to come up with a slogan for the Obama Administration it would be that to win the war on terrorism one must
lose the war on revolutionary Islamism because only by showing that America is the Islamists' friend will it take away the incentive to join al-Qaida and
attack the United States. So: why have not hundreds of such denials had the least bit of effect on the course of that war?
Can Obama Declare Peace? President Obama's speech at the
National Defense University calling for an end to the war on terror forces the question of who gets to declare peace. The Left wing in our
political debate has been agitating for some time to repeal the authorization to use military force that the Congress passed after 9/11. The
President boarded the bandwagon yesterday.
A
Skeptical Celebration of President Obama's Shifty Terrorism Speech. President Obama attempted something familiar in his well-crafted
speech at National Defense University: he signalled that counterterrorism efforts would change significantly in his second term; and like his
predecessor, he avoided mentioning that the forsaken policies were mistakes.
Obama Speaks, The Heart Sinks. He's actually
getting worse. This president will not admit that we are in a war, as President George W. Bush defined it, with various terrorist
organizations and with countries that support them. In his overlong, rambling speech to the National Defense University on terrorism and
national security, the president never even mentioned Iran, which happens to be our main enemy and the world's leading sponsor of international
terrorism. Not one word.
Even for liberals, Obama has
crossed a line. Barack Obama announced an end to America's war on terror last week. In future, he declared, he would restrict the
unmanned drone attacks that had been his own signature anti-terrorist initiative, and he would really, really make an effort to shut down the prison
camp at Guantánamo Bay — as he had promised to do way back when he was running for president the first time.
Analysts contradict Obama on Islamic
terror threat. Terrorism analysts are rebutting President Obama's assertion that the "scale of the threat" from Islamic terrorists has
reverted to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels. "This is a total fabrication," said Steven Emerson, whose Investigative Project on Terrorism tracks
radical Islam. "The 'scale of this threat' in the 1990s never closely resembled the terrorist attacks post-9/11. This is an outright lie."
O's split personality. Beset by growing world
disorder, a sluggish economy and big scandals at home, President Obama tried to reset his presidency last week with a long speech on national security
and terrorism. At least that's what he said the speech was about. In reality, it was — surprise — about him.
Both sides of him.
A speech to 'kiss and make up' with his
base. What do you do when your base is angry about Guantanamo? I guess that you promise to close it again. You also blame
Congress for not giving you the money to do it. The problem is that it was a Congress controlled by Democrats that did not provide the
funding. What about drones? You promise that we will "drone" more carefully from now on. Let's hope that the terrorists will
cooperate by keeping children away from them.
For Obama, it's Like 9/11 Never Happened.
Perhaps the most shocking — and depressing — aspect of the president's speech on Thursday was his inability to grasp the nature and
extent of the threat facing America and the west from Islamic extremism. What possessed this president to declare an end to the war on terror?
Stupid. "You're stupid," is not something even his most severe
critics usually say to President Barack Obama. But on Friday morning [5/24/2013] I picked up the Wall Street Journal and learned that the
president had given a speech about the war on terror saying, "This war, like all wars, must end." [...] This war, like all wars, must end when someone
wins it. The president — speaking at the National Defense University, of all places — said, "the core of al Qaeda ... is
on the path to defeat." And so it may be. But meanwhile, the core of al Qaeda, its aims and its beliefs, is also on the path to Boston and
London and any number of other places.
Contrary to Obama, the Terror War
Has Barely Begun. The collapse of Middle Eastern states from Libya to Afghanistan vastly increases the terrorist recruitment
pool, while severely restricting the ability of American intelligence services to monitor and interdict the terrorists. In addition, it
intensifies the despair that motivates Muslims like the Tsarnaev brothers or Michael Adebolajo to perpetrate acts of terrorism. That makes
President Obama's declaration that America is winding down the "war on terror" — a misnomer to begin with — the worst
decision by an American commander-in-chief since the Buchanan administration, perhaps ever.
Our Enemies Get a Vote. They say all is fair in
love and war (I'm skeptical), but that doesn't mean war and love have much in common. When it comes to love, both parties need to be
in on it. In war, all it takes is one to tango. Sure, if the non-belligerent party doesn't want to fight, it can try to
talk, or cut a deal, or even surrender. But it's up to the guys willing to kill to decide how things will proceed.
Barack Obama, George Orwell, and Terror.
Lying can be a conscious choice or an accidental habit. The leader "Big Brother" did it all the time in 1984, but lying can also come from
sloppy language. President Obama and his team use euphemisms to describe Arab-Islamic terror. Fort Hood was "workplace violence," Detroit a
"lone gunman." [...] President Obama's address on terror shows he is not interested in reversing his PC process of willful blindness and willful ignorance
regarding Islamic terror.
Drone
On. Last week President Obama announced restrictions on U.S. drone strikes. He touted the rules — "written policy standards
and procedures that formalize and strengthen the Administration's rigorous process" for authorizing targeted killings — in a policy statement,
a speech, and a background briefing by senior administration officials. This week Obama went right back to business. He killed a Taliban leader
with a drone strike in Pakistan, and White House press secretary Jay Carney won't even admit that's what happened.
Let the Sunshine In. The president described an al Qaeda so
thoroughly enervated that the threat it poses no longer requires a sustained, global campaign dedicated to its elimination. "Today, the core
of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on a path to defeat," he said. "Their remaining operatives spend more time thinking about their own
safety than plotting against us." The shift in policy the president announced is risky even if he's right about the diminished threat posed
by al Qaeda. And it's dangerous if he's incorrect.
Obama's
Dorothy Doctrine. Nice thought. But much as Obama would like to close his eyes, click his heels three times and declare the war on
terror over, war is a two-way street. That's what history advises: Two sides to fight it, two to end it.
Obama Declares War on Terror Over. In a hallmark
speech last week, President Obama unilaterally declared the war on terror over. The end of that war, Obama stated, meant we could return to the
halcyon days of the Clinton-era law enforcement, during which America experienced a spate of terrorist attacks ranging from the first attack on the
World Trade Center in 1993 to the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 to the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 to the USS Cole
bombing in 2000. What justified Obama's announcement? Nothing, except his need to pacify his leftist base.
What Obama Didn't
Mention in Counterterror Speech. A new State Department report to Congress comes the day after an Argentinian prosecutor drops a massive
indictment accusing Iran of plotting attacks from Latin America: "These are sleeper cells. They have activities you wouldn't imagine."
Let's Win This One for the Griper.
Admirers sometimes say that Barack Obama is too cerebral in not letting his emotions show. But he went all gushy in one telling
moment in his speech last week at the National Defense University. That was when he paused to consider the "hard fact" that even
the most carefully considered unmanned strikes against known terrorists occasionally result in civilian casualties.
Maybe the teleprompter is being loaded by somebody in Moscow. Obama's Sword and Shield. In watching
President Obama speak on terrorism last week, we were taken aback to hear him say that America needs an anti-terrorism program that
is both our sword and our shield. This was a striking choice of words by an American president. Remember the
emblem of the KGB? Maybe you don't, but we do.
President
Obama's National Security Speech: Dangerous Lies. In his latest national security speech, President Obama talked
about wanting to close Guantánamo Bay, greatly reducing the drone program, and ending the 2001 Military Authorization
Act, and he took credit for keeping Americans safe by supposedly defeating terrorism. There have been arguments by some
that he made his national security speech to deflect the scandals encircling his administration. However, Americans should
take his speech as a warning that this president has pivoted to enforce his ideology.
Obama — Red Lines and Red Herrings.
Terror attacks or plots from Benghazi to Boston, Bulgaria to London, Detroit to Fort Hood, and Little Rock to Times Square are signs that
terrorists are still alive and kicking. Obama wants to ignore or belittle these events, just as some did before 9-11. Yes,
there were no 9-11-scale attacks, but there was a new 9-11 assault in Benghazi by Al-Qaeda. There were also more anti-US attacks
and attempted attacks in the last four years than the previous seven.
All We Are Saying... The problem of declaring victory
against an enemy who refuses to concede defeat is not new. The World War 2 generation solved the problem by continuing until the foe
threw in the towel. Although President Obama may believe that victory consists in convincing one's countrymen that "we won", historically
it consisted of convincing the enemy that he lost.
Belfast, June 17, 2013
Barack
Obama looks like a president going through the motions. Listening to Barack Obama give his speech in Belfast on
Monday [6/17/2013], it was hard not to stifle a yawn. I kept waiting for the part when he would say something interesting,
but, about three quarters of the way through, realised it wasn't going to come.
Barack's Brave New World Blarney. This week Obama took his
Brave New World propaganda to the youth of Northern Ireland. He has visions of a secularist utopia for them too. With uniformed school children
arrayed behind him, he in effect called for the elimination of religious education in Northern Ireland: [...] Who knows, maybe Obama can lend these benighted
schools one of his former education advisers, such as his "Safe Schools" czar Kevin Jennings, who wrote the foreword to Queering Elementary Education. Or
maybe he can dispatch Arne Duncan to share his wisdom. After all, Chicago's schools are such a picture of peace.
Obama: Religious schools encourage division.
Barack Obama actually made this claim at a speech in Belfast on Monday, but it seems to be gaining traction overnight. His claim, aimed at both Catholic
and Protestant "schools and buildings," came in prepared remarks rather than an extemporaneous response to a question. The Scottish Catholic Observer
quotes the argument accurately.
The devil went to the G8 and nobody slammed the door in his face.
It was pure Saul Alinsky when President Barack Obama went after Catholic schools in a G8 speech in Northern Ireland on Monday. The "Irish
ancestry" of her husband purportedly searched by wife Michelle pales in comparison to Barack's real roots because his entire career, including his
2008 rock star-like debut on the world stage came from the Catholic Church through Satan-lover Saul Alinsky right in their hometown of Chicago.
In front of a captive audience of about 2,000 young people — his signature audience that leaves out adults — Obama claimed that
Catholic education divides people and blocks peace, according to the Scottish Catholic Observer.
President Obama's Belfast Blarney.
President Obama's recent trip to the G-8 Summit in Belfast, Northern Ireland, included an address at the Waterfront hall. There, he
criticized Catholic and Protestant schools and compared them to segregated schools in the U.S. when he was a boy. His remarks were hailed by
British atheists. They took his speech for what it was: an attack on faith-based education everywhere.
Obama remarks about Catholic schools
spark new fight with church. President Obama's remarks on Catholic schools during his trip to Northern Ireland this week have sparked an
unexpected uproar, with critics accusing him of diminishing religious education. The backlash, which has grown steadily since Mr. Obama made the
comments Monday, once again has put the commander in chief at odds with the Roman Catholic Church, which is fighting a provision in the president's
health care law that requires religious institutions to provide free birth control for their employees.
Berlin, June 18, 2013
Obama
Directs DoD to Acknowledge Nuke Attack Isn't Likely, So Cut Arsenal. President Obama used his speech before the
Brandenburg Gate this morning to tout further planned reductions to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. [...] "The U.S. intent is to seek
negotiated cuts with Russia so that we can continue to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures," the White House said.
White House Blows the Berlin Speech.
President Obama's speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin today was a stage director's nightmare. The president was sweating
profusely — you could see the outlines of his undershirt. There were ghostly reflections off the protective glass
in front of him. And instead of heaving throngs of admirers, Obama addressed 6,000 or so invited guests. And something
was wrong with TOTUS!
Berlin Speech: 200,000 for Obama
in 2008; Only 6,000 Today. The White House pool report reveals that only 6,000 will be in attendance for Obama's Berlin speech
today. Last time around, when Obama delivered a speech in Berlin in the 2008 presidential campaign, when he was still a
senator, 200,000 folks came out to see him. Update: The pool reporter says only 4,500 were present for Obama's speech.
Obama Looking for Love in Wrong
Places. Today's speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin only emphasized the contrast between the ecstatic reaction he received there from a
huge audience in 2008 and the tepid response he got today to a laundry list of foreign policy proposals including a call for reductions in nuclear weapons
that will likely go nowhere.
Mush from the wimp. That was the joke
headline a Boston Globe writer named Kirk Scharfenberg placed atop a 1980 editorial about a speech by President Jimmy Carter, thinking it would be removed
before it was printed. But it wasn't found and fixed until tens of thousands of papers had been printed. Pity Mr. Scharfenberg is no longer with
us. Because his memorable gaffe is the perfect heading for President Obama's performance yesterday in Berlin, whence he delivered his usual bromides
about peace with justice and the danger of nuclear arms. The muted crowd says it all: just 4,500 people, all carefully invited.
Barack
Obama bombs in Berlin: a weak, underwhelming address from a floundering president. Ultimately it was little more than a laundry list of
Obama's favourite liberal pet causes, including cutting nuclear weapons, warning about climate change, putting an end to all wars, shutting Guantanamo,
ending global poverty, and backing the European Project. It was a combination of staggering naiveté, the appeasement of America's enemies
and strategic adversaries, and the championing of more big government solutions. There was little in this speech that advances US interests, or
makes the world a safer place.
President
issues call to 'break down the walls in our hearts'... from behind a giant bulletproof screen. Speaking from behind a wall of bullet-proof glass,
the US president removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves as he battled the 86F temperature on Wednesday, quipping: 'People of Berlin, your welcome
is so warm I'm going to take off my jacket.' At times wiping away beads of sweat, the President read from paper because the teleprompter wasn't working.
Obama
ignored in Berlin. In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to 200,000 adoring fans in Berlin. Five years later, the
crowds have all but disappeared. President Obama came back to Berlin to give a speech, and 4,000 people had nothing better to do than listen
to empty words and broken promises of hope and change. The other 196,000 Germans who attended the first speech, like much of the rest of the
world, tuned him out. They had no interest in the 2013 version of "Ich bin Ein Teleprompter."
Obama to
Berliners: Ich bin ein awful speaker. Obama 's 2013 speech was a peculiar and awkward one. Awkward because his
teleprompter was malfunctioning. Obama is a poor public speaker without that visual crutch feeding the words to his gazing
eyes. Instead, the president was reduced to reading from a text on the podium, not his strong suit. And it was a peculiar
speech for this time because of its marginal subject matter.
Barack Bamboozles Berlin. [Scroll down]
Barack Obama ended with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote crescendo: "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In the end,
so too does "loss of freedom in America threaten freedom everywhere." That loss is precisely why, both in Germany and here at home, free
people must grasp the potentially harmful impact the 'peace-loving' guy standing behind eight inches of bulletproof glass seeks to impose on
the Western world.
Obama
hits a wall in Berlin. [Scroll down] Shifting his strange focus from Russia's nuclear weapons, Obama said "we can... reject the nuclear
weaponization that North Korea and Iran may be seeking." Were Obama given to saying such stuff off the cuff, this would be a good reason for
handcuffing him to a teleprompter. But, amazingly, such stuff is put on his teleprompter and, even more amazing, he reads it aloud.
Neither the people who wrote those words nor he who spoke them can be taken seriously.
Barack Obama's really bad trip.
Berlin hadn't seen bombing like this since the allies turned the city into a wasteland in the spring of 1945, when American B-17s and B-24s,
British Lancasters and Russian heavy artillery took turns making the rubble bounce. This week the bomb was the bomber himself, and when
the day was done, the legend of the irresistible eloquence of Barack Obama lay in shreds and tatters.
World Without Boundaries. So easy it would be to tune the president out, to
dismiss his words as clichés, to examine his actions instead of his speeches. But that would be a mistake. Falling walls matter to
Barack Obama, and it is important to know why. [...] Obama aligned himself in his Wednesday speech with one of the founders of modern liberalism,
Immanuel Kant, "who taught us that freedom is the 'un-originated birthright of man, and it belongs to him by force of his humanity.'" Kant's
world, Obama's world, the liberal world, is one of autonomous and enlightened individuals, shorn of attachment, living under republican governments
in a global order of perpetual peace.
The Obama Age of Proliferation. Mr. Obama returned
this week to Berlin to give his long-promised speech laying out his plans to rid the world of nuclear weapons. His idea is to remove those weapons
initially and primarily from American hands. North Korea and Iran each got a single line in his speech, which is at least more than he gave to
China, which is investing heavily in the world's third largest nuclear arsenal.
Krauthammer: Obama's Berlin
speech 'self-indulgent, anachronistic and adolescent'. "Obama gave a speech in Germany this week," Krauthammer said. "Was it a) a
stirring defense of the United States and the concept of liberty, like Reagan and Kennedy; b) a mediocre mush of platitudes; c) the worst
presidential speech on foreign affairs in memory; or d) self-indulgent, anachronistic and adolescent?"
Obama's Rhetoric Little Noted nor Long
Remembered. MSNBC's Chris Matthews tried to excuse Mr. Obama's flat Berlin performance by saying the sun was glaring and he couldn't
read his teleprompter. Chris ought to remember that the sun was even more intense on the day after a blizzard in January, 1961, when John F.
Kennedy took the oath as president. Still, Kennedy, hatless and wearing his mourning coat in 20-degree weather, delivered an unforgettable
Inaugural Address.
Global warming speech, Georgetown University, June 25, 2013
The
president plans to raise your power bill. If you accept the science of global warming, then you accept the fact that the president's
unilateral action on climate change will have absolutely no effect in terms of adjusting the global thermostat to a temperature Obama finds
desirable. The rest of the developing world, anchored by India and China, are building carbon-burning factories, power plants and even
whole new cities that will overwhelm any new rules the president may impose on Americans and our struggling economy.
Obama's Fundamental
Transformation of a Nation He Despises. [Scroll down] Now, with the help of "extreme weather" coverage on every mainstream
news service, he has been ginning up another crisis as the pretext for sweeping regulation of the entire economy. And just last week,
in a speech at Georgetown University, he has announced what that regulation will cover. It will cover just about everything.
Every activity that uses energy, or that used energy in its manufacture or requires energy for its maintenance, will be regulated —
not by Congress but by the president directly. That is the strategy behind Obama's new pronouncements on the "social cost" of carbon
emissions. [...] But what is the "social cost" of carbon? It is the cost of future climate events that "might result" from increased
carbon emissions.
Obama to unveil climate plan in
Tuesday speech. People consulting with White House officials on Obama's plan, to be unveiled Tuesday [6/25/2013] at Georgetown University, say they
expect him to put forth regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by existing coal-fired power plans [sic].
Tell Obama: There's No
Climate Change To Fight. Apparently President Obama will announce yet another set of policies next month aimed at mitigating
global warming. But why? The enemy he promises to fight simply doesn't exist.
Obama unveils climate change
plan that goes around Congress. President Obama is launching fresh battles over climate change with plans to curb emissions using
executive powers that sidestep Congress — including controversial rules to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants.
The wide-ranging plan, which Obama will tout in a speech later Tuesday, also beefs up federal efforts to help deploy low-carbon and renewable
energy, and has programs to help harden communities against climate-fueled extreme weather.
Obama declares a War on Coal.
An administration that throughout its 2012 election campaign denied it was waging a War on Coal has now come out and publicly declared
its intention to shut down coal-fired power plants — putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and sending
electricity prices skyrocketing. This is not what the American people voted for.
Obama
orders new rules on coal-fired plants, sets condition for Keystone pipeline. President Obama pressed ahead Tuesday with
his climate change agenda, calling for new regulations on coal-fired power plants and setting a new condition for the approval of the
controversial Keystone pipeline. "We need to act," Obama said, in an address at Georgetown University. Even before he spoke,
the president's proposal drew condemnation from the coal industry and lawmakers whose states rely on that industry for jobs.
Obama:
driving a green dagger into the heart of the American dream. When it comes to pinpointing the nadir of the Obama administration,
future historians are going to suffer a serious case of option paralysis. Was it Benghazi? The NSA? His use of the IRS to harass
the Tea party? The various scandals involving his black ops department, the EPA? Obamacare? Personally, though, I think the
one they will eventually plump for is Obama's Climate Action Plan of June 25 2013. The economy, after all, is everything.
Without an economy you can't afford a domestic policy, let alone a foreign policy. So you'd think the very last thing any president would
do as his country began to show the first vague signs of slow — and quite possibly illusory — recovery after a long
recession would be to jeopardise it with a whole new raft of utterly pointless regulation and wasteful government expenditure.
Obama: The Man With A Climate Change Plan. We hoped Obama
might moderate his green ambitions in the face of the shift in the climate change discussion. Global warming has slowed significantly in
recent years, and we're gradually learning just how feeble our understanding of our planet's climate is. Given this uncertainty, emulating
Europe by pushing through growth-constricting green policies to meet targets based on fallible climate models would be a huge mistake.
Unfortunately, Obama didn't mention any of this in his speech, instead insisting that the science is settled.
WH Climate Adviser: 'A War on
Coal Is Exactly What's Needed'. Daniel P. Schrag, a White House climate adviser and director of the Harvard University
Center for the Environment, tells the New York Times "a war on coal is exactly what's needed." Later today, President Obama
will give a major "climate change" address at Georgetown University. "Everybody is waiting for action," Schrag tells the paper.
"The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants.
Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they're having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly
what's needed."
[Emphasis in original.]
OFA
talking points: Don't mention cost or impact of Obama's environmental policies. An environmental official working on behalf of
Organizing for Action, the Obama administration's advocacy group, sent out a memo to supporters and pro-Obama pundits, warning them to avoid
using "economic arguments" to defend the president's new policies that could put a damper on coal plants and the Keystone Pipeline project.
Ken Berlin, who is General Counsel for the Coalition for a Green Capital and chairman of OFA's Energy and Environment Team, also warned people to
not "over-promise on the impacts taking action will have."
President Obama's recently proposed policies will do little to combat climate change —
but they will do much for his political and economic objectives. "Carbon Pollution" and Wealth Redistribution.
No crisis should go to waste, an eternal truth highlighted in bold by a purported climate change apocalypse that is now the target of actions newly
proposed by President Obama. This so-called "crisis" will flood not various coastlines, but instead the front pages, replacing other, less
flattering political headlines for the administration. And if the proposed actions offer the potential of sizeable wealth transfers to political
allies? That is far more than mere icing on the cake. Whatever the weakness of the evidence on greenhouse gases and climate effects, the real
goal of carbon policy is a regional redistribution of wealth [...]
Obama
Announces Plan to Save the Earth from a Problem That Doesn't Exist. Obama has failed to fix the economy or win the war in Afghanistan,
but give him an imaginary problem and he's on it like Michelle on a glazed poundcake. Even major liberal media outlets are admitting that the
whole Global Warming thing isn't panning out. So that's the perfect time for His Majesty Barack I, Protector of the Planet from the Carbon
Devil, to announce that he will be bypassing Congress and going all Imperial Presidency on a problem that even its enthusiastic backers are backing
away from. While raising electricity rates sky high.
The radical ideologue in chief can no longer stand the heat, nor apparently his country. Obama's Climate Obsession. In a speech at Georgetown
University on Tuesday, Obama laid out his new "climate action plan," which regurgitates every radical and ridiculous environmentalist talking point
of the past several years. This despite the fact that while carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have continued to increase (to about
400 parts per million, or about 0.04 percent of the air we breathe), the global average temperature increase "over the last 15 years
was just 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) — a value very close to zero," a trend that climate models have utterly
failed to predict.
The Editor says...
Mr. Obama doesn't have an obsession with climate. He probably couldn't answer basic questions about the climate, without the assistance
of the teleprompter. Instead, Obama has an obsession with the destruction of capitalism, and the best way to dismantle capitalism is to
waste everybody's money on impossible and pointless regulations.
Barack
Obama to cut emissions in vow to save planet. Barack Obama today unveiled the most ambitious plan to counter climate change ever put
forward by a US president, saying he would not condemn future generations "to a planet that is beyond fixing". In sweeping proposals released
after four years of frustrated efforts, Mr Obama ordered new curbs on carbon emissions from power plants and called for America to ready its defences
against an already-changing climate. The president also surprised environmentalists by signalling he would reject a controversial oil pipeline
if it was found to "significantly exacerbate" the problem of carbon pollution.
The Editor says...
(1) There has never been a time when the climate did not change. To say that it is "already changing" is grossly misleading. (2) Carbon
dioxide is not carbon. (3) Carbon dioxide is not pollution. (4) I would much rather take my chances with inevitable climate change
than preventable tyranny.
Pricey Attack on
Phantom 'Warming'. There hasn't been much evidence of "global warming" for at least 15 years. If anything, "cooling"
has kicked in as part of an eternal cycle that stretches back through history. But President Obama is not one to let the facts stand in
the way of a beautiful theory. Especially when it rallies his restive liberal base. During (what else?) a speech at Georgetown
University on Tuesday, Obama announced that he'll use his favorite leadership tool, executive orders, and the powers of the unelected,
Nixon-era Environmental Protection Agency to end-run Congress and crack down on one of his favorite whipping boys, coal. All in the
name of fighting the phantom menace of climate change and in particular carbon emissions.
Obama's Carbon Scam Jeopardizes
Keystone Jobs. 'Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interest," the
president said in his speech on climate change. "And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate
the problem of carbon pollution." As with Benghazi, President Obama must not talk to the State Department much. For in March, for the second
time, the department, tasked with ultimate approval of Keystone XL because it crosses an international boundary, said Keystone XL will
have no net impact on so-called greenhouse gas emissions.
Europe exits climate money pit as Obama
jumps in. What does America have to show for the billions of taxpayer dollars spent to stop climate change? Is the climate better
now because of 20 years of throwing money at it? The issue is the climate, not the loads of exorbitantly expensive subsidy scandals, secretive
scientists and bureaucratic claptrap we've generated to allegedly stop climate change. The question is, did the claptrap make the climate better?
'Carbon Pollution' and Wealth Redistribution.
No crisis should go to waste, an eternal truth highlighted in bold by a purported climate change apocalypse that is now the target of actions newly
proposed by President Obama. This so-called "crisis" will flood not various coastlines, but instead the front pages, replacing other,
less flattering political headlines for the administration. And if the proposed actions offer the potential of sizeable wealth transfers
to political allies? That is far more than mere icing on the cake.
Obama's War on Prosperity. Four years ago
[President Obama] began his Inauguration by announcing that fossil fuels were a thing of the past and that we would now get our energy from
"wind, sun and soil." He spent the next four years trying unsuccessfully to push cap-and-trade through Congress and subsidizing a
bunch of scraggly "renewable energy" projects that haven't produced much of anything except a few notable scandals. Now with
unemployment still pushing 8 percent, with participation in the work force at a historic low of 62 percent, with the economy
limping along in a five-year doldrums, and with the financial system starting to tremble as Ben Bernanke lets up the pressure on interest
rates, the President has decided to stake his second term on — another initiative against coal!
Coal-state
Dems chisel away at Obama climate plan. Coal-state Democrats have been as scathing as any Republican in reaction to
the president's plan, unveiled Tuesday in a speech at Georgetown University. The pushback was almost immediate, and a glaring
signal of the trouble Obama may encounter as he charges ahead with new restrictions on coal-fired power plants.
Seattle Mariners,
Portland Trailblazers Support Obama Global Warming Agenda. Two professional sports team have endorsed President Barack
Obama's global warming proposals. Executives from the Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and the National Basketball
Association's Portland Trailblazers issued statements after Obama announced new environmental regulations last week.
Is Climate Change Our
No. 1 Crisis, Mr. President? The economy stagnates. Syria burns. Scandals lap at his feet. China and Russia mock him,
even as a "29-year-old hacker" revealed his nation's spy secrets to the world. How does President Obama respond? With a grandiloquent
speech on climate change. Climate change? It lies at the very bottom of a list of Americans' concerns (last of 21 — Pew poll).
Which means that Obama's declaration of unilateral American war on global warming, whatever the cost — and it will be heavy — is
either highly visionary or hopelessly solipsistic.
Obama's Climate Change Plan Telegraphs Desperation,
Disconnect. The President's Climate Change plan, which will be unveiled on Tuesday at Georgetown University, will likely receive
a positive review from the environmental lobby. The environmentalists will also do their part to give the president cover with moderates
and conservatives by saying it doesn't go far enough. But to those Americans who are still concerned about the economy, jobs and this
Administration's proclivity for playing fast and loose with the Constitution, it will be further evidence of Obama's disconnect with reality
and his allegiance to politics and ideology over the needs of America's families and businesses.
EPA Growth Knows No Limits. Last week, President
Obama rolled out a climate plan fit for a king. In his speech at Georgetown University, the president declared that since Congress won't enact
climate policies, he's just going to impose them — much as would a king. Simply put, the president is using Congressional inaction
as a pretext for a climate policy power grab, and that is very troubling. Alas, it is only the latest development in a worrying accumulation
of authority at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Obama
pledges carbon limits at power plants, says Keystone can't raise greenhouse gases. President Obama on Tuesday called
for the first-ever U.S. limits on carbon emissions at existing power plants and vowed to block the Keystone XL pipeline if its construction would
exacerbate greenhouse gases, outlining a series of executive actions to combat climate change and igniting a fierce debate over environmental policy in
Washington.
Obama should confront climate change
fantasies. President Obama's new climate policies outlined Tuesday include both brilliant and useless ideas.
The confusion stems from Obama's unwillingness to confront three climate fantasies:
• Renewables are a major part of the solution today. No, they are almost trivial. Today, the world gets 81% of its
energy from fossil fuels — by 2035, in the most green scenario, we will still get 79% from fossil fuels. [...]
• Biofuels should play a major part of the solution. No. For now, biofuels simply diverts food into cars, driving up
food prices and starvation, while clearing forests for new fields emit more CO2 than biofuels save.
• Efficiency can cut emissions. No. While efficiency is good, studies show it has little climate impact, because its
savings gets eaten up by more use. As your car gets more efficient, you drive it further, and the money you still save get used for other
carbon-emitting activities.
"A dangerous, arrogant, fact-free tirade." Blowing Smoke: Obama Climate Speech Riddled With
Lies. President Barack Obama's naïve and error-riddled speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday clearly demonstrated that he is
serious about trying to stop global climate change. However, like the tide, climate change is a natural event of such proportions that it is
largely unaffected by human activities. Obama ignores that the "official climate science" on which he bases America's climate and energy policies
has been washed away by 17 years without global warming, despite atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) — the gas Obama blames for rising
temperatures — continuing to increase primarily due to the emissions of China and India.
Obama's
Climate Plan Has No New Ideas, But Would Make Economy Worse. Except for resolve to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing
power plants, this manifesto either doubles down on the subsidized green energy programs of his first term or creates mushy-to-the-point-of-meaningless
new programs to weather (extreme) weather. The president's thinly veiled plans to eliminate coal from our nation's energy supply would undermine
the reliability, affordability and adequacy of electricity. Although natural gas has rapidly gained ground in the power mix, coal still provides
40% of this country's electric power. Ethanol, wind and any source labeled green already increase the costs of food, fuel and electricity.
Obama's
Climate Change Speech Ignores Science & EU Experience. President Obama was playing to his most extreme "green" constituency in his climate
and energy speech at Georgetown University today, blasting global warming skeptics as "flat-earth society" ostriches with their heads in the sand.
President Obama said he does not have "patience for anyone who denies that this problem is real."
Obama
Launches New Global Warming Video as Phony "Consensus" Crumbles. The president seems to be unaware that even top climate alarmists
have admitted that there has been no evidence of global warming for at least the past 15 years. [...] The president's energy program, outlined
in [a] White House Fact Sheet and detailed in "The President's Climate Action Plan," both released today [6/25/2013], would place onerous new
restrictions on coal fired power plants and other fossil fuels and would direct billions more dollars into funding "renewable energy" sources,
such as solar and wind.
The Top 5 Lies Of Obama's
Climate Change Speech. President Obama is being lauded for his plans to restrict carbon dioxide emissions. But the scheme looks
more like the last refuge of a desperate movement, because the speech he gave in its defense was full of lies. Al Gore called Obama's
Tuesday presentation at Georgetown University a "terrific and historic speech." It was not an honest message, though. His text was
laden with myths, fables, distortions and outright lies.
Beware! Media Will Support Obama's Climate Lies.
At the heart of the President's speech is his reference to "carbon pollution." It has no scientific basis. You will not read that in
Wednesday's newspapers, nor hear it on radio and television unless you are tuned to conservative media. The claim that carbon dioxide (CO2) is
a pollutant is absurd insofar as it is, next to oxygen, the second most vital gas for life on planet Earth. It is responsible for the growth of
all vegetation, including crops vital to feeding humanity and the livestock on which they depend as a food source.
Mr. President, It's
Not "Carbon Pollution" It's the "Elixir of Life!" On June 25th, President Obama unveiled his plan to reduce what he refers to as "carbon
pollution" — the emission of gaseous carbon dioxide into the air that primarily results from the burning of fossil fuels. In
discussing the rationale for his plan, the President claims that carbon dioxide, or CO2, "causes climate change and threatens public health" and
that "cutting carbon pollution will help keep our air and water clean and protect our kids." Unfortunately, President Obama's statements
could not be further from the truth.
Global Warming: There's Nothing To Fight
Against. On Tuesday, President Obama will lay out his plan for fighting climate change at a speech at Georgetown University.
He's expected to announce a regime for regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from existing power plants. This from the same politician who
in 2008 as presidential candidate promised that his administration would bankrupt anyone who wanted "to build a coal-powered plant." So no
new coal plants plus new regulatory authority that puts the government boot on existing power plants' necks. From where does this president
think electricity will come?
EPA Growth Knows No Limits. Last week, President Obama
rolled out a climate plan fit for a king. In his speech at Georgetown University, the president declared that since Congress won't enact climate
policies, he's just going to impose them — much as would a king. Simply put, the president is using Congressional inaction as a pretext
for a climate policy power grab, and that is very troubling. Alas, it is only the latest development in a worrying accumulation of authority at
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal industry threatened by
stringent new EPA standards. The Obama administration has rejected accusations it has launched a "war on coal." But it
presses ahead with yet more carbon regulation. In a speech at Georgetown University on June 25, President Obama said, "I am directing
the Environmental Protection Agency to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants and complete new pollution
standards for both new and existing power plants." Those new "Source Performance Standards" to further limit greenhouse gases threaten
the industry.
Race relations speech, July 19, 2013
O'Reilly
Smacks Down Obama's Race Speech: President Has 'No Clue' How To Combat 'Gangsta Culture'. "The sad truth is that from the president
on down, our leadership has no clue, no clue at all about how to solve problems within the black community," O'Reilly said. "And many are
frightened to even broach the issue. That's because race hustlers and the grievance industry have intimidated the so-called 'conversation,'
turning any valid criticism of African-American culture into charges of racial bias."
Facing Facts about Race.
The president, I think, spoke out for three reasons: 1) He is an unbound, lame-duck president, with a ruined agenda, facing
mounting ethical scandals; from now on, he will say things more consonant with being a community organizer than with being a nation's
president; 2) he knows the federal civil-rights case has little merit and cannot be pursued, and thus wanted to shore up his
bona fides with an aggrieved black community; and 3) as with the ginned-up "assault-weapons ban" and the claim that
Republicans are waging a "war on women," Obama knows, as a community activist, that tension can mask culpability [...]
Channeling King Henry II. On July 19,
President Barack Obama delivered remarks that could very well inflame racial tensions. He could have — and should
have — made a statement about the judicial process, noting the jury ruled after the prosecution put forward its best case. [...]
Instead, Obama studiously ignored any mention of the Zimmerman family aside from a not-so-oblique reference to "racial profiling" —
an allegation against George Zimmerman leveled by but clearly not proven by the prosecution. He then made matters worse by saying
"outcome and the aftermath might have been different" if Martin were a "white male teen."
In what
alternate universe is the Trayvon Martin case a civil rights landmark? I headed off to JFK Airport for my trip to Israel on
Friday [7/19/2013] not long after Obama gave his surprise speech on the Florida jury verdict finding George Zimmerman not guilty of Second
Degree Murder and Manslaughter in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The presidential statement elevated the Martin case to a historic
status in the struggle for civil rights, although a discussion of the facts of the case was noticeably absent. Having had a
subsequent 10-hour plane ride with no Wi-Fi, then some more down time, I was thrilled to see that the regular and guest authors
here had taken Obama and others to task on the factual and legal absurdity of the presidential statement.
Trayvon Martin, where's your daddy?
Last Friday [7/19/2013], President Obama made the comment again: "If I had a son..." We all know the story. Only this time
Obama in reference to the Zimmerman verdict went further: "It could have been me." This is not very tasteful, especially from a
sitting president. Chris took exception to what the president said; as he put it, "if Trayvon Martin had had a daddy in the family,
he might not be dead today."
It's 'Al' to the chief. Is Al
Sharpton president of the United States? Or just attorney general? I ask because it's not clear where the rabble-rousing rev's
agenda ends and White House policy begins. These days, they are one and the same. [...] Obama's headline-grabbing statement that "Trayvon
Martin could have been me" and his attempt to justify black anger were straight out of Sharpton's playbook.
Obama's safe, overrated and airy speech.
Finally the president has spoken about George Zimmerman's acquittal. Even as the country waited for his singular response —
the nation's leader and a law professor who once looked like Trayvon Martin — the president danced around the issues.
No one
asked him, so why'd Obama offer more thoughts on Trayvon Martin? To the minor extent that Obama's been a leader, he's a
reluctant one. From behind, as in Libya, Egypt, elsewhere. Opaque, as in Benghazi and elsewhere. He's an exhorter,
full of "you-should's" and infrequent "I will's." Lots of "I's" in Obama talk. Not many "We's."
Obama's Off-teleprompter Race Speech.
Much has been made of Obama's impromptu crashing of the press briefing at the White House the other day to weigh in yet again on Trayvon
Martin's death. The reception of Obama's discussion reminded me of the movie The King's Speech, where the man who would be king of
England had to give just one good speech, so all of England would feel comfort. As in the movie, I chuckled at the big deal made by
"reporters" that the man who is supposed to be a great orator and "Leader of the formerly Free World" did so without his "blankie," the
trusted teleprompter.
The Editor says...
How do we know there wasn't a big teleprompter at the other end of the room?
Does
Obama Believe That The Zimmerman Jury Racially Profiled Trayvon? On July 19, 2013, President Barack Obama discussed racial
profiling and commented on the jury verdict in the George Zimmerman case. Obama's statements indicate that he believes that the jury
racially profiled Trayvon. Obama said: "The juries [sic] were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt
was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that's how our system works."
Obama Continues Racial Zimmerman Narrative
While Hispanics Targeted. Barack Obama continued to promote the evidence-free narrative that Trayvon Martin was racially profiled
by Hispanic George Zimmerman in remarks made Friday. The President said, "few African-American men in this country who haven't had the
experience of being followed."
In Wake of
Zimmerman Verdict, Obama Makes Extensive Statement on Race in America. The White House's original plan — for Mr. Obama to
address the verdict in brief interviews on Tuesday with four Spanish-language television networks — was foiled when none of them asked
about it. Instead, he appeared in the White House briefing room with no advance warning and little of the orchestration that usually
accompanies presidential speeches.
Obama could be Al Sharpton 35 years from now. 'Trayvon
Martin could have been me 35 years ago'. President Obama said Friday that Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old shot dead last
year, could have been him as a young man. 'You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son.
Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago,' Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House
briefing room.
Obama: Trayvon Martin 'Could Have Been Me'.
Six days after a Florida jury acquitted a Hispanic man in the shooting death of an African-American teen, President Barack Obama made his first
extensive comments on the case, speaking in personal terms about his own experience of being black in America. "Trayvon Martin could have
been me 35 years ago," the president said in the remarks, made Friday during a surprise appearance in the White House press room.
President Obama's sad view of
America. President Obama's extensive remarks in the White House Briefing Room this afternoon were as surprising as they were
gratuitous. [...] The media seems fixated on "how personal" the speech was. I am baffled by that response. He is the president
of the United States, the only elected leader there to represent us all and to provide cohesion, but here he was channeling Oprah Winfrey.
He cheered for emotionalism and for the perspective that insists it is always about race.
Our
Post-Racial President Claims to be Black. Last Friday, President Obama made his first attempt to claim his position
as the first black president. [...] On May 21, 2012, Newsweek proclaimed Barack Obama as America's first gay president.
They could have also dubbed him America's first green president. Some entrepreneurs would name him America's first socialist
president. Nonetheless, when blacks voted last year, their faithfulness to their candidate arguably won the election for him.
Black voter loyalty had not been strongly acknowledged or rewarded publicly. Therefore last week's address on Trayvon Martin's death
was a milestone for black democratic activists.
Knox College, July 24, 2013
The first of several attempts to label his many scandals as "phony."
10 missteps Obama made at Knox.
President Obama's economic hour-long speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., on Wednesday was scary, not just for its statements, but
for what some characterize as disregard of the rule of law. Obama made yet another case for government spending — which
he calls "investment" — on infrastructure, education, and health care. Then he threatened to use executive power or public
shaming to move his agenda if Congress failed to act. Politicians have a right to make their case, but not to make an end run around
the law.
Bored with Obama. President Obama spoke for 66 minutes at Knox
College the other day, trying one more time to change the subject and "pivot to the economy." As he has many times before, both in
campaign speeches and other talks, the president promised to expand the middle class, create jobs, and reduce inequality. The
reviews were not generally favorable.
Obama the Unembarrassable.
His speech at Knox College on the economy contained all the ingredients of a vintage Obama speech: much fanfare about little substance; a
stunning distortion of his record across the board, especially on the economy; refusal to accept responsibility and blaming others for the problems
he's caused; his ludicrous portrayal of himself as an outsider pitted against the Washington political class he heads; predictable appeals to class
warfare; tried-and-failed prescriptions for "growing the economy from the middle out"; his professed identification with the middle class, which his
policies are devastating; his cynical dismissal as phony distractions of a raft of real administration scandals that would have brought other
administrations to their knees; and an expression of affinity for government, not the American people, as the solution for all of our problems.
Obama's Pernicious Week. At first listening, President
Obama's grand pivot #19 to jobs speech before a collection of human props at Knox College was a nothingburger. It included no new ideas.
It scolded his political opponents for having ideas of their own. It included some talk about the economy being "poised" for growth when it
has actually been poisoned against it. It included the usual Obama nod to empty, lofty rhetoric.
Nothing 'phony' about O's scandals.
How can a man talk for more than an hour on a single topic, as Obama did on Wednesday, and say absolutely nothing new?
Nothing 'phony' about O's scandals.
What's phony about the fact that the IRS targeted citizens based on their ideology? That the discussion of this targeting went all the way up to
the president's hand-picked IRS chief counsel William Wilkins? That Wilkins met with Obama in April 2012 just two days before "new guidance" on
how to handle Tea Party applications was sent from Washington to IRS operatives?
Obama's hunt for a legacy —
the politics of division. With his signature second-term agenda priorities — gun control and amnesty — all but dead,
President Obama has once again begun to search for someone — anyone — to blame. See, none of this is his fault.
Five years of sky-high unemployment, an out-of-control federal deficit, spending run amok, gas prices twice what they were in 2008: Not His Fault.
Mother of slain
Benghazi victim Sean Smith: 'My son is dead. How could that be phony?'. The mother of a Benghazi victim is furious about the new White
House strategy of calling the terrorist attack and many other scandals plaguing the Obama administration "fake" or "phony." Patricia Smith, mother
of Sean Smith, who was slain in the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack, lashed out on "Your World" on the Fox News Channel about that terminology.
Victims slam Obama's "phony scandals"
talking point. If the Left can confer Absolute Moral Authority status upon the likes of Sandra Fluke, conservatives sure[ly] ought to
acquaint the American public with women like Becky Gerritson and Patricia Smith.
Which scandals does Obama think are
"phony"? Lots of righties are asking this question after O tossed it into his snooze of a speech. And it's not just O.
Remember, Carney sneered about pretend scandals yesterday too in his skirmish with Scarborough on "Morning Joe." This is, it seems, an
official White House talking point, adopted by The One himself. Somehow, after five years and several thousand "pivots" to stupid
and/or dangerous left-wing agenda wishlist items, the White House has decided that all it really wants to talk about is the economy [...]
Obama talks up economy,
hits Republicans on 'phony scandals'. President Obama on Wednesday dismissed a series of controversies dogging his administration as
"phony" in remarks that represented a clear shift in White House tactics. "With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and
phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball," Obama said in an economic address at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. Obama's
comments marked an inflection point in the way the administration has been dealing with a raft of controversies, many of which the White House
has previously suggested were substantive.
The Editor says...
Obama's many scandals are not phony. At least two of them have had deadly consequences.
Are media buying into 'phony scandal'
claim? Conservative leaders allege the media are trying to ignore the once high-profile scandals overshadowing the Obama
administration, as President Obama and his aides aggressively push the claim that these controversies are "phony." The "phony scandal"
line was the unofficial talking point of the week in Washington. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney made it his fallback retort
from the podium — when asked about the president's new wave of speeches on the economy, Carney explained Obama was trying to refocus
Washington away from "fake" controversies.
Reporters Tell Obama His
Ideas are "Great"? We have all heard about liberal media bias, but this is just over the top. [...] In his speech that lasted over an
hour yesterday [7/24/2013], President Obama said reporters praise his economic proposals as "great and tell him that they are "all good ideas".
The speech which droned on for what seemed like ages, presented no new ideas and was dismissive of serious concerns with his administration.
Omission
Watch: Networks Skip Clip of Obama Boasting Reporters Say He Has 'Good Ideas' That 'Sound Great'. One snippet of Obama's speech in
Galesburg, Illinois is getting left out of the TV news packages for perhaps obvious reasons. Obama announced yesterday that reporters are
with him in thinking his socialist plans are "good ideas" and "sound great," but Republicans will never back them. This might also make it
sound like there's zero overlap between "reporters" and "Republicans."
Obama Blames the GOP for His Lousy Economic
Record. Obama is going out on the road to maintain and bolster what popularity he retains because there is a huge portion of the
population that continues to ignore the failure of his stimulus program, the Benghazi scandal, the growing scandal within the Internal Revenue
Service, the revelation that the NSA is tracking and retaining records of all our electronic communications, and most obviously the lavish
lifestyle of Obama that permits him take his family on an "official" trip to Africa that cost of $100 million, soon to be followed by
another vacation in Martha's Vineyard.
President
Alinsky Threatens Americans with Rising 'Social Tensions'. You can take the community organizer out of the South Side, but
you can't take the community organizer out of the community organizer. Today, America heard threats from the increasingly predictable
President Alinsky. "The position of the middle class will erode further," Mr. Obama said. "Inequality will continue to increase,
money's power will distort our politics even more. Social tensions will rise, as various groups fight to hold on to what they have,
start blaming somebody else for why their position isn't improving. That's not the America we know." This is standard-fare
Das Kapital by Karl Marx. Obama doesn't even attempt to disguise it, leaving out only the original author's name.
Obama speaks on the economy and
no one cares. Even liberals are tuning the president out when he talks about his grand ideas for stimulating the economy. [...] The
fact is, there was nothing new in this, the 19th "pivot" Obama has made to the economy. Everybody knows it, and that's why nobody paid much
attention to it.
Barack
Obama flops in Knox: the president's speech was a train-wreck. It's been a rough few weeks for Barack Obama. A wave of
scandals has undermined trust in the White House, and a series of major polls has hammered the president in the first year of his second term.
Support for Obama has dropped to its lowest level in two years, with widespread public dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy.
When Did Obama
Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now 'Phony'? On Wednesday [7/24/2013], President Barack Obama set the tone for the
debate surrounding the many controversies that have plagued his administration since the spring. The president called those scandals "phony"
and denigrated those who find any worth in their investigation. But, as one prominent conservative opinion writer noted yesterday, it was not
long ago that the White House was acknowledging the seriousness of the scandals he now derides as contrived.
Lights, camera, economy: Obama uses
rhetoric of class warfare in jobs speech. Deploying the rhetoric of class warfare against congressional Republicans, President Obama
warned Wednesday that "social tensions will rise" if Washington doesn't take steps to reverse the growing gap between wealthy Americans and the
middle class. In a campaign-style speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., the president proclaimed that America during his presidency
has "fought its way back" from a recession and called on voters to "pressure Congress to invest in our future" by spending more on such items as
education, clean energy and infrastructure.
When Obama mails it in. Barack Obama
is bored. You can see it in his demeanor and in his face, the way anticipation becomes melancholy. Most of all you can hear it in
his voice when he steps up to make the speech that once sent audiences into frenzy. He's mailing it in (with postage due).
Obama's Death and Taxes Economy.
On July 24th, Obama delivered yet another economic speech in which he castigated Republicans in Congress for the sequester that he
proposed, promised big economic benefits for the entire country from green energy and illegal immigration and promised to spend
every one of his remaining days trying to help working people; at least those days when he isn't on the golf course, on vacation at
Martha's Vineyard or delivering useless speeches.
This was written two days before the speech: Obama's Overhyped Summer
Sequel. The White House is treating President Obama's upcoming economic speech as the "must see" event of the summer. It's
more likely to resemble all those big-budget movies this year — an overhyped flop.
Obama Calls Income Gap 'Wrong' — After
Widening It. In his speech in Illinois last week, and at events since, Obama described income inequality in the starkest terms.
"This growing inequality is morally wrong," he said, and "undermines the very essence of America." To be sure, income inequality is a standard
trope for liberals, who always use it to advocate more wealth redistribution. And Obama's latest focus neatly coincides with his plans to push
for more federal spending and taxes on the "rich" in coming budget battles.
Obama's Sloppy History Problem.
In Chicago on July 24, Obama delivered an hour-long speech in which he complained that "with this endless parade of distractions and
political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball." The mother of one of the four Americans murdered
at the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi immediately objected. "He's wrong. My son is dead. How could that be phony?"
Obama's Creeping Authoritarianism.
Please don't complain later that you didn't see it coming. As always, Mr. Obama states publicly what his intentions are. He is doing
that now. Toward the end of his speech last week in Jacksonville, Fla., he said: "So where I can act on my own, I'm going to act on
my own. I won't wait for Congress." (Applause.) The July 24 speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., has at least four
references to his intent to act on his own authority, as he interprets it: "That means whatever executive authority I have to help the
middle class, I'll use it." (Applause.) And: "We're going to do everything we can, wherever we can, with or without Congress."
Obama: Do as I say, not as I do.
While his premise — work hard, succeed; loaf, fail — is spot on, he moves on in his Harvard mind to conclude, nonsensically,
that succeeding while others fail is inherently unjust. "This growing inequality is ... morally wrong," he said in Galesburg. [...] Said
by the man who runs Washington — the biggest insider in the nation's capital. And said by the man who flies in his barber from
Chicago for a new fade, who has suits hand made by a private tailor, whose daughters vacation in Cancun, whose wife suns it up in Florida one day,
then hits the slopes in Aspen the next — all on the taxpayers' dime.
Education Spending Soars, Test
Scores Stagnate. "If you think education is expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs in the 21st century," Obama declared
July 24 at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. "If we don't make this investment, we'll put our kids, our workers, and our country at a competitive
disadvantage for decades." Obama's latest demand for even more government spending or "investment" in America's schools confirms how profoundly
and irretrievably he is removed from reality.
Poll: Voters believe scandals aren't
'phony'. A majority of voters believe the scandals embroiling the Obama administration are not "phony," according to a Fox News poll.
Voters in the Fox News poll also indicated they thought the controversies should be taken more seriously. For example, 69 percent of voters
think the controversy surrounding the National Security Agency surveillance programs should be taken seriously, while 78 percent feel the same about
President Obama's handling of the terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11 that killed four Americans, including U.S.
Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Fox poll shows "phony scandal"
line playing worse that you'd think. After an avalanche of scandals hit the White House this spring, the Obama administration adopted
the public-relations strategy of calling IRS political targeting, NSA domestic snooping, and the deaths of four Americans in an utterly predictable
terrorist attack on a diplomatic facility "phony scandals." How's that working? According to a new Fox poll, even worse than you'd
think.
Green Jobs: Surely You're Joking, Mr. President. In his speech at
Knox College, President Obama laid out his plan for the Detroitification of America: higher taxes, higher spending, increased minimum wages, more mandates, and rerouting
the path of upward mobility through tried-and-failed social programs. He blames unfettered markets for taking America away from the halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s,
ignoring the phenomenal growth of taxes, spending, and regulation since then. His promise for more of the same makes you wonder if his teleprompter has been inverting his
charts and tables.
Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 2013
This is called fishing for compliments. Obama: My speech won't be as 'good' as
MLK's. As President Obama prepares to deliver a major address to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, he's making clear that
his speech won't hold a candle to Martin Luther King Jr.'s seminal address. "Let me just say for the record right now, it won't be as good as the
speech 50 years ago," said Obama, who added that he was still working on the address that he will deliver from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on
Wednesday.
President
Obama's flat and uninspiring message to America: I have a big government dream. Barack Obama's speech on the 50th anniversary
of MLK's Washington address was an opportunity to bring Americans together and unite the country in memory of a greatly revered American leader.
Instead, as my colleague Tim Stanley pointed out in his excellent piece, this was a deeply partisan speech, filled with campaign-style rhetoric.
The Editor says...
That's the only speech Obama knows — the campaign speech. And even after delivering the same speech on so many occasions, he still
has to read it from a teleprompter.
Barack
Obama uses the March on Washington to attack his opponents. Barack Obama's speech on the 50th anniversary of the March on
Washington was classic Obama: beautifully delivered, moving, deceptive, divisive, frustrating. And, of course, it was far more
about Barack Obama than it was Martin Luther King Jr.
Government and Segregation. Mr. Obama made a
point to emphasize that Martin Luther King Jr. had sought not only racial equality but also economic advancement. This is true, and now as then it is a
noble ambition that conservatives as much as liberals share. But then Mr. Obama tried to yoke that King aspiration to our current political debates,
and here his rhetoric turned to a too-familiar politics of polarization.
President Obama's (Un)Memorial Speech.
The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington was obviously a momentous occasion. What a shame, then, to see it marred by speeches that made it sound
more like a campaign event. Some of the things said were patently absurd, like Bill Clinton's claiming it was tougher to vote than to buy an assault
rifle. But watching President Obama's speech was almost painful. He took what could have been a great moment and turned it into a dirge on class
warfare and the terrible civil-rights violation caused by "corporate profits soar[ing]."
Press conference, Stockholm, Sweden, September 4, 2013
Blurred Red Lines. President Obama
isn't easy to follow up San Juan Hill, or for that matter even Capitol Hill. Rather than walk point on national security, he prefers to
blend in with the enlisted men and women. Consider his astonishing statement on Wednesday [9/4/2013] at a press conference in Stockholm
about his comments last year drawing a "red line" on the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad in Syria. "First of all, I didn't set
a red line," the President said. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world's
population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.
"Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty.[..."]
The Buck Stops Here.
"First of all, I didn't set a red line," Barack Obama said today at a press conference in Stockholm. "The world set a red line.
The world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [sic] abhorrent
and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war."
The Editor says...
This is more proof that Barack H. Obama can't get a subject and verb to agree, even verbally or in print.
Obama's
'red line' remarks on Syria were a train wreck. President Obama has done himself no favours today [9/4/2013] with his disingenuous
statements on Syria in Stockholm alongside Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. As The Weekly Standard first reported, Barack Obama claimed
"he didn't set a red line" on Syria's use of chemical weapons, arguing that "the world set a red line" when it passed the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention
prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. He also declared that his credibility isn't on the line, but Congress's credibility, America's credibility
and the international community's credibility is at stake if military action isn't taken on Syria.
Obama's Half-Assad War. In Obama's 2002 speech against the
Iraq war, he scoffed at "armchair weekend warriors" who pursue "dumb" and "rash" interventions. [...] In his 2002 speech, Obama said that "petty dictators"
don't justify military intervention, that Saddam Hussein posed no "imminent threat" to the U.S., that war would divert attention from domestic problems,
and that a poorly conceived war would "fan the flames" of the Middle East and make a bad situation worse. Substitute "Syria" for "Iraq" in the
speech and one has a decent rejoinder to his Saturday announcement: Assad is a petty dictator; he hasn't attacked the U.S.; this is a wag-the-dog
diversion by a floundering president; the lack of any coherent strategy is sure to destabilize Syria and boost Islamic radicals.
Crown O Clown in Chief.
The Los Angeles Times quotes a U.S. official who says President Obama wants an attack "just muscular enough not to get mocked." [...] But how
can we not mock a president who says he's "made the decision" that military action against Assad is a moral imperative and essential to
U.S. security; and that he's "made a second decision" to not make a decision but to wait for Congress to decide. A president making these
two completely contradictory statements is bad. But to make them in the same speech?
About the Syria red line that
Obama drew, he now claims it was someone else. You probably could have anticipated this. When President Obama gets in trouble,
he either has no idea about the wrongdoing (think IRS, FBI). Or it was someone else's fault. (You-know-who from Texas.) Now, we know
that the red line statement Obama made as president 381 days ago about how any Syrian use of chemical weapons "would change my calculus" wasn't
really Obama's fault. According to Obama, although it looked just like the American president standing at the little podium with no teleprompter
in the White House Briefing Room, that modest man was actually speaking on behalf of the entire world. "I didn't set a red line; the world set
a red line," Obama claims.
Obama lies to the world: I didn't set a red line.
This morning in a press conference in Sweden, Obama denied before the entire world that he set a red line, trying to spin it as 'the world set a red line'
or something. [Video clip]
Quagmire at Home. Republicans also have reason to
suspect that Obama's decision to request congressional approval was an effort to put them on the spot — and his ludicrous denial yesterday that he
"set a red line" or that his credibility is at stake reinforces that view. The fierce watchdogs of the press, confronted with this brazen falsehood,
show themselves once again to be Obama's pet hamsters.
Presidential address, September 10, 2013
Obama's Strange FDR Quotation.
Near the end of his speech to the nation on Syria, President Obama quoted Franklin Roosevelt: "Our national determination to keep
free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideas and principles that we have cherished
are challenged." Which of FDR's stirring wartime speeches does this quotation come from? None of them.
Obama's
Syria speech: An illogical argument from a paralyzed president. After a week or so of political whiplash, the country heard directly from
President Obama as he tried to explain his policy. The speech was exceptionally revealing in the logical disconnect that plagues his policy.
No
passion, no new arguments as Barack Obama restates unpopular case for Syria strike. It was billed as a historic address to the nation, but when
Barack Obama spoke to the American people on Syria, he delivered only a short history of the arguments that have already failed to persuade the public and
the US Congress of the need for military action.
Barack
Obama's Syria speech was an incoherent mess. Billed as a game-changer on Syria, the President's White House address landed with a thud that could be
heard as far away as Damascus. Barack Obama has a huge credibility problem on Syria and on foreign policy in general, and Tuesday night's speech will do
nothing to help that. As Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer put it on Fox News, it was "one of the most odd presidential speeches ever
delivered," with no clear-cut strategy laid out, while urging Congress to delay a vote on the use of force against Assad's regime.
Obama's Syria speech almost irrelevant. "The US military does not do pinpricks."
That was about the only good line in a speech by President Barack Obama that may not have won many converts. He stood behind a podium rather than sitting at the
desk in the Oval Office, and made a speech that was clear but almost entirely lacking in passion and devoid of new arguments. Indeed, the first two-thirds
seemed cut and pasted from earlier speeches.
Syria Tells You Everything You Need to Know
About Barack Obama. The good news is we're not at war. The bad news is ... almost everything else about President Obama's handling of Syria —
the fumbling and flip-flopping and marble-mouthing — undercut his credibility, and possibly with it his ability to lead the nation and world. As he addressed
a global audience Tuesday night, liberal elites blindly accepted White House fiction that Russian intervention this week was somehow part of Obama's master plan.
Obama Cuts Syria Speech to 15 Minutes, Will Pitch Diplomacy and War.
McClatchy chief correspondent Mark Seibel reports on Tuesday evening that President Obama's speech on Syria will last just 15 minutes. That is a massive
downgrade from most addresses to the nation. The theme of the address has also reportedly shifted from a pitch for military action against Syria to a triumphal
announcement that negotiations are underway.
No longer 'Fundamental Transformation of America' but the Free World. The unquenchable
ego of President Barack Hussein Obama is rebuilding the Russian bear and destabilizing the entire Free World. With 13 questionable US government YouTubes showing
that chemical attacks did take place on August 21 in Syria — with no proof who was responsible for them — Obama, who was trying to advance
World War III — merely stumbled back into his own trap. And that's only if he's not part of the Putin act. Last night's address to the nation
proved a walk back on the 'Highly propagandized America Attack on Syria'. Russian president Vladimir Putin came out of this one like a John Wayne movie hero.
Krauthammer: 'One of the most odd presidential
speeches ever delivered'. Krauthammer decried Obama's message for giving Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal so much weight. "That's what
makes this one of the most odd presidential speeches ever delivered," Krauthammer said. "Here is a president who urgently addresses the nation on all channels
to call for a pause in assuming that the nation does not want to do in the first place. This is, you know, almost unbelievable. And the fact that he puts so
much weight on the Russian proposal, which is a farce."
Obama's Syria address to the nation flops.
It was all too obvious last night that the only reason President Obama gave his speech to the nation was that it would have been too embarrassing to cancel it.
The result was inconsistent and unsatisfying at any level. Obama commandeered the nation's airwaves to call for a "diplomatic pause" in a Congressional vote he
requested to affirm a military threat to enforce a red line he doesn't take responsibility for.
Obama calls for hold on his Syria attack that
Americans didn't want anyway. Obama tried to make the best of it in his speech, which was a good one as a start educating Americans. But it was at least
six months tardy to convince anyone now. And prime-time presidential addresses are supposed to be important. This one ended up being an announcement that
Obama was asking Congress to stop doing what he had just asked it to do, even though he maintains he didn't really need to, but he's still really serious because gas
attacks are awful.
Media underwhelmed by Obama's double message.
Fox's Charles Krauthammer saw the Obama message as "we will do this if we have to," but put it "on the back burner." CNN's John King said he had never seen a
president "say I'm trying to prepare you for a Plan B." CBS's Bob Schieffer hinted at a bit of face-saving, because "he was almost certainly going to
lose this vote" on Capitol Hill.
10 reasons why it's now worse.
President Obama had gotten himself into quite a bind going into his Tuesday night speech on Syria. But he made things much worse because of an
incoherent speech, which even former officials are blasting.
Obama
Acts Like He Doesn't Know He's an Executive-Power Extremist. It's often hard to tell if President Obama is lying to the American people
or to himself. Is he willfully misrepresenting who he is? Or is he blind to his true self? Over the last five years he has
repudiated many of the positions he took in 2008, but still talks like and perhaps likes to think of himself as the man who ran on change.
A passage from his Tuesday speech on Syria provides a striking example.
The
fruits of epic incompetence. That "strike Syria, maybe" speech begins with a heart-rending account of children consigned to a terrible
death by a monster dropping poison gas. It proceeds to explain why such behavior must be punished. It culminates with the argument that
the proper response — the most effective way to uphold fundamental norms, indeed human decency — is a flea bite:
something "limited," "targeted" or, as so memorably described by Secretary of State John Kerry, "unbelievably small."
Hamlet should be on
stage, not in the Oval Office. President Obama can agonize and debate all likes — behind closed doors. We don't
need to and should not see a president think out loud and champion irresoluteness, as we saw this Tuesday night and over the last few
weeks. We don't elect presidents to be the "equivocator" or the "vacillator." The left passes indecision off as thoughtfulness,
trying to make a fatal flaw into a virtue.
Barack Obama, the 98-pound weakling.
The moral imperative is clear, he argued. We cannot let dictators get away with this. On the other hand, the United States can't be expected to
solve all the world's problems, either. Therefore, the way ahead is to outsource U.S. foreign policy on Syria to ... Vladimir Putin! So much
for the credibility of the world's only superpower.
Economics speech, September 16, 2013
A partisan campaign speech delivered while there was a shooting spree underway at a nearby Navy base.
Yesterday, Obama Was Not My President —
or Yours. On Monday [9/16/2013], while the death toll mounted at the Navy Yard, President Barack Obama delivered a strident partisan tirade
against Republicans, using the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse to score political points ahead of the debt ceiling debate. [...] Speaker
of the House John Boehner said that Obama's speech was a "shame." Charles Krauthammer said that it was in "extremely bad taste." It was worse
than that. It was an insult to the victims and their families, a slap in the face to the nation as a whole, a dereliction of the simplest duty of
empathy and discretion.
Obama:
"Republicans In Congress Don't Seem To Be Focused On How To Grow The Economy". ["]So far, their budget ideas revolve primarily around
even deeper cuts to education. Even deeper cuts that would gut the scientific research and development. Even deeper cuts to America's
infrastructure investment. Our roads, bridges, schools, and energy grid. These are not the policies that would grow the economy faster.
They are not the policies that would help grow the middle class. In fact, they do the opposite.["]
The Editor says...
Every sentence of Mr. Obama's tirade was either false, misleading, or deceptive, as far as I could tell.
Obama Defends Economic Record, Rips GOP as
DC Attack Unfolds. Just minutes after the Washington DC police chief said that two shooters might still be on the loose in the Navy Yard mass
murders, President Obama held a previously scheduled event to defend his economic record.
Carney: Obama Implementing
Executive Actions Following Navy Yard Shooting. President Barack Obama on Monday wearily lamented "yet another mass shooting," this time in the
nation's capital where the debate that raged earlier this year over tightening firearms laws has stalled amid opposition from gun-rights advocates.
What is Obama afraid of? What mania could have compelled the
president to take partisan swipes and accuse Republicans of being unpatriotic while police were in the middle of a manhunt after a mass shooting at a naval
base just a few miles from the White House? [...] The president certainly knew the shooting was taking place and that the manhunt was underway, referencing
both in introductory remarks before going into his standard stump speech assailing Republicans in the ongoing budget battle, now in its third year.
It had been more three hours since the news broke.
Despite mass shooting,
Obama delivers partisan economic speech. There's something seriously wrong with the mind of President Obama. As parts of Washington, DC
remained on lockdown after a mass shooting at the Navy yard near Capitol Hill, Obama delivered a partisan speech on the economy that was previously
scheduled. You would think he would have postponed his attack on his opponents until the DC shooters were apprehended and the bodies of those
murdered weren't still warm.
Obama Goes to War. Presidents traditionally try to
reach a rough domestic consensus if they are faced with going to war abroad. Mr. Obama wants to smooth everything over abroad so he can get back to his
favorite pursuit of declaring war at home. At least that's how it's gone the last week, as Mr. Obama all but wrapped up that ghastly business in Syria
and turned his attention to the real enemy — Republicans.
The Nation's Fiscal Crisis Just Got Far
Worse. One day after President Obama bragged about how fast the deficit is declining, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the
government is in far worse fiscal shape than it previously thought. [...] Obama said Monday that "by the end of this year, we will have cut our deficits
by more than half since I took office." It's not that Obama and Co. have suddenly gotten religion when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
They simply see the current deficit decline as an excuse to abandon all spending restraint. But the CBO's latest long-term budget report shows
that any such celebration is woefully premature.
CNN isn't quite sure...
Did Obama strike the wrong tone on Monday? The White House defended
President Barack Obama from criticism that he was tone deaf in his reaction to the mass shootings at Washington Navy Yard. For a second straight day,
White House press secretary Jay Carney faced questions about a Monday afternoon event that occurred as the situation at the Navy Yard was still unfolding.
Krauthammer:
Obama's "Hyperpartisan" Economic Speech in "Extremely Bad Taste". On Special Report, tonight, Charles Krauthammer slammed Obama for his decision
to go ahead with a previously scheduled economic speech while the the Naval Yard shooting was still unfolding, calling it "in extremely bad taste."
The speech itself, he called "hyperpartisan" while marveling at the president's "remarkable" quip that (in his magnanimous opinion), some Republicans "are
decent." To do this within minutes of 13 Naval employees — brave Americans who lie dead — was in extremely bad taste," Krauthammer
noted with great disdain.
If only Obama were just a fake. Dear Mr. President, It didn't
seem possible, but you shocked me. After lowering my expectations for you, from very high five years ago to bottom-of-the-barrel now, I figured you could
never again disappoint me. But you did it. And if your aim was to further diminish respect for the office you hold, mission accomplished.
The content of Monday's hyperpartisan speech was par for your hyperpartisan presidency, but the timing marked a new low. Let me be clear:
Have you neither decency nor shame?
Can
Barack Obama sink any lower? An out of touch president with no sense of decorum. [New York Times columnist Maureen] Dowd reminds us that in
the immediate aftermath of the brutal killing of 12 people just three miles from the White House and blocks from Capitol Hill, Barack Obama was in full
campaign mode, bashing his political opponents, while families were grieving the loss of their loved ones. Instead of speaking to the nation as the
president of all Americans, he decided to proceed with a deeply partisan speech aimed at attacking conservatives over their opposition to his increasingly
unpopular health care reforms.
Losing the Room. President Obama also gave a speech Monday,
talking at the White House while the drama unfolded at the supposedly secure Navy Yard nearby. He could have posted his original remarks on the White
House Web site and replaced them with a cri de coeur on gun control, or comfort for the shaken city. The 12 who died were, after all, under
his aegis as workers in a federal building. But, jarringly, the president went ahead with his political attack, briefly addressing the slaughter before
moving on to jab Republicans over the corporate tax rate and resistance to Obamacare.
Obama, Spiked For His Own Good?
President Obama barely noticed, but there was a horrific mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday. [...] It was tasteless, inappropriate, and
diminishing of the presidency. ABC, CBS, and NBC skipped over Obama's refusal to let breaking news of a gun massacre deter conservative-bashing
remarks. These were the same networks that went absolutely bonkers when Romney made what they saw as inappropriate political comments on the heels
of the Benghazi attacks.
Yes, people were dying in a gunfight
across town, but Obama had a speech to give. Barack Obama has never been accused of possessing the most refined sense of appropriate, especially
when it comes to what normal people regard as tragedies. [...] When a 133-foot-tall wall of tsunami water rolled 10 miles inland to kill 16,000 in Japan
two years ago, Obama expressed his sorrow, then went golfing. When bad weather canceled his trip to the funeral of Poland's president, Obama paid his
respects by golfing. As the Gulf coast economy struggled back from the nation's worst environmental disaster ever, Obama urged all Americans to vacation
there. Then, he took his family to the New England coast. So, it should not be surprising that as heavily-armed SWAT teams combed the Washington Navy
Yard Monday for at least one deranged killer, Obama took the occasion to proceed with one of his harshest partisan speeches in months.
AP: For all of Obama's "recovery"
blather, the poverty rate isn't budging. After his bizarre and widely panned decision to go forward with it just hours after the Navy Yard
shooting on Monday, President Obama gave yet another speech about how much the economy has ostensibly recovered since the financial crisis five years
ago. [...] Yes, it's all very interesting and compelling, I'm sure, except that by far too many measures, the middle class has only been faring worse
and worse during Obama's presidency.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner, September 21, 2013
Obama blames NRA for gun violence.
After spending the day on the golf course Saturday, Mr. Obama spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner about his priorities.
Referring to Monday's tragic shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, along with the mass murders in Newtown and Aurora in 2012, Tucson in 2011 and
shootings in Chicago, he said: "As long as there are those who fight to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people to get their hands
on a gun, then we've got to work as hard as possible for the sake of our children. We've got to be ones who are willing to do more work to
make it harder." So who is fighting to make it easy for criminals to get guns?
It's Sanity, Not Anarchy. His description in a speech on Saturday
is an example of his unprecedented political attack mode. He said that the House bill on funding the government would cause the government
to "default for the first time in United States history," even though the bill is designed specifically to not do that and will pay for all of
government except for the additional expenses of implementing ObamaCare.
Obama at the U.N.: Still Absent on
Freedom and Democracy. In his speech today at the United Nations, President Obama continued his administration's odd and somewhat
schizophrenic policy with respect to freedom, human rights, and democracy. [...] And Mr. Obama explains that "although we will be wary of efforts
to impose democracy through military force, and will at times be accused of hypocrisy or inconsistency — we will be engaged in the
region for the long haul. For the hard work of forging freedom and democracy is the task of a generation." Now this is very general.
How does it apply when we deal with actual American foreign policy in a particular country? It does not.
The Editor says...
And he's right, with the exception of North Korea, Syria, Lybia, Egypt, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Pakistan, Mexico, Detroit and Chicago.
Barack
Obama's UN speech was pure mush. The president's speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was as soggy as it gets,
with Mr. Obama extending the hand of friendship to Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani. In his UN address, President Obama was eager to
recycle the propaganda flowing out of Tehran in recent weeks, with the White House making a rapprochement with Iran the centerpiece of its
Middle East strategy.
Obama's UN Declaration:
'The World Is More Stable Than It Was Five Years Ago'. President Obama gave a meandering defense of U.S. policy before the
United Nations General Assembly in New York today, capped by declarations of wiggle room on key issues such as Iran as he directed Secretary
of State John Kerry to begin dialogue with new "reformer" Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Not bothering to mention the human rights of
Iranians, the president's muddled message continued: "We are not seeking regime change, and we respect the right of the Iranian people
to access peaceful nuclear energy."
Our sucker-in-chief's U.N. outing.
He began by assuring the world of America's near-pacifism and lack of seriousness when it comes to fighting terrorism. Obama cited our
retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan, new limitations on the use of drones, and his "diligent" work to close Gitmo. The world already
understands your of lack of seriousness, Mr. President. There's no need to embarrass yourself by reminding folks that, after five years,
the Gitmo prison is still up and running.
Obama's
U.N. Speech Showed Indifference to Freedom and Religious Minorities in Middle East. President Obama's speech to the United Nations
today displayed the tone-deafness to freedom and to the fate of non-Muslim peoples in the Middle East that he has shown since coming to office.
When he discussed Iran, a vicious dictatorship whose regime is rejected by the great majority of that nation's population, what words of encouragement
did he have for the Iranian people? None.
A Useless Obama Addresses the Useless United Nations.
I don't know who looked more pathetic when President Obama addressed the United Nations Assembly on Tuesday; him or the assembled ambassadors,
many from nations where human rights, justice, and liberty don't exist. Like the League of Nations before it, the United Nations has long
since demonstrated how useless it is.
Obama's Message to the World.
Obama's speech should be read in its entirety. The speech represents a comprehensive map of misreading, to borrow Harold Bloom's phrase.
It takes us on a tour of American interests focused on the Middle East and advertises the cluelessness that emanates from the top of the Obama
administration. The speech deserves a knowledgeable line by line annotation exposing its errors and fatuities.
Press conference, October 8, 2013
President
Obama throws a tantrum at press conference — compares his opponents to hostage-takers and deadbeats. This was a childish, as well as unpleasant,
display of petulance by Mr. Obama, who treats elected officials as though they were puppets who should dance to his tune. It was followed by an embarrassing set of
hand-picked questions from a largely subservient liberal-dominated media, none of which seriously challenged the president's policies or his handling of the shutdown.
In the UK, a British prime minister would never get away with this kind of performance without a barrage of relentlessly tough questioning.
Obama's panic button still not working. Right now the government shutdown/slimdown is a
public exercise in pulling-the-wings-off-flies, with a look-how-much-pain-I-can-so-easily-inflict-upon-the-plebes kind of showcasing. But the only one really
panicking is Obama witnessed in the outrageous lies dropped in yesterday's presser.
Obama's so-called news conference:
What the media failed to ask. It sure looked like a news conference. [...] But it wasn't a news conference. A news conference contains news,
something we did not know before. None of the nearly 10,000 words Obama uttered during those 66 minutes were new. He's all for talking, just not
negotiating. Most of Obama's words, in fact, were old and stale stump propaganda. Anyone accidentally overhearing even a partial newscast in recent
weeks has heard Obama say the same things over and over and over again.
Unbelievable: Obama gets no
questions at presser on ObamaCare rollout or shutdown theater. It ran for one hour and six minutes, with 12 different reporters being called on —
although, notably, not Ed Henry of Fox News — and between them they couldn't muster one question about the catastrophe that is Healthcare.gov or the spectacle of
National Park Rangers locking senior-citizen tourists out of war memorials and/or inside their hotels.
Rose Garden speech to defend Obamacare, October 21, 2013
Don't Let Obamacare Crisis go to Waste.
The constipated debut of Obamacare has reduced the president of the United States to the status of TV pitchman. "Act now" to get this great product, he exhorted
listeners on Monday, offering testimonials from one of the rare successful purchasers, promising limitless benefits and low prices, and even an 800 number. His
operators are standing by, he urged, and they speak 150 languages!
Ineptness of Obama leaves America staggering.
That was America standing behind President Obama in the Rose Garden this week as he stammered, and droned on and on, trying to explain away the epic disaster that
Obamacare has become even before it has begun.
Xenophon on the Website Roll-out.
[Scroll down] Now we move to the website. The symbol of the incompetence in the roll out is stunning. Where is the "smooth," the "cool" and the
efficient in running things? It would seem that the least gifted of administrators would have checked things out a while ago and begun to exercise a nudge here
or there to get things going. On top of all that some of the president's disagreeable qualities have become manifest. Instead of fessing up like an
ordinary guy and taking responsibility, we are treated to the full set of our leader's little pathologies.
Obama the Avatar. Discussing the Obamacare disaster
in the Rose Garden on Monday, President Obama led with a phrase to which we have become accustomed: "Nobody," the president emoted, "is madder than me"
about this mess. Along with "let me be clear" and "make no mistake," this is a favorite construction. Obama, you see, is more concerned for and
correct about everything than everybody else at all times. "Nobody shares the frustrations of the American people more than I do," he told WABC earlier
this month; "nobody is more frustrated" than he about the IRS scandal; "no person," the president affirmed during the election, "is more interested" in "seeing
this economy growing strong."
Obama Disassociates from Reality. About President
Obama's remarks on Monday in the Rose Garden on the matter of the problems plaguing the Affordable Care Act and, specifically, healthcare.gov, it seemed to me
that they served a valuable purpose, at least to this extent: They distilled the Obama presidency to some of its core qualities: (a) detachment
from reality; (b) misleading in its claims; (c) deeply polarizing and partisan; and (d) filled with lame excuses. But there was another
noteworthy element to what the president said. I have in mind the pitiable quality of his remarks. Speaking about the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama
kept insisting — over and over and over again — how good the product is, how really and exceptionally good it is, how popular it is, and
how things really and truly will work out.
Liberal Hates Obamacare Now, But Still Won't
Admit that Ted Cruz Was Right. As a poor executive, Obama has proven himself incapable of spotting trouble as Healthcare.gov was being built, and on Monday
appeared just as ineffective as the nation's IT manager. Obama's team know how to campaign. They do not know how to do much else.
How Long Do They Really Have To Fix That
Obamacare Website? On Monday, President Obama addressed the problems directly for the first time. "No one is more frustrated than me," he said,
promising that technology experts from around the country were working with the administration "to get this working better, faster, sooner." Still, he did not offer
details about the scope of the problems, a timeline for the repairs, or who have successfully enrolled out of the more than 19 million visitors to the federal site.
Obamacare (As Seen On TV). President Obama was forced into the White House Rose
Garden appearance by the deluge of news stories — a deluge that would have started two weeks earlier but for the government shutdown — about the utter
failure of the Obamacare website, healthcare.gov. Americans can't log in, can't set up accounts, can't get through the security questions, can't get basic information
without giving the government personal information, and most of the time, if they get that far, can't find a good product at a good price. Instead, the few plans that
have nominally small monthly premiums come with enormous deductibles and cost-sharing.
The high cost of ObamaCare deception. President Obama's Rose Garden
press conference on the ObamaCare disaster featured a group of 13 human props, lined up on stage behind him to put a face on the alleged virtues of his health care
scheme. It turns out none of them had actually purchased an ObamaCare insurance plan, and only three of them had even completed the application process.
What a perfect summary of the disastrous incompetence and fundamental dishonesty of Barack Obama's "signature achievement!"
Obamacare: A
broken website is doing more damage than the Republicans. Could bad coding succeed where Ted Cruz failed? Yesterday, President Obama came out and gave
a speech admitting that the website that is crucial to Obamacare has failed disastrously. "The affordable care act is more than just a website", he said.
That's true of Facebook too, but the point is, the whole thing won't work without the website.
'Marketplace:' Where People Buy
Compulsory Insurance With Other People's Money. When President Barack Obama spoke in the Rose Garden on Monday to justify and explain the problems at the
website his administration has created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to sell government-approved and subsidized health insurance plans, he used
the word "marketplace" seventeen times.
Triumphant President Takes Victory Lap Over Huge Obamacare Success.
The appearance was more of a pep rally, replete with upbeat promises and applauding supporters. Aides might as well have hung a large "mission accomplished" banner
over Obama's head. The fact that the Obamacare websites — a core element of the law functioning — are in total shambles and won't be fixed for
many weeks or even months were all but shrugged off as an afterthought.
White House Obamacare team: Best, brightest —
and a mystery. The "best and the brightest" also appear to be the cloaked and elusive. President Barack Obama insists he's culled the country's tech elite
to help repair the mangled Healthcare.gov website. But the administration hasn't made its smart new crew public, and any of the tech companies or federal contractors
involved remain tight-lipped.
5 liberals who slammed the president's Obamacare speech.
In an address from the White House Rose Garden Monday on the less-than-stellar launch of the Obamacare online exchanges, President Obama sought to ease a worried nation.
But he didn't even succeed in assuaging the concerns of his liberal supporters in the media.
Todd Takes Carney to Task Over Obamacare Flop:
'Who Misled the President on This?' NBC's Chuck Todd bluntly asked White House spokesman Jay Carney Monday [10/21/2013] who "misled" President Obama by
letting him make promises about the Obamacare website that it has been simply unable to meet. Carney said Obama was frustrated and focused on making improvements,
but Todd kept asking who "let him down" and continued to pound away at the administration's inability to explain what has gone so wrong with the website.
ObamaCare's Rose Garden Band-Aid. The Weekly Standard
described the event as an "infomercial" where the president gave phone numbers — which by some reports didn't answer — and website information and
other data, as though the problems with ObamaCare could be solved by people having that information. The Associated Press described the event as a "health-care pep
rally" that emphasized the spin: the health care law is "more than a Website."
Healthcare.gov is walking dead. In a White House
speech Monday, President Obama assured the public that his new health-care law is up and running even in the absence of a functioning Web site. He told people they can
call an 800 number instead of buying coverage online. Reporters duly called the number and got busy signals, or when getting through and following the directions,
got referred back to healthcare.gov. This, no doubt, is another "glitch" — the administration's catchall word for the fact that it is almost impossible to
enroll for insurance under ObamaCare.
Don't Forget Obamacare's Electronic
Medical Records Wreck. The White House finally acknowledged the spectacular public disaster of Obamacare's Internet exchange infrastructure during Monday's Rose
Garden infomercial. But President Shamwow and his sales team are AWOL on the bureaucratic ravages of the federal electronic medical records mandate. Modernized
data collection is a worthy goal, of course. But distracted doctors are seeing "more pixels than patients," Dr. DiNubile observes, and the EMR edict is foisting
"dangerous user-unfriendly technology" on physicians and patients.
At the White House: Obamacare success stories that
aren't. President Obama invited a number of people to stand behind him as he delivered his speech on the state of Obamacare at the White House Monday morning.
[...] But after reading the White House-provided descriptions of each of those behind the president, it's clear the administration was stretching to present people who,
beyond supporting Obamacare, have actually gained from it in any tangible way.
Obama Tells Americans to Enroll via Phone, Phone Number Crashes.
"Nobody is madder than me about the fact that the website isn't working as well as it should, which means it's going to get fixed," Obama said. He then recommended a
toll-free phone number to call. There was only one problem: the Obamcare toll-free phone number was overloaded and immediately crashed.
President Obama helps
fainting audience member during long-winded speech. President Obama's long-winded speech in defense of his health care reform nearly put one audience member to
sleep, with a guest standing directly behind the President almost fainting as he continued to drone on for nearly 30 minutes.
Pregnant diabetic who nearly fainted at
Obamacare speech denies stunt claims. The pregnant woman who nearly fainted behind President Obama during his Rose Garden speech denies
that the swooning interruption was a stunt. All eyes were on Karmel Allison, who stood at attention in a bright red dress behind the President,
when the she nearly fainted during his remarks Monday in the White House Rose Garden.
Woman who fainted in Rose Garden
loves Obama, unlikely to benefit from Obamacare. Karmel Alon Allison, the pregnant diabetic woman who fainted in the Rose Garden Monday, has claimed
that the Affordable Care Act would drive down her health care costs. But there's almost no circumstance where the UCSD grad student and sometime entrepreneur
would pay less for her health insurance under Obamacare. And, according to a leading health care expert, Allison's situation as a grad student and spouse of a
tech executive is "irrelevant" to Obamacare. Additionally, both Karmel and her husband, David, are longstanding progressive Obama supporters, according to their
Twitter feeds.
Conspiracy Theorist Contends
'Obama's Fainting Lady was Faked'. How much do some distrust Obama? Enough for at least one person to suggest that the woman who fainted
behind the president at his Obamacare speech earlier in the week was part of a White House gag.
Proof Obama's Fainting Lady was Faked in 3 Minutes.
For some strange reason, Obama has to have props around him when he does one of his con-jobs in the Rose Garden, or wherever he chooses to receive his
worshipers. This was no different, except that he had animated props this time. [...] Why did Obama think it was necessary to "catch" a fainting
woman just when he said the words, "To free families from the pervasive fear that one illness....?" He said it, and down she went. Well not
actually down. She just weaved and wobbled a little and never quite fainted. And, consequently, Obama never actually caught her. He
turned around and put his hand on her shoulder as if to steady her and turned back to the camera to make sure it got a clear shot of his "rescue" efforts.
Group behind Obama at Rose Garden speech
includes only 3 Obamacare registrants. Of the 13 people who flanked President Obama during his speech defending Obamacare in the Rose Garden Monday, just
three had successfully registered for the new Obamacare exchanges. A list of the people who joined Obama on stage provided by the White House included people who have
or "will" benefit from Obamacare, small business owners, representatives from "partner organizations," and new registrants.
How many people onstage with Obama
today have successfully enrolled in ObamaCare? The White House communications team had three weeks to find 10-15 people who've actually enrolled
in O-Care via Healthcare.gov to serve as human props for an Obama press conference on this subject. Three weeks. And yet, according to the WH's own
mini-biographies of the people invited to the Rose Garden today, just three have successfully registered so far.
Vaporcare. "The Affordable Care Act is not just a website,"
President Obama said at the Rose Garden today. "It's much more." It's like a chamois, it's like a towel, it's like a sponge. Another way of putting it
is that ObamaCare isn't just a technical failure. And it isn't just an economically unsustainable scheme. Now it's a rhetorical disaster too. Even by the
standards of Obama speeches it was terrible. It was so bad, it was the ObamaCare website of political oratory.
Jay Carney's Worst Press Briefing? After a speech in
which President Obama failed to discuss how he was going to fix Obamacare, save for providing a 1-800 number to call, which was not working during and immediately after
his speech, White House press secretary Jay Carney went on to have a pretty rough press briefing.
With Legacy on the Line, Obama Reduced to
Pitchman. Mr. President, why are you lying to the American people about why healthcare.gov isn't working? [...] Just how is the President lying?
Simple. Because by trying to Sham-Wow this sale... after reporter after reporter has tried (and failed) logging on in the middle of the night when traffic is low, and
especially after the independent research firm Millward Brown Digital found the number of visitors to healthcare.gov has dropped by 88 percent since Day 1 of its
launch, this excuse that a massive amount of demand is forcing the website to fail is, yes, an outright lie to any sane person not blinded by ideology. Period.
Chuck Todd Grills Jay Carney: 'Who Misled the
President' About Obamacare 'Glitches'? NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd dug into White House Press Sec. Jay Carney on Monday [10/21/2013]
following President Barack Obama's Rose Garden address where he discussed the problems associated with implementing the Affordable Care Act. Todd repeatedly asked
Carney who "misled" Obama and what advisors "let him down" ahead of the implementation of the ACA.
1-800-ObamaCare-Denial. The White House pitched President
Obama's Rose Garden event on Monday as a new transparency, but he event amounted to an infomercial, complete with a 1-800 number. Operators are standing by and
"the product is good," the President said. He even encouraged Americans to bypass the website and apply for benefits over the phone or by mail. Too bad this
infomercial lacked tangible information.
Where is the White House getting the money for
ObamaCare's "tech surge"? Unless I missed it, neither O nor HHS has said how big the "tech surge" is. Maybe they've hired 200 people to come in
and re-write millions of lines of code, or maybe they've convinced 10 highly regarded IT managers to come in and reorganize the site with the people already on staff.
I can kinda sorta buy that the latter might work pro bono, for the glory of "rescuing" ObamaCare, but not the former. So if we're talking about dozens or
hundreds of new contractors, where's that money coming from?
Obama the Blameless. Could there be more convincing proof
that President Obama is more concerned about himself than he is about the Americans he is supposed to serve than his Monday morning speech defending the disastrous
Obamacare rollout rather than apologizing for it? Could there be more compelling evidence that he is first and foremost a Saul Alinsky agitator than the fact that
he took the offense and attacked Republicans for fighting him on the budget — a fight that in no way caused any rollout problems — rather than humbly
admit these inexcusable and humiliating problems?
Obama's "ObamaCare 13" in White House Speech includes
2 Muslims. Are Muslims now 20 percent of the country? They had to pick these people up from somewhere and that 'somewhere' was most likely political
organizations linked to Obama. The group isn't all that diverse. Comparatively speaking. There seems to be one African-American and one Latino prop in the
13. I don't see any Asians.
In
Obamacare speech, Obama makes a desperate sales pitch. It was an extensive pitch — a bit too extensive. As Obama was closing his 27-minute
infomercial, a woman standing right behind him passed out. The people around her caught her, and Obama turned around to assist. "This happens when I talk too
long," he explained. Talking too long, yes. And protesting too much. Obama's pitch sounded a bit desperate and perhaps it should. The product he
rolled out three weeks ago was seriously defective.
Obama has declared Healthcare.gov
problems unacceptable. Problem solved. The "unacceptable" speech is a staple of the Obama presidency. Through gritted teeth, the president
acknowledges something he'd rather not, usually something his administration has screwed up royally — Benghazi, the IRS scandal, or the push
for intervention in Syria. He detaches himself from the situation and all responsibility for what he's acknowledging while offering a stern lecture for
those who caused the problem — usually someone he hired and under his direct instruction — and promising to get to the bottom of it.
He might show a flash of barely contained Spock-Obama anger to send a thrill up the legs of newscasters.
Just
three out of the 13 Americans in Monday's Rose Garden Obamacare photo-op have actually signed up. When President Barack Obama defended his foundering
health insurance overhaul Monday in a carefully staged and scripted White House pep rally, thirteen people stood behind him as examples of Americans whom the 'Obamacare'
law would help. But according to their biographies, just three have actually enrolled in the plans offered in their states.
Woman
Who Got Shout-Out From President Can't Afford Obamacare Policy After All. Jessica Sanford, the Federal Way woman who got
a shout-out from President Obama last month with her fan letter for the Affordable Care Act, got a rather rude awakening last
week. Turns out she doesn't qualify for a tax credit after all. At least that's what the letter said that she got from the
state. Now she says her dream of affordable health insurance has gone poof.
Defending Obamacare in Boston, October 30, 2013
Obama Cancels 'You Can Keep Your Plan'
Promise: 'Just Shop Around'. In a speech at Boston's Faneuil Hall on Wednesday afternoon [10/30/2013], President Barack Obama discarded
his now-infamous broken promise: "If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance." Instead, he offered a new
promise: "You will be getting a better deal," the president told health insurance consumers. He blamed insurance companies, not
Obamacare, for the canceled policies.
Obama:
'Grossly Misleading' to Say ACA's Cancelled Plans, People Can 'Just Shop Around'. President Obama stood by his dubious and increasingly
controversial promise that Americans can keep their insurance plans under his health-care law, and accused those making claims to the contrary of being
"grossly misleading." He claimed critics are not providing the full context of changes to previously "substandard plans," and argued the plan
terminations are caused by insurance companies rather than the new health-care law. Nonetheless, in his speech today in Boston, the president
encouraged those that have received letters of dropped coverage to look for a new one on their state marketplace or the Healthcare.gov website.
"Just shop around in the new marketplace," he said.
The Editor says...
Barack H. Obama is not a man who should accuse others of being
grosslymisleading.
Insurance
Industry Finds It's Sleeping With The Enemy. Four years ago, the insurance industry decided to get in bed with President Obama to help
him get his health reform passed. But as soon as things started to go wrong, guess who Obama blamed? [...] In a speech in Boston on Wednesday,
for example, Obama said that people "are getting notices from their insurance companies suggesting that somehow, because of the Affordable Care Act,
they may be losing their existing health insurance plan." Not so, Obama insisted. The blame rests instead with "bad apple" insurers
who'd been offering "cut rate plans" or had decided to "downgrade or cancel" their "substandard" policies.
A President Manqué. Some of us
have been saying for years that the law was a bad idea in part because it was designed to force the cancellations of millions of insurance policies.
This has now turned out to be true. And in Massachusetts Mr. Obama tweaked his former unqualified promise to say that his guarantee applied only
to "the vast majority of people," adding that the terminations were "a central premise of the Affordable Care Act from the very beginning." Mr.
Obama went on to tell those who are losing their choice of coverage that they're not being fired, they're merely being restructured.
The First Hustler Runs the Big
Con. All along, it had been a bait-and-switch by the first hustler. In Boston, Obama could no longer evade the truth.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans who had purchased health insurance in the private market were getting notices their plans were being canceled.
That this revelation had blown a hole in his credibility did not seem to trouble Obama. Indeed, the president appeared impatient with the
complaints. These were "substandard" plans anyhow, he said, the lousy offerings of "bad-apple insurers."
OFA speech, November 4, 2013
Obama and Carney Talk Down to the Idiots.
[Scroll down] Unlike [Jay] Carney, who was just talking down to a room full of journalists, the president was talking down to the American people as if
they were too stupid to follow along with the permutations of his tortured explanations. The president claimed that there was no difference between
what he was saying for three years about ObamaCare and today.
Obama tweaks message about keeping
health plans under ObamaCare. As thousands of consumers receive health insurance cancellation notices, President Obama is continuing to fine
tune his promise that Americans who like their health plans would be able to keep them under his signature health care law. The president told about
200 of his campaign supporters and health care activists Monday that the administration had promised Americans they could keep their current
coverage — as long as their plans hadn't changed since ObamaCare was signed into law.
The White House Fable Factory.
This Alinsky-steeped administration has relied on an endless stream of sensationalized, phony personal dramas to sell Obamacare. Last month, Organizing
for Action (previously Obama for America) promoted the "success story" of Chad Henderson, a supposedly random young person who miraculously enrolled in
Obamacare while everyone else in America experienced major tech meltdowns and sticker shock. Turned out Lying Chad was actually an OFA volunteer
who hadn't really enrolled in Obamacare yet because he was "joking." No matter. Yesterday, Obama appeared before OFA to solicit even more
stories from the group to help propagandize Obamacare.
Liar in Wait. President Obama is a very dishonest man. For
years, he has told us, as he did when he spoke to the American Medical Association in Chicago in June 2009, "If you like your health care plan, you'll
be able to keep your health care plan, period." Well, that period has now been followed by a comma; a semi-colon; a hyphen and, while we're at it,
let's throw in some brackets both of the square and round variety. On Monday night, while speaking before Obamacare supporters at the St. Regis
Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Obama said: ["]Now, if you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law and
you really like that plan, what we said was you could keep it if it hasn't changed since the law was passed.["]
Obama: 'What We Said Was, You Could Keep' Your
Health Care Plan, If.... During an appearance in front of supporters at Monday evening's Organizing for America summit in Washington, D.C.,
President Obama addressed the critics who are latching on to promises he made over the course of several years about the impact of the Affordable Care Act
on those who already have health insurance. "If you like your plan, you can keep it," Obama said again and again, sometime adding the word "period" at
the end.
Obama: My last campaign is making sure
Obamacare works. President Obama on Monday night [11/4/2013] addressed activists with Organizing for Action as they launch a drive to enroll
consumers in Obamacare and said his last campaign would be making sure his signature health care law "works for every single person in America."
Obama adds an 'if' to his 'you can
keep your plan' promise. In his latest defense of his troubled health care reform law, President Obama on Monday night massaged past
statements and told supporters that the administration had indeed promised Americans they could keep their insurance plans — as long as
they hadn't been changed. His remarks, offered at a gathering of Organizing for Action volunteers in Washington, were the latest attempt by
the White House to square its repeated past promises that no one would be forcibly kicked off an insurance plan with the fact that many Americans
now face exactly that scenario.
Obama denies 'you can keep it' videotaped promises.
President Barack Obama told his enthusiastic supporters Monday night that he never promised what video recordings show him promising at least 29 times.
The videos show Obama promising 300 million Americans that "if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period."
But that's not what he really said, Obama announced Monday [11/4/2013] in a speech to about 200 Organizing for Action supporters, [...]
Obama revises history. Yesterday, President Barack Obama
claimed that when he promised Americans that they if they liked their health care plan they could keep it, he also stated "if it hasn't changed since the law
passed." [...] The fact that video exists of at least 23 instances in which the president added no such limitation clause, and in some of which he
added the emphatic "Period" after claiming you can keep your health plan seems to not register with him.
The Next Big Obamacare Scandal. "What we said was
you could keep it if it hasn't changed since the law was passed," he told Obamacare's political beneficiaries and contractors this past Monday during a
speech they applauded enthusiastically. The "if" clause never appeared in his public statements before now. Obama did not just "misspeak,"
as a recent New York Times editorial tried to characterize his deliberate deception. As confirmed by his own aides cited in aWall Street Journal
article last Saturday, policy experts who wanted to include more truthful caveats in the president's public pronouncements concerning retention of
choice of patient insurance plans and doctors were overruled by the political spinmeisters.
Obama pretends to apologize for Obamacare, November 7, 2013
This wasn't exactly a speech, it was an interview on Obama-friendly NBC. But its effect was the same.
A "Sorry" Excuse for a President.
President Obama is "sorry" that millions of Americans have had their health insurance plans cancelled despite his promises that ObamaCare
would not cause this. [...] A godly sorrow should compel Obama to ask the CEOs of health insurance companies to reinstate policies that have
been canceled for those who want them, which would garner those companies goodwill for years to come. He should ask Congress to send to
him legislation fully repealing ObamaCare. He should sign and return it along with his letter of resignation.
Presidential Liability. Obama
attempted to quell the Obamacare political firestorm during an NBC interview on November 7 when he said "I am sorry that they are finding
themselves in this situation based on assurances from me." If that were said by a company CEO in a product liability lawsuit, millions of
people would have a cause of legal action. One must ask Obama the critical question, "If you are sorry and really accept responsibility,
what are you going to do to make whole the people you have harmed"? He has not answered that. He never will. He has expressed
false regret just for political purposes. No one is to be trusted in this administration. No one. Think Benghazi.
Fast and Furious. Keystone. IRS scandal. If he gets away with this, our entire society is in serious trouble. Not just
because of the medical insurance fiasco, but because we have accepted broad political deceit from our leaders.
President
Obama said he is sorry about healthcare.gov, but neither looked nor sounded sincere. President Obama was a sorry sight on the evening of
Nov. 7, trying to bond with his fellow Americans in their disgust at the rollout of his unique and much-treasured gift to the people, and he has
much to be sorry about. He was indeed sorry, but not for the things he said that he was, and most of the things he was sorry for couldn't be
named. He was sorry the website had crashed, sorry his approval numbers were down around 40 percent, sorry the Democrats coming up for
election next year were starting to pani, [sic] and sorry his plan was becoming so toxic that it caused the governor's race in Virginia to tighten
considerably in the Republicans' favor close to the end.
Obama's "Apology" —
Substituting New Lies for Old. On November 7 President Obama was forced to "apologize" to the millions of Americans who are losing
their health insurance because of ObamaCare, something he repeatedly promised would never happen — "no matter what." "Period." He
was forced into a public display of faux contrition by a convergence of political realities, including a panic in his own party, led especially by the
21 Democratic senators who are facing reelection battles next year, in the vortex of the growing ObamaCare maelstrom.
All
These Lies And Incompetence, Too. 'It is so bureaucratic and so cumbersome that a whole bunch of it doesn't work or it ends up being way
over cost." No, that wasn't some hard-core Tea Party lawmaker calling for a radical downsizing of the federal government. That was Obama
attempting to explain how it is that his administration could fail to build a working website despite spending 3½ years and hundreds of
millions of dollars on it.
Barack Obama's Pants are on Fire. Irreparable
damage on the national level aside, after hawking the Affordable Care Act like a snake oil salesman, barking "Step right up, if you like your insurance plan
you can keep your insurance plan," some gravely ill Americans are finding out that the cure-all the merchant of "Hope and Change" peddled was pure quackery.
Now, after a panicked realization has set in, the president, doing what he does best, decided he should at least make believe that he's sorry and that he's
diligently working toward rectifying the catastrophic situation he caused. Appearing remarkably serene, Obama chose to share his remorse with NBC
anchor Chuck Todd.
Obamacare Is Running Out of Bullets.
Conservatives may complain that the apology was inadequate, since the president did not admit that he'd misled people. But this is the first time
I can remember this president apologizing like this. It may be sincere. It is also a sign that his administration is backed into a corner.
It can't deny that this is happening, nor can it blame anyone else. What's left to it are expressions of regret.
The Editor says...
I disagree with the statement that Obama's apology "may be sincere." Mr. Obama is not known for sincerity, and this "apology" of his was obviously
constructed by his lawyers and then rehearsed over and over.
Krauthammer
On Obama's Apology: "The President Now Is Toxic". ["]The thing is called Obamacare. There's no running away from it. It's
got his name on it. You see the president, you think about the policy and you know it's a disaster. And the problem for the Democrats
is, they are hostage to a bunch of geeks working right now late into the night trying to fix a system which is not just the glitches we talked about.
The architecture, the underlying structure of it is wrong. I think the likelihood of it being fixed, working like you would expect from any
normal commercial private website normally by December 1 is pretty small.["]
Obama: I'm Sorry for Obamacare
(Sort Of). Apologizing is all well and good, and yet Obama still finds himself in a tough position. It is one thing to
apologize for the disaster that has been the technical rollout, and quite another to apologize for your own dishonesty.
Sorry your
insurance got canceled! Here, let the taxpayers make it up to you. A round of applause for anyone who guessed that President Obama
would deal with a rising tide of public outrage over his phony "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan" promise by throwing other people's
money at the problem!
Obama Burns Media Supporters with Apology.
Many were hurled under President Barack Obama's bus on Thursday night [11/7/2013] when he told NBC News reporter Chuck Todd that he was "sorry"
those who were losing their health insurance coverage were shocked by this eventuality because of repeated "assurances" he made to the contrary.
The president's supporters in the media were first among those to take a dive under the wheels of the president's forward-moving signature policy
achievement.
Media Pans Obama's "Apology".
The president's passive-voice expression of vague regret was so half-[heart]ed and self-serving that conservatives can simply sit back and let the
mainstream media tee off on its inadequacy. He's not sorry for lying repeatedly in furtherance of his political goals, and he's certainly not
sorry that people are losing their coverage. His law required that outcome. His promise was an intentional lie.
The lowest low of the Obama
presidency. Here's what President Obama really wanted to tell NBC's Chuck Todd about the implementation of the health-care law in an
interview Thursday: "Look, Chuck. We're talking about 5 percent of the population who can't keep their plans. Five percent.
And once the Web site starts working right, they will realize they can get better plans anyway." Of course, when you're president of the United
States, you don't say that — unless you don't want to be president much longer. Time and time again during the interview with Todd,
Obama kept running into the political reality that the 5 percent of the country who can't keep their health-care plans isn't all that big a deal
unless you are part of that 5 percent.
The Editor says...
People have always been able to get "better plans" if they were willing to pay more for their insurance. In a free country, the insurance customers
make those decisions on their own. Under a left-wing dictatorship, such as the one Mr. Obama apparently seeks to establish, the citizens have no
choice but to buy more than they will ever use, in order to pay for the medical bills accumulated by society's dead weight.
Obama is sorry Americans aren't smart
enough to grasp what he really meant. First, what Obama didn't do. He didn't apologize for misleading the entire country for three-plus
years by saying without qualification dozens of times that if Americans like their existing health insurance plan, they can keep it. "Period."
The Real Good Talker didn't admit any mistake there, not even an inadvertent one based on his enthusiasm for what he believes is best for his countrymen.
Such bald statements, which documents show he knew were false in mid-2010, played a key role in calming latent fears about his massive federal government
plan to reshape nearly a fifth of the country's economy.
Fact-Checking
The President's Kind-Of Sort-Of 'Apology' For Obamacare-Driven Insurance Cancellations. Yesterday [11/7/2013], in an interview with
NBC's Chuck Todd, President Obama addressed the problems caused by his incessantly-repeated pledge to the American public that "if you like your
health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what." As millions of
Americans receive cancellation letters in the mail, however, that pledge looked increasingly strained. "I am sorry that they, you know, are
finding themselves in this situation, based on assurances they got from me," the President said last night. In the course of his interview,
however, Mr. Obama made several other misleading statements that don't accurately reflect Obamacare's impact on pre-existing health insurance plans.
Obama offers fauxpology for 'situation'.
Using lawyerly care in choosing passive-construction words, President Obama last night apologized for something, but most definitely not for lying to the
American people in order to sell his health care plan on false promises and get re-elected. Here are the words he uttered to Chuck Todd, White House
correspondent for NBC, friendliest news agency among the progressive media toadies.
The Obamacare "Fix" news conference, November 14, 2013
... in which President Obama attempted to issue a verbal decree, negating part of "the law of the land" that Democrats had previously
defended against any such modifications.
Brit Hume:
Obama 'fix' meant to 'shift blame,' says media has turned against him. On Thursday's "The Kelly File," Fox News senior political
analyst Brit Hume explained to host Megyn Kelly why even the so-called fix President Barack Obama proposed earlier in the day was fraught with
problem of its own — and that it was meant to shift blame away from the administration.
The Obamacare 'Fix' Is
Illegal. The president's "fix," announced last Thursday in a somber news conference, allows insurance companies to renew
policies that do not meet the minimum care standards of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which go into effect on Jan. 1. So far,
only 13 states have said they will cooperate with the administration's initiative, however, and some have refused. The debate
has turned mostly on questions of actuarial policy. But the bigger problem states must consider is that the fix itself is
unconstitutional. And even if the president did have the authority to take such action, state compliance with it would still break
the law.
GOP Rep. Introduces Bill Calling
Obama's Actions Unconstitutional. Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) introduced legislation challenging the president's ObamaCare
"fix." President Obama first delayed the employer mandate. Then, after private insurance companies began canceling millions of Americans plans after
the president promised they wouldn't, he asked the companies to give people back their plans.
Dem. Rep.: Obama Lacks 'Legal
Underpinning' for Obamacare Fix. Democratic congressman Nick Rahall says he voted for the Keep Your Health Plan Act because President
Obama's Obamacare fix lacked the "legal underpinning" he believes is necessary. [Video clip]
ObamaCare Fix as Bad as ObamaCare Itself.
[Scroll down] And that's assuming it's legal to begin with. What the president has done is issue a "waiver" to insurance companies based on
the doctrine of "prosecutorial discretion" that allows him to selectively enforce laws. Yet as National Review's Andrew McCarthy points out, that
doctrine is one of "allocation," based on the notion that government's ability to enforce every law equally is constrained by finite resources.
The beginning of the end for
Barack Obama. Second-term presidents in the past 30 years have had some pretty embarrassing news conferences, full of frank admissions
of failure, submissive spasms of shame and groveling, grieving apologies. [...] But there has never, ever, been a more pitiful presser
than the one conducted last week by President Obama. In a nutshell, he said sure, everything's a mess, but he just didn't know.
Rand Paul: Obama's
Attempts to Fix Obamacare Are 'Unconstitutional'. Obamacare is not "fixable," and the president's administrative attempts to fix it
are "unconstitutional," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Fox News on Monday [11/18/2013]. "One of the clear separations of powers was that
the legislature was supposed to legislate and the president wasn't. He's essentially amended Obamacare maybe 20- some-odd times, and I
don't think he's allowed to. And so I think it needs to be decided in court," Paul said.
Obama's "5 Percent" Con Job. Let's
quickly recap the lawlessness and cynical politics behind Thursday's pathetic press conference. Obama, who poses as a constitutional-law
expert, knows full well that a president has no legal authority to waive statutory mandates. Even if he had such power, moreover, he knows
that there is no practical possibility of undoing — within the next few weeks, as the ACA would require — the new arrangements
that insurance companies and state regulators spent the last three years structuring to comply with Obamacare mandates. In sum, Obama is
well aware that his proposed "fix" is frivolous.
Thus Spake Obama. It is a condition of my
admission to this great land that I am not allowed to foment the overthrow of the United States government. [...] Fortunately, at least as far as
constitutional government goes, the president of the United States is doing a grand job of overthrowing it all by himself. On Thursday, he
passed a new law at a press conference. George III never did that. But, having ordered America's insurance companies to comply
with Obamacare, the president announced that he is now ordering them not to comply with Obamacare.
"Racist" President
Says Now You can Keep Your "Substandard Insurance". The purported "fix" to allow voters to keep the insurance that the administration
ordered them to cancel is so unworkable, the insurance commissioners of South Carolina and Washington State both turned the proposition down
almost as soon as the president made it. Even Howard Dean questioned whether the president can legally do this, though I don't recall him
saying a word when this train wreck started down the track through procedures which ignored decades of Congressional practice and procedure and
when the president tossed off waivers to his friends and allowed HHS to draft regulations that were directly in conflict with the promises he
was repeatedly making to voters and even the clear language of the Act. (This, as his spokesmen were arguing that ObamaCare was "settled
law" which could not be altered or repealed.)
The Lawlessness of the 'Fix'.
Not only is a president barred from writing or rewriting laws; he is required to enforce them as Congress has written them. The only
exception is when he has a good-faith reason to believe they are unconstitutional, a claim Obama can hardly make about Obamacare while crowing
that the Supreme Court has upheld it.
It may be all over for Obama.
President Obama's proposed policy "fix" may ultimately fix little in the mess the Affordable Care Act has created, but his concessions Thursday
nonetheless made history. In an unprecedented admission, Obama not only owned up to failure — something he has never done —
but he admitted to misleading congressional Democrats who are now being blamed for telling their constituents they could keep insurance plans they liked.
ObamaCare "Fix" Is
An Attempt At Spaying Constitution. The president of the United States doesn't even get a line-item veto on budget laws. So he
certainly can't legally rewrite the ObamaCare statute. A political meltdown is mutating into a constitutional crisis.
Why insurance
companies who follow the ObamaCare 'fix' could face legal troubles. Selectively not enforcing laws has become a hallmark of the Obama
administration. The president has used it when it comes to laws being broken by illegal aliens. A future president might take the oath to
uphold the laws more seriously and start enforcing them again but, in the interim, illegal aliens don't have to worry about being deported.
It simply doesn't work the same way for insurance companies. President Obama could also tell companies that he won't enforce the anti-trust
or fraud laws next year, but if they break the law, they are still at risk. Telling a future president that Obama said it was okay won't
protect them from legal liability.
The President's ObamaCare Backpedal.
Succumbing to the growing panic over his health law, the president on Thursday moved to throw his party a political lifeline. [...] Mr. Obama took
to the podium in the White House briefing room to explain that yes, some Americans may indeed now keep the health-care plans they like. Maybe.
If insurers can undo three years of work in a few weeks. If state regulators can move at similar lightning speed. So long as the old plans
come with new warning labels. And with the understanding that those Americans lucky enough to receive a renewal option can only keep the plans
they "like" for a further year. Those giant caveats aside, the president wishes you good fortune.
Obama Overwhelmed. Whatever the cause, the
president's blundering on the cherished, decades-old liberal dream of universal health care and his jaw-dropping news conference Thursday are a blow to
those on the left who still cling to the notion that he is a man of immense talent. [...] It is fair to say what we saw yesterday was not merely a
policy failure and indictment against liberal big government, but confirmation of his personal unfitness for the job.
The Latest Obamacare Fix Only Makes
Things Worse. Today [11/14/2013], Obama announced that he's going to let insurance plans that don't comply with Obamacare's regulations
skate by. In other words, he's not going to enforce those regulations. The legal basis for this decision — as for many of the
decisions the president has made about enforcing this law — is unclear. Also unclear is whether the decision will help anyone.
Obama's Insurance 'Fix' Is Unconstitutional.
Outlets are quoting Democratic operative Howard Dean saying of President Barack Obama suspending certain Obamacare requirements, "I wonder if he has the
legal authority to do this." To remove all doubt: The Take Care Clause of the Constitution absolutely forbids any president from doing
exactly what Obama did Thursday.
Obama's
Phony Cancellation Solution. [Scroll down] Let's put aside for the moment the question of whether Obama can even do this legally.
This is a president who, after all, has already arbitrarily changed and postponed various parts of ObamaCare — such as the congressional
opt-out, the employer mandate, various enforcement rules, cuts to Medicare Advantage, out-of-pocket caps — when they would have proved
politically hazardous. The question is: Why should anyone trust Obama's latest "you can keep your plan" promise? It turns out,
no one should.
Lawless? The Constitution's executive article
(Article II) begins, "the executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." The Constitution vests the
entire executive power in just one person. [...] The purpose of Obama's press conference, however, was not to talk about his ineptitude in
exercising the executive power — even as it pertains to his signature legislation. Rather, it was to announce how he — as
he put it — will now "improve" that legislation. Alas, the president doesn't have the authority to change laws, and therefore he
doesn't have the authority to "improve" them.
Obama: 'I don't think I'm stupid
enough' to mislead on website. In the days leading up to the Oct. 1 launch of HealthCare.Gov, President Obama says he didn't know
just how faulty the site would be. He told reporters Thursday that, had he known of the rampant glitches and crashes that have plagued
Obamacare's central hub, he wouldn't have promoted it so heavily.
Obama's
political malpractice. Listening to the president Thursday was painful. He acknowledged the need "to win back some credibility."
He "fumbled the rollout" of health care. He is "letting ... down" congressional Democrats who took the risk of supporting Obamacare. Although
he's sometimes been "slapped around a little bit unjustly," the president said, "This one's deserved, all right? It's on us." Can he recover?
I'm sorry to say: I'm not at all confident.
After Apology, Obama
Vows to 'Push Back' Against Healthcare Critics. Hours after President Barack Obama declared in a Thursday White House press conference
that he "fumbled the roll out on this health care law" and said "that's on me," Obama delivered a defiant speech at a Cleveland plant wherein he vowed
to "push back" against the swelling chorus of Americans opposed to Obamacare.
Obama
still misses the mark: HIPAA prohibits health insurance cancellations. President Obama continues to miss the mark. Federal law
already prohibits insurance companies from cancelling policies, and his "fix" is a flop. Millions of insurance policies are being cancelled
throughout the country, as reports confirm. Democrats were aware this would happen under the new Obamacare law. However, these millions
of insurance policies should never have been cancelled. Federal law prohibits their cancellation.
Insurance companies protest Obama's Obamacare fix.
U.S. insurance companies are giving the stink-eye to President Barack Obama's latest Obamacare fix, likely dooming it to failure. The companies'
hostility is important because the president is trying to prevent swing-state Democratic politicians from fleeing his Obamacare project amid rising
anger from middle-class, politically influential swing voters. If they flee, the GOP gets a chance to rollback the Democrats' power grab by
pushing some free-market rules back into the health-care sector.
Obama's sorry story. Obama said that by regulatory
fiat, he would allow insurance companies to extend the kinds of policies they have been canceling. Since many companies have little appetite for
doing so after shifting business models per Obama's diktat, there's no telling whether the President will, in fact, redeem his vow. The
policies at issue covered those who purchased them as individuals, as opposed to getting coverage under a group policy in the workplace. The
President found them to be substandard.
Backpedaling Bam is fumbling and bumbling.
On Thursday, President Obama conducted the "Springtime for Hitler" of press conferences. He came out at noon and proceeded to blather his way
through an hour of self-justifications and evasions and apologies and complaints. [...] First, he said he had not been "informed directly that the Web
site would not be working." What on earth does that mean? Was he somehow informed indirectly? In an affronted tone, the president
said he wouldn't have been so stupid as to have promised a great Web site if he'd known it was lousy. Which makes you wonder: Did he ask?
The 23 most revealing words
Obama spoke. He spent more than three years promising Americans they could keep their health plans and doctors if they wanted. A
blatant lie he knew was false by mid-2010. Last week the president apologized. But being Barack Obama, not for lying. For the fact
that attentive Americans did not understand what he really meant, which was the exact opposite of what the Great Talker was saying. Thursday
Obama held a news conference for what he called an "update" on implementing the unaffordable Affordable Care Act. In the course of 51 minutes
Obama uttered some 7,000 words. He said the word "apology" once and "regret" once. The word "sorry" never passed his lips. As usual,
Obama talked a lot about himself, saying "I" 115 times.
The Emperor's New Rules. Stung by public anger and his
rapidly plunging approval ratings, President Obama wants to delay the cancellation of existing health care insurance policies for one year. It
has nothing to do with the public interest. It has everything to do with crass political calculations.
Five Quotes From the
Catastrophically Awful Obamacare Press Conference. President Obama had three goals coming into today's press conference: First, to
shift responsibility for the Obamacare fiasco onto insurers by saddling them with mid-implementation changes. Second, to quell Democratic panic on
Capitol Hill. And third, to nudge the media toward turning the page on his healthcare debacle. He accomplished none of these things.
Indeed, he made things worse — sinking his presidency to a new nadir.
Obama's healthcare 'fix' strictly political move,
experts say. At best, President Obama's proposed health care "fix" offers political protection for vulnerable lawmakers. That's
because beyond giving insurance companies permission to continue offering individual health care plans that don't comply with the Affordable Care Act,
the president's fix doesn't compel anyone to do anything. So why even propose such a fix, and especially a remedy that, according insurance
experts, could lead to more expensive premiums for the people the fix is supposed to help?
NBC Reporter
Reveals Electoral Flaw in Obamacare Fix: Dems Have to Campaign on 'Trust Obama'. Make no mistake, President Barack Obama is announcing an
administrative fix to the Affordable Care Act to allow individuals losing their insurance to keep their old plans into 2014 as a result of the collapse
of his and Democratic politician's support in the polls. This is a political dilemma and the president is offering a political fix. There is
just one problem, as identified by NBC News reporter Kasie Hunt: Democrats do not get to campaign on anything beyond saying they put their
trust in a president. It's a level of trust in the president that the public does not share.
Obama: You can keep your plans ... for now.
Privately insured Americans whose insurance was deemed unworthy under Obamacare can keep their plans one more year, President Barack Obama said
today. In a news conference [11/14/2013] announcing the policy shift, Obama tried to calm public fury and address his own party's concerns
that he reneged on his promise to allow people to keep their insurance plans if they wanted to.
Obama Announces
Obamacare 'Fix' That Doesn't Fix Anything, Blames Insurance Companies. President Obama announces today [11/14/2013] that he supports a
"fix" for Obamacare that would allow some Americans to keep the healthcare plans they already had for an additional year. That was already built
into the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare law. It's not an actual change to anything, it's just an attempt to get out ahead of the bills that
Republican Fred Upton and Democrat Mary Landrieu are sponsoring in the House and Senate that would legislatively "fix" Obamacare. It's an
exercise in blame-shifting, and an abdication of leadership.
National
Review Writer: Obamacare 'The Biggest Mistake That Any Party Has Made in 100 Years'. On Thursday, National Review staff
writer Charles C. W. Cooke joined Fox News Channel's Gretchen Carlson to discuss President Barack Obama's proposed administrative
fixes to the Affordable Care Act. Pivoting to a piece Cooke recently wrote, the National Review columnist said that the ACA may be looked
on by history as "the biggest mistake that any party has made in at least 100 years." Asked first to react to the president's press
conference, Cooke said that it might be "the lowest I've ever seen him." "He looked broken," he added. "And he flailed. He
filibustered when he was given the Iran question in the middle, for example. He talked at length. He just desperately didn't want to
talk about health care."
State
insurance commissioner rejects Obama's proposal to extend canceled policies. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has rejected
President Obama's proposal to allow insurance companies to extend health insurance policies for people who have received notices that their policies
will be cancelled at the end of the year. Within two hours of President Obama's news conference announcing the proposed administrative fix for
Americans upset by their policy cancellations, Kreidler issued a statement rejecting the proposal.
Obama claims 'enforcement discretion' to
make Obamacare changes. President Obama turned to prosecutorial discretion yet again Thursday as he tried an end run around Congress,
claiming unilateral authority to let companies continue to offer health care plans under Obamacare even if those plans violate his namesake law.
The move drew howls of disapproval from Republicans and ignited a legal debate over whether Mr. Obama has the executive authority he is claiming.
Howard Dean Questions Legality of Obama's 'Keep
Your Plan' Fix. Following President Obama's speech revealing a "keep your plan" fix for the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean questioned the legality of such a proposal. The president's plan to assist those who've seen their healthcare
plans canceled after the implementation of Obamacare includes allowing such people to retain their plan for one more year. Additionally, insurance
companies will be required to tell people renewing those plans of all the alternate options and benefits they'll lose in the process.
Obama retreats on
Obamacare, allows existing low-cost policies to continue. President Barack Obama has decided to save his endangered Obamacare law
by suspending for one year enforcement of the law's critical but unpopular elimination of roughly 15 million low-cost insurance plans held by
Americans who buy insurance on their own. The plan sets up the insurance companies to take the political blame for the Democratic-designed
Obamacare plan during the 2014 election. Officials explained the president's decision as a prerogative of the nation's chief law-enforcement
officer.
The Editor says...
The Attorney General is frequently described in the press as "the nation's chief law-enforcement officer." In this case, Mr. Obama isn't
enforcing the law — he's changing it week by week.
'Fairy Tale' Continues as
Obama Proposes Extralegal Obamacare Fix. The president is not proposing that the law be changed to allow all health insurance plans
grandfathered into Obamacare's eligibility requirements. No, instead the White House is saying that it will use "enforcement discretion" to
allow illegal health insurance plans to be able to still be sold. That is, the Obama administration will not enforce the penalty on individuals
for not having eligible health insurance plans and they'll allow the insurance companies to still sell so-called bad plans — plans they
technically can't sell under Obamacare.
Obamacare fix for canceled health policies could
raise costs: insurers. President Barack Obama's fix for canceled health plans could "destabilize" the insurance market and lead to higher
costs for consumers without further steps, America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, said on Thursday [11/14/2013].
Obama
announces he will allow subpar or junk policies to be sold by bad apple insurance companies. President Obama's press conference on
Obamacare "fixes" today started more than half an hour after its announced time, a good indicator of last minute panic over wording. That's
because appearances, not substance, are the essence of this "plan." For one thing, state insurance commissioners must approve any new plans.
In California, health insurers have been required to sign contracts promising to end old policies, and the federal government lacks the authority to
change lawful contracts. The idea that 50 state insurance commissions could and would quickly approve new plans yet to be created by
insurance companies is ludicrous.
Somewhat related: Obamacare advocate poised to become next
U.S. surgeon general. President Barack Obama will nominate the head of a doctors group that promotes his signature healthcare law to be the
next U.S. surgeon general, the White House said on Thursday [11/14/2013], shortly after Obama proposed a "fix" for the latest problem with the law.
Obamacare promotion news conference, December 3, 2013
Wreckers of the world, unite. There is a
disturbing undercurrent in Obama's campaign-style speech on behalf of Obamacare at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building today. Obama never
credits opponents of the law with the substance of their criticism. He does not attribute decent motives or good faith opposition to them.
Rather, he treats them as "wreckers" (as they were deemed in the Soviet Union) guilty of destructive thought crime.
Who was standing behind Obama
today? White House won't say. Nineteen people stood behind President Obama on stage in the Executive Office Building Tuesday as the
president kicked off a new campaign to promote Obamacare. [...] But [with one exception] Obama never said who those people were, and, unlike other
events, the White House did not release their names or biographies. A spokesman later said the White House would not provide the information.
A pool report called the group "19 individuals whom the White House said benefited from health care reform." Beyond that, their connection
to Obamacare remains unknown.
Obama
embarks on new health-care push after Web site fixes, urges Americans to sign up. President Obama on Tuesday embarked on the difficult
task of persuading Americans to reconsider his landmark health-care law after its botched launch, imploring people to sign up as part of a major push
to publicize the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Republicans immediately lampooned the effort — coming more than three years after
passage of the law and two months after its disastrous rollout — and conservative activists vowed to wage a counterassault publicizing the
law's downsides.
Obama Gets
Standing Ovation from His Staff After Asserting Obamacare Won't Be Repealed. During a presentation at the White House in which President
Barack Obama touted the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, the president declared that his signature health care reform law was not going to be
repealed. This assertion led his administration members, his staff, and audience members to rise from their seats and give the president a
standing ovation.
Obamacare,
where the liberal dream crashes and burns. On Wednesday afternoon, a bunch of twentysomethings were summoned to the White House
to hear an infomercial from Barack Obama himself. He was pitching health insurance. [...] Mr. Obama desperately needs healthy young
people to sign on to Obamacare in order to subsidize the old and sick. But the salesman-in-chief can't close the deal.
The End of Poverty in America. President Obama,
on Wednesday, made a big speech about "economic inequality" and vowed to spend his last three years in office working to increase the
federal minimum wage, as well as a lot of other things. [...] The one thing I've never had anyone do is explain to me why if a $15 an hour
minimum wage is a good idea, a $100 an hour minimum wage is a bad idea. I suspect it's because they realize that if they do, the jig is up:
if they raise the minimum wage that high, companies won't be able to pay the wage, and either there will be massive unemployment or massive inflation,
as companies try to make up the difference.
The War of the Wages. Mr. Obama returned
to his favorite theme of rising income inequality on Wednesday [11/4/2013], which he called "the defining challenge of our time." He ought to know since few
Presidents have done more to increase inequality than he has. Median household income has fallen since the economic recovery began, while the
rich who own capital assets have done very well thanks to the Federal Reserve's focus on reflating stock and home prices. Mr. Obama is the Chief
Economist of Nottingham posing as Robin Hood.
America
to be hit by fast food strike as Barack Obama warns of gap between rich and poor. America is facing a wave of strikes by its fast-food
workers on Thursday [12/5/2013] a day after Barack Obama warned that inequality in the USA had soared to the point that it now posed "a fundamental
threat to the American dream". Low-paid workers in McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other fast-food outlets in 100 cities across
America were due to start rolling strikes to protest at the low level of America's $7.25 (£4.45) federal minimum wage. The strikes are
the latest part of a mushrooming publicity campaign for higher wages among those working so-called "McJobs", with fast-food restaurants seen as a
high-profile pressure points to bring the question of US income inequality to the fore.
Barack Still Wants More Buggy Whips. The
prez yammers about "income inequality," using it as a ruse to beef up big government and trample freedom. His O-ness slyly declared that disparities
in income can be laid at the feet of technological innovations and market capitalism.
Dem Calls Obama's
Inequality Speech One of the Best in Presidential History. A Pennsylvania Democrat called President Obama's economic speech yesterday
[12/4/2013] hosted by the Center for American Progress one of the best speeches ever given by an American leader. Obama called for increasing
the minimum wage and decried a wage gap in America, saying reversing the trend is "the defining challenge of our time." "The combined trends of
increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life and what we stand for around the globe,"
he said.
Can a Minimum-Wage
Hike Really Motivate Voters? President Obama's message for the coming year is going to be a renewed focus on "income inequality."
[...] One of the president's agenda items on this is raising the minimum wage. President Obama backs a proposal from Democratic members of
Congress to raise it to $10.10 per hour. On that front, fast-food workers around the country are walking out on the job and holding
protests today [12/5/2013], with one Detroit fast-food employee arguing his $7.40 per hour constituted "slave wages."
Our ideological president. At a
fundraiser in Seattle on the day before Thanksgiving, President Obama told a group of Democratic donors, apparently without a hint of irony, "I'm
not a particularly ideological person." One wouldn't know it from the ponderous 48-minute oration on income inequality that he delivered in
Washington on Wednesday.
Latter-Day Marxist. A week ago, the White House
Marxist declared that income inequality was the "defining challenge" we face. If Obama really means what he says (which he almost never does)
he could begin by giving up the millions he has already pocketed and the fancy houses and the fancy vacations he funds with taxes coming from
Americans who are scraping to make ends meet. Or he could close down Obamacare, the largest redistribution of income from the have nots
to the haves in our lifetimes.
'Income Inequality' —
The Biggest Lie of All. In the last few days Barack Obama has attempted to change the subject of public discourse from
healthcare to income inequality, which he has dubbed "the defining challenge of our time." Now he tells us! Since POTUS
hasn't paid much attention to this problem for the first five plus years of his administration, even with African-American unemployment
through the roof and the middle class disappearing from American economic life, [...] this should come as some surprise.
Obama's Misguided Obsession With Inequality.
In his widely noted speech, President Obama said that "a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility" is "the defining challenge of our
time." This belief makes Mr. Obama unique: Unlike the other presidents since World War II, he places inequality above economic growth as the
organizing principle of U.S. economic policy.
Obama Must Be Forced to Resign. Ignoring the central
role of a free market prolongs bad economic conditions and high taxation to maintain an ever-expanding central government led to big problems for
European nations and promises the same — or worse — for the U.S. When you add in the increased debt imposed in Obama's first term you are
looking at the road to ruin. Blaming "millionaires and billionaires" or "income inequality" is the very essence of communism. It is a
rejection of our capitalistic economic system.
Obama Boosts
Income Inequality With Federal Pay Raise. Earlier this month, in one of his many pivots, President Obama made a speech
lamenting income inequality in America. He called it the "defining challenge of our time." [...] Nearly three weeks later, Obama
contributed to that inequality by signing an executive order hiking civilian and military pay by 1% in 2014. Again, it's not a
big raise. And we don't begrudge better pay for those who serve us in the armed forces. But we have to question why federal
civilian workers need bigger paychecks. It looks like things are already going well for them.
Barack
Obama's Presidency Is A Complete Failure By His Own, Self-Imposed Standards. Only the incomes of the top 20% have been rising
under Obama, as the Fed's loose monetary policies have juiced the stock market and corporate profits. This has to be considered a disgrace,
that Obama carries on publicly about rising inequality and how that is so important, yet inequality has been precisely accelerating under
his own, consistently anti-growth, economic policies, which are precisely crippling the poor and the middle class.
The Five Biggest Myths
About Income Inequality. "Inequality is the defining challenge of our time," according to President Obama. [...] But have you
noticed that hardly anyone else is talking about it? When is the last time you heard a shoeshine person or a taxi cab driver complain about
inequality? For most people, having a lot of rich people around is good for business. But if average folks are not complaining should
they be?
Liberals Double Down on Inequality. It was on
December 4, 2013 that President Obama opened the Year of Inequality with his speech on economic mobility. A month later liberal hounds are
baying for extended unemployment benefits and higher minimum wage, and conservatives are drawing up lists of what liberals know that ain't so.
Define Income Inequality. Democrats are revving up
for a huge national "conversation" on income inequality. This is in no small part because the Obama administration and congressional
Democrats would rather talk about anything other than Obamacare. [...] As a broad generalization, liberals see income as a public good that
is distributed, like crayons in a kindergarten class.
Obama's drives to
stoke class warfare to win midterm elections. The mantra from the administration, like the rantings of the "Occupy"
crowd and the new finger-pointing quasi-Marxist mayor of New York City, is that in today's United States, it is impossible to get
ahead unless one is born rich, works on Wall Street or finds some other way to profit from the misery of others. Their
rhetoric and proposed policies play on envy and remind one of the class warfare that has dominate European politics for so long.
To Each, According to His Delusions. The latest
faux issue to insinuate itself into our political polemics travels under the unedifying name of "income inequality." As political
abstractions go, this one is more incoherent than most. (Shabbier too in its naked appeal to envy and resentment.) Almost no one
who uses the term says what he means by it. But it has the ring of yet another incitement to leftist larceny. Since President
Obama heaved this dead cat into the room a few weeks ago, I've been waiting for anyone speaking for the Republican Party to say that this
hustle is nothing more than Marxist boilerplate. Since no one in the Grand Old Party has either the courage or the awareness to say
this, I guess it's up to me.
Obama is 100% right about inequality.
America was not built around fighting inequality. Never. America was not built around equality, fairness, or social justice.
Those have never been the cornerstones of our economy. Those have never been the central tenants of our country, or our Constitution.
[...] Yet somehow we managed, even with inequality not even on our radar screen, to build the greatest nation in world history — and
the greatest economy in world history. Coincidence? We built an economy more powerful than most of the world combined. An
economy so great that people the world over tried to escape their countries to come to ours. An economy so great the world gave it
a name: "the American Dream."
Big government
exacerbates inequality, economist argues. When liberals start talking about inequality, it's nearly always in pursuit
of more government. They take for granted that a free market makes inequality worse and Big Government programs are needed to
mitigate it. This argument appears flawed in many ways. For one thing, inequality in and of itself — as separated
from the problems of poverty and immobility — might be harmful only when that inequality is created by cronyism.
Also, the Left's economic policies can exacerbate inequality as often as they can shrink it.
Fact-Free Liberals. President Obama seems completely
unaware of how many of the policies he is trying to impose have been tried before, in many times and places around the world, and have failed
time and again. Economic equality? That was tried in the 19th century, in communities set up by Robert Owen, the man who
coined the term "socialism." Those communities all collapsed.
Obama Shifts from 'Income Inequality'
to 'Ladders of Opportunity'. President Obama has already changed his vernacular concerning his second term focus of "income inequality."
He is now calling it "ladders of opportunity." In an apparent effort to blunt criticism over his intent to engage in full-blown class warfare
during his second term, Obama is softening the harsher term with a new label.
NSA domestic surveillance "reform" speech, January 17, 2014
Citing
Paul Revere, Edward Snowden, Obama vows spy reforms; Should we trust him? Of course, by now it's no national secret that
this president doesn't know much about a lot of what he's supposed to know. He was AWOL when four helpless Americans were murdered
in Benghazi, but still made his Vegas fundraisers on time. He apparently forgot his immediate briefing on the actual terrorist cause
of that violence, which he blamed on a video for two more weeks. Obama and his minions knew that Mitt Romney causes cancer.
But by his own admission, Obama was clueless about the IRS helping his reelection by intimidating and curbing his political opponents.
Obama's NSA
Speech: More mush from the proto-tyrant. Yesterday [1/17/2014], President Obama delivered a speech to an audience
at the Justice Department on NSA telephone spying that, in typical fashion, said very little of substance but sounded nice until
you paid attention. Almost every change announced included a backdoor that vitiated any substantial change.
Obama's
restrictions on NSA surveillance rely on narrow definition of 'spying'. Alongside the invocation of privacy and restraint,
Obama gave his plainest endorsement yet of bulk collection, a term he used more than once and authorized explicitly in Presidential Policy
Directive 28. In a footnote, the directive defined the term to mean high-volume collection without the use of discriminants.
Obama's Speech: A
Little Relief, More Dereliction of Duty. President Obama's central proposal gains little in the way of privacy.
Congressional oversight, judicial review, and a special presidential commission revealed no actual abuses of the NSA program for
political purposes, commercial gain, or even personal advantage.
The Nonsolution. As the IRS investigations of political
enemies show, it is what you are allowed to do with what you know that constitutes the major peril. When the intelligence and law enforcement
functions are mixed they constrain each other, as may have happened in the case of the Boston Bombers. The incentive of the FBI is to secure a
conviction. The incentive of intelligence is to anticipate a threat. Mix these two functions together and you sometimes get neither or if
you get something, you get something very dangerous.
Dissecting Obama's NSA Speech. President Obama's
central proposal gains little in the way of privacy. Congressional oversight, judicial review, and a special presidential commission
revealed no actual abuses of the NSA program for political purposes, commercial gain, or even personal advantage. There were an
isolated number of mistakes made, as with any large technological system--and far fewer errors and mistakes, I might add, than have
occurred with the Obamacare insurance system or the IRS reviews of Tea Party groups.
Obama's Misguided NSA Reforms. According to some
reports, the White House plans to make three changes: 1. Give Privacy Act rights to foreigners[,] 2. Prohibit the government
from collecting telephone metadata, instead requiring it to ask the telephone companies to conduct searches for it[,] 3. Create an office
to challenge search warrants sought from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts. In brief, these ideas seem poor to me because
they are solutions in search of a problem. There has been no discovery of any deliberate abuses by the NSA of any American's privacy
or constitutional rights as part of these programs. The first reform strikes me as ludicrous. Why should foreigners have any
privacy rights against the United States government?
Obama to Announce Sham NSA Reform Today.
Reeling from Edward Snowden's disclosures that the Obama-era NSA has been sweeping up Americans' data despite Candidate Obama's promise to
wage a nicer war on terrorism, the president is set to announce some "reforms" of how the spy agency handles the data it is gathering.
Once we get past the fluff, the reforms appear to be to 1) have the NSA house the data somewhere other than NSA's own servers;
2) require a judicial finding before the government queries the database; and 3) let Eric Holder figure out the rest.
NSA Unleashed, Obama Tells
Public, 'Trust Me'. Previews of the president's address on counterterrorism Friday suggest he will not embrace the most
far-reaching proposals of his own advisers and will punt some of the toughest issues to a dysfunctional Congress. The National
Security Agency gets a pass.
Obama's NSA speech leaves more questions than answers. Basically there's a lot of stuff
he now says the NSA shouldn't do. Unless they think they ought to. The president has not put a lid on this debate — indeed he rather has given the
pot a vigorous stir. What he's announced shouldn't upset the intelligence community — and is unlikely to greatly reassure civil liberties groups —
but both sides will be left with more questions than answers.
Obama's Belated Defense of the NSA. It is
very hard to take President Obama seriously. At Friday's big surveillance speech, after five years of Big Government — orchestrated Constitution shredding,
he looked the American people in the eye and explained that, as monitoring technology has evolved over the centuries, our nation has always "benefitted from both
our Constitution and traditions of limited government." While your head was still spinning, another whopper: After five years of whimsically "waiving,"
ignoring, and unilaterally rewriting congressional statutes, he bleated that "our system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on
the good intentions of those in power; it depends upon the law to constrain those in power."
Rand Paul Mocks Obama's NSA Speech: 'If
You Like Your Privacy, You Can Keep it'. Sen. Rand Paul responded today [1/17/2014] to Obama's NSA speech in which Obama announced plans to reform the
National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program, which has been unconstitutionally spying on Americans, in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Senator Paul, in a statement reiterated that he will continue to fight for his Fourth Amendment Restoration Act as well as his lawsuit against the Obama NSA.
What would Patrick Henry do with the NSA?
In his speech of Friday last, President Obama laid out some nifty new review processes to see to it that the NSA behaves — our
"reviewers" will now have "reviewers." And therein lies the problem: government cannot be the judge of the extent of its own powers,
that is what has led to this moment.
Obama goal for quick revamp of NSA program may be unworkable, some U.S. officials fear.
U.S. officials directed by President Obama to find a way to end the government's role in gathering Americans' phone records are deeply concerned
that there may be no feasible way to accomplish the task soon, according to individuals familiar with the discussions.
Obama's NSA blind spot.
President Obama's recent speech on government surveillance is dominating the conversation, but he won't be making the key decisions on the future of
the National Security Agency's collection of domestic phone data. The statutory provision authorizing these massive sweeps expires June 1,
2015. If Congress simply does nothing, the NSA's domestic spying program will soon come to a screeching halt. The question is whether
Americans will seize this opportunity to gain critical perspective on the crisis responses of the George W. Bush years. Voters elected
and reelected Obama precisely because he promised to engage in this decisive reappraisal. But his speech failed to redeem this promise.
State of the Union speech, January 25, 2014
Anticipation:
Obama Income Inequality Plans: Been
There, Tried That. In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Obama is expected to make income inequality the centerpiece of
his address. [...] But what Obama is unlikely to say in his lengthy address is that income inequality — as measured by the Census Bureau's
Gini index — has increased faster on his watch than it did under any of the three previous presidents.
Obama's Shrinking Speech Ratings.
Indeed, the television ratings for the [State of the Union] speech have declined over the last three presidents, even as the number of outlets televising
the event is increasing, reflecting the proliferation of both competing television outlets and new digital media fighting for viewers' attention.
Moreover, around-the-clock news channels, hypercompetitive Web outlets and pitched battles on Twitter mean the president no longer has a near-monopoly on
political messaging during and after the speech.
State
of the Union Guests Will Include Boston Marathon Bombing Survivors, First Openly Gay NBA Player. The White House has partially unveiled
the list of guests who will join first lady Michelle Obama in her box at the president's State of the Union address Tuesday night. Six names
have been revealed thus far, including two survivors of the April terror attack on the Boston marathon and the first male athlete in a major American
sport to come out as openly gay.
Obama's
State Of The Union Address: If You Like Your Income Inequality, You Can Keep It. From a promised minimum wage increase, to destabilization
of the health care system, to an energy policy encapsulated by "Under my plan ... electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket," no part of
the Obama vision is about making America freer and richer. The president will double down on big government during the State of the
Union Address. He will lament "income inequality" and a "wealth gap" aggravated by government itself, and advocate greater dependence
on the state as a remedy.
In Speech to Congress, Obama To Talk of
Ignoring Them. President Obama will be addressing Congress Tuesday in his State of the Union speech, but much of his speech will include
plans to bypass them, White House officials said Sunday [1/26/2014].
The King is Naked. The reason for the State of Obama's America isn't
Obama. The reason for the State of Obama's America is... liberalism. Or, if you prefer, socialism. Progressivism. From the
$20 trillion spent on LBJ's War on Poverty to the cause of what the Obama White House loves to refer to as "the Great Recession" of 2008 on
through to the dreadfully poor state of today's American economy, as Mr. Obama takes to the podium tonight he does so as Exhibit A that
the central idea of increasing the role of government in American life has proved itself to be an abject failure.
Fact Checking the
2014 State of the Union address. [Quoting President Obama:] "The more than eight million new jobs our businesses have created over
the past four years." The president is cherry-picking a number that puts the improvement in the economy in the best possible light. The
low point in jobs was reached in February 2010, and there has indeed been a gain of about 8 million jobs since then, according to Bureau of
Labor Statistics data.
Fact check: Obama's State of the
Union. We found a few overstatements and cherry-picked numbers among the applause lines and proposals in President Obama's State
of the Union address. [#1] He boasted of businesses creating "more than 8 million new jobs" in the last four years. But
that leaves out a loss of government jobs, not to mention the loss of jobs earlier in Obama's presidency. [#2] Obama credited the
Affordable Care Act with signing up more than 9 million Americans for private insurance or Medicaid. But Medicaid estimates
include renewals, along with new enrollees. [#3] Obama boasted that the U.S. "reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other
nation on Earth." Yes, but the U.S. produces a lot of emissions. Looking at percentage change, dozens of countries did better.
[#4] Federal deficits have been "cut by half," as he said, but they're still at historically high levels.
A Small, Incoherent State of the Union
Address. The speech was long, more than an hour. At times it was defiant, at others it felt almost conciliatory. But
mostly the speech was forgettable, disposable — a long list of modest policy proposals that will not be remembered for much longer
than their echo in the House chamber.
Obama's Mismatched, Misfit State of the Union
Is In the Books. How does one critique a speech like tonight's? It's like trying to find rational structure in cotton candy.
Poke it too much and it'll just get all over you and make a big mess. Obama is like an actor stepping into a role that is larger than
himself — a Brendan Fraser trying to take on a John Wayne role. He looks the part, he sounds the part, but the gravitas just
isn't there.
I'm Starting To Forget It Already.
I'll leave it to others to fact-check the thing. There were more than a few statements that struck me as the sort of thing that wouldn't bear up
well under close scrutiny — particularly on Iran's nuclear program, women's pay, and domestic energy — but I'm too tired to do the
scrutinizing now. My general impression was this was a remarkably boring speech, intellectually and rhetorically. Not every idea was
terrible. But no idea was particularly exciting, or all that significant.
A Clintonian Speech. It seemed like a
laundry list of mostly dinky initiatives, and as such a return to Clinton's style of State of the Union addresses.
Is Obama Backing Away from
Obamacare? The president devoted less than 7 percent of his State of the Union address — just 462 words in
a speech that was 6,778 words long — to an anecdotal and weak defense of his signature legislative achievement. Surely
Democrats in the Senate who are facing the voters for the first time this November after voting for Obamacare were expecting much more.
Instead, they got an anecdote, pointing to Amanda Shelley of Arizona who needed a safety net and was grateful for Obamacare. But the
president didn't mount a strong, energetic defense of the law or make any explanation for its obvious and embarrassing failures.
Immigration
Less Than Two Percent of Obama's State of the Union Speech. President Barack Obama only mentioned immigration reform efforts as a mere
throwaway line in his State of the Union speech Tuesday evening. The only time he mentioned the matter, according to prepared remarks distributed
to press before delivery, was as something he argued would help the economy after a long line of other policy prescriptions he pushed.
Obama throws in towel on global-warming
legislation. President Obama came to office promising significant action to fight climate change, and Tuesday night's State of the Union
indicates this administration fully recognizes any action on that issue over the next three years will come not through legislation but through regulations
and executive actions. Rather than call for a "comprehensive energy and climate bill" as he did in 2010, Mr. Obama on Tuesday focused on much
smaller goals and touted the controversial efforts of his Environmental Protection Agency to cut down on carbon emissions from power plants.
Obama
prepared to avoid Congress, go it alone on carrying out modest initiatives. For the first time since taking office, Obama spoke to
Congress on Tuesday evening from a clear position of confrontation, threatening to veto new Iran sanctions, warning against further moves against
his health-care law and demanding action on a series of previously proposed economic measures.
How many
workers will be affected by Obama's minimum wage executive order? Ahead of tonight's State of the Union Address, the White House
has announced that President Obama will sign an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers employed through federal contracts. The
policy is a part of a "year of action" being touted by the Obama administration, in which the president will attempt to impose changes through
executive order that he cannot pass through Congress. But the White House document explaining the planned action does not indicate how many
Americans will actually be affected by the executive order.
The State of the
Union: The Self-Congratulatory Blowout of the Governing Class. The State of the Union Address feels like a national ritual that is
stuck on autopilot, lumbering along year by indistinguishable year, immune to reform or adaptation or updating, usually instantly forgotten and
increasingly irrelevant... and yet unstoppable. Even the speech text is pretty much the same every year, regardless of the actual condition
of the country.
SOTU Wrapup. The
speech contained a multitude of rehashed policy points about tax reform, education partnerships, manufacturing revival, and an "all-of-the-above"
energy strategy that focuses on alternative fuels.
Obama promises a dramatic 'year of
action' — with or without help of Congress. Provoking Republican lawmakers with an in-your-face vow to bypass Congress if
necessary, President Obama said Tuesday night that he would use his executive authority on a dozen issues including income inequality and job training
to spur "a year of action" for his stalled agenda. "America does not stand still — and neither will I," Mr. Obama said in the annual
State of the Union address. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families,
that's what I'm going to do."
Obama's foolish proposals
won't fix distressed economy. Promising to address inequality and strengthen the middle class, President Obama's State of the Union
address combined sound and foolish proposals, laced with good, old-fashioned demagoguery. Despite nearly five years of economic recovery, the
fortunes of working Americans have decidedly worsened. The president's policies should carry considerable culpability and bear correction.
Instead, he pronounced that upward mobility has stalled — when non-partisan economic studies show that's not true — and
insisted the wealthy should pay to balance the accounts.
A President Becalmed Grasps for
Power He May Not Have. A year ago, President Obama was fresh from his reelection victory and filled his State of the Union message with
bold plans for everything from immigration to gun control. Since then his job-approval rating has fallen from 52 percent down to just
over 43 percent in the Real Clear Politics average of all polls. Obamacare, his signature legislative accomplishment, is fodder
for every late-night comedian and even has Democrats worrying in public that it might be fiscally unsustainable. It's now clear that President
Obama is politically weakened and that his dreams of a legislative home run are now merely a field of dreams.
My 14 Observations of Obama's 2014 SOTU. [#9] Well,
I see Obama managed to find the one person in America who managed to sign up for Obamacare. While I am glad that Amanda Shelley got the
medical care she needed, the fact is that America has fewer people with health insurance than we did on October 1, 2013. As long as the
White House is fudging the Obamacare enrollment numbers, President Obama is in no position to tell Republicans, "Let's see if the numbers add up.
Former Bush
Speechwriter: Obama Plagiarized Bush's 2007 SOTU speech. Following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday,
former George W. Bush speechwriter Mark Thiessen told Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" host Megyn Kelly that Obama's speech plagiarized
lines from Bush's 2007 speech, for which he said he was the lead speechwriter.
The State of Liberalism. Obama's State of the Union
reads like a shopping list while those of earlier presidents of both parties, such as Kennedy and Johnson, or Reagan or Bush, did not. Why?
Because Obama's shopping list has no true guiding principles, no broader political understanding of our point in American history, no plan for guiding
the nation from 2008 to 2016 in the most prosperous and secure way possible. Obama retains a liberal's faith in government intervention in the
markets and civil society, but to no purpose. Without that broader understanding of politics, Obama's agenda reduces to distributing more benefits
to more groups.
The State of Our Union Is
Depressing. The speech last night was depressing for its predictability, its lack of self-awareness, and its lack of
solutions to help America get back on track. It was, however, stunning to listen to the president still trying to sell his
misguided health-care law to the public as if nothing had happened.
Tension in Democratic Party after Obama speech. Tensions
within the Democratic Party were on display in the living rooms of Massachusetts, where liberal activists watched President Barack Obama's State of
the Union address with skepticism.
Obama flexes executive
muscle in State of the Union. President Obama flexed executive muscle in his State of the Union address Tuesday, rolling out a series
of unilateral actions in an attempt to reassert his standing in Washington and with the American public. Obama's prime-time speech to millions
of people came against the backdrop of the roughest stretch of his presidency. And eager to keep Americans from tuning him out, the president
framed his executive orders as part of a "year of action" to boost job creation and combat income inequality.
The TOTUS Who Can't Look America in the
Eye. Not once — not even once — did the man who claims to be the legitimate leader of our nation ever look me,
and all the other watching citizens of this nation, in the eye during his State of the Nation speech. He was a dash-top bobble-head, swinging
back and forth from prompter to prompter. Good grief! The man can't uncouple himself from his comfort-zone technology for even a moment
to look Americans in the eye just once, and give us some sense of our comfort that he is sincere.
Pabulum from the POTUS. This man, our President,
is the emptiest suit of empty suits. There is no there there. He reads the teleprompter but one cannot help thinking that he was reading
the speech for the first time and that he most certainly did not write it. He believes himself to be above the ignoble work of actually writing
the speeches he delivers, just as he considers himself above actually governing. He dictates. He lectures. He orders. He
vacations. He golfs. He spends taxpayer dollars profligately. He pontificates on issues about which he knows virtually nothing
beyond what his callow young "advisers," like the odious Dan Pfeiffer, tell him. He is a cipher.
Obama bemoans
worsening income inequality as if he hasn't been president. President Obama gave another speech Tuesday night. It was the 93rd
time a president has personally delivered a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. And it sounded like it.
Obama has looked and sounded as if he's mailing it in these past few weeks. Not Tuesday night. He seemed genuinely involved and
invested in his 7,000 words. Unfortunately for him and anyone who chose to listen to the whole 65 minutes, there wasn't anything
new or even much to invest any thought in.
Presidential Theater. What's with this
perpetual charge from the left that women make only 77 cents for every dollar men make? If this were actually true when it came to "equal pay for
equal work" (Obama's allusion only a few words or sentences later), then clearly a lot of employers out there are brazenly breaking a lot of laws.
Where are all those deputized federal regulators when we really need them?
Biden offered the best SOTU commentary
of all. How boringly familiar was the State of the Union address? Boring enough that Joe Biden, seated right behind Obama and on
camera for the entire snooze fest, started mugging and interacting with members of Congress in the audience. It was quite a good commentary on
the performance of the Commander in Chief who could not rise above the level of pabulum.
More Pinocchios for the President on
Equal Pay. Perhaps it's progress that the president waited until the second half of the speech to trot out the must-have line about
equal pay and the wage gap. Perhaps his speech writers just needed to fill time so cut and paste a line from dozens of previous speeches: [...] Yet
they are behind the curve in using a statistic that is increasingly acknowledged as misleading.
State of the Union
2014: Obama embraces Obamacare. Obamacare didn't show up in the State of the Union address until over halfway through, and it encompassed
all of nine paragraphs in an hour-plus stemwinder. But this was very much a hard sell by the president for Americans to sign up for his
signature health care law, the biggest sales pitch Obama has made in a State of the Union address since the law passed.
Obama vows to pursue gun control 'with or
without Congress'. President Obama vowed on Tuesday night to pursue gun control "with or without Congress." In his State of the Union
address, Obama referenced recent mass shootings and called for new gun laws. In the aftermath of mass shootings over the last several years, Obama
and Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed for new gun control measures. "Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from
us each day," Obama said.
The State of the Union: Make it
stop. "The Constitution's mild requirement has become a tiresome exercise in political exhibitionism," the columnist George Will
wrote this week, calling the speech "the most execrable ceremony in the nation's civic liturgy, regardless of which party's president is abusing
it" as a "made-for-television political pep rally."
Obama Abandons
Unrealistic Progressives, Courts the Right with New Media Strategy. The media was not impressed by Obama's agenda last night, and
the White House seems to have concluded that they may never be again. The aggressive, sweeping progressive agenda they would like Obama to
communicate is simply beyond his constitutionally-constrained ability to deliver.
Mike Lee's Tea Party State of the Union
Response: Obamacare 'an Inequality Godzilla'. In his response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address that focused heavily
on "inequality," Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) slammed Obamacare as "an inequality Godzilla," symbolizing an administration that has favored Washington, D.C.
while purporting to fight for America's middle class.
President Wuss and the State of the
Union. Whether they support the president's policies or not, the American people expect their national leader to be resolute.
The person that gave the address Tuesday night was a wuss.
Obama's Love of Elites. President
Obama drew applause from the House chamber for striking what seemed to be a populist blow against elitism in his State of the Union.
"I believe that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of
our dreams," Obama said early in his remarks. Looking at his administration, however, you would never know he believes that.
State of the Union moot as
Obama becomes irrelevant. The fanfare for the president's annual speech to Congress has gotten absurd, but especially so in 2014,
when nothing this president does matters. Not a single thing. He is irrelevant, inconsequential, insignificant. Hollow, empty,
useless and worthless. Neither here nor there nor anywhere, fully deprived of practical significance, the lamest of lame ducks.
Economists see few dollars and
little sense on Obama agenda. Indeed, there was little new on the economic front in Mr. Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday
evening. One exception was the president's announcement that he would hike the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour for all federal
contractors and urged Congress to enact legislation doing the same for all American workers.
There's Something About MyRA. By now, you
may have heard about MyRA. The acronym, which President Barack Obama stumbled over in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, stands for
My Retirement Account. Obama introduced the new plan like this: "MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in."
On Wednesday, the administration said it will launch a pilot program of the "new, simple, safe and affordable 'starter' retirement savings account"
by the end of the year.
myConstitution. President Obama has just
announced the creation of a new program, which he calls myRA, as part of an overarching agenda he's implementing, which could well be called
myConstitution. [...] Creating a new type of retirement account certainly doesn't sound like a president carrying out his constitutional duty
to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. And even if this isn't technically the creation of a new kind of IRA but merely a
rebranding of existing Roth IRAs (it's a bit hard to tell), the administration's choice of language strongly suggests that Obama is engaging
in an alternative form of lawmaking — and is proud of it.
Beck Slames
Obama "MyRA" Plan: Biggest Heist in History. Glenn Beck slammed President Obama's "myRA" proposal on his radio program Thursday as
a "bigger lie than 'if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.'" The initiative was unveiled by the president during his State of
the Union address on Tuesday as a way to help more people save for retirement.
State of the
Union draws 33.3 million viewers, lowest since 2000. President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address drew an average of
33.3 million viewers Tuesday night, according to Nielsen. That is the lowest showing since 2000, when President Clinton's speech
averaged 31.5 million viewers.
Jackson Lee on
SOTU: 'Executive Orders are Legal'. In reference to President Barack Obama's pledge, during his State of the Union speech, to advance
his agenda on climate change and the minimum wage by executive order, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said "executive orders are legal" and that
he is "acting on behalf of the American people."
Speech To Congress Rife With Excuses,
Finger-Pointing. President Obama made a confession to the American people Tuesday. His call for "a year of action" admits that
he'd prefer we forget his five years of failed actions and inaction. Confession may be good for the soul, but it can't be good for the
country when a president admits failure by talking as if somebody else has been in charge for the past five years.
Watching the State of the Union speech with the sound muted: The Silent SOTU. As I followed along via the closed
captions, it was immediately apparent that Obama had a) nothing to say and b) was saying it very badly. Mercifully spared his
characteristic drone, the predictable cadences and the sine-wave rise and fall of his voice, all a viewer was left with were the president's
policy prescriptions, often hilariously rendered into fractured English in the caption crawl, and his robotic body language; he appeared more
akin to a hologram than a human being. [...] Finally, there is this: At least half the country simply does not believe the man has the
best interests of the union at heart.
'Just
Quit': Group of Black Political Activists in Chicago Savage Obama's State of the Union. After watching President Barack Obama's
State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, a group of African-Americans were asked for their thoughts on the speech. Their reactions
were not favorable toward the president. Most said they believed that their conditions had not greatly improved over the course of his
presidency with one of the interviewees even saying that Obama should resign.
Meanwhile,
Back in America .... The State of the Union was a spectacle of delusion and self-congratulation in which a Congress nobody
likes rose to cheer a president nobody really likes. It marked the continued degeneration of a great and useful tradition.
Viewership was down, to the lowest level since 2000.
The Decline and Fall of 'Hope
and Change'. Whatever he once was or wasn't, Obama is now a creature of the Washington, D.C., establishment. He is captive to its
loyalties and prejudices, and committed to safeguarding its interests. That doesn't mean he hasn't or won't accomplish anything worth while,
but there are whole categories of problems that he won't try to fix. Hope and change are dead.
President
ignores ObamaCare horror stories as human, financial costs pile up. As expected, President Obama used his State of the Union speech
Tuesday to extol the virtues of ObamaCare, and also as expected, retold the story of one person positively affected by the program. But for
each success there are countless failures.
Obama's State of the Union whoppers. The
term "cherry-picking" is often applied to the practice of presidents who use inaccurate, narrowly drawn, fuzzy statistics and claims to cover up
their economic failures. President Obama did a lot of it in his fact-challenged, State of the Union address Tuesday night, in which he
made exaggerated claims that do not stand up to serious scrutiny.
Obama and Executive Orders. Barack
Obama announced in his 2014 State of the Union Address that he intends to bypass Congress "whenever and wherever" to achieve his extremev
left-wing goals. Evidently, Obama intends to govern by executive orders (EO's). EO's are usually defined as directives that
either implement or interpret a federal law, a constitutional provision, or a treaty. Obama has threatened to issue executive orders
to make policy, a different use of them.
The State of the Static
Union (and Universalist Claptrap). This week to an ever-diminishing audience President Obama outlined a pedestrian plan for the
remainder of this year, amidst the usual hornswoggle of invited guests in the gallery and dubious daytime TV style anecdotal stories of their
lives. More popular than ever is the wish that we could return to State of the Union messages being delivered on paper to Congress.
Obama's Weaponization of Government.
A tired, graying Barack Obama stood before Congress this week as a political figure, party leader, and progressive activist to make sure the Members
understood one thing — he doesn't need them. In fact, he hasn't needed them in quite some time. After all, in his mind, it's
his government.
No, Women Don't Make Less Money Than
Men. It's the bogus statistic that won't die — and president deployed it during the State of the Union — but
women do not make 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. President Obama repeated the spurious gender wage gap statistic in his State
of the Union address.
Shhh. The President Is Sleeping.
The president on display at Tuesday's State of the Union is one who has shrunk from the pretension of becoming a president on the order of Ronald
Reagan or Franklin Roosevelt into the purveyor of a list of puny policies that tinker at the margins.
Obama's Failure in State of the Union Marks
Decline of American Leadership. Readers are entitled to candor: Though I sugared it a bit for the television viewers, I thought
the speech was a disaster and an embarrassment. The president showered down on us a sequence of whoppers so astounding I thought at times
that, in Margaret Thatcher's phrase, "my ears were deceiving me." The unmitigated shambles of his health-care reform, which has failed to
deprive scores of millions of Americans of any insurance coverage only because the schedule of its application has been altered, he represented
as a great leap forward for the average person.
American Idle. [Scroll
down] President Obama is committed to reducing male wages relative to female ones. In his State of the Union address, he
declared: "Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man
earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it's an embarrassment." Actually, it's an embarrassment that the president perpetuates
this myth — which Slate, in the headline of a 2013 story by feminist author Hanna Rosin bluntly called a "lie."
Obama
can't wish away terrorism. President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address is remembered today mainly for
this bit of rhetorical irony: "America must move off a permanent war footing." It was the triumph of
speechwriting over experience. Obama's pledge came about three weeks after the fall of Fallujah to the Islamic
State. By June, Mosul would be overrun. Global jihadism now has a cause — Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's
sham caliphate — around which to rally. It controls unprecedented territory and resources. It has
a stream of thousands of Western recruits cycling in and out of the Middle East. And it encompasses a dangerous
competition between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, in which acts of terrorism are a source of street credibility.
The Obamacare End Zone Celebration Speech, April 1, 2014
The
Debate Is Not Over, Mr. President. President Obama confuses high enrollment numbers
with success on Obamacare, ignoring the obvious fact that millions of Americans are signed up but
not sold. "The point is, the repeal debate is and should be over. The Affordable Care Act is
working," the president said while announcing the enrollment of more than 8 million Americans.
That is not the point. The debate is not over.
Obama shuts down debate.
When President Obama trumpeted the 8 million figure representing people who had signed up for
ObamaCare, he didn't just declare it a victory. He declared the debate over — and told
Republicans "it's well time to move on." Now, we understand the eagerness of politicians to
declare debates over. It's certainly easier than defending ObamaCare's broken promises, or even
providing the breakdowns behind that 8 million top-line number that would let us measure if the
program is getting the sign-ups it needs.
Barack Obama, the adolescent president.
[President Obama] talks like an arrested-development adolescent. Anyone who has tried to engage a
member of that age cohort in an argument probably recognizes the four basic teenage tropes, which also
are the only arrows in Obama's overrated rhetorical quiver. He employed them all last week when
he went to the White House briefing room to exclaim, as he is wont to do, about the excellence of the
Affordable Care Act. First came the invocation of a straw man.
Georgia
Numbers Show Obama's '8 Million Enrollee' Claim Is A Fraud. Not that anything Barack Obama
represents as a factual claim should ever be believed, mind you, but last week's chest-thumping surrounding
the purported "eight million" number of Obamacare enrollees didn't last very long before it started to fall
apart. That "eight million" doesn't take into account whether the newly-insured have actually paid for
anything. So what percentage of the enrollees in Obamacare actually have health insurance in force?
How many have signed up but not paid? In Georgia, it looks like the number is about half.
New
poll confirms: Obamacare debate definitely not "over". [Scroll down] The president,
coincidentally, offered the exact same straw man analysis at his Thursday press conference. Speaking of
which, Obama's central theme in the briefing room was that the national debate regarding Obamacare is now
"over." Because he says so. A new poll from Fox News indicates that voters disagree.
'Obamacare is Working!'
Last Thursday, the president announced the Obamacare debate over for the second time this month. The
pretext for his repetition of this talking point was yet another implausible claim concerning the number of
people his health care law has helped gain coverage. He offered this new total, 8 million, as
proof that further resistance to "reform" is futile: "The repeal debate is and should be over... The
Affordable Care Act is working." If you feel that President Obama is protesting a bit too much,
you are not alone.
Barack
Obama and the politics of lies. That was quite a victory dance President Obama did Thursday while
claiming Obamacare is "working" because eight million people have now supposedly signed up for the health
care program. He even indulged in some less-than-subtle mockery of Republicans — and by extension the majority
of Americans who have disapproved of Obamacare since before it became law. "The repeal debate is and should
be over," Obama said, taking a dig at Republicans who are "going through, you know, the stages of grief ... anger
and denial and all that stuff ..." But a president who is viewed by most Americans as less than honest
has no business crowing about a victory that remains anything but obvious.
Obama
taunts GOP, takes nationally televised victory lap on Obamacare. The 8 million enrollment number marks
a major success for Mr. Obama, who scrambled six months ago after computer glitches nearly left the system stillborn.
But the president nursed Obamacare with a series of delays and extensions — many of which Republicans said
were illegal — and easily surpassed the initial target of 7 million sign-ups. Beneath the enrollment
numbers, though, are plenty of questions. Although Mr. Obama touted the 35 percent of federal exchange enrollees he
said were younger than 35, the administration acknowledged in a fact sheet that just 28 percent are 18 to
34 — the key demographic insurers need to sign up in order to cover the costs of older Americans with
health conditions who no longer can be denied coverage. Economists said the number needed to prevent premium
spikes is close to 40 percent.
Shut Up, He Explained
Again. In his opening statement, Obama asserted that "the repeal debate is and should be over.
The Affordable Care Act is working." He said the same thing on April Fool's Day, though the repetition is
beginning to feel like "Groundhog Day." The assertion, and especially the reassertion, that the debate is
over is self-refuting, for it is simply a statement of Obama's position in the debate.
Obama Celebrates Eight Million 'Enrollments,' Again Declares Debate 'Over'.
President Obama addressed the White House press corps today [4/17/2014], announcing that with the final numbers in, Obamacare's
exchanges have attracted eight million sign-ups — 35 percent of whom are "under the age of 35," he said.
Several elements of his comments were misleading: [...]
Obama offers new
insults, then laments gridlock. President Barack Obama used his Thursday press conference to diagnose
Republicans as fear-mongering, spiteful, obstinate, petulant and obstructive, as he again declared mission-accomplished
in his effort to put the nation's health-care under government control. "I recognize that their party is going
through the stages of grief — anger and denial and all that stuff — and we're not at acceptance
yet," Obama told reporters, where he announced that his Obamacare network had claimed 8 million subscribers.
Obama coupled his passive-voice diatribe with his more-in-sorrow-than-anger promise that he "would much prefer a
constructive conversation with the Republicans about how do we get some stuff done."
Obama:
GOP going through 'stages of grief' over Obamacare. Obama announced Thursday that 8 million
consumers had signed up for Obamacare's insurance exchanges and said that the successful enrollment period should
end the debate over the law's future. Republicans, though, say they will press ahead with efforts to undo his
signature domestic initiative.
Obama:
Health care sign-ups hit 8 million. President Barack Obama called on his fellow Democrats to "forcefully
defend and be proud" of the fact that millions of people have signed up for health care insurance through the
federal marketplaces, and faulted Republicans who are still angling to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "I
don't think we should apologize for it. I don't think we should be defensive about it. I think
there is a strong, good, right story to tell," Obama said Thursday during a rare appearance at the daily
White House news conference.
The
Most Un-American Speech Barack Obama Has Ever Delivered. But the most ghastly aspect of the president's
speech was its celebratory tone. This president stood in the Rose Garden in the lawn of the people's house.
He used force to coerce Americans into doing what he wants for the sake of politics and power. An American
president should never celebrate taking freedoms away from Americans. This president has, and he is pleased
with himself for doing it. He basks in the applause of those who celebrate with him, as if it's an achievement
to use the full force of government to impose yourself on others. Outside the gates of his little ceremony,
Democrats remain on the run because Obamacare is wreaking havoc on people's lives.
Obama
Rips Critics in Deeply Partisan Obamacare Speech. President Obama seized on the veneer of good news about
Obamacare to tear into his critics, issuing one of the most partisan speeches of his presidency and accusing opponents
of lying about the law to scare the public because they're opposed to people having health insurance.
5 Reasons Obama's
7.1 Million Number Is Meaningless. On Tuesday [4/1/2014], President Obama triumphantly announced
that, with the power of the mainstream media, Hollywood, and the threat of the IRS, the mission had been
accomplished: 7.1 million Americans had selected an Obamacare plan. Obama's tone was
nothing short of exuberant: "7.1 million Americans have now signed up for private insurance
plans through these market places. 7.1! Yep!" He then went on to criticize those who had
expressed objections to Obamacare for its deprivations of plans, doctors, drugs, and liberty: "Why
are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?"
Study shows just 858,000 newly insured Americans have paid up!
A triumphant President Barack Obama declared Tuesday his signature medical insurance overhaul a success,
saying it has made America's health care system 'a lot better' in a Rose Garden press conference.
But buried in the 7.1 million enrollments he announced in a heavily staged appearance is a more unsettling
reality. Numbers from a RAND Corporation study that has been kept under wraps suggest that barely
858,000 previously uninsured Americans — nowhere near 7.1 million — have paid
for new policies and joined the ranks of the insured by Monday night [3/31/2014].
Seven
Million? Who Does the Obama White House Think They're Fooling? President Obama is going to make a
statement about Obamacare this afternoon. He's likely to crow about that number that just magically appeared
last night. That number is so raw and unfiltered that it's meaningless. Supposing that it's even a real
number and not something that this dishonest cabal just made up. First, there are the cancellations.
Fox counted up all the cancellations in each state that are directly attributable to Obamacare and came up with
6.2 million. Subtract that from the 7 million sign-ups and we're at less than 1 million.
Some number of those who had their insurance killed by the man who promised they could keep it would have been
expected to sign-up for a new plan within Obamacare.
Obama
jabs press: Future HealthCare.gov outages 'won't be news'. President Obama expressed the White
House's frustration with news coverage of the Affordable Care Act's rocky rollout by taking a jab at the press
on Tuesday. During his ObamaCare enrollment victory lap speech in the Rose Garden, the president swiped
at reporters, who the White House believes were too eager to spotlight every incremental development associated
with the site's botched launch.
Obama's Rose
Garden phony numbers 'tell'. The April Fool's Day show put on in the Rose Garden yesterday was
no triumph, but rather an act of desperation, touting "enrollment" numbers generated without any transparency,
intended to arrest the downward spiral of Obamacare and the Democratic Party's electoral prospects. Obama
himself gave away the game unintentionally, in what poker players call a "tell" that consisted of two parts.
The first part of the tell was the obvious outright lie told by the president in a "poor me" moment of self-pity.
President's
celebration skips those asking the hard questions. [W]hile the president basked in his success and predictably
castigated his critics, he took no questions. Perhaps that's because some of them would have been hard to answer.
For instance: How many new enrollees have paid their premiums? The numbers above include everyone who has "picked"
a health plan, even if they haven't yet paid for it, sort of like Amazon counting every item a shopper puts in their "cart" as
a sale. Even Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius concedes that only 80 percent of those who've picked a plan have
actually paid the first month's premium. Insurance executives also report that an another 3 percent to
5 percent paid once, but then stopped. If these numbers hold, it would mean that just 5.6 million
Americans (and 312,000 New Yorkers) really bought insurance through the exchanges.
Obama TD Dance a
Poor Strategy for Dems. Given the mistake-filled rollout of ObamaCare, the fact that the numbers reported
by the government indicated that it had exceeded the seven million goal that had been set as the goal for the open
enrollment period, the administration felt it had good reason to spike the ball and that's exactly what the president
did. But in doing so, the president not only misrepresented the nature of what had actually been accomplished,
he also mischaracterized the nature and the extent of the opposition to the law.
The ObamaCare
Copperheads. In the Rose Garden Tuesday, President Obama reported that 7.1 million people
had signed up so far, confirming a Monday night White House news leak. "That doesn't mean all our
health-care problems have been solved forever," he conceded with customary modesty. The government appears
to have tapped heretofore-unknown reserves of bureaucratic efficiency by releasing numbers timed to this
campaign-style pep rally. Yet for months the Health and Human Services Department has refused to disclose
crucial contextual data, such as how many insurance contracts are in force, the market-by-market totals and how
many beneficiaries were previously covered. Regardless of your partisan sympathies, the White House's
selective disclosure is a crime against transparency and accountable government.
A Slacking Figure. Yesterday
President Obama claimed that "more than 3 million young adults... have gained insurance under this law by
staying on their family's plan." Indeed, the number of young people who can now stay on their parents'
insurance plans until age 26 — the so-called "slacker mandate" — is one of the most
oft-repeated Obamacare statistics. [...] For example, when disputing the Medicaid numbers back in January,
Ezra Klein claimed, "The 3.1 million young adults who got coverage through the new insurance regulations
is a pretty reliable figure." Well, no, it's not.
Is
Sebelius headed under Obama's bus now? "Four-score and seven years ago, the Democrat began. No,
not really. But he used the same construction. Six months ago today, a big part of the Affordable Care
Act kicked in as healthcare.gov and state insurance marketplaces went live, Obama intoned. Obviously,
Obama did not describe exactly how six months ago the healthcare.gov website went live — by dropping dead.
But he announced to the properly enthusiastic crowd of staffers that 7.1 million people had enrolled.
(Applause) The photo op was added to Obama's daily schedule only after assurances that his namesake
legislative program had reached the goal his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, had
naively set back in September.
Mark Levin blasts Obama for his Castro-like campaign rally.
Mark Levin opened his show tonight livid over Obama's Castro-like campaign rally on Obamacare today, where he spewed
lie after lie to his clapping seal sycophants. And the media just echoes what he says like it's the truth.
Media
Joins Obama in Mission Accomplished Obamacare Spin. The old media really seemed to be reveling
in the "miraculous" recovery of Obamacare, uncritically reporting signups have "surged" to that vaunted,
administration-set "seven million" enrollees figure that remains under a cloud of suspicion given major
gaps in what we know about it. Tuesday, Obama held a triumphal news conference replete with adoring
crowds applauding and some of his most deeply partisan rhetoric of his presidency. It was a spiking
of the football that Obama hasn't indulged in since he "got" bin Laden.
Networks
Refuse Obama Request for Primetime to Announce Obamacare Hitting 7 Million Mark. According to a
report via BuzzFeed's Evan McMorris-Santoro, President Barack Obama requested the opportunity to address the
nation in prime time on the major broadcast networks on Tuesday night to announce that the Affordable Care Act
had reached 7 million enrollees. Those networks did not, however, accommodate the White House's request.
"Three sources familiar with the request confirmed the White House asked for the prime time slot in their effort both
to emphasize a bright moment following the challenging roll out and, more important, to try to reintroduce the country
to a law that remains unpopular," McMorris-Santoro reported. The White House declined to comment on the revelations.
'Billions'
spent on attacking Obamacare? A reader asked us about this comment during the president's victory
lap on the Affordable Care Act. Were there really "billions" of dollars worth of commercials opposing the
law? Our initial reaction was that this was just a bit of presidential hyperbole. On the other hand,
the president did make this assertion in a major speech. So let's see what the data say.
Obama [was] Tackled in the End
Zone. What on earth is this man boasting about? Boasting is obnoxious enough when the braggart
in question has accomplished something, but how many people do you know who brag when they've hurt millions?
Under the goal posts in the Rose Garden, Obama said: Obamacare "is doing what it's supposed to do; it's
working. ... The debate over repealing this law is over; the Affordable Care Act is here to stay. ... I've got
to admit, I don't get it. Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?
Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?" This is outrageous, even for him.
Study shows just 858,000 newly insured. A triumphant
President Barack Obama declared Tuesday his signature medical insurance overhaul a success, saying it has made
America's health care system 'a lot better' in a Rose Garden press conference. But buried in the
7.1 million enrollments he announced in a heavily staged appearance is a more unsettling reality.
Numbers from a RAND Corporation study that has been kept under wraps suggest that barely 858,000 previously
uninsured Americans — nowhere near 7.1 million — have paid for new policies and
joined the ranks of the insured by Monday night.
Obamacare Is Still a
Fraud! What a disgusting amount of self-congratulations we've had to endure from Barack Obama and his
cronies, who are now boasting that 7.1 million people had signed up for Obamacare when the first open enrollment
period ended on March 31. "The debate over repealing this law is over," the President declared.
Continuing his outburst of wishful thinking, he added, "The Affordable Care Act is here to stay." Not so fast,
Mr. President. The issue is not nearly as settled as you'd have us believe, as a closer look at those
enrollment numbers will quickly reveal.
13K
In Maryland Lost Insurance Thanks to Obamacare and Never Got It Back. As you probably already know, the
President has been boasting about how the Affordable Care Act is succeeding so wonderfully. Barack Obama is
delusional. Consider his question: "Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health
insurance?" Why indeed! The question is quite ironic because Obama is the one who has worked very
hard for people not to have health insurance. And now we have confirmation in Maryland that he has taken
away the insurance of 13,000 people who remain uninsured.
No, The Obamacare Debate
Isn't Over. Last Tuesday, our President swaggered into the Rose Garden to announce that 7.1 million
people have signed up for health coverage through Obamacare's exchanges and that all further argument about the
future of his "signature domestic achievement" was pointless: "The debate over repealing this law is over.
The Affordable Care Act is here to stay." The problem with this claim is that no one with a basic grasp of
arithmetic believes Obama's enrollment figures, only about a quarter of the electorate supports his "reform" law,
and it is still the target of multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
The
president takes the low road. The president gave two speeches this week, one in the Rose Garden to talk about
Obamacare and one in Ann Arbor, Mich., to push minimum wage increases. What did we learn? We learned that President
Obama is most comfortable in campaign mode, and his campaigning has gotten downright ugly. [...] We also learned that the
president was vain enough to asked the networks to cover his speech in prime time, but they denied the White House that
request. Prime time may not be what it used to be, but presidential speeches aren't either, and the networks know it.
The Premature Obamacare
Victory Lap. President Obama and the Democrats pushed through their signature domestic policy stating the
"Affordable" Care Act would cover "every American." They have used the figure of "48 million uninsured
Americans." To date, Obamacare has then enrolled less than 2 percent of those uninsured Americans.
"It's working!" exclaimed the President. The Rand Corporation crunched the numbers and discovered only 858,000
people of the 7 million enrollees have actually paid their premiums, which is required to actually be covered.
"It's working!" You will soon read that many of the applications in the official White House count are actually
duplicate and incomplete applications.
Digging Out From Under the Rubble of Obama's Catastrophic
"Success". Obama asked for a primetime network shot to announce his Big Victory, and the red diaper
babies of the networks actually refused him. I'm not sure if this is just about the bottom line, or if the
networks (and especially their news divisions) are feeling a bit used [...] And maybe they've noticed that Obama's
people always claim to only know the numbers they're interested in promoting, while claiming to have no idea about
the ones that might not be so attractive.
Sebelius'
exit gives Obama a fresh page to mess up. It was really just a matter of time until Kathleen Sebelius was
looking up at the Obama bus passing over her bureaucratic body. On April Fool's Day when President Obama attempted
his ObamaCare victory lap with unsubstantiated enrollment numbers and failed to mention Sebelius even once, her political
fate was sealed, as we predicted here. Obama is not known as Mr. Gratitude by anyone who's ever dealt with him.
But staring right at Sebelius in the front row of the Rose Garden and praising only Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin, of all
people, for the trumped-up success of ObamaCare and not even mentioning his Health and Human Services secretary after
five years of tough, loyal duty was cold. And telling.
Obama speaks about voter-ID laws at an Al Sharpton event, April 11, 2014
Vote
Fraud is a Venerable Tradition. Barack Obama accuses Republicans of threatening the
right to vote. Standing alongside Al Sharpton — the FBI snitch who aided Tawana Brawley's
hoax and probably sparked an anti-Semitic riot, Obama spoke before Sharpton's National Action Network.
Obama allegedly said, "[t]he right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the
Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago." He also declared that, "[a]cross the
country, Republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, to vote."
What are those rascally Republicans doing? Efforts to require photo IDs in order to vote are probably
uppermost in Obama's mind. He might also have been thinking about moves to limit the times polls
are open, cut back on early voting, especially on weekends, curtail the mailing of absentee ballots,
and require proof of citizenship in order to vote. These and other changes to American voting
practices are anathema to Democrats, who claim they are efforts to suppress voting by minorities and
the poor.
President Obama's Bogus
Voting Rights Claims. Last Friday, in a speech at Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference, President
Obama proudly announced that the Justice Department had taken on more than 100 voting rights cases since 2009.
The problem with that claim is that, since 2009, the Justice Department has taken on only 39 voting rights
cases — and as former Voting Section lawyer Christian Adams points out, only 13 were related to
protecting minority voting rights. And, with respect to some of the cases in which the department has been involved,
it lost spectacularly — such as its false claim that South Carolina's voter ID law was discriminatory.
Obama at Sharpton Event: Voter ID Supporters Are 'the Real Frauds'.
Obama, who hails from a city known for the Daley Machine and its "vote early and vote often" slogan, ripped Republicans for
trying to preserve the integrity of the ballot by reducing voter fraud and requiring voter IDs. He made the accusation
that there is a "well-organized effort" to undo gains the Civil Rights Movement has made in the last 50 years, and he
said voting rights are "under particular assault." "Voters who want to vote should be able to vote," Obama said.
"Period."
Obama
decries 'bogus' voter fraud complaints. President Obama labeled complaints about voter fraud "bogus"
and accused Republicans of cynically trying to prevent Americans from accessing the polls in a fiery speech Friday
at a civil rights forum hosted by Al Sharpton. Obama argued that attempts in some states to impose new voter
identification restrictions were actually efforts by Republicans to make "it harder, not easier to vote."
And the president said that while voter fraud should be prevented, it rarely occurred. "So let's be clear, the
real voter fraud is the people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud," Obama said.
President
Obama [is] accusing Republicans of trying to restrict the right to vote. President Obama stood Friday
[4/11/2014] with the Rev. Al Sharpton and accused Republicans of trying to keep millions of Americans from voting,
in a fiery speech days after new revelations about Sharpton's past as an FBI informant. "The right to vote is
threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago," Obama
told the annual convention of Sharpton's National Action Network in Manhattan. Obama's appearance represented a
presidential seal of approval of Sharpton's role as a civil rights activist, [...]
Obama
Lies about Voter Fraud and DOJ Investigations Before Paranoid Audience. A tragic phenomenon has affected
President Obama since he became President. The more radical his audience, the more outrageous his lies.
At his appearance before Al Sharpton's National Action Network, Obama called voter fraud claims "bogus" and said his
Justice Department has "taken on more than 100 voting rights cases since 2009." This is a bald faced lie.
One need merely click [a] link at the Justice Department's own website to see it is a lie. The truth is that
39 cases have been brought, not 100, and only 13 relate to protecting minority voting rights —
usually foreign language ballot issues.
Obama to Headline Al Sharpton's
NAN Conference. President Obama is lending his political support to fellow community organizer Al Sharpton by
headlining the MSNBC host's National Action Network (NAN) conference this week in New York. Obama's choice to headline
the conference underscores the close ties of the two leaders and provides an increased sense of political legitimacy to
the controversial leader and his much-maligned organization.
Obama:
Right to vote 'threatened' by GOP. President Obama on Friday said that Republicans were behind the biggest
threat to voting rights in decades. "The principle of one person, one vote is the single greatest tool we have to
redress an unjust status quo. You would think there would not be an argument about this anymore," said Obama in an
address to Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in New York City. "The right to vote is threatened
today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago," he added.
The president directly blamed Republicans, saying new voting laws in states across the country would make it harder for
Americans to get access to the ballot box.
The
Atlantic Calls Out Obama for Race-Baiting in Voter ID Debate. The Atlantic criticized
Barack Obama Monday for "racializing" the issue of voter suppression. Friday, Obama delivered a
speech on the evils of voter suppression efforts at Al Sharpton's National Action Network, giving
what The Atlantic calls "the right speech in the wrong place."
The VA hospital scandal outrage speech
May 21, 2014.
The Fourth Branch of Government.
Preferring to look ignorant rather than irresponsible, President Obama said last week that he only
recently learned of scandals at the Department of Veteran Affairs through news reports. He spoke of
the problems at the department as if they had blindsided him, despite the fact that as a candidate
in 2008 he railed against the "the broken bureaucracy of the V.A." and decried outrageous delays in
treatment for veterans. He didn't need news reports to inform him of the depth of the
department's flaws; he could have reviewed his own campaign speeches.
Fournier: Obama's VA Presser 'Pathetic'.
National Journal's Ron Fournier had sharp criticism for President Obama over his handling of the Virginia Veterans scandal.
Fournier called the Obama Administration's view on scandal "pathetic" and said Obama knew the scandal "was a systemic problem" when
he came into office. "He is winding down the wars and he knew this had to be a radical overhaul and what did he do, like he's
done with a lot of other things?" he asked. "He didn't pay attention, he didn't govern. Now he's holding nobody accountable,"
he continued.
Obama is President Passive over the Veterans Affairs scandal.
It doesn't inspire great confidence that President Obama, on the day he finally decided to comment about excessive wait times
for veterans' medical appointments, showed up late to read his statement. The White House briefing room is only
about 100 feet from the Oval Office, but Obama arrived 13 minutes after the scheduled time for his remarks, the
first since the day the scandal broke late last month with a report that 40 veterans had died in Phoenix while waiting
to see doctors.
Veterans
groups blast Obama's remarks on VA scandal: 'Tremendous disappointment'. Two top veterans groups — the
American Legion and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) — voiced their displeasure Wednesday with
President Obama's remarks on the growing VA scandal. The American Legion said in a statement that the president's decision
not to announce the firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki was "an unfortunate one," while Paul Rieckhoff, the
CEO and founder of IAVA, called Mr. Obama's response "a tremendous disappointment," the Hill reported.
Obama Let the VA
Scandal Become a Political Circus. President Obama sounded resolute Wednesday addressing the secret waiting lists at
VA hospitals, until you noticed the caveats that hung off nearly every line. It was the first time the president addressed
the VA scandal and it came almost a month after the story broke. But the speech was more detailed than anything that had
yet come from the White House and sounded all the more forceful coming after VA Secretary Shinseki's tepid appearance before
Congress last week. Had this speech come two weeks — or even 10 days — ago, it might have been
taken in good faith as a signal that real accountability was coming in short order. But for many, that moment has passed.
'I
will not stand for it:' Obama speaks out on misconduct at VA hospitals. President Obama said Wednesday [5/21/2014]
he won't tolerate evidence of the Department of Veterans Affairs "cooking the books" to falsify waiting times at its hospitals, but
he did not sack its embattled leader. The President said is that if misconduct is proven, especially a link between undue
waits and preventable deaths at a Phoenix facility, "It is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period."
After meeting in the Oval Office with VA Secretary Erick Shinseki, Obama left no doubt that the growing allegations are a major
political problem even if Shinseki's job is safe for now.
MSNBC
Panel Admits VA Scandal A 'Political Problem' for Obama, 'Confidence is Lost'. During a panel discussion
on her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Wednesday [5/21/2014], host Andrea Mitchell wondered why President Obama
chose to make a statement on the Veteran's Affairs scandal without having any significant reforms to announce:
"Why send the President out to say something about the VA when he's not ready to take bolder action?" Chief
White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd acknowledged: "Well, this was an attempt, I think,
to stop the political bleeding that was taking place... that this has become a political problem for the White House. [...]"
Obama's mad-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore
doesn't solve VA Scandal. Does Obama, a lifetime legend in his own mind, really think
that verbalizing his anger will make the Veterans Affairs scandal go away? Following up his
effusive "I'm mad" protestations, Obama vowed to "fix whatever is wrong" at the agency, while
refusing to throw VA Secretary Eric Shinseki under his well populated bus. Obama described
Shinseki as a "great soldier" who has "put his heart and soul into this thing". "This thing"
is the deaths of veterans in as many as 26 veteran hospitals.
The Killer Rabbit
Phase. Yesterday [5/21/2014] Obama flapped his lips to no effect. The Free Beacon highlights
"the longest response ever to a yes or no question" (video below), but there was much more where this came from.
[Video clip] With the background of his own words condemning his nonfeasance in office, Obama said: "[W]hen
I came into office, I said we would systematically work to fix these problems, and we have been working really hard to
address them." If true, Obama's statement makes for a startling self-condemnation.
Why
we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore. Many inside the beltway sub-culture who rarely,
if ever, venture outside the 202 area code, except to venture to the 212 area code, have reactions ranging from disbelief
to sneering condescension regarding the primary challenges being mounted against Republican incumbents. But if they
actually took the time to talk to the people they claim to represent, instead of at them or over them,
perhaps this whole GOP civil war thing could have been avoided. T
Obama lets down vets. "I will
not stand for it — not as commander-in-chief but also not as an American," he declared at a hastily arranged event
Wednesday. But stand for it he has for months, despite documented reports that Veterans Administration hospital officials
falsified records to show that they were speedily taking care of vets even as wait times for appointments shot up and some
desperate patients died. [...] With shades of the Obamacare website fiasco, the picture is one of a chief executive who's far
less adept at executing than in attempting to get by with political posturing.
Obama
gins up his outrage act over VA scandal. President Barack Obama is fed up — again. He's outraged
over his latest scandal involving lethal delays providing promised medical care to American veterans — again.
Because, Obama claims, he didn't know about it — again. And he's vowing to get to the bottom of the
problem — again. And hold all those accountable — again. [...] ["]So if these allegations prove
to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it. Period!" Oh-oh. There's
Obama's telltale punctuation point — "Period!" That's become a guaranteed laugh-line since its frequent
use in his ObamaCare "you can keep your doctor" lies.
Afghanistan withdrawal speech
May 27, 2014.
Krauthammer:
Obama's Afghanistan Announcement 'An Act of Personal Narcissism'. On Tuesday's [5/27/2014]
"Special Report" on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer reacted to
President Barack Obama's announcement earlier in the day of his plans Tuesday to withdraw all
combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016. "I think it's worse than a political act to
announce the leaving," Krauthammer said. "It's kind of an act of personal narcissism. [...]"
Obama's
Afghan Withdrawal Announcement 'Personal Narcissism'. Conservative columnist Charles
Krauthammer had harsh words for President Obama over his decision to publicly announce the United
States's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. [...] He said President Obama's decision to publicly
announce the troop withdrawal is indicative of an administration that is politicizing foreign
policy in an unprecedented fashion. "I mean, is that how we're now setting the strategy of the
United States of America — a war zone where so many have died and so much treasure and blood has
been spent so a president can leave office looking good?" he asked.
How
21st Century Wars End Under Democratic Presidents. President Obama announced today
[5/27/2014] that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will shrink to 9,800 by the end of this
year and to essentially zero by the end of 2016. [...] But the specific timetable for essentially
full withdrawal is surely the president's handiwork, not the true desire of our commanders. Obama
explained, self-fulfillingly, that "this is how wars end in the 21st century."
Obama
will keep 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan after December despite State of the Union
promise. In a stunning admission Tuesday afternoon, a senior White House official
told reporters on a conference call that part of the continuing U.S. mission in Afghanistan will
involve training security forces in that country to 'help us' defeat al-Qaeda — not the
other way around. The White House has sought to assure the press that the U.S. role after 2014
would be reduced to what President Barack Obama called 'an advisory role' just an hour later.
But the official's statement, which drew no follow-up inquiry from the few reporters permitted to ask
questions, indicates that American forces will take on a more substantial part of Afghanistan's
coming security needs.
How Low
Can the President Stoop? Today in the Rose Garden, President Obama announced that
he's going to keep a little under 10,000 troops in Afghanistan through 2014, half that number by
the end of 2015, and will have all those forces out by the end of 2016. Putting aside the fact that
this is the lowest number military advisors estimated was necessary to maintain training and some
counterterrorism capability in country over not just one year but several, the decision to halve
and then zero out those forces by 2016 is a reminder not only of how seriously unserious this
president on strategic matters can be but also how cynically partisan he is.
A
'Monumental Mistake'? Obama Details Afghanistan Withdrawal Plan. National security
hawks in Congress quickly slammed President Obama's Rose Garden announcement detailing the drawdown
of American troops in Afghanistan as a "monumental mistake" put into action to score political
points.
Obama's Loopholes. So ends
our war in Afghanistan, not with a bang or a whimper but a snark: President Obama's snipe that
"it's harder to end wars than it is to begin them." In the run-up to the president's Rose Garden
remarks Tuesday [5/27/2014], attention was on one figure: 9,800. This was the number of troops
he would leave behind in Afghanistan to lock down our achievements there.
West Point commencement speech
May 28, 2014.
You Won't Believe Who
America's Greatest Enemy Is. President Obama's West Point speech proved telling in ways he probably
didn't plan. The commander-in-chief tried to use the commencement address to quell concerns over a foreign
policy that has produced nothing but controversy and setbacks since the debacle in Benghazi. But the
president scored more misses than hits with the audience, pundits and the press. Even The Washington Post
acknowledged that the speech did little more than mow down a field of "straw men." As far as policy
goes, the speech may have been a clarion call for little more than muddling through. But for
prospectors of presidential rhetoric, it is a gold mine.
Is
Obama acting like a former president? It looks like we have officially entered the world of the post-Obama
presidency. President Obama's recent speeches and remarks make it obvious that he is not making any serious effort
to govern or to drive world events. Except for covering the basics, he seems to have taken something like an early
retirement. We can look back at his West Point speech, which may go down in history as his first post-presidency
speech, and the endpoint of an Obama foreign policy.
Congress
in dark on counterterror plan before Obama speech at West Point. Members of Congress
need to pay attention when President Obama delivers a speech: He could be urging support for an
initiative they've never heard of. During a commencement address to West Point cadets last
month, Mr. Obama called on Congress to fund a new $5 billion counterterrorism plan to "train, build
capacity and facilitate partner countries on the front lines" of the war on terror. Sounds like
something Congress could get behind, if they only knew what it was. The staff for the Senate
Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, has yet to be briefed by
or receive details from the White House about the new initiative.
Emptiness
at West Point. It was a somber parade of straw men, as the president applauded himself for steering the nation on a
nervy middle course between extreme isolationism and madcap interventionism.
Obama's
global war on straw men. It is hard to carve the insipid into marble, or to inspire a
nation with shrunken ambitions. The natural result of this foreign policy theory is a speech such
as the one Obama recently delivered at West Point. For the most part, the president does not
inspire. He does not persuade. He justifies himself. The world he depicts is a choice between
foolhardy extremes. The proper response is not primarily an assertion of American values or the
defense of U.S. interests; it is a trust in Obama's own balancing judgment.
Excuses Excuses.
In a rambling, defensive, and disjointed commencement speech at West Point, the president attempted
retroactively to impose a framework on his ad hoc and often incoherent foreign policy. He sought to
convince his audience — and the world — that he has a vision for America's
role and that it's working. What we're seeing today, he argued, is all part of the plan. That's a
tough sell. Our allies are confused and dispirited, our enemies are unquestionably emboldened.
At
West Point, Obama tries to excuse the inexcusable. Like a pitcher who has lost his
fastball, Barack Obama has lost "the speech." The speech has always been central to the president
and his presidency. [...] No more. The man who once said, "I'm a better speechwriter than my
speechwriters," has lost his stuff. His recent speech at West Point was widely panned —
and not just by the president's usual critics. Even the New York Times' editorial page joined in.
It pronounced the address "largely uninspiring." I would add the words contradictory, unpersuasive
and in places just plain silly. The United States, he essentially said, will use force "when our
people are threatened." No kidding.
Kisses and Concussions.
[Scroll down] On Wednesday he wowed them at the U.S. Military Academy's commencement. He's
gotten very good at listening to himself speak and trying out new lines. A few highlights: "[B]y
most measures, America has rarely been stronger relative to the rest of the world. Think about it.
Our military has no peer.... Meanwhile, our economy remains the most dynamic on Earth; our
businesses the most innovative.... So the United States is and remains the one indispensable
nation." And for a right-wing jingoist he was forward-looking too, promising the graduating men
and women of West Point that he will proudly send them into combat against the evil forces of...
climate change.
The tragedy
of Obama's foreign policy. For six years the world has scratched its head about
President Obama's foreign policy doctrine. Is it "leading from behind," as he himself has said on
occasion, stepping back in hopes that an international coalition will take charge? Is it using
American military or economic power to topple dictators? Is it killing enemies with drone strikes
and spying on allies with advanced technology? Is it using words instead of weapons? With much
fanfare, the president set out to set things straight on Wednesday by articulating a comprehensive
Obama Doctrine in a major foreign policy address at West Point's commencement ceremonies.
Krauthammer:
Obama's West Point speech was 'literally pointless'. Charles Krauthammer said
Wednesday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that President Obama's attempt to lay out his foreign
policy vision during his commencement address at West Point was "literally pointless. It didn't
have a point, it was a defensive speech." One day after he declared that all U.S. troops will be
out of Afghanistan by 2016, Obama told the graduating cadets that "the landscape has changed" with
the end of the war in Iraq. The president said that Wednesday's graduating class would be the first
class in nearly a decade that likely will not be deployed to a war zone.
Obama's Fantasy World.
In his speech at West Point yesterday, President Obama attempted to lay out his vision for America and the world in
the years to come. The address was notable for several things, beginning with what is by now Mr. Obama's almost
comical use of straw men, with the president creating one imaginary critic and sham argument after another.
What was also apparent in this speech was another Obama trait: prickliness and pettiness, in this case
using a military academy commencement ceremony to mock his critics. "Those who argue ... that America
is in decline, or has seen its global leadership slip away — are either misreading history or engaged
in partisan politics," the president asserted. (
Obama's
West Point speech exposes his foreign-policy failures. President Obama promised a powerful speech on
national-security policy on Wednesday to the graduates of the United States Military Academy. Instead, the
chief executive reinforced the notion that in an increasingly dangerous world, he is in over his head. Obama's
principal argument was that U.S. national security must not be based solely on military power, and that America
cannot go it alone in the world. But this was no grand revelation; every recent president has believed the same
thing. Even George W. Bush, falsely criticized for unilateralism, assembled a larger international coalition
than any Obama has put together.
Points of Departure. The phrase
"offshore balancing" did not appear in President Obama's commencement address at West Point. It did not
have to. Obama's every word was informed by the idea that America should renounce nation-building,
extended deployments, base construction, and other elements of hard power in favor of diplomacy, military-to-military
partnerships, multilateral institution-building, and soft-power in general. "Just because we have the best
hammer," the president said in a particularly insipid use of cliché, "does not mean that every problem
is a nail." Not the administration, nor its supporters, nor its critics have been successful in defining
precisely what the "Obama Doctrine" is. But offshore balancing seems to me to be as good a way as any to
describe the president's strategy. What does it mean?
The Seven
Faces of Barack Obama. The real problem with president Obama's commencement address to
West Point's latest graduating class is that it was a perfect microcosm of his many personalities and
traits as Commander-in-Chief. Obama may have hoped to lay out a broad vision of the world for the
rest of his term, but in doing so, he exhibited the multiple faces, attitudes, and approaches to the
world that has defined his presidency for the past five and a half years. The result has been confusion.
WaPo,
NYT, WSJ agree: Obama speech "ludicrous ... uninspiring ... disturbing". Actually, all of those
adjectives come from the New York Times — and that's the most sympathetic take on Barack
Obama's big pivot/comeback speech on foreign policy. The West Point address accomplished a rarity in
media and politics by creating a consensus between the editorial boards of the NYT, the Washington Post,
and the Wall Street Journal. That consensus, however, is that Obama flopped in his straw-man approach
to criticism and his utter incoherence on American policy. When a President can't convince one
of these three on policy, it may be time to find a new approach — or perhaps a new team.
Brother Rat.
Thank me. Thank me so very much. Even though this is ostensibly a graduation speech it is really
about me. My ratings have been slipping of late and my media advisors said a photo-op in Bagram and
a speech at West Point will boost the polls by about 3 points.
Obama
At West Point: The Psychology Of Surrender. Bluntly: as a professor of irregular warfare and international
security I cannot recall ever reading a more confused speech by a head of state, nor one that is so utterly detached
from reality. From the opening passages that speak of how the world automatically looks to America when "schoolgirls
are kidnapped in Nigeria, or masked men occupy a building in Ukraine," to the president later taking credit for the fact
that "more people live under elected governments today than at any time in human history" it feels as if the President is
living in an alternate reality.
Even the New York Times ....
Whenever President Obama does something that is universally panned, such as his foreign policy
speech/commencement address at West Point on Wednesday, he can typically count on the New York
Times editorial board to have his back. Not this time. "The address did not match the hype,
was largely uninspiring, lacked strategic sweep and is unlikely to quiet his detractors, on the
right or the left," the Times' editors wrote. "This was far from Mr. Obama's big moment."
Levin:
'Somebody Who Wants to Fundamentally Transform America' Doesn't Believe It's Exceptional. "I
believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being," President Obama told the nation's newest
Army officers at West Point on Wednesday. No he doesn't, said conservative talk-show host Mark Levin.
"American exceptionalism — somebody who wants to fundamentally transform America doesn't believe
America is an exceptional place at all. So that's just all bull," Levin told Fox News's Sean Hannity
Wednesday night. "What does he mean by American exceptionalism?" Levin asked. "He stands up
like Mussolini and talks about having a pen. But what does that mean? That means he's going to
override the Constitution when he likes? American exceptionalism — does he like free market
capitalism? No, he detests it. Does he like individual liberty and success? No, he attacks it."
Obama's
West Point Speech signals a presidency in deep trouble. Yesterday's speech to the
graduating class of West Point by President Obama may be remembered as the signal that his
presidency has entered a crisis of confidence, much as Jimmy Carter's infamous "malaise" speech has
gone down in history as marking a failed presidency. Not only was the content of the speech
delusional (calling Russia "isolated" in the wake of a massive and historic gas deal with China
that marks a major rapprochement between two powers hostile to the United States; claiming Ukraine
as an example of the success of his coalition strategy), the delivery was wooden, as if Obama were
wishing he were on a golf course or basketball court, and felt a hostile vibe. And the visible
reception was embarrassingly icy, with only a few people applauding at key lines, and a standing
ovation in which the vast majority remained seated and unmoved, suggesting the commander in chief
is held in contempt by the next generation of military leadership.
AP
(Naturally) Ignores Widely Noted 'Tepid' and 'Icy' Obama Reception at West Point. Following President Barack
Obama's speech today at West Point, the UK Daily Mail reported "tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than
one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction." In a CNN video clip found at Mediaite, Jim Clancy noted that Obama
did not sound like a "commander-in-chief speaking to his troops." He further observed: "You heard the reception;
it was icy."
Obama
v. Bush at West Point: It's No Contest. I was privileged to visit and lecture at the U.S. Air
Force Academy a few weeks ago, and noted at the time that the students — I mean, cadets —
looked and spoke rather differently than most of the students I encountered at Boulder. They impressed
me as a very serious and fine bunch. Too bad they had to suffer through Slow Joe Biden as their
commencement speaker earlier this week. It could have been worse. They could have been Army
cadets at West Point yesterday, suffering through our abdicating commander-in-chief. Take in this
video that captures what even CNN called "tepid" applause from the cadets at his introduction.
Obama
Vows to Battle Global Climate Change in West Point Speech. President Obama delivered
a major policy speech Wednesday, claiming that fighting climate change was every bit as important
to America's national security as stopping terrorism or working to stop countries from obtaining
nuclear weapons. The world, Obama insisted, needed to come together to address this looming
global threat. "That spirit of cooperation must energize the global effort to combat climate
change — a creeping national security crisis that will help shape your time in uniform,
as we're called on to respond to refugee flows, natural disasters, and conflicts over water and
food," Obama warned. Obama detailed forthcoming policy from his administration that would
save the planet from this crisis.
Obama
at West Point: 'Effort to Combat Climate Change... Will Help Shape Your Time in Uniform. While
Obama views climate change as a national security crisis, many Army officers will not have learned about it
during their time at West Point. The phrase "climate change" is mentioned only six times in the U.S.
Military Academy's course catalog for the class of 2016. For example, cadets who take Environmental
Engineering courses will study "air pollution concerns such as global climate change, acid rain and smog."
A Meterology course includes "a brief look at climate and climate change." [...] The U.S. Military Academy at
West Point says its curriculum is "carefully designed to meet the needs of the Army" and develop "officer-leaders
of character to serve the Army and the Nation."
Montel
Williams Goes on Fiery Rant over VA: Why Didn't Obama Apologize?! Talk show host Montel Williams is an
American veteran, and he is particularly incensed about the scandal over veteran deaths as a result of secret waiting
lists. Moreover, he was bothered by how President Obama was at West Point, yet didn't take a moment to apologize
for how his administration has dropped ball on veterans' health. Williams told Neil Cavuto that giving Secretary
Shinseki the boot won't really fix much.
Obama's
Insulting Version Of American Exceptionalism. During his mushy commencement speech at
West Point, President Obama told the graduates, "I believe in American exceptionalism with every
fiber of my being." (Every fiber of his being? [...]) Obama refrained from adding, as he
has in the past, that Brits and Greeks believe, respectively, in British and Greek exceptionalism.
At West Point, President Obama binds America's hands on foreign
affairs. President Obama has retrenched U.S. global engagement in a way that has
shaken the confidence of many U.S. allies and encouraged some adversaries. That conclusion can be
heard not just from Republican hawks but also from senior officials from Singapore to France and,
more quietly, from some leading congressional Democrats. As he has so often in his political
career, Mr. Obama has elected to respond to the critical consensus not by adjusting policy but
rather by delivering a big speech.
What's
not to trust in an Obama team probe of the Obama team? President Obama is off to West
Point again today. He'll deliver yet another speech [...] to outline his latest vision for a new
world order that isn't going to happen but will get him through a few more news cycles in the 967 days
remaining in his White House tenure. You can always tell when Obama feels threatened. He
orders up new investigations of others and begins throwing speeches at just about everything in sight.
CNN:
West Point Gave Obama 'Icy' Reception. CNN's international correspondent Jim Clancy
called the West Point response to President Obama's meandering foreign policy address "pretty icy"
Wednesday. Clancy said it was "not really a great speech to give at the U.S. Military Academy,"
and the address has drawn bipartisan criticism. "It was a philosophical speech," he said.
"It was not a Commander-in-Chief speaking to his troops. And you heard the reception.
I mean, it was pretty icy."
Obama's
Speech at West Point: Lies, Deceptions and Delusions. Today Barack Obama gave the
commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point. While the address was
billed as his "foreign policy vision" it was vintage Obama: banal, deceptive, self-serving, and
partisan to the very core. Sort of a metaphor for them [sic] man himself.
Obama
at West Point: 'Because We Have the Best Hammer Does Not Mean that Every Problem Is a Nail'.
President Obama laid out his foreign-policy vision to graduating West Point cadets in his first remarks
since his announcement that the U.S. would draw down forces in Afghanistan by the end of the year, with
the last troops leaving by 2016. The president assured them that the United States would maintain
its leading role in the world. He urged a more measured approach to conflict abroad that would
avoid what he described as the impulse of some to intervene militarily wherever problems exist.
Highlights
of the West Point Speech. President Obama laid out a foreign policy vision on Wednesday [5/28/2014] for
his final two and a half years in office in a speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Here
are some of his key points: [...]
Obama
owes Americans a responsible explanation of Bowe Bergdahl deal, not empty rhetoric. [Scroll down] The president was simply
tossing out high-sounding rhetoric that fails to respond to real-world circumstances. That's exactly what he did in his foreign policy speech
last week at West Point. For example, Obama attempted to defend his lead-from-behind approach by declaring, a "strategy that involves invading
every country that harbors terrorist networks is naive and unsustainable." Of course it is. No serious voice in U.S. national
security has ever advocated that course of action, much less pursued it. Obama was merely knocking down a straw man of his own devising.
Worcester Technical High School commencement speech
June 11, 2014.
The indoctrination continues
until the very last day of school. Obama
blasts GOP at high school graduation, tells students to vote Democrat. They're barely
old enough to vote, but graduating seniors at a Massachusetts high school were encouraged Wednesday [6/11/2014]
by President Obama to boot Republicans from office and help the administration enact more of its agenda.
Speaking at the commencement service at Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, Mass., the president
slowly transitioned from delivering a pep talk to leading a political pep rally.
University of California at Irvine commencement speech
June 14, 2014.
Obama
Used Commencement Speech To Attack Americans Who Disagree With Him. President Obama
delivered the commencement speech at UC Irvine over the weekend and used the occasion to go on the
attack against Americans who don't agree with his climate change policies. Not only did he call
those skeptical of global warming theory the derogatory term "deniers" he also told the graduates
that we are a threat to their existence. [...] If anyone is a threat to our future it's Obama, not
people who don't buy into global warming theory.
Obama
Asks College Grads to Help Take on Climate-Change Deniers. President Barack Obama
called on Americans coming of age to demand that politicians respond more aggressively to climate
change, comparing those skeptical about man-caused alterations to the environment to a belief that
the moon is "made of cheese." In a commencement address today to graduates of the University of
California at Irvine, Obama delivered one of his feistiest critiques of lawmakers who object to
environmental regulations he's pushing that are aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
Obama urges UCI grads
to take action on climate change. His talk lasted about 30 minutes, with roughly two
thirds of it dedicated to climate change. He urged students to take up the issue of environmental
stewardship — and pointed out that a low-carbon economy could be a builder of jobs and income in the
future. "I'm not telling you this to discourage you. I want to light a fire under you."
As he spoke, commentors debated the issue on social media, with some suggesting Obama was inappropriately
inserting politics into the graduation ceremony.
Obama
pushes global warming agenda in commencement speech. Obama told those in attendance
that they must respond now to protect children and future generations — a theme he has repeated
after announcing in recent weeks new rules for reducing carbon emission for plants that burn fossil
fuel. "We also have to realize, as hundreds of scientists declared last month, that climate
change is no longer a distant threat but 'has moved firmly into the present,'" said Obama in the
ongoing effort by him and his supporters to win the debate on global warming and its possible
causes. "The overwhelming majority of scientists who work on climate change, including some who
once disputed the data, have put the debate to rest."
Obama
Flunks his Climate Science 101 at University of California, Irvine. Denying climate
change is like saying the moon is made of cheese, President Obama has said in his latest attempt to
persuade an unconvinced world that "global warming" is the most urgent crisis of our time. [...]
"I'm not a scientist." Possibly the only factually accurate words in the president's entire speech.
Obama's
fall campaign in June. President Obama offered a scathing indictment of congressional
Republicans during an economic speech in Minnesota on Friday [6/27/2014], accusing his political opponents of
failing to "do anything, except block me and call me names." The president argued the GOP had "blocked or
voted down every serious idea to strengthen the middle class" offered by Democrats this year.
No
President's Ever Dodged Duty As Barack Obama Has. It's getting tiresome, and it
happened again last week during a speech in Minnesota, when President Obama blamed Republicans
for the dreadful first-quarter GDP numbers showing the economy shrinking by 2.9%.
Obama
Feels Your Pain Because He And Michelle Once Lost Their Nanny. President Barack Obama
channeled Hillary Clinton's recent "dead broke" complaints Thursday, when he told a hard-hit
Minnesota woman that Michelle Obama's difficulty with a nanny in Chicago echoed her family's
history of repeated layoffs and wage cuts. Minnesota resident "Rebekah [Erier] sent me this
letter, and it moved me," Obama told his donors at an evening fund-raiser in Minneapolis, Minn., as
he tried to show he is in touch with ordinary people's concerns.
A
Feisty Obama Hits the Road to Rekindle Message of Hope. For over an hour, Obama took
questions from a hand-picked audience of 350 Minnesotans, who probed broadly his views on climate
change, gun violence, study-abroad programs, STEM education, minimum wage, and a pay hike for
federal workers. At every turn, Obama hammered on his policy wish list, but offered little
prospect for immediate solutions.
Obama: 'They're
Phony Scandals'. President Obama warned people in Minnesota Friday not to believe
what they hear on television: "They're fabricated issues, they're phony scandals that are
generated. It's all geared towards the next election or ginning up a base. It's not
on the level," the president insisted.
Obama
Visits Minnesota, Minnesota's Dem Senators Avoid Him Like the Plague. You know things
are bad when the Clown of the Senate whose whole ID is that he's leftier than left doesn't want to
be seen with you. [...] It's estimated that 140,000 people in Minnesota would lose their health
insurance policies because of ObamaCare. ObamaCare's approval rating isn't doing too well there
and it will be easier for [Senator Al] Franken if he isn't seen with the Obama of ObamaCare.
Obama
Attacks GOP's 'Block Me, Call Me Names' Strategy. Obama accused Republicans of
deliberate inaction, of being "tone deaf," focusing more on elections and "media sound bites" than
progress. "They don't do anything except block me. And call me names," Obama said.
Obama
Grows Petulant Over GOP Challenge. Currently traveling in Minnesota, Barack Obama
appears to be bristling at the notion that House Republicans are set to challenge him in the
courts. PBS characterizes his demeanor as "mocking." Perhaps. But observers of he Obama White House
might note that he often becomes petulant, if not downright immature whenever he feels his presumed authority is
being challenged by another branch of America's Constitutional form of government.
Wilmington, Delaware
July 17, 2014.
Obama
sparks anger with 40-second mention of Malaysian plane crash before giving transportation speech. President
Barack Obama provoked fury in the U.S. on Thursday by casually devoting less than a minute to the deaths of 295 people
aboard a Malaysian airliner, as he began an often jokey 16-minute speech about the need to expand America's transportation
infrastructure. There are no confirmed American dead and the White House issued a statement on Thursday evening [7/17/2014]
which said they were still seeking any 'information to determine whether there were any American citizens on board'.
Obama's
bizarre and frightening response to the shoot down of MH17. The White House will
attribute excessive caution to the president's shocking remarks. But reporters were getting
background from administration officials that the plane was shot down with a missile for several
hours prior to the president's remarks. And, of course, the fact that he then went merrily on his
way to a fundraiser while what amounts to an act of war was committed against US citizens is just
one more indication how out of touch this president is.
All
of this 'fundraising' is really getting old. President Obama needs to get in the game
or resign and let someone else do the job. We just don't have room for this kind of a president
at a time when everything is falling apart or going to hell.
Obama
Proves Again that Fundraising Trumps National Security. After the terrorist attack at
Benghazi, President Obama was widely criticized for flying to Las Vegas for a fundraiser the next
day. In fact, he had also missed a week's worth of intelligence meetings prior to the attack.
With the downing of Malaysian Flight MH17, which the Ukrainian government claims was due to the plane
being fired upon by Russia, Obama is once again sending a message that fundraising is of the utmost
importance, regardless of what national security threats America may face.
Americans
Perish in Malaysia Airlines Attack; Obama Campaigns, Cracks Jokes with Crowd in Delaware. While
the world tuned-in to learn about the attack on MH17 in the aftermath of the attack, President Obama casually
dined at The Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, Delaware, ordering a cheeseburger and fist-bumping patrons in a jovial
fashion. Soon after, Obama spoke to a crowd at Wilmington about the attack for a total of 38 seconds
before switching to an upbeat tempo and campaigning. [...] After glossing-over the tragedy that reportedly
took the lives of 23 Americans, Obama shifted his tempo to "hoot-and-holler" mode and began with his all-too-typical,
faux-folksy charm by telling the crowd, "It is great to be in the state that gave us Joe Biden!"
Our
Callow Commander-in-Chief. It is at times like these, when he is pushed kicking and
screaming into the crucible, that Obama's callowness shows. For his supporters, that jejune, jocular
air has been a plus for almost six years. For the rest of us, it has served as a liability and an
irritation. Yesterday, it became a wholesale embarrassment. [...] [T]he president spent a grand
total of 38 seconds on the downing of the plane, describing what he knew to have been an atrocity as
a "tragedy" that "might" have happened, and then going back to slamming Republicans for refusing to
agree with him on infrastructure spending, to joking with his adoring fans, and to suggesting that
America needed to stop indulging in what the more traditional among us like to refer to as "politics."
Obama manages
a photo-op, not a crisis. Obama didn't call an emergency meeting of his national
security team. He didn't assemble his joint chiefs of staff in the White House situation room.
No, he flew to Delaware to go to a photo-op at the Charcoal Pit diner. He gave a campaign speech. By
this time, the cause of the plane crash was known. But Obama said merely, "it looks like it may be a
terrible tragedy." May be? A tragedy? He didn't know yet if it was a tragedy? And a
tragedy — not an act of terrorism or a war crime? Just a tragedy — like a
tragic accident? And, after that bloodless, token comment, he continued his campaign speech,
joking, laughing.
This
weak and timid President talks big and does nothing. At a political event in
Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday [7/17/2014], President Obama devoted only 40 seconds to the
shooting down of the Malaysian airline, his first statement to the world following the news. His
emotionless reference to the attack as 'a terrible tragedy' seemed disconnected from the horrific
moment, particularly as he immediately reverted to script to praise his administration and criticise
Republicans. It was a far cry from President Reagan's 1983 fierce denunciation of the Soviet
shooting down of a Korean airliner as a 'crime against humanity'.
The
tranquillity of Obama's mind. When [Obama] went to Delaware on Thursday and opened
with a few sentences about the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine before joking about
Joe Biden and going back to his prepared text on infrastructure, many thought he had failed to take
seriously an international disaster. They were even less impressed when he had lunch at the Charcoal
Pit and ordered burgers and fries (not a photo op, of course). It was not until 24 hours
later that he took to the podium to promise an aggressive investigation.
Group
Now Claims Obama Wasn't Technically Fundraising For It On Day Of Malaysia Air Plane Crash. As
the United States gathered information Thursday [7/17/2014] about the Malaysian airliner shot down over
Ukraine, President Barack Obama was in New York on a quick fundraising swing with Democratic donors.
But now one of the super PACs that hosted Obama for an event — the House Majority PAC —
claims that Obama's meeting with donors was not technically a fundraiser. According to a pool report
from the event, an official with the House Majority PAC disputed the characterization of the meeting as a
fundraiser because there were no tickets or cost of admission for donors.
The Editor says...
If those invited were donors, they had already paid the "cost of admission."
Yes, it was a fundraiser, and yes, Barack H. Obama exhibited his usual poor judgment.
Press conference
August 6, 2014.
'Extraordinarily
Irresponsible' — Obama Gives Pointless, Yet Damaging, Press Conference. President Obama gave
a press conference this evening [8/6/2014]. He started a little over an hour late without explanation.
Reporters stuck to asking questions that they evidently knew Obama would be comfortable answering. None of
them asked him about any of his administration scandals. ABC's Jon Karl, usually a tough questioner of Obama
and his spokesmen, asked a rambling question that played right into the Democrats' "economic patriotism" canard.
Despite the fact that the president showed a passionless, bloodless, disinterested face to the world, he still
managed to do some damage.
Obama: 'I'm bound by the
Constitution'. President Obama on Wednesday dismissed charges that he broke the law by going around Congress
on issues ranging from health care to immigration. "I never have a green light. I'm bound by the Constitution.
I'm bound by separation of powers," Obama said at a press conference, concluding a Washington summit on Africa. "What I
can do is scour our authorities to try to make progress," Obama added of his approach in the face of congressional gridlock.
ABC's
Jon Karl to Obama: Are You Trying to Push Limits of Executive Power? President Obama
held a press conference today and one of the first questions he got was from ABC's Jonathan Karl.
Karl brought up Obama's concerns about executive power under his predecessor and asked, "Has Congress'
inability to do anything significant given you a green light to push the limits of executive power?"
Karl even invoked the criticisms from some that at times he's an "imperial president" and other times a
"do-nothing president." Obama denied the former charge, saying, "I never have a green light, I'm
bound by the Constitution, I'm bound by separation of powers."
Extraordinary Irresponsibility.
In yet another uninspiring performance by our unengaged and unengaging president, this time a press
conference at the end of a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama
discussed, among other things, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which, according to The One,
"we" have achieved. It's not entirely clear just how "we," meaning the president, his feckless
Secretary of State John Kerry, and his utterly incompetent foreign policy team (but at least they're
loyal — the most important characteristic for employees of any petty dictator), helped
achieve anything other than the emboldening of Hamas, which led to the death of many more of Hamas'
human shields. Obama further asked how "we build on this temporary cessation of violence."
Obama
Will Drop a Nuclear Bomb on Immigraton Law. Barack Obama has consistently refused to follow
immigration law. He has sent the message to other countries — many other countries throughout
the world — that our border is porous and once you are here, we have your back. In his speech
this evening, as he wound up the U.S. African Leaders Summit at the State Department, he made it quite clear
that he will violate immigration law by legalizing an untold number of illegal alien adults and children.
Statement on Iraq
August 7, 2014.
Obama's
Belligerent Description of Hamas is More Fit for 'Frat Boys' Than a Terrorist Organization. On Fox
New's [sic] "Special Report with Brett Baier" Wednesday night [8/6/2014], Charles Krauthammer gave a devastating
evaluation of the attitude and words given by the President in statements about Russia and Israel. On the
President's response to the news about the possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine, Krauthammer summarized
Obama's response as basically having zero interest in the issue.
Obama's
narrow, specific, extremely limited action in Iraq. The Drudge headline says, "Obama
Bombs Iraq." The Washington Examiner headline says, "U.S. military aircraft conducts first airstrike
in Iraq." The Washington Post headline says, "U.S. launches airstrikes against Islamic State in
Iraq." All are entirely accurate, but what is perhaps most notable about President Obama's
rationale for action, laid out in a brief address to the nation Thursday night [8/7/2014], is how
precisely limited the president's directive is. Some Republicans are calling for Obama to
take broad and decisive action in Iraq. This is most definitely not it.
ISIS
Threatens America: 'We Will Raise The Flag Of Allah In The White House'. The terror
group President Barack Obama threatened to strike in Iraq Thursday evening [8/7/2014] is itself threatening to
strike the American homeland. "I say to America that the Islamic Caliphate has been established,"
Abu Mosa, a spokesman for the terror group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), told
VICE Media in a video interview posted online Thursday. "Don't be cowards and attack us with drones.
Instead send your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq." "We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing,
and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House," he added.
The Editor says...
That flag is probably already in place, somewhere inside the White House.
Obama's
New, Undeclared Iraq War. The 1973 War Powers Resolution requires presidents to notify
Congress when invoking Article II powers and to seek authorization from Congress if the new conflict
lasts more than 60 days. In this sense Obama's new Iraq war is for now undeclared, even though the
authorization for the old Iraq war remains on the books. Obama campaigned in 2012 in part on his
accomplishment of ending the Iraq War and as recently as last month, his administration urged Congress to
repeal the 2002 law that authorized it.
In
Iraq, Obama launches another drive-by war. [I]t's hard to discern the objective of
this attack: Will we bomb until ISIS is eliminated? Or does ISIS simply need to be contained? Are we
simply protecting Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq? What if American intervention becomes a
rallying cry for other terrorist groups in the region? Will we bomb them, too?
It's
Not Present Obama's Fault That Past Obama Pulled The U.S. Out Of Iraq. Past Obama is
Present Obama's greatest enemy. Over and over again, Past Obama's words and actions keep tripping up
his future self. Obama says what he means, and he means what he says. And what he means, what he
always means, is that he needs to get through the next five minutes. Anything he says at any particular
moment is in service of that one and only goal. If it directly contradicts anything he's said before, or
anything he says after, that's your problem.
American Legion convention
August 26, 2014.
Obama
and the Democrats' problem with military voters is growing. President Obama is
becoming increasingly alienated from our uniformed military, military households and veterans. Need
proof? Look no further than the speech he gave yesterday at the American Legion's national
convention in Charlotte. The reaction was politely described as "tepid" and, by all accounts, his
applause lines fell flat with the audience of veterans, especially when explaining his foreign
policy objectives. Even his overtures to the audience about fixing the Department of Veterans
Affairs were met with relatively muted enthusiasm. I think the president's speech got the worst
reception of any he has given since his commencement address at West Point in May.
The 5 most
nauseating quotes from Obama's American Legion speech. Here's a hint for Obama — and
any other rote "bring our boys home" liberal — on military culture: Our soldiers don't want to be
"brought home" just for the sake of being brought home — and certainly not to fulfill a campaign
promise. They want to be brought home because the mission was successfully completed and structures
put in place to ensure those gains are protected and progress continues. Obama liked the symbolism
of a full and complete withdrawal from Iraq, apparently not understanding what a residual force or its
importance is.
Obama's
Speech To The American Legion Was Painfully Awkward. On Tuesday, the president spoke
to the American Legion's national convention, facing a crowd of veterans deeply concerned about
widespread corruption at the Veterans Administration and the resultant deaths of some veterans
awaiting health care. So when Obama began by lecturing the veterans about cynicism and explaining
his most recent foreign policy choices — instead of addressing the VA crisis —
the audience clearly wasn't pleased. Fox News cameras captured a sea of blank or frowning faces
looking silently back at the president as he paused for failed applause line after failed applause line.
Watch
Obama's Rousing Speech That Brought Military Vets To Their Feet. No, Obama's speech
before the American Legion at their convention in Charlotte NC, this morning, stunk on ice —
as usual — and the veterans mostly sat on their hands — as usual. [...] Obama
got off on the wrong foot almost immediately when he badly botched the word adjutant. Watch him
pause, grimace and sweat in distress as he sees the word coming, knowing that he has no idea how to
pronounce it. It's not as bad as "corpseman" — but close. "I want to thank the
entire leadership team for welcoming me here today, including your... National... uh... (gulp)...
Adsnt — uhh — Dan Wheeler... Ay yi yi. Over five
years in office, and the Commander-in-Chief still doesn't know how to pronounce all his military titles.
Obama
describes a happy, thriving America to veterans, who know better. President Obama is
enduring an awful summer of domestic troubles, foreign tragedies and a lost national narrative
that's put him on the defensive. He'll try to recapture control of the country's political dialogue
next month by igniting an emotional controversy over legalizing illegal aliens. But Tuesday [8/26/2014]
the Democrat was in Charlotte to describe to American Legion members an exotic foreign land where November
voters should be delighted to keep his party members in office.
Tepid
clapping greets unpopular Obama's VA speech at American Legion convention . President Barack Obama faced
a tough crowd on Tuesday — American military veterans — and
fell flat on his applause lines as he failed to win over the American Legion's
convention-goers. His 35-minute speech seemed to have reminded the audience of
the stark divide between the White House's policy choices and the feelings of the men and women
often called on to carry them out. A Virginia legionnaire who served in the U.S. Marine Corps told
MailOnline that 'a small group of Obama's admirers — and there are some here — sat near the front
and tried to generate applause for him about 10 times.'
The Editor says...
The useful idiots who sit in the front row and try to start applause at certain points in a speech are known as stooges.
Obama
to unveil executive actions on veterans' health care. President Obama on Tuesday [8/26/2014] will
roll out new executive actions to strengthen veterans' health care, using a speech at the American
Legion National Convention to trumpet a reduction in the disability claims backlog at government
hospitals. The president will announce executive initiatives that automatically enroll those
receiving mental health services through the Defense Department into similar Department of Veterans
Affairs programs, expand mental health peer support for veterans being treated in primary care
settings and invest nearly $115 million in suicide prevention and treatment of diseases like
post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We don't have a strategy" press conference
August 28, 2014.
Barack
Obama refuses to decide and fails to act. Just in case you thought that the Leader of
the Free World was secretly harbouring a calculated, well-developed plan for bringing Isil under
control and putting Russia's imperial leader back in his box, Barack Obama banged that idea firmly
on the head last week. He gave an extraordinary briefing, which the Washington press corps had been
led to believe would contain a major announcement on the White House strategy on foreign policy. It
did. The announcement was that there was no White House strategy on foreign policy. Seriously. In
the president's exact words: "We don't have a strategy yet."
Obama's
5 Worst Foreign Policy Decisions. [#1] Iraq/Isis: Despite being told over and over
again that it was a terrible idea to set up a timeline in Iraq and pull out of the country for political reasons
without getting a Status of Forces Agreement, Obama did it anyway. [...] What's Obama's plan to handle this disaster
his policies created? Earlier this week, he said, "We don't have a strategy yet. We need to make sure
that we've got clear plans. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress."
Latest
Big Lie: 'We Have No Strategy'. They DO have a strategy, but they prefer to appear
indecisive. That's because the strategy would likely provoke even greater criticism than the false
confession of endless dithering. The actual strategy is detente first, and then a full alliance
with Iran throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It has been on display since before the
beginning of the Obama administration. During his first presidential campaign in 2008, Mr. Obama
used a secret back channel to Tehran to assure the mullahs that he was a friend of the Islamic
Republic, and that they would be very happy with his policies.
The
Trouble Is that Obama DOES Have a Strategy. Obama's "we-don't-have-a-strategy" gaffe
was so egregious as to distract attention from the fact that he does indeed have a strategy, which
has blown up in his face. His strategy is accommodation with Iran at all costs. As I wrote earlier
this month, our ISIS problem derives from our Iran problem: Bashar Assad's ethnic cleansing, which
has displaced 4 million Syrians internally and driven 3 million out of the country, was possible
because of Iranian backing. The refugee flood in Iraq and Syria gives ISIS an unlimited pool of
recruits.
Do You Want to Know Why There's
No ISIS Strategy? The White House, where the president rolls into work mid-morning, where
everything starts late, and where schedules are sort just suggestions, is a disorganized mess. And that's
why there's no ISIS policy, even though the administration claims to have been aware of the threat for a year.
He Has No Strategy.
The man does not have a strategy. The man sitting in the White House, the man who is supposed to be
the leader of the free world, the man to whom the West would like to look to for direction, has no
clue, no strategy. For over a year, practically on a daily basis, the man who occupies the Oval
Office was briefed about the growing threat of a terrorist group which is so brutal that even Al Qaeda
has disavowed any connection to it. The man who laid claim to the highest office in the world was told,
warned, informed, cautioned, alerted and briefed with precise details about the rise of IS (formerly ISIS or
ISIL). The man who has a definite strategy for employing thousands of agents to spy on innocent
American citizens doesn't have a strategy vis-à-vis the butchers of ISIS.
Liberal
Pundits Baffled By Obama's 'We Don't Have A Strategy'. Liberal commentators from The New York Times and The
Washington Post expressed alarm over President Obama's admission that "we don't have a strategy yet" to confront ISIS, with
Times columnist Nicolas Kristof saying "he's got a problem." On Friday, liberal guests on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" took
their turns savaging the president's poor messaging at a press conference on the ultra-violent Islamist group the day before.
The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson claimed that the "urgency" of the threat expressed by other White House officials
"contrasted with what the president said — or didn't say."
White
House Blames Media For Obama 'No Strategy' Comment. White House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest took great lengths to explain why President Obama's comment about having no strategy to
defeat the Islamic State in Syria. "I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Obama said
during his press conference yesterday. "We don't have a strategy yet." Earnest acknowledged that
he responded quickly on Twitter to clarify Obama's "no strategy" statement after the press conference, after
it was clear that the media was using his comment as the focal point of their stories.
Pentagon
pressed on why there's no strategy to defeat ISIS. President Obama's gaffe Thursday
that "we don't have a strategy" for a broader fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is
putting pressure on the Pentagon as reporters ask: Why not? "The question presumes that we're not
doing anything, that there's no sense of urgency in the Pentagon. And you and I both know that's not true,"
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Friday [8/29/2014] after being pressed on the issue.
Strategy
irony: Obama declares 'National Preparedness Month,' 'PrepareAthon'. President Obama
admits to not having a strategy to deal with the terrorist crisis in Syria and appears stymied in
stopping Russia's drive into Ukraine, but that doesn't mean Americans are off the hook for preparing
their own disaster strategy. On Friday [8/29/2014], the president declared September "National Preparedness
Month," a time when he wants the nation to set their own strategy for dealing with a killer crisis — like
climate change.
Fox's
Ed Henry: Obama's 'No Strategy' Remark a 'Disaster' for WH. Megyn Kelly was incredibly
bewildered Thursday night [8/28/2014] at President Obama's comment about having no concrete Syria strategy yet.
Ed Henry was very blunt in telling Kelly that this is an unqualified "disaster" for the White House. Henry
admitted he was "stunned" that none of his colleagues in the briefing room followed up on that remark of the president's,
especially considering how quickly after the presser the White House jumped right into "damage control mode."
White House does damage
control. President Obama was referring only "to military options for striking" Islamist militants in Syria
when he said the White House did not "have a strategy yet," press secretary Josh Earnest insisted Thursday. The
White House launched a full-court media press to clarify the president's comments after the media and Republicans seized
on the admission.
Man without a plan. Stating only the
obvious, President Obama acknowledged Thursday that he is flummoxed at the moment as to how the U.S. should deal with ISIS, whose
rampaging barbarians advertised the mass killing of roughly 100 prisoners shortly before he spoke. "We don't have a strategy
yet," the President advised in a remark likely to indelibly stamp the remainder of his administration, because he offered no sign
that the United States will have a sweeping anti-ISIS action plan in the foreseeable future. Obama freighted his latest press
conference remarks about ISIS with so many conditions for applying U.S. military power that he has, in effect, given the savages
assurances that they can behead and crucify at will for a good long time to come.
No
One Heard Anything Obama Just Said Because His Tan Suit Was So Loud. President Obama gave an important press
conference today and even took questions from the press, but all of this was overshadowed by the fact that Obama debuted
one of the ugliest suits in the history of this great nation.
Yes
we tan! Obama ridiculed for wearing a 'used car salesman' suit to discuss crises in Iraq and Ukraine.
[C]onservative pundit Michelle Malkin did not miss a chance to take a potshot at the president, tweeting: 'I
don't care that Obama's suit is tan. The problem with the suit that it's EMPTY.' [...] Some people have
unfavorably compared the khaki-clad president to a church deacon, an insurance salesmen and a real estate agent.
'We
don't have a strategy yet': Obama stuns Washington by admitting he is clueless about tackling ISIS. President
Barack Obama said during a Thursday press conference that his administration doesn't have a plan worked out yet for defeating
the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria. 'I don't want to put the cart before the horse,' Obama said at
the White House. 'We don't have a strategy yet.' 'We need to make sure we've got clear plans, and we're
developing them,' he said.
Is
the US committed to the destruction of Isil? President Barack Obama came to the White
House briefing room last night and conceded: "We don't have a strategy yet" for confronting Isil.
The remark is a gaffe in the classic sense: a clearly true statement that the politician who utters it immediately
regrets. Republicans seized on the line as evidence of Mr Obama dithering in the face of the jihadist threat,
and the President's men raced to the airwaves to try to walk it back. But the fact is that despite more than
100 air strikes against Isil in Iraq since the beginning of August, the White House remains unable to field even basic
questions about its policy in the Middle East.
'No
strategy' a gift-wrapped gaffe that could haunt Obama. President Obama's admission in a press conference Thursday
that "we don't have a strategy yet" for a broader confrontation with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a real problem for
the White House. Rather than the average inartful comment that disappears after a few news cycles, the no-strategy line
could help cement charges that Obama lacks the competency to handle multiple crises at once. A central component of the
GOP's strategy for the midterms is to paint Obama as either overwhelmed by the challenges of his office or simply too detached
to care — and make Democrats defend an unpopular second-term president.
Krauthammer's
Take: 'I Thought the President Could No Longer Surprise Me. I Was Wrong'. On Thursday's [8/28/2014]
Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said he was shocked by President Obama's statement that he doesn't have a strategy
for the Islamic State in Syria. "[...] The President of the United States, in the middle of a real crisis,
a few days after the beheading of an American, deliberately sort of spitting in the face of the country and demonstrating
his cruelty, the president gets in front of the world and says, "I don't have a strategy." If that is true, don't
say anything. Why do you announce that you don't have a strategy?"
'We Don't Have a Strategy
Yet'. Here's the problem: Cancer is a disease. The Islamic State is an enemy. There's a
difference. Cancer develops, as it were, naturally. We counter it as best we can through human art and invention.
Medicine or surgery sometimes succeeds in checking the disease and even freeing the body of it. But a terrorist movement
does not develop naturally. The Islamic State was brought into existence by certain human beings acting according to a
certain intention, an evil and destructive intention to be sure, but an intention nonetheless. To counter the Islamic
State — to defeat it — we need to grasp and frustrate and overcome our enemies' intention.
Treating cancer is a task for surgery. Fighting the Islamic State is a task for strategy.
Why
Obama's 'We don't have a strategy' gaffe stings. By now, President Obama's remark that
"we don't have a strategy yet" has made the rounds. Republicans were quick to pounce on it, as well
they should have. But while the White House went into damage-control mode, emphasizing that it was
a reference to the lack of decisions about increasing military action in Iraq and/or Syria and not a
lack of a broader strategy there, the damage was already done. As with all gaffes, the worst ones
are the ones that confirm people's preexisting suspicions or fit into an easy narrative.
Obama's 'strategy'
misfire. President Barack Obama tried to get himself a bit more political space
Thursday to make a decision about whether to expand the U.S military campaign against Islamic
militants in Iraq and Syria, but in so doing he may have dealt himself a significant political blow
by suggesting that his policy on the issue is adrift. "We don't have a strategy yet," Obama said
as he took questions from reporters in the White House briefing room.
Obama
warns ISIS: 'We don't have a strategy yet'. Obama says the Muslim extremists, whose
barbarism brings a whole new meaning to the word 'extremists," do not belong in the 21st century.
Turns out, it may well be the disconnected, lame-duck American president who doesn't belong where he
is. As soon as the questions began, the commander-in-chief of the world's sole remaining superpower,
albeit a stumbling one now, lost control of the news conference, as he's lost control of his presidency
and its narrative with 875 days left. Obama spent most of the 30 minutes saying what he
is not going to do.
Obama Never Has
a Plan. On Thursday, President Obama held a press conference in which he humiliated
himself entirely on the question of America's handling of the terror group ISIS. Explaining that he
had to consult Congress and check the pulse of Americans, Obama stated, "I don't want to put the
cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet." Which begs the question:
what [...] does this guy do for a living?
Obama
under fire for admitting no 'strategy yet' for ISIS in Syria. President Obama is
facing intense criticism for admitting Thursday [8/28/2014] "we don't have a strategy yet" for dealing with
Islamic State militants in Syria, despite warnings from top military advisers and others that the
group must be confronted on that side of the border. The president made the comment during a
briefing with reporters in which he overtly played down the prospect of any imminent military action
in Syria. He tried to temper speculation that he was about to roll out a "full scale" strategy, one
that might expand the current, limited airstrike campaign in northern Iraq. "I don't want to put
the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet," Obama said.
Latest
Big Lie: 'We Have No Strategy'. They DO have a strategy, but they prefer to appear
indecisive. That's because the strategy would likely provoke even greater criticism than the false
confession of endless dithering. The actual strategy is detente first, and then a full alliance
with Iran throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It has been on display since before the
beginning of the Obama administration.
Laborfest
September 1, 2014.
Obama's
Spin Can't Keep Up With America's Economic Reality. At a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee,
President Obama turned the limelight on himself, approvingly and inaccurately. "By almost every
measure," he declared, "the American economy and the American workers are better off than when I
took office." In contrast to Mr. Obama's self-congratulatory assertion, the Census Bureau reports
that median household income in the United States, adjusted for inflation, is down by more than
$2,000 since Obama's first inauguration in January 2009. Additionally, as an indicator of the
economic downturn, a sixth of the U.S. population is currently receiving food stamps, an increase in
the participation rate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of 61 percent since 2008.
Obama
Has It Wrong — American Workers Aren't Better Off Under His Policies. Time
was, they had fact-checkers at the White House. They must've had the weekend off when President
Obama let go a whopper at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee. 'By almost every measure," he boasted,
"the American economy and American workers are better off than when I took office." This must
explain why nearly half of American workers believe the U.S. is still in a recession. Sure, the
stock market's done well and employment has picked up, but the most important indicator of their
financial situation is whether take-home pay keeps pace with inflation. And by this measure most
households are falling behind.
Obama
Invents "Immigration Rights" in Milwaukee Labor Speech. During an address to labor union leaders and
supporters at Milwaukee's Laborfest on September 1, President Obama added another category to the long list of
special interests that demand their own rights — "immigration rights." [...] In a statement quoted by
the Daily Caller, Mark Krikorian, director of the Center of Immigration Studies, said that Obama's "immigration
rights" phrase "implies that some people have the right to move here."
Obama
Gets Fired Up for 'Immigration Rights' at Laborfest. President Obama delivered a fiery speech at
Laborfest 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin voicing support for unions and organized labor. He also voiced his
support for "immigration rights," lumping it together with civil rights, gay rights, and voting rights.
Obama
Unleashed: 'I'm Not Asking for the Moon'. Monday [9/1/2014] at the Laborfest event in Milwaukee,
President Barack Obama gave a passionate speech in his plea for fair wages for workers. [Video clip]
Prime-time address on Middle-East strategy, if any
September 10, 2014.
Anticipation:
Predicting the President's Big
Speech. My own view on the matter can be summarized in a word: Libya. Libya on a gigantic scale. The
major danger facing the Obama administration is that this vast, Rube Goldberg coalition will malfunction and get away from them.
There will be friction between the Sunni parts, and sparks between the Sunni and Shia components, and gasoline all around. Once
your allies on the ground start fighting among themselves, whom do you bomb?
What
Obama's ISIS speech will say — about him. President Obama was not trying to be funny when he informed
NBC-TV's newest host that the presidency involves an element of theater. No kidding, Barack. But it came out
hilariously from the guy who gave his 2008 nomination acceptance speech with a backdrop of fake Greek columns — in
Denver. Or a month before that when the rookie senator rented a major Berlin intersection for a campaign speech to 200,000
Germans, none of whom could vote in the U.S. presidential election. But each of whom was a living prop for Obama's claim to
be a world savior. "Part of this job," Obama told Meet the Press' new host, Chuck Todd, "is also the theater of it.
Well, it's not something that always comes naturally to me." (Nationwide laughter.)
How Obama plans to ace
his big speech on ISIS. President Obama delivers a major address Wednesday on the growing threat of Islamic State militants in
Iraq and Syria. He needs to sell his plan to the American people and Congress — but others will be watching too.
Major Garrett Asks Why Anyone
Should Watch Obama's ISIS Speech. Given what we know of President Obama's speech tonight, Major Garrett of CBS News asks White House
Spokesmodel Josh Earnest the $64,000 question — Why should anyone bother to watch? Garrett lays out all the bullet points the
President will deliver tonight — no boots on the ground, no timeline, no cost information, no tactical operational details —
in other words: nothing new. What's the point of a speech, a primetime address to the nation, where no new information will be
conveyed? Couldn't the media just replay one of his old speeches on ISIS?
A Mismanage-able Problem.
President Obama says he intends to shrink the al-Qaeda-spawned Islamic State into a "manageable problem." Perhaps we'll learn more about
how when he speaks to the nation on Wednesday evening. Still, the question presses: Is he the manager for the job? In answering
that question, past performance is more a guarantee of future results than is any statement of newfound purpose from a president whose innate
dishonesty has turned his signature phrase "Let me be clear" into notorious self-parody.
Do over! Obama speech to reverse course on
severity of Islamic State threat. Nine months after belittling the Islamic State as a "JV" terrorist group, President Obama will
devote an urgent prime-time address Wednesday to his plan for defeating the suddenly resurgent militants, a strategy that will rely heavily on
U.S. partnership with an untested Iraqi government and unproven Syrian rebels.
Obama
tells leaders he doesn't need their vote for ISIS campaign. President Obama told congressional leaders at a White House
meeting on Tuesday [9/9/2014] he doesn't need their authorization to expand his military campaign against Islamic terrorists.
The president offered the assurance one day before a prime-time address he's scheduled to give to the nation.
Reaction:
Obama's
speech strategy: open with your biggest lie. Over the past several weeks, there's been
a plethora of discussion over Obama's "strategy" vis-à-vis ISIS (aka ISIL), whether he actually
had a strategy and, if so, what it might be. Well, he certainly had a strategy for the
speech he gave last night. Like an entertainer who opens his act with his biggest number, Obama's
strategy was to open his speech with the most blatant, brazen, bald-faced lie imaginable.
It had me livid within the first few minutes of his speech, when he had the colossal gall to state,
"First of all, ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents."
The Nowhere Man
Goes to War. Pity Barack Obama. Our hapless chief executive must be suffering from a
cognitive disorder the size of Alpha Centauri. The poor guy grew up on the anti-imperialist
mouthings of lefty poet Frank Marshall Davis, schoolboy revolutionary Bill Ayers and later anti-Israel
professor Rashid Khalidi, not to mention the well-known anti-American excrescences of the Reverend Jeremiah
Wright, and now he has to go to war — as an imperialist — against the very Third World
people he was told again and again we colonized and destroyed. His head must be about to explode.
No wonder he insisted in his Wednesday night speech that the Islamic State is not Islamic —
what is it? Hindu?
Obama's unnecessary, unpromising war.
President Obama said Wednesday night the United States is going to war "to degrade and ultimately destroy" the
group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. So right off you know one thing we will not do:
destroy it. The only thing more reliable than the habit of American presidents of starting wars is the
inability of wartime presidents to achieve their goals.
Schlock and awe: Obama
polls war. There exist any number of fair criticisms of George W. Bush's Iraq
policy — that he underestimated the resistance we would encounter, that he deferred too
long to failing generals, that the surge ought to have come sooner, and so on. The one thing that
can't be said about him is this: that his war policy was driven by the polls and politics. This is
the operative difference between Presidents Bush and Obama, which the latter drove home in his prime-time
address Wednesday evening.
'King Putt's' Islamic State of Denial.
President Barack Hussein Obama's 'no-strategy strategy' in dealing with the Sen. Dianne Feinstein
described "most vicious, well-funded, militant terrorist organization we have ever seen" turns out
to be the name he publicly bestowed upon them from the State Floor of the White House last night:
ISIL, (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) — the name the Islamic State gave to
itself — if only to show they already include Israel in their ambitious caliphate.
'No
Boots on the Ground,' Like 'You Can Keep Your Doctor'. In this hyperpartisan age,
there is one point of agreement between Republicans and Democrats on foreign policy —
that is, in addition to the newfound conviction that Congress need not exercise its constitutional
authority over war: namely, that there shall be no "boots on the ground in Iraq." It is a view
requiring immediate clarification: there may be more U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq, but no
combat troops will be sent.
Obama's Three
Fatal ISIS Delusions. With his address to the nation Wednesday evening, President
Obama revealed that he is a leader in deep denial about the threat the United States faces, and
about the steps that are necessary to deal with it. In his remarks, Obama offered up a series of
delusions, each of which point to the ultimate defeat of the United States in the war he has embarked upon.
Delusion #1: Obama still thinks ISIS is the JV team.
Sorry
Mr. President, ISIS Is 100 Percent Islamic. In a televised address on how to address
the Islamic State this evening, President Barack Obama declared the organization variously known as
ISIS or ISIL to be "not Islamic." In making this preposterous claim, Obama joins his two immediate
predecessors in pronouncing on what is not Islamic. Bill Clinton called the Taliban treatment of
women and children "a terrible perversion of Islam." George W. Bush deemed that 9/11 and other acts
of violence against innocents "violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith." None of the three
has any basis for such assertions. To state the obvious: As non-Muslims and politicians, rather
than Muslims and scholars, they are in no position to declare what is Islamic and what is not.
It's
Not a Misnomer. When you are dealing with an administration whose officials look you
in the eye and tell you the Muslim Brotherhood is a "largely secular" organization, it's tempting to
laugh off the idiocy spouted by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry about how the
Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam. We should resist the temptation, though, because there
is a dangerous purpose behind the laughable assertion. Obviously, Bing West and Daniel Pipes are
correct that the terrorist group is entirely Islamic.
Obama
war request puts congressional Democrats in a tight spot. Some Capitol Hill lawmakers are baffled. What does
President Obama want from Congress as he begins the U.S. military escalation in Iraq and Syria? The question wasn't answered
by the president's much-anticipated speech Wednesday night. First, Obama seemed to tell Congress to mind its own business.
"I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL," he said, indicating he didn't need or want any permission from the legislative
branch to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Then Obama added, "But I believe we are strongest as a nation when the
president and Congress work together. So I welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that
Americans are united in confronting this danger."
Is Obama starting a war so his party can win the next election? Why
Obama's assault on ISIS probably won't save the Democrats this fall. Until Wednesday night's speech, the president
was taking a political beating on foreign policy that had a toxic effect on his approval ratings. And that was a major drag
on vulnerable Democrats, especially those red-state senators trying to hang on and keep the chamber from tipping to the GOP.
But now, whether or not Obama is leading from behind, as his critics say, he has committed to using U.S. military power against the
terrorists. And that could scramble the electoral outlook.
Didn't
Barack Obama Declare the War on Terror Over? The President who once declared the War
on Terror over, used variants of the word "terror" eighteen times in his speech. And what of the
President's speech? Put it to you this way — it is the first time he has wanted to talk
about jobs and the economy in a long time. Basically, our strategy is to outsource the military's
job to Syrian rebels. Just last week the President said those rebels are not capable of doing what
needs to be done.
Obama's
Big Speech: Is he chasing public opinion, and does it matter? President Obama's address on battling ISIS, the details
of which were carefully leaked, raises a question that has dogged his six-year tenure: Is he again leading from behind, or is
he carefully calibrating the public mood?
Obama's
consistent unseriousness about the Islamic State. As we suspected, President Obama
tried in his Wednesday-night speech to make it sound like he was doing something new when he, in
fact, he is not. Moreover, in describing his response, he made plain that he doesn't take the threat
to the homeland seriously. For a threat his advisers say is greater than that posed by al-Qaeda
after 2001, he proposed measures suitable for Yemen and Somalia. No, really — that's the plan.
Obama
Plays Catch-Up With Public and Himself. President Obama on Wednesday night entered a
new phase of his presidency — and he did it in a most Obama of ways. First, to what's
changed: He's announcing a war, not ending one. He's preparing to act without Congress, almost
exactly a year after deferring to the legislative branch on a question of whether to use American military
force. The president is rushing to catch up with and soothe an anxious, even frightened, public.
He's doing it while looking to reverse perceptions that he's been slow to respond to metastasizing crises
in the Middle East and beyond.
Obama
Announces Additional Troops Abroad — but No Combat Mission. By the time
President Obama delivered his prime time speech this evening, he had already effectively softened
the news of his decision to launch further military air strikes against Islamic State terrorists in
both Iraq and Syria. Obama announced, however, that he would send 475 additional troops overseas,
to help the fight against ISIS terrorists, repeating that his mission was to degrade and destroy
them. But Obama cautiously asserted that any proposed actions "will not involve American combat
troops fighting on foreign soil" — which was a stronger position than his earlier promise
to keep American boots off the ground.
President
Obama renews war on terror; vows coalition to wipe out Islamic State. President Obama
announced an escalation of the war against Islamic State terrorists Wednesday night with plans to
intensify airstrikes in Iraq, send more U.S. military advisers to Baghdad, provide arms to Syrian
rebels and likely expand airstrikes into Syria. "If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a
growing threat beyond that region — including to the United States," Mr. Obama said in a
prime-time address from the White House. "We will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes
against these terrorists."
Obama: ISIS is not Islamic.
Obama said early in his speech tonight that ISIL is not Islamic even though they call themselves the
Islamic State, adding that no religion condones the killing of innocents: [...]
Obama
makes the case for war against ISIS as he promises to 'take out' the terror group in Iraq AND
Syria. President Barack Obama will pursue ISIS terrorists in Syria and expand
airstrikes in Iraq because 'if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven', he said in a
prime-time national address on Wednesday night. He also pledged that he will not put tens of
thousands of American boots on the ground there. In a four-point plan that he laid out, the
Commander-in-Chief announced coming airstrikes in both countries, additional support for Iraqi army
units, counter-terrorism activities to hamstring ISIS, and renewed humanitarian aid for victims of
ISIS militants.
Obama
announces 'broad coalition' to fight Islamic State extremist group. President Obama on
Wednesday night outlined an open-ended campaign to combat the threat posed by the Islamic State,
significantly expanding the counter-terrorism strategy that has been a hallmark of his presidency.
Obama said in a prime-time speech televised from the White House that the United States will join
"with our friends and allies to degrade, and ultimately destroy, the terrorist group known as ISIL,"
using an alternative acronym for the group that has emerged in Iraq and Syria.
CAIR
Wants Obama in Speech to Dissociate ISIS From Islam. The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) wants President Obama in his speech on ISIS Wednesday night to reject the jihadists'
"misappropriation of Islamic terms and concepts," and to recognize that the terrorist group was created
by "the lack of freedom and justice in the region." CAIR leaders plan to join other local and
national Muslim leaders in a Capitol Hill viewing of Obama's prime-time address to the nation on a
strategy to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) threat.
Five
things that could go horribly wrong with Obama's action in Iraq. If there's one thing
America's misadventure in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 taught everyone, it is that things can go terribly
wrong when the U.S. intervenes in a foreign environment with deep sectarian divisions, an
ineffectual government, armed factions, and the general complexities of the Middle East. [...] In
his address to the nation Wednesday night, the president laid out a multi-point proposal for action.
He also had an opportunity, which he chose not to take, to warn Americans of some of the specific
ways his new intervention could go wrong. "Any time we take military action, there are risks
involved, especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions," Obama said. But he
did not elaborate or explain any of those risks.
The
Religion of Liberalism and the 'Killing of Innocents'. In his primetime speech about going after ISIL, a
sibilant Barack Obama promised America that "[w]e will degrade, and ultimately destroy" the band of head-chopping thugs
that, with each passing day, is growing larger and stronger. The problem for America is that the president conveyed
the message with significantly less conviction than when he promised us that with ObamaCare we could keep our own doctors.
In addition to the unconvincing delivery, Barack was wearing way too much pancake makeup, and he was positioned below drapes
that, from a certain angle, created an optical illusion of the president sporting two horns that would turn Beelzebub green
with envy. In his speech Obama made "two things clear," which, as usual, were anything but.
Obama's
Betrayal of the Constitution. President Obama's declaration of war against the terrorist group
known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria marks a decisive break in the American constitutional tradition.
Nothing attempted by his predecessor, George W. Bush, remotely compares in imperial hubris. Mr. Bush
gained explicit congressional consent for his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In contrast, the Obama
administration has not even published a legal opinion attempting to justify the president's assertion of unilateral
war-making authority. This is because no serious opinion can be written.
Obama
inevitably will need to use ground troops to defeat Islamic State, experts warn. Trying to uproot and destroy
the Islamic State's army of terrorists in Iraq without American ground troops, as President Obama promoted Wednesday night,
is doomed to failure, national security experts say. At the least, the president needs to get ground troops closer to
the fight, say some politicians and analysts. He should introduce special operations units to advise and join the Iraqis
on hunt-and-kill missions against Islamic State leaders, as well as insert controllers to point out targets for warplanes.
Obama's ship is sinking.
The rising clamor over the beheading of two Americans, and rapidly sinking polls, forced President
Obama to reassure the nation last week he had a plan to deal with the Islamic State. He did some of
what he had to do, but only some, and so most military analysts believe the expanded airstrikes will
not be a sufficient match for the size and weaponry of the terrorist army. They miss the point.
The disjointed speech wasn't really about terrorism and launching a new war. It was about saving
Obama's presidency.
Obama's
uncertain trumpet, again. The speech's only news was the promise to expand the air campaign into Syria and (finally)
seriously arm the secular opposition. But this creates a major problem for Obama. Just a month ago, he ridiculed the
non-jihadist rebels as nothing but a bunch of "doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth." Now he deputizes them as our
Syrian shock troops. So he seems finally to have found his Syria strategy: F-16s flying air support for pharmacists
in tanks.
'War
Lite' No Winning Strategy Against Islamic State. "Degrade and ultimately destroy" is no war strategy, especially
against a terrorist state scheming the infiltration of our southern border. "American leadership at its best" would be to
destroy IS, ASAP. Imagine President Roosevelt announcing after Pearl Harbor that first we have to "degrade" the Empire of
Japan. Imagine Churchill promising, "We shall 'degrade and ultimately destroy' them on the beaches ... ."
None Dare Call It War.
It is one of the most bizarre things we've ever seen. One minute the President of America goes on
national television to announce that he has ordered our military to "degrade and ultimately destroy"
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The next moment his state secretary goes on Cable News
Network to make a declaration that CNN reported under the headline: "Kerry: U.S. not at war with
ISIS." It seems Mr. Kerry wants to draw a distinction between, on the one hand, a counter-terrorism
operation, which is how he describes that in which are involved, and, on the other hand, war.
Obama's
New War on ISIS May Be Illegal. President Obama's new war against ISIS is off to a shaky legal start.
Obama's using the law that authorized attacks against al Qaeda to justify his new fight in Syria and Iraq. One small
problem: ISIS and al Qaeda are at each others' throats. Legal experts were shocked to learn Wednesday that
the Obama administration wants to rely on that 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against al Qaeda for the
new ISIS war. "On its face this is an implausible argument because the 2001 AUMF requires a nexus to al Qaeda or
associated forces of al Qaeda fighting the United States," said Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas
School of Law. "Since ISIS broke up with al Qaeda it's hard to make that argument."
Barack
Obama's plan to fight Isil is hard to believe. Despite their professions of loyalty in
Jeddah this week, Mr Obama's regional Sunni allies, particularly Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, are
unsurprisingly lukewarm about being harried into a conflict which — as they see
it — was born out a US decision to abandon Syria and Iraq to Shia excesses. And even
the plan smacks of desperation. Only a month ago Mr Obama ridiculed the very idea of arming moderate
rebels in Syria as a "fantasy", but now apparently this once silly idea is key to holding Syrian territory
when it is recaptured from Isil forces under the cover of US air strikes.
Obama
announces 'broad coalition' to fight Islamic State extremist group. President Obama on
Wednesday night outlined an open-ended campaign to combat the threat posed by the Islamic State,
significantly expanding the counter-terrorism strategy that has been a hallmark of his presidency.
Obama said in a prime-time speech televised from the White House that the United States will join
"with our friends and allies to degrade, and ultimately destroy, the terrorist group known as ISIL,"
using an alternative acronym for the group that has emerged in Iraq and Syria.
Obama
announces he'll do what he should have done a month ago. With a decisive tone designed
to give the impression that this was a spontaneous conclusion reached after personal deliberation
(and not, certainly not, a decision reached after looking at his latest poill ratings) Barack Obama
announced his long-awaited strategy for dealing with Isil. The only substantive changes to what we
already knew to be his policy were the unsurprising intention to extend air strikes into Syria, and
the rather less expected one to assist the Syrian rebels. There would, in other words, be a
systematic attempt to support those trying to bring down the Assad regime. These two announcements
were embedded in the sort of forceful-sounding but ambivalent rhetoric we have come to expect.
On
What Is and Is Not Islamic. During his speech last night, President Obama declared,
"ISIL is not 'Islamic.' No religion condones the killing of innocents. And the vast majority of
ISIL's victims have been Muslim." It is certainly true that the vast majority of the victims of
ISIS, as the group is more commonly known, have been Muslim as have been the majority of victims of
other radical Islamist movements, it is not the job of any president to decree what is and is not
Islam; what is and is not Christianity; and what is and is not Judaism. For all practical purposes,
religion is what its practitioners believe it to be, not what an American president says it is.
Obama:
Islamic State 'Is Not Islamic'. President Obama laid out a four-part strategy Wednesday night to
"degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), saying he will not hesitate to
extend airstrikes to Syria. Addressing the nation from the White House, he used the opportunity to repeat
the administration's rejection of the jihadists' claim to be acting on behalf of Islam.
'Oversimplification',
'Wildly Off-Base': MSNBC Slams Obama's ISIS Speech. President Obama's Wednesday-night
speech laying out the United States' military strategy against the Islamic State didn't get the best
reception on the left, and not because it was too hawkish: Chris Matthews repeatedly called it "not
sufficient," NBC correspondent Richard Engel slammed it as "wildly off-base" and an "oversimplification,"
and even Al Sharpton admitted the plan left a lot to be desired. A panel composed of some of MSNBC's
brightest stars lit into the president almost immediately after he wrapped up his address to the
American people. "I heard all the necessary conditions, but not the sufficient conditions for
defeating ISIS," Matthews lamented.
Obama
says the Islamic State 'is not Islamic.' Americans disagree. Throughout his presidency, President Obama has
emphasized one point while talking about Islamist extremists: They are not practicing Islam, he has said, they are
perverting it. He took that a step further Wednesday night. While announcing that he's expanding the campaign
against the Islamic State extremist group into Syria, Obama said flatly that this group, which is trying to install a
caliphate in the Middle East, "is not Islamic." He didn't say they are perverting their religion; he said they're
not even part of that religion.
Obama's
"not Islamic" Islamic State Claim Ridiculed. President Obama's assertion Wednesday night that the
Islamic State terrorist group "is not 'Islamic'" is drawing derision from a number of quarters. The claim,
also made by Obama's predecessors, is "preposterous," Daniel Pipes wrote for the National Review Online.
"To state the obvious: As non-Muslims and politicians, rather than Muslims and scholars, they are in no position
to declare what is Islamic and what is not."
China
gives cautious response to Obama's Islamic State call. China responded cautiously on
Thursday to a call by US President Barack Obama for a broad coalition to root out Islamic State
militants in Iraq and Syria, saying the world should fight terror but that the sovereignty of
countries must be respected. Obama also told Americans on Wednesday that he had authorized US air
strikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in an escalation of a campaign against Islamic State.
Obama
Takes On ISIS With Brave Words, Pinprick Strikes, And Phantom Allies. President Barack
Obama last night promised to defeat ISIS (a.k.a. ISIL or the Islamic State) by combining American
air power and 475 additional troops — not boots on the ground — with the
ground forces of ephemeral allies, whose willingness and ability to fight are far from certain.
Among the allies who are to conduct the ground campaign against ISIS are the Kurds (whose fighting
ability is not in question), Iraqi forces that collapsed when confronted with several thousand ISIS
fighters, and now the largely unknown "moderate" forces fighting the Assad regime. The president
showed his "fighting side" by expanding American air power into Syria and placing his bets on the
farmers, teachers and dentists whose fighting ability he recently disparaged.
Obama's
coalition may not hold against Islamic State. President Obama on Wednesday accepted
that the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had left his preferred Middle East policy in
shambles and announced a new one centered on building a broad coalition to fight the Islamist
extremist group. In doing so, the president finally accepted direct U.S. intervention in Syria.
Many of the actions he proposed in Wednesday night's speech to the nation were those his administration had
previously rejected as impractical over the past three years, including U.S. bombing raids and arming Syrian
rebels believed to be "moderates."
Obama at
the Credibility Gap. Rarely has a president faced a greater challenge in establishing
his credibility for a new foreign-policy move than Barack Obama did in his nationally televised
speech tonight. A CNN poll earlier this week found that just 30 percent of voters thought Obama
had presented a clear plan for fighting the Islamic State. While Obama now pledges to ask Congress
to train and aid Syrian rebels who would fight the group, voters remember that he backed similar plans in
Syria in 2013, when his advisers saw Syrian president Bashar Assad as the major threat.
Obama's
'Strategy' Has No Chance of Success. President Obama just announced that he is
bringing a counter-terrorism strategy to an insurgency fight. He was at pains to repeat the phrase
"counter-terror" four times in a short speech. Noting that ISIL is not a state (partly because the
international community thankfully does not recognize it), he declared, "ISIL is a terrorist organization,
pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way."
Neither of those sentences, unfortunately, is true.
The Obama Bomb. [Scroll down] The swift rise to power
of so brutal and determined a jihadist entity is clearly on Obama's malign scorecard, the handiwork
of a president who, by his own admission, did not formulate a strategy to deal with the impending
menace until he went on TV to explain it on Wednesday night (White House press secretary Josh
Earnest frantically tried to cover for Obama, saying he really meant Syria); who withdraws troops
from contested regions; who refuses to take responsibility for his mistakes and even attempts to
capitalize on them for propaganda advantages; and who is always brought up short by events he is
unable to take the measure of.
Coalition
Refusing Obama's ISIS Fight Far Bigger Than One Helping It. For all the ridicule
heaped upon George W. Bush's so-called "Coalition of the Willing" by President Obama, Vice President
Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, among others, the US-led 2003 operation to liberate Iraq
and overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein was assisted by 49 nations that provided material
military support including troops, intelligence cooperation, material, logistics, ground facilities,
and financial assistance.
Squandered
Credibility of U.S. Will Prove Hard To Address By a Faltering Obama. There is no
possible explanation that is not discreditable for why we went from then-Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton's assertion that Assad was "a reformer," to the unctuous Obama revelation that
it was "time for him to go," to the infamous, self-eradicating "red line," to the abdication in
favor of Congress to approve the much-announced punitive cruise-missile attacks that new Secretary
of State John Kerry assured would be "unbelievably small," to confiding the disposal of the poison
gas that Assad had conferred upon some of his refractory countrymen to the capable and infinitely
trustworthy hands of Vladimir Putin, who had supplied Assad in the first place. This dismal
sequence was summarized Wednesday by the president in his address to the country as the combination
of strength and diplomacy that resolved the Syrian poison-gas crisis.
Even
a Top Democrat Thinks Obama's Legal Case for War Makes No Sense. The White House and senior members of the Obama administration
have been trying to convince Congress all week that, legally speaking, there's no difference between ISIS and al Qaeda. But at the same
time — and, often, in the very same classified briefings — members of the U.S. intelligence community are telling lawmakers
that the two Islamic radical groups aren't in cahoots at all. In fact, they're competitors for supremacy in the global jihadist movement.
The Barbarians Within
Our Gates. With his decision to use force against the violent extremists of the Islamic State, President Obama is
doing more than to knowingly enter a quagmire. He is doing more than play with the fates of two half-broken countries —
Iraq and Syria — whose societies were gutted long before the Americans appeared on the horizon. Obama is stepping once
again — and with understandably great reluctance — into the chaos of an entire civilization that has broken down
Retired
Head Of Marine Corps: Obama's ISIS Strategy Doesn't Have 'A [...] Chance [...] Of Succeeding'. The man who was the top
Marine general from 2006 until his retirement in 2010 says President Barack Obama's strategy to defeat the terrorist group the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria is doomed to fail. "I don't think the president's plan has a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding,"
retired Marine General James Conway, who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps during the end of the Bush administration and the
beginning of the Obama administration, said at the Maverick PAC Conference in Washington, D.C. Friday, according to a source in attendance.
BHO Goes to War.
Barack Hussein Obama, the American president least interested in war in most of our lifetimes, possibly
ever, has found himself plunged half-heartedly in the middle of it, going to war, bombing Islamic State
territories within Syria, a country he at first warned would itself be bombed for its use of chemical weapons.
United Nations climate summit
September 23, 2014.
Obama to UN:
Climate Change [is] Our Fault. On Tuesday, shortly after announcing to the American public
that the United States was now bombing ISIS in Syria, the President of the United States flew to New
York to address the United Nations — on climate change. His speech mixed high-flown
sentiment with apologies for America, and pledged American sacrifice in the name of a lofty goal
without evidence that such sacrifice would in any way contribute to attaining that goal.
In other words, it was a typical Barack Obama whirligig.
Obama Calls For
More Ambitious Approach To Climate Change In U.N. Speech. In a speech at the U.N.
Climate Summit, President Obama called for a more ambitious global approach to environmental issues,
and noted a new push to boost what the White House calls "global resilience" in the face of climate change.
United Nations General Assembly
September 24, 2014.
Commando
vs. Community Organizer: Netanyahu Slams "Brazen Lies" Told by Obama and Abbas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose not to let President Obama's bold allegation that
Israelis were not interested in peace go unanswered in his speech Monday at the UN. [...] President
Obama spent five sentences of his 39-minute UN address on Iran, telling the world "my message to
Iran's leaders...We can reach a solution that meets your energy needs while assuring the world that
your program is peaceful." Another brazen lie, since no one believes that Iran's nuclear program
is peaceful or has anything to do with its energy needs, which can be met into the next century by
its natural resources.
The
Throat-Clearing President Versus the Throat-Cutting Terrorists. Last week, President Obama spoke to the United Nations about the growing threat
of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In the course of that speech, he discussed a wide variety of threats to Western civilization, ranging
from Ebola to global warming, from chaos in Syria to China's incursions in the South China Sea. The speech seemed unfocused, meandering.
But it held together thanks to one common thread: Barack Obama believes that words solve everything. Particularly his own. Obama's
narcissism isn't mere arrogance. It's messianism. It's pure faith that his verbiage can alter the course of history.
Barack
Obama, Outside Agitator. In his U.N. address, President Obama listed a parade of
horrors afflicting our world: "Russian aggression in Europe," "terrorism in Syria and Iraq," rapes
and beheadings by ISIL, al-Qaida, Boko Haram. And, of course, the Ferguson Police Department.
That's right. The president could not speak of war, terrorism and genocide without dragging in the
incident in a St. Louis suburb where a white cop shot and killed a black teenager. [...] Obama said
that "young men of color" are too often "judged by stereotypes." But behind those stereotypes are
FBI statistics that show that black males between 16 and 36, two percent of the U.S. population,
commit a vastly disproportionate share of all violent crimes. Where are the stats to sustain
Obama's stereotype of cops?
Obama's Latest Collectivist Speech.
Mr. Obama gave an ethereal, other-worldly, pie-in-the-sky address to the U.N. Wednesday that was not based in reality. [...] Mr. Obama
declared war on war as if anyone who wants to attack us and others was actually listening. He quoted Sheikh bin Bayyah described
its purpose: "We must declare war on war, so the outcome will be peace upon peace." He gave his usual shout out to
the Israelis and told them to engage in the "hard work of peace" which to him means negotiating with terrorists.
Just Another Obama Speech to the UN. For
better or worse, I watched President Obama's speech today to the UN General Assembly. Ninety percent could have been uttered at any
Obama speech, and probably has been. The predictable mix of anodyne platitudes, vague calls to action, and more-in-sadness-than-anger
scolding has become all too familiar to listeners foreign and domestic. The audience of international
grifters diplomats appeared bored out of their corrupt minds and who can blame them?
A quick CNN cut to the U.S. delegation showed a worried Samantha Power and John Kerry with head in hands.
In
U.N. speech, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Obama makes case for war. This is how a Nobel Peace Prize laureate goes
to war. He smiles warmly at the members of the U.N. General Assembly. He mentions his grandmother's village in
Kenya and notes that "Islam teaches peace." He admits his country's own flaws, praises "the path of diplomacy and peace,"
and asserts that lasting gains cannot be "won at the barrel of a gun."
Obama
Praises Muslim Cleric Who Backed Fatwa on Killing of U.S. Soldiers. President Barack Obama favorably quoted and praised
on Wednesday in his speech before the United Nations a controversial Muslim cleric whose organization has reportedly endorsed the terror
group Hamas and supported a fatwa condoning the murder of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Obama in his remarks offered praise to
controversial cleric Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah and referred to him as a moderate Muslim leader who can help combat the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL or ISIS) radical ideology. However, Bin Bayyah himself has long been engulfed in
controversy for many of his views, including the reported backing of a 2004 fatwa that advocated violent resistance against
Americans fighting in Iraq.
Barack Obama's 'Broad Brush' U.N.
Speech. Frankly, when Obama cites "the prospect of war between major powers reduced ... Hundreds of millions of
human beings ... freed from the prison of poverty, and the world economy strengthening," it's hard to tell what planet he came
from. Apparently Barry hasn't noticed, but World War III is geared up, and pasting a smiley face on severed heads isn't
going to change that. Then there's China. Obama conveniently forgot to mention that if China is taken out of the
equation, his rosy economic picture changes markedly. Nevertheless, thanks to Common Core, ObamaCare, and "Hope and
Change," the president said he reminds American youth that, for those who manage to make it out of the womb alive, this is
the "best time in history to be born."
Obama's
condemnation of Ferguson, Missouri, during UN talk was a mistake. President Obama
spoke Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly in his annual foreign policy address to the
world body. Speaking after the Brazilian president but before Uganda's leader, Obama spoke for
31 minutes on Russia, Asia, Ebola, Iran and climate change. Eighteen minutes into his speech, Obama
mentioned ISIS. Then, he went on to talk about "violent extremism" (he never mentioned "Islamic
extremism"). But after talking about terrorism and "taking action against immediate threats," Obama
transitioned to calling out America's "failure" and "our own racial and ethnic tensions" in "the small
American city of Ferguson, Missouri."
Cheney
rips Obama for 'Ferguson'. Dick Cheney says it's "outrageous" that President Barack
Obama mentioned the summer's unrest in Ferguson, Mo., while speaking about ISIL during a speech at
the United Nations. "I was stunned," the former vice president said on Wednesday [9/24/2014]
during an interview on Fox News' "Hannity." As Obama attempted to muster support from U.N. member
nations to combat extremism earlier Wednesday, he referred to the police killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown
as a way to recognize critics who point out that the U.S. has "plenty of problems within its own borders."
Obama outdoes himself in UN
speech. By now we are well aware that President Obama goes out of his way to praise Islam, making false claims
that Islam is a religion of peace (is anyone else completely sick of that expression?) and lauding purported Muslim
contributions to civilization. When speaking at the United Nations on Wednesday Obama took taqiyya to a whole
new level when he praised Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah. Who, you may ask, is that? [...]
Obama,
confounded, chides tribal Middle East in speech to UN General Assembly. The
international system on which the United States relies is failing to "keep pace" with an
interconnected world, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, in a somber speech on the state of
global affairs. The speech was an acknowledgment by the president of the challenges to his own doctrine
of multilateralism: "we cannot rely on a rule book written for a different century," he said.
3
Reasons President Obama Is Wrong About Stay-At-Home Mothers. Charlie Spiering reports
on a speech President Obama made in Rhode Island today [10/31/2014]. You know things are rough for
President Obama this election season when he is relegated to a state so small CNN thinks it's a city.
Anyway, he was painting a picture of how he'd like to expand the administrative state to include government
pre-school. Because public schools are doing such a good job generally. Anyway, he then took an
absolutely bizarre swipe against stay-at-home mothers: [...]
'That's Not a Choice We Want Americans to Make' — Obama
Slams Stay at Home Moms. Condescension aside, aggravating is the constant drum beat of
the modern "feminist" lie that women can have it all. It's simply not true. Those with successful
careers and families are routinely put in a place of choosing one or the other. Men with families
also find themselves in the same dilemma, yet no one wants to talk about their struggles, because
"feminism." Beyond perpetuating modern "feminist" myths is an even nastier issue with the
President's poorly worded statements: are we really in a place culturally where it's acceptable
to demonize a woman's choice to stay at home as, "not a choice we want Americans to make"?
Evidently so.
Obama's
Last Midterm Speech: The Economy's Great! ...Except for Women. In Barack Obama's last
weekly address before the November election, he resorted to his usual chicanery, this time with an
emphasis on the War on Women. Obama started by claiming that over the past 55 months, "Our
businesses have added 10.3 million new jobs." "Our businesses?" Since when did the creator
of the infamous line "You didn't build that," have the right to call them "Our businesses?"
"Added 10.3 million new jobs?" [...]
Post-election press conference
November 5, 2014.
It's
still Obama's way or the highway. "What's most important to the American people right
now," Obama said, "the resounding message not just of this election, but basically the last several
is: Get stuff done. Don't worry about the next election. Don't worry about party affiliation.
Do worry about our concerns." Of course, this is a rather obtuse take on what the voters said and did.
They punished one specific party affiliation. And they did so precisely because the "stuff" that that party
and its president have focused on "getting done" apparently does not align with, and perhaps even exacerbates,
many of their concerns.
Obama
Wants Conservatives to Self-Cannibalize Over His Executive Action on Immigration.
Having received a walloping in the elections, President Obama has promised to double down by tearing
the country apart over illegal immigration. "I've shown a lot of patience," he said with
characteristic conceit at Wednesday's contrition-free press conference. Make no mistake.
It will be the opening salvo of a two-year campaign that will decide which course the country takes:
one that fundamentally alters our way of life or one that conserves our many blessings.
President Impervious.
At the end of his opening statement at the traditional postelection presidential press conference,
Barack Obama offered this assurance: "I continue to believe we are simply more than just a
collection of red and blue states," he said. "We are the United States." [...] Last week, Obama
recited those words impassively from a prepared statement. They followed a series of clichés
and preceded a list of empty promises. His words no longer move the country. Even Barack Obama
doesn't seem to believe much that comes out of the president's mouth these days. The Age of Obama
may be over, but his presidency continues, alas.
Conservative
Senators Warn Obama on Unconstitutional Amnesty Move. Yesterday Obama responded to the
decisive public repudiation of his policies represented by the massive Republican wave by reaching
out to the incoming majority, generously offering to give them a few weeks to propose legislation to
his liking before he jettisons the Constitution entirely and rules by decree.
Mope and Change.
Losing the Senate "doesn't make me mopey, it energizes me, because it means that this democracy's
working." It took him until near the very end of his painfully meandering Castro-length
post-shellacking press conference for a decent soundbite to emerge, but for once, the president
didn't disappoint: [...]
In
defeat, Obama tells GOP: My mandate is bigger than yours. President Obama did
something extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented, in his post-election news conference Wednesday: He
claimed a mandate on behalf of voters who didn't vote. "To everyone who voted, I want you to know
that I hear you," the president said. "To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in
the process yesterday, I hear you, too." What did that mean? What did those non-voters say?
It would probably be more useful to ask what the president heard. And apparently Obama heard
expressions of support from non-voters across the land.
RNC
on Obama Press Conference: 'Is He Detached or in Denial?'. In an eyebrow-raising
Wednesday press conference, President Barack Obama appeared unapologetic to fellow Democrats for
Tuesday's historic midterm election losses — losses many in the president's own party attribute
directly to him. "I'm having a great time!" Obama said with a smile during the press conference.
Obama
reacts to midterm disaster: Not my fault and other dumb claims. Here's Obama's news
conference reaction to that nationwide rejection: "I don't want to try to read the tea leaves on
election results." "The resounding message not just of this election, but basically the last
several is: Get stuff done." In other words, no one minds ObamaCare raising costs and reducing
choices, Dodd-Frank, thousands of pages of new regulations strangling enterprises and job creration
or any of his missteps threatening national security. The American people, in Obama's eyes, just
want more done.
Obama's
presser goes Through the Looking Glass. For President Obama, elections mean just what
he chooses them to mean. Tuesday's midterm, which saw Democrat senators, governors, and House
members fall like bowling pins, was all about the two thirds of the registered voters who didn't
bother to show up.
WaPo
Factchecker Gives Obama 3 Pinocchios For Bogus Health Care Claim. President Obama continued his tradition
of blatantly lying to the American people about ObamaCare during his press conference Wednesday and the Washington Post
Factchecker has called him out on it giving him 3 Pinocchios.
The man who would
not pivot. President Obama took to the podium today to inform the nation that he will
change exactly nothing about how he does his job after a historic drubbing in the midterm elections.
He will tout the same policies in the same ways, with no particular plan for how to get any of them
passed, with no particular nevermind paid to how the politics have shifted tectonically beneath his
feet, armed with nothing but his assertions of his rightness. Again.
President
Obama's Press Conference, Translated. Sometimes, politicians can be a little difficult
to understand. For example, they don't alway say why they mean. I know this comes as a shock.
Having spent, as a Washington reporter, endless spans of unrecoverable, precious time listening to
politicians, I can be of help. I'm fluent in their language, and I can translate for you.
As a public service, here is an English language version for you of President Obama's press conference
Wednesday.
The Silent Majority?
Last week President Obama consoled himself after his party suffered heavy losses by noting that
"two-thirds" of voters didn't show up to the polls. Obama presented himself as the voice of this
nonvoting silent majority. He had "heard" them. Through telepathy apparently, he knows that they
want him to continue his failed progressive agenda. [...] Almost four out of ten voters didn't vote
in Obama's election in 2008. But back then he wasn't in the mood to listen to nonvoters.
Blanket amnesty announcement
November 20, 2014.
In anticipation of the speech:
Obama
to Give Live Executive Amnesty Speech Tomorrow Night. Tomorrow night, at 8 p.m. EST,
President Obama will address the nation on his coming executive amnesty. "Our immigration system
has been broken for decades — and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who
live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law
and contribute to our country," says the White House press secretary in a blog post.
Obama's Royal Scam.
Obama has on several occasions correctly described the action he now intends to take as unlawful. He
has dismissed it as royal rather than presidential in character. [...] Obama must feel some compunction
about the forthcoming decree because he has baldly lied about his past statements disclaiming the
constitutional authority he now purports to exercise.
Obama's
Executive Order on Immigration Is Unlikely to Include Health Benefits. Millions of
undocumented immigrants who are set to be granted a form of legal status by President Obama as early
as this week will not receive one key benefit: government subsidies for health care available
under the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama is preparing to use his executive authority to provide
work permits for up to five million people who are in the United States illegally, and to shield
them from deportation. But an official familiar with the administration's deliberations said on
Tuesday [11/18/2014] that such people would not be eligible for subsidized, low-cost plans from the
government's health insurance marketplace, HealthCare.gov.
The Editor says...
You can believe that story if you like, but it's obvious that even if Obama is telling the truth for once, under Obama's wholesale amnesty plan,
the incremental approach is still in play: The millions of illegal aliens will get permission to stay here, then they'll eventually get
Obamacare, food stamps, subsidized housing, full citizenship and voting rights. Just not all at once. These things have to be
carefully meted out in order to avoid backlash. (Keywords: boiled frog.)
Obama
to shield 5 million from deportation. President Barack Obama will announce Thursday
that he is shielding about 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, circumventing
Congress to provide the most sweeping changes to immigration policy in decades. Obama released a
video Wednesday previewing his prime-time speech and his Friday trip to Las Vegas, where he will
promote the executive actions he's taking.
The Editor says...
Unveiling or signing an executive order can be done in the White House. It does not require a
flight to Las Vegas. Obama's trip to Las Vegas should be counted as another vacation, if that's all
the work he did. Anyone else who lives and works on the east coast would consider an all-expenses-paid
trip to Las Vegas to be a vacation, even if only for a three day weekend — especially on a
luxury liner like Air Force One.
Appropriations
panel: Defunding immigration order 'impossible'. It would be "impossible" to defund
President Obama's executive actions on immigration through a government spending bill, the House
Appropriations Committee said Thursday [11/20/2014]. In a statement released by Committee
Chairman Hal Rogers's (R-Ky.) office hours before Obama's scheduled national address, the committee
said the primary agency responsible for implementing Obama's actions is funded entirely by user fees.
Sounds like a lot of chest-thumping and saber-rattling without any concrete action. McConnell:
'Congress Will Act' if Obama Goes Through with Immigration Order. Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed on the floor of the upper chamber this morning that "if
President Obama acts in defiance of the people and imposes his will on the country, Congress will
act." "We're considering a variety of options. But make no mistake. When the newly elected
representatives of the people take their seats, they will act," he said in reference to the GOP majority in
the 114th Congress.
The
Game Plan to Stop Obama's Unconstitutional Amnesty. The Obama Administration is
planning to pardon at least 4.5 million illegal aliens and grant them work permits. This move will
allow them to receive driver's licenses and Social Security cards, and eventually obtain access to our welfare
system. Additionally, as part of his coup, he is planning to make numerous changes to our immigration
system — all without the consent of Congress. It's as if Article I Section 8 of
the Constitution, which explicitly grants Congress plenary power over immigration and naturalization,
does not exist.
Livid
GOP Governors threaten legal action over Obama's immigration executive order. A group
of Republican governors tore into President Barack Obama on Wednesday [11/19/2014] over his forthcoming
immigration directive and threatened to sue him for breaking the law. 'I would go to the courts,'
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday during an annual retreat for the party's chief executives.
'This is illegal.' Outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry accused Obama of 'sticking his finger into the eye
of the American people' and said his state may take legal action against the president, too.
Martha
to Earnest: How Did Obama Completely Change His Mind? Obama has stated numerous times
in recent years that he does not have the authority to act without Congress to reform the immigration
system the way he would like. For instance, in May 2011 he said, "Sometimes when I talk to
immigration advocates, they wish I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. But
that's now [sic] how democracy works." Despite those previous statements, the president will go ahead
with a plan that is expected to grant amnesty to up to 5 million illegal immigrants in a primetime
address tonight.
The same chant haunts the man who
will never be king. That Obama is opening the floodgates by granting amnesty to 5 million
illegal aliens isn't this evening's news. The real news already happened when people caught on last
summer that Obama had left the southern border wide open. All Obama is really doing prime time
tonight is taking time to openly brag about it.
Obama opts for
confrontation. On immigration, President Obama has decided to take on Republicans
poised to control the House and Senate in the next Congress. In a prime-time address on Thursday,
Obama will announce executive actions that could give legal status to millions of immigrants that
are in the country illegally.
Steve
King Plots Three-Step Response to Executive Amnesty. With only hours before President
Obama is expected to announce a major unilateral amnesty for illegal immigrants, Republican
lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear flummoxed at what they might do to stop him from going forward.
Republican
Governors Seethe Over Obama's Pending Move on Immigration. President Obama's impending
executive action on immigration is unleashing the fury of Republican governors who now control a
clear majority of the nation's statehouses — and not entirely for the reasons that
partisans might expect. The new legal protections that the president is poised to bestow on five
million illegal immigrants Thursday will immediately thrust the issue back to the states, forcing
dozens of governors who vigorously oppose the move to contemplate a raft of vexing new legal
questions of their own, like whether to issue driver's licenses or grant in-state college tuition to
such people.
Obama
mows down separation of powers and limits on executive power. Obama on Thursday night
plans to announce an amnesty for about 5 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally. His order is
based on no statutory authority, but is instead an expansion of the idea of "prosecutorial discretion" —
the notion that federal government can't catch all scofflaws, and so it must set priorities. Republicans, and
even much of the mainstream media, have sniffed out Obama's likely true motives here, and they are nakedly political.
State
AGs Say Obama 'Sees Himself As Above the Law'. Even before President Obama announced
that his immigration plan will proceed in the absence of legislation, several state attorneys-general
announced they plan to sue the president. "It is anticipated tonight's speech will again prove our
president sees himself as above the law," Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said on Thursday.
Republican
Leaders Urge Restraint. Restraint. That's the attitude Republican leadership is urging
the party's rank and file to adopt ahead of the president's issuance of an executive amnesty for
approximately 5 million illegal immigrants tonight. While Texas senator Ted Cruz is calling the
president a monarch and urging Congress to respond to an amnesty by refusing to confirm any of the
administration's nominees when the 115th Congress convenes in January, and Alabama senator Jeff
Sessions and others are looking to withhold funding from various federal agencies, House and Senate
leaders are showing little appetite for those sorts of fights.
Obama's
immigration edict has no legal justification. The broadcast networks refused to air
the president's immigration speech, with some insiders admitting the networks found it too
political. Besides that, the speech was insulting to anyone remotely familiar with our system of
government, and it assumes that his base is so unhinged it will stop at nothing to get what it wants.
The Editor asks...
When have the networks ever considered Obama's speeches to be "too political" to put on the air?
Obama
Doesn't Bother to Solicit English-Speaking Networks for Coverage. Reports have it that
illegal immigrants across the country are throwing watch parties in anticipation of the president's
announcement of amnesty for around 5 million immigrants here illegally. One Chicago Latino leader,
Pastor Emma Lozano of Aldaberto United Methodist Church, told The Washington Times she'll be watching the
address alongside people currently facing deportation: "We're going to be watching this very closely,
people in my church," said Aldaberto.
Obama
to issue immigration order on Mexico's 'Revolution Day'. No doubt it's just a quirk of
the calendar, but President Obama is making his announcement to grant legal status for millions of
illegal immigrants on Mexico's "Revolution Day." The president's prime-time address Thursday
coincides with the date in 1910 when the Mexican revolution began. The timing hasn't escaped the
notice of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, a group that opposes the president's plan.
Reaction to the speech:
Post,
Journal, USA Today reject Obama's solo immigration action, NYT applauds it. Of
America's four national newspapers, only the New York Times' editorial board is satisfied with
President Obama's plan to act on immigration reform without Congress. Obama on Thursday announced
that he would issue an executive order to delay deportation for some 5 million immigrants now living
in the United States illegally.
King
Barack's doddering effort at amnesty slaps workers in the face. In his immigration
lecture Thursday night, President Obama revealed himself as a man politically broken, isolated from
any sense of normal reality and completely unspooled from logic. The man who once unified this
country with elegant, daring and powerful speeches was ashen, confused and doddering. It was like
watching someone you have had breakfast with your whole life slip into the haze of Alzheimer's and
suddenly become confounded about what to do with the carton of milk and the bowl of cereal.
"Obama
has engaged in a sustained and calculated campaign to dismantle the immigration laws of the United
States". President Obama's executive amnesty violates the laws Congress has passed in
order to create and implement laws Congress has refused to pass. The President is providing an
estimated 5 million illegal immigrants with social security numbers, photo IDs and work
permits — allowing them to now take jobs directly from struggling Americans during a time
of record immigration, low wages, and high joblessness. This amnesty plan was rejected by the
American people's Congress. By refusing to carry out the laws of the United States in order
to make his own, the President is endangering our entire Constitutional order.
Conservative
expert on immigration law to pursue suit against executive action. By the time Obama's
speech ends, [Kris] Kobach can't even pretend to be interested in talking about local voter turnout.
"A huge thing just happened tonight in the history of this country," he announces to the group, and
then he explains the details. "Imperial, executive amnesty," he says. "The sacrificial
shredding of our Constitution."
Amnesty? No, Treason!.
After committing a long list of well documented crimes against the people of the United States, the
man — and I use the term advisedly — occupying the White House and the
formerly respected office of President, has finally topped his shameful list with the penultimate
political felony, treason. With clear knowledge that declaring his so-called amnesty for millions
of criminal invaders — including countless murderers, rapists, child molesters, violent
thieves, pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers and addicts, virtual slavers, and terrorists —
is a totally unconstitutional act, and therefore, totally illegal, Marxist revolutionary Barack
Hussein Obama has committed an act that will wreck our economy, put us more trillions into debt,
destroy our educational and health systems, and permanently put more millions of American citizens
out of work. Black people, the group he has lied so often about caring about, will be especially
hard hit, with those at the bottom of the pile, socially and economically, doomed to stay there in
perpetuity.
Obama
plays dirty politics with the Constitution. At some point during grade school, American children
are taught about the separation of powers. [...] But any schoolboy watching President Obama's speech on Thursday
night — where he laid out his plan to act unilaterally on immigration (without Congress) —
might rightly be confused. For it seems that the president has crossed that fine line between enforcing the
law (his proper role) and simply rewriting laws that do not suit him. And in so doing, he has directly
contradicted at least 22 of his own past statements, including very specific quotes like: "I'm president,
I'm not king. I can't do these things just by myself'" and "I'm not the emperor of the United States.
My job is to execute laws that are passed."
Republican Party Cowards.
It was an audacious announcement that was both unconstitutional and confrontational. It circumvented
Congress, and their vital role in this issue, and was, thus, radically different from the last time
amnesty was given to illegal immigrants. In 1986, President Reagan did not issue an executive order
on illegal immigration; he signed a bill passed by Congress. Sadly, this President does not care
what Congress thinks or does. He has no interest in meeting or working with them. Whether he
is acting like a tyrant or an emperor, it is clear that he is not acting in conjunction with Congress.
Obama's Amnesty Speech,
Deconstructed. The good news is the thunderous applause was only heard among the
illegal immigrants gathered outside the White House to rejoice in the lawlessness of an American
president abjectly refusing to faithfully execute American laws. The majority of the country
had no such reaction, and sees this bitter, cynical assault on limited government and the rule of
law for what it is.
Communist
Party USA Praises Obama for Violating the Constitution on Amnesty. The Communist Party
USA, in their Peoples' World magazine, praised Barack Obama's decision to violate the law and
bastardize even a valued legal tactic called "prosecutorial discretion." [...] The AFL-CIO also
backs the president. Illegal immigrants are the unions "brothers and sisters." It
doesn't seem to phase them that they have welcomed in more workers to compete with their members.
The Unstoppable
Emperor of La Raza. [T]he reality of life in 2014, 2015, and 2016 is that we've got
millions — five is the current guess, but it's an open ledger — of Mexicans
and Central Americans with a smattering of others who are getting social security numbers and work
permits and it's a safe bet the government will disperse them in a way, and not track them, so that
it will be practically impossible to remove them.
Obama
Flies Luis Gutierrez On Air Force One For Exec Amnesty Celebration. On Friday [11/21/2014],
President Barack Obama flew Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) on Air Force One with other Democrats to a speech
at a Las Vegas high school (Del Sol) where he delivered a speech to celebrate and promote his executive amnesty.
Obama
to Congress: It's My Way or My Way. [Scroll down] This guy is supposed to be a
lawyer. The question of his authority to do X is independent of what Congress does. The
executive branch may not write laws. You could look it up.
Alinsky
Does Amnesty. In Thursday's speech, Obama was not just brazen but remorseless, not
deigning to offer a word of explanation for his sudden 180. Another day, another story line in the
soap opera, as if the prior episodes had never happened. The pundits were aghast and, for once,
seemed embarrassed at having covered the solipsist-in-chief's original expressions of humility as if
they were, you know, sincere. This, fittingly, stirred the Obama courtiers to an embarrassing
defense of their man. We were told that the president — heretofore the brightest, most
learned ever to grace the office — had previously been uninformed about the extent of his
power, but thankfully his lawyers set him straight.
Dear
Mr. Obama, It Must Be Good to Be King. Incredibly, even after all of the scandals,
corruption, lies, and deceits; even after this past week when we learned about the depth of your
Obamacare deception; even after using the IRS to target your political opponents; even after letting
your ambassador die in Benghazi and lying about it afterwards; even after dividing the nation and
exploiting racial tensions for your own gain; even after six years of incompetence, dishonesty,
conspiracy, and illegality; even after every law you've flouted, promise you've broken, and lie
you've told, you still found a way to top yourself. In refusing to enforce our borders and uphold
our immigration laws, you are now guilty of the most profound presidential power grab since Abraham Lincoln.
Jorge
Ramos: Obama's Amnesty Will 'Demonstrate Our Newfound Power'. Univision's Jorge Ramos
is already celebrating President Obama's planned executive action on amnesty, calling it a "triumph
for the Latino community." Ramos has been a passionate advocate for immigration reform — even
swimming across the Rio Grande to highlight the dangers illegal immigrants face. But for Ramos
and his audience, Obama's amnesty order would be a key victory.
Obama's 'America'.
President Obama told us yesterday that we must legalize millions of illegal aliens because America
is "a creed, an idea" — and is not what he calls "a bloodline." [...] Obama buttressed
his view by pulling out the line that America is "a nation of immigrants," with only the "idea" to
hold itself together and make that nation "America." In reality, America was founded by a migration,
not an immigration — one that took place within what is now a different concrete society:
England. That society sent settlers across the ocean to consolidate and expand its newly claimed
territories for itself. It was a colonial implantation of an existing society, not a nation of
immigrants who formed a new society out of nothing but an idea. Immigrants came later and
assimilated into the preexisting society.
Executive Amnesty:
Will We Allow One Man to Fundamentally Transform America? [Scroll down] The rare
Enterovirus D68 is causing an outbreak across 45 states, sickening nearly 700 — mostly
children. Illegal alien minors are also spreading dengue fever, swine flu, tuberculosis, and
possibly Ebola. Obama's open border policy has delivered over 300,000 illegals; 75,000 of them are
children who directly entered schools across America without proper examinations and so on. It
has been exposed that many of the illegals are gang members and drug dealers. As inconceivable as
this is to imagine, it does appear that one man, exploiting the historical aspect of his presidency
to break the law at will, may be allowed to fundamentally transform America. Obama via executive
order will grant amnesty to 5 million illegals, plus the 75,000 children who invaded our country and
their parents. If Republicans do not stop Obama's insanity, one characterless, out-of-control,
arrogant, evil liar will fundamentally transform America. That is totally unacceptable.
Obama
announces amnesty for millions of 'anchor baby' parents and illegal immigrant children. President
Obama announced a plan Thursday night to mainstream millions of illegal immigrants with an executive order allowing
them to stay instead of facing deportation, bringing howls from Republicans who complained about so-called 'anchor
babies' helping their illegal parents remain in the U.S. The president calmly explained in a 16-minute
speech — subtitled in Spanish — the parameters of what angry Republicans are calling a
lawless 'amnesty.'
Jeff
Sessions: Obama's Amnesty 'Endangering Our Entire Constitutional Order'. Incoming
Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions says that President Barack Obama's executive
amnesty is something that is "endangering our entire constitutional order" as a democratic Republic.
"President Obama's executive amnesty violates the laws Congress has passed in order to create and implement
laws Congress has refused to pass," Sessions said in a statement.
Cruz Quotes Cicero.
Texas senator Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor to speak out against President Obama's executive
amnesty. He did so today by quoting at length from Cicero: [Video clip]
Harry
Reid: Good Luck Trying to Undo Executive Amnesty. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) argues that despite the fact that President Obama's executive amnesty will not
have the force of law, it would be very difficult for another president to rescind.
Leaked
WH Amnesty Document: Obama to Fast Track Green Cards, Access to Govt. Benefits.
President Barack Obama will fast track green cards — or legal permanent residency in the United
States — in his planned executive amnesty for illegal aliens that he will announce on Thursday
evening, a leaked document published by a liberal group shows. The document says that for illegal
aliens who get what the administration calls "relief from deportation," that the Obama White House
is "reducing the time that families are separated while obtaining their green cards."
Obama's
Amnesty Threatens To Shut Constitution. Pundits warn that a funding fight over the
president's move to grant de facto amnesty to illegal aliens threatens a politically risky
government shutdown. But there's something much more important at stake here. The Founders had
good reason to give Congress the power of the purse: Short of impeachment, it's the most effective
way to stop a lawless president from disobeying the will of Congress and usurping powers not granted
by the Constitution. The question is: Will Congress use this power to thwart President Obama's
shredding of the Constitution with his executive amnesty plan?
Obama
Is Destroying The United States As Full-Blown Amnesty Unfolds In Plain Sight. If you
want to know what the upcoming amnesty bill will look like, all you have to do is examine the
demands of Obama's army of open borders people. They are always in alignment. The Hill reports that
open borders groups will occupy House office buildings today to demand an expansion of the DREAM Act to include
all family members. They also want all illegal youth to be de-prioritzed for deportation.
Boehner's
Office Lists 22 Times Obama Argued Against Executive Amnesty. [#1] "I take the
Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with [the
president] trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress
at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm President of the United States of America."
(3/31/08)
America's
Eerily Calm Transition to Dictatorship. Obama's expected plan to grant legal status to
as many as 5 million illegal immigrants was hailed as a victory for the powerful amnesty movement
and criticized by amnesty opponents as an extra-constitutional power grab by a president who has
grown increasingly fond of issuing executive power grab.
10
Scholars Defending Immigration Action Have Democratic Ties. The Department of Justice
has released a letter from 10 legal scholars at colleges across the country which defends President
Barack Obama's executive action on immigration. But while the DOJ touts these professors'
prominence, their neutrality is coming into question.
Obama's Amnesty Speech,
Deconstructed. Tonight we were treated to a spectacle eerily reminiscent of a scene
from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, in which Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic
Republic declares a reorganization into the Galactic Empire and makes himself an emperor. That scene
ends with a great quote from Padme Amidala, the character played by Natalie Portman, who laments "So
this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." The good news is the thunderous applause
was only heard among the illegal immigrants gathered outside the White House to rejoice in the lawlessness
of an American president abjectly refusing to faithfully execute American laws.
Sen.
Sessions reacts: We must stop Emperor Obama. Apparently, America now has its first
emperor. And he has issued an imperial order to dissolve America's borders. Millions more will
enter and demand the same amnesty benefits as those who came before. The entire moral foundation and
consistency of our laws will have been eviscerated. Law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned
that the president's new amnesty will unleash a "tidal wave" of illegal immigration. The impact on
our jobs, wages, hospitals, schools, police departments and neighborhoods will be crushing.
Sen.
Sessions reacts: We must stop Emperor Obama. President Obama's executive amnesty will
provide an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants with the exact benefits Congress rejected, in
violation of federal law. His order will grant them social security numbers, government-issued ID's,
legal status and work permits. Illegal immigrants will now be able to take jobs and benefits
directly from struggling Americans in a time of high unemployment and low wages. They will be able
to take jobs from Americans in all occupations, ranging from truck drivers to power company workers
to jobs with city government. Many illegal immigrants will also be able to obtain green cards and
become permanent residents, allowing them access to almost all federal programs, to receive citizenship
and sponsor foreign relatives to join them in the U.S. In addition to providing formal amnesty
benefits for 5 million illegal immigrants, President Obama has also eliminated virtually all
enforcement with respect to the other nearly 7 million illegal immigrantsin the United States.
No,
'Prosecutorial Discretion' Does Not Justify Obama's Lawless Amnesty. Obama, like all
presidents before him, has that power. This may be infuriating to those who would like to see the
crisis of illegal immigration tackled more energetically. That, however, is a policy dispute;
a president is not lawless just because one disagrees with him on policy. If that was all there were
to Obama's order, it would be unremarkable. But it is not unremarkable. Some simple examples
illustrate the difference.
Unions
say immigration announcement a 'big step forward'. The AFL-CIO praised President
Obama's executive order on immigration, saying the president was acting within his authority to
better the nation's "moral and economic interests." At the same time, the labor federation
slammed the action for its changes to the high-tech immigration program, saying that it would
result in the "continued suppression of wages in the tech sector."
Today is a Sad Day.
This is a turning point. This is a new nation. Fundamentally changed. If we are indeed to
become a country in which the chief executive ignores laws and does as he pleases, then we are finished.
How
the GOP Can Stop Obama's Unconstitutional Immigration Power Grab. Tonight President
Obama will announce his edict on immigration. This will mark the most blatant attempt to subvert the
Constitution since Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937. Here's how Republicans
should respond to this Constitutional crisis.
Oklahoma,
Texas AGs Plan to Sue Obama over Executive Order on Immigration. Oklahoma attorney
general Scott Pruitt announced prior to President Obama's speech, in which he said that he will grant
legal status to immigrants in the country illegally, that the state will bring forward legal action.
Obama: Kneel
Before Zod. On Thursday night, President Obama delivered his address to the nation on
his executive amnesty. It was historic, both in its scope and in its dishonesty: the speech
represented a closely-woven and incredible tapestry of falsehood, exposited with a straight face by
the greatest liar in modern American history. To those versed in immigration and constitutional law,
watching Obama lay out his program felt like watching a madman describe, with preternaturally perfect
sincerity, how the moon was constructed of cheese: you know the argument is untrue, but it's
incredible to watch its dogged exposition.
Boehner Says
Obama's Immigration Action Damages Presidency. Speaker John A. Boehner said Friday
[11/21/2014] that President Obama was "damaging the presidency itself" by using his executive
authority to prevent the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Mr. Boehner said
that the House would act to counter the president, but he declined to be specific. "With this
action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms
that he claims to seek," Mr. Boehner told reporters. "And as I told him yesterday, he's damaging
the presidency itself."
Laws
Emanate from the White House Now. Obama's speech announcing his immigration diktat was
the usual pabulum: "our immigration system is broken," can't let illegals "remain in the shadows,"
"commonsense middle-ground approach," blah, blah, blah. [...] But the speech was notable for some of
the things Obama didn't mention. For instance, he lied about what his non-amnesty amnesty consisted
of: "All we're saying is we're not going to deport you." As polling has suggested, this is less
likely to provoke opposition than the truth: "All we're saying is we're not going to deport
you — and also, here's a work permit, a Social Security number, and a driver's license."
Telemundo
Celebrates Weakened U.S. Immigration Law Enforcement. "There's a lot to celebrate
tonight," Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart declared during Telemundo's special
coverage of President Obama's Nov. 20 announcement of unilateral executive actions that include
lifting the threat of deportation for 4.1 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States,
along with eliminating the Secure Communities program of federal, state and local cooperation in the
enforcement of U.S. immigration law that was launched during the administration of President George W. Bush.
Obama's
Forging His Own Reality. By going it alone on immigration reform, President Obama
signaled Thursday that, in his final two years in office, he's going to be dealing strictly in
reality — his version of it anyway. Not the long-dead dream of hope and change, that
rhetoric alone can move mountains. Not the similar fantasy of working hand-in-hand with
congressional Republicans. Or even the fiction that most of the country is listening to him.
Obama's
deceitful claim illegals will 'pay their fair share'. The problem with this rhetoric
is that very few illegal immigrants make enough money to actually pay taxes. Instead, their "fair
share" will amount to a substantial gift from American citizen and legal immigrant taxpayers who
have played by the rules. [...] Not only will they not pay income taxes, many are likely to get a
check from the IRS, thanks to the Orwellian-named Earned Income Tax Credit, which send a gift from
taxpayers to low income families.
Obama
puts the cat among the pigeons. Barack Obama put the cat among the pigeons Thursday
night, but he may be surprised by how big that cat could get, and with it a big cat's appetite for
more than pigeons. His "executive orders" demanding a stop to deportations is no doubt good news
for millions of illegal immigrants — 5 million at last count — he wants to
preserve and protect for Democrats looking to replenish a depleted constituency. But it's not
such good news for anyone who appreciates law and order on the border.
Schlafly:
Obama could launch another Civil War. President Obama's looming executive action on
immigration reform represents a Fort Sumter-type moment, according to conservative icon Phyllis
Schlafly. Schlafly at first considered comparing the Obama amnesty to the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor but decided that Obama's plan is much more subtle. "With Pearl Harbor, the American people
knew what was happening," she said.
Obama
Wanted to 'Work Together' With Republicans So Much That He Spent Nine Months Planning to Work Around
Them. After the voters rejected President Obama and his policies and his party on
November 4, the president spoke to the nation and declared that he had gotten the election's
message. That message was: The American people want Democrats and Republicans in Washington
to work together. He didn't mean that. It was just a line he used to buy time.
AP
Slams Obama for Lies in Amnesty Speech. Perhaps the president's most notable lie of
the night was when he declared, "Although this summer, there was a brief spike in unaccompanied
children being apprehended at our border, the number of such children is now actually lower than
it's been in nearly two years." To call the border crisis of 2014 a "brief spike" is not only
misleading, but completely inaccurate.
Obama
slammed for citing Bible to push amnesty for illegal immigrants. President Obama's
biblical references to justify his executive action on immigration didn't sit so well with some in
the conservative camp, with one notable pundit — commentator and columnist Charles
Krauthammer — characterizing the spiritual reference as both "remarkable" and audacious.
Mr. Obama included a brief citation from Exodus in his televised remarks about his planned amnesty path
without congressional permission.
Texas
Leaders Ready to Fight After Obama's Executive Action. Texas leaders are united in
opposition and ready to battle President Barack Obama over his unilateral attempt to protect
millions of illegal immigrants from being deported. In a televised speech to the nation Thursday
evening, Obama announced he was issuing a series of executive orders to enact immigration reform,
and will likely soon face a lawsuit from the State of Texas, as well as other states with Republican
leadership.
Should
Republicans Embrace The Obama Non-Enforcement Doctrine? [Scroll down] Under the
Obama Non-Enforcement Doctrine, a president can't enact new laws by decree, but he can exercise his
discretion by not enforcing existing laws. This means that the doctrine is a one-way ratchet with an
inherently libertarian bent. Given a little thought, conservatives could come up with a long list of
laws that we would be better off without. Each one would be a candidate for the Obama Non-Enforcement
Doctrine. My guess is that if a Republican president applied Obama's doctrine a couple of times, the
Democrats would say "uncle." There would be bipartisan support for a constitutional amendment to
make it beyond dispute that the Obama Non-Enforcement Doctrine is defunct.
Hasselbeck
vs. Earnest: Isn't This a 'Slap in the Face' to Legal Immigrants? Elisabeth Hasselbeck
challenged White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest this morning on whether giving amnesty to about
5 million illegal immigrants is a "slap in the face" to those who have come to the United States
legally. She pointed out that many have spent a lot of money on the process to become U.S.
citizens. "What do you say to them? Because they want their money back and it's offensive
to them," she said.
States
and Localities Should Nullify Obama's Unconstitutional and Unlawful Executive Action.
Thursday night [11/20/2014] marked a truly historic event related to the federal system of Constitutional checks
and balances. A man named Barack Obama, commanding the entirety of the Executive Branch of the
Republic, announced that he would create his own federal statutes from whole cloth, thereby usurping
the responsibilities of the Legislative Branch. Congress, now controlled by a pair of corporatists,
promptly issued a variety of sternly worded memos and then departed for the airport to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Obama's
amnesty: Your guide to the gimmicks. What do the president's amnesty plan and
Obamacare have in common? Both were orchestrated with massive government-funded propaganda.
Barack Obama is repeating the process used by him and by MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber to enact
Obamacare, based on manipulation, deception and the supposed stupidity of American voters, who
were told they could keep their plan and keep their doctor.
You Are Being Played.
I oppose comprehensive immigration reform. I think Congress always fails as comprehensive
legislation. But, long time readers know I am squishier on the immigration issue than many
RedStaters. There are portions of what the President proposed last night that I support in principle
and, frankly, was surprised by how mild some of the actions were, given the run up to the announcement.
But whatever I think of those things the President proposed, it is irrelevant because I believe the President
has no power to do what he has done. He himself agreed back in 2011.
Obama
Leads Democrats Back to the Wilderness. For all of the hysteria leading to President
Obama's immigration executive order, it turned out to be much ado about little. Except that Obama
just dispersed the remaining asset so desperately needed by the Democrats in 2016, perhaps beyond.
Of course the hysteria was justified when reckoning Obama's constitutional by-pass. Yet at the same
time overwrought, when his action is seen as mere feather-puffing exhibitionism in his habitual pattern
of statutory abuse throughout his entire presidency.
Rogue President. Asserting
a legal and constitutional authority he himself said he did not have, President Obama is going
rogue, issuing an executive amnesty to 4 to 5 million illegal aliens. He will order the U.S.
government not to enforce the law against these 5 million, and declare that they are to be exempt
from deportation and granted green cards. Where did Obama get his 4-5 million figure, not
2-4 million, or 5-7 million? Nowhere in law, but plucked out of his own mind, as to what
he can get away with. Barack Obama just felt it was about right.
Revenge
of the Ditz Lord. [Scroll down] In sum, I think the speech was a bit of a bluff,
designed to show he retains some relevance when, in fact, he has little. It is not a sure winner
among the targeted class. It will leave Congress with opportunities to challenge it legally but only
a small window (for example, the large number of people covered or blanket, rather than case by case,
adjudications) within which to challenge the order on constitutional grounds. But there remain
countless practical obstacles to making this order achieve what its detractors fear — a
wholesale backdoor grant of permanent residency and a path to citizenship. It will, nevertheless,
encourage even more illegals to cross the border in the mistaken hope that they can receive legal
status. It will create legal and administrative chaos.
Obama
Shreds Constitution. President Obama's recent "executive action" regarding the Federal
government's laws respecting naturalization marks the first time in U.S. history that a president
has usurped the authority of Congress "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization" and established
the United States as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. He has stated to illegal immigrants that
they do not have to follow the laws of the United States.
Obama:
Hostage-Taker on Immigration. The latest and most brazen act of hostage-taking,
however, is the President's attempt to argue that if Congress does thinks his executive action on
immigration violates the Constitution, it can simply "pass a bill." Here, President Obama is
making his oath to uphold the Constitution and "faithfully execute" the laws of the United States
contingent on agreement by the legislature to bow to his well. The nation can have the rule of law,
so long as the laws that rule are those he agrees with. It should be obvious that such a condition
actually negates the rule of law.
Surprise:
Border Crossings Surge With Obama's Legalization Announcement. Last week President
Obama announced his plan to legalize at least five million people living illegally in the United
States during a primetime address to the nation from the White House. He detailed the plan again
last Friday at a Las Vegas high school. Just before his announcement, law enforcement officers
working in and people living along the Texas border with Mexico were already seeing a surge in
illegal immigration as a result.
Obama's
Amnesty Will Cost $22,000 Per US College Grad. President Barack Obama's amnesty for
four million illegal immigrants will cost Americans about $2 trillion, or roughly $40 billion a year
for the next five decades. The cost of Obama's generosity is equivalent to 30 cents extra for
every gallon of gas bought by Americans. Or a $10 monthly fee added to every cellphone. Or a
$22,000 tax on every American graduate's four-year college degree.
A Magic Pen And An Empty Suit.
The one positive thing I can say about the president's amnesty speech on Thursday is that I didn't
lose any respect for him afterwards. That is because me losing respect for Barack Obama is a
mathematical impossibility at this point. The speech had as much substance as the Sports
Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. An empty man in an empty hall spoke empty words to a nation that no
longer believes him. Only rank partisans, drooling drones, and the progressive media revere Barack
Obama anymore. We are watching the tumbling of an empty suit in a dryer. [...] Loaded with sob
stories, the speech and the spin after attempted to make our feelings overwhelm our brains.
Unfortunately for Obama and the Democrats, tales of families being "ripped apart" because their
child was born here while they are illegal are meaningless.
Obama
Brazenly Lies, Stirs Up Ferguson, Justifies Violating the Constitution on ABC News.
Barack Obama wants a legislative solution as long as it agrees with his ideology and encourages
endless illegal immigration. If not, he will legislate from the White House and then he will lie
about it, hoping Americans really are stupid. In the ABC News video clip at the end of this post,
Barack Obama lies and says he didn't say what he said. He's not changing immigration law, he's
"prioritizing", according to him. In fact, he is absolutely changing the law. He's halting
deportations and deciding who gets amnesty for starters. He clearly promised he wouldn't.
Obama:
'I've actually been very restrained'. President Obama said in an interview broadcast
Sunday that he "bent over backwards" to give Congress leeway to pass immigration reform. On ABC's
"This Week," Obama said he has issued fewer executive actions than most former presidents "by a long
shot." "If you ask historians, take a look at the track records of the modern presidency, I've
actually been very restrained. And I've been very restrained with respect to immigration. I bent
over backwards and will continue to do everything I can to get Congress to work," Obama said.
WaPo:
Four Pinocchios for Obama on Bush 41 amnesty claim. Actually, Glenn Kessler gives Peak
Pinocchio to both Barack Obama and his press secretary Josh Earnest for disseminating a dishonest
argument intended to bolster the notion that Obama's predecessors used executive power for amnesty.
The argument actually began on Wednesday afternoon [11/19/2014] as Earnest laid out the structure of
the defense: [...]
Ted
Cruz: The Senate must block all presidential nominees until Obama rescinds his amnesty. It's not so much
that he wants the Senate to block O's nominees as he wants Mitch McConnell to refuse to bring those nominations to the
floor in the first place. That's a clever way of killing two birds with one stone. If McConnell follows
Cruz's plan, Cruz can take credit among conservative voters for having been the motive force in bottling up O's
nominees. If McConnell doesn't follow Cruz's plan, Cruz can point to it as proof that the establishment
squishes refuse to fight the White House with everything they've got,
Obama
and the Dispensing Power. It is difficult to find anywhere in the history of the
United States a broader assertion of the power of the executive to make law than that asserted by
Mr. Obama in this case. That does not mean, however, that this action is wholly without
precedent in our collective political history.
"Year end" press conference
December 19, 2014.
Mr. Obama held a press conference at the end of 2014, which is December 19 in his case, because he apparently intends to
refrain from doing any work for the rest of the year. That's because Mr. Obama
is lazy. He chose to take questions only from
female reporters, which is probably because he could count on them to ask "softball" questions — and the
girls didn't let him down.
Obama:
Black America 'Better Off Now than It Was When I Came into Office'. America Urban
Radio reporter April Ryan asked President Obama today about the state of black America today [12/19/2014]
compared to before he took office six years ago. Obama said, "Like the rest of America, black
America, in the aggregate, is better off now than it was when I came into office." He brought up
America's "troubled past" while acknowledging it's "not an excuse for black folks." But while many
African-Americans work hard to provide for their families, "they're starting behind, oftentimes, in the race."
White
House: Exec Amnesty Made 2014 'Year of Great Progress' for 'Progressive Agenda'. On
Friday, before President Barack Obama's end-of-year press conference, White House senior adviser Dan
Pfeiffer declared that Obama's executive amnesty is one of the reasons that made 2014 a "year of
great progress" for Obama "and the progressive agenda." "President Obama's executive action to
fix our immigration system is the most meaningful effort in decades to make the system fairer, more
transparent, and more predictable," he spun. "It is a decision with legal, economic, and moral
justifications, and its implementation over the next few years will be a boon to this country for decades."
Five
Thoughts on Obama Final 2014 Press Conference. [#1] Obama repeated his now familiar
spiel about the country being in much better shape now than when he took office, praising what he
termed an "American resurgence." He claimed improvement by almost any conceivable measure; "pick any
metric," he said. Setting aside numerous metrics like the national debt, poverty rates, median
household income, wage growth, workforce participation, and (still) rising healthcare costs, Obama
is advancing an argument that Americans just don't believe.
Five
Thoughts on Obama Final 2014 Press Conference. [#3] He didn't come out and say it, but
the president telegraphed an inclination toward vetoing the Keystone Pipeline if and when
Republicans pass legislation next year. Obama listed the alleged drawbacks of the popular
project, sniffing that it would only create "a few thousand" temporary jobs.
Five
Thoughts on Obama Final 2014 Press Conference. [#5] The president did not call on any
male reporters, nor did any television reporters get a question. Many of the questions were sharp,
and there's obviously nothing wrong with selecting female interrogators, but it's worth noting that
Obama's picks ensured that three of the journalists who consistently ask the toughest questions in
White House briefings (Fox's Ed Henry, CBS' Major Garrett and ABC's Jonathan Karl) were all shut out.
Make of that what you will.
The Editor says...
I suspect that Mr. Obama is only doing as he is told
by his immediate supervisor.
Obama
only calls on female reporters to ask questions in his final press conference of the year. President
Obama has finished the year on a memorable note — by only answering questions from female reporters at
the final press conference of 2014. [...] Although he had said [Juliet] Eilperin would ask the last question,
reporters continued to shout out more — as is tradition — and Obama clearly ignored a
question from a male reporter about his new year's resolution. Instead, he called upon one more
woman — April Ryan of American Urban Radio.
Obama Swaggers on
Water. The secret to Barack Obama's success is an apparently infinite capacity for
feeling good about himself without any evidence to support the conclusion. That's what propelled a
one-term U.S. senator and former Illinois state legislator with an undistinguished record in either
body to the presidency: an implacable sense of self-confidence drawn from — well I don't
know where it's drawn from. If you watched the press conference today, you saw it on display. He
was relaxed, confident, completely dismissive of his opponents, and bragging shamelessly about his
achievements. The media are already calling it "swagger."
Obama says Keystone pipeline will carry only Canadian oil
and have minimal impact on gas prices. President Barack Obama stepped into an
oil-slicked Keystone Pipeline mess on his way out of town Friday, contradicting the findings of his
own State and Energy Departments. The pipeline, a 1,179-mile long planned conduit stretching from
Albert, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, has generated environmental controversy that the administration
pledged to weigh against the project's economic impact. Obama claimed Friday during a press
conference before he left for an extended vacation that America would hardly notice the $8 billion
enterprise's impact on their pocketbooks.
Obama: Most black people
don't use racism as an excuse. Before flying off to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, President Obama said Friday that most
blacks understand America's history of slavery and segregation isn't an excuse for their current challenges. Asked by a reporter to
assess the state of black America, Mr. Obama said most blacks are "better off now" than when he came into office, due to the economic recovery.
The
5 Biggest Lies From Obama's Friday Press Conference. The truth, as Democrats and
Republicans alike admit, is that Obama never works with Congress directly, never compromises, and
despises spending any time on the business of government. So the notion that Obama "wants to
work with the new Congress" is as laughable as it is disingenuous.
Chuck
Todd: Obama 'Earned The Right To Have Some Swagger'. On Friday afternoon President
Obama held [h]is annual end-of-year press conference, and following the event the folks at MSNBC
eagerly cheered on the president's performance. During MSNBC's post-press conference coverage,
Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and moderator of Meet the Press, proclaimed that Obama looked
"incredibly strong" and was "a president who feels as if he's earned the right to have some swagger."
6
Obama quotes show Obama really needs this vacation. A new Gallup Poll finds less than
a quarter of Americans (23%) are satisfied with the way things are going in their country. But
that didn't stop President Obama from pronouncing 2014 a really good year overall in his year-end
news conference.
Obama's
final press encounter of 2014: Where were the tough questions? President Obama took a
victory lap the other day, and nobody in the press tried to slow him down. Obama skated in a
year-end news conference, easily handling questions that were bland, tentative or rambling. This
is not unrelated to the fact that he skipped the front-row TV correspondents — Jonathan
Karl, Ed Henry, Major Garrett — who tend to ask more confrontational and, yes, theatrical
questions. And it most decidedly had nothing to do with the president's unusual move of fielding
questions only from female reporters. It's not how the queries were delivered, it's how they were
framed.
Pellissippi State Community College
January 9, 2015.
If gas is cheap, what's the rush to get a more fuel-efficient car? Obama:
Take Gas Money Savings and 'Buy a Fuel-Efficient Car'. Because gas prices are low now,
President Barack Obama said people should take the savings from that and go buy a "new appliance" or
"a fuel-efficient car," during a speech today on at [sic] Pellissippi State Community College.
The Editor says...
The price of a gallon of gas has gone down 50¢ in the last six months.* Suppose
I buy ten gallons a week, so I'm saving $5 a week on gas. What kind of "new appliance" can I buy with that amount of money?
More
free stuff from Obama: Two years of college at no cost to you. Some really big news
coming from President Obama today: He's got an idea of free community college for everyone for two
years. Like many exciting Obama ideas, it sounds too good to be true. Remember the $2,500 health
insurance savings he promised on every family's health insurance costs under ObamaCare? But
according to a video teaser POTUS taped sitting at — no, wait — sitting
on his desk aboard Air Force One, Obama's going to outline the plan today at Knoxville's
Pellissippi Community College as part of his State of the Union preview tour.
Obama's
Free Community College Idea May Be Hard Sell. President Obama unveiled the idea in a
video posted to Facebook on Thursday night, then pitched it publicly at an event Friday [1/9/2015] in
Knoxville, Tenn. "Community colleges should be free for those willing to work for it," Obama told
a crowd at Pellissippi State Community College. "It's not a blank check, not a free lunch, but for
those willing to do the work... it can be a game changer." The president called a community college
education one of the "central pathways to the middle class."
Obama's
Free Community College Idea May Be Hard Sell. President Obama unveiled the idea in a
video posted to Facebook on Thursday night, then pitched it publicly at an event Friday [1/9/2015] in
Knoxville, Tenn. "Community colleges should be free for those willing to work for it," Obama told
a crowd at Pellissippi State Community College. "It's not a blank check, not a free lunch, but for
those willing to do the work... it can be a game changer." The president called a community college
education one of the "central pathways to the middle class."
More about Obama's harebrained scheme to
provide free tuition to everybody.
State of the Union address
January 20, 2015.
In anticipation of the speech:
Valerie
Jarrett Says Americans 'Hungry' For Obama to Act Like an Imperial President. On
Tuesday [1/27/2015], White House Senior AdviserValerie Jarrett told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that
Americans are "hungry" for Obama to take unilateral action, bypassing Congress wherever he can to
get things done, CNS News reported. "People around our country are hungry for action," she said.
[...] Although Obama will prod Congress to act on his agenda, Jarrett said Obama "will make clear
tonight that he will take action on his own," bypassing Congress when he sees fit. "We're going
to do what we can, within the president's own executive power, and working throughout the country
with those who want to move our country forward," she added.
If Obama
Spoke Honestly, Here's What He'd Say in State of the Union. Likely, in his sixth State
of the Union address, President Obama will drone on about the need for "the rich," those hard-working
higher earners, to pay more taxes. He will demand the federal government create more programs
it can't afford. Finally, in tyrannical fashion, Obama will threaten Congress with vetoes and
more executive orders if the legislative branch doesn't bend to his will.
SOTU:
Biden pitches 'free' stuff. Vice President Joe Biden is playing the role of President
Obama's pitch man in advance of the State of the Union address Tuesday night, promoting the "free"
stuff the White House is offering to build support for the agenda called "DOA" by the GOP. In a
State of the Union address fundraising email for the Democratic Party, Biden pushed the promise of
free community college and better high-speed internet. He did not mention the proposed
$320 billion in taxes the White House is also heralding.
Cancel
the State of the Union. It would not be unprecedented. Richard Nixon decided to stay
home in 1973, and that decision was not listed in the articles of impeachment. Dwight Eisenhower,
recovering from a heart attack, elected not to appear in 1956, and both he and the country survived.
Not showing up on Capitol Hill used to be the norm. The Constitution says the president "shall
from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union," but it doesn't specify the
means of communication.
Obama
plans to increase taxes on couples making more than $500,000 to 28 percent to 'help middle
class'. President Barack Obama is seeking an increase in taxes on the wealthiest
Americans by raising the capital gains rate and eliminating a tax break on inheritances, then using
the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class. The
president's proposals are to be announced during Tuesday's State of the Union address. They are
likely to be cheered by liberal Democrats and considered non-starters with the new Republican majority
on Capitol Hill.
Obama's
State of the Union speech to include $320B tax hike proposal. Escalating his battle
with congressional Republicans, President Obama will propose $320 billion in higher taxes in his
State of the Union address, mostly by raising the rate on capital gains and closing tax loopholes
for wealthier families, senior administration officials said Saturday [1/17/2015]. Mr. Obama also
will call on lawmakers to impose a new fee on big banks with more than $50 billion in assets to
discourage risky financial investments, a holdover from the Wall Street crisis that is sure to appeal
to the president's liberal base.
Obama
to unveil tax package at State of the Union. President Obama plans to use his State of
the Union speech to target tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy, while offering new tax breaks for
middle-class items like child care, White House officials said Saturday [1/17/2015]. In the
prime-time address Tuesday, the president plans to call for ending certain loopholes on trust funds,
increasing the top tax rates on dividends and capital gains, and imposing new fees on big financial
firms that borrow heavily. Obama also plans to propose new tax breaks for families that have a
second working member, child care and the costs of college education, according to a White House
proposal.
Obama
proposes tax hikes on wealthy to pay for $447B jobs bill. The White House said Monday
that President Obama wants to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill by raising taxes on the wealthy and
businesses. Jack Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said the tax hikes would
pay for Obama's entire bill, which the administration is sending to Congress Monday evening [1/19/2015].
End of an Error.
Obama also wants to raise the capital gains tax to 28 percent, so the total tax take might be as
high as 56.8 percent. But many capital assets, such as real estate and shares in a company
founded by the decedent, are held for decades and the capital gains and estates taxes are not indexed
for inflation. So much of the value taxed away would be illusory, a tax on phantom gains.
An investment worth $1 million in 1970 would have to be worth $6.1 million today for there
to be any real gain at all.
Obama
trolls, talks trash with a purpose. It's true the president seems to take real
pleasure in annoying his adversaries. But there's a serious strategy behind it. With no real
political clout on Capitol Hill and a job approval rating that has stayed mostly below 50 percent
for a long time, Obama is trying to leverage the power he has left to force his agenda on the Republican
majority. His big talk, executive actions, and outlandish proposals are the best ways he has to
control the debate in Washington.
A
big night for the choir. President Obama doesn't have a choice. The Constitution
requires him to "give to Congress information about the State of the Union and recommend to their
Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The Founders didn't
anticipate Barack Obama. If they had they would have commanded him to move tonight's State of the
Union to Halloween. [...] The speeches are nearly always forgettable, unless there's someone brave
enough in the audience to tell the president "you lie!" as a South Carolina Republican congressman
told Mr. Obama in 2009.
Obama
to gloat over resurgent U.S. economy in State of the Union address. [Scroll down] Since Democrats lost
resoundingly in the midterm elections in November, Mr. Obama has been taking high-profile executive actions. He
granted deportation amnesty in November to as many as five million illegal immigrants, and last month Mr. Obama announced
that he would normalize U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in more than 50 years.
Obama plays Robin
Hood. The White House wants President Obama to play the part of Robin Hood at
Tuesday's State of the Union address. Obama hopes to use the big speech to remove a blemish of
his presidency: an economic recovery that has left wage growth behind. Free community college.
A $175 billion tax cut for the middle class. Faster, cheaper broadband internet. A week of paid
sick leave. Discounted mortgages. Obama wants to move forward with all of these populist proposals for
the poor and middle class, and he wants to do so by taking from the rich in the form of higher taxes on the
wealthy and Wall Street.
Surprise:
Obama Prepares 'Defiant' State of the Union. At times, one can only sit back and
marvel at the fact that this man successfully marketed himself to the electorate as a pragmatist at
heart and a would-be healer of sundry societal and political divisions. Barack Obama's background,
associations and voting record (such as it existed at the time) clearly demonstrated that he'd lived
his adult life as an entrenched ideologue — the type of person of whom voters are typically
suspicious. So he molded his message to elide and disguise his core character. He did so
with the complicity of much of the media and has proceeded to allowed the mask to slip further and further
as his presidency wears on.
President Obama sings
the same old song. Advance leaks of the president's address indicate he will call for
higher taxes on the wealthy and successful in order to pay for programs for the poor and middle
class. This is boilerplate Democratic wealth redistribution we've heard since New Deal days,
which appeals more to emotions than it does to principles with a long history of success.
Obama declares war
on the middle class. In his upcoming state of the union address Barack Obama will
propose approximately $320 billion in new taxes. He's packaging this as a "Robin Hood*" effort:
"By ensuring those at the top pay their fair share in taxes, the president's plan responsibly pays for
investments we need to help middle-class families," the administration says in a summary. It faces
long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, where lawmakers have bitterly complained about a string
of recent tax increases on the wealthy. Ostensibly, by ripping off some taxpayers he will be able
to give more people free stuff. This is simply cynical class warfare of several different levels.
27
Facts That Prove Just How Badly Barack Obama's Presidency Has Devastated the Middle Class.
During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday evening [1/21/2015], Barack Obama is going to promise to
make life better for middle class families. Of course he has also promised to do this during all of
his other State of the Union addresses, but apparently he still believes that there are people out there
that are buying what he is selling. Each January, he gets up there and tells us how the economy is
"turning around" and to believe that much brighter days are right around the corner. And yet things
just continue to get even worse for the middle class. The numbers [in this article] will not be
included in Obama's State of the Union speech. They don't fit the "narrative" that Obama is
trying to sell to the American people. But all of these statistics are accurate. They
paint a picture of a middle class that is dying.
Obama
has [the] worst State of the Union record since Ford, study shows. Judging by his
recent history, it doesn't really matter what President Obama says in Tuesday's State of the Union
address — Congress is going to ignore him anyway. Mr. Obama has the second-worst
record of getting his State of the Union policy requests enacted into law of any president in the
last five decades, according to an analysis by two scholars that puts him only above the unelected
two-year presidency of Gerald Ford.
5
good reasons to blow off Obama's speech. [#1] Since he returned from Hawaii, Obama has
been going around the country saying what he's going to say tonight. You know, how the state of
the union is good, really good. Well, a little better than it used to be. And how he
wants to give out more free stuff like no-cost college education. And how he's really looking out
for the middle-class. So, he'll propose tax cuts for them, part of the $300+ billion in his
new spending to be financed with new taxes. But don't worry about them. This president is
only gonna tax those rich folks that most Americans aren't. And guess what? Obama leaves
tomorrow on our 747 for another trip to tell Americans that what he said he was going to say tonight
he actually did say tonight. Heads up, Kansas and Idaho.
"Legislative
Proposals"? — Perhaps A Different Take On The State of The Union. The
president will enter the House chamber Tuesday night for his sixth State of the Union address riding
a wave of confidence driven by an improving economy and brightening public approval ratings. And he
seems as defiant as ever. Although Obama has vetoed just two bills in his six years, the White
House has threatened to veto five measures from Congress this month alone — including
legislation that would authorize the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, tie funding of the Department
of Homeland Security to a rollback of Obama's executive actions on immigration, and impose new economic
sanctions on Iran.
Obama's
State of the Union will call for hundreds of billions in new taxes. President Obama
will use his state of the union address Tuesday to call for hundreds of billions of dollars in tax
hikes in order to pay for programs targeting students, the middle class and retirees, the White
House announced Saturday [1/17/2015]. The president will propose financing his planned middle
class tax cuts with tax hikes targeted at the "1 percent," as well as a new tax on big banks.
The plan would raise over $300 billion over 10 years altogether. The bulk of that revenue
would come through tax increases targeted at the investment income of high income earners and bequests by
wealthy Americans.
Reaction to the speech:
Obama's
Reality Distortion Field. One month ago, President Obama told the nation in his State
of the Union address that "we're demonstrating the power of American strength and diplomacy," citing
Russia as his prime example. "We're upholding the principle that bigger nations can't bully the
small — by opposing Russian aggression, and supporting Ukraine's democracy, and reassuring
our NATO allies," he said. "Today, it is America that stands strong and united with our allies,
while Russia is isolated with its economy in tatters. That's how America leads — not with
bluster, but with persistent, steady resolve." Really? From the headlines, it appears
Russia is more aggressive than ever.
How
Obama Glossed Over His Greatest Failure. Deep into his predictably Panglossian State
of the Union speech on Tuesday, the president reminded the audience of the vision he shared at his
breakout 2004 convention speech — namely, that there not be a "a black America or a white
America, but a United States of America." Pundits, he conceded, faulted him for failing to
deliver on this vision, but curiously, Obama did not say the pundits were wrong. Instead, he
criticized them for their cynicism, their failure to take his vision seriously. This, of course,
was nonsense. The great majority of those who did not vote for Obama, pundits or otherwise, wanted
him to succeed in making America "one people" as pledged.
Woman
Showcased by Obama in SOTU is a Former Democratic Campaign Staffer. The woman whose
story of economic recovery was showcased by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address
is a former Democratic campaign staffer and has been used by Obama for political events in the past.
Rebekah Erler has been presented by the White House as a woman who was discovered by the president after
she wrote to him last March about her economic hardships. She was showcased in the speech as proof
that middle class Americans are coming forward to say that Obama's policies are working. Unmentioned
in the White House bio of Erler is that she is a former Democratic campaign operative, working as a field
organizer for Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.).
Fact
Check: Obama Claims Credit For Incomplete Recovery. The U.S. may not have "risen from
recession" quite as rousingly as President Barack Obama suggested in his State of the Union speech
Tuesday night. Seven years after that severe downturn began, household income hasn't recovered
and healthy job growth is complicated by the poor quality, and pay, of many of those jobs.
The Top Five Takeaways
From The SOTU. As it turns out, the President's speech was pretty humdrum and more
than a little silly in places, delivered with all the contrived bluster of his considerable
self-regard and gift for delusion.
Obama
the Sentimentalist. A week after his State of the Union address, political observers
are still trying to figure out what President Obama's game is. That's because rhetorically and
substantively, he seems to be in another world.
Obama's
happy talk is contradicted by reality. Don't feel ashamed if President Obama's State
of the Union address seemed bewildering. Perhaps you felt like factually false assertions kept
coming out of the president's mouth — not debatable or tendentious statements, but stuff
that just plain isn't true, and that could have easily been fact-checked by his speech writers.
That's because such assertions did keep coming — again and again. This might explain
quite a bit. Obama, it appears, begins his discussion of public affairs from a completely different
set of premises than those who read the news and keep up on the world.
Obama Blows Smoke.
We know that supply-side economics emphasizes serious cuts in tax rates and Keynesianism relies on massive amounts
of government spending. But how in the world does "middle class economics" work? After President Obama
cited it repeatedly in State of the Union speech, I waited and waited for him to explain how it works. He
never did.
Restate of the Union.
President Obama sure is consistent. His State of the Union address sounded like his other speeches:
What I've done is great! America is in a much better position. We've created a manufacturing sector
that's adding jobs. More oil is produced at home. I cut deficits in half! Give me a break.
The deficit is lower now not because of any prudence on Obama's part but merely because the $800 billion
stimulus spending blowout didn't continue. All the president does is increase spending: free
community college, free Obamaphones, free birth control, etc. Yes, our annual deficit is lower, but it's
still $488 billion! Our $18 trillion national debt increases by $3 million every minute!
Obama's
Foolish Gitmo Fixation. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was an advertisement
for his ideological fixity, and so he inevitably reiterated his unbending determination to close down the prison
facility at Guantánamo Bay. Gitmo is to him what Carthage was to Cato the Elder. It is an
obsession, and it must not stand. One of his first acts as president was to sign an executive order to
close it down (having no idea what that would entail), and he wants all detainees out of the facility by the
time he steps on Marine One to depart for his retirement in January 2017.
Why Can't He Tell
The Truth? In his SOTU, Mr. Obama bragged that the USA now has the highest high school
graduation rate in its history. Roughly 80 percent of entering high school freshmen now graduate.
[...] Is Mr. Obama aware that in the city where he gave his speech, Washington, D.C., only about 53 percent
of high school students graduate? Is he aware that in this country the high school graduation rate in
predominantly black cities is on average roughly twenty percentage points lower than for whites?
Obama's
State of the Union fantasy world. Obama's next-to-last State of the Union address did
not substantially address two of the most pressing issues currently facing our nation and that
matter most to its military veterans: the lack of a clear United States national security
strategy — to include the crisis facing our military — and the inability of
the VA bureaucracy care to deliver timely health care to millions of our veterans. But you
wouldn't know it by listening to Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
Obama's
tax plan an assault on economic growth cloaked in populist demagoguery. The tax plan
President Obama unveiled during his State of the Union is an assault on economic growth cloaked in
populist demagoguery. It will not help middle class Americans but rather guarantee that their
incomes remain stagnant. He wants to divert attention from the fact that his policies of higher
taxes, blow-out spending, anti-growth regulations and the costly, chaotic government-created disruption
of ObamaCare have caused median incomes to stay below what they were back in 2007.
Cable
news viewers tune out Obama. President Obama's State of the Union drew just over
8 million viewers on the major cable news networks, suggesting Tuesday's address may have been
one of the least-watched in more than a decade. According to preliminary Nielsen ratings obtained by
Variety, Fox News led the cable networks with nearly 3.5 million viewers. CNN placed second with
just over 2.5 million, while MSNBC rounded out the trio with just under 2 million Americans tuning
in. The combined 8 million viewers in the preliminary ratings is down 1.1 million from last year
and 2.35 million from 2013.
Smirk
of the Union: How Better Politics Became Bitter Politics. Despite the best efforts of
his staff, we saw the real Barack Obama last night. In the time it takes a smirk to spread across a
face, the president revealed himself to be something quite different than the earnest believer in
bipartisanship the speech was crafted to convey. The tension between the president's supposedly
practical ends and his entirely partisan means was immediately evident.
Surreal: Obama
Demands 'A Better Politics,' Lectures Nation on Demonization. White House aides
promised a "defiant" 2015 State of the Union Address, and the president delivered. He spoke with
the swagger of a man who possessed no inkling that his party had just been decimated at the polls by
voters, after having personally framed the election as a referendum on his agenda. It was a sharply
ideological, base-pleasing speech, predictably and tiresomely peppered with assurances of the speaker's
nonpartisan pragmatism.
These
Are the Top 5 Foreign Policy Issues Obama Never Bothered to Mention in SOTU. The president of the
United States gave a 6,000-word State of the Union address to the American people and, despite the fact the planet
is blowing up with crises, conflicts, and misery, he might have devoted 600 words of it to foreign policy.
Of course, that may be because he has failed to deal with these problems adequately. Or even competently.
Since SOTU is a speech for the president to toot his own horn, it's hard to blow when his foreign policies blow.
With a dearth of foreign policy statements, there were several serious issues the president didn't even bother to mention.
Obama:
Climate Change is the Greatest Threat. Not radical Muslim terrorism, not an unsecured
border, not an ever-growing federal debt that now exceeds $18 trillion, not the fact that 109
million live in households on federal welfare programs. These are not the greatest threats facing us
today. "No challenge — no challenge — poses a greater threat to future generations than climate
change," President Obama declared in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. Although he
referred to it as "climate change" and not "global warming," the president immediately followed his
declaration that this was the greatest threat to future generations by stating that fourteen of the
hottest fifteen years "on record" have occured since 2000.
Barack
Obama readies for two years of political warfare with Republicans. President Barack
Obama last night set the stage for two years of grinding political warfare with Republicans in
Congress, asking them to accept higher taxes on the rich while threatening to use his veto power to
block many of their priorities.
The
State of the Union Is Dumb Hacks Writing Garbage Speeches. Yesterday, The New York
Times introduced us to Cody "Hemingway" Keenan. The president has given him the nickname
"Hemingway," not because he is an overrated drunk — though he may indeed be that —
but because he writes and has a beard. Unlike Hemingway, who wrote novels and stories that people
still revere decades after his death, Keenan writes speeches that the president delivers and that everyone
promptly forgets, because modern political speeches are disposable garbage. Judging by this profile,
though, no one seems to have explained that distinction to Keenan, his friends, or Times reporter
Michael Schmidt.
Obama
calls for civility, then immediately taunts Republicans over his two presidential wins. President Obama
spent much of Tuesday's State of the Union calling for civility in politics — then taunted Republicans over
his two election victories, after many of them applauded the looming end of his political career. Mr. Obama issued
a broad call for "a better politics" that began with common principles, and said his agenda isn't political, pointing
out "I have no more campaigns to run."
Obama
declares war on income inequality and boasts of leading-from-behind foreign policy in divisive State
of the Union. The speech was more about the 2016 presidential election than convincing
the Republican-dominated Congress to adopt the White House's positions, and President Obama
emphasized his commitment to staying on the offensive in his last two years. He laid out a
familiar mix of liberal themes in his sixth State of the Union — the second-last of his
presidency — but placed special emphasis on issues where his supporters and the GOP most
starkly disagree.
Obama
Quotes Obama In State of the Union Address. During his State of the Union address,
Obama recalled his glorious 2004 speech in Boston at the Democratic National Convention that
nominated Sen. John Kerry for president. [Video clip]
President
Obama, with two years to go, commits to cementing a liberal legacy. In his sixth State of the Union address,
Obama celebrated many of the most ambitious, progressive policies he put in place shortly after taking office and called for
more — making an unabashed pitch for expansive government action on the economy, scientific research, infrastructure,
education and the environment.
Obama
spent more for dinner in Hawaii than his SOTU tax credit for families. [Scroll
down] Ditto for commuter costs. Take Columbus, Ohio, as the example. The Center for
Neighborhood Technology's "Affordability Index" puts the cost of "average annual transportation" at
$14,001. That's about $538 every two weeks, or more than enough to eat the president's tax credit.
Put another way, the credit wouldn't even cover the tab for two at Hawaii's Vintage Cave restaurant where the
president and first lady dined on New Year's Day. It costs $295 per person, and doesn't even include wine.
Obama's Progress on His Agenda.
Every year since he took office, President Barack Obama has given a speech to the nation outlining
his agenda for the next year. This is a look at the proposals the president has made in those six
speeches — and whether they have been accomplished, along with key promises from each of Mr.
Obama's presidential campaigns.
Barack
Obama channels Gordon Brown. A good proportion of the US electorate must have hoped
that in electing Barack Obama as president, they would be getting the visionary intellect and
magnetism of a John Kennedy. Instead, they ended up with the vision of Jimmy Carter and the
personal charm of Richard Nixon. Mr Obama's State of the Union address was about as relentlessly
bellicose and self-regarding as it was possible for a president whose politics had received two successive
popular rejections to be.
New Page. Same
Obama. The president declares that the nation has finally turned the corner and is
entering a new era. Then why does everything feel so familiar?
Obama
tilts the scales against stay-at-home moms. President Obama couldn't come up with a
middle-class tax agenda until his party had lost all control over the legislative branch. This
suggests his new tax proposal is little more than meaningless political posturing. After all, if he
really wanted these or similar tax cuts and tax hikes, Obama could have advanced them when his party
controlled the House and the Senate. Many commentators have correctly noted that this is the
White House's effort to frame the 2016 election in class-warfare terms. When the tax provisions
of the president's budget die on arrival, Democrats will respond that Republicans are protecting the
wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
A
fantasy for tweens. [Scroll down] And as for "turning the page," what about American
involvement in Iraq? The centerpiece of his State of the Union last year was extensive back-patting
about pulling all our forces out of Iraq. And last night? He called on Congress to give him a
new authorization for the war against the Islamic State — a war that is being fought in... Iraq.
Optimistic
Obama out of touch with Americans. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris, on the heels
of the hostage situation in Australia and the slew of ISIS beheadings, have rattled Americans —
and for good reason. Over 80% of the electorate believes that there will be a terrorist attack on
American soil. And, unfortunately, in light of what we now have seen is possible in Western nations,
it is my belief that they may not be wrong. In light of this, the president's claim that we are
stopping ISIS's advance is not only wrong in real terms, but shows an administration that is out of
step with American sentiment.
CBS's
Bob Schieffer Swoons: Obama's Speech Was 'Uplifting' with 'Soaring Rhetoric'. At the
conclusion of President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union speech, CBS News chief Washington
correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer offered plenty of praise for the President's
address by proclaiming it as "the best speech he's made in awhile" with "soaring rhetoric" and being
"uplifting at the end."
Obama
Touts Pacifist National Security Policies in State of the Union Speech. President
Obama, in his annual state of the union speech, defended six years of pacifist, diplomacy-dominated
national security policies that he portrayed as aimed at defeating new threats and protecting the
planet. During a joint session of Congress, Obama stressed the economic recovery after the
late-2000s recession. And he sought to promote his domestic policy agenda of providing paid
sick and maternity leave and free community college.
The Obama Show.
I do think it was better delivered than most of his State of the Union addresses. I didn't, however,
think it was particularly well-written. "The shadow of crisis has passed"? C-minus. More
telling, the last 15 minutes amounted to Obama's golden oldies. His real foe is cynicism.
We can all work together. There are no red states or blue states. We are all our "brother's
keeper." The difference is that the first time we heard this stuff it had at least superficial
plausibility because the Obama presidency hadn't happened yet.
Obama
Makes History: First Time Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Used in SOTU. Although
President Obama omitted the words "Islamic terrorism" from his speech tonight, many applauded him
for uttering "lesbian," "transgender," and "bisexual" for the first time ever in the history of the
State of the Union Address.
NBC's
Engel Rips SOTU: The World Obama 'Wishes We Were All Living In' Doesn't Exist. NBC News chief foreign
correspondent Richard Engel had a less-than-glowing reaction to President Obama's State of the Union tonight, saying,
"It sounded like the president was outlining a world that he wishes we were all living in but is very different from
the world that you just described." He said Obama's comments about making progress in the war on terror just
didn't add up. If American leadership is about stopping ISIS' advances, as Obama said, "that just isn't
the case" right now. And that's not to mention how the U.S. is being dragged back into the Middle East despite
what Obama said.
Nemesis 1, Hubris
0. Just as president Obama claimed in his state of the union that "the shadow of
crisis has passed" and proclaimed that American firepower had stopped the advance of "militants" in
the Middle East, the Washington Post is reporting a possible coup in Yemen.
Endless Gifts From Uncle
Obama. [Scroll down] My favorite part of the speech, though, was about how he wants to
make a kinder, gentler politics in America. He sticks it to the Republicans any chance he gets, attacks
the police, mocks law enforcement, and then he gets all hissy when anyone criticizes him. And what's
with him comparing anti-Semitism and discrimination against transgenders?
Obama's
disconnected, out of touch, in denial State of the Union. Just as remarkable, against
the backdrop of the Democratic electoral carnage of his years in office, was that the president's
most memorable line of the night was a bit of ad-lib bragging about his own election victories. When
Obama said, "I have no more campaigns to run," some Republicans snarkily began to applaud, whereupon the
president shot back, "I know, because I won both of them." Some Democrats dutifully cheered Obama's
comeback line, even though his victories ended up costing them a lot.
Inside
Obama's 'Robin Hood' State of the Union tax proposals. A defiant President Obama used
his sixth State of the Union address to offer a litany of Democratic priorities that centered on tax
increases on the wealthy intended to fund new social programs benefiting everyone else.
Unconcerned that he was addressing a Congress under full Republican control for the first time, the
president danced around the outlines of his tax plan, dubbed a 'Robin Hood' approach by outraged
Republicans that amounts to 'class warfare'.
Obama
Proposes a Law that Already Exists. President Barack Obama shamed Congress in his
State of the Union address on Tuesday night to pass legislation that already exists. Apparently not
briefed by his secretary of labor and attorney general, Obama announced: ["]That's why this Congress
still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work.
Really. It's 2015. It's time.["] But it was June 10, 1963 when Congress passed "The Equal
Pay Act of 1963," which can be found at 29 U.S.C. §206(d).
Obama's
Lying to You About Free College, Kids. President Barack Obama took his State of the
Union on the road yesterday [1/21/2015], telling college students in Boise, ID that he will make two
years of college "free" and "universal." What he did not tell them, however, is that he wants to tax
529 savings plans to pay for those two free years of community college — which are already
free anyway for poor students, under federal grants. Essentially, Obama proposes to take money
away from some middle-class students to subsidize others' education.
State
Of The Union Address Just A Political Commercial. Should the State of the Union
continue in this form? Not only was the president's speech a fundraising pitch, so was Sen. Joni
Ernst's GOP reply. That does a disservice to both a rising star and the competition of ideas.
Just
an average, ordinary retooled homemaker... who happens to be a Democratic campaign staffer. During
President Barack Hussein Obama's (D) State of the Union class warfare clarion call Tuesday night, he justified
his proposed redistribution policies by describing an average young couple. As the cameras panned to a
long haired woman seated next to Michelle Obama, Obama's voice over told of two young lovebirds who married,
were working — he in construction, she waitressing — and then had a baby. An American
success story. But the husband lost his construction job, the wife took out loans for... yes, community
college to retrain for an unmentioned new career and lo and behold! everything fell into place once again.
Obama Croons: I Did
It My Way. As President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday
night, I saw all of 2015 flash before my eyes. It was a smart speech that wisely stuck to
"middle-class" values and was shrewdly short on details. I saw another year of the president not
compromising. For Republicans, it was Groundhog Day — an endless loop of the president
talking up bipartisanship without practicing it.
Tax
hikes won't improve the state of our union. President Barack Obama revisited a number
of familiar — and failed — themes in his State of the Union address. Once
again, the president is asking for higher taxes on the wealthy and more government entitlement programs
for the poor and middle class. [...] What is notable is that despite six years of sluggish economic
growth and repudiation of his economic policies in last fall's elections, the president is sticking
to his class warfare guns, choosing to grow government rather than the economy.
What,
Exactly, Is Bold About Obama's Agenda? The State of the Union speech supposedly was
chock full of big, brassy new ideas to help the middle class. Truth is, the president offered little
that hasn't already been tried and mostly failed. [...] When we looked at what Obama actually proposed,
all we found was a musty laundry list of liberal programs, most of which already got huge boosts in
spending and failed to deliver on their promises.
State
of the Union Drew Lowest TV Audience in 15 Years. President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union
address drew the lowest television viewership for any such speech in the last 15 years, according to new data
from Nielsen. The president's Tuesday address was watched by 31.7 million viewers across 12 broadcast
and cable networks that carried the speech live, despite a two-week campaign style tour and a social media blitz
to drum up interest. That's down from the 33.3 million viewers who tuned in to Mr. Obama's State
of the Union address last year, and the 52.4 million who watched him deliver a 2009 speech to a joint session
of Congress early on in his presidency.
When
Will Obama Get a Grip on Islamic Terrorism? Someone needs to tell President Obama that
the global War on Terror is alive and well, and not receding, as he would like Americans to believe.
Collen Hufford was beheaded in Oklahoma; in New York, an axe was embedded in the head of a New York
City Policeman. In Western Europe, Islamic extremists killed Jews and journalists in France, while
in Belgium there were shootouts. In Sydney, Australia, a hostage crisis resulted in two killed, and
in Canada, soldiers were murdered. There are reports that as many as 20 sleeper cells could be
ready to strike in France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
I'm
A Stay-At-Home, Working Mom, And I'm Sick Of Being Insulted By The President. My
husband and I decided, back when we had a large amount of student loans, one decent job between us,
and a surprise first baby on the way, that we would do whatever it took to give our child the
majority of his care with our own hands. [...] Our arrangement didn't generate so many tax revenues
for President Obama's high-tax, big-government planned economy. Maybe that's why he declared
non-parent child-care a "must-have" in Tuesdays' State of the Union speech: "It's not a
nice-to-have — it's a must-have. It's time we stop treating childcare as a side
issue, or a women's issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us."
Obama uses
SOTU to announce surrender to Iran. One of the great thing about the Obama administration
is that it is impossible to pick the biggest foreign or national security policy blunder. There are
so many possible choices that even the harshest critic will be frozen, nay, knocked senseless by the magnitude
of the task. Last night's alleged State of the Union address, however, may signify a change:
we may now be able to pick a superlative blunder.
Delayed Reaction.
It took me a couple of days to summon the strength to watch President Obama's seventh State of the
Union Address (the sixth if you don't count his 2009 address to a joint session of Congress); the
speech was an hour-long exercise in deception, hypocrisy, and narcissism — which is to
say it was more of the same from the most insular and self-absorbed politician of our generation, a
man who never stops campaigning. Within the first seconds of his long-winded address, the
president, missing only a cone-shaped hat and a magic wand in his attempt to recast reality, said
that while the first part of the 21st century was replete with terrorism and economic turmoil,
"tonight, we turn the page."
The
Smartest Guy Ever to Be President Isn't Quite As Smart As He Thinks. Barack Obama is
really, really smart. I know, because he told me so during his State of the Union address.
Our president is especially smart on foreign policy. [...] Take how smart the president has been in
combating [sic] ISIS (aka ISIL and the Islamic State). On Tuesday night Mr. Obama informed us that he was
asking Congress to pass a resolution to authorize the use of force against the Islamic State. This comes
precisely a year after our really, really smart commander in chief referred to ISIS as a "jayvee team."
That prediction was so prescient that the president decided to deceive us about it.
A
Tedious, Recycled State of the Union. It's hard to believe that was only President Obama's sixth
State of the Union address. It feels like he's given so many more. Maybe that's because the man seems
to be constantly talking. And talking. The talking is the background noise of much of the last decade,
auditory wallpaper that seems to line the corridors of everyday life. And when he talks, he's often talking
about himself — particularly about things he's said on other occasions when he was talking.
Obama:
We've achieved victory in Europe. NATO: The fighting's never been worse. Let's
review what is probably going to be remembered as Barack Obama's most tone-deaf and imprudent statement
amid an ocean of similarly ill-considered assertions in Tuesday's State of the Union. Not merely
the president but everyone who wrote and vetted the 2015 State of the Union address thought it was a great
idea to take a victory lap over the White House's approach to the crisis in Europe precipitated by
Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
SOTU: Obama Boasts of
Fundamentally Transforming America. The biggest news from the State of the Union, besides the lies about
almost everything, is that he sees himself as triumphant and he is. He has fundamentally transformed the United
States. Barack Obama was legitimately satisfied with his successes last night. He has been successful in
turning us into a welfare state which is fueled by redistribution.
Fox
News Poll: Voters disagree with vision Obama expressed in State of the Union. Many
American voters are not on the same page as President Obama when it comes to the mood of the country
and his economic proposals. Yet significant improvements in perceptions of the economy are boosting
approval of the president — and less than half of voters want his executive actions repealed.
First, Americans don't think we're the happy family President Obama described in his State of the Union speech.
A new Fox News national poll released Wednesday [1/28/2015] finds that by a three-to-one margin, voters see America
as a dysfunctional family rather than as the "tight-knit" grouping Obama claimed we are (73-24 percent).
Reporter
Asks Earnest: If Alan Gross Was at SOTU, Why Wasn't Bergdahl? At Thursday's
[1/29/2015] White House press briefing, Daily Mail reporter Francesca Chambers asked Press
Secretary Josh Earnest why recently-freed prisoner Alan Gross was invited to the State of the Union,
but Bowe Bergdahl was not. Bergdahl was freed last year in a prisoner swap with the Taliban, but
since then has been called a "deserter" for the actions that led to his capture. On Wednesday, NBC
News and Fox News both reported that Bergdahl had been charged with desertion, but the Army disputed
claims that he has been charged with desertion. Amid the conflicting information, Chambers sought
to figure out why Gross, who was recently brought back to the U.S. after spending five years in a Cuban
prison, was invited to the State of the Union, but Bergdahl was not.
Obama
caved on 529 taxes because it hit too many Democrats? The hasty retreat on Barack
Obama's plan to pay for "free" community college looked clumsy even for a president who routinely
floats proposals without performing due diligence. [...] Obama made a dozen references to college in
his State of the Union speech, and spent a significant amount of time arguing for both the subsidy
and the 529 tax to pay for it. In less than a week, though, Obama abandoned it — so
quickly that the White House didn't even get a chance to get it out of the budget proposal they will
send to Capitol Hill.
Diary of January 27, 2015.
One thing you may have noticed, as I did, about the media's coverage of President Obama's State of
the Union Address last week, is how often the President's grip on reality was called into question.
[...] "The only plausible rationale" for the President's proposals, avers the [Wall Street]
Journal, "is that he thinks he can gain politically by driving Republicans nuts."
Of course, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he's nuts.
America In Retreat.
President Obama laid out a defense of his reactionary, retreating foreign policy during his State of
the Union address Jan. 20. "My first duty as Commander-in-Chief is to defend the United States of
America," he said. "In doing so — in doing so, the question is not whether America leads
in the world, but how. When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our
heads; when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military — then we risk
getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer, more
prosperous world. That's what our enemies want us to do.
Ginsburg
wasn't '100 percent sober' during State of the Union. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg admits to sharing some wine with her colleagues and not being "100 percent sober" for
President Obama's State of the Union address in January. During Obama's speech, which lasted
just under an hour, many viewers on social media pointed out that the 81-year-old liberal justice
appeared to be snoozing.
National Prayer Breakfast
February 5, 2015.
Questioning
The Loyalty Of Barack Obama. In the wake of president Barack Obama's comments at the National Prayer Breakfast
that smeared Christianity by equating the "Crusades and the Inquisition... slavery and Jim Crow" to the violence committed in
the name of Islam by jihadists, Obama created the narrative. His tactic was deliberate, knowing the response would provoke
Christians and immediately put them on the defensive having to explain why a christian civilized morality is better than a radical
Islamic savage morality. According to White House spokesman Eric Shultz, Obama was trying to talk about moments "over the
course of human history, there are times where extremists pervert their own religion to justify violence." By taking this
route of explaining radical Islam, the president directs the course of debate throughout our country without mentioning the crux
of the issue that is the underlying problem. Whether its controversial remarks of race, gender, or religion, he creates the
divide with his relentless attacks on the principles of what once made our country great.
President Compares
Islam to Christianity. It is important to analyze these words — because the
president of the United States spoke them in a major forum, and because what he said is said by all
those who defend Islam against any criticism. Referring to Islamic violence, the president
accuses anyone who implies that such religious violence "is unique to some other place" —
meaning outside the Christian West — as getting on a "high horse." Is this true?
Of course, not. In our time, major religious violence is in fact "unique to some other place," namely
the Islamic world. What other religious group is engaged in mass murder, systematic rape, slavery,
beheading innocents, bombing public events, shooting up school children, wiping out whole religious
communities and other such atrocities?
Obama
points the finger at Christians when talking about terrorism. Obama sounded like a
mash up of Islamic propaganda, a person going off the rails, an immature man-child with a massive
chip on his shoulder, and someone who allows his mask to slip off bit by bit unable to fully control
revelations of his true self.
Obama
equates Islamic terrorism with 'terrible deeds' committed by Christians. Wading deeper
into the debate over violence inspired by radical Islam, President Obama Thursday [2/5/2015] equated
terrorism with "terrible deeds" committed by Christians in centuries past, comments that quickly
sparked disgust among conservatives. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington,
Mr. Obama said Christians can't lay claim to a higher moral ground in discussions of how to confront
violent extremist groups such as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The
Future Must Not Belong to Those Who Slander Christians by Harping On the Crusades.
Stunned and horrified Americans, and indeed Christians around the world, not to mention victims of
Islamist horror from every religious background, will be trying to process Obama's idiotic words for
days to come. Yes, folks, the President of the United States just told the civilized world it has
no moral standing to criticize the head-choppers, child-crucifiers, slave-takers, and auto-da-fe
enthusiasts of the modern world, because the Crusades happened a thousand years ago. The basic
concept here is nothing new. Lazy, arrogant liberals have been babbling about the Crusades and
Inquisition ever since Islamist terrorism became a big problem for the Western world.
White
House Defends Obama's Prayer Breakfast Remarks. Aboard Air Force One, White House
Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz defended President Obama's controversial remarks at the National
Prayer Breakfast yesterday [2/5/2015]. Schultz explained that he believed that the remarks were
"suited" for the event that was attended by many Christians.
Critics
pounce after Obama talks Crusades, slavery at prayer breakfast. [Scroll down]
Some Republicans were outraged. "The president's comments this morning at the prayer breakfast are
the most offensive I've ever heard a president make in my lifetime," said former Virginia governor
Jim Gilmore (R). "He has offended every believing Christian in the United States. This
goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share."
Why
did Obama compare Crusades to Islamic State at prayer breakfast? At the National
Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, President Obama made a reference to Christianity that infuriated some
conservatives. Speaking in general, Mr. Obama began by condemning zealots who hijack religion
"for their own murderous ends." He cited the recent massacre at a Pakistani school carried out by
the Taliban, the assault on Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris perpetrated by radical Islamists, and
the terrible murders carried out by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS or ISIS).
Krauthammer's
Take: 'Mr. President, the Crusades Were 800 Years Ago!' "Everything [President Obama]
does is to minimize what's happening" in Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State, says Charles
Krauthammer, pointing to the president's "astonishing" comments at today's National Prayer
Breakfast. "Everything he does is to minimize what's happening, to hold us back and to
essentially deny the gravity of what's happening. That's why today he had to compare it to the
Crusades and to the Inquisition, which is simply astonishing. Mr. President, the Crusades were
800 years ago, and the Inquisition 500 years ago. What's happening right now is not
Christians on the march. It is radical Islam."
Obama
Attends Prayer Breakfast With Sudanese Official Accused of Genocide. Human rights
activists are assailing the Obama administration for the president's appearance at the National
Prayer Breakfast on Thursday with the foreign minister of Sudan, a country whose government is
accused of genocide. Activists also say the presence of the foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, at
the breakfast as well as reports of meetings with administration officials could signal that Washington
is considering normalizing relations with Sudan. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted
President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in 2009 for war crimes and genocide in the southern region of
Darfur, where the United Nations says government forces have killed as many as 300,000 people in
non-Arab rebel tribes.
Rev.
Jeremiah Obama Compares Christians of 1291 to Today's ISIS. Barack Obama, speaking at
a prayer breakfast Thursday morning, equated ISIS with Christians of 1000 years ago. Sounding
like an impassioned Black Liberationist preacher, Barack Obama made it clear today that he feels the
same way about Christians as he does about Jews and America itself. No one needs to be told normal
Muslims cannot be blamed for the maniacs destroying the Middle East, Far East, Asia and Africa. What
he doesn't understand is these maniacs are not radical Christians or radical Jews or radical Hindus.
They are radical Islamists and it's the year 2015 not 1291. There is no use delving into the obvious.
Listen to his obnoxious rant for yourself.
Obama
at National Prayer Breakfast: 'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ'.
At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama reminded attendees that violence rooted in
religion isn't exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well. Obama said
that even though religion is a source for good around the world, there will always be people willing
to "hijack religion for their own murderous ends." "Unless we get on our high horse and think
this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people
committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," Obama said. "In our home country, slavery
and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ."
Obama
At National Prayer Breakfast: 'People Committed Terrible Deeds In The Name of Christ'.
At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama reminded attendees that violence rooted in
religion isn't exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well. Obama said
that even though religion is a source for good around the world, there will always be people willing
to "hijack religion for their own murderous ends."
Obama's
remarks on religious intolerance in India provoke outrage. President Obama's comments
that religious conflict has produced "acts of intolerance" in India that would have shocked the
country's peace icon, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, provoked a stream of outrage in India on Friday
[2/6/2015]. Obama made the remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday,
which also raised the ire of conservative Christians in the United States.
Obama's
comparison of Crusades to Islamist terror acts misses mark. President Obama put on his
preaching clothes yesterday and drove up Connecticut Avenue to the Washington Hilton to deliver a
sermon to the choir. He took his text from the first chapter of the Book of Moral Equivalence and
let the choir have both barrels. [...] Mr. Obama has so far been unable to talk very much about
Islamic terrorism, or even to say the words "Islamic" and "terrorism" in the same sentence.
A
Jew Examines Why Obama Never Names Islam. [Scroll down] Note the now unsurprising use
of the word "religion," not "Islam," or the even more telling "Mohammed," a warlord who married a little
girl and a figure, one can safely say, not very much like Christ. Nevertheless, Obama can blacken
Christians and name them in a speech, but not Muslims. The reason is not complicated. Obama
is not a religious person. He rarely appears in church, except for political purposes. He
is titularly a Christian, but identifies emotionally, from his youth in Indonesian madrassas and from
his ideological predisposition, with Third World Muslims. But now he is confronted with those same
Muslims behaving like barbarians across Africa and the Middle East and sometimes into Europe and America.
The
Political Superiority of Christian Civilization. President Barack Obama told the
National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday that Americans ought to be humble in the fact of radical
Islam, because "people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ" as well. In addition to
offending much of his audience and the nation with his sophomoric moral relativism, the president
also obscured a fact that ought to be obvious but is rarely spoken aloud: as far as the world's
religions go, Christianity has done the most to advance freedom.
Mark
Levin: Obama "A Nihilist, A Narcissist And An Extremist;" Warns "We Are Going To Get Hit
Again". ["]What Obama is saying and doing is the lowest of the low now. He really is
not a leader of a great people. He's not a leader of a great nation. He is stuck in his own
ideology. He's stubborn and ignorant at the same time. There are black Christians and black
Muslims in Africa who are being slaughtered. They don't want to hear about the Jim Crow laws.
There are Christians, there are other Muslims being slaughtered in the Middle East, they don't need a
lecture from Obama about Christianity.["]
Horse
Pucky from Obama. On Tuesday, the so-called Islamic State released a slickly produced
video showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a steel cage. On Wednesday [2/4/2015, the
United Nations issued a report detailing various "mass executions of boys, as well as reports of
beheadings, crucifixions of children, and burying children alive" at the hands of the Islamic State.
And on Thursday, President Obama seized the opportunity of the National Prayer Breakfast to forthrightly
criticize the "terrible deeds" ... committed "in the name of Christ."
The Editor says...
The "terrible deeds" he was talking about were committed in the name of the Pope, not in the
name of Jesus Christ. There is a big difference, and I doubt if Mr. Obama knows enough
about Christianity to make that distinction.
Krauthammer:
'Stunned' At Obama's 'Banal,' 'Offensive' Prayer Breakfast Remarks. With the Jordan/ISIS conflict
ready to come to a crescendo at any moment, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer slammed President Barack
Obama's speech before the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday. The commentator called Obama's remarks "banal
and offensive," adding that the present issue the world must deal with is radical Islam, rather than the
Inquisition and the Crusades, which Obama mentioned in his speech. In his remarks to the prayer breakfast,
Obama urged everyone to refrain from "insults" and "attacks" on Islam, while invoking the Crusades and the
Inquisition to show that other groups in the past have done wrong.
Obama
Again Shows His Contempt For America and the West. First, he cited the crusades and
the Inquisition. These events occurred more than 500 years ago in "some other places." They had
nothing to do with America, whose founding was centuries away. To suggest that the crusades and the
Inquisition should preclude Americans from a sense of vast moral superiority to ISIS is to carry moral
relativism to an absurd extreme. Obama also claimed that "in our home country, slavery and Jim Crow
all too often was justified in the name of Christ." I don't doubt that some who argued in favor of
slavery and Jim Crow tried to reconcile these institutions with Christianity. But the Bible doesn't call
for enslavement or racial discrimination. In fact, as John has pointed out, Christianity fueled the
abolitionist and civil rights movements. By contrast, Muhammad favored, and in fact committed, beheadings.
Barack
Obama, A Moral and Historical Ignoramus. There was nothing wrong, in principle, with
the Crusades. They were an appropriate (if belated and badly managed) response to the conquest of
the Holy Land by Islam. Did marauding 11th century armies inevitably commit outrages? They
certainly did. In fact, that still happens today. But the most unfortunate thing about the Crusades is that
they failed. [...] But more fundamentally, what is the point? Obama is telling us not to get on our "high horse."
Does that mean that we shouldn't try to do something about the groups that are ravaging the Middle East and Africa and
carrying out terrorist acts around the world?
Man On A High
Horse. We see events spinning out of control in the Middle East. We see our efforts in
Iraq thrown away by the president. We see the slaughter in Syria. We see the rise of the Islamic
State. We see the flourishing or al Qaeda. We see mad mullahs of Iran on the march. We see Obama
facilitating the mullahs' efforts and enhancing their power. He seems not to care or to understand that
they have never given up the fight against the United States since their ascension to power in 1979. We
see the president and his subordinates going to ludicrous extremes to avoid mention of the devil that drives our
enemies. We see that the president has become a laughingstock and an object of contempt around the world.
Imam Obama comes out at the National
Prayer Breakfast. Obama, who says he is a Christian, rarely goes to church and gets
his daily morning prayer delivered to him over his phone. And when he did go to church it was at
Trinity United Church of Christ, where he spent 20 long years listening to Jeremiah Wright curse
America. It was Obama, who in recalling the opening lines of the Islamic call to prayer during a
New York Times 2007 interview recited them "with a first-rate accent", describing the call to prayer
as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset." [...] Imam Obama's words were an insult to
Christians and the Christian faith, dressed to kill in the kind of rhetoric you would expect from
an imam holding forth at a mosque, but never at the White House.
Jindal
to Obama: 'Medieval Christian Threat is Under Control'. Bobby Jindal on Friday
[2/6/2015] released a statement responding to the president's remarks on Thursday at the National
Prayer Breakfast in which he cautioned Americans from getting on a "high horse" when taking a stance
against radical Islam because people have committed "terrible deeds" in the name of Christianity,
too. "It was nice of the President to give us a history lesson at the Prayer breakfast," Jindal
said. "Today, however, the issue right in front of his nose, in the here and now, is the terrorism
of Radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives. We
will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality
of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control, Mr. President. Please
deal with the Radical Islamic threat today."
Obama's prayerful gibberish.
[I]n the aftermath of President Obama's eyebrow-arching remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast
Thursday, is there a Christian minister anywhere who didn't immediately feed Sunday's half-finished
sermon to the shredder? I mean, how could any ordained defender of the faith let this latest,
hopelessly egregious exercise in moral equivalency by the president pass unchallenged?
Obama's
Moral Equivalence Ignores Islamic Doctrine. The insipid moral equivalence in President
Obama's apologia for Islam at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning has already been
deconstructed by such commentators as Roger Simon, Victor David Hanson and Jonah Goldberg. I am
bothered, though, by the president's presumption of equivalence between doctrinal apples and oranges.
If, as he maintains, we must engage in comparative religion with a focus on what believers do in the
name of their varying faiths, then we should also analyze what their varying faiths tell them to do.
Obama's
Drones Have Killed More Than the Spanish Inquisition. Controversy still swirls around
Obama's comments during the National Prayer Breakfast this week, where he chastised Christians for
getting on their "high horse" over the ongoing global jihad, invoking medieval abuses that occurred
hundreds of years ago during the Crusades and Inquisition. But perhaps it is Obama who should
avoid getting on his high horse, since according to recently published statistics, Obama's drone
campaign has killed more people during the six years of his presidency than were killed the 350 years
of the Spanish Inquisition.
People
Committed Terrible Deeds In The Name Of Democrats. By now you've probably dismounted
from your high horse. After all, President Obama reminded us that while it is bad that the
Islamic State (which apparently isn't Islamic, "whatever ideology they're operating off of") is
beheading people and burning them alive in 2015, Christians (who were obviously Christian) also did
very bad things in 1215. If you didn't learn this presidential history lesson, The Atlantic's
Ta-Nehisi Coates is here to offer extra help after class. He points out that Christianity was often
invoked in defense of slavery, segregation and white supremacy for a large part of American history.
We
need a president, not a history teacher. A few days ago, ISIS set a POW on fire and
then put it on video for all the world to see. A few days before, they beheaded a journalist.
A bit before that, they killed kids and enslaved young girls. So what is President Obama doing
talking about the Crusades or Spanish Inquisition or slavery in the U.S.? Am I the only one who thinks
that this speech should have been read by an adult before the president went to the Prayer Breakfast?
Obama's bad Christians.
We'll leave it to others to sort out the history here, and to address the extraordinary bad taste
the president showed in invoking Christian misbehavior from the Middle Ages at a time when innocent
Christians in places such as Iraq and Syria are being beheaded and even crucified for their faith.
What strikes us is how unaware the president is that the bad Christian behavior he invokes is powerful
evidence against his own refusal to concede those carrying out jihadist attacks around the world today
have anything to do with Islam.
WH
Spox: Obama's Remarks on Christians Were About Being 'Honest with Ourselves'.
President Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday and addressed the idea of
terrorists being influenced by radical Islam. Obama said, "Lest we get up on our high horse and
think that this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition
people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ." This comment set off conservatives all
over the place, and today the press grilled White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz on exactly
what the president meant.
Day Before Denouncing Christianity, Obama Held Secretive
Meeting With Islamic Leaders. Yesterday [2/5/2015] Obama once again made good on his
promise to "stand with the Muslims" when he responded to the latest ghastly atrocity by the Islamic
State by absurdly blaming Christianity for slavery and denouncing the Crusades. On the previous day,
he attended a religious meeting more to his liking. [...] Considering the malevolent ultra-radicals
he openly consults with (e.g., Al Sharpton) and even appoints to positions of great power (e.g.,
Eric Holder), the imagination balks at who must have attended this meeting for the Regime to want it
kept secret. Members of the terror umbrella group the Muslim Brotherhood were likely present,
given Obama's record of support for it at the expense of Western interests.
The Depravity of Obama's Prayer Breakfast Remarks.
[T]he real depravity in Obama's remarks is that it accepts and promotes the idea that events of
hundreds of years ago justify a never-ending cycle of violence and retribution. If one accepts
Obama's concept of history then reconciliation between tribal, religious and racial "enemies" can
never be accomplished; [...]
Dear
World, We're Sorry. Barack Obama thought it pertinent to mention the crusades at the
National Prayer Breakfast as one of the sins of Christianity in an attempt to make moral equivalence
with radical Islamists in the present day. We have a leader willing to look back 1,000 years to
justify his indifference to horrors today. He's counting on the vast majority of Americans who have
their faces too buried in their cell phones to realize that if you have to reach back 1,000 years to
make your argument, you don't have much of an argument. But that is the story of modern America —
passionate indifference based firmly in ignorance. I don't know if Obama knows how ignorant what he says is
or if he's simply reading what his handlers put in the teleprompter, but the motive matters less than the result.
Obama
Struggles to Name the Nazis. Our messianic leader is constantly apologizing for what
we've done since 1776. None of the media-controlled voters remember an incident at Pearl Harbor,
not to mention all the other assaults, like the Rape of Nanking. Americans can't figure out why
those Nazis and Japanese keep attacking the United States, but the media are only focused on some
celebrity's hindquarters. They attack those who mention anything else.
Chuck
Todd: Obama Likes to Troll National Prayer Breakfast. After President Barack Obama's
remarks at last week's National Prayer Breakfast in which he said Christians and others should
refrain from getting on their high horses about Islamic violence given their own bloody histories,
Chuck Todd wondered if the president was essentially trolling the Prayer Breakfast crowd. "My
question is why he felt compelled to bring this up at all," said historian Jon Meacham. "I have my
own theory," Todd said. "He's not a big fan of the Prayer Breakfast, and I think he almost enjoys
creating a rhetorical debate."
Islam,
history and the failure to recognize a world threat. If you don't know which side the
president is on, you should probably be forgiven. It often appears HE doesn't know which side he is
on. Last week had to be an all-time low not just for this president, but for any president in
history, in terms of looking weak and vacillating, if not downright pusillanimous, in the face of
the enemy. The enemy, in case you need a scorecard, is Islamic expansionist jihad. The
tactic is terrorism waged with shameless barbarity, and the goal is worldwide domination in the form
of a Sharia-law-based caliphate.
POTUS:
Burning the Jordanian Pilot Avenges the Crusades. Some have characterized Obama's
speech, a talk in which he reminded a largely Christian audience that "terrible deeds have been done
in the name of Christ," as endorsing moral equivalency. But his speech was not just a tiresome
reiteration of the left's theme of moral equivalency. It was far worse than that. The president of
the United States actually gave a rationale for why ISIS was justified in burning Kassasbeh alive.
Obama's words effectively endorsed the actions of ISIS as a justifiable response to the behavior of
Christians during the Crusades. He essentially implied the burning the Jordanian pilot avenged the
Crusades. Yes, that is what the commander in chief of the United States not so subtly did.
Muslim
Group's Enthusiastic Invitation to Obama After Christianity Comments. The nation's largest
Muslim group is inviting President Barack Obama to visit an American mosque, enthusiastically embracing
the president's controversial comments at the National Prayer Breakfast this week comparing past Christian
misdeeds to the Islamic State. [...] Obama met with 15 Muslim leaders at the White House Wednesday [2/4/2015],
but the White House has not yet released the names, only that they were "American Muslim leaders."
Obama's
Political Prayer. [Scroll down] He was scolding us in advance, not for what we
had done but for what it was clear to him, in his wisdom, that we were thinking about doing. Yet
if his goal had been merely to rub out all rage and bitterness against ISIS as if it were a cigarette butt
to be casually flipped to the ground and squashed by the presidential foot, he wouldn't have achieved half
the offensiveness he actually managed. For the president had no interest in claiming his own share in
the guilt of the Inquisitors; his goal was to demonstrate his long heritage of victimhood and show off his
moral superiority. He explained that the Inquisition had led via slavery right to Jim Crow; and where Jim
Crow is concerned, he embodies all suffering victims (not that he actually has any ancestors who were slaves).
Obama's
Crusades. No one said, "Wait, this is just stupid." Or, "Isn't this irrelevant to
today's threat?" Or, "Man, we're going to offend about a billion people with this line." Or at
least, no one powerful enough said it. It's not just the president, it's that all those arrogant,
bright young things around him, from the nameless wordsmith to 46-year-old chief of staff Denis McDonough,
thought it was fine to scold us with centuries-old history by equating 21st-century Islamist barbarians
with 11th-century medieval Christians. And when they let that speech go through, they showed the rest
of us what, not just the president, but everyone working around him really thinks about Western civilization.
Obama
equating today's ISIS with the Crusades of 1096 A.D. draws disbelief. Once again
Barack Obama, who entered American public life a decade ago as a real good talker, has created
another unnecessary verbal mess for himself by dragging the medieval Crusades into the contemporary
discussion of terrorism by Islamic extremists. But what his tortured comparison also did was add
fuel to the widespread suspicion that this American president who professes to be Christian harbors
some dark, hidden affinity or allegiance to Islam.
Obama
isn't helping Muslims with his sloppy comparisons. [Scroll down] But far more
offensive is the historically illiterate statement about America — an attempt to place
slavery and Jim Crow under a Christian banner. As Obama said, the name of Christ has been used to
justify all manner of evils. But it takes a very ignorant person indeed to suggest that
profit-seeking slaveholders viewed themselves as fulfilling God's will; or that the Ku Klux Klan and
other racists had some kind of point when they scrambled to create ad hoc, after-the-fact religious
rationalizations for evils they were already engaged in for other reasons. What Obama dismisses
is the reason such religious rationalizations were concocted — because the racists' beloved
institutions had been under such ferocious attack from Christian fundamentalists — the
people we now know as the abolitionists.
Media
Rewriting Obama's Prayer Breakfast "Crusades" Speech to No Avail. Punch-drunk on his
own moral superiority, the President lectured a room full of people who had since adeptly handled
the crisis of violent Medieval Christians and, unlike their ISIS "bretheren" are not still wandering
about in the desert setting fire to people in cages, on how their respective religions' darkest
times, found mostly in history books the President clearly does not read, are just as deplorable.
Obama's
Lies About The Crusades vs Islamic Jihad. As Obama continues to push his lies about
how the Crusades are "just like" today's modern Jihadists, others are pushing back on his lies.
Obama's sophist point was that the Christian Crusades of over 500 years ago were "bad too," just
like what the Muslims are doing today by murdering millions of people a year. Of course, it is
utterly meaningless about what Crusaders did over 500 years ago, but that point doesn't even
matter. The fact is his comparison lacks any historical accuracy [...]
Which
is more disturbing: Obama's speech at the prayer breakfast or the audience response?
Like many people, Obama's sickening speech at the National Prayer Breakfast got under my skin. Not
only because of what he said, but because of the audience response. Why did people sit there? Why
did Christians, Jews, and others sit through the insulting pack of lies that Obama spewed? Where is
it written that anyone must sit through a speech, even if the speaker is the President of the United States?
Obama Makes Up
Facts — Again. Barack Obama is the President of the United States, but to
judge from his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday morning, one might get the
impression that he thinks himself far more than that. [...] As eminent historians are so famous for
doing, President Obama also chose to lecture on religious history, and do so as glibly and inaccurately
as possible. As many another aspirant historian does, President Obama went in by way of the
Crusades. He hadn't actually singled out Islamic extremism as a particular problem at the
moment — because he will not even name it — but he did decide to say that
everybody else could be just as guilty as the religion that must not be named: [...]
"Inappropriate":
How Half of Americans Describe Obama's National Prayer Breakfast Address. It was a
speech that was reportedly supposed to be "provocative," and if so, succeeded brilliantly. A new
poll, however, indicates that the speech went a step beyond provocation; many Americans found
it downright "inappropriate," according to a freshly-released Economist/YouGov poll:
Keyword: dog whistle ISIS picks up on Obama's Prayer Breakfast
Crusades Meme. Just one week and a half after President Barack Obama linked the
Crusades and Inquisition with "many terrible deeds done in the name of Christ" at the National
Prayer Breakfast, ISIS has picked up and run with his meme. A horrific ISIS video showing the
mass beheading of 21 Christians condemns the faith's believers as "crusaders". Words, even when
uttered from White House National Prayer Breakfasts, have meaning, as do the drift of encouraging
messages that can be picked up even a world away.
The White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism
February 18, 2015.
To
Fight Extremism, Obama Calls on US to Embrace Its Muslims. In the fight against
violent extremism, President Barack Obama has argued the U.S. has one thing going for it that Europe
doesn't: a long tradition of warmly embracing its immigrants, including Muslims.
Obama:
'Notion That The West Is at War With Islam Is An Ugly Lie'. Speaking again at the
White House Summit to Countering Violent Extremism [2/18/2015], President Obama asserted that the
notion that the United States is at war with Islam is "an ugly lie." He encouraged all Muslim
leaders to directly challenge the notion that somehow the West was at war with Islam. [...] Obama
criticized those who referred to Islamic State terrorists as Islamic, arguing that they were only
offering the terrorists legitimacy.
Obama:
Americans Will Defeat Jihadis With Diversity, Tolerance. President Barack Obama says
300 million Americans must accept a fractured and diverse America if they want to defeat Muslim
terrorists. "If extremists are peddling the notion that Western countries are hostile to Muslims,
then we need to show that we welcome people of all faiths," he said Wednesday, while quoting a letter
he said he received from an 11-year-old Muslim girl living in the U.S. The Muslim girl "is
our hope ... [and] our future," he said, without mentioning the roughly 4 million Americans
who are born each year.
Obama
dances around reality as ISIS plays the tune. After months of taking flak for his lack
of a coherent strategy to combat ISIS, President Obama came up with an answer. Unfortunately, it's
"Let's pretend." In a speech to a conference Wednesday as well as an op-ed in the Los Angeles
Times, our president did set forth an agenda for countering what he insisted on calling "violent
extremism." But his approach puts the top priority on the West acknowledging the terrorists' economic
and political grievances. That won't convince anyone that Obama understands the nature of the
threat. Nor will it do much to convince groups like ISIS that he's serious about defeating them.
Obama
at extremist summit: 'We are not at war with Islam'. The White House found itself on
the defensive Wednesday over the administration's downplaying of Jewish and Christian victims of
Islamist terrorism, as President Obama hosted a summit seeking to gloss over Muslim connections to
violent extremism. Mr. Obama told the conference that the U.S. is not at war with the Muslim
world but it needs to counter the religious ideology that groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic
State are using to recruit young fighters. And he defended his avoidance of the term "radical
Islam" to describe terrorists.
Egyptian
Government Outraged That White House Hosted Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists. The peerless
Middle East Media Research Institute, better known as MEMRI, serves up another major story certain
to be ignored by our betters in legacy media. To wit: the government of one-time ally
Egypt is outraged that the Obama administration is fomenting civil unrest — again —
in that country by propping up the Nazi-aligned terror group known as the Muslim Brotherhood.
At
summit on 'violent extremism' (by nobody in particular) Obama stresses need to placate Muslims. Ever
since the day after 9/11, our leaders have been cautioning us against blaming all Muslims for the acts of terror
done in the name of Islam. And the fact is that there have been remarkably few hate crimes against Muslims,
to the great credit of the American people. Jews are far more risk of hate crime, in fact. This
disproportionate concern for "unfair target[ing]" and desire to exempt all Islamic institutions from scrutiny
rests on the dogmatic assertion that there is absolutely nothing in Islam for infidels
non-Muslims to worry about.
Obama
refuses to acknowledge 'Muslim terrorists' at summit. They're burning and beheading
victims in the name of Islam, but President Obama delivered a major speech Wednesday on combating
violent extremism — while refusing to use the words "Muslim terrorists." "No religion
is responsible for terrorism — people are responsible for violence and terrorism," Obama
told a crowd that included Muslim community leaders at the White House.
Andrea
Mitchell: Obama's Terror Summit 'A Dog And Pony Show'. The White House's Summit on
"Countering Violent Extremism" may be on day two, but some left-of-center personalities think the
ongoing response from the Obama administration is nothing more than a charade. On her Wednesday
[2/18/2015] show, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell called the White House's summit on terrorism "a dog and
pony show" due to the lack of high level officials from foreign nations.
Krauthammer:
Obama Sounds Like Christians Killed Muslims. "[President Obama] sounds like a
community organizer talking about outreach to communities. If you listen to the president today, and
his emphasis on Islamic grievances, on reaching out, on making Muslims feel comfortable and not
excluded, you would think that we are responding to the execution, the beheading of 21 Muslims on
behalf of 21 extreme Christians somewhere in the world. It is so divorced from reality, as if the
problem is the lack of understanding of the Muslim grievances, particularly in the Middle East.
We talk about root causes as if that's going to make any difference whatsoever. [...]"
Democrat
hits Obama on extremism summit. The White House's event doesn't specifically call out
Islamic extremism, although a fact sheet for the summit discusses terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and
the the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. During a speech Wednesday afternoon [2/18/2015], Obama
spoke about how extremists have used Muslim ideology as an entry point to lure supporters, but insisted
that those groups represent a perversion of the religion.
Obama
defends the 'true peaceful nature of Islam'. President Obama defended the "true
peaceful nature of Islam" on Wednesday — saying terrorist groups like ISIS promote a
"twisted interpretation of religion that is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world's
Muslims." In an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times, the commander-in-chief provided a
possible preview of a speech later at a White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, in which
community leaders from across the country gathered to discuss how to protect people from "extremist
ideologies." "The world must continue to lift up the voices of Muslim clerics and scholars who
teach the true peaceful nature of Islam," Obama wrote.
Coincidentally with his speech, Mr. Obama's name appeared on this op-ed in the LA Times: President
Obama: Our fight against violent extremism. [Scroll down] That pluralism has at
times been threatened by hateful ideologies and individuals from various religions. We've seen
tragic killings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012 and at a Jewish community center in Kansas
last year. We do not yet know why three young people, who were Muslim Americans, were brutally
killed in Chapel Hill, N.C. But we know that many Muslim Americans across our country are worried
and afraid. Americans of all faiths and backgrounds must continue to stand united with a community
in mourning and insist that no one should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look
like, or how they worship.
The Editor says...
Thank you, Imam Soetoro. Unfortunately, Colleen Hufford and Brendan Tevlin are unavailable for comment.
White
House traps itself in terrorism word games. Why has the Obama administration tied
itself in knots over what to call Islamic terrorism? We know the president has rejected the term in
favor of "violent extremism," ordering his administration not to refer to Islamic terrorists like the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as Islamic. "No religion is responsible for terrorism," Obama
declared at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism Wednesday [2/18/2015]. And yet
in the same speech, Obama uttered the word "Christianity" once, "Judaism" once, "Buddhism" once —
and "Islam" or "Muslim" 52 times. If a listener did not know better, he might think there was
something Islamic about the extremism that was the subject of the White House conference.
Obama
Is Wrong. Democracy Is The Last Thing The Middle East Needs Right Now. President
Barack Obama gave a speech at White House's "Countering Violent Extremism" summit yesterday crammed
with predictable feel-good ideas for combating the imaginary root causes of Islamic
extremism. And in the midst of arguing that radicalism was principally driven by anger over colonialism,
illiteracy, and unemployment, Obama proposed an idea that we should have been abandoned trillions of dollars and
many years ago: more democracy.
Find
the 'Countering Violent Extremism Summit' at the Intersection of Islamists and Leftists. You may understandably
think of it as an ISIS jobs fair, but the ongoing confab in Washington is officially known as President Obama's "summit" on
"Countering Violent Extremism." That being the case, many Americans seem surprised at the appearance of Salam al-Marayati,
leader of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). After all, the White House is having a public hissy fit over the
upcoming speech to Congress by Obama's bête noire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. An odd time,
one might think, for the POTUS to be so chummy with a Muslim activist best know[n] for theorizing, right after the 9/11
attacks, that "we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list."
None Dare Call It
'Islam'. First of all, Islam has not "been woven into the fabric of our country since
its founding," as Obama said yesterday in his speech about combatting terrorism. [...] But let's
return to the president's speech. "No religion," he says, "condones the killing of innocents." Can
Obama really be that ignorant of the glorious history of Islam and the glittering deeds of Mohammed?
We have it on the highest (for Muslims, the only) authority that he regularly slaughtered innocents.
Consider, to take just one example, the year 627 siege of Medina, then home to a Jewish tribe.
After a couple of weeks, the inhabitants surrendered unconditionally. Mohammad then had the 600-800 men
butchered, and sold the women and children into slavery. "We are not at war with Islam," Obama said
yesterday. "We are at war with people who have perverted Islam." Let's see, that would be the
Iranians? No, no: we like them now, remember?
Is This What Obama Meant By 'Perverted Islam'?
President Obama's closing speech at his bizarrely confused and irresolute Countering "Violent
Extremism" Summit was predictable in its now-pathetic formula to avoid the obvious truth —
that Islamist ideology is behind the current attacks Muslims are perpetrating in a campaign to impose
Sharia on the entire world. In Obama's formula — which builds upon the false narrative
first propounded by George W. Bush that Islam is a "religion of peace" — it is now "perverted
Islam" that is behind the war that he is losing. While some may think that Obama, by finally at least
using the word "Islam" in association with this war, has taken a step toward recognizing the reality of what's
going on, we see his remarks as a dangerous series of lies not only about what he is doing, but about the
nature of Islam and the Islamic ideology of Sharia.
Obama
refuses to acknowledge 'Muslim terrorists' at terror summit. They're burning and
beheading victims in the name of Islam, but President Obama delivered a major speech Wednesday on
combating violent extremism — while refusing to use the words "Muslim terrorists." "No
religion is responsible for terrorism — people are responsible for violence and terrorism,"
Obama told a crowd that included Muslim community leaders at the White House.
Obama:
Islam 'Woven into the Fabric of Our Country Since Founding'. In his bloviating speech on Thursday [2/19/2015]
at his summit on countering violent extremism, President Obama bent over backwards to make nice with Islam. Not only
were terrorists not Muslim, President Obama stated, but Islam played a crucial role in America's founding. "Here in
America," Obama stated, "Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding." Obama seems
significantly more comfortable with this characterization of the historic role of Islam than he is with the non-fictional
actual historic role of Christianity and Judaism in the American founding.
The Truth About the
Crusades. When President Obama cited the Crusades as an example of Christian bad behavior
toward Islam, he wasn't speaking with historical accuracy. But you'd never know that if you only
know the conventional wisdom about the Crusades. Instead of condemning ISIS barbarism as barbarism
directed at Christians, Obama has sought to divorce the barbarism from theology. There are many
reason[s] for this, reasons covered by many others here at PJ Media and elsewhere. Among them is
the fact that Obama and his movement see the world through such thick secular lenses that they are
incapable of understanding the vast majority of the world (and the United States) that still sees the
world through theological lenses. Obama and his followers are a radical secular minority attempting
to manage a theological world.
Obama's
Fight Against the Ideology-With-No-Name. The terrorists are animated by an ideology,
and we cannot understand what Obama called "the nature of the enemy" without knowing this ideology.
You cannot go into a war of ideas without understanding the ideas you are at war with. Yet,
throughout the two speeches, he never mentions the substance of the enemy's ideas once.
Benedict College
March 6, 2015.
Obama
speaks at Benedict College in Columbia. Barack Obama today [3/6/2015] is making his
first visit to South Carolina since becoming president, spending a few hours in the capital city and
delivering remarks at Benedict College.
Obama
Claims It's Easier To Buy Guns Than Books And Vegetables. Citing his failure to pass
stricter gun laws in 2013, President Obama used dramatic language to discuss the gun debate on
Friday [3/6/2015]. "It is hard to reduce the easy availability of guns," Obama complained during
a town hall meeting at South Carolina's Benedict College. "As long as you can go on into some
neighborhoods, and it's easier for you to buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book, there are
neighborhoods where it's easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh
vegetable," Obama continued. "As long as that's the case, we're going to continue to see
unnecessary violence."
Obama's
odd series of exaggerated gun claims. A reader asked us to examine these remarks,
believing they showed a pattern of exaggeration by the president. (We also got a number of
tweets about the statements.) The president's comments came as part of a long answer in
response to a question concerning programs to keep youth off the streets and away from gun
violence. These are an interesting set of remarks to fact check, because some of the analysis
in part turns on what the listener believes the president was trying to say.
Selma, Alabama
March 7, 2015.
Obama
invoking civil rights struggles past and present. The nation's first black president
plans a speech Saturday from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the site of one of the
movement's stirring moments, and will refocus on last year's fatal shooting by a white police
officer of a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri.
Obama Blasts
Voter ID Laws in Selma Speech. I defy President Obama to name me one person who has
been denied the right to vote as a result of the passage of any state voter ID law. The states that
require a photo ID have gone to great lengths to ensure its citizens receive their IDs free of charge.
For President Obama to compare contemporary voter ID laws to the laws of the Jim Crow South trivializes the
what those who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago achieved and is yet another example of the
President's dishonesty, disingenuousness and demagoguery.
Obama's
Unscrupulous Selma Speech. Under the guise of commemorating justice, on the 50th
Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama, Barack Obama engaged in his usual artful
deception by exploiting the event to further his agenda. [...] For starters, historical revisionist
Barack Obama left out the fact that those doing the beating in Selma were members of the Democratic
Party. The president dared not reveal that, 50 years later, both he and his political cronies
are now politically and economically billy-clubbing the very people he pretends to defend.
Obama
Honors Selma After Ignoring Gettysburg. After ignoring the battle that ended slavery
under the first Republican president, President Obama at the 50th anniversary of Democrats' blocking
the Selma bridge says, "We're the slaves that built the White House." The parts of American
history that this president chooses to commemorate and what he says about them speaks volumes about
his view of America and American history. His America is not only unexceptional, it is
perpetually and deeply racist, an overbearing world bully with no right to lecture the world
about morality, democracy or freedom.
Conservative
Black Leaders: Obama's Likening Selma to Gay Activism 'Ridiculous,' 'An Insult'.
Conservative black leaders are calling President Barack Obama's likening of homosexual activism to
the 1965 Selma to Montgomery civil rights march "ridiculous" and "an insult." "We're the gay
Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this
bridge," President Obama said in a speech delivered Saturday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.
Black
Mob Violence Spreads as the President Preaches Victimization. The President celebrated
black victimization at his recent speech in Selma, but around the rest of the country, black people
were making the successful transition from victim to predator. Within a few days of the
President's Selma speech, black mob violence and black on white crime proceeded apace, much of
it on video. None of it acknowledged as racial violence in local media.
Earth Day in the Everglades
April 23, 2015.
Taxpayers
slapped with $866,615 jet fuel bill for Obama's Earth Day speech. President Obama's decision to take his Earth Day speech
attacking climate change "deniers" to Florida, home of two GOP presidential candidates, cost taxpayers $866,615.40 just for the flight
of Air Force One. Taxpayer watchdog Judicial Watch revealed Wednesday that the Air Force provided documents showing the flight
expenses of flying the jumbo jet 4.2 hours to Miami. He was then helicoptered 20 minutes to the Florida Everglades for
his speech.
Obama
Takes Cheap Shot at Florida Gov. Rick Scott During Sparsely Attended Everglades Speech. The thinly
veiled insult came during the president's speech at the Florida Everglades, which only a small handful of
Floridians attended. The speech was televised by Al Jazeera America but none of the major cable news
networks, according to Mediaite. As the president made his case for taking action on climate change,
he scoffed at one denier in particular who supposedly refuses to even allow the words "climate change" to be
said in his state. A key component of the left's strategy to impose their policies on the populace
is to mock and ridicule those who don't go along with the program. The idea is to force everyone into
accepting their hard-left agenda through peer pressure.
Portland, Oregon
May 7, 2015.
Obama
on Climate Change: 'I'm Not a Scientist, But I Know a Lot of Scientists'. At a DNC
fundraiser in Portland last night, President Obama mocked the chairman of the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee for wielding a snowball on the floor of the upper chamber to make a point
about climate change. [...] "That's why we're taking actions through the EPA to make sure that we
cut carbon pollution that's produced from power plants. It's the right thing do." Obama promised
"there are jobs to be had for those countries that are first to figure out how to harness the power of the
sun and the wind, and store it properly and distribute it properly." "And I want that to be America,"
he added.
The Editor says...
Let's start with the last sentence first. Obama has demonstrated two things more clearly than anything else
in the last six years: He hates America and hates capitalism. He has also shown his inability to create
"green jobs." Now to the previous sentence: He wants to harness the power of the sun and the wind and
"store it properly and distribute it properly." That sounds like about 3½ Manhattan Projects worth of
scientific breakthroughs, which Mr. Obama apparently believes he can create by reading a teleprompter just the
right way. It would be far more feasible to rely upon the fuels and technologies we already possess and
understand, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum, rather than magic fairy dust yet to be invented. As
for the EPA, he's using bureaucracy to choke the life out of capitalism, by pretending that carbon dioxide is a
pollutant, which it isn't. All in all, the President's speech has a looser connection to reality than the
average comic book.
Obama:
'I Can Understand Science'. President Barack Obama said at a Democratic National
Committee fundraiser in Portland, Ore., yesterday [5/7/2015] that he is "not a scientist," but that:
"I can understand science." Obama made the remark as he talked about his agenda for fighting
global warming. "That's why we're taking actions through the EPA to make sure that we cut carbon
pollution that's produced from power plants," he said. "It's the right thing to do." "We're
going to keep investing in clean energy," he said.
The Editor says...
If Mr. Obama can understand science, he should understand that (1) there is no such thing as dirty energy, and (2) carbon dioxide is not carbon,
for the same reason that water is not hydrogen, and (3) carbon dioxide is an absolutely vital plant food, not a pollutant. Mr. Obama seems to understand
demagoguery better than he understands science.
Georgetown University
May 12, 2015.
Barack Obama,
Media Critic. This morning, President Obama participated in the Catholic-Evangelical
Leadership Summit at Georgetown, where he discoursed on poverty. Incredibly, Obama seems to think the
real problem lies with Fox News: Obama argued if we are going to end poverty, "We're going to have to
change how the media reports on these issues." Huh? If the media stopped reporting on poverty,
poverty wouldn't exist? That isn't quite it, but Obama's explanation is incoherent.
Barack
Obama, pathetic at three levels. This is vintage Obama. First, he's dishonest. His
assertion about Fox News is an invention. Second, he's unpresidential. It's beneath the dignity of
his office for Obama to whine about a cable news network. This isn't the first time Obama has gone after
Fox News. Each time he does, he makes himself more pathetic. Third, Obama is unserious. Poverty
is an important issue. It deserves serious discussion. To blame poverty, even in part, on the media
(Obama said if we are going to end poverty, "we're going to have to change how the media reports on these
issues") is juvenile. Obama is blaming the messenger. The failure of the liberal approach to
waging war on poverty predates Fox News.
Obama
Disapproves: 'Kids Start Going to Private Schools... Private Clubs'. President Barack
Obama told a gathering at Georgetown University on Tuesday that the problem isn't racial segregation,
it's wealth segregation, manifested by "elites" who "are able to live together, away from folks who are
not as wealthy." "Kids start going to private schools," he said. (Just as he did and his own
kids do.) [...] Even before he was elected president, Obama campaigned on the promise of wealth
redistribution. Throughout his presidency Obama has been a champion of the middle class and an
adversary of the wealthy. When he called for tax hikes on the wealthy in September 2011, he
insisted it was "not class warfare," but "fairness."
Barack and Michelle the Poverty Pimps.
Obama was never poor. He lived a charmed and privileged life, including the photographed chapter
where he was the spoiled and spiffy little darling of his well-heeled maternal grandparents.
Ditto for the woman he was later to make his wife. Crying poor mouth by the Obamas has about
as much validity as the rich-by-billions Clintons trying to get away with crying poor mouth.
Obama's
Conversation on Poverty Reveals a Poverty of Character. It's classic Obama: erecting
strawmen. Obama has spent his entire presidency making "folks mad at folks at the top." How many
times has Obama talked about "corporate jets", "you didn't build that, someone else did" and "wealthy paying
more of their share". Indeed, Obama even made a point of saying during this conversation, "The top 25
hedge fund managers made more than all the kindergarten teachers in the country." And what does any of
this have to do with the price of tea in China?
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
May 20, 2015.
President
Obama's Delusional War on Climate Change. President Barack Obama focused on global climate change in
his commencement remarks at the Coast Guard Academy. [...] There are so many perplexing aspects to these remarks,
I hardly know where to begin. Such a great deal of evidence refutes the climate assertions made by environmental
activists (including expanding Antarctic glacial levels) that failure to question the premise is a dereliction of
common sense. Additionally, instead of offering inspiration and a reason to take pride in serving, President
Obama projected hostility and fear.
ISIS
Seizes Ancient Antiquities Site and City of Palmyra as Obama Warns World of... Global Warming.
ISIS has seized the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It will soon be destroyed.
It is considered one of the most enchanting sites in the Middle East. The U.N. called out for reinforcements
but none came. I hope we have a lot of good photos and video. But it's climate change that's the
problem. Just ask Barack. How many people are still in this beautiful city to be tortured and
killed? President Obama spoke to the Coast Guard graduates today [5/20/2015] to tell them of the horror
of global warming.
Obama:
Climate deniers endangering national security. President Obama in a speech on
Wednesday [5/20/2015] cast climate change as a growing national security threat, accusing Republican
skeptics of harming military readiness by denying its effects. Obama argued in his address to
graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that rising sea levels and higher global temperatures
endanger military bases and could force personnel to respond to conflicts around the world that are
fueled by their effects. "Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an
immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military
defends our country," Obama told new Coast Guard officers at the academy's New London, Conn.,
campus. "And so we need to act — and we need to act now."
Nevermind
terror, Obama tells the military global warming is imminent security threat. Finally,
President Obama addressed what he sees as the nation's worst security threat, just days after the
fall of Ramadi to ISIS and North Korea's declaration that it has miniaturized a nuclear warhead to
fit on an ICBM capable of reaching the United States. In a speech to graduates at the Coast Guard
Academy, Obama said, yes, yes, terrorism is a grave danger. But there's another one. "We
cannot, and we must not, ignore a peril that can affect generations," the commander-in-chief declared
ominously. That threat? Global warming.
Delusional
Obama links climate change and terrorism. President Obama's assertion in his commencement address to cadets
at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that the rise of ISIS in Syria and Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the brutality of both, is somehow
linked to climate change shows just how dangerously detached from reality U.S. foreign policy has become. For those who
wondered why upwards of two hundred thousand have died in Syria, Boko Haram abducts Christian schoolgirls, and ISIS beheads and
burns people alive in its reign of terror, the president placed a major part of the blame on fossil fuels and your SUV.
Obama:
Climate Change Fueled Rise of Boko Haram, War in Syria. During his speech at the Coast
Guard Commencement ceremonies, President Obama warned that climate change was part of the reason
behind increasing violence in countries around the world. Obama pointed out that under his
administration, the Pentagon had begun identifying climate change as a "threat multiplier" in world
conflicts, although he was careful not to put all the blame on changing weather patterns.
Obama
warns global warming could maybe make hurricanes worse, if we had any. Don't worry,
we're not going to play some silly word game about President Obama giving another of his long-winded
speeches at the National Hurricane Center. That would be a cheap trick. So, we're not going
to talk about Obama's Thursday speech there like it was the first major hurricane to reach the continental
United States in nine years. The former Real Good Talker was in Miami this week and he did speak
about hurricanes. He's on a global warming jag right now, bringing it up at every opportunity
because it isn't ISIS.
The
Alarmist-in-Chief Rallies the Troops against Climate Change. President Barack Obama is
less than stalwart in the fight against ISIS and doesn't seem overly concerned about Vladimir
Putin's predation in Ukraine or China's aggression in the South China Sea. It is the fight against
climate change, an allegedly dire threat to the nation's security, that brings out his inner Churchill.
In remarks at the Coast Guard Academy commencement, Obama pledged his undying hostility to climate change and
his determination to fight it on the beaches and in the fields. He called it "one of the most severe
threats" we face and "an immediate risk to our national security."
Catholic Hospital Association
June 9, 2015.
Obama
Tries To Bully The Supreme Court One More Time. In Germany on Monday and again on
Tuesday [6/9/2015] in a speech to the Catholic Hospital Association in Washington, Obama dusted off
the lines he's used time and again to defend ObamaCare. [...] ObamaCare is doing better than expected,
the president said, dismissing "the constant doom and gloom predictions" that never "came to pass."
Does he mean "doom and gloom predictions" like "you'll lose your health plan and your doctor because of
ObamaCare?" Oh, wait, that one did come true. Maybe he meant skyrocketing premium costs.
Oops, looks like that one's happening as well. We've detailed the many other ways ObamaCare has failed
on most of its key promises, so there's no need to do so again. Except to say each has gotten worse.
Obama
Recalls His Work for Catholic Church: 'Every Human Being, Made in the Image of God, Deserves to Live
in Dignity'. Speaking at the Catholic Health Association Conference in Washington,
D.C., on Tuesday [6/9/2015], President Barack Obama recalled that his first job in Chicago was with
the Catholic Church and that in this job he saw that "every human being, made in the image of God,
deserves to live in dignity." [...] Obmacare provides taxpayer subsidies to health insurance plans
that cover surgical abortions. Through a "preventive services" regulation the administration issued
under the ACA, it also mandates that most health insurance plans must cover contraceptives, sterilizations,
and abortion-inducing drugs and IUDs.
Obama
makes moral case for preserving his healthcare law. Four words in the law could unravel Obamacare
in the Supreme Court. So President Barack Obama is marshaling his own numbers — and an unusual
moral weight — to stress the achievements of his health overhaul law. Addressing the Catholic
Health Association on Tuesday [6/9/2015], Obama spoke about the 100 years it's taken to reform health care in the United
States, and the millions of people Obamacare has helped over its five years of implementation. "This is now part of the
fabric of how we care for one another," Obama said.
The Editor says...
It is astonishing that Mr. Obama was invited to speak to a Catholic group, after all he's done in opposition to
the Catholics over the last five years. Or did he invite himself?
Obama
plans major Obamacare speech. President Obama will tout his healthcare law Tuesday
[6/9/2015] to a Catholic group that has consistently supported the law despite deep divides over its
birth control requirement. In a speech to the Catholic Health Association — which
represents hundreds of hospitals and nursing homes across the U.S. — the president will
talk about the law's major tenets and make his case that it has improved health plans for virtually
everyone, in addition to expanding coverage to millions. The address comes just days before the
Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling that could halt the healthcare law's insurance subsidies
to millions of Americans.
Reaction to South Carolina shooting
June 18, 2015.
Obama's
defining moment on race. President Obama's eulogy Friday [6/26/2015] for a murdered black pastor
is set to be the most momentous speech of his presidency about America's struggle with race relations.
90%
of the Racism in America Comes from the Democratic Party and the Left. [Scroll down]
Barack Obama is one of the worst offenders in this regard. Recently, in reaction to the horrid actions
of the deranged, but solitary racist Dylann Root, the president claimed racism is in our DNA. How could
he possibly utter such nonsense and who was he talking about? The majority of Americans are from families
that came to this country after slavery existed. Many of those were escaping oppression of their own.
In my case my family was fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe. Many of the members of my family who stayed
behind ended up gassed in Auschwitz or exterminated in Treblinka. Is Obama telling me that racism is in my
DNA? What a wretched and insulting statement.
Emotional Obama decries mass gun
violence in America. President Barack Obama stood righteous, angry and powerless on Thursday [6/18/2015] as he responded
to yet another mass killing by a gunman in America. "I have had to make statements like this too many times," Obama said, pausing
with emotion, referring to similar statements of grief following at least 14 mass killings during his presidency, according to a
tally by CBS's Mark Knoller. Those include shootings in Aurora, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona, and Newtown, Connecticut. Once
again, he said, "someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."
The Editor says...
The perp may have had little or no trouble acquiring a gun, but apparently he had even less trouble
getting his hands on mind-altering drugs. And incidentally, when you see Mr. Obama "pausing with
emotion," it's probably because there's a note in the teleprompter telling him to pause.
Colin
Flaherty, American Witness. Barack Obama made a curious statement Thursday during his obligatory
public lament over the stunning slayings of nine worshippers in an historic Charleston church. He said:
"I've had to make statements like this too many times." Obama intended this to bemoan the frequency of fatal
shootings in America, which he attributes to the easy availability of firearms. It would have been too honest
and nuanced for the current president of all Americans to note that scores of millions of us have our own firearms
easily available to us, yet live peaceful, law-abiding lives under the Constitution that Obama twice swore to uphold.
While a minute scoopful of loonies abuse the power of firearms to live out their hate and inadequacies at the expense of
innocents. And Obama claims he's tried so hard to unite the country.
Actually,
President Obama, Mass Killings Aren't Uncommon In Other Countries. It only takes some quick research to discover that
rampage killers, acts of terror (as the Charleston shooting most certainly is), school attacks, spree killers are not unique to the
United States. In 2011, a deranged Anders Behring Breivik killed eight people by setting off a van bomb in Oslo, before going
on to murder 69 more people, mostly children, at a summer camp. This is the single worst shooting spree incident in history.
Obama surely remembers that he left the White House and visited the Norwegian ambassador's residence to offer his condolences.
It takes only a rudimentary search to find out that mentally unstable killers can be found anywhere.
Examples of church shootings in other countries abound:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
as well as an endless series of firebombings, which you can find on this page, but Mr. Obama
doesn't mention those attacks because they are being carried out by Muslims.
Obama's 'hopeless' push for gun control.
As Mr Obama clearly understands, if a person can walk into a school, murder 20 children and public policy on this issue
doesn't change — as happened in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut attack — it's just not going to change.
The best he can hope for is that someday in the undetermined future there's a different outlook, "at some point".
Jindal:
Obama's Reaction to Charleston Shooting 'Completely Shameful'. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) slammed President
Obama for his "completely shameful" reaction to the Charleston church massacre. "At some point, we as a country will have
to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in
other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it," Obama said in a gun-control
message in the White House briefing room today [6/18/2015].
President
Obama Fundraises in Hollywood While Nation Grieves for Charleston. President Obama on Thursday [6/18/2015] addressed the horrific
massacre of nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina church — and then boarded Air Force One to California for a series of high-dollar
fundraisers to benefit the Democrat party. Obama is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles early Thursday afternoon for a pair of pricey
fundraisers to benefit the Democratic National Committee and the DNC's 2016 White House Victory Fund.
As
Obama Claims Gun Violence Is Unique To U.S., 160 Are Massacred in Mexico. So much for President Obama's claim this
morning [6/18/2015] that gun violence of the kind that horrified South Carolina Wednesday "doesn't happen in other countries."
This morning, Mexico's Excelsior reported a massacre of 160 Central American migrants in two separate incidents. The migrants
were machine-gunned and left for dead, with just 60 managing to flee for their lives. One incident occurred in Sonora state
near the Arizona border. The other was in Veracruz state in Mexico's south.
Obama Lies, Says Mass Shootings
Don't Happen in Other Countries. Already rushing to the microphones to try and use the murders in a South Carolina
church to undermine the U.S. Constitution and push his loser gun control ideas, Barack Obama lied today saying that the US is the
only country with mass murders. During his press conference today Obama said, "This kind of mass violence does not happen in
other advanced countries." But this simply isn't true. We have but to look to France only a few months ago when Islamists
murdered 12 members of the staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Obama Excitedly Leaps to Politicize the
Tragic Charleston Church Shooting. Barack Obama turned a beautiful speech into another politicized attack on gun owners and
white people. He blamed the Second Amendment in part. "I've had to make statements like this too many times. Communities
like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times... Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone
wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun." "Let's be clear, at some point we will have to reconcile with
the fact this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries." [That's blatantly untrue. Where's the coverage
of people with guns who stop mass slayings?{...}] He got in his dig at Republicans and other Second Amendment supporters, insinuating
we are responsible for this horrible slaughter.
Obama
Claims Mass Murders Don't Happen In Other Countries; Here's the Truth. President Obama
yesterday proclaimed that because other countries have strict gun control laws mass murders don't
happen in those countries. [...] President Obama is once again using a tragic event to try and rally
people behind his radical anti-American agenda.
Obama's Howler.
To gild the point a bit further about how "This type of mass violence does not happen in other
advanced countries," Wayne Laugesen of the Colorado Spring Gazette tallies the numbers for us:
Behring Anders Breivik killed 75, 2011, Norway Mohammed Merah killed 7, 2012,
France Genildo Ferreira de França killed 14, 1997, Brazil Michael Robert
Ryan killed 16, 1987, UK Eric Borel killed 15, 1995, France Friedrich
Leibacher killed 14, 2001, Switzerland Christian Dornier killed 14, 1989, France
Ljubiša Bogdanović killed 13, 2013, Serbia Derrick Bird killed 12, 2010,
UK Robert Steinhäuser killed 16, 2002, Germany Tim Kretschmer killled 15,
2009, Germany Wellington Menezes de Oliveira killed 12, 2011, Brazil Bai
Ningyang killed 12, 2006, China Juhani Matti Saari killed 10, 2008, Finland
Huanming Wu killed 9, 2010, China Ahmed Ibragimov killed 41, 1999, Russia Ami
Popper killed 7, 1990, Israel Antoní Blažka killed 6, 2013, Czech Republic
Serial
Lies: PolitiFact Blasts Obama Over Gun Claim About Mass Killings In Other Countries.
Just hours after a racist terror attack took the lives of nine black parishioners guilty of nothing
more than attending Bible study at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, Obama stood before America
and did what he usually does when standing before America: He cynically exploited a tragedy to
further his political agenda, and he lied.
DHS Clueless About Homeland Security;
too busy with supporting Obama's agenda on gun control and immigration. Dylaan [sic]
Roof is another drug-addled loser who's gained infamy through murder and joins other crazed loons
like Adam Lanza (26 dead including 20 children) and James Holmes (12 dead, 70 injured).
Yet almost immediately after the murders in Charleston, S.C., the President and the Department of
Homeland Security made statements that blamed easy access to guns as the need for more gun control
laws. The president even made the foolish statement that these mass killings do not occur in other
developed countries. Apparently Norway and France which have very restrictive gun laws did not
prevent their mass killings of innocent victims — Norway: 77, France (Charlie
Hebdo 11). Obama's teleprompter needs to be updated.
End zone dance after Supreme Court saves Obamacare again
June 25, 2015.
Six
Times Obama Insisted In His Speech Today That Obamacare Was Working. As President Obama delivered his remarks
today [6/25/2015] in the Rose Garden, he insisted on making one of his assertions clear: Obamacare was working.
On six different occasions, Obama insisted that his signature healthcare reform law was working. [Video clip]
Obama:
'This Has Never Been a Government Takeover of Health Care'. In a Rose Garden press conference on Thursday
[6/25/2015], President Barack Obama reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding Obamacare subsidies, calling it
"a victory for hard-working Americans," adding that "this has never been a government takeover of health care."
"This has never been a government takeover of health care despite cries to the contrary. This reform remains what
it's always been — a set of fairer rules and tougher protections that have made health care in America more
affordable, more attainable and more about you, the consumer, the American people. It's working," said Obama in
praising the high court ruling.
Eulogy at the Charleston Funeral
June 26, 2015.
Obama breaks
into 'Amazing Grace' at funeral. From the moment President Barack Obama approached the
platform to give the eulogy for Clementa Pinckney on Friday [6/26/2015], the organist was ready.
Few people expected Obama to become the Preacher-in-Chief. And probably no one thought he would
sing. But that's what he did after discussing the importance of the black church's past and the
necessity of the community in the future.
Obama eulogizes
pastor in Charleston shooting. President Barack Obama delivered a touching eulogy, a
rousing political speech and a thoughtful meditation on race in America when he traveled to Charleston,
South Carolina on Friday to speak at the funeral of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down last
week by a racist terrorist during Bible study. But the President's speech will be remembered for a
moment at the end when the he launched into a solo of "Amazing Grace," that at first stunned the mourners
and then brought them to their feet as they joined him in song.
Reckon With This.
After Dylann Roof murdered nine pastors and churchgoers in the course of Bible study in Charleston,
President Obama couldn't wait to use the occasion for his narrow political purposes. "Let's be
clear," he said with urgency in his voice. "At some point we as a country will have to reckon with
the fact that this type of mass violence ... doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency.
And it is in our power to do something about it." The implication, of course, was that additional gun
control legislation was required but that his political opponents refused to see the light. Now we learn
in whose power it was to do something about it, and it wasn't anyone Obama was talking about.
Why
Obama chose to sing Amazing Grace during eulogy for Charleston victims. [M]oments
before Obama sang Amazing Grace during the eulogy for Rev Clementa Pinckney, one of the the nine
Charleston victims, his wife Michelle and long-time adviser Valerie Jarrett were unconvinced by the
idea. According to Jarrett, he turned to them before addressing a Charleston church last month,
and said: 'I don't know whether I'm going to do it, but I just wanted to warn you two that I might
sing. We'll see how it feels at the time. I think if I sing, the church will sing with me.'
Barack
Obama Takes the Charleston Funeral from the Sacred to the Profane. [Scroll down]
For a minute, I thought he had actually learned a little something from the Christian witness in
Charleston. I could even stomach his cheap jumping on the Confederate flag bandwagon for a
minute, as long as he stayed on the grace of God bandwagon too. But, as Barack Obama implied in
his Marc Maron interview, unity just isn't in his DNA. So after all that, the community
organizer — the Divider in Chief — went to work. We got a laundry list of
America's continuing sins. A reference to the myth of Republican voter suppression being by far the
most egregious, because he knows it's a lie from the pit of Hell and in no way true. And how
Johnny gets a call back for a job, but not Jamal. Then came a long spiel on gun control, even
while he admitted that not a single one of his proposals would have prevented what happened at the
prayer meeting at Emanuel AME Church.
Obama:
Prejudice "Still Infects Our Society". Delivering the eulogy [6/26/2015] at times in
the cadence of a black preacher, Obama went further than I've ever heard him casting problems in
this country in racial terms. His commentary, while no doubt heartfelt, will regrettably focus the
country more on its divisions and less on the solutions to the problems facing blacks, which today
have little to do with prejudice and much to do with culture. While Obama may well be correct
that what ills the black community stems for the legacy of racism, severe prejudice is no longer
widespread, and the problems for minorities and the divisions within society can only be stoked
further by providing a false narrative that says others are now holding African Americans back.
Obama's
Amazing Disgrace of a Eulogy. After a perfunctory acknowledgement of the slain
pastor's wife, daughters, and church family, the president cracked a few self-deprecating jokes
before diving headlong into a discourse on racial and progressive politics. Pinckney was a
Democrat senator representing the "Lowcountry" of South Carolina, so the president began by
entertaining the possibility that the senator was unable to get resources to address inadequate
schools, poverty, child hunger, and lack of healthcare because he was in the political minority.
From that point forward, the president was in full-on, pedal-to-the-metal racial-injustice mode.
Obama
Stakes Black Claim on U.S. History. Barack Obama's eulogy in Charleston for the
Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the South Carolina state senator killed by an avowed racist, put
Pinckney's death in the context of Christian grace. But the speech cast everything else —
Pinckney's life, his cause, his church, his politics, his meaning — as part of the long,
brutal, sacrificial, triumphant history of black Americans. Obama wrapped his presidential arms
around the black church and black life more completely than he has ever done, pushing black history
into the center of the American stage and demanding that it be recognized as a central, undeniable fact.
Obama
Channels Reverend Wright. After 11 years of hiding and hinting, the real Barack Obama
is back. The guy who spent twenty years listening to Reverend Jeremiah Wright preach the gospel
of racial hostility has decided it is just too much trouble to keep his black-on-white resentment
all bottled up. So the president put it on full display last week at the eulogy for the pastor
who was a victim in the Charleston mass murder. And what we saw was quite a bit different than
the fresh-faced, new-vision, 'put race behind us' guy who electrified the country with his speech to
the Democrat National Convention in 2004.
Announcement of normalized relations with Cuba
July 1, 2015.
No,
Mr. President, Castroite Cuba Is Not What Change Looks Like. President Obama's much
hailed "normalization" of ties with Cuba is anything but normal. Cuba is a top violator of human
rights and the rule of law. Normal relations will just entrench the regime, not change it. With a
flurry of the usual cliches about going forward and not being "imprisoned by the past," President Obama hailed
his own decision to normalize relations with Castroite Cuba with his trademark "This is what change looks like!"
in a speech at the White House Wednesday [7/1/2015]. Problem is, it's one of the most inaccurate
statements he's ever made.
Obama
on his historic Cuba decision: 'This is what change looks like'. President Obama on
Wednesday [7/1/2015] announced a major step toward "diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba" by saying
the U.S. and Cuba would reopen embassies in each other's countries. "This is a historic step
forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people and begin a new
chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said in a statement in the Rose Garden with Vice
President Joe Biden at his side.
Despite
Mr. Obama's 'engagement,' Cuba continues its repression. In announcing the reopening
of the U.S. embassy in Havana, President Obama said "nobody expects Cuba to be transformed overnight"
by his policy of "engagement." That's just as well because in the first six months of Mr. Obama's
normalization of relations with the Communist regime, most indicators of human rights on the island have
moved in the wrong direction. Since December, there have been more than 3,000 political detentions
in Cuba, including 641 in May and 220 on Sunday [6/28/2015] alone, according to dissident sources.
Obama's
news conference was a case for American weakness. President Obama was well into his
feisty and freewheeling news conference on the Iran nuclear deal when Major Garrett of CBS News got
under the presidential skin. "As you well know, there are four Americans in Iran, three held on
trumped-up charges," Garrett said. "Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content, with all the
fanfare around this deal, to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted
for in relation to these four Americans?" [...] Garrett's question, though loaded, was legitimate; one of
those being held on bogus charges in Iran is Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief.
And Obama's answer was revealing: Full of Sturm und Drang, he ultimately acknowledged that the United States
just doesn't have the clout to enforce its will.
Obama
angered by question about Americans held by Iran. President Obama bristled at a
reporter's question Wednesday about why he didn't insist on Iran releasing three American prisoners
as part of the nuclear deal with Tehran. Asked why he was "content" to accept the deal without
resolving the hostage issue, Mr. Obama told the reporter, Major Garrett of CBS, "That's nonsense.
You should know better. I've met with the families of some of those folks. I'm not content."
CNN
Blasts CBS News's Major Garrett for Asking Obama Tough Question. During Wednesday's
national press conference about his Iran deal, President Obama played the media like a fiddle. It
was a situation where the media was so compliant the questioners were hand-picked by the White House
beforehand, the president filibustered throughout, and Obama ended the event by asking himself the
questions he wanted to answer. Only Major Garrett of CBS News asked a truly tough question, a
question that was obviously framed in a way to cut through the president's rigorously-rehearsed
talking points. For daring to question the Lightbringer in the same way the media questioned
President George W. Bush for 8 years, CNN went hard after Garrett over two news hours
(thus far).
Major
Garrett dares to ask Obama about Americans still held in Iran and liberal media freaks out.
Journalists are supposed to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Except when the
comfortable guy is liberal President Barack Obama and the afflicted are four Americans trapped in Iranian
jails. Then when you ask that question, all hell breaks loose. That's the bizarre disconnect
encountered by CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett when he interrupted the Obama Iran
deal press conference with, well, journalism.
Major
Garrett Earns A Field Promotion To Lt. Colonel. Major Garrett of CBS News did what no
one else in the White House press corps managed to do on Wednesday [7/15/2015]: he asked President
Barack Obama a real question. For his trouble, Garrett was rebuked by the president, criticized by
his colleagues, and accused of racism by celebrities. Yet he succeeded in bringing the plight of
four captive Americans to the forefront of national debate, and set a rare example of journalistic
integrity in what has otherwise been a dark age.
Spinning Out of Control.
It is a safe prediction that for years to come the debate over the Obama Iran deal will rage, with
one question looming largest; namely, which was worse... the treaty or the press conference?
Actually, it was not a conference but what is known in Washington-speak as a "press availability."
This refers not to the press being available but to the President making himself available to the press
and all its relentless scrutiny. For once Obama came through, making himself thoroughly available;
all his specious sophistry, all his testy narcissism, all his Freudian solipsism, was on display.
To coin a phrase, he had all his centrifuges spinning.
American University
August 5, 2015.
Obama:
Iranians Chanting 'Death to America' Share 'Common Cause' with GOP. Speaking in
defense of the international agreement regarding Iran's nuclear development from American
University's Washington, D.C. campus on Wednesday afternoon [8/5/2015], President Barack Obama
addressed one of the most prominent arguments against diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran: Why
should make deals with a country whose people openly chant, "Death the America"? "I recognize
the resorting to force may be tempting in the face of rhetoric and behavior that emanates from some
parts of Iran," the president said of such anti-American sentiments. "It is offensive.
It is incendiary. We do take it seriously. But superpowers should not act impulsively
in response to taunts. Or even provocations that can be addressed short of war."
Liar,
Liar, World on Fire!. His accusation that opponents of the deal are like those who
want "to take military action against the Soviets" is dishonest after he had just admitted that even
taking out Iran's nuclear program would not lead to a war between Iran and the United States.
But Obama's whole speech is a collection of lies. He insists that the nuclear deal is "a detailed
arrangement that permanently prohibits Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon". There's nothing
"permanent" about it.
Hume
Rips Obama's Speech on Iran Deal: 'Dishonest, Partisan, Insulting'. On "Special
Report" tonight, Brit Hume blasted President Obama's speech on the virtues of the nuclear agreement
with Iran. "Just because Iranian hardliners chant 'death to America' does not mean that's what
all Iranians believe," Obama said. "In fact, it's those hardliners who are most comfortable with the
status quo. It's those hardliners chanting 'death to America' who have been most opposed to the
deal. They are making common cause with the Republican caucus."
Obama's
terrible Iran speech: My Republican critics are making "common cause" with Iranian hardliners. The lowest moment
from what was probably the lowest speech of his presidency — so far. [...] The GOP opposes the nuclear deal because
they think it's too favorable to Iran and not favorable enough to America. The hardliners in Iran's parliament oppose
the deal for the opposite reason. Insofar as they both want the deal to fail, I suppose that's "common cause."
Josh
Earnest tries his hardest to spin President Obama's 'death to America' comments. White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was left with the thankless task Thursday morning of explaining
what President Obama meant when he said earlier this week that Iran's "death to America" crowd
shares "common cause" with Republicans. Earnest's go-to defense: To argue that Obama didn't
really say that Republicans who oppose the White House's nuclear deal with Tehran share a "common cause"
with Iranian extremists.
Mr.
Obama, your Iran deal will fall apart. The Framers of our constitution probably would have regarded the
nuclear deal with Iran as a "treaty," subject to a two thirds ratification by the Senate. At the very least they
would have required Congress to approve the agreement by a majority vote. It is unlikely that it would have
allowed the President alone to make so important and enduring an international agreement. If President Obama
doesn't treat the Iran agreement with more respect, all his arguments today are beside the point. The agreement
won't have the force of law.
Obama
defends comparing GOP to Iranian hard-liners. President Obama is doubling down on his comparison of Republicans with
Iranian hard-liners who oppose the Iran nuclear deal. "What I said is absolutely true, factually," Obama told CNN's Fareed
Zakaria in an interview that will air Sunday [8/9/2015]. "The truth of the matter is, inside of Iran, the people most opposed
to the deal are the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, hard-liners who are implacably opposed to any cooperation with the
international community," Obama added.
Obama's
Speech Selling The Iran Pact Is A Litany Of Lies. In his Wednesday [8/5/2015] Iran
speech at American University in Washington, Obama claimed his bad deal with Islamofascist Iran
builds on John F. Kennedy's "tradition of strong, principled diplomacy." If Obama is going to
Kennedy for inspiration, he might want to heed this line from JFK's 1963 "peace" speech at the same locale:
"No treaty ... however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and
evasion." Deception and evasion are exactly what Tehran will be practicing, as it always has, which is why
Kennedy would get nowhere near this Iran deal.
The
Most Dangerous Threat America Faces is Barack Obama. Mark Levin eviscerated Obama tonight saying
there will be war thanks to what he and John Kerry are doing with Iran. He called Obama's speech today 'another
Castro-like' speech filled with lies and arrogance and pointed out at the end of his monologue that the most dangerous
threat this country faces isn't from China, Russia, or the Islamo-Nazis. It's Barack Obama.
Obama
on Comparing GOP to Iranian Hardliners: 'What I Said is Absolutely True'. CNN's "New
Day" on Friday highlighted a clip from President Barack Obama's interview with Fareed Zakaria set to
air in its entirety Sunday in which the president doubles down on his remarks from earlier in the
week when he declared Iranian hardliners chanting "death to America" were "making common cause" with
Republicans. Obama said, "What I said is absolutely true factually. The truth of the matter is
inside of Iran, the people most opposed to the deal are the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, hard liners
are opposed to any cooperation with the international community.
Las Vegas, Nevada
August 24, 2015.
President Obama Brings His Climate Plan
to Your House. In a speech at a Las Vegas clean-energy summit hosted by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Obama
emphasized the growth of the renewable-energy industry down to the household level and its role in meeting his administration's
climate-change goals. And he had a message for Republicans who have fought his energy agenda: Clean power is here to
stay. "We refuse to surrender the hope of a clean-energy future to those who fight against it," Obama said at Reid's National
Clean Energy Summit.
The Editor says...
Mr. Obama apparently read every word of his speech from a teleprompter, the text was almost certainly written by somebody else,
and when the speech was over he probably didn't remember what he had just said.
Obama
accuses Kochs of un-American campaign to undermine green energy. President Obama accused conservative opponents
of his climate change agenda Monday night [8/24/2015] of carrying out an un-American campaign to protect their fossil fuel
interests at the expense of the country. "They're trying to undermine competition in the marketplace and choke off
consumer choice and threaten an industry that's turning out new jobs at a fast pace," Mr. Obama said at a clean energy
summit [in Las Vegas].
Obama
torches 20,000 gallons of gas to warn of 'fossil fuel interests' conspiring against 'clean energy'. President
Obama went to the Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday [8/24/2015], and he didn't ride his bike: [Photo] After he got to Vegas,
Obama alleged that there's some sort of conspiracy to keep consumers from using that which simply does not exist on a broad scale: [...] Entire
cities aren't powered by grids that operate on solar, wind or geothermal not because of "fossil fuel interest" conspiracies, but rather for the
same reason Obama didn't land at McCarran in a presidential jumbo jet that runs on kumquats: No such delivery system exists.
Obama
rubs elbows with Harry Reid's corporate welfare lobbyists. The crowd cheered the President's toast to their
taxpayer-provided profits, and soon Obama headed off to a $33,000-a-head fundraiser at the mansion of the billionaire owner
of the local newspaper. You, the taxpayer, paid for Obama's flight to Vegas. This is what Hope and Change looks like
seven years after Obama accepted the Democratic nomination. Obama was the keynote speaker at the National Clean Energy
Summit, an annual confab organized by outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid — which tells you a lot about the
nature of the event.
Obama goes to Alaska to stop global warming
September 1, 2015.
Obama pleads for Paris climate change deal. Speaking in
Alaska, he said countries including his own were not doing enough to stop global warming. World powers meet in Paris in December
with the aim of agreeing to curb global temperature rises. [...] While the Paris meeting will seek a deal to limit the rise in global
temperatures to 2°C, there have been warnings that the goal is unlikely to be achieved.
The Editor says...
Bureaucrats think they can legislate the worldwide average temperature!
Obama
Warns of Planet Beyond Repair: 'Submerged Countries. Abandoned Cities. Fields No Longer Growing'. In a speech
in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday President Barack Obama warned that if nations do not act to stop climate change "we will
condemn our children to a planet beyond their capacity to repair." "Climate change is no longer some far-off problem,"
Obama said. "It is happening here. It is happening now. Climate change is already disrupting our agriculture
and ecosystems, our water and food supplies, our energy, our infrastructure, human health, human safety — now. Today."
"If we were to abandon our course of action, if we stop trying to build a clean-energy economy and reduce carbon pollution,
if we do nothing to keep the glaciers from melting faster, and oceans from rising faster, and forests from burning faster,
and storms from growing stronger, we will condemn our children to a planet beyond their capacity to repair," he said.
Obama
paints doomsday scene of global warming in Alaska. President Barack Obama is painting a doomsday scenario for
the Arctic and beyond if climate change isn't dealt with fast: entire nations submerged underwater, cities abandoned
and refugees fleeing in droves as conflict breaks out across the globe.
Obama:
'...As We Push Our Economy and the World to Ultimately Transition Off Fossil Fuels'. President Barack Obama
said in his weekly address today that four villages in Alaska are in "imminent danger" because of climate change and that
safety will be his administration's top consideration in permitting offshore oil and gas drilling "as we push our economy and
the world to ultimately transition off of fossil fuels." "America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change
before it's too late[.]"
Alaska's
Biggest Economic Threat Isn't Climate Change, It's President Obama. Alaska is a remarkable place of immense, even
breathtaking, natural beauty. But it has always been a land of changes. The hubris of the White House and its fellow
travelers in the environmental movement is to assume that Alaska's retreating glaciers and the fluctuations in its Arctic coastline
are caused by man-made climate change. Even worse is the view that we need to ratchet down oil and gas development along the
Arctic coast (despite the go-ahead for Shell), forbid drilling in the vast unpeopled plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
and effectively deprive Alaskans of their major industries. It wouldn't be so bad if all the president wanted to do was come
to Alaska, hang out on a glacier with his celebrity friends and rename the big mountain. But that's not why he's up there,
and Alaskans who rely on the industries he's implicitly targeting with his climate-change rhetoric know it.
Climate
Change Stars In Obama's Alaska Theater Of The Absurd. [Scroll down] Included in the theatrics was a lot of
fiction. Obama pointed out melting glaciers and rattled off the points written for him by someone else as if he were the
author of the profound string of words. The message: Humans are burning so much carbon-dioxide-emitting fossil fuel that
the planet is warming from the greenhouse effect — and they have to stop. What a colossal waste of time, effort and
resources. If Obama wanted to visit Alaska as part of his official duties, fine. But a trip merely to yammer about
man-made global warming is a trip that shouldn't have been made.
Obama:
Forget Iran, jobs, terror, doom looms from global warming. The president said addressing climate change is
urgent and dismissed fears that more environmental controls and regulations would hurt the stumbling economy and jobs. The
pattern of talking up a crisis as a means to control the nation's political agenda and provide a distraction from other news
has been very familiar during these interminable 2,416 days of Obama's White House occupancy. Even if, in the end,
little useful action ever ensues on such issues. But Obama's remarks in Alaska this week were by far his most apocalyptic
to date. [...] "There is such a thing as being too late," Obama warned. "That moment is almost upon us." Global
warming, he said, is "a challenge that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other."
Obama in Alaska: Climate-change deniers
'are on their own shrinking island'. "The time to heed the critics and the cynics and the deniers is past," [President Obama]
told delegates to an international conference on climate change in the Arctic [8/31/2015]. "The time to plead ignorance is surely past.
Those who want to ignore the science, they are increasingly alone, they are on their own shrinking island." He used the backdrop of
America's only Arctic state to emphasize the need for this country and others to move, and move fast, to reduce carbon emissions, to pursue
cleaner energy sources and to stop relying on "unstable parts of the world" for oil.
The Editor says...
If he wants to "to stop relying on 'unstable parts of the world' for oil, why is he opposed to drilling
in ANWR, offshore drilling in
the Gulf of Mexico, the Keystone XL pipeline,
and fracking?
Obama's on Thin Ice With Climate
Fearmongering. Last Tuesday, President Barack Obama hiked to Exit Glacier in Alaska with photographers in tow, to send
the world a message. The glacier is melting. Obama blames it on the increasing use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and
natural gas, which he wants to restrict not only in the U.S. but also worldwide. The photo-op was designed to build support
for an international climate agreement he's pushing hard to sell, so far with little success. Trouble is, the president needs
to get his facts straight. Exit Glacier has been shrinking for 200 years — since 1815 — long before
widespread industrialization and automobiles.
Where were the polar bears?
Am I the only one who finds it incongruous that President Obama, when on a carefully choreographed trip to Alaska, even
manning his own Instagram account to engage young people, to spotlight the effects of global warming — which he
says is happening "right now" — announced the accelerated acquisition of ice breakers? [...] But you have to
wonder what his speechwriters were thinking to have him asking Congress to spend more on ice breakers on the same trip where
he's predicting more warming. Perhaps he really knows, what many scientists are claiming: Arctic ice is
growing — with updated NASA data showing polar sea ice is approximately 5 percent above the post-1979 (the
year satellite instruments began measuring the ice caps) average. This, despite former Vice President Al Gore's
claim that the Arctic ice cap could be completely gone by now.
United Nations
September 28, 2015.
Obama's Surreal
U.N. Speech. President Obama's U.N. speech today [9/28/2015] is filled with nice lines that unfortunately bear
no relationship to his seven years of foreign policy — and in some cases, no relationship to reality.
Obama
ignored the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his UN speech. Last year, as he stood at the same podium, Obama
assured the international community that as "bleak as the landscape" appeared to be in the Middle East, America would "never
give up the pursuit of peace" between Israelis and Palestinians. But on Monday [9/28/2015], during his 43 minute speech
to the UNGA, the president was suddenly silent on the matter, awakening Israeli fears that his attention will be elsewhere in the
last year-and-a-half of his presidency.
Doomed to failure, cont'd.
President Obama spoke before the United Nations General Assembly today. The video runs about 43 minutes. Listening
to it, I would have estimated a Castroite 4 hours and 43 minutes. It is excruciating. The tone is professorial,
patronizing, obnoxious, and unmanly. Obama challenged, and was followed by, Vladimir Putin. Putting the merits of their
presentations to one side, the contrast was not to Obama's advantage. At the United Nations Obama hectors his adversaries and
carries a microscopic stick. He is the un-Teddy Roosevelt. His adversaries have him sized up correctly for a patsy.
Obama's take on the international order, such as it is, is a left-wing fantasy. On the world stage he is a loser.
Obama's
UN speech: Walk softly and carry a big Nerf stick. No wonder so much of the world doesn't take President Obama
seriously anymore. Monday he gave another one of his world-stage speeches, a 4,400 word tour d'horizon with the usual
vows and rhetorical flourishes signifying nothing. It was so tiresome even John Kerry was caught yawning. Of course,
Obama's already campaigning to become secretary general of that faded world body, which itself excels at uttering billions of
words signifying nothing.
Reaction to (and politicization of) a school shooting in Oregon
October 1, 2015.
Cruz:
Obama trying to 'tear us apart' with comments on Oregon shooting. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is criticizing President Obama
for his comments about a mass shooting at a community college in Oregon that left 9 dead. "Unfortunately that is the approach
with President Obama on every issue, is that he seeks to tear us apart, he seeks to politicize it and it's worth remembering he is
ideological and he's a radical," Cruz said on "The Mark Levin Show," as first reported by Buzzfeed News. "You know, as his former
chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel said, 'you never let a good crisis go to waste,' and that is sadly his approach."
Obama
disgraces himself with rush to politicize Roseburg shooting. President Obama couldn't wait for the facts to
come in before addressing the nation on the Roseburg shootings, openly calling them "something we should politicize." Eager
to distract the country from the collapse of his Syria policy and the triumph of Russia in replacing the U.S. as the dominant
force in the Middle East, he seized upon the deaths as means to advance his anti-gun agenda, with absolutely no knowledge of
the guns used, or the means by which the shooter acquired them. He referred to himself 28 times in the course of his
12-minute speech. It reminded me of his rush to judgment in declaring that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" in the
arrest of his pal Skip Gates.
With All Due Respect, Mr. President,
Fix Your Own Gun Plan. My usual rule is to refrain from discussing policy in the interim following a tragic situation.
After all, there's nothing more useless than pontificating in the meantime, while tempers are hot, and no one knows what to do.
We all want an easy fix to horrifying situations like the one that played out yesterday in Oregon. We all want to believe there's one,
singular solution that will put an end to senseless violence. There isn't. But yesterday [10/1/2015], President Obama used the Oregon
shooting to make a political point, openly and unabashedly, before the bodies of the dead had cooled, before knowing the facts of the case,
and without, apparently, a modicum of respect for the families and community that is suffering losses today. As a nation sought help,
leadership, prayer and support; President Obama did little but throw a temper tantrum on national television, calling for solutions in the
form of "gun control," and "action," without specifiying any concrete legislative agenda, or, even, what he believes the country needs to
take action on.
Obama:
Never Let a Mass Shooting Go To Waste! At this point, it is hard to say anything intelligent about the
shootings except that they were a horribly evil deed. That, of course, doesn't stop our president from trying to make
political hay. He immediately took the podium to demand that Congress pass more gun control legislation —
any gun control legislation, apparently, whether it has any relationship to this crime or not.
Defiant
Obama Calls for America to 'Politicize' Oregon College Shooting. A frustrated President Obama demanded change
on gun control after the Oregon college shooting which grabbed the nation's attention Thursday [10/1/2015]. The
president was clearly angry with the frequency of mass shootings in America — and critics who said he was politicizing
the issue. "This is something we should politicize," he said earnestly. "It is relevant to our common life together, to
the body politic." Obama offered his sympathy for the victims of the shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College before
he launched an emotional appeal more gun control, but he didn't hold back when condemning Second Amendment supporters.
Guy who intentionally distributed
thousands of assault weapons to criminals offers America lectures on gun control. To paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, never
let a tragedy go to waste. Such is the situation with Democrats, who have once again attempted to leverage a tragic
mass-shooting in Oregon as yet another lever to confiscate America's guns. The sheer idiocy of such advocacy never seems to
cross their addled brains. After all, nothing short of a time machine will un-invent guns; new 3D printers have made the home
manufacturing of firearms a reality; and the idea of confiscating 800 million guns seems rather irrational when Leftists argue
that deporting a few million illegal aliens is impossible. As it turns out, the Oregon shooter asked victims their religion
before shooting them. I don't know, but for me that spells "Militant Quaker terror attack" all the way — not the
typical work of a right-wing Constitutionalist.
Obama's
Disgraceful Demagoguery. In his comments last evening on the mass killing at Oregon's Umpqua Community College,
President Barack Obama declared we should "politicize" the shooting. The president achieved his goal. Just hours after
the horrible event, before many of the key facts were even known, Mr. Obama used his remarks to deliver an angry plea for new
gun legislation. [...] This claim is morally and intellectually offensive. For one thing, the supposition here —
that the type of gun control legislation President Obama has advocated in the past would have prevented the massacre —
is false.
Obama
urges 'single issue' voting on guns. President Barack Obama urged Americans who want to see tighter gun laws to
become "single-issue voters." At a press conference on Friday [10/2/2015], Obama predicted that there will be little
action in Congress to prevent mass shootings like the one that took place in Roseburg, Oregon, on Thursday until Americans
hold elected officials accountable at the polls.
The Editor says...
Voters don't go to the polls to hold politicians "accountable." If they did, Barack H. Obama would not have been re-elected.
About half of the voters in the U.S. make their choices based on emotional appeals (like the one Mr. Obama was making), public school
indoctrination and biased news coverage. The remainder vote for Republicans.
Top
10 Misleading Obama Statements After Oregon Shooting That Was Praised by ISIS as an Act of Jihad. This should
have been an opportunity for the President to unite a grieving nation. But instead, he chose to foment division. He even
bragged that it was right for him to politicize this tragedy. Over and over again, on nationwide television, the
President misled the American people in an effort to further restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans who have done no
wrong. But to the President, we say: Shame on you, for leveling so many false accusations about guns and crime
in America.
Our President is a Jackass.
In 1,299 words, the President never condemned the killings. Before he spoke, officials confirmed that the shooter
targeted his victims based on their religion. In 1,299 words, the President never called for religious tolerance. Before
we knew who the gunman was or what his motive was, the President of the United States rushed to the podium to make the case for gun
control. He even admitted he was politicizing it and that the shooting should be politicized.
The
More You Politicize Guns, The Weaker Your Case Becomes. What happened in Oregon is tragic, and the nation
should comfort families and look for reasonable and practical ways to stem violence, but there is only one murderer.
Now, if government somehow bolstered, endorsed, or "allowed" the actions of Chris Harper-Mercer — as they might,
say, the death of 10,000-plus viable babies each year or the civilian deaths that occur during an American drone action —
a person could plausibly argue that we are collectively answerable as a nation. Then again, when the president asserts
Americans are collectively answerable, what he really suggests — according to his own broader argument —
is that conservatives who've blocked his gun-control legislation are wholly responsible.
The
Oregon shootings and Barack Obama, our politicizer-in-chief. In 1,299 words, at a press conference at the White
House, the president never condemned the killings in Oregon. Before he spoke, officials confirmed that the shooter targeted
his victims based on their religion. In 1,299 words, the president never called for religious tolerance. Before we knew
who the gunman was or what his motive was, the president of the United States rushed to the podium to make the case for gun
control. He even admitted he was politicizing it and that the shooting should be politicized.
Liberals
Trash Christianity Non-Stop, Then Blame The 2nd Amendment When Someone Murders Christians. Liberals are
delighted when there's a mass shooting because as Rahm Emanuel famously said, "You never let a serious crisis go to
waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Of course, they'd
deny they feel that way, but before the blood even cools on the floor after a mass shooting, liberals are always working en masse
to take advantage of the situation. After the shooting in Oregon, Barack Obama immediately took to the airwaves to declare that,
"This is something that should be politicized." And that's what it is: pure politics because inevitably, nothing
liberals ever seem to suggest would make mass shootings happen less frequently.
Facts Don't Work on Gun Control, so Obama Uses
Emotion. In his speech on the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon last week, President Obama sounded more upset about America's gun
laws than about the horrific massacre. We barely had the preliminary facts about the shooting, the shooter and the victims, and he was already
lecturing the nation again on gun control. [...] What he conveniently omitted is that Oregon had recently strengthened its laws on gun sales and is above
average among the states on gun regulation. It is one of only 18 states that require universal background checks before the sale of any firearm.
Being a proud Chicagoan, Obama is surely aware that his beloved city, which has distinguished itself in recent years for epic gun violence and death, is in a
state that has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. How, then, can he claim that gun laws work?
Obama: Guns and Poses. Obama takes extreme
pleasure in rhetorically skewering the GOP. Almost like clockwork, the horrifying events in Roseburg, Oregon provided him with the perfect
lead-in to some seriously sanctimonious sermonizing. Rahm Emanuel raved that no crisis should go to waste. Obama does him one better
by blaming all crises on the Republicans. So despite his distaste for White House press conferences, the president was more than eager last
week to lecture us all on the true and perpetual villains behind America's latest rampage involving guns. In a long-winded harangue that made me
wonder where his once-lauded oratorical gifts had vanished, Obama held forth on the subject of gun control, one of his favorites along with birth control.
In Twelve-Minute Speech to America on Oregon Mass
Shooting, Obama Refers to Himself 28 Times. Less than six hours after the mass shooting today in Roseburg, Ore., President Obama
called a press conference to demand new gun laws, a move he predicted would spur critics to accuse him of politicizing the issue. If
they don't accuse him of that, they might accuse him of making the tragedy about himself.
Obama
Goes Beyond Mere Gun Control, Hints At Confiscation. When President Obama spoke in reaction to the heinous
October 1 attack on Umpqua Community College, he went beyond his usual calls for more gun control and suggested instead that
America consider following the path blazed by Australia and Great Britain.
Guns Don't Kill People, Liberalism
Does. President Obama wants us to politicize gun deaths in America. I decided to take him up on his invitation.
I hope that no one is surprised that Obama took this opportunity again to attack guns, the gun industry, and those of us who are fans of the
Second Amendment. This is what a community organizing career politician does. For liberals like Obama, virtually everything is
political, or must be made so. Because political problems require political solutions, and thus, when something is politicized, those
in favor of empowering and growing government get to do what they do best: give speeches, call for legislation, and attempt to stir up
the electorate in their favor.
Yes,
Obama does want to take your guns. Within hours of the killings at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last
week, President Obama stepped to the White House lectern, admittedly without all the facts of the case, to shamelessly
politicize the tragedy. "Somebody, somewhere will comment and say, Obama politicized this issue. Well, this
is something we should politicize," he said. Perhaps Obama's open politicizing of the issue wasn't the worst part,
but instead it was his intellectual dishonesty when it comes to the "common-sense" gun laws he wants implemented.
President Jackass. Last week, in the aftermath of
the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, President Barack Obama took to the microphones to deride anyone who did not
agree with his gun control agenda. Stating that it was only good and right to "politicize" the Oregon shooting, Obama stated,
"This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to
those families, who lose their loved ones, because of our inaction." Obama then called for "modest" gun regulations, without
specifying the nature of those "modest" gun regulations.
Mr.
Obama, real leadership requires more than just a torrent of talk. Before barely any facts were known, there was
President Obama on camera (when isn't he?) making a 12-minute address — a relatively short time for him —
about the school shootings in Roseburg, Oregon. The president referred to himself 28 times, according to Grabien.com,
again proving that whatever happens in this country, or the world, it really is all about him. He talked about the need for
"common sense" gun laws, and yet in the case of the Oregon shootings, as in so many other similar tragedies, he never mentions
the responsibility and moral guilt of the shooter.
Press conference in Turkey
November 16, 2015.
America's Ridiculous Refugee
Debate. Plagued by repeated incredulous questions by usually friendly reporters — "Sir, you can't really think you don't
need to change anything, can you?" was the basic gist — Obama finally got a bit heated: Not at ISIS, of course, but at his
critics back home. Those "pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning," he declared, were mere sloganeers. Those
who doubted his strategy on the issue of Syrian refugees, meanwhile, were either bigoted or naïve.
Fox
News anchor stands by Obama ISIS presser criticism. The president later took questions from reporters, and that
didn't appear to go so well for him: His answers were terse and increasingly blunt as he repeated again and again that he has
everything under control. Obama tried in a press conference Monday to assure reporters that he has ISIS under control, even
after terrorist attacks in Paris last week left 129 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Our Bitter and Graceless President.
We all know people of towering arrogance and we all know people of staggering incompetence, but Barack Obama is quite possibly the perfect package.
No one on the scene today combines these two qualities in quite the same way as Mr. Obama. [...] Now most of us, with this almost unblemished
record of ineptness, might feel some embarrassment. We might show a touch of self-reflection. And we would at least resist the temptation
to lecture others. But not Mr. Obama. In his press conference in Turkey earlier this week, the president was prickly, petulant,
condescending and small-minded.
Obama gets really angry — at
Americans. Three days after the Islamic State terrorist attacks in Paris, Americans were primed to hear their president express
heartfelt anger, which he did in his press conference in Antalya, Turkey, at the end of the G-20 Conference. And they did hear him
describe the Islamic State as "this barbaric terrorist organization" and acknowledge that "the terrible events in Paris were a terrible and
sickening setback." But what really got him angry, as the transcript and videotape make clear, were reporters' repeated questions about
the minimal success of his strategy against the Islamic State and Republicans' proposals for more active engagement in Syria and Iraq.
As well as critics of his decision to allow 10,000 Syrians into the United States.
Obama
comes under criticism from Dems over Paris rhetoric. President Obama is coming under criticism from some in his
own party over his comments Monday [11/16/2015] about last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. Influential liberal columnists and
Democratic strategists say Obama came off as condescending and scornful during his press conference in Antalya, Turkey —
missing an opportunity to show strength and leadership in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
WaPo to Obama: Grow up. It's safe to say that
Barack Obama's press conference from Turkey impressed few and dismayed many, including some among his usual cadre of supporters. The
Washington Post editorial board issued a sharp rebuke to Obama for his churlish attitude at the presser, and for his continued use of
straw-men arguments when dealing with critics.
Obama
misses his Churchill moment after Paris attacks. Following the ISIS attacks on Paris, to say that President
Obama looks weak on the world stage would be an understatement. And Monday's [11/16/2015] performance at the G-20 summit in
Antalya, Turkey, was an embarrassment. In tone, his remarks were defiant, arrogant, and dismissive. In substance, he
offered no ideas or proposals for combating the ISIS threat.
16
Of The Worst Ways To Respond To ISIS' Paris Attack. [#1] Obama's Press Conference: President Obama made some
brief comments on the evening of the attacks. "We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance the people of France
need to respond," he said. Also, "This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share." He didn't
explain which universal values he was referring to or how the attacks occurred if the values are, in fact, universal. The
attacks took place the day after Obama said ISIS, a group he once dismissed as the "JV" team, was being contained.
He would prefer not
to. President Obama was visibly annoyed by the questions posed to him at his press conference in Turkey today.
They lacked the deference to his majesty that he has grown accustomed to.
Obama and the Office of the
Petulancy. It's difficult to overstate how poorly Barack Obama performed at Monday's press conference from
the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. As France deals with the aftermath of an ISIS attack leaving 132 dead (so far),
hundreds wounded, and thousands of lives shattered, the ersatz leader of the free world responded with an embarrassing display of
indifference, peevishness, and open contempt. [...] As reporters lobbed obvious questions about Obama's dismissive description of
ISIS as a JV team, his broken promise to degrade and destroy the group, and the massive intelligence failure that rocked
Europe, he seemed annoyed at all the fuss.
ISIS Is Not a Terrorist Organization. In
Turkey on Monday [11/16/2015], President Barack Obama stated that ISIS is not "a traditional military opponent" and labeled it as a "violent
extremist group." His comments cut directly to the heart of why the U.S. has been so ineffectual in defeating this enemy. If we
don't even recognize it for what it is, how can we defeat it? ISIS is not a terrorist organization. It is indeed a state.
It is a "traditional military opponent." Though ISIS uses unorthodox means and barbaric tactics, it has become a "state" —
a state that could have been crippled if not wiped out long ago.
Oval Office prime time address
December 6, 2015.
ISIS,
ISIL and Daesh: The Administration's Words Matter. Last week President Obama addressed the nation in a rare
Oval Office speech. The intent was to assuage concerns that the government isn't doing enough to protect us from radicalized
jihadists, like the couple in San Bernardino last week. But the speech may have raised more questions and apprehensions than
provided answers or assurances. And perhaps the largest is in the language used to describe the threat. The speech made
reference to ISIL sixteen times. This is itself significant. ISIL is one of the retired acronyms the organization that
prefers to be referred to as the Islamic State has used. [...] The President's insistence on using ISIL could well betray his
perpetual downplaying of the influence, scope, motives, and successes of the terrorist group. After the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq, the military vacuum in the country began to be filled by ISIS forces in Northern Iraq. The President called
them "jayvee" terrorists at the time they initially encroached into Iraq. And even while repeatedly saying they were "contained,"
they have expanded to include 20% of the 169,234 square mile country.
Why did Obama give that terrorism speech?
President Obama reportedly gave his Oval Office address Sunday night in an effort to make up for a seeming lack of sensitivity to the
public's concerns about terrorism in the wake of Paris and San Bernardino. But in the end, Obama's brief speech — immediately
after, he donned a tuxedo and dashed to a Kennedy Center gala — contained no new measures against ISIS, and he spent as much time
repeating old warnings not to offend Muslim sensibilities as he spent discussing any particular effort to combat terrorism.
Obama's Top Speech Lies, One By One. [S]ince our
factophobic liberal pals who frequent this blog lack the ability to differentiate between facts and lies, let me ease their stress today by highlighting
Obama's lies for them.
Cruz:
Obama Is Ignoring Jihadist Threat. Recent polling shows terrorism and national security among the top concerns
of Republican primary voters and several candidates have used the moment to offer proposals to change course from the Obama
administration's passive approach. Cruz points to Obama's address to the nation on ISIS last Sunday as an example of his
fecklessness. The president reported that he knows the enemy well because he sees the threat in his daily intelligence
briefing. But seeing it isn't good enough, Cruz will say, because Obama has "chosen to not to deal with the reality"
and "has chosen not to confront the actual enemy."
The President's Disability. [Scroll down]
As the evidence became clear that the perpetrators of this heinous act [in San Bernardino] were Islamofascists, the president steadfastly refused to call them
terrorists. His stubborn reluctance became a diverting sideshow in the days that followed. When would the president admit the obvious and, by the way,
why was he obfuscating the obvious? Was it part of some bizarre ritual known only to members of the White House staff? On Friday the director of
Mr. Obama's FBI identified the crime as an act of terrorism and he went on to say that the two Muslim killers — down from the suspected three
killers — gave "indications of radicalization." Still the White House refused to identify the killers as terrorists. In fact, our
president only admitted to reality on Sunday during a stupendously defensive address to the American people.
President
Obama's Umpteenth Tired, Dishonest Speech On Terrorism. Once again, President Obama emerged from his permanent sabbatical on
the war on terror to inform us, in a bizarre address from the Oval Office, that he has things firmly under control and there's no need for
us Americans to be concerned. Excuse me if I'm not comforted. Obama has made quite clear that he is blind to the threat that
radical Islam represents to America and the rest of the civilized world. He obviously believes that Islam produces no more or worse
terrorists than any other religion or cult and that it is wrong to focus on the radical strain of Islam because it leads to discrimination
against other Muslims — discrimination he seems to see under every rock.
Dishonesty,
Stupidity, Insults, and Other Problems with the Gun Control Debate. I remain perplexed by the current "debate" over gun laws. After President Obama's
speech on Sunday, a great many pundits seemed to have raced forward with evaluating the political considerations of pitching new gun control laws for 2016.
However, it seems to me that the logical and rhetorical considerations must be dealt with first. Indeed, the arguments being mounted in favor of gun control
are so terrible every way you look at them that assuming the people making them are being honest or rationally motivated seems to be a major mistake.
President
Obama's latest pathetic speech on terror. President Obama tried yet again Sunday night to convince the nation
he's serious about fighting terror, and, as usual, proved the opposite. Days after the San Bernardino attack, he finally
called it terrorism, but he's not offering anything new to combat the menace. He still won't call it Islamist terror, and
still wants to fold these attacks in with nonterror mass shootings — and fight them all with trivial tweaks to the
gun-control laws. Ban gun sales to anyone on the terrorism watch list? [Indeed,] the list didn't include the Fort
Hood shooter, the Tsarnaevs or the latest attackers. How about getting a watch list that's worth [something]?
The Man Who Can't Stop Lying. As predicted, Barack
Obama attempted to misdirect the American people during his prime-time Oval Office address last night. The absentee President's relatively
brief addressed seemed more concerned with protecting his view of the nature of Islam than the lives of American citizens, and he quickly pivoted
towards asserting that American gun owners were the real threat. Toward this end, Obama pushed his call to weaponize his enemies list.
He wants to be able to arbitrarily put American citizens that he doesn't like on one of several list, and then strip them of their constitutional
rights by executive fiat.
Obama
To America: My Failed ISIS Strategy Will Continue. If one were to sum up President Obama's Sunday address on
ISIS, it would go something like: "Fear not, America, for I'm not about to change my anti-terrorism strategy that clearly
isn't working." To understand just how tone-deaf Obama's speech was, compare it with French President Francois Hollande's.
Memo
to Obama: Please Stop Pretending To Know 'What ISIS Wants'. Four times in his Sunday night address to the
nation, President Obama explained that he wouldn't take this or that course of action because it's just what ISIS —
or as he calls it, ISIL — wants. We can't depend on tough talk, he said, because "that's what groups like ISIL
are hoping for." Send ground troops into Syria? "That's just what groups like ISIL want." We can't let the
fight be a war of America and Islam because "that, too, is what groups like ISIL want." We can't target Muslims in the
U.S. for added scrutiny because it "plays into the hands of groups like ISIL."
Obama
Interrupts Americans' Sunday Evening To Tell Them He's Doing Nothing New At All To Defeat ISIS. In a much-hyped prime-time speech, Barack
Obama told the nation he will do absolutely nothing new to defeat ISIS — except push for more gun control. In the 15-minute speech,
the President outlined "four steps" he claims his administration will take to "destroy" ISIS — except they're the same four "steps" he's
already taking.
Exactly what a Muslim president would do: Obama
tries to calm fears about Islamic State attacks, calls for more gun control. President Obama tried to reassure
Americans on Sunday night that he has the right plan to defeat the Islamic State, using a rare prime-time Oval Office address
to urge the public not to take revenge on Muslim Americans in the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since 2001.
The president didn't lay out any broad new strategies for defeating the Islamic State, saying the U.S.-led coalition is intensifying
its airstrikes against the militants in Syria and Iraq and stepping up military aid to local ground forces. He also called
on Congress to approve new restrictions on guns that he said would make it harder for terrorists to get weapons in the U.S., an action
that Republican lawmakers have already rejected.
Why
the pundits dismissed the terror speech. The pundits almost universally panned President Obama's Oval Office address on
terrorism. Nothing new, heard it all before, not much passion: that was the media consensus. And at 13 minutes,
it was strikingly short for an Obama prime-time speech, or any Obama speech. To be sure, journalists weren't the target group.
Fighting
Terror by Self-Reproach. Nobody who watched Barack Obama's speech Sunday night outlining his strategy to defeat
Islamic State could have come away disappointed by the performance. Disappointment presupposes hope for something better.
That ship sailed, and sank, a long time ago. By now we are familiar with the cast of Mr. Obama's mind. He does not make a
case; he preaches a moral. He mistakes repetition for persuasion. He does not struggle with the direction, details or
trade-offs of policy because he's figured them all out. His policies never fail; it's our patience that he finds wanting.
He asks not what he can do for his country but what his country can do for him.
Obama:
Terrorists Have Embraced 'All Too Common' American Style of Violence: Mass Shootings. In a nationally televised address on Sunday
night, President Barack Obama said that while the San Bernardino terrorists — who murdered 14 Americans — had embraced what
he described as a "perverted interpretation of Islam" they had also adopted a form of violence that is "all too common" in America: mass
shootings. As part of the solution to this type of terrorism, Obama called for more gun control in the United States.
President
Obama's ISIS speech was about tolerance, not policy. [Scroll down] Obama did make one major pivot in the
speech — he sought to directly link the violence committed in San Bernardino, at Fort Hood, Tex., and in
Chattanooga, Tenn., with the need for further gun control and cast it all under the aegis of national security. The
response was not surprising. Republicans rolled their eyes at the idea of a speech about national security and terrorism
turning to the need for more gun control. Democrats argued that the connection was direct and obvious.
Obama
interrupts Sunday night TV to preach tolerance and gun control. President Barack Obama used his Sunday night
address on terrorism to reassure the American people that the San Bernardino shootings last week appear to be an isolated
incident, despite one of the killers pledging allegiance to ISIS. The president firmly dismissed a change in strategy in
the war against the extremists that would require combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. And while the terrorist
group is made up of 'thugs and killers' and is part of a 'cult of death', he again refused to call them 'radical Islamic
terrorists'. Americans must not take out their grievances with the fanatics on followers of Islam, he said.
Terrorism
isn't scaring Americans; Obama is. Sunday night was only Obama's third Oval Office address. The first was also overdue, about
the Gulf oil spill. The second was a victory lap about withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq, which created the inviting power vacuum for the
current ISIS problem. It's one measure of the detached president's willful public cluelessness about terrorism that the big news from Sunday
evening's 1,970 words was his admission that last week's San Bernardino attack killing 14 was terrorism. Is there any sentient American
who hadn't figured that out?
Race-hustling
Obama fails to channel FDR, Churchill. "On Wednesday, 14 Americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the
holidays. They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and black; Latino and
Asian; immigrants and American-born." Seriously? The worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 and President
Obama is still wearing his race-hustler glasses? This is just another opportunity to divvy up his people by the color of
their skin? What an embarrassment.
The President's Scary
Speech. It's inspiring when a leader meets a moment and takes charge. President Obama didn't come close to
doing that Sunday night in his Oval Office speech. If it wasn't a letdown to most Americans, that's only because their
expectations were so low. Obama's streak of failing to come to grips with the terrorist threat, both substantively and
rhetorically, remains intact. He retreated to a euphemism to assess the menace of ISIS. He said it's "evolving."
Obama
Actually Thought He Was Being Reassuring Tonight. President Obama's Sunday night speech was about three-quarters of what the cynics
and his critics expected. The lone bits of good news were the president's belated acknowledgement that the Fort Hood shooting was
terrorism — not "workplace violence" — and that he didn't announce any new executive orders dealing with gun control.
For starters, the optics of this speech were very strange — why stand in front of the desk in the Oval Office? Did he get poked
or get makeup in his left eye right before he went on air? He seemed to be squinting. The only other time the president addressed the
country on Sunday night, he announced the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. One expected something new, groundbreaking, or different.
Instead, he offered the same proposals and same arguments.
Rubio:
Obama is 'completely overwhelmed'. Sen. Marco Rubio said President Obama's Sunday night speech did nothing to assure people
he's handling the Islamic State aggressively, and said instead that it showed Obama has lost control of the situation. "People are
really scared," the Florida Republican and presidential candidate told Fox News' Bret Baier. "People are scared not just because of
these attacks, but because of a growing sense that we have a president that's completely overwhelmed by them."
Obama
Lies About Intelligence Briefings in Speech to Nation. President Barack Obama tried to reassure the American
people from the Oval Office on Sunday evening that he takes the threat of terrorism seriously: "For seven years, I've
confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing." However, as the Government Accountability
Institute (GAI) has shown, Obama skips more than half of his daily intelligence briefings. The data comes from the White
House itself, which has admitted Obama's absence but has said he reads the material on his iPad.
Could
you imagine FDR saying, 'We were attacked yesterday at Pearl Harbor. I really don't want to talk about who did it'.
President Barack Obama's refusal to mention Islamic terrorism as he made his Oval Office address last night was condemned by leading
Republicans today. They seized on the timing of the address — on the eve of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — to slam Obama for
what one described as a 'partisan speech'. In the address the Commander in Chief promised that the country would 'overcome' the
threat of terrorism and it would destroy the 'thugs and killers', 'and any other organization that tries to harm us.' His pointed
refusal to acknowledge the religion of the radicals had Republicans competing to replace him up in arms once again.
Intelligence
Official on ISIS: 'If the Public Knew the Truth, Obama Would be Impeached'. President Obama addressed an
anxious nation last night in an instantly-forgettable, perfunctory speech that was largely devoid of news and announced no
meaningful changes to US policies or military strategy. In an effort to reassure Americans that he's confronting the
terrorist threat aggressively (his public approval rating on handling terrorism and ISIS is weak) Obama said, "for seven
years, I've confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing." The public learned several years
ago that this president skips his in-person briefings far more frequently than his predecessor, though his staff insists that
he reads through the written version of the file on a daily basis. More important than how he ingests this information is
what ends up in front of the president. We've been following serious, credible claims leveled by dozens of current and
former US intelligence professionals who allege that their work product was regularly altered and manipulated to downplay the growing
threat and alarming advance of ISIS. The former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency has stated that the current
investigation into these accusations should start at the White House, which he says has subordinated accurate information to
political narratives.
The Editor says...
The public doesn't have to know everything before the impeachment of Barack H. Obama is commenced. If Congress
knows the truth and has the collective backbone to act on it, that should be enough.
Obama's
ISIS Cover-Up Gets Its Own Speech. Obama began his speech with a cover-up, suggesting that Syed Farook and
Tashfeen Malik's bloody San Bernardino massacre was not the work of ISIS. Whatever dignity his Oval Office speech was
meant to convey was lost in his opening sentences as his speech became yet another effort to claim that he hadn't made a
mistake by assuring Americans they had nothing to worry about from ISIS right before its latest terror attack. Farook and
Malik were "self-radicalized". Their attack was not part of a "broader conspiracy". But ISIS and Al Qaeda have both
embraced a strategy of empowering local supporters to carry out their own attacks by giving them the tools and strategies to do so.
Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS. Farook, according to his father, was a supporter of the Islamic State. The worst terror
attacks in America in recent years were carried out by these independent Islamic terror cells in support of the Jihad. These
so-called "lone wolf" attacks are part of the broader ISIS and Al Qaeda conspiracy.
Muslim
Group Praises Obama On Islam And Gun Control Speech. An Islamic group in the U.S. praised President Barack Obama's
Sunday night [12/6/2015] speech on Islam and gun control. The Center on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Islamic
advocacy group in the country, lauded Obama's televised speech, in which Obama urged Americans not to associate all Muslims with the
terrorist attacks conducted by Islamic extremists like Islamic State. The president's marks came after the deadly mass shooting
in San Bernardino, Calif. that left 14 dead and 17 injured. The FBI is investigating the shooting as terrorism after
discovering the Muslim shooters' connection to ISIS.
How
Obama Thinks About Terrorism. At the core of Barack Obama's terrorism speech on Sunday night lay a contradiction.
He gave the address to convince an increasingly fearful nation that he takes the terrorist threat seriously. But he doesn't, at
least not in the way his political opponents do.
Fmr.
FBI Counterterrorism Agent: We've Received 'Nearly Zero Help' from U.S. Muslim Community Since 9/11. Though
President Barack Obama claimed that America must "enlist Muslim communities" to combat terrorism in his Sunday evening Oval
Office address, former FBI Counterterrorism Agent John Guandolo said on Monday's Breitbart News Daily (6AM-9AM EST on Sirius
XM Patriot channel 125) that since 9/11, "we collectively have received nearly zero help from the Muslim Community."
The Pentagon
December 14, 2015.
On
his third try, Obama manages to sound tough on ISIS. In his third try in a month, President Obama on Monday
[12/14/2015] finally managed to sound somewhat tough on ISIS. But it was just new words for the same old approach.
He called the enemy "thugs, thieves and killers" and talked of "squeeze[ing]" ISIS's "heart." He listed by name seven US-killed
terror honchos, then said, "The point is, [ISIS] leaders cannot hide, and our next message to them is, 'You are next.'" And he
cited gains like having dislodged ISIS from 40 percent of the densely populated areas it once controlled. No more
talk of "containing" ISIS, either.
Obama
Pentagon Photo-Op Asks Americans To Stay Gullible. Remember when the dominant liberal media complained about
Reagan aide Michael Deaver staging photo-ops, such as having the Gipper walk grandly out from behind a state-of-the-art
military plane, to drum up patriotism and support? At least in Reagan's case, there was substance behind the image.
Americans tuning into the news Monday [12/14/2015] saw Obama in the Pentagon press room, flanked by three generals on his left
and another to his right. Some sort of major announcement? Hardly. The event was 100% photo-op, 0% substance.
Obama
to Americans: Stay gullible, my friends. President Obama took no media questions after his Monday [12/14/2015] Pentagon
photo op on ISIS. Smart move. Because Obama's sad little PR offensive against terrorism these days raises more questions every
time he tries to talk coherently. [...] Obama is on a terrorism talking tear right now because he's about to disappear into the Hawaii
sunshine for another half-month of vacation. Yes, Obama's get-away trips are very expensive by the standards of normal Americans.
His weekend golf trips alone this year cost taxpayers almost $2 million, or $20,000 per hole.
Obama's
Next ISIS Statement to Come After Pentagon Meeting. President Obama made just his third Oval Office address to
the American people this past Sunday to explain the administration's strategy against ISIS — and after meeting
with his advisers first thing next week, he'll be back in front of the cameras offering another explanation. Obama will be
at the Pentagon on Monday [12/14/2015] to, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest, "chair a National Security Council
meeting on the counter ISIL campaign."
Gun control speech
January 5, 2016.
Obama
and guns: Eleven false or misleading claims from the president's remarks this week. With tears in his eyes, President Obama pulled out
all the stops in pushing his new executive orders on gun control this week. A Washington Post headline exclaimed, "President Obama's amazingly
emotional speech on gun control." But the president also tried to appeal to people's minds with a barrage of factual claims. Unfortunately,
the president's remarks had a large number of errors. Here are 11 of the false or misleading claims that the president made.
Obama,
Trump and Executive Power. President Obama is shamelessly, cynically and hypocritically exploiting a mass
shooting to advance his gun control agenda. The executive actions he proposed recently would have had no preventive impact
whatsoever on the San Bernardino incident had they been in place a month ago, yet he is skillfully exploiting that tragedy to
reframe the debate. He is trying to shift our national focus away from a rigorous examination of what motivates mass
shooters, which is where it should be, to support for a new set of restrictions on gun ownership and expansions of background
checks, under the banner of "common sense." In his news conference, he again employed his favorite rhetorical
device — the strawman argument — saying that he was not trying "to take everyone's guns away," when
what he is really attempting is to impose new restrictions on guns by executive fiat rather than by proposing legislative
action. Thoughtful citizens should not allow themselves to be drawn into a discussion of his specific proposals.
We should instead expose the president's underlying agenda, which is to undermine the Second Amendment by casting it as an
anachronism that is no longer relevant to a twenty-first century America.
Obama's
Gun-Control Order Is Dictatorial, and It Won't Work. Today [1/5/2016], upset that Congress has refused, in his words, to do
"something, anything" to stop gun violence, President Obama released executive actions that bring the country closer to his oft-stated goal
of "universal" background checks that cover the private transfer of firearms. The current law is very clear. Only federally
licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background checks, and only sellers whose "principal objective of livelihood and profit [is]
the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms" are required to obtain a federal license. Anyone "who sells all or part of his
personal collection of firearms" is specifically exempted from the licensing requirement.
The Tears of a Clown. Apart
from the tears, Obama's remarks were utterly standard for him. I would translate them as follows. How great I am. How good
I am. How much I know. Modest changes in the law would do great good. Yet evil forces are arrayed against me. They
hold Congress in its thrall. Congress itself is driven by narrow political considerations. Not I. I am impelled by
the true vision of the good that has been vouchsafed unto me. I stand like a colossus above the fray.
The
President Who Fell From Grace. As easily as he slid into office with no qualifications for the post, Obama is
falling from grace with fate and the voters. His dishonesty and incompetence are too patent. This week, no sooner had his
relatively sparsely viewed presser ended and his clearly manufactured tears about gun violence dried, than his central argument —
that gun control, not fighting Islamic terrorism, should be our priority — was exposed as nonsense.
On
Guns, Democrats Have Nothing Left But Tears. A free society can't function if its overriding purpose is to
ensure that every single person enjoys a risk-free existence. If Obama legitimately believes government has an obligation
to try and save every single life, he would be calling for a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit on highways and a ban on trampolines,
bathtubs, and skateboards. The world gives us plenty to cry about, but free people innately (or otherwise) understand
trade-offs. We weigh rights, utility, and many other factors before coming to a consensus on policy decisions, even if lives
are at risk. Naturally, this doesn't exclude us from balancing those concerns and making life safer for children —
we do it all the time. But progressive utopianism doesn't offer that balance; it can be perpetual mission creep.
Obama
cries over guns, then frees more terrorists. After President Obama cried while announcing a series of "commonsense
executive actions" on gun control, his rare display of emotion stirred plenty of debate. Would the steps he outlined have
prevented any of the recent mass shootings? Why is he circumventing Congress again? Were his tears even real?
All good questions. Yet here's another one that we ought to consider: Why would someone cry over gun control and mass
shootings while simultaneously freeing more terrorists?
Obama
White House misfires on gun control and mental illness. President Obama spoke Tuesday about his "Common Sense Gun Safety Reform"
and the White House issued a "fact sheet" on new executive orders to reduce gun violence. Among these is a plan to spend $500 million
to "increase access to mental health care" and a reference to increased reporting of "relevant information about people prohibited from possessing
a gun for specific mental health reasons." First of all, $500 million isn't going to change the nation's access to mental health care
without fundamental reform in the way that patients are treated (undertreated) by third-party insurers, who act as gatekeepers.
It was Saul Alinsky who taught Obama How to Cry on Cue.
Over the past seven years, Obama has proven he's anything but a man of good will or good heart. His contrived tears for the children lost
to the Sandy Hook massacre came not within days or weeks of the tragedy, but in fact on his way out the door on January 5, 2016 —
some three long years later. Hard to imagine this professional America hater sniffling into his pillows at the White House, or wiping away
a stray tear before taking his next golf swing, or while slurping yet another holiday shaved ice.
Obama
Administration's Public Gun Comments at Odds With Written ATF Guidance. [Scroll down] One former high-ranking ATF official with
decades of experience at the agency said that cases involving somebody who sells firearms without a license are rarely pursued. "Typically
you couldn't get a U.S. attorney to take a case like that because it lacks jury appeal," the former official said. "You're going to prosecute
some old guy for selling one gun? It would have to be some real special circumstance like a major drug trafficker was caught selling a gun
before they press that, and how likely would that be?" The potential confusion caused by the administration's public comments may result in
people applying for licenses they do not need. "It could tie up resources," the former ATF official said. "It could keep them from
doing compliance inspections."
Obama's
gun plan: Crocodile tears and a 'crazy list'. Even for those of us long tired of the false hopes and outright
lies from this White House, President Obama's crude gunplay Tuesday [1/5/2016] was pretty shocking. It was shocking for its hollowness.
Shocking for its low-mindedness. Shocking for the complete disdain the man has for all the families of victims of gun violence that
he trots out to carry his political water. And what for? To save a future life? Prevent a past death? No. He
even admitted on live national television that his raft of meaningless proposals will do nothing to prevent a single gun crime [...] nor
would they have ever prevented one in the past.
Obama's fake tears? Several
readers noted that if a person applies a dab of menthol or camphor to his fingertip, it can induce tears. Likely many of us are familiar
with this when we inadvertently touch or rub our eye after we've used a substance that is irritating. (Bengay comes to mind.) It
stings and causes one's eye to get red and to tear — our body's automatic response to remove the substance from our eye. [A
blogger by the name of] willmay posted that there are products called "tear stick" and "tear blower" readily available for actors who need to
cry on cue.
A commander-in-chief's
crying has consequences. I've never subscribed to that ancient admonition that real men don't cry. [...] I can imagine the tears of
frustration shed by those soldiers and sailors who wash out of elite programs like Ranger and SEAL training, especially those dismissed in the latter
stages, after they've endured so much — not exactly the kind of people you'd be inclined to dismiss as crybabies except at your own peril.
But what I've never witnessed is a commanding officer going before a parade field of massed troops and wiping away tears as he discusses new regulations
he is about to implement and the reasons that necessitate the changes. That, in effect, is what our commander-in-chief did recently in his speech
about the new executive orders regarding gun control he is preparing to issue.
Showman-in-Chief. It was beautifully
choreographed, like a great ballet, and performed with consummate skill and understated eloquence. First of all, the scene was set
with a room full of people who had lost loved ones to gun violence. A father whose son had been gunned down made a long introduction
before the president showed up, walked down the aisle and up on to the stage to growing applause. As political theater, it put
Donald Trump's rantings in the shade. As for the substance of what Obama said, there was very little substance, and much of it false,
but one of the signs of great artistry was that the presentation overshadowed the substance.
AP
Analysis: Obama Executive Actions Wouldn't Have Prevented Mass Shootings. Despite the fact that President Barack Obama
pointed to past mass shootings as justification for a series of gun control executive actions, an Associated Press analysis found that
none of Obama's new orders would have prevented those tragedies. The execution actions, AP's Michael R. Sisak rules "would
not have prevented the slaughters of 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, or 14 county workers
at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California," the two mass shootings Obama alluded to in his Tuesday speech.
The Tearful Dictator. We've now reached the
apex of the Feelings Age. It no longer matter what good policy looks like. It no longer matters what the Constitution says. All
that matters is that our politicians care about people like us. During the 2012 election, Mitt Romney won a wide variety of exit polls regarding
policy, from leadership skill to values. But he lost the election because Obama clocked him 81 percent to 18 percent on the crucial
issue of "cares about people like me." And now Obama has come to collect. But he can't do it without the tears. That's because the
tears grant him the patina of vulnerability. No one fears the dictator who shows his human side.
Obama's
Dream For Gun Control Would Take More Away Than Your Gun. The struggle for gun control, according to Obama, is
just like the movements to abolish slavery and legalize gay marriage — meaning it's going to be a long battle to
achieve the wide-ranging restrictions the Left would like to see placed on firearms. But Obama promises his executive
order will be a small step in the right direction to the type of gun control communist China has. (Yes, he did in fact cite
the authoritarian state's lack of guns as something to aspire to.) What was so noticeable in the president's speech was
the lack of any mention for what motivated the last high-profile shooting in America. San Bernardino wasn't caused by Syed
Farook's assault rifles possessing him and his wife to go out and kill — it was caused by radical Islamic ideology.
Obama's Sound and Fury On
Guns. President Obama unveiled his executive orders and legislative proposals on guns today; [...] For as little as his measures
amount to, he need hardly have bothered. At one point, Obama cried, perhaps out of frustration at not being able to come up with better
ideas. The speech was vintage Obama.
Oh, yes. The old phony crying act: How
to fake cry with Barack Obama. Want to learn how to fake cry like Barack Obama did today as his fascist gun
control speech? It's really quite simple. It's all acting 101. [This article includes] a video of how Obama
faked crying that has since sent the media into a swoon. The same media who routinely mocked John Boehner from crying.
Obama
Referred To Himself 76 Times During Gun Speech. It's all about Obama all the time. So it's no surprise that President
Obama referred to himself 76 times in his 33 minute speech on gun control. [Video clip]
Obama cries while issuing new gun
orders. [Scroll down] Ignoring the recent mass slaughters in Paris, at the Charlie Hebdo offices one year ago and more
recently at a music hall, bars and soccer stadium, Obama said no other "advanced country" has as much gun violence as America and it was
time to lay aside the polarizing political issues that divide rather than provide "solutions."
The
Real Reason Obama's Pushing Gun Control. On Tuesday [1/5/2016], President Obama unveiled his rather minor executive actions
on gun control with great fanfare, applause, and tears. We laughed; we cried; we questioned why exactly he was wasting political
capital on a series of initiatives that largely mirror already-present federal law. Here's the answer: he's trying to mobilize
his hard-core base. Obama said during his press conference, "I'm not on the ballot again. I'm not looking to score some
points." But his party is. Leftist columnist Greg Sargent of The Washington Post explains that the gun control
issue drives hard lefties to the polls.
Obama's gun control
lies. In what was surely the most sickening display of presidential demagoguery in the history of the United States,
President Obama wept — wept — crocodile tears in a calculated effort to gain the support of the
ignorant, the clueless, and the stupid while announcing multiple violations of the Bill of Rights yesterday [1/5/2015]. Obama's
speech alternated between effeminate weeping, pleading, and sanctimonious, holier-than-thou indignation as he presented a litany of
falsehoods, straw man arguments, and outright lies as justification for his plan to strip the American public of constitutionally
enumerated rights.
Obama
Claims He "Believes in the Second Amendment" During Gun Control Executive Action Announcement. During his remarks, President Obama
claimed he is a believer in the Second Amendment and that we can reduce "gun-violence" while respecting constitutional rights. "I believe in
the Second Amendment, it's written right there on the paper," Obama said. But Obama's history shows otherwise. Not only did he go around
Congress today [1/5/2016] to push his gun control agenda, an action the American people condemn on a variety of issues, he supports extreme gun control
measures that are contrary to the Second Amendment according to the multiple Supreme Court rulings.
The
Five Most Outrageous Facts About Obama's Executive Gun Control. A January 4 White House executive order fact
sheet previews the executive gun controls Obama will announce Tuesday [1/5/2016]. The five most offensive aspects of those controls:
[#1] The main policy would not have stopped any recent mass shootings. [...] [#2] 225 years of precedent, destroyed —
without any legislative due process.
Obama
cries for the victims of Newtown as he pushes gun control. Obama pointedly lambasted Republicans decrying his
executive actions and told presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, who have characterized the new measures as the
beginning of the end, 'This is not a plot to take away everybody's guns.' 'Contrary to the claims of what some gun rights
proponents have suggested, this hasn't been the first step in some slippery slope to mass confiscation,' Obama declared in
remarks from the East Room of the White House. To those who are trying to 'twist' his words on the Second Amendment,
Obama reminded them, 'I taught constitutional law.' 'I know a little bit about this,' he said.
Town Hall meeting about gun control
January 7, 2016.
I've
never owned a gun says Obama as he defends his position on background checks. President Barack Obama revealed last night that he's never
owned a gun but said that doesn't mean he's spearheading a 'conspiracy' to take away other Americans' constitutional right to purchase firearms.
'I respect the Second Amendment,' Obama said during a town hall hosted at George Mason University by CNN. 'I respect the right to bear arms.
I respect people who want a gun for self-protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship.' The rhetoric around his gun control agenda, Obama said, 'is
so over the top, and so overheated.'
The case of David
Lewisbey. Perhaps the most biggest whopper President Obama retailed at CNN's town hall forum on "gun violence" this
past Thursday [1/7/2016] was his support for Second Amendment rights. He obviously detests the Second Amendment and obviously
believes Americans should not have the right to own guns. He therefore bashes the foremost organizational advocate of Second
Amendment rights in the United States at every opportunity. John Lott has testified to Obama's opposition to gun ownership
as expressed to him personally by Obama at the University of Chicago Law School. And so on. Obama bashed the NRA
for declining to appear at the forum staged by CNN. The NRA protests that it would have been restricted to one prescreened
question. They would in any event have reasonably shied away from serving as a foil for Obama at such an event.
Obama
gets away with some whoppers on guns at town hall event. President Obama's appearance at a town hall meeting Thursday night [1/7/2016]
on "Guns in America" was an orchestrated performance by invitation only. But event, hosted by CNN at George Mason University, saw anchor
Anderson Cooper continually surprise the president. Cooper demonstrated a deft command of the facts related to the gun issue and that came
through with his guests and in his questions — though, as the evening unfolded, he continually let the president get away with untruths
about his past positions.
Obama Mocks 'Conspiracy' at Forum on Gun
Control. In a prime-time, televised town hall meeting Thursday [1/7/2016], Obama fielded tough questions from high-profile gun control
opponents and supporters alike, often answering with sympathy and without confrontation as he tried to reassure Americans there is a middle ground
on a fiercely divisive issue.
Obama
town hall's biggest stinking plant: Here's everything CNN didn't tell you about disgraced Fr. Michael Pfleger.
When your citizen "town hall" is invitation-only and jointly co-produced by CNN and the Obama White House, every
participant is a potted plant. [...] [B]oth Obama and CNN have a long history as manufactured-narrative gardeners. Right on
cue, or rather left on cue, one of the chosen people allowed to question Obama was radical, race-baiting nutball Catholic
priest Fr. Michael Pfleger from Obama's Chicago.
State of the Union address
January 12, 2016.
Assessing
the Obama Legacy — Against His Own Mileposts. [For example,] "Promoting immigrant and refugee integration and citizenship
awareness." The southern U.S. border is largely unenforced. Immigration law is deliberately ignored. The president's refugee
policy was unpopular and proved a disaster, as illustrated by the Boston Marathon bombings, the San Bernardino attack, the Orlando nightclub shooting,
and the recent Ohio State University terrorist violence. Note what Obama's staff omitted: his doubling of the U.S. debt in eight years, the
unworkable and soon-to-be-repealed Affordable Care Act, seven years of anemic economic growth, record labor nonparticipation, failed policy resets
abroad, and a Middle East in ruins.
Obama
delivers the most boring speech of his presidency. In what was arguably the most boring major speech of his
presidency, Obama didn't even attempt to make a consistent argument or prove the case he was making for his presidency and
the glorious moment to which he has brought this country. He began by saying he was going to keep this one short, but, in
fact, it ran more than an hour — and don't think that was due to the thunderous applause continually interrupting
him. There was no thunderous applause. The text and the sound bites were so dull, even the efforts by his fellow
Democrats to provide a positive soundtrack seemed forced and halfhearted.
The
state of the presidency: spent. President Obama's Tuesday night address to Congress was less about the state of
the union than the state of the presidency. And the state of this presidency is spent. The signs of intellectual
exhaustion were everywhere.
Obama's
last SOTU reminds us why we're angry. For the sturdy majority of Americans who have disapproved of President
Obama's job performance for most of the past seven years, the best that can be said about Tuesday's State of the Union
address is that it was his last. [...] Oddly — and this might have been the singular highlight of the hour-long
speech — Obama seemed to acknowledge helping topple his top congressional allies when he conceded his role in the
ongoing enmity that divides Washington in particular and the nation in general.
Mr.
Obama, here's why closing Guantanamo is a big mistake. In his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Obama
promised to "keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo" and said "it's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment
brochure for our enemies." But he couldn't be more wrong. Guantanamo Bay is a first-rate detention facility that's kept terrorists
off the battlefield and kept America safe. It's critical role in our national security cannot be overstated. Early last year, I
visited Guantanamo Bay and witnessed prisoner operations. I saw firsthand that it is not the barebones prison camp President Obama
purports it to be. In fact, it couldn't be further from the picture he's painted for the public.
The
befuddled president without a clue. He seems to understand now, after it was explained to him at some length, that
America is indeed the exceptional nation that Abraham Lincoln said it is, but not for the reasons Mr. Obama thinks. "The
United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth, period," Mr. Obama told the nation in his State of the Union address
earlier this week. "It's not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined." That's
rich, from the man who has starved the military for resources and has set out to inflict mortal damage on the great fighting
machine by remaking it to answer the sighs and whispers of feminist wishes and dreams.
Economic
Decline 'Fiction'? Tell That To The Urban Poor. In his State of the Union speech, Obama declared that "anyone
claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling a fiction." But a new report from the liberal-leaning Brookings
Institution finds that incomes among the poorest fifth of households was significantly lower than it was in 2007. Of the
100 cities it examined, incomes fell an overall average of 12%, according to the report's data. In some, the drop
was huge — 34% in Stockton, Calif., 31% in New Haven, Conn., and 30% in Lakeland, Fla.
Obama's SOTU Versus Reality.
Obama claimed that there are no existential threats facing this nation, that his economy is robust, that his educational record is stellar,
that people who are skeptical that global warming is man-made are fools, that the United States is more respected internationally now than
it was before he took office, that Obamacare has lived up to its promises, that the military is overfunded, that ISIS members are just
fanatics and killers riding around in pickup trucks, that his "clean energy" programs are superior, that people who support entitlement
reform are the irresponsible ones — saying we should actually double down on these bankrupting boondoggles — that
proponents of an orderly immigration system are bigots, that Ted Cruz's pledge to aggressively pursue the Islamic State is code for
deliberately bombing innocent civilians, that he himself deserves praise for reducing the deficit, that he values bipartisanship and
compromise and ideas other than his own, that it's morning in America and that he's just getting warmed up and planning on
engineering further transformational change at the expiration of his term. Can you imagine having this record of failure,
bragging about it and promising to deliver more misery into the indefinite future? It would be like the owner of the Chicago
Cubs pledging to keep winning the World Series.
The Best And Worst Of Obama's
SOTU. These are the same policies that Hillary or Bernie would continue, and even make worse. [...] Obama could have made
real investments in alternatives, pushing for research and projects that would work, rather than rewarding campaign donors who had projects
of a dubious nature. He could have pushed for next generation nuclear. He could have put the USA on a true path to renewable
energy. Sadly, no.
Vintage
Whine From Divider In Chief. President Obama's speech Tuesday was less a State of the Union and more of a lamentation over
the loss of his popularity, and the failure of the world to understand and appreciate his wonderfulness. [...] He expressed great sorrow
and deep sadness over the rancor, suspicion, partisanship, division, cynicism, gridlock, lack of compromise and overall dysfunction that
have consumed Washington on his watch. He was supposed to be the great uniter, but his presidency has left the parties more divided
than ever. And he claims to rue that legacy.
Obama
Still Blames ATMs For The Lousy Job Market. It's almost as if Obama got his last State of the Union speech mixed up with his first,
where he listed all those problems. In his first month in office, Obama could blame his predecessors for the sorry state of working-class
America. And that's exactly what he did. In his 2009 State of the Union speech, he blamed "an era where too often, short-term gains
were prized over long-term prosperity," where "regulations were gutted," and "critical debates and difficult decisions were put off." But
after seven years at the helm of the nation's economy, Obama can't blame his predecessors, nor does he want to accept any blame himself.
Obama Brags About Killing Bin Laden
As He Frees Bin Laden's Bodyguards. In his State of the Union speech, the president bragged: If you doubt my commitment to punishing terrorists, "just
ask Osama bin Laden." So why is he releasing several of bin Laden's bodyguards from Guantanamo?
Obama
promises a cure for cancer 'once and for all'. Last night, the president invoked the Moon landing to announce his initiative
to cure cancer — "once and for all." But someone should have whispered into the president's ear that the idea we can
eradicate all cancer is a myth and that despite the government spending more than $200 billion on cancer research since the 1970s,
the rate of cancer deaths overall has not fallen in 50 years.
The Editor says...
Yeah, maybe this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. V2hhdCBhIGRvcGUh
Obama tasks Biden with 'moonshot' bid to cure
cancer. The United States will launch a "moonshot" effort to cure cancer, President Barack Obama declared, assigning his deputy Joe Biden
to lead the effort. [...] "For the loved ones we've all lost, for the family we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once
and for all," Obama said in his final State of the Union address.
Obama's
last State of the Union address in three words. For someone as skilled at giving a speech as our forty-fourth president,
Mr. Obama failed miserably at either inspiring or informing us of the real State of the Union. What he did do is give a
political campaign speech. It was disjointed, irrelevant and disappointing. He is not running for a third term and the
agenda he laid out is not what the country wants or feels. He looked tired and ready to move on.
Obama's
SOTU: 'Anyone Claiming That America's Economy Is In Decline Is Peddling Fiction'. Barack Obama — in
his final presidential State of the Union address — claimed that though "a lot of Americans feel anxious," the
current state of the American economy is not in decline. "Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is
peddling fiction," the president notes in prepared remarks released to the press. "What is true — and the reason
that a lot of Americans feel anxious — is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started
long before the Great Recession hit and haven't let up."
Obama
decries 'politics,' downplays terror threat in final State of the Union. Frustrated by Republican presidential candidates'
attacks on his leadership, President Obama urged the nation and his successor in his final State of the Union address Tuesday night to
"fix our politics" and complete his agenda of restrained American power abroad and income equality at home. "The future we
want — opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our
kids — all that is within our reach," Mr. Obama said. "But it will only happen if we work together. It will
only happen if we fix our politics."
The Editor says...
When he says "fix our politics," is that like "fixing" the election?
Top
10 Lies in Obama's State of the Union. [#7] "No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know
that's the path to ruin." Of all the lies in Obama's speech, this was undoubtedly the worst, coming hours after Iran seized
two U.S. Navy boats and ten sailors. Obama did not even mention those Americans in captivity at any point in his speech,
declining the chance to reassure the nation that they would come home safely. It is an omission that will define this address
in history.
Obama makes the case for his legacy. [Scroll
down] And so the tone was optimistic: "The future we want — opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living
and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids — all that is within our reach." But that message also served another political purpose.
With the election coming up in November the none too subtle sub-text of that is: All this is within your reach providing you don't change
course. In other words, don't embrace a Republican candidate.
The Editor says...
A "peaceful planet" is out of the question. The Bible says there will always be wars, ending with the biggest one of all time. Armageddon is gonna happen.
A "sustainable" planet is something only an idiot would propose. We do not sustain the planet. A rising standard of living is "within our reach" only after
socialism (i.e., the Democratic Party) is defeated.
2016
Democrats lavish praise on Obama; Clinton fundraises off speech. Democratic presidential candidates Tuesday night [1/12/2016]
lauded President Obama as he delivered his final State of the Union address, making the case that the progress seen over the last seven
years would be undone if a Republican takes the White House. Even as Mr. Obama was still speaking, Hillary Clinton's campaign
sent out a fundraising email praising the president's leadership.
'Few
Regrets'. Full text of the final Barack Obama State of the Union Address.
Obama
hangs up his magic wand. Just at the moment when Hillary Clinton started tearing into Bernie Sanders' warning
that there's no "magic wand" to fix Washington, President Barack Obama showed up for his State of the Union to brag about how
well he's waved his. Just at the moment when the Republican primary candidates are out-glooming each other about the
country and the world and the last seven years of this presidency, Obama spent an hour of prime-time television insisting
that things are better than any of them thinks is true.
Exactly the condition he was in when first elected: A
president out of touch, out of ideas. What did we learn? First, the president is either utterly unaware of or unwilling to admit
his own role in perpetuating divisiveness and polarization. After seven years of accusing Republicans of everything from "social Darwinism" to
putting party above country, he now insists we "need to fix our politics." It seems that is what he promised to do seven years ago, and
obviously was exceptionally unsuccessful.
President
Obama's last hurrah. In a leaked peek at his final State of the Union address Tuesday night, he says that he wants to focus on "the
big things" that will have importance "in the years to come." Among these are his "successes" in handling of the economy, climate change and
gun control. The president frets over the legacy he will leave a year and 10 days from now, but measured by his job performance ratings
after his seven years in office, his accomplishments, as gauged from inside the bubble where presidents live, they're not so thrilling for the
American people. There's not enough pomp and circumstance available even to a president of the United States to change that.
Put an empty cradle on Obama's empty chair. It's
not an empty chair that should be the focus of President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address tonight, but an empty cradle.
In consideration of Obama's intensely pro-abortion presidency; in searing memory of the closing words of his 2013 Planned Parenthood address:
"Thank you, Planned Parenthood, God bless you", the symbolic chair he is having placed center stage to represent those who lost their lives to
gun violence, is as phony as the artificial tears he supposedly 'wept' at last Monday's gun control press conference.
State
of the Union Winners and Losers: the Special Interests Edition. In his final State of the Union address
Tuesday, President Obama applauded a number of special interests, while criticizing others. Here's a rundown of
who and what initiatives drew praise from the president, and the ones who got the short straw on Tuesday night.
Invited guests
Most of the commentary on Obama's last State of the Union address centered on the invited guests, who were carefully positioned to illustrate
dramatic points about left-wing issues.
Obama's
Refugee Guest Is Safe — So They All Must Be. As I reminded people on Monday [1/11/2016], Obama had
an illegal immigrant child sitting with Michelle during last year's dog and pony show. So this is just the guilt-trip
du jour. And this invited refugee is hardly emblematic or remotely representative of the others he wants to bring
here. The invitee is a 55 year old scientist from Syria who's been living in Detroit for the past month.
He claims "his family home was destroyed by a bomb, killing his wife, daughter and five other relatives." Was it one
he made? Sorry — I couldn't resist. I guess he is now all alone. So I found it odd when the
refugee scientist Refaai Hamo said, "I was thrilled when I heard that President Barack Obama is welcoming us into the United
States." Us? Who's us? I thought his family was killed? The report neglected to explain this
apparent disparity. They also neglect to reveal what kind of scientist he is. But no matter. This guy
was hand picked to be the face of the non-threatening Muslim refugee. And because he is non-threatening —
I guess we are to believe they will all be equally.
Leaders
of Designated Terrorist Group Invited to State of the Union. When President Barack Obama takes the stage tonight for his State
of the Union address to the American people, he will be doing so with at least two individuals associated with terrorism seated in front of
him. The individuals, Nezar Hamze and Sameena Usman, are leaders of CAIR and have involvement with Islamic Relief, two groups that have
been named terrorist organizations by the government of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Nezar Hamze is the CEO and Regional Operations
Director of the Florida statewide chapter of CAIR. Hamze is attending the State of the Union (SOTU) at the behest of United States
Congressman Alcee Hastings, Democrat from Florida. Sameena Usman is the Government Relations Coordinator of the San Francisco Bay Area
(SFBA) chapter of CAIR. Usman is attending SOTU at the behest of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, Democrat from California.
Another
Dubious State of the Union Guest. A New Jersey Muslim community leader attending tonight's State of the Union
Address with Sen. Cory Booker also serves as treasurer of a political group which strongly supports the Muslim Brotherhood
and demands its return to power in Egypt, documents discovered by the Investigative Project on Terrorism show. Ahmed
Shedeed is president of the Islamic Center of Jersey City. In explaining his invitation, Booker said Shedeed "has spoken
out for religious tolerance and mutual understanding" and shows "how the diversity of America makes us all better."
Shedeed also serves on New Jersey's Homeland Security Interfaith Advisory Council.
Muslim
Guest of Debbie Wasserman Schultz Also a Democratic Donor. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's decision to make a Muslim-American doctor
her VIP guest at President Obama's final State of the Union address was portrayed by the chair of the Democratic National Committee as sending
a "very strong message" against prejudice, but it turns out that she was killing two birds with one stone: Dr. Mohsin Jaffer has
contributed thousands of dollars to Wasserman Schultz and fellow Democrats. "I conceived the notion of inviting a Muslim-American
constituent and encouraging my colleagues to do so, so we can send a very strong message on the most important day of the year," Schultz
told reporters. "The rhetoric and vitriol that has been targeted at this community has been absolutely outrageous and unacceptable."
Rep.
Joe Courtney Heeds Call Of Dem Leaders, Invites Muslim Leader to State of the Union. Connecticut U.S. Rep. Joe
Courtney (D-CT) intends to bring the president of the state's chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as his guest at the
State of the Union address. The invitation comes following a CBS News report in mid-December that Democratic National
Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Muslim-American Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) urged Democrats to
challenge Donald Trump's recommendation that the United States temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States by
inviting a Muslim-American as a guest to the State of the Union address.
Democrats
plan show of support for Muslims at Obama's address. California Rep. Ami Bera chose Sarmed Ibrahim as his guest
for President Obama's last State of the Union address. Ibrahim is one of the engineers who helped set up the first internet
and media companies in post-Sadaam Iraq. He was targeted by Al Qaeda and fled to the United States. He and his family
now reside in Sacramento, California.
Cory
Booker Brings Israel Critic, Muslim Brotherhood Defender to SOTU. Sen. Cory Booker's (D., N.J.) guest of honor at tonight's
State of the Union address is an Islamic-American community leader who has publicly lashed out at Israel and once defended the Muslim
Brotherhood organization as "misunderstood," according to various reports. Booker has invited as his guest to the annual speech
Ahmed Shedeed, president of the Islamic Center of Jersey City, a community center tied to the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
While Booker and others have long touted Shedeed as a moderate Muslim voice, the leader has gone on record in the past criticizing
Israel and defending the Muslim Brotherhood, according to reports.
In
his final act, Obama makes Clint Eastwood's day. Since Ronald Reagan, presidents have invited a covey of
politically-symbolic guests to sit with the presidential spouse in the House gallery during each State of the Union Address.
[...] Obama's other 23 politically-correct guests include an ex-con prison reformer, a middle-aged community college student,
a soldier, a mayor, a global-warming activist, a recovering substance abuser, an ObamaCare navigator, an Alaskan native
tribal member, a homeless advocate and, of course, a Syrian refugee. They, a nationwide TV audience and new House Speaker
Paul Ryan will hear Obama read his last State of the Union Address, boasting of the grand economic progress the nation has
enjoyed under his leadership.
The Republican rebuttal
Nikki
Haley uses State of Union response to bash Trump and praise illegals. Longtime readers know that I am not exactly the strongest
supporter of Donald Trump. As a big employer of illegal aliens and a five-time party switcher, his commitment lends itself to some doubts.
But that is no excuse to criticize him in a forum meant to represent the Republican Party response to the Democratic Party. That is, however,
just what South Carolina governor Nikki Haley did.
Busted! —
Republican State of Union Response Carried Amnesty Pledge in Spanish Version. There is a bigger controversy
about to break wide-open that's potentially far more significant than Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell approving Nikki Haley's
non-subtle attack on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. That bigger controversy is the Spanish version of the GOP State of
the Union rebuttal containing an "amnesty pledge".
In
GOP State of the Union responses, different messages in English and Spanish on immigration. The Republican
Party's immigration split was reflected Tuesday in the two responses hand-picked party members gave — one in
English, one in Spanish — to President Obama's final State of the Union address. The Spanish version,
offered by a Cuban-American congressman from Miami, was decidedly softer.
Baltimore mosque
February 3, 2016.
In anticipation of the speech:
WH:
Obama Plans to Discuss 'Religious Freedom' and His Own Faith While Visiting Md. Mosque. "The president is certainly looking forward to
his trip to the Islamic Society of Baltimore," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday [2/1/2016]. "It will be an opportunity
for the president to celebrate the contributions that Muslim-Americans have made to our nation, but to also reaffirm the importance that religious
freedom has to our way of life." It also will be an opportunity for Obama "to talk about the role that faith plays even in his own life."
The Editor says...
The Editor says...
The number one lie about Islam is that it is a "religion of peace." The number two lie about Islam is that its followers have made great contributions
to the United States and to the world at large, throughout history. Well, you may recall the Muslims made a big contribution to our country on September 11, 2001.
It's because of the Muslims that airline passengers have to get the TSAtreatment at the airport.
They are the reason the Department of Homeland Security exists.
They put Garland and Chattanooga and San Bernardino on the map.
Without the Muislims, we would never have heard of Nidal Hasan, Bowe Bergdahl, "honor killing", Allahu Akbar, suicide bombers, or sharia law.
Who knew there were people (outside of a mental hospital) who were willing to commit murder because they were offended by cartoons?
Yeah, they've contributed so much. Thanks for nothing!
Mosque
Obama Visiting Graduated Terrorist Who Targeted Federal Building. President Obama is conferring legitimacy on a
Baltimore mosque the FBI just a few years ago was monitoring as a breeding ground for terrorists, after arresting a member
for plotting to blow up a federal building. IBD has learned that the FBI had been conducting surveillance at the
Islamic Society of Baltimore since at least 2010 when it collared one of its members for plotting to bomb an Army recruiting
center not far from the mosque in Catonsville, Md.
Obama's
mosque visit will counter 'offensive' GOP. Obama's message to Muslims and all Americans is to underscore "the
important role that Muslim Americans play in our society and to affirm our conviction in the principle of religious liberty,
that law-abiding Americans should be able to worship God in the manner that they see fit, consistent with their religious
heritage and traditions in a way that doesn't subject them to either interference from the government or, frankly, divisive
rhetoric on the campaign trail," [White House spokesman Josh] Earnest said.
The Editor says...
What does that mean? Obama wants to outlaw "divisive rhetoric" pertaining to Islam? Why is Mr. Obama so eager to
defend Islam, when he hasn't shown such support for Christians? The answer is obvious: He's one of them, not
one of us.
Reaction to the speech:
What Is The
Deal With Obama And Islam? There are those who claim that the president is in fact a Muslim. Whether Obama is
or not I find to be irrelevant, as he has demonstrated his preference for them at every opportunity during his interminable
7+ years in office. Whenever he has been provided with a choice of what is best for America, or what is best for Islam,
he has chosen Islam. Americans should find that consistency daunting indeed, and it's backed up by several statements throughout
his tenure, such as, "there is no future for those who slander the prophet." The most recent example of this could be observed
in a speech Obama gave at a terrorist-supporting mosque in Baltimore two weeks ago, in which he not only extolled the myriad wonders
of Islam, but also warned in perilous tones of the rampant Islamophobia of which Americans are guilty. In this remarkable
delivery, he included his oft-used claims regarding one of the greatest of our Founders, Thomas Jefferson and his devotion to Islam.
These are all, of course, complete fabrications though they do seem to actually seem to exist in the alternate universe in which Obama lives.
You
Don't Know What Obama Said at the Mosque. If you seek to understand Barack Obama and his views, the best place
to go is his speeches. But you have to read them in their entirety, not rely on hearing them or on the media's summary of
them. When you do, you come to realize how often what Obama says is morally and intellectually confused and even untrue.
The most recent example was his speech last week at a mosque in Baltimore. In addition to reassuring Muslim Americans that
they are as American as Americans of every other faith — a point that any president, Republican or Democrat, would
and should make — President Obama spoke a lot of nonsense, some of it dangerous nonsense.
Barack
Hussein Obama: America's First Defender-In-Chief Of Islam. Obama mouthed no fewer than 20 flagrant falsehoods during his 5,000-word speech,
including: "For more than 1,000 years, people have been drawn to Islam's message of peace. And the very word itself, Islam, comes from
salam — peace." In fact, Islam means "submission," a very different matter. Submitting to Allah and obtaining submission from others,
if necessary by force, is the great commission of Islam. Peace, or salam, is achieved when the world submits to Allah's laws. OBAMA: "Islam
prohibits terrorism, for the Quran says whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind." FACT: The Quranic verse the president
quotes — 5:32 — actually condones killing those who "murder" Muslims, "wage war against Allah" or spread "mischief in the land."
Mischief is defined as "treason against Allah," and the very next verse — 5:33 — calls for guilty infidels to be beheaded. Obama
glosses over all of this in his edited version.
President
Obama takes veiled jab at Trump in speech during his first visit to an American mosque. President Barack Obama on Wednesday
[2/3/2016] slammed what he called 'inexcusable' anti-Muslim rhetoric in the political sphere — a veiled jibe at Republican White
House hopeful Donald Trump and others. Making his first visit to a mosque while in office, Obama praised American Muslims as upstanding
citizens and thanked them for helping their community.
Not Who We Are': At
Mosque, Obama Laments 'Inexcusable' Anti-Muslim Rhetoric. President Obama delivered remarks this afternoon [2/3/2016] at a Baltimore
mosque in the first visit to a U.S. mosque of his presidency. The president lamented the fact that he's received letters recently from
Muslim-American teens who are concerned about their safety and from Muslim-American adults fearful about their children being mistreated at
school. "I've had people write to me and say: I feel like I'm a second-class citizen," he noted.
The Editor says...
I suspect that supportive letters to Obama are written by someone in the White House — probably the same person who wrote the
rest of his speech. But even if genuine, the letter is based on an invalid complaint. Muslims in the U.S. are treated remarkably
well, considering how much trouble they have stirred up in the last 40 years.
Obama makes first U.S. mosque
visit. President Barack Obama, in his first visit to a mosque in the United States, said Wednesday [2/3/2016] he was
seeking to rebut "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim-Americans" from Republican presidential candidates. Attempting
to recast what he said was a warped image of Islam while encouraging members of the faith to speak out against terror, Obama described
Muslims as essential to the fabric of America. [...] As he decried GOP counterterror plans that would single out Muslims for extra
scrutiny, Obama insisted that applying religious screens would only amplify messages coming from terrorist groups.
The Editor says...
Something tells me the people at that mosque are quite familiar with "messages coming from terrorist groups."
Jasser
Slams Obama for Choosing to Visit Baltimore Mosque. [Dr. Zuhdi] Jasser, an author and founder of the The
American-Islamic Forum for Democracy, said he believes Obama is using Muslims as a "political prop." Jasser said this
mosque is "heaped in Salafism and ideology that is really incompatible with Western identity." He noted that a sermon at
the mosque a few years ago featured a speaker who called homosexuals "deviants" and claimed they have a "mental disorder."
"He's basically using Muslims as a prop, who disagree with his own liberal values. It's bizarre," he explained, adding that
the president should have chosen a mosque with more modern views.
Obama
At Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Mosque: "Muslim Americans Keep Us Safe". While Obama has been President, Muslims
have murdered non-Muslims, avowedly in the cause of Islam, at Fort Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, and San Bernardino, and
attempted to do so in many, many other places. Imagine if armed Baptists screaming "Jesus is Lord" had committed murder, and
explained that they were doing so in order to advance Christianity, in four American cities, and had attempted to do so in many
others. Imagine that those killers were supporters of a global Christian movement that had repeatedly called for attacks on
U.S. civilians and declared its determination to destroy the United States. Imagine how incongruous it would be in that case
for the President of the United States to visit a church and say: "The first thing I want to say is two words that Christian
Americans don't hear often enough: Thank you." And imagine how unlikely it would be that Barack Obama would ever have
done that.
Mosque
Obama Visited Under FBI Surveillance Starting in 2010. Today [2/3/2016], President Barack Obama made the first appearance
at a U.S. mosque in his seven-year presidency. He and the Council on American-Islamic Relations selected the Islamic Society of
Baltimore for the big event. He made some valid points and included some touching moments, but detractors are continuing to rail
against his choice of mosques. In 2010, the Islamic Society of Baltimore was placed under FBI surveillance following the arrest
of one of its members. The member had been planning to bomb an Army recruiting center near the mosque in Catonsville.
Obama's Mosque Speech Was A Dangerous
Fantasy. For eight years now, the president has reprimanded the American people for their attitudes about Islam. And Barack Obama's big
speech to the Islamic Society of Baltimore — granted, filled with many harmless platitudes — was no different, leaving little room
for any honest dialogue about ideology or faith. Many of the president's ideas about "tolerance," in fact, are antithetical to the American experience,
not something to celebrate. Acceptance of outsiders is an American virtue, yes. Do we have to embrace all ideas, as well? Obama has
conflated tolerance of individuals and groups with tolerance of a select belief system — one that he demands be immune from criticism.
President Obama: "TV Shows Should Have Muslim Characters
That Are Unrelated to National Security". In a direct response to anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates, President Obama
visited an American mosque for the first time during his presidency on Wednesday [2/3/2016]. While there, according to Deadline, he criticized the news
media and TV producers for failing to depict Muslims in stories other than ones relating to national security, where they're usually terrorists or refugees
rather than the regular people the vast majority of Muslim-Americans are.
The Editor says...
It is unclear if Mr. Obama is attempting to dictate the content of entertainment programming or news coverage. In either case, he is outside his authority.
In
mosque visit, Obama says U.S. Muslims under siege, blames media. With barely 11 months left in his tenure, Barack Obama
has made his first visit to a U.S. mosque. There, he painted a grim picture of American Muslims under siege by an angry nation
fearful of that faith's adherents merely due to popular culture and media depictions of Muslims as terrorists. He also blamed
unnamed political actors for fomenting hate and fear, likely for political advantage: "You've seen too often people conflating
the horrific acts of terrorism with the beliefs of an entire faith. And of course, recently, we've heard inexcusable political
rhetoric against Muslim Americans that has no place in our country. No surprise, then, that threats and harassment of Muslim
Americans have surged."
The Editor says...
If any Muslim in America was ever threatened, would that not be front-page news? Have you heard of any such case in the last ten years?
Obama,
in radical mosque, calls for other religions to be tolerant. As the body count at the hand of Islamic extremists continues to rise in
America, shouldn't the president be trying to come up with a way to defend Judeo-Christian types, who cling to guns and the Bible, from Islamic
jihadi types who cling to machetes and the Quran? Guess not, because for his first visit to a U.S. mosque, Obama chose a congregation where a
Sudanese native and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Adam el-Sheikh, was chief imam for almost twenty years. Why would a U.S.
president even give credence to a congregation once led by a man who also lent a hand in founding the Muslim American Society, a Muslim
Brotherhood-established organization interested in advancing sharia law?
Obama's Islamophobia.
Barack Obama suffers from serious case of the real Islamophobia — fear of telling the truth about Islam. Even
though a "progressive," he says nary a word about the rampant misogyny and homophobia in Islam or about Sharia law whose medieval
strictures are preferred by 51% of American Muslims. Nor does he seem to care that so few of these same American Muslims
actively oppose radical Islam. The president prefers the Hamas-linked CAIR to courageous reformers like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser.
But that's no surprise. For Obama, radical Islam doesn't even exist. Instead, he claims American citizens are mistreating
their Muslim brothers and sisters when anyone with a web browser can see that simply isn't true and is yet another Obama lie.
Finally,
Obama Will Confront America's Most Dangerous Enemy. All that rhetoric against Muslims has led to exactly zero deaths in the United
States, which is less than you would expect to happen just as a matter of overall homicide statistics in the United States. But still, it's
such an important problem that in order to combat it, Obama is willing to enlist the help of some controversial allies: extremist Muslims
who hate America. [...] I don't think that Obama is some sort of secret Muslim at all. I don't really believe he has any religious authority
higher than himself. But let's ask this: how would his Presidency have looked different at all if he was?
Reality TV: Obama at the Mosque. [Scroll down]
Yesterday at the mosque President Obama did not send a message of religious pluralism, but of religious preference. Pluralism is what we had in
this country before the Islamic invasion that is part of Obama's legacy. [...] Obama lectures Americans on how they should respect and revere Islam.
Would it be appropriate to inquire of prospective Muslim immigrants their opinion of Jews and Judaism and of Christians and Christianity? Can we ask
if they believe they would be bound by laws here, rather than by Sharia? Why doesn't Obama talk about any of this?
Obama:
'I'm not the first' president accused of being a Muslim. President Obama said Wednesday that he's in "good company" when critics claim
that he's secretly a follower of Islam. "Thomas Jefferson's opponents tried to stir things up by suggesting he was a Muslim, so I'm not the
first," Obama said Wednesday [2/3/2016] at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, making him the first president to enter an American mosque. "It's
true, look it up," he said to laughs.
The Editor says...
Did Mr. Obama go to the mosque to deny that he is a Muslim, or to confirm it?
Washington
Post Airbrushes Obama's Mosque Visit. Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post provides a near-worshipful account of
President Obama's Wednesday [2/3/2016] visit to a Baltimore mosque. [...] Jaffe describes the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque as "a
simple house of worship." Post readers are never informed that things at the mosque aren't quite that simple. As Scott [Johnson]
has pointed out, just a few years ago the FBI was monitoring this mosque as a breeding ground for terrorists, after arresting a member for
plotting to blow up a federal building. Agents secretly recorded a number of conversations with a 25-year-old Muslim
convert — Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain — and other Muslims who worshiped there. According to
the criminal complaint, Martinez said he knew "brothers" who could supply him weapons and propane tanks.
Obama at the Mosque. Yesterday, the President visited a
Mosque in Baltimore to give a speech intended for the greater Muslim community. That his choice of a location raised some eyebrows even among the
"moderate Muslims" the White House so fervently courts was typical of the tone-deaf arrogant ideologues that comprise this administration. But the
real missed opportunity was unsurprisingly in what the President had to say to the American adherents of Islam who gathered to hear him speak.
Naturally there were the typical platitudes: "Thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors, and for helping keep us strong and united as
one American family." There were the usual sob-stories: "I've had mothers write and say, 'my heart cries every night,' thinking about how
her daughter might be treated at school." There was a banal pean to multiculturalism: "This is a moment when, as Americans, we have to truly
listen to each other and learn from each other."
President Obama's Lecture from the Mosque: The
Rest of the Story. From watching and listening to President Barack Hussein Obama lecture all of us as he spoke
at the Balitmore Mosque last week... he not only looks entirely comfortable there, heck, you would have thought he was the
main cleric for the Mosque. He used their language because he knows it. The teachings of Mohammed flowed naturally
off of his lips, because he was raised with it. Earlier he announced to the world in his book that the most beautiful sound
in the world in the Islamic call to prayer. He also once announced that if political winds ever turned against Islam, that
he would stand with Islam... and that is what he is doing. [...] For all the world, the President sounds more like a recruiter
or missionary for Islam more than he sounds like a President of the United States.
Obama's
Mosque Visit Misstates Both Current Events and History. Because American opinion is suspicious of Muslims, following
various Islamic extremist/terrorist attacks in America and elsewhere, with special attention being given to killing Christians when
they can be found, our Obama decided to give moral support and backing to The Islamic Society of Baltimore and give them a word of
comfort, even though the FBI has this same Mosque under surveillance following the discovery of one of its members having planned
to bomb an Army recruiting center in Catonsville, Maryland. [...] At the Mosque, Obama apologized for America's "inexcusable
political rhetoric". Really, Barry? Exactly what is this rhetoric and when has it been spouted?
Cuba
March 22, 2016.
Obama's
Inglorious Speech. President Obama's so-called "remarks to the Cuban people" — delivered in Havana
and broadcast throughout Cuba on Tuesday the 22nd of March 2016 — were not in the least surprising or remarkable.
It was a classic example of Obamaspeak: a complex, interwoven tapestry of vague platitudes, potentially inspiring anecdotes,
artificial myths, and outright lies, laced with several references to himself and a few strands of actual truth. Nonetheless,
the speech was somewhat memorable, for two reasons, both of which relate to context.
No,
Mr. President, 1776 Wasn't Anything Like Castro's 1959 Putsch. In his Tuesday [3/22/2016] address to the Cuban
people, Obama declared that the communist takeover that led to the Castros' 57-year dictatorship was a "liberation movement,"
same as America's 1776 revolution. Obama's well-known for his false equivalencies, but this one stands out for its idiocy.
"Here's my message to the Cuban government and the Cuban people," Obama said. "The ideals that are the starting point for
every revolution, America's revolution, Cuba's revolution, the liberation movements around the world, these ideals find their
truest expression, I believe, in democracy." It must have drawn a stifled horse-laugh from Cuban military dictator Raul Castro.
The
Man Who Thinks Austrian is a Language Complains Americans Don't Know Languages. Our Beloved Leader continues his apology
tour/vacation by telling foreigners how much America [lacks]. In Argentina, Obama complained that Americans don't speak foreign
languages. [...] The term is Dummkopf. We would also accept Debile. Which in Austrian means "progressive genius who is
always on the right side of history". Somehow I doubt Obama can find Argentina on a map.
Obama:
Forget The Difference Between Capitalism And Communism, "Just Decide What Works". "So often in the past there
has been a division between left and right, between capitalists and communists or socialists, and especially in the Americas,
that's been a big debate," Obama said during a visit to Argentina Thursday [sic]. "Oh, you know, you're a capitalist Yankee
dog, and oh, you know, you're some crazy communist that's going to take away everybody's property."
The Editor says...
The Argentina speech was on March 23.
Barack Obama: The Last Communist
Sympathizer. How far we've come since Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and famously
demanded: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Today, President Barack Obama is singing serenades to communism. [...]
Have we arrived at a new ideological low that our president feels compelled to defend the evils of communism, a system that left people
living under it — from the Soviet Union to China and East Germany to Cuba — in abject poverty, declining health and
without the most basic of human rights? What about the 200 million or more people who were killed after Big Brother decided
what worked for them? Did rulers like Mao and Stalin just get a little carried away?
Obama
Finally Embraces His Socialism/Communism. During a question and answer session after addressing a Young Leaders
of the Americas Initiative Town Hall in Buenos Aires, Argentina, President Obama finally embraced his socialist/communist
tendencies telling his audience they shouldn't worry about the differences between Capitalism and Communism/Socialism[.]
Obama:
Don't Worry If It's 'Socialist Theory or Capitalist Theory... Just Decide What Works'. Thanks to advances in
technology, "You don't have to settle for the world as it is; you can create the world as you want it to be," President
Barack Obama told young people in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday [3/23/2016]. "You have the freedom to build the
world in powerful and disruptive ways." One of the young community organizers at the town hall picked up on that point,
saying she honestly believes that the world needs to change. She asked Obama for his advice on creating social
change — in her case, by empowering young people living in poverty.
Obama's
Unacceptable Love Affair With Communism. Many of us warned about Obama's Marxist sympathies before he was first
elected president, and we've repeatedly pointed it out during his presidency. Obama was raised and mentored by communists
and spent many years engaged in community organizing (radical leftist activism). He established himself as the most liberal
member of the Senate. Yet our warnings were met with cries of extremism, irrationality and, of course, racism. I wonder what
these scolds would say now. After playing his fiddle in Cuba and paying homage to the romanticized Marxist Castro regime
while Belgium was burning, Obama spoke to a group of young people in Argentina. He told them, essentially, that there isn't
much difference between capitalism and socialism and that they "should be practical." He said: "You don't have to worry
about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory. You should just decide what works." He praised
President Raul Castro in Cuba for his country's universal health care and quality education. Please don't tell me you find
that hard to believe, either.
Obama:
Separation of Powers 'Very Frustrating Sometimes for the President,' Like 'Herding Cats'. President Obama said
Wednesday [3/23/2016] it was "very frustrating sometimes for the president" and akin to "herding cats" to have separation of
powers in the U.S. government. Responding to a town hall question in Argentina about the 2016 election, Obama discussed
the directions being taken by the Republican and Democratic Parties before expounding on the American political system.
"I also think that one of the great advantages of the United States system, even though it's very frustrating sometimes for
the president, is that power is distributed across a lot of different institutions," Obama said. "It's what we call
separation of powers and decentralization."
Press
Ignores Obama's False-Equivalent Belief That Some Communist Ideas 'Work'. As noted in my previous post, the
press is determined that the world not learn of profound statements made by world leaders it despises. The specific reference
was to Israeli Prime Mininster Benjamin Netanyahu's five-word admonishment to those who believe that some accommodation can be
reached with Islamic terrorists: "Terrorists Have No Resolvable Grievances." Meanwhile, the press protects those it
likes when they make breathtakingly ignorant remarks. Such remarks occur with alarming regularity any time U.S. President
Barack Obama speaks without the aid of a teleprompter. In Argentina on Wednesday [3/23/2016], during a
question-answer exchange with a youth group, Obama said that debates over the superiority of capitalism compared to communism "are
interesting intellectual arguments," but that "for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works."
Press coverage of Obama's remarks has been sparse.
Incidentally... Taxpayers
Billed $1.4 Million for Obama's Argentina Trip. The president traveled to Argentina last week after his two-day
stop in Cuba. The visit racked up substantial costs for hotels, transportation, and advance bathroom maintenance,
according to government contracts signed by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security. Lodging for the
president and White House staff totaled $115,588, while conference rooms cost $35,584. Another contract for hotel rooms cost
$31,585. U.S. Secret Service costs associated with the trip included $120,782 for hotel rooms at the Hyatt Park in
Buenos Aires and $707,801 for transportation. [...] In all, taxpayers were billed $1,394,294 for the Argentina trip and press
credentials in Cuba.
Howard University
May 7, 2016.
Obama
Targets Trump Campaign Proposals in Highly Political Commencement Speech. While not directly naming the
candidate, President Obama made it clear just what he thinks about Donald Trump's campaign and policy proposals in a highly
political commencement speech Sunday [5/8/2016] at Rutgers University. The president said he would skip giving students
the usual commencement banter, and instead run down a list of "suggestions" that turned out to be a stern and direct
indictment of everything Trump has built his campaign on.
Obama
on Climate Change: 'We Can See it Happening Right Now'. President Barack Obama told graduates at Rutgers
University in New Brunswick, N.J., "to insist upon and shape an informed debate" about climate change, adding that climate
change is not subject to "political spin." "Climate change is not something subject to political spin. There is
evidence. There are facts. We can see it happening right now," he said in a commencement address.
Man
Who Lives Behind Walls Whines About Building Walls. Obama whined on and on and on, because he surely thought
that Rutgers graduates, on one of the biggest days of their young lives, wanted to listen to a political speech better
reserved for a DNC fundraiser. But, seriously, what about walls? Obama lives behind a big fence, one which the
Secret Service wants to make bigger. Five feet bigger. And the security for the fence, an attempt to keep the
world out, includes armed security, many with sniper rifles. Apparently, walls work, because Team Obama is funding a
wall on the Tunisia/Libya border to stop the flow of Islamists. There's also partial funding for a wall in
Jordan. And supposedly one in Niger to stop Boko Haram.
"Have Confidence
In Your Blackness". In his recent commencement address at Howard University our president's racism-laced
message to graduates strategically included the words, "Be Confident in your blackness." But what most got my attention was
that his entire speech was presented in his own version of 'homeboy' with a clumsy Ebonic lilt/cadence. The down-home,
laid-back talk that he couldn't quite pull off was, in my view, an embarrassing insult to the noble scholars and their
parents, many of whom just wanted to enjoy the moment and honor the hard work it had taken both to achieve their goal.
The forty-five minutes might have been better spent encouraging them to have confidence in their hard-earned skills and
knowledge. Instead, he spent nearly an hour imitating some stereotype of a brutha' and hauled out his pitifully
caricatured representation of "blackness." The racial unity of our so wounded nation was once more thrown in the backseat.
Barack
Obama is Lucky to be Black. Obama is the divisive excuse maker, as his comments to graduates of Howard
University showcased: "Be confident in your blackness" Obama said in the speech, adding, "That's a pet peeve of mine,
people who've been successful and don't realize they've been lucky, that God may have blessed them. It wasn't nothing
you did." I have major issues in Obama's comments, surely to be overlooked by black liberals, the media, and white Leftist
enablers. To begin, what would the media and other leftists say if George Bush told graduates to "be confident in your
whiteness"? I will allow you to ponder that; as for me, no further explanation needed.
Obama
to Grads: 'Ignorance Is Not a Virtue' in Politics, Yet 'We've Become Confused About This'. President Obama
advised Rutgers University graduates to take anyone talking about the "good old days... with a grain of salt" because "the
'good old days' weren't that great." "We live in a great nation and we are rightly proud of our history. We are
beneficiaries of the labor and the grit and the courage of generations who came before," Obama said during Sunday's
commencement address.
Barack Obama's deeply demoralizing
"You didn't build that" commencement speech at Howard. One wishes that after seven-plus years of demoralizing,
ugly, incompetent and divisive leadership, there would be at long last something one might find in Barack Obama that an
average American could make peace with. But in one of the latter speeches of his presidential tenure, a commencement
address at historically black Howard University over the weekend, Obama showed himself incapable either of uniting the
country he's misgoverned since January of 2009 or even giving its citizens reasons to believe they can improve their own
stations. According to Obama's Howard speech things are terrific — both in comparison to when he took
office and also in comparison to the time of a far more successful president than he.
Obama:
Crime Created by 'System,' Successful People 'Just Lucky,' 'Wasn't Nothin' You Did'. In his commencement speech
to the graduating class at Howard University last weekend, President Obama excused crime in the African American community as
something fostered by an "unfair and unjust" system. He also said successful people were "just lucky" and hinted they
didn't make their success; "It wasn't nothin' you did," he insisted.
Obama
Acolytes Gush Over His 'Powerful' Commencement Address. The networks on Saturday, Sunday and Monday gushed over
Barack Obama's "powerful" commencement address to Howard University, highlighting the President's self-serving calls for
compromise and touting how successful he's been. CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King on Monday [5/9/2016]
unquestioningly hyped, "I thought one of most important things he said is when he said when you disagree with somebody, you
got talk about it. You can't reach any kind of agreement or compromise without talking." How often has the President
compromised on ObamaCare or gun control? King didn't discuss Obama's tendency to "listen." Instead, she praised,
"It was such a powerful speech.... I thought that was a powerful statement that many people need to hear."
Obama: US in 'Better
Place' Than When He Graduated College. President Barack Obama said Saturday [5/7/2016] that the country is "a
better place today" than when he graduated from college more than 30 years ago, citing his historic election as "one
indicator of how attitudes have changed." But gaps persist, he told Howard University's Class of 2016, citing racism and
inequality as examples. In a commencement speech at one of the nation's leading historically black schools, Obama said
there were no black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and few black judges when Columbia University awarded him a bachelor's
degree in 1983.
President
Obama Gives One Of The Most Repulsive Speeches In American History In Hiroshima. On Friday [5/27/2016],
President Obama said America's use of the A-bomb to end the threat of Japanese fascism sprang from American desire for
conquest, suggested that America had ushered in an age of "atomic warfare," and said that we could achieve a "world without
nuclear weapons" if only we clapped for Tinkerbell. This came shortly after his visit to Vietnam, where his White House
announced that America would start selling weapons to the communist dictatorship. Yes, our president is a total disgrace.
Congress
Must Censure President Obama over Hiroshima Speech. President Barack Obama told the world on Friday [5/27/2016] in
Hiroshima that the American decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945 arose from humanity's worst instincts, including
"nationalist fervor or religious zeal." The war that ended in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said, "grew out of the same
base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes, an old pattern amplified by new
capabilities and without new constraints." The speech — delivered on the eve of Memorial Day weekend —
was billed by the White House as anything but an apology, but Obama's words betrayed his true sentiments.
A Leader Without a Moral Compass.
The moral equivalence movement, with its moral relativism, and the fatuous history taught in our institutions of post-secondary (no longer
higher) education have come to a head in the obscenity committed by President Obama in Hiroshima. The atomic bomb was not some kind of
"evil" as the president consciously chose to portray it, but the source of victory that brought Japan's barbaric aggression to an end.
Even so, it required two bombs to accomplish this and the putting down of a potential revolt by Japan's young officers who chose to fight
on to the death. Those in their sinecured warrens burrowed in the groves of academe who teach that the bomb was evil have never taken
an instant to read the Japanese order of battle on the eve of the atomic attacks. Our intelligence totally underestimated the strength
of the Japanese army in Manchuria or Japan's navy. An invasion of the islands would have resulted in hundreds of thousands, perhaps
millions, of casualties of military and civilians.
Haul
out the conspiracies for the lame-duck president! The moral equivalency in Barack Obama's speech in Hiroshima was painful, given
the Japanese Empire's attack on our homeland. ["]Yet in the image of a mushroom cloud that rose into these skies, we are most starkly
reminded of humanity's core contradiction. How the very spark that marks us as a species, our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our toolmaking,
our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will — those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction.["]
What if... hear me out... what if his apology wasn't for past wrongs, but to justify future attacks on our homeland? As we used the Bomb,
doesn't this justify (in his mind) the use of such a weapon on us?
Ho Chi Minh's Dupe. [Scroll down] Obama did it again last week, and this time
in Vietnam itself, where 58,000 American boys died. He did it the week before Memorial Day in the United States. On two separate occasions, Obama
again referred to Ho's invocation of the Declaration of Independence. Speaking on May 24 at Hanoi's National Convention Center, Obama declared:
"And on the day that Vietnam declared its independence, crowds took to the streets of this city, and Ho Chi Minh evoked the American Declaration of
Independence. He said, 'All people are created equal. The Creator has endowed them with inviolable rights. Among these rights are the
right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness.'" For the record, yes, Ho did just that. But dictators can and
do say anything. Hitler signed a formal pact with Stalin promising not to invade the USSR. Stalin promised free and fair elections throughout
Eastern Europe to FDR and Churchill at Yalta. He did not honor that promise. And Ho Chi Minh did not establish a Jeffersonian representative
republic in Vietnam.
Bolton
Blasts Obama's Apology Tour: We Weren't Just Killing People in Hiroshima, 'We Were Defending Our Country'. [Former U.N.
Ambassador John] Bolton said there was doubt the worldwide business and diplomatic communities received Obama's message that the United States
did not have the moral high ground over Japan when it bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "He goes out of his way in the speech to say that
mankind has engaged in wars for the entire existence of the species, so that everybody is equally guilty, all of the time, and we should just
recognize that, and rise to his level, have that moral revolution. And, as he says, have an entirely different way of thinking about war,"
Bolton said. "Well, that is the kind of ethereal, abstract, academic discussion that may warm people's hearts, but it doesn't protect the
American people. It doesn't protect our interests around the world." "Our media said Obama did not apologize in Hiroshima. It
just shows how limited our media is, because they sat there, listening for him to say the words 'I apologize.' He didn't say the words
'I apologize' in the entire Apology Tour for seven years," Bolton pointed out. "I'm pretty sure he's never actually said that.
He's much more sophisticated. I think the media know that. I think they're just giving him a pass, as they so often do. But
what he does is confess American error. We made this mistake, he said about Hiroshima. Death rained from the sky. As if we
were just up there, saying anything we can do to kill people."
Years
After Hiroshima Comes the Blah. I was reading a brilliant biography of Lady Thatcher by Charles Moore [...]
just about the time that our President was delivering his rhetorical serving of mush at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
There he was calling for a "moral revolution" worldwide, which would rid the world of nuclear arms. He said:
"We may not eliminate mankind's capacity to do evil. But among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles,
we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them." Incidentally, what will Mr.
Obama or his successor do with a nuclear-armed Iran, a nuclear-armed Iran that Mr. Obama so recently enabled?
The Obama Narrative
Goes to Hiroshima. This past Friday, President Obama became the first sitting American president to visit
Hiroshima. There, in that solemn setting, he delivered a speech so grandiose, so full of sophistries, so stuffed with
America-denigrating baloney, that on those grounds alone it ought to qualify as historic — except in essence he's
said it all before. I don't know if White House Boy Wonder Ben Rhodes wrote this particular riff on the The
Narrative. But if he did not, we may safely assume that Obama has found another speechwriter who is a perfect
replica. No, Obama did not explicitly apologize for America's dropping of the atomic bomb. Rather, he worked
around to it by implication, stripping the act of almost all historical context, lumping together all civilizations and
nations, and all wars — whatever the reasons — in one big stew, and urging, as his solution for the
planet (imperfect America included), a "moral revolution" of which he evidently considers himself the prophet.
Obama's
Hiroshima Speech Reflects His Unrealistic View of History. President Barack Obama's speech at Hiroshima was a
poignant discourse on the horrors of war. He spoke eloquently of the death of innocent lives and the hope for a better
tomorrow. But his trip is fraught with the potential for misinterpretation. As the end of his presidency
approaches, Obama sought to resurrect his utopian vision of a world without nuclear weapons that he first articulated in
2009. The Obama administration promised that the president's trip would be focused on the future. But by
delivering his remarks at Hiroshima, he needlessly resurrected painful and contentious historic issues.
Obama
just put a knife in America and turned it. [Scroll down] [Obama] forgot the Rape of Nanking, the Bangka
Island Massacre, where Australian Army nurses were raped and slaughtered by his friends. He forgot the Bataan Death March
conducted by the peaceful Japanese war machine. He forgot the Sandakan Death March He forgot murder and cannibalism on
the Kokoda Track. He forgot conscripting women for sexual slavery in Japanese Army brothels. He forgot the mutilation
and murder of Dutch civilians in Borneo. He forgot the murder and cannibalism of captured American pilots. He forgot
the murder of American pilots and air crew at Midway. He forgot the bombing of the hospital ship Manunda. He forgot the
sinking of the hospital ship Centaur. He forgot the extermination of survivors of merchant ships sunk by the
Japanese. Barack Obama, your president, the most evil, anti-American enemy of these people, called Americans, told
reporters in Japan his historic visit to Hiroshima will honor all those who were lost in World War II.
Barack Obama,
Pacifist. Barack Obama spoke in Hiroshima yesterday. The full text of his speech is [on line].
Obama did not quite apologize for America's use of the atomic bomb to bring WWII to an end, as some had feared. But his
speech was nevertheless deeply revealing of his world view. [...] Modern man has developed terrible weapons, and the deaths
of tens of millions are tragic. But it was in his specific references to Hiroshima and the weapons used there where
Obama revealed his radical core.
Why Obama's Hiroshima Speech
Bombed. As one might expect, President Obama's speech at Hiroshima was more like one delivered at an anti-war
rally than one delivered by the leader of the free world. [...] The United States did not enter WWII because of a "base
instinct for domination or conquest," but because this country was subject to an unprovoked attack at Pearl Harbor. But
to hear President Obama talk about it, one could easily be under the impression the United States and Imperial Japan were
morally equivalent or for that matter the United States and Nazi Germany.
The rabidly pro-abortion president says... Obama:
'Every Life is Precious...That Is The Story That We All Must Tell'. President Barack Obama said at the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, today that "every life is precious" and "that is the story we all must
tell." Obama made this point after invoking the Declaration of Independence and stating that everyone is "endowed by
our Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life. Here is an excerpt from the president's speech: [...]
Obama's
Hiroshima visit panned by critics on left, right. President Obama burnished his legacy as the president who
went to Hiroshima, but critics on the left and right say the historic visit probably won't make a bit of difference for his
dream of a world without nuclear weapons. "In terms of his avowed goal of nuclear disarmament, no," said Dean Cheng, a
specialist on Asia and national security at the Heritage Foundation. "The Chinese aren't going to give up nuclear
weapons, the Russians aren't going to give up nuclear weapons." Peace groups praised the president's visit Friday to
the site of the first nuclear bomb attack, where Mr. Obama called for a "moral revolution" to rid the world of
nukes. But they said Mr. Obama's lofty rhetoric doesn't match his record in office.
War
Crimes of Imperial Japan: A Lesson In Moral Equivalence for Mr. Obama. "Let all the souls here rest
in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil," he said, when reading the inscription on a monument at the Peace Memorial
Park. He somehow forgot to mention the evils perpetrated by Imperial Japan or the unspeakable suffering it inflicted
upon POWs and civilians who fell into its clutches. Let's correct that oversight, to help the President understand why
moral equivalence is the dim refuge of lazy minds, and equating American troops with the Axis forces they defeated is an
outrage. We can start with the one everybody knows about: the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. [...] In Hiroshima, Obama's
sole criticism of the Empire of Japan was some mumbled mush about "mistakes of the past," and that wasn't even exclusively
directed at the Japanese. Nothing they did was a mistake.
Hiroshima
and Obama's sense of history. As he approaches the end of his presidency, President Obama is trying to write
his own chapter in world history as the president who redefined America's role in the world. But to do that, he's also
delicately and self-consciously trying to turn the page on the chapters written by his predecessors. That effort led
him Friday [5/27/2016] to the Japanese city where 140,000 people died so that the United States could end what seemed to be
an endless war seven decades and 11 presidents ago.
Hiroshima
as Gun Control. President Obama's speech at Hiroshima, widely criticized as an indirect apology for the A-bomb,
is shown in the text of his speech to be something else. It is an interpretation of recent human history not as a
contest between good versus evil, as the World War 2 generation saw it, but an indictment of poor global human
governance. The tragedy of Hiroshima, Obama argues, lay in technology escaping regulation to an intolerable level.
[...] The Hiroshima speech is in fact intended as a springboard for more arms control proposals, but Obama's supporting
narrative for more government and a closer control of things is at odds with the contemporaneous recollection of those who
actually fought World War 2.
Obama:'No
Religion Has Been Spared From Believers Who Have Claimed Their Faith as a License to Kill'. President Barack
Obama said at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan today that "no religion has been spared from believers who have claimed
their faith as a license to kill." "On every continent, the history of civilization is filled with war, whether driven by
scarcity of grain or hunger for gold; compelled by nationalist fervor or religious zeal," the president said. "How
easily we learn to justify violence in the name of some higher cause," he said. "Every great religion promises a
pathway to love and peace and righteousness, and yet no religion has been spared from believers who have claimed their faith
as a license to kill."
Trump:
Say, Did Obama Mention Pearl Harbor While In Japan? Well, no, of course not. Nor did Obama mention all
the Japanese atrocities. [...] How about who we were. A country that was attacked without a declaration of war in a
sucker attack. A nation that thought it better to drop the two atomic bombs to attempt to force Japan to surrender,
rather than continuing the island hopping to Japan, then having to bomb the daylights out of the nation before and during an
invasion that could see hundreds of thousands killed, with our eye on the primary concern for the Americans that would be
killed. It's insane that, because of this reckless fool's visit to Japan, we have to actually re-litigate what happened
in 1945, when those two bombs were dropped. Obama called dropping the bombs a mistake, as part of an overall speech[.]
President
Obama Is Visiting Hiroshima. Why Not Pearl Harbor? President Obama is visiting Hiroshima this week, the
site of the August 6, 1945, dropping of the atomic bomb that helped end World War II in the Pacific Theater. But
strangely, he has so far announced no plans to visit Pearl Harbor on the anniversary of the attack. The president, who
spent much of his childhood in Hawaii, should do so — given that many Americans have forgotten why the Japanese
attacked the United States and why they falsely assumed that they could defeat the world's largest economic power.
Imperial Japan was not, as often claimed, forced into a corner by a U.S. oil embargo, which came only after years of horrific
Japanese atrocities in China and Southeast Asia. Instead, an opportunistic and aggressive fascist Japan gambled that
the geostrategy of late 1941 had made America uniquely vulnerable to a surprise attack.
John
Bolton on Hiroshima: Harry Truman's Morals 'Apparently Didn't Quite Make it Up to Barack Obama's High Standards'. Former
U.N. Ambassador John Bolton joined SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon on Friday's [5/27/2016] Breitbart News Daily to talk about
President Obama's visit to Hiroshima. Bolton agreed that it was inappropriate for the President to declare his visit was meant to
honor Imperial Japan's war dead, as well as the Allied soldiers who died defeating the Axis.
Obama
offers no apology at Hiroshima, calls for end to nuclear weapons. President Obama became the first sitting U.S.
president to visit Hiroshima since the nuclear attack in World War II, embracing a survivor but offering no apology Friday [6/27/2016],
saying that he came "to mourn the dead" and work toward a world without nuclear weapons. "Seventy-one years ago, on a bright,
cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed," Mr. Obama said at Peace Memorial Park. "A flash of
light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself." Mr. Obama
laid a wreath with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an eternal flame and visited a museum at the site. In a guest book, the
president inscribed the message: "We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace,
and pursue a world without nuclear weapons."
The Editor says...
Was it really a bright, cloudless morning? Cloud cover
was less than 30 percent,
but the sky wasn't cloudless. And if Mr. Obama thinks he can eliminate nuclear weapons by making a speech, he is delusional.
Obama
calls for 'a world without' nuclear arms. President Barack Obama embraced a survivor of Hiroshima today — but
stopped short of an apology for the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the city. The U.S. president declared that
the world has a 'shared responsibility' to review history and 'curb such suffering' from happening, as it did on August 6,
1945, when 140,000 residents of Hiroshima died when the town was leveled.
Obama's
shameful apology tour lands in Hiroshima. An American president's highest moral, constitutional and political
duty is protecting his fellow citizens from foreign threats. Presidents should adhere to our values and the
Constitution, and not treat America's enemies as morally equivalent to us. If they do, they need not apologize to
anyone. The White House says that President Obama won't apologize as he visits Hiroshima Friday. But who believes
his press flacks? His penchant for apologizing is central to his legacy. He may not often say "I apologize"
explicitly, but his meaning is always clear, especially since he often bends his knee overseas, where he knows the foreign
audiences will get his meaning. It is, in fact, Obama's subtlety that makes his effort to reduce America's influence in
the world so dangerous.
Obama
at Hiroshima: Every Religion Claims 'License to Kill'. President Barack Obama delivered a pious anti-war
address in Hiroshima highlighting "humanity's core contradiction" of war, lamenting that humanity tried to justify war
because of religion. "How easily we learn to justify violence in the name of some higher cause," he said. "Every
great religion promises a pathway to love and peace and righteousness, and yet no religion has been spared from believers
that have claimed their faith has a license to kill." Obama blamed "religious zeal" or "nationalist fervor" for
inspiring humankind to war throughout history, but urged the world to seek a future filled with peace.
Obama
Urges 'Moral Awakening,' Says 'Ordinary People... Do Not Want More War'. After laying a wreath in memory of
Hiroshima's war dead on Friday, President Obama called for an end to war; the elimination of nuclear weapons; a recognition
that "every life is precious"; and a "moral awakening" among all nations and peoples. "We must reimagine our connection
to one another as members of one human race," he said. Obama said the souls of 100,000 Japanese men, women and children
killed in Hiroshima "speak to us."
The Editor says...
On the contrary, if Japan pulls another deadly surprise attack on the U.S., we should nuke them again -- this time with a state-of-the-art weapon that would
make it impossible to re-visit the site 75 years later to make speeches. It has already been demonstrated that Japan won't surrender without being
nuked more than once.
If
You Don't Want To Get Nuked Don't Bomb Pearl Harbor. President Obama has kowtowed to the Japanese and Western
liberals by promising at the site of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb "we shall not repeat the evil." People who agree with
this sentiment ought to do two things. First they should read the essay — Thank God for the Atom
Bomb — war historian Paul Fussell wrote on how he felt when, as a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the US
army, he and his comrades heard the news that Japan had been nuclear bombed into surrender.
Thank
God for the Atom Bomb. [Scroll down] The Japanese plan to deploy the undefeated bulk of their ground
forces, over two million men, plus 10,000 kamikaze planes, plus the elderly and all the women and children with sharpened
spears they could muster in a suicidal defense makes it absurd, says Alsop, to "hold the common view, by now hardly
challenged by anyone, that the decision to drop the two bombs on Japan was wicked in itself, and that President Truman and
all others who joined in making or who [like Robert Oppenheimer] assented to this decision shared in the wickedness." And in
explanation of "the two bombs," Alsop adds: "The true, climactic, and successful effort of the Japanese peace advocates
... did not begin in deadly earnest until after the second bomb had destroyed Nagasaki. The Nagasaki bomb was
thus the trigger to all the developments that led to peace."
The
Japanese were trying to make an atomic bomb, too. In all the press about Obama visiting Hiroshima, Japan, where
the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on its enemy in 1945, not one word has surfaced about the fact that the Japanese were,
at the same time, working on their own atomic bomb, and would have used it on Americans had they been able. Nor has
anything been said about the fact that they were much closer to making an atomic bomb than most Americans know. [...] Had
America not used its atomic bombs and instead invaded the Japanese mainland, the Japanese were planning to use atomic weapons
on the invasion fleet, which certainly would have been devastating. Kamikazis had been bad enough. Imagine if
they had been armed with nuclear weapons.
Obama
regrets these 36 (x 100,000) Americans are alive. I would say that it's a disgrace that the president of the
United States doesn't understand this, but I suspect that the man who presided over Benghazi objection to the prospect of
dead Americans is not what one might have expected from the White House in the past.
Reaction to the Orlando terrorist attack
June 12, 2016.
Obama Whiffs
Again. Obama offered up yet another profile in cowardice. He showed no passion, no emotion, no anger.
Nothing. He was acting as someone who had been trying to run out the clock and who had just been shown for the
incompetent weakling that he is. After all, he is the president; his FBI botched the investigation of Omar Mateen; his
security agencies failed to pick up on someone who was threatening to kill people and whose father was a notable supporter of
the Taliban. It's Obama's America; we live in the Age of Obama. His job was to keep us safe. If any
American bears responsibility for yesterday's events, that American is Barack Obama.
Smartest
President Ever Unable to Deduce Motive of Pulse Nightclub Terrorist. The shooting in Orlando, Florida is tied
to ISIS and that has been confirmed. The terrorist was shouting "Allahu Akbar" in the street and in the nightclub.
The president said in a speech that the slaughter of 50 people and the wounding of 53 was an attack but he doesn't know what the
motives are. He never used the words Islamic, radical Islamic, or any other realistic term. His mentioning of his
concern for LGBTs falls a little flat because he certainly isn't protecting them. Shall we wait until they are being
thrown off buildings in this country? Apparently the terrorist's ties to ISIS, including a 9/11 call to them at the
time of the attack, was not a dead giveaway. Omar Mateen, the terrorist, pledged allegiance to ISIS in the moments
before the attack. The president called it murder and a massacre, saying they don't know the motivation and only know that
the shooter was filled with hate. He mentioned "terror" but that was as close as he got to describing it accurately.
The hate the president
dares not name. Islamist terror struck America again late Saturday, this time on the dance floor of Pulse, an
Orlando nightclub, in the largest mass shooting in US history. The death toll of 50 may yet rise, as some of the 53
wounded remain in bad shape. That our president, in his remarks Sunday [6/12/2016], chose not to call it "Islamist"
terror is almost irrelevant: He has just seven months left in office; why would he break with his habits of denial now?
No,
President Obama, Americans Don't Need to Examine Themselves. After the deadliest mass shooting in the history
of the United States — at the hands of an Islamic terrorist at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub — Obama
couldn't sprint to the lectern fast enough to tell Americans not to believe our lying eyes, saying we should view this
slaughter through his perverse prism. Obama has a selfish interest in denying that this was an act of Islamic terrorism
by an Islamic terrorist, which would be an admission of the failure of his policies. He has virtually withdrawn the
United States from the war on terror unilaterally, operating on the grossly reckless assumption that Islamic terrorism
springs from economic motivations, our recent military actions in the Middle East or some other such nonsense. Obama
simply will not identify this (or similar outrageous attacks) as an act of Islamic jihad. He will only say the FBI is
investigating it as a generic "act of terrorism."
More defensive and petulant reaction to the Orlando terrorist attack
June 14, 2016.
Obama:
'There's no magic to the phrase radical Islam'. President Obama lashed out at Donald Trump on Tuesday
[6/14/2016], criticizing his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States and his attacks on the White House's
handling of the war on terror. Obama, who appeared visibly angry at times during his remarks, took on criticism from
Trump and other Republicans that he has refused to use the phrase "radical Islam," calling it a "political
distraction." "What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change?" Obama asked.
Obama on Orlando: It's All About
the Guns. It did not take long for President Barack Obama to inject a plea for more gun control in his reaction
to the Orlando terror massacre. [...] What specific new gun law would have prevented this mass murder, Obama didn't say.
It's
Be Kind to ISIS Week at the White House. It's 2016 America, where a feckless, gun grabbing, community organizer
serves as Commander in Chief and half the nation is too politically correct to mutter the words, Radical Islamic
Terrorism. Carpet bombing is out, soft spoken excuses are in. As ISIS rejoices over another mass slaughter
perpetrated against the US by a crazed Jihadi hell bent on hitting a grand slam for Allah, the Democrats blame the problem on
the Second Amendment. Yesterday [6/14/2016], the nation awaited a response from the President. It got one.
Instead of providing a coherent strategy to destroy ISIS or reassure Americans that he's on the job, the President used the
time to apologize for Islam, rant against Trump and present an infomercial on the benefits of diversity.
The price of the Obama
Doctrine. The trouble is, the Obama Doctrine does not exist. It is a fairy tale, a unicorn, that homework
assignment that the dog ate. President Obama has no foreign policy other than outsourcing it to the next president. [...]
However, Obama's shirking of his duties is bearing its rotted fruit a few years early. Two attacks by Islamic State
terrorists in recent months — including Sunday's attack in Orlando, the largest slaughter of homosexuals in the
Western World — forced him to answer for his political cowardice. He got angry — furious —
at Donald Trump for being right about terrorism. Under Obama, the nation is now less protected against terrorism than any
time since 9/11.
Obama Is As Petulant As Ever.
I think it is fair to say that petulant was a word one could have used to describe President Obama's remarks yesterday
[6/14/2016] concerning the radical Islamic terrorist attack in Orlando (which he will not characterize as such). CNN, an
outlet friendly to Obama, used the word "tirade". Our own Larry Thornberry, in a marvelous takedown, called it "the most
dishonest speech Barack Obama has made in all his years at 1600. And the most cringe-inducing." What Obama's speech
did not do was to inspire confidence nor did it provide reassurance. [...] After all, when ISIS beheaded journalist James Foley,
he casually went out for a round of golf. But when Republicans dared question the wisdom of Obama's Syrian refugee policy, he
called their opposition a "potent recruitment tool" for ISIS.
No One's
Looking for 'Magic Words'. The problem with Obama's conduct isn't that naming radical Islam would solve the
problem. Of course, it wouldn't solve the problem. The issue is that the refusal to name radical Islam is part of
the problem. Obama's refusal speaks to the mindset at work in the White House about the threat we face.
Obama:
Whose Side Is He On? [Scroll down] Mr. Obama fumed at those who criticize his administration for
refusing to use the words "radical Islam." He mocked the idea that language matters: "Not once has an adviser of
mine said, 'Man, if we use that phrase, we are going to turn this whole thing around,' not once." He never tires of
slaying straw men. It's not a matter of intoning magic words. The critique of Obama is that he has so often
projected the image of Islam's defense counsel instead of America's commander-in-chief. In fairness (though Obama is
rarely fair to those he differs with), it should be noted that George W. Bush was also at pains to shun the impression
that the U.S. was at war with Islam. But here's the difference: Bush never gave the impression that he wasn't on
America's side, and Obama consistently does.
Obama
goes on tirade against Trump over Muslim ban, 'radical Islam'. President Barack Obama on Tuesday [6/14/2016]
unleashed a blistering verbal assault on Donald Trump and his "dangerous" proposal for a ban on Muslims entering the country,
saying the suggestion violates the principles of American democracy and generates rage among would-be extremists.
Dismissing the "yapping" from "politicians who tweet," Obama described Trump's suggestions as harmful to the country's
national security. "We are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be," he
said. "We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're
fighting, where this can lead us."
Furious
Obama accuses Trump of making America less safe by attacking Muslims — and slams Republican's demands to say 'radical Islam'
as 'yapping'. President Barack Obama ripped into Donald Trump today over the Republican's insistence that he
use the phrase 'radical Islam' to describe terrorists like the one who perpetrated the massacre in Orlando. Obama said
Trump's 'yapping' was nothing more than a 'political distraction' and defining an entire religion by the behavior of
terrorists who are perverting it would only fuel hate and make America less safe. 'There's no magic to the phrase radical
Islam. It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy,' Obama said in statement this afternoon [6/14/2016]
from the Treasury Department.
Islam
& the West: Irreconcilable Conflict? [Scroll down] And make no mistake. There are out there
in society some few looking at what Mateen did, and how he left this world, not in revulsion and disgust but admiration and
awe. Omar Mateen will not lack for emulators. While we see him as a sick and crazed mass murderer, some will see
him, as he surely saw himself, as a warrior for Islam and Muslim martyr who earned paradise. Yet, Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama seemed either unable to recognize the roots of Mateen's malice, or they were inhibited from identifying those
roots by the commands of political correctness. "Islam, not only in its extremist forms but in its pure form, is
incompatible with modern Western democracy." The president called this "an act of hate," but declined to name the
source of the hatred or motive for the massacre.
Obama
won't let the tragedy in Orlando go to waste. In the passion of the moment it's only human to try to find
someone to blame for the enormity of a crime. Men and women of goodwill send their condolences from a heavy heart,
anyway. But some on the political left are beside themselves with glee over the unexpected opportunity to bang Donald
Trump, conservatives, Christians, Republicans, owners of guns, and even occasional Democrats trying to hang on to their
sanity in a world gone barking mad. This is the tragedy that cannot be left to go to waste.
Obama's
tantrum a striking display of failed leadership. If it is true that the best defense is a good offense,
President Obama should be celebrating in the end zone now. Obviously furious over criticism that his anti-terror
policies are weak and that the Orlando slaughter proves it, he went on a televised tirade to let America know he's mad as
hell and not going to take it anymore. He laid waste to a field of straw men, cable-TV pundits and the always-evil
"partisan rhetoric," by which he means anyone who disagrees with him. It was a striking display of personal anger and
pent-up grievances — and a total failure of leadership during a national crisis.
Reaction
to nightclub massacre feels like eternal recurrence. President Obama, who has spent his presidency yearning for
the reality he wants rather than the one he has, once again downplayed any suggestion that this was another battle in the war
on Islamic terror he does not want to fight. "Over the coming days, we'll uncover why and how this happened," the
president promised, referring to a killer who called 911 to proclaim his allegiance to the Islamic State and shouted "Allahu
Akbar!" amidst the mayhem. Obama conceded that it was an "act of terror," but as John Podhoretz noted in the New York
Post, referring to "terror" without a modifier is like a doctor discussing "cancer" without identifying its specific form or
location; it is a way of talking around the problem without addressing it.
Orlando, Florida
June 16, 2016.
Obama
is still in denial about terror in Orlando. President Obama proved Thursday [6/16/2016] that when it comes to
radical Islam, he not only won't say the words, he won't even acknowledge the reality — or its role in the Orlando
massacre. Obama visited Orlando to meet privately with the relatives of Sunday's victims and then to speak at a public
memorial service. But the only lesson Obama's willing to draw from the attack is the need for gun control. In
linking Orlando to other horrors, he rightly mentioned last year's San Bernardino attack. But not the 2013 Boston
Marathon bombing. Instead, he went back to 2012: the Aurora, Colo., movie-theater slaughter and the Newtown, Conn.,
school massacre — both perpetrated by mentally deranged gunmen. In Orlando, he said, "the motives of this
killer may have been different" — but he refused to even hint at what that motive was.
Obama
has turned jihadist terror attack into personal gun war. The president could have placed Sunday's attack in a
different context — the context not only of San Bernardino but of the slaughter at the Bataclan club in Paris in
November, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, and the Fort Hood spree in 2009. These are all the true precursors of
Omar Mateen's evil morning of slaughter — terrorist attacks in service of jihad, inspired by inciters and designers
of jihadist violence. But the president had a different villain in mind. His villain, the true object of his anger,
was the political stalemate over guns. That is why he more precisely likened the Orlando atrocity to the killings at the
elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and at the movie theater in Aurora, Colo.
Obama
Gets Political at Memorial, Attacks Republicans for Opposition to Gun Control. President Obama quickly grew political Thursday [6/16/2016]
while speaking at a memorial site for the victims of the Orlando terrorist attack, attacking Republicans for voting against gun control laws.
"The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common
sense," Obama said. "Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense."
Obama has asserted his support for an assault weapons ban in the wake of the massacre at a gay night club that left 49 dead. The perpetrator was a
Muslim who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, which executes homosexuals. Obama did not delve into those details in his remarks.
Dallas, Texas
July 12, 2016.
The
Crisis Obama Let Go to Waste. After black nationalist Xavier Micah Johnson opened fire and murdered five Dallas
police officers in 2016 (as they protected a Black Lives Matter march), Obama gave a eulogy at their funeral. The
eulogy itself stands as perhaps one of the most despicable moments of the Obama presidency. He used the podium to
equate the murder of the Dallas police officers with the recent shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile (both of
which were investigated and found justifiable, and neither man was "unfairly targeted" because he was black, as Obama
asserted). It was a speech as deft as it was cynical. Reading through the text, one realizes more clearly the
manipulation taking place that, when spoken, is less detectable. He subtly but unmistakably steers the speech from a
tribute to the murdered officers to a damning indictment of our alleged systemic racism, coupled with a defense of the
paranoid style of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Obama does Dallas wrong.
Leading up to yesterday's memorial service, the New York Times declared that President Obama "Seeks to Console Dallas and
Reassure the Nation." He did neither. With few exceptions, Obama turned what had been an emotional tribute to five
dead police officers into a rambling lecture on race relations leavened with biblical quotations and political platitudes.
He spoke too long, nearly 40 minutes, and said too little that wasn't shopworn and predictable. It was neither the
time nor the place for the speech he gave.
White
House Defends Obama's Claim That It's Easier to Buy a Gun Than a Book. During the memorial service for five
slain Dallas police officers who were killed in the July 7 shooting, Obama made the comparison between buying a gun and a
book. [...] PolitiFact determined the comment was "mostly false." The Washington Post Fact Checker gave Obama "Three
Pinocchios," while FactCheck.org was the most charitable, stating that Obama "simply goes too far in his analogy." [White
House press secretary Josh] Earnest said Obama was trying to address crime and lack of opportunity. The spokesman also
took shots at Republicans.
During
Dallas Police Memorial Obama Claims Teenagers Can Get a Glock Easier Than a Book. Last week five police
officers in Dallas were assassinated by a black nationalist. Today, President Obama spoke at an interfaith memorial
service to honor the officers and their sacrifice. During his remarks, President Obama couldn't help himself and
lectured the country about gun control. The full statement was, "We flood communities with so many guns that it is
easier for a teenager to by a Glock than to get his hands on a computer or a book." Not only is this statement
completely untrue, it was wholly inappropriate for the solemn occasion.
No,
President Obama, It's Not Easier To Buy A Glock Than A Book. During his speech at the memorial service in Dallas for
murdered police officers, President Barack Obama lamented that his words have little power to effect change, then proceeded to peddle
blatant, easily refutable lies about guns. "I've seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change," Obama
said. "I've seen how inadequate my own words have been." One reason for that inadequacy may be that he says things he
knows aren't true.
Obama's legacy: Dead cops.
Barack Obama's behavior with respect to the recent police shootings has been so disgraceful, I simply cannot in good
conscience spare him from the admonishment he has so clearly earned. We now have angry cop-killers taking to the
streets in multiple cities and gunning down police officers because they've bought into the lie that cops are targeting black
people simply out of racial animus. And Obama is one of the people telling this lie. He did it again last week in
Dallas, even at the memorial service of one of these very murdered officers. I would say he can't help himself, but
it's not that he can't. It's that he doesn't want to, so he says things like this: [...]
Obama
just couldn't help himself in Dallas speech. [Scroll down] I wondered how long it would take for him to
defend the Black Lives Matter corner of his core constituency that has come under proper fire for its viciously broad slander
of police culture. Elapsed time was about fifteen minutes from praise for our fallen officers to a further coddling of
those who took to our streets to malign their brothers and sisters in uniform. Aiming straight at those of us who have
suggested a civil perusal of racial disparity is actually harmed by BLM's excesses, his scolding was firm: "We cannot
simply turn away and dismiss those in peaceful protest as troublemakers or paranoid," he instructed.
Obama's
Speech Today Shamefully Injected Politics Into a Memorial Service. I didn't watch it live and wanted to give
the guy the benefit of the doubt. But as more came out it quickly became apparent just how politically charged his
address was. [...] Still, completely turning a memorial service into a political platform is shameful. It makes me
think that Obama might not really be interested in healing our nation with this speech. It seemed more like he wanted
to make it all about him... again. And that's the charitable view.
Another Coffin-Top Lecture. It started
off well enough. Barack Obama's speech at the memorial for the five slain Dallas police officers began with appropriate
solemnity and sorrow, complete with Scripture references and gratitude for the work law enforcement officers do all over the
country. He told personal stories about each of the five officers. But then, as he always does, he got to himself
(45 first-person mentions) and his political agenda. After proclaiming "we are not as divided as we seem," he proceeded
to divide everyone by their tribal grievances. He again accused police departments of racism. And he ticked off a
few of his agenda items: [...]
Media
Give Obama Pass On 'Gospel Of John' Error. [Scroll down] First let's look at what he said: OBAMA:
["]I see how easily we slip back into our old notions, because they're comfortable, we're used to them. I've seen
how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change. I've seen how inadequate my own words have been. And
so, I'm reminded of a passage in John's Gospel, 'let us love, not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.'["]
This was from the good and presidential portion of the speech before it rambled into false statements and hyper-politicization.
But what is the precise passage from the Gospel of John to which he refers? You won't find it, because it's not from the Gospel
of John but from an entirely different book of the Bible: The First Epistle of John. It has the same author as the Gospel
of John but it is, again, an entirely different book.
The Editor says...
Obama does not know the difference between The Gospel of John and 1st John because he is not a
Christian, and very likely has never read from an actual Bible, as opposed to a concordance or search engine. His speech may have included a scripture
reference, but his speech was almost certainly written by somebody other than Obama himself.
How Obama
ruined his Dallas memorial speech. For 15 minutes, the president's speech was — and this is a word I
use advisedly — magnificent. It was elevated and powerful and profoundly moving. [...] And then he blew
it. He blew it by going on for almost 25 more minutes, repeating himself endlessly, and broadening his specific focus
to a more general preachment about how "we" need to "open our hearts" on the subject of race. As usual, Obama made
strange use of the word "we," because when he says "we," he means "you," and when he means "you," he means people who aren't
as enlightened and thoughtful as he and his ideological compatriots are.
Obama
hijacks Dallas Police memorial service. [Scroll down] Of course, the body of Obama's speech, once he got
past the obligatory sanctimony and pleas for mutual regard, Obama turned to the real purpose of the speech, complaining about
racism. That's what will drive black turnout for Hillary in November, and so the United States has got to endure
heightened racial tension for the next four months.
Obama
Uses Dallas Memorial for Slain Policemen to Claim Persistent Racism in U.S.. President Barack Obama converted
the commemoration of five Dallas police officers killed by a cop-hating African-American into an extended speech in support
of the radical Black Lives Matter movement. "If we are to sustain the unity we need to get through these difficulties,
if we are to honor these five outstanding officers who we have lost, then we will need to act on the truths that we know...
America, we know that bias remains," he said at the Dallas event, without criticizing or demanding anything of his supporters
living in violent, undereducated, poor African-American communities.
Obama
Mentions Himself 45 Times During Memorial Speech For Dallas Officers. President Obama referred to himself 45 times over the
course of the speech he delivered Tuesday at the memorial service for the five police officers killed in Dallas last week. Obama referred to
himself twice before finishing his opening salutations and before mentioning the slain officers or their families. After noting the presence
of President Bush, members of Congress and Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings, Obama appeared to go off-script.
Obama
Defends Black Lives Matter At Memorial Service For Assassinated Dallas Police Officers. It started out well,
with Obama calling the shooting 'racial hatred', but then descended quickly into a lecture to the police about their bigotry
and need to recognize the pain Black Lives Matter folks feel. He even brought up slavery, Jim Crow and 'history of
oppression". It was about salving his own issues, as always, not recognizing the event he was at, a memorial for
the five officers. He did mention them, but spent most of the time imploring people to recognize their racism.
Who
Thought That Politicizing Obama's Speech Was a Good Idea? President Obama was giving a pretty good speech this
afternoon. And then, suddenly, he wasn't: [...] This, remember, was a funeral — a funeral for one of the
police officers who was murdered last Thursday. It wasn't a rally. It wasn't a White House press
conference. It wasn't a public statement, hastily arranged on the airport tarmac. It was a funeral.
Presumably, those attending had all sorts of political opinions. Presumably, some of the cops were Republicans.
Presumably, there was some serious disagreement in that room as to how the country should move forward. Wouldn't it
have been better to wait until the proceedings were over to call for change? Wouldn't it have been more politically
effective for the president to have made his push somewhere else?
Presidential
blather in time of tragedy. [Scroll down] Think of what he has achieved during his presidency. From
the days of President Ronald Reagan right up to Mr. Obama's election, racial discord had faded as a public matter.
Americans were talking of a post-racial America when they elected him to the White House as America's first black
president. He had a majority of Americans behind him. Then it began: Mr. Obama's subtle and
not-so-subtle encouragement of racial championing. Actually it was not championing of all blacks, but championing of
blacks who have repeated run-ins with the police. It was championing of the black underclass. Generally speaking,
blacks from the growing middle class do not have run-ins with the law, but the black underclass has repeated encounters.
Michelle
Malkin clobbers 'Divider in Chief' Obama. The memorial was held to honor the lives of the five fallen police
officers killed in the Dallas ambush last Thursday, but, as expected, Obama also used it as a platform to discuss race
relations in America.
Obama
defends Black Lives Matter protests at police memorial in Dallas. President Obama defended the Black Lives
Matter movement Tuesday at a memorial service for five slain Dallas police officers, saying bigotry remains a problem in
police departments across the U.S. While paying tribute to the fallen officers for sacrificing their lives to protect
anti-police protesters from a sniper, Mr. Obama also called on law enforcement agencies to root out bias that he said is
contributing to violence on the streets of America. "We have all seen this bigotry in our lives at some point,"
Mr. Obama told an audience of about 2,500 at a concert hall in Dallas. "None of us is entirely innocent.
No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this."
Obama: Every
American Is Racist. During the memorial service for the five Dallas police officers who were killed, President
Barack Obama said on Tuesday that every American is racist. Obama said, "America, we know that bias remains. We
know it. Whether you are black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or of Middle Eastern decent, we have
all seen this bigotry in our own lives at some point. We heard it at times in our own homes."
Obama's
Dallas Police Memorial Speech Was an Obamanation. [Scroll down] Unable to restrain himself, the president
also showcased his gross misunderstanding of crime statistics: "if you're black, you're more likely to be pulled over or
searched or arrested; more likely to get longer sentences; more likely to get the death penalty for the same crime," Obama
intoned. Keep in mind that the president unpacked this nonsense at a memorial service for fallen officers —
not at a campaign rally or on a debate stage. No one had the opportunity to offer a counterpoint, nor would they have
wanted to. This was a memorial service. But in another setting they might have informed the president that
studies show that high crime rates — not racial profiling — drive patrol patterns. There is no
evidence that black murderers serve longer prison terms than comparable white murderers, and virtually all reliable research
on capital punishment finds that the death penalty does not discriminate against blacks.
NYT
Cuts Obama's Bible Flub, Praises His 'Scripture'-Quoting Speech. President Obama's speech at a memorial service
for the five police officers assassinated in Dallas while patrolling a Black Lives Matter protest led Wednesday's New York
Times. The paper portrayed Obama flatteringly as having "spoke hard truths to both sides" at the service, while
downplaying how the President politicized the memorial by thumping for gun-control, ranting about how a Glock pistol was
easier to get than a book. The story was unnecessarily sycophantic, while tamping down criticism of Obama's politicized
tone. [...] The Times also failed to catch — then conveniently excised — a flubbed Biblical
quotation by Obama.
How Obama Divides America.
At the funeral service for five slain Dallas cops, President Barack Obama delivered another one of his needlessly politicized lectures.
As is customary these days, those who were critical of his rhetoric were branded racists and unthinking haters. [...] Why wouldn't Obama offer
completely unsubstantiated claims about guns? "It is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a
book," was a contention Obama made that no rational person could ever possibly believe. It's meant to convey the idea that half the
nation cares more about the NRA than about children.
Obama disgraces Dallas memorial. Let
others give the details. As for me, when he finished talking, finally, after what seemed an hour, I felt terrible. I felt depressed for
myself and for the entire country. What does this guy want from us? He always gets it wrong! He started off okay, but what began
as a eulogy quickly switched to a political harangue — during a memorial service? He took the stage to scold us. As men and
women in blue sat in hallowed silence for their slain brothers, Obama took the occasion to lecture them and the entire nation about our many
flaws. We are simply not good enough for Obama, who is certain to go down in history as an asterisk president, a fluke, a mistake.
Barack
Obama offers flawed comparison between teens' ease in obtaining Glocks vs. books. Obama said, "We flood
communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a
book." There's little doubt that in some lower-income and high-crime neighborhoods, it is strikingly easy for even teens
to acquire a handgun. On this, there is ample anecdotal evidence. But buying a gun is not likely to be cheaper than
buying — or borrowing — a book or securing access to a computer, even for teens in poor neighborhoods.
On multiple levels, Obama's comparison is flawed. We rate it Mostly False.
5
Big Lies In Obama's Dallas Memorial Speech. In the speech, Obama tried to explain why it is that there's so
much tension between blacks and the police these days (without, of course, mentioning his own role in fomenting those
tensions). Here's what Obama said: "That so much of the tensions between police departments and minority communities
that they serve is because we ask the police to do too much and we ask too little of ourselves. As a society, we choose
to underinvest in decent schools. We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful
employment. We refuse to fund drug treatment and mental health programs. We flood communities with so many guns
that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book. ... We know these things to
be true." Actually not one of those things is true.
United Nations
September 20, 2016.
'Welcome
the stranger' Outgoing Obama tells nations to open their borders to immigrants. Barack Obama has urged nations
to open their borders to refugees and "welcome the stranger" during his final speech at the United Nations. The
outgoing President used his speech at the UN summit to beg world leaders to house millions of refugees. Obama's plea
comes as a record 65 million people around the world were displaced from their homes last year, but no coherent plan
among world leaders is in place to resettle the millions of refugees.
Obama
the preacher, exit left. Barack Obama sung his swan song this week at the United Nations. He seemed
baffled by the stubborn refusal of the world to reform itself in his image and on his say so. How can there still be
"deep fault lines in the international order," Obama wondered aloud, with "societies filled with uncertainty, and unease, and
strife? Hasn't his very identity as a man "made up of the flesh and blood and traditions and cultures and faiths from a
lot of different parts of the world" served as shining and irresistible example of blended global peace? How can it be
that, after eight years of his visionary leadership, peoples everywhere aren't marching to the tune of Obama's self-declared
superior "moral imagination"?
Obama's
Three Worst Lies in His Last UN Address. It was hard to pick only three of the worst lies from Barack Obama's
speech today, but we did it. [Lie #1] Remember when Barack Obama said Republicans are afraid of widows and orphans,
that was right before women and children became suicide bombers. He's still saying it and it's patently untrue. The
Breitbart London editor picked up this massive lie by Barack Obama. He actually lied to the UN with statistics that directly
contradict those of the UN. He's lied to them before. Take the lie about the video causing the Benghazi "protest".
I thought community organizers liked populism. At
United Nations, Globalist Obama Condemns 'Crude Populism' Sweeping the Planet. In his speech to the United
Nations, President Barack Obama defended the increased globalization of the world's nations, condemning the wave of populist
nationalism that was growing in the world in response. Obama says globalization will continue growing rapidly, signaling the
unstoppable march of progress. But he warned that nations who allow the wealthy to enjoy the benefits of globalism face challenges
from their populace. Those people, he noted, were falling prey to an "alternative" narrative, propagated to fuel opposition.
Obama Uses UN Speech
for U.S. Politics. For President Obama, it's all about his agenda, which comes first, not the country.
And so he feels free to practice politics, and condemn the policies of his potential successor, in a forum where he is
representing the United States before the world. "Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself," Obama
said Tuesday during his remarks at the UN General Assembly. Obama referenced Donald Trump's wall after offering up his
own simplistic thinking about us poor, dumb Americans, suggesting the views of Trump and his supporters are animated by
racism — what he calls "the politics of ethnicity or tribe or sect."
In
Parting Words to UN, Obama Calls for 'Course Correction'. In a less-than-subtle jab at Donald Trump, the
Republican running to replace him, Obama said, "A nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself." Obama's parting
words to the global body contained a grim assessment of the challenges he's leaving behind: a devastating refugee crisis,
terrorism, financial inequality and a tendency to make immigrants and Muslims scapegoats. Across the Middle East, he
said, "basic security, basic order has broken down."
Obama led the
world downward into chaos. President Obama will surely put his best spin on his legacy Tuesday in his eighth
and final speech to the United Nations General Assembly. But even his biggest fans must struggle to ignore the spread
of mayhem on his watch, in the Mideast and beyond. The president is likely to highlight his oh-so-historic diplomacy,
from that (toothless) global climate agreement to the improvement, such as it is, in the world's economy. Plus, of
course, the nuke agreement with Iran and the opening to Cuba. So how fitting that as Obama speaks in New York, Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani will be completing a trip to Cuba and Venezuela, before giving his own UN speech Thursday. After
all, these rogue nations have come together and, in Cuba's and Iran's cases, come in from the diplomatic cold thanks to Obama.
America is superpower
for looking beyond its interests - Obama at UNGA. In his final address to the UN General Assembly, President
Barack Obama praised the US for observing the interest of other countries, criticized those who do not, called for better
trade agreements like TPP, and mentioned fight against ISIS in passing. Putting colonialism and communism in the same
basket, Obama said that their demise gave more people a choice and increased the number of democracies.
Obama
at U.N.: A walled-off nation 'imprisons itself'. President Obama on Tuesday delivered a thinly veiled warning
to the world's leaders against the aggressive nationalistic and protectionist policies espoused by Donald Trump, and argued
that building walls and erecting trade barriers will only hurt U.S. workers and those abroad. "Today, a nation ringed
by walls would only imprison itself," Obama said in his last speech as president before the annual United Nations General
Assembly in New York. He warned several times against persecuting people of different faiths and cultures, and said the
world is at a crossroads, and must choose to either move ahead with global cooperation, or retreat inward.
Obama
aims to define his global leadership in last UN speech. In one of his last major appearances on the world
stage, President Barack Obama will try to define how his leadership has made the planet safer and more prosperous when he
gives his farewell speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday [9/20/2016].
Tampa, Florida
December 6, 2016.
A
Complete List of Radical Islamic Terror Attacks on U.S. Soil Under Obama. In a speech at MacDill Air Force Base
in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, President Obama declared that "[n]o foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and
executed an attack on our homeland." The claim earned perfunctory applause, but a closer look at the reaction of many of the
servicemen and women there made clear what they really thought about the administration's handling of national security. The
President's claim — which he has repeated in some form or fashion over the last few years — is an obvious
rhetorical attempt to gloss over the reality of the threat of radical Islamic terror on American soil. The attempt to
disconnect "lone wolf" terrorists from the terror organizations who often inspire them does nothing to alleviate the pain of
those who have suffered at the hands of jihadists and only hurts prevention efforts. Rhetorical tricks aside, the reality
is that during Obama's tenure scores of innocent Americans have been murdered on U.S. soil by jihadists, most of whom were
inspired by or acting under the direction of foreign terror groups, particularly the Islamic state.
President
Obama's Deceitful, Deliberately Misleading Claims On Terror Are Dangerous And Irresponsible. As Jay [Caruso]
pointed out last night [12/6/2016], President Obama in a speech on Tuesday made the ridiculous claim that he has overseen
eight years without a foreign terror attack on American soil, and suggesting, as Democrats frequently incorrectly do, that
this is because of him somehow. Whether he thinks it is from his bungling of every foreign policy incident, his refusal
to recognize terror as a national security threat rather than a criminal act, his "JV team" idiocy, his pathetic Iran deal,
or some other aspect of his term in office is not specified. Whatever reason they wrongly believe this stupid trope, it
remains stupid and wrong.
Lame duck delusions:
Obama ignores changing terror threat. As the final days of his presidency melt away, Barack Obama is
frantically trying to piece together a legacy. "Over the last eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has
successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland," President Obama said to troops at MacDill Air Force Base.
Let's take a closer look at that sentence, which the President's speechwriters parsed with Clintonian precision.
Obama hails Obama for his anti-terror
work. Obama's got one long Air Force One voyage left: An 18-hour round-trip vacation junket to Hawaii next week at $209,000 per flight
hour. But before then, he flew down to Tampa to tell Special Ops troops what they've been doing these last long eight years under his command.
As usual, Obama's report had a strong emphasis on Obama. "On January 20th," he said, "I will become the first President of the United States
to serve two full terms during a time of war." An unexpected boast from a Nobel Peace Prize winner. You may recall Obama has told the
military the biggest threat to national security is global warming. You may also remember he's often said that defeating ISIS is his No. 1
priority.
A
Complete List of Radical Islamic Terror Attacks on U.S. Soil Under Obama. In a speech at MacDill Air Force Base
in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, President Obama declared that "[n]o foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and
executed an attack on our homeland." The claim earned perfunctory applause, but a closer look at the reaction of many of the
servicemen and women there made clear what they really thought about the administration's handling of national security.
The President's claim — which he has repeated in some form or fashion over the last few years — is an obvious
rhetorical attempt to gloss over the reality of the threat of radical Islamic terror on American soil. The attempt to
disconnect "lone wolf" terrorists from the terror organizations who often inspire them does nothing to alleviate the pain of
those who have suffered at the hands of jihadists and only hurts prevention efforts.
President
Obama's Deceitful, Deliberately Misleading Claims On Terror Are Dangerous And Irresponsible. As Jay pointed out
last night, President Obama in a speech on Tuesday made the ridiculous claim that he has overseen eight years without a
foreign terror attack on American soil, and suggesting, as Democrats frequently incorrectly do, that this is because of him
somehow. Whether he thinks it is from his bungling of every foreign policy incident, his refusal to recognize terror as
a national security threat rather than a criminal act, his "JV team" idiocy, his pathetic Iran deal, or some other aspect of
his term in office is not specified. Whatever reason they wrongly believe this stupid trope, it remains stupid and
wrong. [...] This is beyond parsing on the President's part. He is relying on his administration's favorite deflection,
the "lone wolf" view of terror, which is an outdated, inapplicable, and absurd concept in the modern age of terror.
Obama
Links Jihad to Global Warming and Second Amendment. President Barack Obama linked "climate change" and the Second Amendment
to the threat of Islamic terrorism — which he described as "violent extremism" — during a Tuesday address at Macdill
Air Force Base in Tampa, FL. Obama claimed that Islamic terrorism was partly driven by food and water scarcity brought about by
anthropogenic global warming. "A changing climate is increasing competition for food and water," he said of Syria and other
Muslim-majority and conflict-ridden failed states.
Obama:
Terrorism doesn't 'pose an existential threat to our nation'. President Obama argued Tuesday [12/6/2016] that
terrorism, while troubling, does not threaten the survival of the United States and shouldn't be treated as though it
does. "Rather than offer false promises that we can eliminate terrorism by dropping more bombs ... we have to take a
long view of the terrorist threat and we have to pursue a smart strategy that can be sustained," Obama said during a speech
at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa in which he reflected on his administration's fight against terrorists.
Obama:
U.S. must embrace Muslims to defeat terrorism. In a clear warning shot at President-elect Donald Trump,
President Obama said Tuesday the U.S. can only protect the homeland against terrorism by embracing Muslims and encouraging a
society "that can criticize a president without retribution." Speaking to special operations troops at MacDill Air Force
Base in Tampa, Florida, Mr. Obama delivered his final speech on the war on terrorism as a thinly veiled reminder for
Mr. Trump about "what we're fighting for." "The United States of America is not a country that imposes religious
tests as a price for freedom," Mr. Obama said in a reference to Mr. Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslim
immigrants. "The United States of America is not a place where some citizens have to withstand greater scrutiny or
carry a special ID card or prove that they're not an enemy from within."
Obama
to tout anti-terror achievements. President Obama will discuss on Tuesday [12/6/2016] the progress he believes
his administration has made combatting overseas terrorism and encourage his successor to develop a "sustainable"
counterterrorism policy similar to his own. In his final speech dedicated to national security, Obama will reflect on
what he considers to be his strongest accomplishments in the corresponding arena. These include his work to improve
transparency in government in relation to counterterrorism efforts and his approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters ahead of the president's remarks.
Obama
to Give Final National Security Speech as President. President Barack Obama trumpeted his national security
record today at Florida's MacDill Air Force Base, saying the U.S. is "breaking the back of ISIL" and has diminished the
profile of terrorists, calling them "thugs" and "murderers." "No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned
and executed an attack on our homeland. And it's not because they didn't try," he said, pointing to the intelligence
gathered at MacDill.
Press conference
December 16, 2016.
Obama:
'The Electoral College is a vestige'. President Obama cast doubt on the continued need for the Electoral
College on Friday [12/16/2016], seizing on a popular Democratic argument that has emerged since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by
millions of ballots but lost the Electoral College handily. "The Electoral College is a vestige. It's a
carry-over from an earlier vision of how our federal government was going to work," Obama said during his final press
conference of the year. "There are some structures in our political system as envisioned by the founders that sometimes
are going to disadvantage Democrats," he added.
The Birth of a Narrative.
President Barack Obama used his final press conference as president to slam partisan news sites as "domestic propagandists"
that allowed fake news to flourish and bring about Hillary Clinton's shocking election loss to Donald Trump. "If fake
news that's being released by some foreign government is almost identical to reports that are being issued through partisan
news venues, then it's not surprising that that foreign propaganda will have a greater effect," he said echoing his warning
in the closing days of the campaign that the internet had become a "dust cloud of nonsense." The press conference came
a day after Facebook announced it would team with fact checking sites to police its news feeds.
Obama:
'Latte Sippin' Democrats Need to Show Up. He acknowledged that people in the areas of the country that voted
for Trump, "feel as if they're not being heard and where Democrats are characterized as coastal liberal latte sippin' you
know, politically correct out of touch folks." Obama reminded reporters about what he did to win the presidency, hinting
that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats failed.
People
Are Freaking Out Because Obama Just Said 'Merry Christmas'. Just days after the the president sent out his last
Christmas card while in office — which failed to mention Christmas at all — he wished everyone a merry
one as he opened up his last news conference of the year on Friday.
Brian
Williams Gushes Over Obama's Press Conference. MSNBC host Brian Williams gushed over President Obama's last
press conference on Friday [12/16/2016], rising to the height of eloquence by quoting Aaron Sorkin in his praise. [...] Aaron
Sorkin is the screenwriter and producer of, among other things, the West Wing, a TV show that features a fictional Democratic
president and his administration. Sorkin is also very sad Donald Trump won the election.
Obama
hits out at media for 'troubling coverage' of Clinton and its 'obsession' with emails. President Obama took
some time out of his final press conference of the year to defend Hillary Clinton, chiding the press for what he said was
unfair coverage. Obama hit out at the media after one reporter asked if Russia's reported hacking of the Democratic
Party to help Trump was partially to blame for Clinton's loss. 'I think she's worked tirelessly on behalf of the American
people and I don't think she was treated fairly during the election,' Obama said as he avoided critiquing Russia outright.
'I think the coverage of her — and the issues — was troubling,' he added.
President
Obama: Hillary Clinton Was Not 'Treated Fairly' by the Media During the Election. During his end-of-year
press conference today, President Obama decided to smack the Fourth Estate and say that the media didn't properly cover
Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. Obama started the event by addressing the recent news from the FBI and the
CIA, and he made the case for why his administration handled things as they did during the election. Obama also took
time to scold the media for being "obsessed" with WikiLeaks fragments that sensationalized the contest between Clinton and
Donald Trump.
Farewell address
January 10, 2017.
Long,
long goodbye with last few lies. How can we miss him when he won't go away? Last night in Chicago, Obama
was lucky he didn't throw out his shoulder from patting himself on the back so much. To paraphrase Dan Hicks in his
song: We keep telling you day after day/But you won't listen, you always stay and stay/How can we miss you when you
won't go away? By the way, is the speech over yet? How many first-person references did he have to make to
himself before he won the bet? Did you hear him mention "the quiet dignity of working people?" How [...] would
he know? He doesn't know any working people, except as "deplorables" or "bitter clingers."
A Factual Look at Obama's
Presidency. In the closing weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama instructed the members of his cabinet to "prepare
a detailed report on the progress we've made" since he became president. He then summarized these reports in a cover letter
that paints a bleak picture of the U.S. before he entered the Oval Office and suggests that the nation turned around during his
tenure. Obama then repeated many points from this letter in his January 10th farewell address to the nation, where he
declared that "by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started." However, the
claims in his letter and farewell address are based on a series of artful statistics that do more to mislead than inform.
'Yes
We Did' — Obama Bids Farewell In Nostalgic Last Speech. Brushing away tears with a handkerchief, Obama paid
tribute to the sacrifices made by his wife — and by his daughters, who were young girls when they entered the big white home
on Pennsylvania Avenue and leave as young women.
The Editor says...
Yes, I feel so sorry for the Obama family after all the sacrifices they made. Including the quarterly vacations and taxpayer-funded globetrotting. And
I'll bet the food at the White House is just awful.
A Factual Look at Obama's
Presidency. A particularly misleading aspect of Obama's farewell address is the following statement, which he
led up to by railing against the "selective sorting of the facts" and declaring that "science and reason matter":
["]Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years, we've halved our dependence on foreign oil; we've doubled our
renewable energy; we've led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet.["] Actually, renewable energy
increased by 27% between 2009 and 2015, which is nowhere close to doubling. Obama's statistic may be rooted in a crafty definition
of renewable energy that excludes major sources like hydropower. Furthermore, Obama's words leave the distinct impression that the
U.S. has cut oil consumption by replacing it with renewables. Yet, U.S. petroleum consumption rose from 6.6 billion barrels in
2009 to 6.7 in 2015. The primary reason oil imports have fallen is that domestic production has risen due to the use of hydraulic
fracturing or fracking, which is unpopular with many environmentalists. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fracking
has "allowed the United States to increase its oil production faster than at any time in its history," and it now produces "about half
of total U.S. crude oil production."
What
Went Wrong With Obama's Farewell Address. The basic problem was that the event, and the speech, couldn't make up their
minds about what they were doing. The core of the speech, as far as I could tell, was a classic farewell address in the spirit of
George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower — serious advice to the nation, distilling something he had learned from the last eight years,
meant to be taken seriously and remembered. Unfortunately, that was mostly lost in the mess of a long, split personality speech.
Obama ricocheted back and forth between a campaign rally, a recitation of the administration's greatest hits (bin Laden! jobs! Cuba!
marriage!), a SOTU-type of laundry list of future policies he supports, an opportunity to personally give thanks to his family, staff,
supporters, and voters, and then back around again. And the setting — in Chicago, with a large cheering audience —
meant that even the serious parts felt more like a campaign rally than something to think about.
This article reeks with pro-Obama bias: Obama's
Chicago goodbye: 'Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we can.'. But for the fact that Obama's time in the
White House will end at noon on Jan. 20, the celebratory scene in McCormick Place almost could have been election night in
2012, where he marked his re-election, except that everybody here knew this was the end of an era for the nation's first
black president. "Four more years, four more years," the crowd chanted when Obama started his farewell address, the
first time a president ever ventured out of Washington to deliver his final say.
Obama's
Farewell Address Was a Campaign Rally in Disguise. Barack Obama formally ended his presidency the way he came
in, talking to adoring fans about how lucky we are to have him in our lives. Indeed, given the hand-wringing over how
Obama's successor is all about entertainment and theatrics, it was somewhere between ironic and absurd to watch the outgoing
president hold a campaign rally for his "farewell address." And yet, we've become so inured to this kind of self-serving
pomp and circumstance that no one seems to care. From what I can tell, no liberal commentators minded at all, and
most conservative reviewers went straight to the substance — or lack thereof — of Obama's remarks.
Obama's
'farewell' speech proves he is out of touch with reality. President Obama gave his farewell address last night,
touting his great accomplishments as if his audience had returned from living on another planet and were unaware of the
events of the past eight years.
CNN
Laments Being Unable to Hear a Good Speech 'Like This' from Trump. Almost minutes after President Barack Obama
concluded his farewell address Tuesday night, CNN jumped into whining about not being able to hear such deep speech from
President-elect Donald Trump. "Also as we think about the next president about to take office, I mean, their speaking
styles could not possibly be any more different," noted moderator, Anderson Cooper, as unseen members of his panel laughed.
"We're not going to be hearing a speech LIKE THIS from a sitting president for the next four or eight years," he continued to
bemoan, as CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash chimed in to glorify Obama's speech delivering acumen: [Video clip]
President
Obama, We'll Promise to Miss You, If You'll Just Go Away. [A]long with the fact that the man has little or no
accomplishments to tout before winning office in 2008, it's no wonder that just the act of getting him to move on is proving
to be a Herculean task, all by itself. Take, for example, the news that he plans to set up a home in Washington, D.C.
in order to be the guy standing in the background, screaming into a megaphone over every move President Trump makes. He
is addicted to the adoration he received as "the first black president," and now that era has passed. It's got to be
difficult to realize his new role requires he be something less. Another example is his farewell speech from Tuesday
night. According to the Washington Examiner, Obama's farewell address lasted longer than the farewell addresses of
Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush, combined.
The Long (And Dreary) Goodbye.
he great detective writer Raymond Chandler's final Philip Marlowe novel is titled "The Long Goodbye." Perhaps Chandler was
looking forward to Barack Obama's look-at-me-I'm-still-important address Tuesday night. It was a dirge that went on at No-Doz
length. Unfortunately, I missed the address in real time because I had a conflict. I had to flea-powder the cat.
No, You Didn't. Barack
Obama will remain in office for a little while still, but we might reasonably consider last night's speech the end of the Obama presidency. [...] Barack
Obama has spent eight years under the misconception that the job of the president consists mainly in the making of speeches. And for a man who rose
to national attention on the basis of his oratory, he has said relatively little that is memorable. That is because he has relatively little to say,
being a man who brought no new ideas or insights to the office, only a pointlessly grandiose sense of his own specialness.
The final
scolding. After eight years, he's finally going to tell us exactly how much we've disappointed him. It's
like the Obama version of Festivus. He's got a lot of problems with us people; the time for the airing of grievances
has come.
The Conquering Loser. In George
Washington's 1796 farewell address, he argued that of "all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports." In Barack Obama's farewell address, he congratulated himself for
undermining them. He identified America's progress in the diminution of its historic religion and morality and urged
Americans to embrace greater and greater departures from them. The country's future, he said, depends upon welcoming
Islam and the transgendered, among other favored groups, and eschewing "discrimination," his catch-all term for any lingering
conservatism in the country. [...] [Washington's] worst fears have been realized in Obama's "fundamentally transformed"
America, where judges, bureaucrats, and pols liberated from the constraints of religion and morality invent bogus rights that
collide with God-given ones, starting with the right to life of unborn children.
BuzzFeed
Editors Cry During Obama's Speech. BuzzFeed editors tweeted that they were crying as President Barack Obama
delivered his farewell address. [...] The site's official Twitter account even posted a picture of Obama wiping away a tear
and commented "same."
Barack
Obama pays tribute to his 'brother', Joe Biden, in emotional farewell speech. Barack Obama paid tribute to his 'brother', Joe
Biden, on Tuesday [1/10/2017] as he gave an emotional farewell speech in Chicago. Looking back on his eight years in office, the
outgoing President paid homage to his wife, his daughters and the American people — but seemed to save a special place in his heart
for his VP.
Crowd
Chants 'Four More Years' As Obama Takes The Stage For Farewell Address. The crowd chanted "four more years" as
Barack Obama took the stage at McCormick Place in Chicago to deliver his farewell address Tuesday night. As the
president got on stage, he acknowledged that he is a lame duck president because "no one's following instructions." The
audience then broke out into a "four more years" chant. "I can't do that," Obama said.
Obama
tells supporters 'you were the change' in farewell address he used to hit Republicans for 'selective sorting of the
facts'. President Barack Obama rode into the White House on a message of 'hope and change,' but he told his
supporters tonight, as he delivered his final address in office, 'you were the change' and encouraged them to continue
standing up for their values after his departure. 'Yes We Can. Yes We Did. Yes We Can,' Obama said, a
reference to his 2008 slogan and a nod to the future progress he expects backers of his brand of politics to make. He
never mentioned his successor by name on Tuesday evening but made multiple references to President-elect Donald Trump,
declaring to loud clapping and cheers 'that science and reason matter' and he rejects 'discrimination against Muslim Americans.'
Crowd
At Obama Farewell Address Boos POTUS for Saying Trump Inauguration Is 'Hallmark of Democracy'. The president
said that "In ten days, the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy." The crowd then started booing, and the president
responded, "No, no, no, no." He continued, "The peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected president to the next."
A line that drew cheers and applause from the crowd.
At
home and abroad, Obama's trail of disasters. The president will deliver a farewell address in Chicago on
Tuesday [1/10/2017]; he told his supporters in an e-mail that the speech would "celebrate the ways you've changed this
country for the better these past eight years," and previewed his closing argument in a series of tweets hailing "the
remarkable progress" for which he hopes to be remembered.
Michelle
Obama's final speech tells Muslims "this is your country". It's telling Mrs. Obama used her final speech
to tell Muslims this is their country. Presumably she was also reaching out to illegal immigrants and "refugees" since
few if any have opposed legal immigration. [...] By the way, does anyone remember any other speech by Michelle Obama —
other than her declaring she was never proud of America?
Obama
Refers To Himself 75 Times In Farewell Address. President Obama referred to himself 75 times in his farewell
address Tuesday night [1/10/2017], according to a review of his prepared remarks by The Daily Caller. Obama heavily promoted
the speech, penning a blog post about it and appearing in a promotional video in the days leading up to the address.
Addressing
Chicago Violence. President Obama will give his farewell and good riddance speech on January 10 in Chicago, the
town where the community organizer-in-chief began his political rise. [...] Chicago, one of the toughest gun control cities in the
United States, ended 2016 with 762 homicides, the most in two decades and more than Los Angeles and New York City combined.
While President Obama has addressed every mass shooting as another reason for stricter gun control, he has little to say about the
carnage in his hometown, and it is not likely he will address it in his self-serving and narcissistic farewell speech.
Other second-term speeches:
Invade, Invite, Implode.
If a president cited crime statistics to rile up racial hatred, but his speech was immediately followed by a terrorist
massacre, would he be criticized? Well, not if he were Barack Obama, whose July 7, 2016, TV oration from Warsaw
denouncing the police shootings of two black men was followed later that day by the murder of five policemen at a Dallas
Black Lives Matter march. Ten days after Obama's speech, three more cops were murdered in Baton Rouge. When I
heard about the Dallas BLM terrorism, the first thought that leapt into my head was: "So Donald Trump is going to be
president." And that turned out to be true, although the entire event has largely been memory-holed by the press.
Obama's speech offered a strikingly irresponsible assertion that the reason blacks are in trouble with the law so much is the
racism of white policemen: [...] Not surprisingly, just hours after Obama's speech, a black man shot fourteen cops in
Dallas. Nor is it surprising that the total number of homicides in the U.S. shot up after Black Lives Matter, the
Obama administration, and the prestige press decided in August 2014 that what was ailing the black community was too much law
and order.
Before
and After Obama: 10 Signs of a Diminished America. The media acted as if Donald Trump's campaign slogan of
"Make America Great Again" was an incomprehensible emotional outburst from people who didn't realize, or wouldn't accept,
just how great Barack Obama was. President Obama has spent his final months in office giving juvenile speeches full of
excuses for why nothing bad since 2009 was his fault, while everything good was his personal handiwork.
Obama:
'Principle Of Competition' 'At The Very Heart' Of Affordable Care Act. During Saturday's [12/17/2016] Weekly
Address, President Obama stated, "it's this principle of competition that's at the very heart of our health reform. In
fact, it's the reason we call it the Affordable Care Act; it makes insurance companies compete for your business, which is
helping millions afford the care that helps them get and stay healthy."
Tuesday
Humor? President Obama Self-Delusion Edition. Speaking in Greece at the beginning of his 'save my legacy'
world tour, President Obama just uttered the following words... "the healthy majority of Americans agree with my
world-view on many things." Coming just a week after the biggest loss for the Democratic party in decades... if not
ever... this has to be comedy?
Obama
has just suffered one of the harshest repudiations on record. Obama's signature legislative achievement —
ObamaCare — has been an unmitigated political and policy disaster. It cost Democrats the House in 2010, the Senate
in 2014 and arguably contributed to Hillary Clinton's defeat last week. No matter who won the election, the next president and
the next Congress face the unenviable task of fixing the enormous mess that ObamaCare created. Yet at his press conference
[11/14/2016], Obama actually said — by way of chastising Republicans for wanting to repeal ObamaCare — that
"it's one thing to characterize this thing as not working when it's just an abstraction."
Campaigning
for Hillary yesterday, Obama mentions himself 207 times. Remember that Donald Trump is supposedly a narcissist
as you consider the following. The President of the United States took time off from his awesome responsibilities
yesterday to fly to two cities in Florida, Miami and Jacksonville, and gave speeches totaling 84 minutes.
Obama talks
about himself 207 times in 84 minutes — while campaigning for Hillary. Even while campaigning for
somebody else, Barack Obama can't help but talk about himself. During two appearances for Hillary Clinton on Thursday,
the president referred to himself a total of 207 times — 110 in Miami and 97 in Jacksonville, Florida. "Now,
I have to say that I've been going to some college campuses and I realize that eight years ago some of you were ten," Obama
said during roughly 43-minute speech at Florida International University. He then went on to defend his own record on the
economy, energy and Obamacare. [...] During the Miami speech, he mentioned himself 30 times before talking about Hillary Clinton.
Why
Obama Won't Listen to Reason on Obamacare. One of President Obama's cherished conceits is that disagreement
with him can have no rational basis, and it was the theme of his most recent speech in defense of his health-care law.
Only "ideology" and "politics" are keeping Republicans from working with him to expand Obamacare's reach. He himself
is, as always in his self-portraits, the picture of reasonableness, willing to accept Republicans' ideas if only they would
operate in good faith instead of holding "60-something repeal votes." [...] Obama believes that only comprehensive insurance
policies are real insurance. Conservatives generally believe, by contrast, that people should be free to buy cheaper
policies that protect them only from financial catastrophes arising from their health needs.
Obama
Blames 'Far-Right Media' for 'Pumping Out All Kinds of Crazy Toxic Stuff'. President Barack Obama is again
complaining about conservative media, accusing it of creating candidate Donald Trump. "Trump didn't come out of nowhere
now," Obama said during a campaign speech in Miami. "For years, Republican politicians and far-right media outlets had
just been pumping out all kinds of toxic, crazy stuff." Obama employed a straw man attack against conservative media,
accusing them of starting "the whole birther thing" and calling climate change a "Chinese hoax."
Obama:
Thank God I'm a country boy. President Obama invoked his Kansas roots Tuesday [10/4/2016] in a statement praising America's
rural areas and suggesting that coal and farm towns are fast shifting to the digital economy under his leadership. "I've spent
most of my life living in big cities. But the truth is, a lot of what's shaped me came from my grandparents who grew up on
the prairie in Kansas," he said in a statement issued by the Agriculture Department. "They taught me the kind of values that
don't always make headlines, let alone the daily back-and-forth in Washington. Honesty and responsibility. Hard work
and toughness against adversity. Keeping your word, and giving back to your community. And treating folks with respect,
even if you disagree with them," he added.
The Editor says...
We have come to expect Obama speeches to be riddled with personal anecdotes of dubious authenticity. Did Mr. Obama really spend that much
time with his grandparents, compared to the amount of time he spent with the America-hating Communist, Frank Marshall Davis? Wouldn't
Mr. Davis's influence have negated anything good that Obama learned from his grandparents -- even if his story is true?
Obama
Just Made the Situation in Charlotte Worse. Obama just spoke at the opening of the African American Museum of
History and Culture in Washington, DC. He would have done us all a huge favor if he had just shut it and not said a
thing. Instead, he chose to insult just about everyone in America that isn't black and insinuate that we are dumb and
don't get the history or plight of black Americans. If only we were more empathetic, we would understand why Black
Lives Matter, the New Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam are terrorizing our nation.
In Laos,
Obama Repeatedly Calls Americans 'Lazy'. During a townhall meeting in Laos, President Barack Obama called
Americans "lazy" multiple times. For one, Obama said Americans' reluctance to embrace his favored environmental
policies is a sign of laziness. "Usually when you see the environment destroyed, it's not because it's necessary for
development," Obama said. "It's usually because we're being lazy and we're not being as creative as we could be about
how to do it in a smarter, more sustainable way."
Obama:
Americans Too 'Lazy' to Know Anything About the Rest of the World. Wednesday at a a Young Southeast Asian
Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) town hall in Luang Prabang, Laos, President Barack Obama said Americans can be "lazy" because
we are so big we think "We don't have to know anything about other people."
In
Laos, Obama Apologizes for U.S. Bombings. President Barack Obama continued his international apology tour for
American deeds overseas [9/6/2016], traveling to the Asian country of Laos to deliver a speech. Obama acknowledged that
the United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs in the country, intervening in the country's civil war.
Obama
says Islamic State on the run, despite attacks around globe. President Obama said Thursday [8/4/2016] that the U.S.-led
fight against the Islamic State is making progress in spite of high-profile terrorist attacks, while Republican nominee
Donald Trump charged that Mr. Obama has allowed the Islamist extremist group to rampage "out of control." "We're
going to keep going after ISIL aggressively," Mr. Obama said at the Pentagon, using an acronym for the group. "We
continue to take out senior ISIL leaders and commanders." Mr. Obama also hit back at Republican critics, including
Mr. Trump, who accused the administration of paying $400 million in ransom to Iran to gain the release of five American
hostages in January.
Obama:
'Our Country is Stronger and More Prosperous Than It Was When We Started'. President Barack Obama said in a
speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night that "our country is stronger and more prosperous that it was
when we started." "I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more
optimistic about the future of America than ever before," Obama said in his speech. "How could I not be —
after all that we've achieved together?"
How
Many Times Did Obama Refer To Himself In Speech About Hillary? President Obama went all in for Hillary Clinton
Wednesday, throwing down his presidential legacy and all his political and racial credentials to try to convince the disenfranchised,
bitter "Berners" and rightly unenthused black voters to elect the most establishment and corrupt politician ever to run for the highest
office. But as we've come to expect, in an Obama speech about, well, anything, it ended up being a whole lot more about
himself than the subject at hand. And, frankly, with Clinton as the subject, it was probably a good move. In a mesmerizing
video, Grabien highlights all the times Obama referenced himself in his speech at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday.
The total tally: a stunning 119 times.
Clueless: Obama:
'The World Has Never Been Less Violent'. President Barack Obama said at the White House Summit on Global Development
Wednesday [7/20/2016] that "we are living in the most peaceful" era in human history and that "the world has never been less violent."
According to the White House schedule, the president used the summit to "bring together development leaders, public and private sector
financing partners, civil society, diplomats, and entrepreneurs to mark our global progress and catalyze further development efforts."
"So it is worth reminding ourselves of how lucky we are to be living in the most peaceful, most prosperous, most progressive era in
human history," Obama said in the speech.
Obama,
in Canada, Rejects 'Bygone Days of Order and Predictability and National Glory'. In a speech to Canada's
parliament on Wednesday, the president of the United States embraced globalization and the "international order," rejecting
politicians who hearken back to "bygone days of order and precitability and national glory." Without naming Donald
Trump, President Barack Obama warned that the Republican presidential candidate is playing on people's fears of
globalization: "The world is more prosperous than ever before. But alongside globalization and technological
wonders, we also see a rise in inequality and wage stagnation across the advanced economies, leaving too many workers and
communities fearful of diminishing prospects, not just for themselves, but more importantly, for their children," Obama said.
Tall
Tales in Indiana. If you believe the federal government is too large and powerful, you're in what our current
president calls "the cult of small government." That's what he said in a speech last week in Elkhart, Indiana, in which
his aim was "to bust this myth of crazy, liberal government spending." [...] As a small-government cultist, I'm proud to
admit my desire to restore constitutional limits. This means scaling back programs and regulations, restoring welfare
reforms that work, securing the border, cutting taxes, enacting voter photo ID laws, and getting the federal government
out of our restrooms and locker rooms. Plus, appointing judges who are not certifiable whackos.
The
Late-Night Pulpit for Banning Guns. The mass shooting in Orlando really infuriated liberals all over again
about the lack of gun control — including liberal journalists and comedians. NBC "Nightly News" anchor
Lester Holt blandly promoted how "late-night hosts have once again found themselves straddling the lines between comedians
and consolers." But they weren't consolers. They were agitators for the liberal agenda. On "The Daily
Show," host Trevor Noah sympathized with Obama saying, "He's hosted 12 state dinners, but he's had to give 16 mass-shooting
addresses." And none of those apparently ever reflected badly on Obama's leadership on terrorism? Noah lectured for gun
control: "America needs to ask itself the question: Do you want to be a country that takes reasonable measures to
protect its citizens, or should we tell the president to prepare speech number 17?"
The Editor says...
I have no doubt that Speech #17 has already been written and it sounds just like Speech #15, #14, and #13.
Obama
Credits Self for Economic Recovery — 'Smart Decisions Early in My Presidency'. In his weekly address
released Saturday morning, President Barack Obama credited himself for the economic recovery throughout the country and
specifically pointed to Elkhart, IN, where he gave a speech about the economy earlier in the week as an example.
Obama
To Middle America: The Economy Is Doing Great, And If You Don't Think So, You're Dumb. [Scroll
down] "People are anxious and uncertain about the economy," Obama said in the opening of his speech, to which his basic
message was, "How dare they?" Don't people know about how Obama saved the country from the second Great Depression, or
how he single-handedly saved the auto industry, or how his "investments" in clean energy and roads created so many
jobs? "By almost every economic measure," he declared, "America is better off than when I came here at the beginning
of my presidency."
On
'Radical Islam,' Obama Contradicts Eight Years of Obama. In Tuesday's meandering remarks on the Orlando
jihadist attack, President Obama rebuked detractors who criticize him for failing to use the term "radical Islam" and be
clear about the enemy waging war against the United States. "There's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam,'" the
president declared. "It's a political talking point, not a strategy." Calling the enemy by a different name, he
insisted, would not change the enemy's behavior — would not "make it go away." When Obama speaks about our
Islamist enemies, it is always tough to decide whether he is (a) arrogantly clueless (because he always thinks he knows
more about this subject than anyone else), or (b) cynically well-aware that what he's saying is nonsense.
The
Key Economic Facts Obama's Recovery Narrative Ignores. President Barack Obama took an economic victory lap in
Elkhart, Indiana, on Wednesday [6/1/2016]. In a major speech he argued his policies have brought the economy
back. He blamed remaining economic weaknesses on trends preceding his administration. This analysis has the
economic facts precisely backwards: Economic growth benefitted Americans up and down the income distribution until the
Great Recession. Since then, Americans have struggled considerably.
Richard
Littlejohn argues the Obamas are desperate to provide a certain agenda whenever they visit Britain. Take
another look at the audience at Barack Obama's 'town hall' meeting in London. Is this a portrait of Britain you
recognise? I know we are ordered to celebrate 'diversity' at all times, but was it really a genuine representation of
our population as a whole? OK, so London is now one of the most multicultural cities on earth, to the extent where some
parts of town can feel like a foreign country. [...] Needless to say, there was the obligatory number of women in Islamic
headgear, without which no televised gathering can be broadcast.
Why
should we take advice from a president who has surrendered the world to chaos? So the President invoked the
European graves of those American servicemen who died to protect — well, what exactly? I thought it was the
democratic values and reverence for national independence that Britain shared with the US. Did Mr Obama have any sense at all
that what he was now urging the British electorate to accept was precisely the surrender of those sacred principles of
democratically accountable government and self-determination for which the combined American and British forces had made
their ultimate sacrifice? Could this bizarre intervention have been more cynical or wilfully misinformed? In the
end, it seemed to come down to trade advantages — to what might once, back in the day, have been called the global
interests of US corporate capitalism.
Another taxpayer-funded vacation, another pointless speech: Obama
to give foreign-policy speech in Germany this month. President Obama will deliver a major foreign-policy speech
in Germany later this month that's shaping up to be one of his last big moments in the global spotlight. The
president's speech in Hannover, Germany, on April 25 will be an opportunity to "review what we've done over the course of the
last seven-and-a-half years of his presidency, and look ahead to what we should be doing going forward," said White House
deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.
Journalists hit back at Obama's latest 'lecturing'.
Political reporters and commentators are striking back at President Obama, who delivered a speech Monday night [3/28/2016] that rapped
the news media for what he said was superficial reporting and an unwillingness refute untrue statements from political figures.
At a press-freedom awards ceremony in Washington, Obama said the news media was failing to accurately cover Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump, and that reporters are too hung up on the popularity of their 140-character tweets.
Obama
Scolds Illinois on 'Building a Better Politics' While Barring Public from the Speech. Noting that the public was invited to
Obama's 2007 announcement speech but that the speech this week was limited to the power brokers, the Kankakee Daily Journal accused
the president of "shutting out" his Illinois supporters by only allowing legislators to attend his Wednesday [2/10/2016] speech. "It
seems like Obama is turning his back on the people who elevated him to widespread popularity and put him in the White House for eight
years. It's in one word, disappointing. Of course, there are those who will tell you that lone word describes his entire
presidency," the paper said in an editorial.
National
Prayer Breakfast: Obama Preaches Against Gospel of Fear. During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. this morning
[2/4/2016], Obama spoke about the dangers of the "primal emotion" of fear — and how to combat it with faith. "Fear does funny things.
Fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different, or lead us to try to get some sinister 'other' under control," he said, alluding to anti-Muslim
and anti-refugee sentiment in the country.
Obama:
'Government Generally Is Something... We Have to Work for... Fight for... Invest in Every Single Day'. President Barack Obama told
members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a speech at the White House on Thursday [1/21/2016] that "government generally is something" we have
to "fight for." "Unlike, sometimes, government officials at other levels, mayors understand that the services and the effectiveness of local
government and government generally is something that we can't take for granted, that we have to work for and fight for and invest in every single
day," Obama said.
Obama
Rips GOP: Even Immigrant-Hating Far-Right European Parties Accept Climate Change!. President Obama touted the
global climate deal during his year-end press conference today [12/18/2015] and went after Republicans for being too stubborn to accept
the science. "The American Republican party," he said, "is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world
that effectively denies climate change." The president pointed to leaders of center-right governments who signed onto the
deal and said, "Even the far-right parties in many of these countries, they may not like immigrants, for example, but they
admit, 'Yeah, the science tells us we've gotta do something about climate change.'"
The Editor says...
Whenever a politician skips from one unrelated topic to another, it's an act of deception and usually an admission of defeat. At the least,
it is an indication that he's holding very weak cards. Immigration has nothing to do with climate change. It's just a mechanism Obama
used to get in a cheap shot at his political opponents.
Obama: There Is No "Credible" Threat of
Terrorist Attack in U.S.. U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday [12/17/2015] said that "at this moment" there is no "credible"
or "specific" threat of a terrorist attack in this country, but he emphasized that he understands the unease among the public, especially after
the San Bernardino, California, massacre. Obama visited the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia, to receive an update on
the efforts under way to prevent attacks and protect national security, as millions of Americans are getting ready to travel around the country
during the Christmas holidays.
More of the Same. Given recent events,
Obama could have announced a change of course. He could have said that the time has come to end, once and for all, ISIL's grip on its de facto
capital of Raqqa, Syria, and second city of Mosul, Iraq. Instead, the president simply offered a bullet point summary of what his administration
has done to date. He also stressed, once again, that he would not deploy a significant number of American ground troops to combat ISIL's jihadists.
Look at the president's explanation carefully, however, and it quickly becomes apparent that his reasoning is ahistorical and specious.
President
Obama Speech On Current Terror Threats — National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC). The full speech
(both video and transcript) by President Obama yesterday at the National Counter Terrorism Center, McLean Virginia.
Presented below for two reasons. [#1] To share the substantive information provided by the President of our United States.
[#2] Because, in my humble opinion, having spent considerable time following nuance and inter-governmental messaging, this
speech — and included insurances — as outlined within the President's delivery, are 180° divergent from the FBI federal
complaint released yesterday [12/17/2015] in the San Bernardino terrorist investigation. [Video clip]
Obama Blows Off Time Limits, Holds Forth Like Castro at Farcical Climate
Summit. Obama was in his element at the Paris climate summit, surrounded by other posturing useless persons, enveloped in a
cocoon of leftist fantasy, safe from the troubles of the outside world. Off he soared into a realm of pure sanctimonious moonbattery,
as if nothing existed except himself [...]
Obama
frets over global warming while adding to it. Besides themselves contributing to global warming, Obama's 1,750
words in Paris were largely pep-rally remarks, portraying the roughly five-billion-year-old planet as basically doomed until
this magical meeting in France, "a turning point, that is the moment we finally determined we would save our planet."
He described for attendees the devastated Alaska he visited last summer, beset by seas "already swallowing villages," erosion,
glaciers that melt in the summer, burning forests and tundra. That's merely a preview of the future, Obama said, "a
glimpse of our children's fate if the climate keeps changing faster than our efforts to address it. Submerged countries.
Abandoned cities. Fields that no longer grow. Political disruptions that trigger new conflict, and even more floods of
desperate peoples seeking the sanctuary of nations not their own."
Obama
Speaking in Paris: Mass Shootings 'Don't Happen in Other Countries'. While giving a press conference in Paris,
President Barack Obama told reporters that the mass shootings that plague the United States just never happen in other
countries. "With respect to Planned Parenthood, obviously, my heart goes out to the families of those impacted," Obama
said in response to a reporter's question. "I mean, I say this every time we've got one of these mass shootings; this just
doesn't happen in other countries." For those living under a rock, the city of Paris itself was just hit with a series of
simultaneous terrorist attacks.
Obama
Ignores 'Wrap-It-Up' Beeps, Talks and Talks at Climate Summit. President Barack Obama was met with what
appeared to be the U.N.'s version of the Oscars' "wrap-it-up" music Monday [11/30/2015] after he significantly overran his allotted time
to speak at a global climate change summit. [...] The president of the free world, however, had other ideas. More than eight and
a half minutes into Obama's address — and with no sign he was stopping soon — three beeps sounded across the
auditorium, clearly audible to everyone present and watching on TV.
The Editor says...
Interesting choice of words here. Usually the President of the United States is informally considered the leader of the free world,
but this NBC writer calls him the "president of the free world."
Obama, at Conference, Says U.S. Is
Partly to Blame for Climate Change. "I've come here personally, as the leader of the world's largest economy and the second-largest
emitter," Mr. Obama said, "to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our
responsibility to do something about it." In a speech interrupted by repeated beeps warning that he had exceeded his time limit, Mr.
Obama said in Le Bourget that the climate conference represented an important turning point in world history because the leaders attending
the meeting now recognize the urgency of the problem.
'Fear
itself': A tale of two speeches. Democrats contend that people who are afraid of terrorists posing as Syrian
refugees (or even of Syrian refugees deciding to become terrorists later) are a greater danger to the country that the Syrian
refugee policy itself. This was summarized by President Obama in a press conference in Manila when he chided Republicans
as crass opportunists and cowards. [Obama quotation omitted.] We don't have time to properly chastise the president
for turning a public policy dispute into a political ambush while he was representing our country overseas, so let's just drill
down into this fear factor and consider how reprehensible it is for the president and others to belittle their fellow citizens
for their desire to keep Americans safe.
Barack Obama: Worst President
Ever. In his response to the attacks in Paris, Barack Obama has shown us a leader who is not just inadequate to his core
responsibilities, but contemptuous of them. It started Friday night [11/13/2015] with his first statement about the attacks.
He was perfunctory, devoid of content, and utterly listless. His delivery was flat and without affect — expressing neither
outrage nor sorrow — giving the impression that he had no desire to be in front of the cameras or to make any comment at all.
Go
Figure: Cuban Freedom And Trade Decline Since Obama's Opening To Cuba. In his Dec. 17 speech to the nation, the
president said: "We are taking steps to increase travel, commerce and the flow of information to and from Cuba. This is
fundamentally about freedom and openness and also expresses my belief in the power of people-to-people engagement. ... I believe this
contact will ultimately do more to empower the Cuban people." The result has been the opposite, with more repression of dissidents,
and the Castro regime cranking up the goon squads overtime to beat and jail dissidents. Some 6,000 arrests have been announced
since the opening, hardly a sign of a more open Cuba leading to a freer Cuba.
Climate Insanity on steroids!
[Scroll down] The alarmist assertions are absurd. "Climate change is already disrupting our agriculture and ecosystems,
our water and food supplies," Obama recently inveighed. "If we do nothing, Alaskan temperatures are projected to rise between
six and twelve degrees by the end of the century." Projected by whom? Who concocts these fables?
Nature-driven climate change has disrupted lives throughout human history. Seas have risen 400 feet since the last
mile-thick glaciers melted off the northern half of Asia, Europe and North America. How did "imperiled" Pacific islands
survive that? Some Alaskan glaciers have been retreating for decades, but Hubbard is growing and Glacier Bay's ice
retreat began around 1750. Arctic sea ice has increased some 26% (400,000 square miles) since 2012, in a cycle that's
continued for millennia.
Obama rips GOP candidates as
anti-union. President Barack Obama lambasted Republican presidential candidates Monday [9/7/2015], charging
the GOP is treating American workers like a hostile force while looking out only for the rich. Obama delivered a Labor
Day speech in Boston, where he traveled to unveil a new executive order he signed forcing companies who contract with the
federal government to provide paid sick leave to their employees.
Obama's
Dishonest "I Feel" Ferguson Speech. The rhetoric of "I feel" is the bane of truth. It allows for the creation
of power structures based not on facts, but on feelings, based not on laws, but on attitudes. Obama's Ferguson address
doesn't focus on the facts. It can't. Even his militant pal Holder couldn't find enough to be able to indict anyone.
Instead the administration had to settle for lynching some city officials over politically incorrect emails. No gentle giant.
No "Hands up, Don't Shoot". It was a lie. It was all a lie. Even Obama can't keep that lie going.
Obama
lectures Kenyans on democracy, corruption and getting along with others. Barack Hussein Obama took his
vague experience as a community organizer and his abiding arrogance Sunday [7/26/2015] and offered the 44 million
people of Kenya some serious advice on how they should behave and live. Visiting his father's homeland, Obama
proclaimed himself "the first Kenyan-American to be President of the United States. That goes without saying."
But he said it anyway. Obama uttered another 5,000 words too.
Obama
defends national security record in address to VFW convention in Pittsburgh. Mr. Obama
told the crowd [7/21/2015] that initiatives such as the Iran deal and the resumption of diplomatic
relations with Cuba were examples of a new kind of leadership — "a smarter, broader
vision of American strength." He reminded the crowd that he had demonstrated a willingness to use
force, reciting a list of terrorists killed or captured on his watch. But he said that his
administration's approach to national security had turned away from the impulse to rush into conflict.
Obama
on ISIS Threat: "Ideologies Are Not Defeated With Guns, They Are Defeated By Better
Ideas". After consulting with military leaders at the Pentagon this afternoon
[7/6/2015] President Obama held a press conference on the growing threat of ISIS. President
Obama declared the United States "will never be at war with Islam." Obama also said,
"ideologies are not defeated with guns but better ideas."
Obama
is his least inspiring when he's talking about combating terrorism. The president is
his least inspiring when he's talking about combating terrorism, and Monday [7/6/2015] was
Exhibit A. His tone and body language never conveyed resolve. Even worse was what
he said. "Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas and more
attractive and more compelling vision," he declared. That's ridiculous. Islamic State is
not following a rational script drawn up by a debating society. It's an army of
bloodthirsty jihadists with no compunction about killing anyone and destroying anything that stands
in their way.
Obama's fecklessness
on Islamic terror. The stirring speeches of yesteryear inspired us then, and still do.
In times of grave danger, great leaders rallied their nations with appeals to duty and visions of victory.
[...] "I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept
nothing less than full victory!" Gen. Dwight Eisenhower said in his D-Day address to Allied troops.
Then there is Barack Obama. After the Islamic State won major battles in Iraq and Syria last week,
he said: "I don't think we're losing."
Obama's
blind hostility toward Israel. In June 2008, candidate Barack Obama spoke before
thousands of delegates to the pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, to assuage concerns that he harbored animosity toward the Jewish state. In a paragraph of
his speech that began with the phrase "Let me be clear," Obama declared that under his vision for
peace, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." The next day,
after the statement triggered fierce criticism from Palestinian leaders, Obama backtracked. The
reversal was an early signal of what has become a pattern during his presidency — professing
profound support for Israel when it suits him, only to reverse himself when it comes to actual policy.
Obama
doubles down in clash over violent extremism. President Obama sought Thursday [2/19/2015] to rally
world leaders behind his push to stop extremist groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), while doubling down on terminology that has sparked fierce criticism from conservatives.
"The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie. And all of us, regardless of faith,
have a responsibility to reject it," Obama said during a speech at the State Department to representatives
from more than 60 countries. The speech largely echoed a keynote address the president gave on
Wednesday to the White House's Summit on Countering Violent Extremism where he defended his administration's
refusal to say the U.S. is at war with Islam.
Our Self-Obsessed
President. Many commentators have noted how frequently Barack Obama's speeches focus
on himself. It is true: for Obama, no matter the topic, it turns out to be mostly about him.
Earlier today, Obama delivered a farewell speech in New Delhi, wrapping up his trip to India. The speech was
only 33 minutes long, and yet... Barack managed to work in references to himself no fewer than 118 times.
Watch
Obama Refer to Himself 133 Times in a 33-Minute Speech. President Obama, speaking to
an audience of mostly young people celebrating India's Republic Day in New Delhi on Tuesday
[1/27/2015], told the crowd, "I realise that the sight of an American president as your chief guest
on Republic Day would have once seemed unimaginable. But my visit reflects the possibilities of a
new moment." He pointed out that he was the first American president to participate in the country's
Republic Day and boasted, "And I'm the first American president to come to your country twice!" The
president went on to refer to himself an astonishing 118 times in the short 33-minute speech, touching
on injustices in the United States and in his own personal life.
Obama
Brags About $10 Bil Auto Bailout At Plant He Helped Idle. Just days before Obama's
planned swing through Detroit, the Treasury Dept. reported that the final taxpayer cost of the auto
industry bailout was $9.26 billion. That equals $441 for every single car and light truck that GM
and Chrysler have sold since 2009. That's an awfully big price tag for Obama to claim bragging
rights over. Maybe the outsized bailout cost explains why Obama will give his talk at an assembly
plant owned by Ford, which didn't take any bailout money yet somehow managed to survive the recession.
Ford did, however, put its hand out for a $5.9 billion low-cost Department of Energy loan, which it used
in part to convert that Wayne, Mich., plant from one that made popular SUVs to one that now makes politically
correct hybrids and compacts.
Detroit
is back? Obama will visit Ford plant idled due to lack of demand. Obama has been
touting hybrid cars since before his election as president. But the recent plummet of gasoline
prices makes hybrids less attractive. Gas is cheaper, by the way, in spite Of Obama's anti-fossil
fuel philosophy.
Ford
plant will be closed during Obama visit. The White House confirmed Monday that President Barack
Obama will visit Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Assembly plant on Wednesday — a factory that is closed this
week because of lagging demand for its small gasoline-powered and hybrid cars. The visit —
Obama's ninth to a U.S. auto factory since taking office and 14th trip to Michigan — is expected
to herald the dramatic turnaround of the U.S. auto industry.
The Editor asks...
If the auto industry is doing so well, why is this factory shut down due to lack of demand?
Why has Mr. Obama visited Michigan 14 times, while he
has never been
to Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, or Utah?
Obama
Vows 'Leaner' Military In Ongoing Fight Against Terror. Speaking to the members of the
military this afternoon [12/15/2014], President Obama thanked them for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan as
well as their work to fight Islamic State terrorists and Ebola in Africa. "We're at a turning
point," Obama said, boasting that the United States is bringing home many of the 180,000 troops who
were fighting in the Middle East.
Obama's
immigration taunt: Next president won't dare reverse my executive action. The next
president won't dare take the political risk that would come with undoing recent executive action on
immigration reform, a defiant President Obama said Tuesday [12/9/2014] as he predicted his highly controversial
steps will survive the test of time, even under a Republican administration. Mr. Obama conceded
that without new legislation, his action — which includes de facto amnesty for more than
4 million illegal immigrants — technically could be undone rather easily.
'I,'
'Me,' 'My' — Obama Uses First Person Singular 91 Times in Speech on Immigration. Leaving aside passages in which he
quoted a Chicago pub owner and a letter from a citizen from Georgia, President Barack Obama used the first person singular —
including the pronouns "I" and "me" and the adjective "my" — 91 times in a speech he delivered in Chicago Tuesday [11/25/2014]
to explain his unilateral action on immigration. But as often as Obama used "I," "me" and "my" in Chicago this week, it was no match for
the speech he delivered in Austin, Texas, on July 10, when he used the first person singular 199 times.
Obama
Unwittingly Makes Best Case Against Political Speech Laws. President Obama famously
derided the Supreme Court over the Citizens United decision in a State of the Union address.
Obama's bashing of that First Amendment decision is also central in the scandal involving Internal
Revenue Service targeting of Tea Party applicants for tax-exempt status. Lois Lerner followed
Obama's lead to suppress speech. Thursday [10/2/2014], in an address at Northwestern University, however,
Obama unwittingly undermined a whole regime of regulation of election-related speech.
Obama
Urges Latinos to Help Reverse Public Opposition to Amnesty. On Thursday evening
[10/2/2014], President Barack Obama promised Hispanic leaders executive amnesty and vowed that he
will not give up his fight for permanent amnesty for illegal immigrants. However, he also conceded
that more work needed to be done to win public support because the American people do not support
such legislation. Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Dinner, Obama said he would enact
his executive amnesty between the November elections and the end of this year and reiterated that it
"was not a question of if but when."
Obama
heckled during immigration speech. President Obama was interrupted Thursday evening
[10/2/2014] during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala by a protester
heckling him to move sooner on immigration.
The Editor says...
Carefully planted hecklers make Obama appear to be the victim of a personal attack. Those in whom sympathy
is thereby triggered may not even be aware they've been had.
Obama
says GOP must be hounded on economy; Republicans cite 40 jobs bills passed by House.
President Obama urged Americans Saturday [8/2/2014] to pressure Republican lawmakers who are on vacation in
their districts to support his economic agenda, including a hike in the federal minimum wage. [...]
But Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, chairman of the House Republicans' campaign arm, said Mr. Obama
refuses to work with the GOP on measures that would grow the economy. "We've focused on solutions
to rein in big government, and help grow our economy," Mr. Walden said in the weekly Republican
address. "The House has passed more than 40 jobs bills, but the president and his
party refuse to give them a hearing."
Obama
on CIA Scandal: 'We tortured some folks.'. That was the most astonishing moment of
today's galling Obama press conference. President Obama had earlier lectured journalists how to
do their jobs, ripped Republicans for doing their jobs, and chided everyone within earshot for not
wishing him a happy birthday yet. After that descent into pre-teen self-absorption, the president
was asked about whether CIA chief John Brennan had lied to Congress under oath when he said that the
agency had never spied on senators and staff who were investigating the CIA's enhanced interrogations
of a very few al Qaeda terrorists.
'I,'
'Me,' 'My' — Obama Uses First Person Singular 199 Times in Speech Vowing Unilateral Action. Not
counting instances when he quoted a letter from a citizen or cited dialogue from a movie, President Barack Obama used the
first person singular — including the pronouns "I" and "me" and the adjective "my" — 199 times in a speech he
delivered Thursday [7/10/2014] vowing to use unilateral executive action to achieve his policy goals that Congress
would not enact through the normal, constitutional legislative process.
Obama
channels Saul Alinsky with 'so sue me' speech. President Obama has, except on fleeting occasions, routinely
disdained the customary Oval Office language of compromise and coalition-building for the low arts of sophistry and belittlement.
That was to be expected, given his background as a Chicago community organizer and product of that city's corrupt Democrat political
machine. But Obama has far exceeded dismal expectations. No previous American president employed the systematic distortion
of fact and mendacious characterization of opponents that have typified Obama's presidency.
Obama
ridicules John Boehner's lawsuit over executive powers: 'so sue me'. Republicans have
long complained that Obama is overstepping his authority by acting unilaterally, rather than with
Congress, on issues as varied as Guantánamo Bay, changes to Obamacare and immigration enforcement.
During a brief speech on the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, Obama dismissed his
critics, saying Republican obstructionism left him no alternative, and singling out the House GOP
conference as a block to any legislative action.
Obama
Mocks Climate Change Skeptics: It's Not Some 'Liberal Plot'. President Obama spoke to
the League of Conservation Voters Wednesday night [6/25/2014] about climate change, and he took a few minutes
to mock Republican climate change skeptics who state very openly they "don't believe anything
scientists say" and actually believe it's a "hoax" or a "liberal plot."
Watch
Barack Obama Create Division in America by Destroying Phony Arguments Made by Imaginary
People. To be fair, it has been the practice of politicians since the beginning of
politics to set up straw men — false arguments or choices — and proceed to
knock them down. Having said as much, there is no one better at it than Barack Obama.
This short compilation video from our friends at Washington Free Beacon captures some of his best efforts.
Al Qaeda Isn't 'On Its
Heels'. President Barack Obama told U.S. troops in Afghanistan on May 25, 2014 that
the United States has "decimated the al Qaeda leadership in the tribal regions" of Pakistan. While
conceding that the al Qaeda network elsewhere in the world poses an increasing threat to U.S.
interests, the U.S. government frequently touts the progress it has made in neutering al Qaeda's
senior leadership in Pakistan — as it narrowly defines it. These talking points
increasingly seem based on a picture of al Qaeda's South Asian network that is at least several
months out of date, however.
Obama
on Illegal Immigrants: 'Most of Them Are Not Making Trouble'. Admitting that he was
preaching to the choir," President Obama told law enforcement officers on Tuesday [5/13/2014] that they must add
their voices to those who are demanding comprehensive immigration reform. "It's estimated that over
80 percent of the folks who are here on an undocumented basis have been here 10 years or longer,"
Obama said. "You know, these are folks who are woven into the fabrics of our communities. Their
kids are going to school with our kids. Most of them are not making trouble."
The Editor says...
Mr. Obama always preaches to the choir, because he only makes speeches where the choir and the teleprompter are present.
Obama's
monstrously hypocritical speech. Even for President Obama, his speech at the USC Shoah Foundation [5/7/2014] was
jaw-dropping. Surrounded by familiar Hollywood friends/donors, he demonstrated how utterly dismissive he is of human rights
and, frankly, of history.
Mass Stabbing Curiously Missing From Obama Speech. Yesterday
[4/16/2014] President Obama gave a speech in Oakdale, Pennsylvania with Vice President Joe Biden about skill training.
Last week, just thirty miles away in Murrysville, a student went on a mass stabbing rampage at Franklin Regional High
School. Twenty people were severely injured in the incident, making it one of the worst mass stabbing events in U.S.
history. But despite being close to the scene of the tragic and horrifying event, Obama failed to mention the
incident during his nearly 30 minute long remarks.
Obama
statement recognizes 'tragedy' in Boston; no mention of terrorism. Here are a few things
missing from President Obama's statement Tuesday marking the anniversary of the 2013 terrorist bombing
of the Boston Marathon: • The word "terrorism." • The
word "bombing." • The fact that the bombers were motivated by Islamist extremist beliefs.
Obama:
'I have lived out the promise of LBJ's efforts'. President Obama argued on Thursday government needed to
provide, not only "the absence of oppression," but also "the presence of economic opportunity" as the nation sought to
secure the gains of the civil rights movement.
Obama's laughable stand-up
routine. President Obama was doing his favorite thing this week: talking to crowds of
adoring young people who already agree with him while acting like he persuaded them about something.
President Shouldn't Remind People Of His Re-Election.
President Obama dares his critics to "go out there and win an election." Does he mean the way he "wins," by misusing the IRS to muzzle the voices of those who dare to
oppose him? [...] Evoking the Founding Fathers, Obama said, "You don't like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out
there and win an election. ... Don't break what our predecessors spent over two centuries building." But everyone with eyes open has witnessed this administration
taking a wrecking ball to what our illustrious predecessors established.
Singularities. On Friday [10/18/2013], in remarks reminiscent of a supercilious graduate
student scolding a class of insufficiently Marxist college freshmen, President Obama spoke as if the recent congressional turmoil and government shutdown was a political
singularity. According to Obama, the shutdown showdown was an event of sufficient pressure and temperature to eliminate all memory of what preceded it during his
administration and from which we should move forward in a new way and a new direction — which is to say we should submit to his will and supinely approve his agenda.
The Editor says...
There are those who say the fainting episode was scripted, and was an attempt to inject an emotional element and spice up an otherwise mundane and predictable
speech. Accusations of that sort would be quickly dismissed were it not for Mr. Obama's long history of manipulating the news media, and a lifetime of
disingenuousness.
There They Go Again. Obama recounted in his
September 22 remarks, "As president I have now grieved with five American communities ripped apart by mass violence: Fort Hood,
Tucson, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and now the Washington Navy Yard. And these mass shootings occur against a backdrop of daily tragedies
as an epidemic of gun violence tears apart communities across America, from the streets of Chicago to neighborhoods not far from here." [...] When
was the last time a Republican served as Mayor of Chicago? Or of Detroit? Or governed the "neighborhoods not far from here"?
Obama State University. "We've got a crisis in
terms of college affordability and student debt," said Mr. Obama, without a trace of irony at the State University of New York at Buffalo [8/22/2013].
The same man who three years ago forced through a plan to add $1 trillion in student loans to the federal balance sheet over a decade said on Thursday,
"Our economy can't afford the trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt, much of which may not get repaid because students don't have the capacity to
pay it."
Whose Side Is Obama On? Obama interrupted a hard day of lazing around
Martha's Vineyard to denounce the "arbitrary arrests" of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the "broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi's associations and supporters" and then
insisted "We don't take sides with any particular party or political figure." It was quite a turn to take in a single speech, but he did have a full day of
golfing to get in.
What
NSA reforms? President Obama's message about the government's massive electronic surveillance programs came through loud and clear:
Get over it. The president used more soothing words in his pre-vacation news conference Friday, but that was the gist. With
perhaps the application of a fig leaf here and a sheen of legalistic mumbo jumbo there, the snooping will continue.
The
Surveillance Speech: A Low Point in Barack Obama's Presidency. On Friday [8/9/2013], President Obama spoke to us about surveillance
as though we were precocious children. He proceeded as if widespread objections to his policies can be dispatched like a parent answers an
eight-year-old who has formally protested her bedtime. He is so proud that we've matured enough to take an interest in our civil
liberties! Why, he used to think just like us when he was younger, and promises to consider our arguments.
Barack Obama's clueless message to America's middle class shows a presidency out of touch with reality.
President Obama has been rolling up his sleeves campaigning across the country delivering a surreal stump speech message supposedly aimed at the middle
class: big government works, Obamacare is manna from heaven, the wave of recent scandals are "phony" figments of the imagination, and all economic
problems are the fault of the Republicans. Conveniently, he leaves out the bankruptcy of Detroit, a city run by his own party for more than half a century.
Obama's doomed attempt to save his
legacy. In a desperate move to salvage his second term, Mr. Obama threw out his top liberal agenda items — immigration,
gun control and race relations — and pivoted to the economy. The problem is that the only one to blame for the five-year malaise
is the current resident of the Oval Office. The president fueled up Air Force One on Wednesday to fly to the heartland for two stops in an
attempt to physically distance himself from Washington.
President's campaigning is not
leadership. Four and a half years in office the president is still in campaign mode delivering speeches to handpicked audiences including
high school kids who haven't a clue as to what [...] he is talking about. It is all about optics and cheering people who can't find gainful
employment and are losing purchasing power every day.
College
Republicans refused entry to Obama's speech; labled 'security threat. No doubt the security guards were just following guidelines
issued by the Department of Homeland Security. We all know that wearing a tea party T-shirt is indicative of terrorists so it just stands to
reason that the Secret Service would keep tea party supporters away from the venue.
College Republicans
Denied Admittance to Obama Speech. President Obama was bound to receive a warm response from the audience attending his speech at the
University of Central Missouri yesterday — because some students who disagreed with him weren't allowed into the building. Christopher
White of The College Fix reports that students wearing "Tea Party T-Shirts and others who wore patriotic or Republican-inspired clothing" were
turned away at the door under the guise of security concerns, despite the fact that they held tickets to the event.
Obama can't even fake patriotic pride any more. Awkward: President
Obama Stumbles Through Scripted 'Patriotic' Speech. President Obama stumbled through a "patriotic" speech on the Fourth of July,
reading verbatim a text on America's improbable experiment in "democracy" in a staccato and droll tone. Surrounding him was a dour cast
of stoic figures — save for First Lady Michelle Obama, who broke into "slow applause" mode when her husband called America "the
greatest nation on earth" while a smattering of hand-clapping accompanied her. [...] As with all things, the president's actions speak louder
than his scripted words.
Obama the Imperialist. [Scroll down] It is
almost impossible to overstate the raw condescension and superior tone of President Obama's words. [...] Obama is telling the African peoples that until
they have "clean" energy available, they are not to aspire to what the West presently possesses. They are to wait lest their desires for cars, air
conditioning, and homes wind up polluting the planet. It's a bad thing, the president also appears to be saying, that Africa has so many young
people who aspire to such luxuries.
Mr. Obama openly lies about his record: Obama tells donors: Democrats
favor 'light touch' on regulation. Making a pitch for Democratic candidates in 2014, President Obama told big donors in California
Thursday night that Democrats favor free-market solutions and less government regulation. "It turns out we're pretty common-sense folks,"
Mr. Obama said at a fundraiser at a private home in Palo Alto, Calif. "We believe in the free market [and] a light touch when it comes to
regulations."
The Editor says...
Really? Mr. Obama's idea of a "free market" is nationalizing General Motors, squandering tax dollars on Solyndra, subsidizing electric cars that
nobody (but the government) wants, and making offshore oil drilling all but impossible. Mr. Obama's idea of "a light touch when it comes to
regulations" is exemplified by the IRS attacking Tea Party people and small businesses, the EPA killing the coal industry, and Obamacare killing
full-time jobs. Mr. Obama is a smooth-talking tyrant.
Text of
Obama speech: We will connect 99 percent of schools to Internet. President Obama visited Mooresville Middle School in North Carolina on Thursday
to promote a new five-year initiative aimed at ensuring that 99 percent of public schools in the country have access to the Internet.
Obama:
If you can't trust government, we're going to have some problems. President Obama this afternoon addressed recent reports
of the National Security Agency secretly obtaining phone records and private data for surveillance. During his speech he indicated
that Americans needed to trust the system of government set up to thwart abuse. "If people can't trust not only the executive
branch but also don't trust Congress, and don't trust federal judges, to make sure that we're abiding by the Constitution with due
process and rule of law, then we're going to have some problems here."
Obama: 'Today Most Americans
Are Not Directly Touched By War'. At a ceremony marking Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, President Barack Obama said that
most Americans are able to remain unaffected by war. [... "]But regardless of the reason, this truth cannot be ignored that today most Americans
are not directly touched by war."
Pre Memorial
Day, Obama Made Political, Manipulative Speech To Military. President Barack Obama used a recent commencement address to graduating
Marines and Naval officers at the United States Naval Academy as a way to make irrellevant political points and then turn the speech into a
contextless smear on military.
Why All of Us Should Mistrust the Government.
It should come as no surprise that President Obama told Ohio State students at graduation ceremonies last week that they should not question authority and
they should reject the calls of those who do. He argued that "our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule" has been so successful that
trusting the government is the same as trusting ourselves; hence, challenging the government is the same as challenging ourselves. And he blasted
those who incessantly warn of government tyranny. Yet, mistrust of government is as old as America itself.
Obama's post-presidential speeches:
Big Mouth
Barack. After enduring eight years of pretentious lectures, we thought we were
finally rid of him in 2017. But no, he's still enlightening his inferiors, which in his mind
is everyone who isn't him, most recently to link market-based systems to slavery. [...] Speaking a
week ago at the Obama Foundation's Democracy Forum, the former (and current de facto) president
said "just because an economic system generated wealth and innovation doesn't mean it guarantees a
good society. Because from the outset, market-based systems have been compatible with
slavery, caste systems, colonialization, war, exploration, corruption, fraud, autocracy, the
poisoning of our natural environment."
The Ministry
of Truth Is Real. Things got pretty weird, pretty quickly in the wake of Elon Musk's trial balloon about buying
Twitter[.] [...] The Biden administration and progressive activists (including former President Obama) sprang into action
following Monday's [4/25/2022] announcement and — quite literally — began the process of defining
disinformation and calling for its regulation to make sure bad speech was addressed and eliminated from the collective safe
space. [...] But the Biden administration, feeble as it is, was just doing the hard job laid out for it by former president
Barack Obama[,] who was just doing the job laid out for him by the Aspen Institute's disinformation commission. Obama
gave a speech at Stanford University on April 21st outlining the threats of disinformation online and how unfettered speech
is a threat to democracy (Musk was already well in the throes of figuring out how to convince Twitter to sell by this point,
of course). And the former president painted a very frightening picture, indeed. One that ultimately pointed a
finger back at "companies that have come to dominate the internet generally, and social media platforms in particular."
The Pantheon of
Lies. Barack Obama recently took to the stage at Stanford University to lecture an audience on the perils of
disinformation. But it was Obama himself who used the occasion to spread lies and misinformation. This shouldn't
come as any surprise. In 2013, PolitiFact awarded Obama its Lie of the Year award for repeatedly promising the American
people that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it." Obama made this false claim repeatedly as he promoted his
signature piece of legislation: the "Affordable Care Act." After its passage, millions of Americans were sent
cancellation letters from their insurance companies. Nonetheless, Obama, the decorated 2013 liar of the year, stood
behind the podium at Stanford and admonished, "You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage.
You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing, that citizens no longer know
what to believe."
Tucker
Carlson red-flags Obama's disinformation speech: He's not liberal, he's a full-blown fascist who hates
you. Former President Barack Obama has been making the rounds addressing concerns of so-called
"disinformation," and his latest remarks have Fox News host Tucker Carlson arguing the former leader of the free world may
have outed himself as "not liberal at all," but rather as "a full-blown fascist." On Friday's episode of "Tucker
Carlson Tonight," the host brought up a recent address that Obama had given at Stanford University's Cyber Policy
Center. During an event, hosted in part by the Obama Foundation, the president gave a keynote address on "Challenges to
Democracy in the Digital Information Realm." "Barack Obama gave a big speech at Stanford yesterday on 'disinformation,'"
Carlson began the segment. "Now, like the Atlantic magazine's conference on disinformation at the University of Chicago,"
which Obama had also attended, "the conference was all about promoting disinformation, but because self-awareness has been
banned, nobody noticed. Obama argued that only his political opponents lie and they must be stopped immediately."
Obama
Pushes Hardcore Disinformation in Speech Condemning Disinformation. Former U.S. President, and likely our
current shadow president, Barack Obama delivered a speech reeking of hypocrisy on Thursday when he addressed a Stanford
University crowd. Speaking about digital disinformation, Obama compared Putin to Hitler, claimed President Trump
"incited a violent insurrection" on January 6th, and shared several other inaccurate claims. [Tweet] Arrogantly
disregarding the irony, Obama spoke alongside several known disinformation peddlers such as his former aide Ben Rhodes,
president of the civil rights group Color of Change Rashad Robinson and Stanford researcher Renee DiResta. Barack
criticized Trump and other GOP politicians who have continued to question the blatantly faulty 2020 presidential election as
people who are trying to "overturn the will of the people."
Obama
talks about disinformation and calls for social media censorship. Former President Barack Obama was the keynote
speaker at a one-day symposium, titled "Challenges to Democracy," co-hosted by the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and the Obama
Foundation, on the Stanford campus on April 21. Obama spoke at length on topics such as the First Amendment, social
media, censorship, technology, and the news media. [...] Obama said many forms of disinformation originate on traditional
media platforms, and social networks have helped accelerate the decline of newspapers and traditional news sources.
Obama also said the overwhelming information surplus made it difficult to discern the truth because "our brains aren't
accustomed to taking in this much information this fast, and a lot of us are experiencing overload."
The Editor says...
Apparently Mr. Obama hasn't considered the possibility that newspapers are in decline because they're physically
inconvenient, not always truthful, and usually at least 24 hours behind other sources of news.
Former
'Lie of the Year' award winner Barack Obama announces crusade to stop 'spread of disinformation'. Barack Obama
has joined the leftist establishment's efforts to maintain control over their approved narrative, announcing that the Obama
Foundation will be devoting its resources to training the next generation of information monitors under the oft-invoked
pretense of combating "disinformation." a term which like "democracy" has been twisted into a pretzel in true Orwellian
fashion by the political left. Fresh off of his speech at the big "Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy"
conference sponsored by The Atlantic, Obama took to Twitter to announce his involvement in the new initiative, invoking the
key buzz words in a pair of tweets that were met with incredulity by many who can recall the former president's tendency to
play fast and loose with the truth during his eight years in the White House.
The Editor says...
On a nearby page, I have assembled a partial catalog of Barack H.
Obama's lies, which should go a long way towards the disqualification of Mr. Obama as the arbiter of disinformation.
Obama
leaves audience scratching heads over gaffes at Scotland summit. Former President Barack Obama called on world
leaders to save the planet, but he couldn't quite identify which country he was in. Mr. Obama's speech Monday at
the COP26 climate-change summit is being mocked for his reference to host Scotland as part of the "Emerald Isles," which is a
nickname for Ireland. "Since we're in the Emerald Isles here let me quote the Bard, William Shakespeare,"
Mr. Obama said. "'What wound,' he writes, 'did ever heal but by degrees?'" Observers pointed out Mr. Obama
actually committed two gaffes in the same breath. Shakespeare is considered the bard of England — yet
another country. Scotland's bard is poet Robert Burns. The Express, a publication in the United Kingdom,
commented that Mr. Obama "attempted a local reference but failed spectacularly."
Obama
Begins Climate Change Speech By Talking About Himself For A Full 90 Seconds. When Obama was President, he
couldn't go more than a few minutes without gushing about himself. Turns out, some things never change. During a
fear-mongering speech about how the world will end shortly because of climate change, Obama couldn't help but talk about
himself and his current lifestyle since leaving the Oval Office. "Traffic is a thing again. Music doesn't play
when I walk into the room. On the positive side, I can give a speech like this without wearing a tie and not create a
scandal back home," said the failed 44th President.
Obama,
Biden make first joint appearance in Michigan: 'We're done with the chaos'. [Scroll down] Obama then
turned to Trump's character. If a "coworker lied everyday...we would fire him," adding that voters would not have to
worry about Biden's ability to tell the truth. Biden took to the stage and said, "thank you for reminding us what we
can be again," then condemned Trump as a leader. "Three days we can put an end to a president that has failed to
protect this nation," Biden said. "I don't care how hard the president tries, there's nothing he can do to prevent the
people from voting."
Obama
Stands Confused After He Tries Introducing Joe Biden and Joe is Nowhere To Be Seen. During a campaign rally in
Michigan on Saturday [10/31/2020], former President Barack Obama tried introducing former Vice Preside Joe Biden to the stage
however Biden was nowhere to be seen. "Joe Biden!" Obama said as he tried welcoming his former VP to the stage.
"Joe Biden," he yelled again. "Joe Biden?" Obama said, clearly confused.
Fact
Check: 19 False Claims in Barack Obama's Speech for Joe Biden in Florida. President Barack Obama delivered a
speech in Florida on behalf of Joe Biden's presidential campaign on Saturday [10/24/2020], in the course of which he stated
at least nineteen false claims about President Donald Trump and his record.
Obama:
A president must 'keep us safe from all threats foreign, domestic — or microscopic'. Former
President Barack Obama finally hit the campaign trail for Joe Biden, but as usual President Trump got the last word.
After a stemwinder of a speech by Obama in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to trim his
predecessor's sails. "Obama is campaigning for us. Every time he speaks, people come over to our side. He
didn't even want to endorse Sleepy Joe. Did so long after primaries were over!" Trump wrote. Speaking at a
drive-in rally, Obama blasted Trump on everything from his personal tax payments and his handling of the economy to his
efforts to strip away parts of the Affordable Care Act.
The Editor says...
[#1] From what I've heard, the press and security detail outnumbered the crowd. [#2] The President is not responsible for
germs in the air. But if he is, why didn't Obama magically protect us all from H1N1 (2009), the Swine Flue (2010), MERS (2012),
Ebola (2014), or Zika (2016)?
Fact
Check: Obama Repeats Debunked Atlantic 'Suckers' Story. Former President Barack Obama spoke on behalf of
Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Obama repeated many
false claims familiar from Biden's own stump speech, including the "suckers and losers" hoax.
Barack
Obama's Livestream MUTED as He Campaigns For Hiden Biden in Philadelphia. Barack Obama hit the campaign trail
on Wednesday on behalf of Hiden Biden. Obama is in Philadelphia today for two separate events as Joe Biden hides in his
basement with less than two weeks until Election Day. Joe Biden's campaign actually muted Barack Obama during his
Philadelphia roundtable discussion with black leaders in Philly. People flooded the comments on the livestream:
"There ain't any audio!" — "No sound!" — "We can't hear anything!" — "Sound?"
From DNC Irony to Parody.
There is one rule that should guide all of Barack Obama's post-presidential speeches. He should never mention respect
for the Constitution and the rule of law that begins in the Oval Office. And yet Obama did just that. So the
listener then asks himself: did Obama not plan the destruction of Donald Trump's national security advisor designate,
General Michael Flynn, from the Oval Office? Did he not, while in the Oval Office, oversee illegal Department of
Justice and FBI surveillance of a U.S. citizen, despite being warned by his own hirelings in the FBI that the taped Flynn
calls with Russia's U.S. ambassador were "legitimate"? In other words, Barack Obama, for the first time in U.S.
presidential history, had his appointees in the Department of Justice, CIA, and FBI surveil and disrupt, through a false
"dossier," an opposition political campaign. He sought to tap, monitor, and deceive an incoming elected president and
his staff. Finally, on exiting, he put in place people and procedures to ensure that the succeeding administration
would be weakened and disrupted.
Dissecting
Obama's Delusional DNC Speech. Obama began by telling us the Constitution "wasn't a perfect document," implying
that he would have done better had he been there. Its redeeming quality was that it established "a system of
representative government — a democracy — through which we could better realize our highest ideals."
As late as March 2011, Obama seemed to believe this, saying, "With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations
through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed." In 2012,
with re-election looming, Obama unilaterally decided he could suspend deportations through executive orders. He
gave out a million or so work authorizations while he was at it, arguing that he personally could make laws that were "more
fair, more efficient, and more just" than Congress. Curiously, that is almost exactly what Stalin told the Politburo when
he forcibly collectivized Ukrainian farms.
Phony
Lines from Barack Obama's Speech. [#1] Obama said "Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And
the consequences of that failure are severe: 170,000 Americans dead, millions of jobs gone, while those at the top take in
more than ever." If we had a President Hillary Clinton, would Obama (or his many media allies) consider it fair game to blame
tens of thousands of American COVID deaths on her? Do they honestly believe that under Democrats, the death toll would have been
170? That would ignore how the worst death tolls are largely in states with Democrat governors.
The Editor says...
If Hillary had been elected President, you might never have heard of Covid-19, and there certainly wouldn't
have been any lockdowns.
Obamas
remind American voters why they elected Donald Trump. Twelve years after making history by getting elected
America's first actual Black president on soaring promises of "hope" and "change," Barack Obama is back to let you know he is
very, very disappointed in you. And this time, he is selling grim hopelessness and fear. For eight years,
Mr. Obama served as your lofty professor and virtue king, dancing with music stars and enthralling the world with his
flowery speeches apologizing for America's power and very existence. And then you elected a dummy. [...] In his
post-presidency, Mr. Obama has become a bitter recluse, further and further detached by his mounting fortune. He
is profoundly disappointed in the American people for picking Donald Trump. Barack Obama has become Ted Kacyzinski, but
without the compelling Manifesto. But he is not the only angry one. Michelle Obama is also deeply disappointed
in you.
Obama panics.
Obama failed to extend the same peaceful transition of power to President Donald John Trump that common decency
demands. Obama instead used the FBI to spy on Donald Trump (and he still may be, who knows?). Obama also
encouraged sedition among civil servants as his staff held classes on resistance, which included slow-walking or even
ignoring orders. For 4 years, Obama did all in his power to harass President Trump as Obama stood athwart history
yelling stop. On Wednesday [8/19/2020], Obama took the national stage for the first time since President Trump's
inauguration. He did not look, act, or sound the same. He was old. [...] The speech was over-the-top rhetoric
that projected many of the things Obama did upon President Trump. For example, Obama declared that President Trump is
using public office for personal gain. But reality called and left a message. As president, Donald Trump's
personal fortune shrank by a billion dollars. Obama's net worth went from zero to $150 million as president.
Obama
accuses Trump of running US like 'reality show' in DNC speech. Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday
accused President Trump of being an immature narcissist who runs the US government like a "reality show," resulting in
additional coronavirus deaths. Obama's Trump-bashing speech on the third night of the Democratic National Convention
was delivered via live feed from Philadelphia with an exhibit of the Constitution in the background. Former Vice
President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) believe in
"a fidelity to facts and science and logic, and not just making stuff up," Obama said. "They believe that no one,
including the president, is above the law — that no public official, including the president, should use their
office to enrich themselves or their supporters," Obama said.
Barack
Obama Reminds Americans Why He Was the King of "I" in DNC Speech. By any estimation, Wednesday [8/19/2020] was
the night for the Democrats' past, heavy hitters to sell Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the party faithful. After all,
both of the party's previous presidential nominees were scheduled to speak. To start off, as my colleague Nick Arama
wrote about earlier in the night, was a pre-recorded video of 2016's nominee (and loser), Hillary Clinton. But even
though the third night of a convention is supposed to allow the vice presidential nominee to shine, that wasn't the speech
everyone was waiting for. Barack Obama's, which he gave live from Philadelphia's Museum of the American Revolution,
was. And like many of the major speeches during Days 1 and 2 of the 2020 DNC, Obama's was introduced by a
lengthy video introduction. [...] Everything's about the king of "I" — Barack Obama himself.
Obama's
DNC speech was vicious, dishonest, and mostly about Obama. Standing in a room in Philadelphia, with the words
"Writing the Constitution" over his right shoulder, [Barack H.] Obama gave a speech that almost wholly ignored Biden, whom
he'd ostensibly come to praise. Instead, Obama viciously attacked Trump and did a constitutional rewrite that allowed
him to cast Trump as a constitutional threat. From the start, Obama was up to his old tricks. Even while he
wanted to use the Constitution to challenge Trump, he couldn't praise it. Instead, he opened by describing it as an
imperfect document that "allowed for the inhumanity of slavery and failed to guarantee women — and even men who
didn't own property — the right to participate in the political process." Democrats aren't progressive;
they're regressive. They draw power by telling the public that Democrats are the only thing standing between Americans
and the Constitution as ratified in 1791 as if nothing has changed since then.
Obama
can give a speech, but it's not enough to lift Biden. In December of 2007, Washington Post columnist David
Broder began a column this way: "Barack Obama has become a one-trick pony. But what a trick it is!" Broder
went on to summarize the rookie senator's marvelous stump speech in the presidential race. He called the performance "a
thing of beauty, a 40-minute oration delivered without notes that is powering his gains in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and
the first primary here in New Hampshire five days later. Hillary Clinton has nothing to match it." When I later
heard Obama give that speech, I wasn't disappointed. It was everything Broder said it was. Sure, the candidate
made promises aplenty, but it was the energy and excitement of the crowds that made the difference, especially when Obama led
them in concluding chants of "Fired up, ready to go, Fired up, ready to go," then finished with "Let's go change the world."
Obama the Jacobin.
Many people were quick to call Obama's eulogy for John Lewis distasteful, and that it was. But there is a hazard of
being too offended on Lewis's behalf. Really, it is hard to imagine that a man who dedicated his life to revolutionary
politics would object to the nation's arch-progressive giving a fire-and-brimstone speech at his funeral. This is,
after all, the man who skipped the president's inauguration. Of course, what people really found outrageous was not
Obama's audacity, per se, but the audacity of his ideas. Obama dropped every pretense of republican tolerance and laid
his cards bare. The filibuster must go; Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. must become states. Politics has become
totally uncompromising. Every possible measure to shore up majority rule must be taken at once, and the "bitter clingers"
of old habits must be crushed — forever. It was the most revolutionary speech Obama has ever given.
Barack Obama's
Filibuster Hypocrisy. In April of 2005, Sen. Barack Obama took to the floor of the United States Senate
and passionately spoke out against Republican efforts to end the filibuster. Then a rising star in the Democratic
Party, Obama noted that despite the pressure partisans might feel, it was imperative to "rise above an 'ends justify the
means' mentality because we're here to answer to the people — all of the people — not just the ones
wearing our party label." Last week, Obama made precisely the opposite argument during John Lewis' funeral, contending
that eliminating a vital check on partisan power was justified as long as Democrats got the policies they desired.
After offering a shamefully dishonest comparison between George Wallace, Bull Connor, and contemporary Republicans, Obama
argued that passing a "voting rights" bill was worth stripping away counter-majoritarian norms.
Barack
Obama and his race card. This time at the funeral of civil rights icon John Lewis, Obama compared President
Donald Trump to not one but two racial segregationists, former Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor
and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace. The inconvenient truth that Connor and Wallace were Democrats is,
apparently, of no relevance to Obama, his fellow Democrats or most of the media. About Connor, Obama said, "Bull Connor
may be gone, but today we witness, with our own eyes, police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans." The longtime
former Bronx Rep. Charles Rangel, whose district included Harlem, also employed the Republicans-are-like-Bull Connor
meme. Rangel, though, used it on then-President George W. Bush, who also spoke at Lewis' funeral. In 2005, Rangel
criticized Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina by saying, "George Bush is our Bull Connor." For those who have
forgotten or never knew, Connor is the segregationist Alabama lawman who, in the '60s, turned water hoses and sicced dogs on
civil rights protesters. "You can never whip these birds if you don't keep you and them separate," Connor said in 1963.
"I found that out in Birmingham. You've got to keep your white and the Black separate."
Obama Defends Mob Rule.
President Barack Obama's address at the funeral of Representative John Lewis in Atlanta on Thursday [7/30/2020], for the most
part, was a moving tribute to a courageous pioneer in the civil rights movement. The total immersion in beatific praise
that was accorded to the congressman throughout his prolonged itinerary between his physical death and actual burial was
doubtless substantially deserved. (It does not allow for his dismissal of President Trump as "illegitimate," and other
reflections that were unseemly coming from a man so much praised for his graciousness and civility.) But embedded in
Obama's eloquent eulogy were reflections on the current political condition of the United States that were untrue and could
incite unjustified violence.
The New Old Obama.
In his latest incarnation as president emeritus and corporate multimillionaire community activist, we are reminded of the
earlier Barack Obama of "get in their face," "take a gun to a knife fight," and "punish our enemies" vintage. From time
to time, Obama ventures from his hilltop, seaside, $12 million "you didn't build that" Martha's Vineyard Estate or his
tony Washington, D.C. $8 million "spread the wealth" mansion to lecture the nation on all of its racist sins, past and
present. In these outings, he seeks to advise lesser folk on how we can still find redemption (make Puerto Rico a
state?), given that his own eight years as president apparently proved that the United States remains hopelessly captive to
the spirit of Bull Connor and that a president such as himself — starting out with complete control of the
Congress — had no power to change much. His latest weaponization of the funeral of John Lewis revealed all
the Obama signature characteristics.
Obama
Endorses Manipulating History For Political Ends. Former President Barack Obama recently spoke at civil rights
hero John Lewis's funeral, and if you read Slate you will learn his eulogy was literally "perfect." Back in the real world,
Obama raised a lot of eyebrows for using a funeral service to deliver a political jeremiad. While Obama previously
earned some measure of respect from his political opponents calling out "woke cancel culture," what Obama said at Lewis's
funeral was a full-on endorsement of exactly the kind of left-wing radicalism that seeks to discredit and bully opponents
rather than persuade them. The big news from Obama's speech was that Obama came out in favor of eliminating the
filibuster. This is a politically questionable move in itself. Democrats want to eliminate the filibuster because
they know they'll never pass a radical agenda that includes things such as D.C. and Puerto Rican statehood to possibly give
their party a permanent electoral advantage in Congress.
Obama emerges
as Biden's hatchet man. In a role reversal from their eight years together in the White House, Barack Obama has
become Joe Biden's wingman and, in his understated way, his hatchet man. The former president's Thursday eulogy for the
late Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who was active in the civil rights movement, was a case in point. Obama
criticized President Trump and reminded Democrats who they would be letting down if they didn't elect Biden and a Democratic
Senate, urging them to jettison the filibuster — a key institutional obstacle to liberal ambitions — as
a "relic of Jim Crow."
Obama Politicizes
a Funeral. As The Wall Street Journal editorial board reports, "Prominent Democrats have been dropping hints
that they'd scrap the filibuster for legislation if they win the Senate. Would they really make such a polarizing
move? Any doubt was eliminated Thursday when President Obama, speaking at the funeral for Congressman and civil-rights
leader John Lewis, described the filibuster as a 'Jim Crow relic' that should be eliminated if it gets in the way of
Democratic voting legislation or admitting Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states." Obama, who once campaigned for
president as a "constitutional scholar," must not have known that the Senate filibuster has been around since
1837 — long before the Jim Crow era began. Nor must he appreciate the historic role of the filibuster as our
legislative branch's essential tool for protecting the rights of the minority — even though he himself used it in
2006 in an effort to block the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, and even though Democrats used it
against the Civil Rights Act. "If all of this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to
secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do," railed Obama in his phony plug-and-play
Southern drawl.
Obama
Vilifies Feds During John Lewis Eulogy, Accuses them of 'Using Tear Gas' Against 'Peaceful Demonstrators'.
Former president Barack Obama fanned the flames of racial resentment in his politicized eulogy for the late Rep. John
Lewis (D-Ga.) at his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday afternoon, comparing law enforcement officers and President Trump
to racist Democrats Bull Connor and George Wallace. "Bull Connor might be gone, but today we witness with our own eyes,
police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans," Obama intoned. "George Wallace may be gone, but we can
witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators. His fact-free
assertion about federal agents using tear gas on "peaceful demonstrators" was met with enthusiastic applause from the mostly
Democrat attendees.
The Editor says...
Ordinarily, a funeral is a somber, contemplative, dignified, and very quiet occasion. Whenever you hear
"enthusiastic applause" at a funeral, the event is not primarily a funeral.
Alveda
King: Obama Politicized John Lewis' Funeral — He Took Us Back to Segregated 1960s. Friday
[7/31/2020] on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
criticized former President Barack Obama for his eulogy at John Lewis' funeral. King said, "I guess we should have
expected that the left, including President Obama, would take that occasion for a political moment. They'll grab at
any opportunity, that's to be understood."
Obama
Vilifies Feds During John Lewis Eulogy, Accuses them of 'Using Tear Gas' Against 'Peaceful Demonstrators'.
Former president Barack Obama fanned the flames of racial resentment in his politicized eulogy for the late Rep. John
Lewis (D-Ga.) at his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday afternoon, comparing law enforcement officers and President Trump
to racist Democrats Bull Connor and George Wallace. "Bull Connor might be gone, but today we witness with our own eyes,
police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans," Obama intoned. "George Wallace may be gone, but we can
witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators. His fact-free
assertion about federal agents using tear gas on "peaceful demonstrators" was met with enthusiastic applause from the mostly
Democrat attendees.
FNC's
Carlson Rips Obama for 'Desecrating' John Lewis Funeral with Campaign Slogans — 'Political Power Is Their
Religion'. Thursday [7/30/2020], Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson took a shot at former President Barack Obama
for the political tones of his eulogy delivered at Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) funeral earlier in the day. [...] After airing
a video clip of the speech, Carlson criticized Obama, adding the speech was proof of a cynical effort by the left and
Democrats to gain power. "It's hard to believe that clip is real, but it is, down to the clawing fake accent,
Mr. Hawaii guy," Carlson said. "But take three steps back — imagine if some greasy politician showed up
at your loved one's funeral and started throwing around stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure. Can you
imagine that? You would be shocked if that happened. You'd probably walk out. Desecrating a funeral with
campaign slogans — what kind of person would do that? But Democrats in the audience didn't seem
offended. They didn't blink. They cheered. It all seemed normal to them. And why wouldn't it?
Political power is their religion. It's not out of place in a church. It's what they worship. People who
will politicize a funeral will do anything, and they're trying to."
The New George Wallace:
Barack Obama. [Scroll down] Yesterday there was a new George Wallace. He appeared in an Atlanta
church to eulogize the late Democratic Congressman John Lewis, Lewis a certifiable hero of the 1960s civil rights
movement. There were, in fact, three former presidents there, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. But it
was former President Barack Obama and Obama alone who chose to use the literal pulpit to divide by race. [...] Can you
imagine if some Republican — Bush 43 in this instance — had stood up at the Lewis funeral and
pushed the Republican agenda? Not to mention if he got up and played the race card? Yes, you can. [...] What is
particularly despicable here is that the race card was played at a funeral for a man whose famous moment of heroism was
protesting ... racism. Not to be forgotten here is that the state troopers involved that day in Selma when John Lewis
had his skull cracked were in the employ of Democrat Gov. George Wallace.
Obama
Uses John Lewis Funeral to Call for 'Eliminating the Filibuster'. Former President Barack Obama used his eulogy
at the funeral of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) to call for an end to the Senate filibuster to pass Democrats' new legislation
on voting reform. Obama said that Republicans had imitated Jim Crow-era restrictions on voting rights, which Lewis
marched against, by passing state voter ID laws and other measures that conservatives argue prevent voter fraud. He
urged Congress to pass a new version of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Barack
Obama Says 'Protests and Politics Go Hand-in-Hand' in Powerful Stonewall Speech. Barack Obama has reflected on
and celebrated the progress of the LGBTQ community since the Stonewall Riots in a video message shared during a Stonewall
Livestream benefit. On Friday [6/26/2020], the former US president participated in Pride Live's third annual Stonewall
Day celebration along with other notable figures [...]
Grievance
Network Back Together Again — Former President Obama and Floyd Family Attorney, Ben Crump, Now Execute Phase
Two. Once you see the strings on the grievance marionettes, you can never watch the pantomime without seeing
them; thus the playbook is transparent. Team Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Team AME Church have again aligned, exactly
as we expected. Tonight [6/3/2020] at 5:00pm former President Barack Obama will deliver remarks about race and social
justice during a virtual town-hall sponsored by his "my brother's keeper" initiative. Simultaneous to that
announcement, George Floyd family attorney, Benjamin Crump, delivers remarks from Minneapolis about healing, race and social
justice. To assist the sympathetic narrative Ben Crump introduces George Floyd's son, Quincy Mason.
Dear
GOP: Stop Cowering Before Bad-Faith Race Card Attacks. [Scroll down] [Barack H.] Obama also gave a rather
political commencement speech last week in which he further criticized current political leaders. That drew the
attention of former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove, who said, "It is so unseemly for a former president to take the virtual
commencement ceremony for a series of historically black colleges and universities and turn it into a political drive-by
shooting." The term "drive-by shooting" is common parlance in politics. To take one recent and high-profile example,
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway both used the phrase to describe
what the media and other partisans were doing to Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation by deploying
last-minute, unsubstantiated accusations against him. The Washington Post's Eugene Scott even wrote a column headlined,
"Has 'drive-by shooting' replaced 'high-tech lynching'?" to discuss the phenomenon.
Obama
reminds black graduates that they are victims because of color in commencement speech. As the focus shifts ever
so slowly on former President Barack Obama and his role in the shady effort to target President Donald Trump's campaign and
his administration once elected, Obama's voice is suddenly being heard a little more often. A voice that not only
endeavors to criticize his successor, but also moves to inflame racial tensions in the country — as if Obama
didn't do enough of that during his eight years in office.
Obama
speech to high school graduates. Former President Barack Obama on Saturday encouraged 2020 high school
graduates to embrace unity to solve the world's problems amid the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual commencement
speech to American's high school seniors, the former president offered "three quick pieces of advice" to take advantage of
the power that rests in young people's hands for the future.
Obama
offers up bitter, depressing, racially divisive commencement speeches. For eight years, Barack Obama was the
president of the most powerful nation in the world. In the three years since then, he's become one of the wealthiest
men in America, with an estimated net worth of $70 million. You'd think he'd be happy. He's not. Instead,
as Obama demonstrated in two videos streamed on Saturday to high school students and the graduates of historic black
colleges, he's still trafficking in anger, misery, and racial oppression. The man is a serious downer, despite his
perky delivery. Obama's first virtual commencement speech was a short video prepared for graduating high school
seniors. It pairs a vicious partisan attack with unseemly racial whining.
Obama
Tries to Whack Trump During Commencement Speeches, But Ends Up Owning Himself and Biden. Sounds like Barack
Obama is getting pretty nervous. After the whole Flynn case blew up, Democrats have been desperately spinning, knowing
that the investigation into this can hit at the top. We see the Jan. 5 meeting with Obama and Biden about Flynn, and
the Biden request for unmasking and now people are starting to ask that fateful question, "What did Obama and Biden know and
when did they know it." It even prompted an Obama "chat" with his former officials to "leak" a phone call to Yahoo's
Michael Isikoff, the same person who was leaked to about Carter Page. In the call, Obama tried to spin and deflect away
from what his administration had done, claiming that the "rule of law was at risk" because of the action to dismiss the
charges against Gen. Michael Flynn by the Department of Justice, that there was no precedent for the action. But
he got ripped for obviously being behind the leak.
Obama
mocks Trump's coronavirus response in online commencement speech. Barack Obama dissed President Trump's
coronavirus leadership, and ripped the Georgia men who shot Ahmaud Arbery, during a "virtual commencement" Saturday
[5/16/2020] for the graduates of historically black colleges. "More than anything else, this pandemic has fully finally
torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing," the former president said in
an online address aimed at the 27,000 graduating seniors of 78 schools. "A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in
charge," he added.
Obama's
dangerous myth about women and leadership. Democratic reliance on dangerous myths and falsehoods is no longer a
bug but a feature of their narrative and philosophy. Case in point are comments made this week by former President
Barack Obama. At an Obama Foundation Leaders event in Singapore, Mr. Obama, relying on gender stereotypes,
perpetuated an undeniable, and dangerous, myth that women are not just better than men, but inherently better leaders.
Obama:
'I Don't Care' Whether You'll Like the Nominee, Just Vote Democrat. On Thursday [11/28/2019], former President
Barack Obama was the main guest at a fundraiser in Silicon Valley. When asked a question about the many candidates
running, he told those present that he couldn't care less whether they'd like the eventual nominee. They just have to
vote for him/her/it. "Everybody needs to chill out about the candidates, but gin up about the prospect of rallying
behind whoever emerges from this process," Obama told the millionaire techies, according to far-left news channel CNN.
"There will be differences" between them, he added, "but I want us to make sure that we keep in mind that, relative to the
ultimate goal, which is to defeat a president and a party that has ... taken a sharp turn away from a lot of the core
traditions and values and institutional commitments that built this country," those differences are "relatively minor."
Obama and the legacy of liberal Democrat hubris.
[Scroll down] [John] Gage's article contains a CNN video report with Obama's actual words, which revealed a couple
things from the audio of the speech. First, the "One" is definitely out of practice speaking without a script to a live
audience, and two, the former purveyor of "Hope and Change" has either radically rehabilitated his political views... or he's
hiding something. On the first count, Obama spoke haltingly and searched for words. Granted he was never a
terrific off-the-cuff speaker to begin with, but he was never this bad. It's amazing how being in front of
cameras and microphones every day as president tends to make certain politicians skillful in extemporaneous utterances, at
least to the point where they don't make fools of themselves. Speaking proficiency is almost like a reflex, or perhaps
more aptly, is akin to a muscle. The more you exercise it the stronger it becomes. And if you let the muscle sit
idle, it results in atrophy. You heard it here — Obama's once legendary gift of gab is in atrophy.
Obama:
'Get Over' Being 'Woke,' Stop Online Outrage Cancel Culture. Former President Barack Obama warned young people
in Chicago on Tuesday [10/29/2019] that they should "quickly" get over trying to be "woke" because the world is a complex
place and that young people need to stop engaging in online outrage mobs and cancel culture. "This idea of purity and
you're never compromised and you're politically woke and all that stuff — you should get over that quickly," Obama
told an audience at the Obama Foundation Summit.
The Editor says...
What goes on at an "Obama Foundation Summit" — aside from the price of admission going into Michelle's pocket?
Obama
Uses Elijah Cummings Funeral To Talk About Himself — Again. One thing Barack Obama loves — really
loves — is... himself. Over the years, the former president has used all kinds of events to talk about himself.
Often, they're the most inappropriate venues at which to deliver an egocentric speech. Like Elijah Cummings' funeral. [...] Obama
used a eulogy for the late Democratic lawmaker on Friday [10/25/2019] to talk about himself. In a 15-minute speech, "Obama
referenced himself 30 times, averaging twice per minute.
PolitiFact
Excuses Blatant Lies Told By Barack Obama About American Gun Laws While In Brazil. Last week, former President
Barack Obama was doing something or another in Brazil that we hope did not involve wearing a Speedo and participated in a
"town hall" discussion. He was asked about the most difficult moment of his presidency and he said the sacking of the
US Consulate in Benghazi. Kidding. He said it was the Sandy Hook school shooting. Fair enough. But
what followed next was an series of lies that would have made Goebbels blush.
Obama Implies the
Trump-Era is Like the 'Dark Ages'. Former President Barack Obama was in Canada Friday night [5/31/2019] to tell
an enthusiastic audience that although the political landscape is going through new "dark ages" the "Renaissance" can't be
far behind. Without mentioning President Donald Trump's name, Obama suggested his nemesis was presiding over a "primal"
age of politics but that hope is waving on the horizon.
6 Gun Lies
(And One Truth) Obama Told In Brazil. On May 30, former president Barack Obama was a keynote speaker at an
event in Brazil. The event, VTEX Day, is billed as "the largest digital innovation event in Latin America."
During a conversation with a host on stage during the digital innovation event, Obama took the opportunity to speak
negatively about U.S. gun laws. He said, "Our gun laws in the United States don't make much sense. Anybody can
buy any weapon, any time, without much, if any, regulation. They can buy [guns] over the internet, they can buy machine
guns." His statement to a foreign audience includes six lies about our gun laws and one truth.
Barack
Obama: The United States Was 'Founded on Inequality'. Barack Obama asserted that the United States was
founded on inequality, despite the Constitution enshrining equality into the law. [...] Obama commented on his understanding
of the founding of the United States during the VTEXDAY 2019 conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday [5/29/2019].
Obama
Tells Multiple Lies About Guns In The U.S. To A Crowd In Brazil. Former President Barack Obama told multiple
lies on Thursday [5/30/2019] to a crowd in Brazil while discussing gun laws in the United States — something that he
repeatedly did during his presidency. In a clip flagged by Grabien's Tom Elliott, Obama stated: "Some of you may
be aware our gun laws in the United States don't make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon, any time. Without
much, if any, regulation, they can buy it over the Internet, they can buy machine guns."
Obama
shatters previous record, mentions himself 467 times in one speech in Berlin. [W]hat's a comparatively young
(age 57) man with decades of life ahead to do to compensate? Self-reflection and personal growth are out of the
question, of course (this is Barack Obama, after all, the man who claimed to better at everything than his aides charged with
speech-writing, economic policy and much more), so it appears that defensive ego boosting is his chosen course. As it
happens, the venue for his speech was Berlin, where in 2008 he addressed the largest crowd of his career. I don't know
the size of his audience yesterday in Berlin, but it had to be a tiny fraction of the 100,000+ he faced back when things
were going his way.
Arrogant
Obama Speaks in Berlin: "Michelle Would Leave Me if I Ever Ran For Office Again". Former President Barack
Obama arrived in Berlin Friday [4/5/2019] to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel at her office in private. On Saturday,
the Obama Foundation held a town hall with young civic leaders in Berlin. Obama went back to his roots as a community
organizer and said, "You can't organize a community if you don't have a community."
Justin
is in Trouble and Look Who Pops Up in Canada, Again. It does not appear accidental that each time Justin from
Canada starts finding himself in trouble, serious trouble; the same person happens to show up. In June 2017, Justin was
being challenged with a new NAFTA trade agreement[,] and former President Obama showed up while delivering a speech to the
Board of Trade in Montreal. Fast forward to today: March 2019 — the Canadian economy has halted;
Justin from Canada is embroiled in a growing bribery, corruption and obstruction of justice scandal around SNC-Lavin; and
immediately after he loses two cabinet ministers[,] former President Obama shows up to deliver a speech to the Board of
Trade in Vancouver.
Barack
Obama Is Still Trying To Rewrite His Presidential Legacy. Have you been following Obama's post-presidency
career as a comedian? Well, I have. His most commonly used bit was the claim that he didn't have any scandals
during his presidency. Though his usual audience tends not to laugh but to cheer at this claim, it is easily debunked
by anyone who paid attention during that time. It appears that Obama is now testing out some new material. In
addition to his "I didn't have any scandals" bit, he's now working in a couple new ones: [...]
Obama
envisions Mitch McConnell coming to his senses, feeling bad about Obamacare fight. Former President Barack
Obama took a jab at his old GOP rival, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., on Monday [3/4/2019]. About midway
through an hour-long discussion at Bell MTS Place, Obama spoke about fulfilling "democracy's promise" and fixing the problems
that have arisen from industrialization, climate change, and other issues in a globalized world. The 44th president
argued that average people, not politicians, will lead the pack, and cited McConnell as the centerpiece of his hypothetical
U.S. example.
Obama
delivers speech to Boeing after $10M donation made to his presidential center. Former President Barack Obama
delivered a speech at Boeing's annual executive retreat earlier this month after the company donated $10 million to Obama's
library and museum in Chicago. Obama made an appearance at the retreat to provide leadership tips and waived his usual
speaking fee for the occasion, Obama's spokeswoman Katie Hill told Bloomberg.
The Perpetual
Presidency. Former president Barack Obama recently continued his series of public broadsides against his
successor, President Donald Trump. Obama's charges are paradoxical. On one hand, Obama seems to believe that he,
rather than Trump, should be credited with the current economic boom and the emergence of the United States as the world's
largest energy producer. But Obama also has charged that Trump's policies are pernicious and failing. Apparently,
Obama believes that all of Trump's successes are due to Obama, and all of Trump's setbacks are his own.
The
Nerve: Obama Takes Credit for America's Energy Independence. "Suddenly America is like the biggest oil
producer, the biggest gas producer," said Barack Obama in an impromptu remark at Rice University on Tuesday [11/27/2018]. "That was
me, people." After a minute of additional economic boasts, Obama instructed the audience, "Say 'thank you.'" Here was
the essential Obama on display: smug, verbally maladroit, and shockingly dishonest. If America increased its energy
production while Obama was in the White House, it was despite of his policies, not because of them. In a June 2010 speech
after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Obama reminded America that "part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile
beneath the surface of the ocean — because we're running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water."
In scolding America for its dependence on cheap oil, Obama rolled out all the self-hating green clichés: we consume
ten times more than we produce; we need to end our "century-long addiction to fossil fuels; oil is a finite resource."
Implicit in the speech was the idea that consuming oil was in itself an evil like, say, shooting heroin or watching Fox News.
After listing some alternative approaches to energy production, Obama claimed to be open to new ideas "as long they seriously tackle
our addiction to fossil fuels."
Obama
takes credit for U.S. oil-and-gas boom: 'That was me, people'. Former President Barack Obama took credit once
again for the U.S. oil-and-gas boom, even though critics noted Wednesday that the upswing in oil and natural gas production
occurred in spite of his policies. Mr. Obama told the audience at a gala for Rice University's Baker Institute
that he was "extraordinarily proud of the Paris accords" before saying "I know we're in oil country and we need American
energy." "You wouldn't always know it, but it went up every year I was president," he said to applause. "That
whole — suddenly America's like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas — that was me, people."
Joke
of the day: Obama takes credit for oil boom. Obama in 2012: "We can't just drill our way to lower gas
prices." Obama on Tuesday: "Suddenly America is the largest oil producer, that was me, people ... say
thank you."
Barack Obama's
failed reset. The Obamas left the White House almost two years ago. Can you believe it? But they
don't want you to forget how awesome they were. Excuse me, are. Well, with Michelle's current rock star-like book
tour, the pair's global speech and their deep ties to Hollywood celebs, they are hard to avoid. Tuesday night [11/27/2018],
Barack Obama visited the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and he came off as a man who is obsessed with
himself and obsessed with taking credit for another guy's (Trump's) success.
On
TV, Only Fox Locates Obama Boasting on Oil Boom: 'That Was Me, People!' When former president Barack Obama
starts bragging about his record as president, sounding remarkably egotistical, the networks seem to ignore it. New
York Times reporter Peter Baker reported on a Houston event where Obama sat next to former Bush Secretary of State James
Baker (no relation to Peter) and boasted about how America's oil boom is all his doing: [Video clip]
Barack Melts Down.
The liberal/hysteric global warming theory has been refuted, and global warming advocates now admit that their
models — the only basis for hysteria in the first place — are wrong. But, like a dead frog whose
legs continue to kick, clueless liberals like Barack Obama parrot the pro-government line, not because it makes any
scientific sense, but because it supports their statist desires. Which brings us to the rest of Obama's riff:
Americans are "confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism, mommy issues." This is more or less insane.
What do hate and anger have to do with scientific debates about the influence of carbon dioxide on the earth's atmosphere?
Nothing, except that hate and anger are directed against all who publish scientific data that undercut the liberals'
politically-motivated narrative. And racism? How does race have anything to do with global warming? It
doesn't. "Racism" is now an epithet that usually has nothing at all to do with race.
How
Can We Miss Him When He Won't Go Away? In the video we can observe the hauteur and condescension that we came
to loathe about Obama. He combines unearned technocratic arrogance with the will to power. He thinks we didn't
get enough of it during the eight-year reign during which he lectured us at regular intervals to demonstrate his superiority
and put us in our place. The otherwise mysterious reference to "mommy issues" that John notes adds an obvious element
of projection to this incredibly offensive display. [Video clip]
Here's
The Video 'Wherein Obama Dismisses The Value Of Every Political Figure He's Dealt With In The Entire World In
1:19'. On the heels of launching efforts to save a veteran who said he wanted to kill himself, James
Woods — whose Twitter feed has become one of the more popular conservative follows — offered his fans a
reminder of the self-proclaimed superiority of the president whose legacy has been all but eliminated within the first two
years of Trump's presidency. "Wherein #Obama dismisses the value of every political figure he's dealt with in the
entire world in one minute and nineteen seconds. Amazing therefore that the 'world's smartest man' accomplished
absolutely nothing in eight of the longest years in history," wrote Woods, in a tweet noted by Twitchy. The video
highlighted by Woods is a clip from Obama's conversation with author Dave Eggers at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago
Tuesday, which includes the following truly "amazing" remarks by the former hopeful community organizer-turned-disappointed
commander in chief: [...]
Obama gets ugly.
We all know why Obama is upset. President Trump is systematically erasing his legacy, transforming it into a healthy,
21st century approach to the problems our nation faces. Just as Donald John Trump transformed the Commodore Hotel from
a cockroach-ridden fleabag place into the Grand Hyatt New York, so President Trump renovates American foreign and domestic
policy. Obama seethes. Last night at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Obama cried out in pain.
Obama
Trashes President Trump: 'Confused, Shrouded in Hate, Racism... Mommy Issues'. Barack Obama trashed President
Trump on Monday night while speaking about ways to mobilize Americans to bring about social change at an Obama Foundation
Summit in Chicago. Arrogant Obama accused President Trump of ignoring the climate change hoax because he's a racist
with mommy issues.
Rush
Plays Clip Of Obama Taking Credit For Trump's Booming Economy, Thoroughly Roasts Him. On Monday [11/5/2018], conservative
talk show host Rush Limbaugh roasted former President Barack Obama for trying to take credit for his successor's booming economy in
"pathetic" fashion. Obama made the remarks on Sunday night in Chicago, where he was campaigning for Democrats. Rush started
by knocking Obama for his underwhelming crowd size relative to the typical numbers Trump can pull in. "By the way, this was
another meager crowd," he said. "I mean, they said it was 9,600 people. They said that's what this place held. It was
not full. Obama, the Clintons, they just can't ... they can't do it. They cannot do what Trump does. They cannot
draw crowds. They cannot create excitement. They're trying. They want in on the action, but they're not pulling it off."
Obama
Unhinged: Mocks Hillary's emails, Ebola, Trump, migrant caravan — in under 90 seconds!. Former
President Barack Obama has had a hard time staying focused on the campaign trail lately. While stumping in Miami,
Florida, with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, and Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, the former president
tried his best to deliver a home run speech before Tuesday's midterm elections. [...] Obama, without a whiff of
self-awareness, went on to claim Republicans and Trump have been "shamelessly lying."
Obama
Campaigns with Fake Nurse in Final Chicago Rally. Democrats call Congressional candidate Lauren Underwood the
"Naperville nurse running for Congress." Good Morning America ran a segment on 'Nurse Lauren" and is promoting Lauren
Underwood for Congress in Illinois' 14th district. GMA is also promoting 'Nurse Underwood' on their Facebook page in a
video. There's just one problem. Lauren is not a registered nurse in Illinois or any state. She has never
worked a day as a nurse in her life.
Obama's
90-Second Temper Tantrum About Conservatives And The Midterm Election. Former President Barack Obama has been
traveling across the country campaigning on behalf of Democratic candidates. During a campaign rally for Sen. Bill
Nelson (D-FL) in Miami on Friday [11/2/2018], Obama became unhinged over conservatives and what we say will happen if Democrats
take power. [...] President Obama, once again, proved that he doesn't understand what families across America are going through
or why Trump won to begin with.
Obama Shows Up In Miami & Tries
To Be Trump, Hecklers Teach Him Nasty Lesson. Former President Barack Obama flew to Florida on Friday
[11/2/2018], where he spoke at a Miami rally for Sen. Bill Nelson and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew
Gillum. Apparently, he was still trying to be president even though his time in the White House ended nearly two years
ago. Obama lectured voters about health care, hate, and rhetoric. However, it wasn't long before several fed-up
hecklers taught him a nasty lesson.
Democrats Freak: Obama Can't Fill
Arena & Loses Control In Wild-Eyed Shrieking Rant. Barack Obama was supposed to be the Democratic messiah,
bringing on the big blue wave. But, the Obama of 2008 and 2012 is gone, and the truth is, he can't fill arenas.
The former president was just caught on video with white hair, sunken eyes, and a shrill voice that often cracked and
stuttered terribly while speaking. Well, we just discovered what Barack and the Democrats are trying so hard to
hide. Something stinks when it comes to Democratic rallies. In fact, there is something they can't deny.
Even their number one guy, Barack Obama, is having a [difficult] time filling up a venue. Instead, the mainstream media
has to take photos at certain vantage points to give the impression there are tens of thousands in attendance.
2018
Midterms: All About Obama. Former President Selfie Stick is back in action, firing up Democrats before
the midterms with his signature rallying cries: I, I, I, I! Me, me, me! My, my, my! According to a tally by
The American Mirror's Kyle Olson, Barack Obama's campaign speech Monday for Nevada Senate Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen
referred to himself 92 times in 38 minutes — or an average self-allusion every 24.7 seconds.
When he wasn't "I"-ing, the former narcissist-in-chief was lying. "Unlike some, I actually try to state facts," Obama
snarked passive-aggressively in a swipe at President Donald Trump. "I don't believe in just making stuff up. I
think you should actually say to people what's true."
2018
Midterms: All About Obama. Former President Selfie Stick is back in action, firing up Democrats before
the midterms with his signature rallying cries: I, I, I, I! Me, me, me! My, my, my! According to a tally by
The American Mirror's Kyle Olson, Barack Obama's campaign speech Monday for Nevada Senate Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen
referred to himself 92 times in 38 minutes — or an average self-allusion every 24.7 seconds.
When he wasn't "I"-ing, the former narcissist-in-chief was lying. "Unlike some, I actually try to state facts," Obama
snarked passive-aggressively in a swipe at President Donald Trump. "I don't believe in just making stuff up. I
think you should actually say to people what's true."
Obama
Says Politicians Lying Is Something 'We Have Not Seen Before.'. Obama spun news, evaded questions, contradicted
himself and made false statements a number of times while he was in office. In 2011, Obama claimed he "signed into law
the biggest middle-class tax cut in history," referring to the Making Work Pay provision in his stimulus package.
Obama's calculation for his claim was based on "dubious math," according to The Washington Post. Former-presidents John F.
Kennedy and George W. Bush signed larger tax cuts into law. When campaigning for the Affordable Care Act, Obama claimed,
"If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it." After his bill passed, cancellation notices hit at least
two million Americans' mailboxes because of a short cutoff to bring existing plans in compliance with the new law, The
Washington Post reported.
Obama
To Millennials: Don't Let Your Grandparents Choose Your Senator. Obama is always a class act. A
condescending, sneering class act, sowing racial, class and even generational division with a wink and a smirk. [...] Obama
broke the Dems, but in doing so they've left him behind. His routine of peddling the illusion of hip would have been
news years ago. It would also have been more effective. Now it's just a tired old joke.
Obama
Says 'Things Will Work Better' If Women 'Run Things'. On his MSNBC show The Beat on Tuesday, Ari Melber played a clip
of Barack Obama at a rally in Nevada, saying: "Nevada, you could be the first state ever to elect a state legislature where the
majority are women [wild applause.] Which, I'm pretty sure things will work better if you give women a chance to run things for
a while. But you have to vote!" [Video clip] If Obama really believed that, why didn't he step aside and let
History's Most Qualified Person take the Democrat nomination in 2008? Melber concluded: "Former President Obama basically
saying it's somebody else's turn." Now that he had his turn. Currently in the Nevada state legislature, 38 percent
of the seats are occupied by women. That's the third highest in the country.
Classless
Barack Obama Continues Midterm Campaigning; Compares Trump to "Tin-pot Dictatorship". Barack Obama continued to
campaign against Republicans on Monday. The former president broke precedent this year by campaigning against the
opposition party after leaving office. On Monday [10/22/2018] Obama took credit for the Trump economy —
which is a joke. Obama then compared President Trump to a tinpot dictatorship.
Barack
Obama Is Back On The Campaign Trail And Back In A Box. Former president Barack Obama was onstage at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Monday [10/22/2018], doing a familiar, uncomfortable job. He was here to rally
Democrats and to fight cultural tides the party didn't quite anticipate. It's a pattern that began in Massachusetts
back in early 2010, when Obama flew to Boston to save a special election that had come out of nowhere to nearly kill
Obamacare's chances in the Senate. Here in Nevada, the Trump moment that was supposed to sweep Sen. Dean Heller
away seems instead to have kept the Republican senator alive in Nevada, a state Hillary Clinton won two years ago.
Obama
Trashes Bush's Economy, Then Takes Credit for Trump's Economy. Former President Barack Obama, campaigning in
Nevada, took credit for a whole host of things that never happened. For example, he took credit for cutting the deficit
in half — that was after he doubled it. Then he blamed Bush for the bad economy he inherited and followed it
up by taking credit for President Trump's economy. He told the crowd to remember who started it — meaning
the Trump economy. He had the gall to say this after eight years of his anemic economy. It's obvious Donald Trump
cutting taxes and regulations are the main reasons the economy took off.
Knowles:
Obama Just Reminded Us All Of How 'Extraordinarily Annoying' He Is. On Tuesday's episode of "The Michael
Knowles Show," Michael remembered just how insufferable Obama is. "Barack Obama has hit the campaign trail again to
remind us all how extraordinarily annoying he is. He's theoretically stumping for Nevada senatorial candidate Jackie
Rosen. He's really just stumping for himself," he explained. After playing the clip, Knowles couldn't resist
ribbing the former president for making the event about his disappearing legacy.
Obama
Tells One Whopper Of A Lie. It's About Lying. Speaking in Nevada on Monday [10/22/2018], former president
Barack Obama uttered what may have been the most pompous, patronizing, and pretentious lie from a politician since Woodrow
Wilson, the president who championed executive power over legislative power by expanding the executive branch, who stated,
"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people." Obama actually said this: "Unlike some I actually
try to state facts. I believe in facts. I believe in a fact-based reality and a fact based politics. I
don't believe in just making stuff up."
'I
Got A Lot To Say': Obama refers to himself 92 times during 38-minute NV speech. Barack Obama was supposed to
talk about Nevada Senate candidate Jacky Rosen in Las Vegas on Monday [10/22/2018]. Appearing under the guise of speaking
on behalf of Democrat candidates at a University of Nevada rally, the former president really just wanted to talk about
himself. [Video clip]
Obama
Hits Campaign Trail To Talk About Himself. Obama is re-appearing, worried about his "legacy." His biggest
accomplishment in his eight-year presidency? More Americans now know how to spell "narcissism."
Obama
repeatedly stutters, talks about himself 79 times while campaigning for candidates. There were times during a
Thursday rally Barack Obama couldn't help but talk about himself, even though he was supposed to be talking about other
people. There were other times he could barely talk at all. During the Cleveland rally for Rich Cordray and Betty
Sutton, Obama repeatedly talked about himself, despite the candidates sitting behind him. Several times, he stuttered
as he attempted to attack President Trump and the success of recent Republican initiatives. [...] "Let, let, let, let, let me
just say these, these are friends of mine," Obama said, stumbling over his words, "I admit I am biased."
Obama
Demonizing Trump and Republican Voters Coast to Coast. When former President Barack Obama hits the campaign
trail, he hits the campaign trail. He delivered speeches in three different states in the span of a week. It
began with a zingy critique of the Trump presidency in California. The second stop was the University of Illinois and
he finished up the week with a campaign rally for the Democrat candidates running for governor and lt. governor in
Ohio. In California, he used the example of the "arc of history" — the push and pull in politics.
Those who promised hope and those who promote fear, for example. He referenced people in power trying to divide the
country. The irony is lost on his swooning audience.
By
attacking Trump, Obama shows he's a self-absorbed partisan warrior, not a senior statesman. After leaving
office, most modern presidents have largely eschewed partisan activity and avoided the normal rough-and-tumble of politics.
[...] Most modern ex-presidents have similarly handled their post-White House political activities by accentuating the
positive about their party and its candidates, rather than turning themselves into attack dogs. Not so President
Obama. He launched himself into the campaign for the Nov. 6 midterm elections with a speech Friday at the University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Obama's
baack! But which party will he help the most in this fall's midterms? Who will a campaigning Obama help
more — Democrats, who now think of him more fondly than they did at the time, or Republicans, who'll be reminded by
that unctuous voice why they really, really need to vote on Nov. 6? At least once. It's not like Democrats
have a wide choice of big-name campaigners to help. They're all geriatrics. [...] Obama is younger and holds the same high
approval among Democrats as Trump does among Republicans, like nine-out-of-ten. Obama's still a real good talker, though
the new millionaire sounds kind of whiney about the billionaire Trump getting credit for the booming economy.
Obama Attacks
Trump. During a speech on September 7th to students at the University of Illinois, former president Barack
Obama said, "the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party."
Once more, the Democrats are attempting to get away with their signature political gambit — blaming their opponents
for what they themselves have done. The most successful accomplishment of the Democrats is what author Mark Levin calls
the "balkanization" of society, or what Obama himself referred to as "division and resentment and paranoia." Using their
perverted version of "diversity," the Democratic Party — under the leadership of Obama — fomented division
and hatred after promising just the opposite. Instead of making everyone feel they are part of a unified American social
structure, the Obama presidency played into the leftist strategy of "divide and conquer." The Democrats use diversity to
exploit discontented elements in American society and to invalidate the individual.
Obama,
the Great Divider when in office, lacks the credibility to lecture America. "It did not start with Donald
Trump," former President Barack Obama said last week in his melodramatic speech on the current divisions in American
politics. "He is a symptom, not the cause." If Obama had stopped there, he might have been right. He was
trying to describe American politics as suffering a crisis of "division and resentment and paranoia." Indeed, it is, and
indeed it didn't start with Trump. It didn't start with Obama either. But Obama played a key role in making it
much worse than it had been before him. Obama governed as an uncompromising ideologue and a hard partisan for eight
years. And his desire to antagonize political enemies, above and beyond the meeting of his policy goals, was a critical
factor in the election of President Trump.
Failed
Obama attacks successful Trump in bitter swan song. Former President Obama subjected students at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to an hour-long verbal tranquilizer Friday as he attacked President Trump and stuck to his
usual specialty: mendacity and self-love. Obama started by noting that former presidents usually keep quiet about
politics as a courtesy to their successors, even if they disagree with them or if the successors come from the other
party. He cited George Washington as a practitioner of this custom. He could have found examples as recent as
former President George W. Bush, who afforded Obama his silence. But President Obama figured that even after an
eight-year presidency, which itself followed a year-long campaign filled with lofty if conceited language, the world still
needed to hear more of his words.
Obama
re-emerges to remind voters why they elected Trump. Just in time to remind America why voters elected Donald
Trump president two years ago, ex-President Barack Obama emerged from political exile last week. Pompous, insufferable,
self-enthralled, cliched and uninspiring, he picked up right where he left off. Reliving his eight-year campaign that
cost over 1,000 Democrat politicians their seats, Mr. Obama put on his psychiatrist cap and declared our current
politics mentally unwell.
Obama vs.
the Nation. Transference is a psychiatric term for the ability to take your faults and ascribe them to
others. In the dictionary next to the definition should be a photo of former President Barack Obama, particularly the
section in his September 7 University of Illinois speech where he attacked President Trump for fomenting paranoia and
division: [...] It is Barack Hussein Obama who divided America and incited paranoia, attacking, cops, Christians, and
clingers, just to name a few.
The Banality of Barack.
While lecturing college students assembled in an auditorium in central Illinois — the adopted home state he rarely
visits — Barack Obama engaged in the type of vacuous, preening, pretentious, and meaningless soliloquy that once
upon a time was accepted as thoughtful political discourse. But it was a temper tantrum disguised as a sermon. [...]
Friday's speech was yet another reminder of why Donald Trump won in 2016: Voters rejected Barack Obama as much as they
rejected Hillary Clinton. After a decade of binging on this skilled politician's oratory cocktail of empty platitudes,
self-puffery, and finger-wagging scoldings, we were burned out. Americans started to notice that the soaring rhetoric
did not match the accomplishments.
The Circus of Resistance.
Barack Obama decided that ex-presidents should attack current presidents, and thereby reminded the country why Trump was
elected. The author of the Russian "reset"and the hot-mic collusionary offer criticized Trump for being soft on
Putin. The president who never achieved annualized 3 percent GDP growth (and is the first president since 1933 who can
claim this "distinction") also claimed Trump's roaring economy was due to Obama-era policies (e.g., raising taxes, Obamacare,
more regulations, and "you didn't build that" commentaries). Fresh from trashing his successor in a funeral speech, the
ever audacious Obama called for more decorum.
Trump
Punches Back After Obama Attacked Him In Speech. President Donald Trump slammed former President Barack Obama
on Friday after his predecessor attacked him while giving a speech aimed at helping Democrats in the 2018 midterms. "As
a fellow citizen, not as a former president, but as a fellow citizen I am here to deliver a simple message," Obama said.
"You need to vote because our democracy depends on it." Obama went on to take multiple shots at Trump, saying that not
voting this November will result in "dire consequences."
Obama's
Benghazi Body Bags No Mere Conspiracy Theory. The arrogance of the man who lied to the parents of the Benghazi
dead in front of their sons' caskets as they were returned to the country they fought for is mind-boggling. As he
attempted to rewrite many chapters of his failed presidency in a speech at the University of Illinois, he called the accurate
and documented reports of the criminal negligence of secretary of state Hillary Clinton and himself during the September 11,
2012 terrorist attack on our Benghazi compound a mere "conspiracy theory."
Return of
the Hypocrite. After staying mostly quiet for the last year and a half, Barack Obama has emerged to campaign
for the Democrats in the midterm elections. The king of hypocrisy wasted no time denouncing President Trump for being
divisive and failing to respect the Constitution. He also tried to claim credit for the economy's taking off as soon as
his policies were reversed. Did I mention chutzpah?
Obama
Claims He Never Tried to Silence Conservative Opponents, He Forgets Operation Rushbo. Obama's attack on Trump
was filled with lies, omissions and more lies. [Obama quotation omitted for brevity, among other things.] It shouldn't
be Democrats or Republicans who say that we shouldn't eavesdrop on reporters, prosecute them or target pundits who disagree with you,
with organized campaigns. But Obama did those things anyway. Operation Rushbo comes to mind. As does James Rosen.
The Audacity of Obama.
Few things could be more embarrassing than giving Barack Obama a prize for "ethics in government," as the University of
Illinois did on Friday [9/7/2018]. [...] The media has made a great deal of Donald Trump's personal moral failings and
fabrications. The funny thing is, his exaggerations and braggadocio don't affect our lives. But when Barack Obama
told us that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it," knowing full well that this was untrue, he defrauded every
American. And when he and his staff knowingly misinformed the media about the nature of the Iran Deal, he made every
American (and every Middle Easterner) less safe. [...] And now that Donald Trump has waved that wand, sparking the economy,
renegotiating trade deals, bring America to the point that — for the first time in history — the
Department of Labor reported more jobs available than people looking for work. Obama wants you to believe it was all
his doing.
Former
President Obama Appeals to California Voters: "Things Can Get Worse". Breaking with all presidential
traditions of respectfully staying out of politics while your successor delivers on the policies of his election, former
President Barack Obama spoke again today at an invitation only campaign rally in Anaheim, California. Many media
outlets are now carrying the former Presidents' daily speeches live during their broadcasts. There is a visible sense
of panic amid the far-left apparatchik.
Obama
Is Back Out Trashing Trump in Anaheim. President Obama trashed President Trump and accused him of racism Obama
attempted to take credit for President Trump's economic miracle. On Saturday [9/8/2018] Barack Obama was back out
stumping against President Trump. This is unprecedented conduct for a former US president.
My Thank You
Note to Barack Obama. Thank you so much for shattering ex-presidential tradition by making a very public
campaign attack on the Donald Trump administration. Your appearance, broadcast life on CNN and reported with [great]
admiration by the media while at the same time more of the best economic numbers in my lifetime continue to roll out is
precisely the thing we need to motivate the GOP base. Given that the democrat base in already highly motivated and will
undoubtedly turn out in 2018 the primary need for Democrats is to keep the GOP base home and comfortable, basking in the good
economic news too busy working making money and enjoying the results of the Donald Trump economy to notice otherwise.
The
Thrill Is Gone: Only 750 Turn Out to See Former President Obama in Far-Left California. This weekend, in
an unprecedented move, former President Barack Obama went on the campaign trail to push the far-left Democrat agenda in the
upcoming November elections. But, it didn't quite turn out like he expected. Only 750 people showed up at his
event in far left California!
Is Obama running
scared? Former President Obama is back on the political hustings again, this time sounding less combative in
his warnings to voters to vote for his chosen Democrats — and a bit more scared. [...] But what's really vivid is
the nervous, wary, warning tone of his, suggesting that he really really wants Democrats to vote for his minions ... because
he himself feels endangered.
He
picked a funny day to talk about himself. President Obama's back, but he picked a bad day to re-emerge.
On one side of the screen, there was President Obama talking about the recovery that started on his watch. On the other
half, the news-reader was telling us about economic numbers not seen in a long time. My guess is that he'd preferred a
different day to make his reappearance. So why is Obama back? My guess is that this is all about getting black
Americans out to vote.
Trump
better take advantage of Obama's underwhelming return. With Hillary Clinton already part of the midterm scrum,
Barack Obama's entry last Friday shows the old band is getting back together again. So far, the music is uninspiring.
Clinton, as usual, is all about the money. Her latest slush fund, Operation Together, sent an email offering donors a
"Resist" sticker if they send her $5. I was able to resist the offer. Obama, meanwhile, gave his first campaign
speech since leaving the White House and his media handmaidens instantly swooned like giddy teenagers.
A
Comparison of Two Presidents: President Trump versus President Obama — Their First 600 Days.
As we approach the first 600 days into the Donald J. Trump Presidency it's again time to assess his accomplishments.
What better way to perform this analysis than to compare his results to the prior Administration's — President Barack H.
Obama's? On Friday [9/8/2018] former President Barack Obama gave a speech in Illinois where he was critical of the current
President while never referring to President Trump as "President". Obama then took credit for President Trump's economy.
Fact
Check: Obama's Speech Attacking Trump at University of Illinois. President Barack Obama returned to the
political fray on Friday morning, delivering a speech at the University of Illinois, which gave him an award for "ethics in
government." Leaving aside, for now, the question of whether Obama deserved an ethics award, all should agree that the
University of Illinois had no business giving one. That corrupt institution hoped to use Obama's speech to rewrite
history — as did Obama, who portrayed a false and fanciful portrait of America, then and now.
Obama
cracks up with Trump Derangement Syndrome. On September 7, Barack Obama gave a speech in Illinois bitterly
attacking President Trump and talking about his favorite subjects: himself and slavery. Obama is angry. He
called on his followers to get out and vote in November to defeat Trump. He is angry that the voters rejected him in
2016 by electing Trump instead of Hillary. He knows that this was a rejection of his policies, and more importantly, it
was a rejection of Obama personally. Obama cannot accept this. He and Joe Biden campaigned for Hillary daily, and
Obama even said he would take it as a personal insult if black voters didn't vote for Hillary. Black voters and
Hispanic voters ignored Obama's orders. Trump got more black and Hispanic voters than Romney in 2012.
Obama's
bitter sore spot: The Trump economy. Back on center stage and partisan as ever, President Obama leaped
back into politics Friday with a stemwinder stump speech on behalf of his fellow Democrats, declaring Democrats the fount of
all progress, bringing up his favorite hobbyhorses, and, most notably, blasting Trump for his economy... before saying
the economy was all his. I think we know what Obama's sore spot is now.
Obama
Tells College Students: 'There's Always Been Another Darker Aspect to America's Story'. Former President Barack
Obama delivered an address at the University of Illinois today, where he accepted an "ethics in government award." In
part of his address, Obama focused on incumbent President Donald Trump as just the latest example of one of the things he
sees wrong with the United States of Americas. "Of course, there's always been another darker aspect to America's
story," Obama said. "Progress doesn't just move in a straight line. There's a reason why progress hasn't been
easy and why throughout our history every two steps forward seems to sometimes produce one step back."
It's called "gaslighting," and Obama isn't very good at it. Obama
Calls Benghazi A Wild Conspiracy Theory. Benghazi Hero Levels Him. Former President Barack Obama suggested on
Friday [9/7/2018] that outrage over the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi — which resulted in the deaths of
four Americans — was a result of "wild conspiracy theories." Obama, trying to help the Democrats in the 2018
midterms, attacked President Donald Trump while speaking at the University of Illinois where he accepted the Paul H. Douglas
Award for Ethics in Government. "But over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has
unfortunately found a home in the Republican party," Obama said. Obama then attacked Republican members of Congress, accusing
them of embracing "wild conspiracy theories like those surrounding Benghazi."
Obama
less combative in California speech. Looking to rally support for several Democratic congressional candidates
across California, former President Barack Obama took a more measured tone Saturday — after a strongly worded
speech the day before where he leveled blistering criticism of his successor and the GOP. Obama said the November
midterm elections would give Americans "a chance to restore sanity in our politics" during his 20-minute speech to a crowd of
around 900 Democratic faithful at the Anaheim Convention Center, while warning voters of the risks of keeping Republicans in power.
Obama
tries to demonize Trump voters, following Hillary's losing strategy. Former President Obama gave the nation some
insights into the Democratic Party's midterm election strategy Friday [9/7/2018] with a political speech demonizing Americans who
elected Donald Trump as president and doubling down on the failed liberal ideology that devastated our economy. In a moment
reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's outrageous characterization of Trump voters as "deplorable" and "irredeemable," President Obama
said: "I have to say this ... Over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has
unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party."
McEnany
Blasts Obama's 'Load of Lies': His Admin Used 'Political Apparatuses to Target Individuals'. Kayleigh McEnany fired back after
former President Barack Obama took aim at President Donald Trump and Republicans during a speech in Illinois. Speaking at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Friday [9/7/2018], the former president accused Trump of "capitalizing on resentments that politicians have
been fanning for years." Obama also said Trump is attempting to use the Justice Department as a "cudgel" to punish his political opponents
and protect Republican lawmakers ahead of November's midterm elections. On "Outnumbered Overtime," McEnany, a Republican National Committee
spokesperson, called out Obama's "load of lies," arguing that the Trump administration is doing things the right way, while the Obama
administration used "political apparatuses" to protect allies and target enemies.
Barack
Obama Trashes Trump [and] Tries to Take Credit For Trump's Booming Economy. Barack Obama crawled out of his
hole Friday and trashed President Trump — calling him out by name, then took credit for the booming economy.
Obama gave a speech at the University of Illinois Friday and arrogantly took credit for Trump's booming economy. Barack
Obama couldn't even run a lemonade stand; he is the only president in history to never see a single year of 3.0% GDP growth
yet here he is with a smug look on his face giving himself credit for Trump's accomplishments.
Obama
Touts Record of Support for Free Press Despite Criticism. President Obama compared his record of supporting a
free press to President Trump's during a Friday speech in Chicago. "It shouldn't be Democratic or Republican to say
that we don't threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish stories we don't like," Obama said during
a speech at the University of Illinois. "I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut
them down, or call them 'enemies of the people.'" While Obama has refrained from characterizing the media as "the enemy
of the people," Department of Justice during his presidency monitored the phone records of journalists considered hostile to
the administration and tried to compel a New York Times reporter to release the name of a confidential source.
The administration also labeled another a Fox News reporter an "un-indicted coconspirator" in prosecuting a government
official for leaking classified information under the Espionage Act.
Obama
Hammers GOP in Stunning Speech: 'What Happened to the Republican Party?!' In his first big speech of the
midterm cycle, former President Barack Obama not only denounced President Donald Trump but went on a tear against the entire
GOP. Obama rather bluntly asked, "What happened to the Republican party?!" The former president denounced the
politics of fear and division and said it's not limited to one party or the other. However, as he continued, he said,
"Over the past few decades, the politics of division, resentment, and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the
Republican Party."
The Editor says...
Mr. Obama should not accuse others of paranoia.
Democrats
Hope for a Richard Nixon Repeat. Striding to the pulpit, Obama delivered a searing indictment of the man
undoing his legacy. "So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty,"
he said, "trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage. It's a politics that
pretends to be brave and tough but in fact is born of fear." Speakers praised McCain's willingness to cross party lines,
but Democrats took away a new determination: from here on out, confrontation!
Obama
endorses 'Medicare for All' in campaign rollout. Former President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed an idea being
pushed by liberal Democrats to give everyone coverage under Medicare, calling it one of the "good new ideas" that Democrats
are promoting. "Democrats aren't just running on good old ideas like a higher minimum wage, but on good new ideas like
'Medicare for All,'" Obama said in a speech delivered in Urbana, Ill., Friday [8/31/2018] that was intended to kick off his
midterm election campaigning.
Navy Seal Rob O'Neill
To Obama: 'Try Saying Radical Islam'. Rob O'Neill, the Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama Bin Laden,
challenged President Barack Obama to say "radical Islam" on Friday [9/7/2018]. Obama delivered a long rebuke of President
Donald Trump in Illinois on Friday [8/31/2018] and specifically knocked the president for his reaction to the Charlottesville
neo-Nazi marches last summer. "How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?" Obama asked. SEAL Team 6 member
O'Neill shot back at the former president on Twitter, questioning when he would finally acknowledge the reality of radical
Islamic terror.
'I
Fell Asleep' During Barack Obama Speech. President Donald Trump responded quickly to former President Barack
Obama's speech on Friday [9/7/2018], claiming that he fell asleep during the speech. "I'm sorry, I watched it, but I
fell asleep," he said. "I found he's very good for sleeping." The president responded to Obama's critical speech
of his presidency during a fundraising speech in Fargo, North Dakota.
Obama
speech to urge big Democratic turnout in November elections. Former U.S. President Barack Obama assailed
President Donald Trump and Republicans on Friday [9/7/2018], urging Democrats to deliver a check on the administration's
"abuses of power" and restore a sense of sanity to politics by voting in November's elections.
Obama Threatens to
Cancel Taxpayer-Funded Speech in Denmark if His Contract is Released to the Public. Representatives for Barack
Obama have threatened to cancel the former president's upcoming paid speech at a Denmark university if details of his
speaking contract are released to the public. Obama will participate in a moderated question and answer session on
Sept. 28 at the University of Southern Denmark before local business leaders, university students and local dignitaries,
according to Business Kolding, the event's organizer. But the event has already sparked criticism from citizens of
Denmark's Kolding Municipality, which is providing 750,000 kroner, or $117,000, in taxpayer funds to support the
behind-closed-doors event titled "A Conversation with President Barack Obama."
Obama:
'I never tried to hide the admiration I had for John McCain'. Barack Obama said being asked to speak at John
McCain's funeral was a 'precious and singular honor', but joked he had worked out why he and Bush — his political opponents — had
been asked. 'What a better way to get a last laugh than to get George and I to say nice things about him to a national audience,'
he said, lightening an otherwise emotional tribute. Obama and McCain were both in the race to become President in 2008, and though
the democratic candidate won, the pair made headlines for how quickly they sat down after the election to find ways to work together.
The Editor says...
As usual, Mr. Obama tried to make the occasion all about him.
McCain
resurrects the Wellstone memorial disaster. [Scroll down] Speaking of Obama, he too took a swipe at
Trump: "So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty, tracking in
bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage." That's rich coming from Obama. I wonder if
he has forgotten the "phony controversy" he created with his administration accusing Trump of colluding with the Russians,
trying to derail Trump's election, transition, and presidency. Or the "manufactured outrage" he pushed on the country
with the bogus "hands up, don't shoot" lie.
Barack
Obama Says He's 'First American President From Kenya' In Foreign Speech. Former President Barack H. Obama had a
slip of the tongue during a speech in Kogelo, Kenya today [7/21/2018]. "Now, three years ago, I visited Kenya as the
first sitting American President to come from Kenya," he said. There was a pause and some awkward laughter from the
crowd after he made his remark at the 5:49 mark of the 15-minute speech.
Plenty
of irony in Obama's takedown of Trump, Putin. Obama gave the keynote address at the Nelson Mandela Annual
Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, which on this occasion marked the 100th anniversary of Mandela's birth.
Certainly, there's much to criticize about Trump's performance in Helsinki, and as far as Democrats are concerned, his entire
presidency. As for Putin, once a KGB thug, always a KGB thug; he's a clear and present danger to the Western
democracies and the entire world order. Perhaps Obama, whose father grew up in Kenya, was just playing to the home
crowd by lambasting excesses elsewhere and ignoring the obvious suppression of human rights that exists throughout
Africa. It's no doubt easier to take on easy targets overseas and disregard the inconvenient truth right at your
doorstep. The former president missed a remarkable opportunity to warn the South African government and others about
the threats to democracy on their own continent — of which there are many.
Obama
slams politicians for 'utter loss of shame'. Former President Barack Obama gave his first major speech since
leaving office on Tuesday, calling today's times "strange and uncertain" and urging people to bring back the values of
"equality, dignity and kindness." "Each day's news cycle bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines," Obama
said in the opening of his speech at the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa. [...] While Obama
didn't directly name his successor, President Donald Trump, he countered many of Trump's policies implicitly by talking about
the values Mandela advocated, including acceptance and diversity, the right to education for all and the sanctity of truth
and democracy.
When
You Hear What Obama Just Said About Healthcare You Will Know Irony Is Officially Dead. President Obama gave a
scathing critique of the modern Democratic Party during a fundraiser at the Beverly Hills home of a mega-donor Thursday
[6/28/2018]. The former president was reluctant, however, to take any of the blame for the current state of the
Democratic Party. Obama admitted that the only regret he has after being head of the party for eight years was that
people loved and focused on him too much.
Barack
Obama Speaks of Himself as Poetic, Inspiring and Capable of Inducing Tingles. Barack Obama was the worst
economic president since World War II. Barack Obama was the only President to have not had even one year of 3% GDP
growth. His foreign policy was even worse. But to many faithful supporters he was a hero. This week Obama
warned donors to quit looking for a charismatic figure who is poetic, inspiring, and gives you tingles... like he did.
Obama the Oracle.
Courtesy of Edward-Isaac Dovere at Politico, we have an opportunity to enlighten our benighted selves with the mystic
pronouncements of former president and present political oracle Barack Obama, offered this week at a Democratic National
Committee fundraiser in Beverly Hills (California, not Michigan). The event was intended to help the DNC dig out of the
electoral hole at the federal, state and local levels that Democrats got themselves into during The Oracle's administration.
[...] Never one to miss a teachable moment, The Oracle gives us poor saps a hint: "If we don't vote, then this democracy
doesn't work." Reading the tea leaves, The Oracle appears to be instructing his audience that if Democrats don't vote,
Democrats don't get elected.
Obama
Says Dems Lost In 2016 Because 'People Were So Focused On Me'. Yup, the fact that Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate,
that much of America was sick of the Left's identity politics, and that Donald Trump ran one of the most energized campaigns in recent
years weren't the prime cause of the Democrats' woes; it was simply that Democrats couldn't muster the energy to vote because of Obama
himself. As Politico reports, speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser, Obama intoned, "Do not wait for the perfect
message, don't wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you're expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that
somehow, 'OK, I'll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote.' Because that's part of
what happened in the last election. I heard that too much. Boil it down ... If we don't vote, then this democracy doesn't work."
Not
so fast Obama, your biggest scandal is unfolding before our eyes. While speaking to a tech conference this week
in Las Vegas President Obamarepeated a claim he and many members of the media have made since his presidency came to an
end. "I didn't have scandals, which seems like it shouldn't be something you brag about," Obama said. "But
actually," he said, "if you look at the history of the modern presidency, coming out of the modern presidency without anybody
going to jail is really good. It's a big deal." The notion is obviously absurd on the face of it, for anyone who
paid unbiased attention over the eight years of his presidency.
'Scandal-free'
Obama is daring Trump to bust corrupt members of his administration. Mouthing an old trope dating from his time
in office and ever since, former President Obama declared at a Vegas conference that he had a scandal-free administration,
quite unlike President Trump. Supposedly, it was now a joke. [...] I don't see anything to joke about with that phony
claim, given that he's mouthed it quite a few times before, and not as a joke. What's more, he made that mendacious
claim just as he was being paid big dollars at the Las Vegas conference itself, which, as most Americans know, is typically a
disguised bribe for some favors performed earlier and in itself a scandal. His fees are reportedly $400,000, which is
nice money for a few minutes of speaking work.
Rather
Than Learn From Their Mistakes, Obama And His Supporters Simply Rewrite History. After the 2016 election, one
would reasonably assume those who stood in opposition to Donald Trump would reassess their own actions to ask how they may
have contributed to an atmosphere in which a man such as Donald Trump was able to be competitive — let alone win
an election. Unfortunately, rather than attempting to learn lessons from their mistakes, certain individuals are
doubling down and focusing solely on portraying the Obama legacy in the best possible light — even if that means
uttering outright falsehoods. Newsweek reported yesterday [5/24/2018] that when Barack Obama spoke at a tech conference
in Las Vegas Wednesday, the former President joked, "I didn't have scandals, which seems like it shouldn't be something you
brag about."
Barack
Obama Takes Jab At Donald Trump: 'I Did Not Have Scandals As President'. President Barack Obama took a light
swing at his successor during a tech conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. His eight years in office were scandal free,
he told the audience. "I didn't have scandals, which seems like it shouldn't be something you brag about," Obama joked.
The Editor says...
Newsweek says that was a joke. Was Obama really joking, or is that Newsweek's form of damage control?
Obama
to discuss tolerance in South Africa. Former President Obama will give a lecture in South Africa in July to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. The New York Times reported that the Obama Foundation
will invite 200 young people to Johannesburg, the country's capital, around the same time in mid-July for five days of
workshops and technical training.
It depends
on what the meaning of facts is. [Scroll down] Do you see the irony? Liberals don't see that they
are grossly guilty of what they are complaining about. They are the ones who don't accord legitimacy to opposing
views. Obama revealed his contempt for opposing viewpoints most infamously in his "bitter clingers" remark, but we
witnessed him demonstrating it throughout his presidency, when he seemed to take umbrage at disagreement itself, as opposed
to the reasons for the disagreement. If people disagree with leftists, they are being unreasonable, because leftist
ideas are self-evidently true. Even worse, they presume that they alone are compassionate and that conservatives are
heartless, self-interested wretches.
Obama
Whines About The Internet Giving News He Doesn't Like. Speaking at the Fourth Global Opinion Leaders Summit in
Japan over the weekend, former President Barack Obama lamented the wide array of news sources that exist now as opposed to
the days when three television networks controlled the dispensing of news, opined that his administration had shut the
Iranian nuclear program down, and bragged about his "calm" demeanor.
So
what was Obama's secret speech for the sports conference all about? President Obama made a speech before the
Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, and everyone there was told to keep it a secret. [...] The group is dedicated to
affirmative action for women in sports and obviously was so pleased at what he said (having paid good money to be there to
hear it) that its members weren't about to keep what they liked about the speech secret. Being lefties, they worship
the man, after all. But seriously, a sports conference? Obama? Who can barely ride a bicycle, let alone
play sports? He's not exactly the guy who'd know all that much about the topic enough to keep a secret on, except for
the fact that major-league sports is getting increasingly politicized by the left, and Obama is the left.
The
first rule of seeing Barack Obama in Boston is don't talk about seeing Barack Obama in Boston. The former
president appeared at a sports analytics conference hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Friday. But if
you were not an attendee at the event, don't expect to hear much about what Barack Obama shared. Officials managing the
12th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center put strict rules in place
that extended beyond barring the media from divulging Obama's insights.
Obama
delivers speech in Soviet-style vacuum. We all know that President Obama was never a transparent president, but
who would have thought the former commander-in-chief would stoop to giving a secret speech about sports. Yes, that's
right. The "most transparent president in history" — as Obama liked to call himself — spoke under
a bizarre gag order during his appearance yesterday at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention &
Exhibition Center.
Obama Takes Swipe At Trump
In Secret Speech. Former President Barack Obama took a veiled swipe at President Trump in a speech that was
meant to be off the record. Obama spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last Friday. All of
the attendees were told not to record or post about the speech online before they came. Reason.com obtained a recording
of the speech and reported on it. In the speech, Obama made a barely-veiled swipe at the Trump administration.
"We didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us," Obama claimed.
5 Things Barack Obama
Said in His Weirdly Off-the-Record MIT Speech. On Friday, former President Barack Obama spoke for an hour to an
audience of hundreds of people at a major sports policy conference at MIT, but his remarks were off-the-record and kept
completely secret by virtually all attendees, who had to agree that they would not record, photograph, tweet, or report on
the event before being granted a seat in the audience. Reason obtained a recording of the speech, however, and the most
newsworthy thing about it is the simple fact that the public wasn't supposed to hear it. In his remarks, Obama
expressed concern that Americans have segregated themselves into two "entirely different realities" where not just opinions
but basic facts are in dispute, claimed to have left office without a major "embarrassing" scandal, and proved that he really
loves basketball.
Obama
speech leaks after attendees were barred from sharing its contents. A publication has obtained a recording of
former President Obama's address at a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), despite attendees being
barred from sharing the contents of the speech. Reason published the recording of Obama's speech on Monday [2/26/2018],
writing that "the most newsworthy thing about it is the simple fact that the public wasn't supposed to hear it."
The Prince and the Community
Organizer. For a self-described community organizer, full of the anti-colonial dreams of his father, Obama
seems to enjoy inordinately rubbing shoulders with monarchs and princes. The BBC this week hailed his embarrassingly
empty chat with Prince Harry as his first post-presidential interview (it was actually conducted last September but released
only on Tuesday [12/26/2017]). The interview allowed two vapid liberals to wallow in their privilege while babbling
about a world without privilege. Nothing phrases like "platforms of change" tumbled forth as they both longed for
greater egalitarianism. The prince and the community organizer agreed that they are both "passionate" about helping
paupers. Obama, who is earning millions of dollars for twenty-minute speeches these days, says that he is concerned
about unfair pay, while Prince Harry worried about the lack of seriousness accorded young people before asking Obama to
choose his favorite Kardashian. [...] The interview overflows with such prattle, with Obama alternating between praising
and condemning the superficial politics he helped create.
HA!
Hyper-Partisan Obama Warns Society About Becoming Splintered By Online Biases. During his campaign for
president, Barack Obama vowed to deliver "hope and change" to Washington and pledged to move toward a post-partisan political
world. When he became president, he did just the opposite. He blamed Republicans in Congress for all his failures
and stoked the partisan flames that engulfed Capitol Hill. Now, though, the "elder statesman" says political
leaders — including himself, of course — need to make sure that the online world does not become too
splintered by biases.
'Thanks,
Obama!' Former president credits himself for strong economy. Former President Barack Obama is taking credit for
the robust economic growth that is taking place under President Trump. At a conference of mayors in Chicago,
Mr. Obama congratulated himself Tuesday for strong employment numbers in the U.S. this year, saying his climate-change
policies have contributed to growth. "As we took these actions, we saw the U.S. economy grow consistently,"
Mr. Obama said. "We saw the longest streak of job creation in American history by far, a streak that still
continues by the way." He added wryly, "Thanks, Obama."
Obama
Makes Trump/Hitler Comparison, Credits Himself for Strong Economy. On Tuesday night [12/5/2017], Barack Obama
did the inevitable when speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago: he dropped the worn out "Trump is Hitler" comparison for
everyone's enjoyment. Obama spent a lot of time talking about being a "citizen of the world," according to Crain's
Chicago Business. The former president boasted about saving "a million lives" thanks to his efforts in the Ebola
outbreak in Africa. "Things don't happen internationally if we don't put our shoulder to the wheel," he said, in
obvious retort to Trump's "America first" mentality.
Barack
Obama Calls For More Women In Power, Says Men 'Seem To Be Having Some Problems'. Former President Barack Obama
reportedly said more women should be in power since men are struggling to get the job done, referring to the increasing
number of powerful men who have been accused of sexual assault and harassment. Speaking at an invitation-only
conference, Les Napoleons, on Saturday, the 44th president told the room about "the importance of more focus on putting women
in power because men seem to be having some problems these days," French news agency AFP reported.
Bloviating
abroad, Obama reminds us why we elected Trump. Based on his speech for a group of communications executives
called 'Les Napoleons,' he thinks women make better leaders than men, men are 'having problems' with sex harassment, global
warming's Paris Treaty is coming back, and 'global challenges' must be faced. [...] For starters, what would Obama, community
organizer in chief, know about business sense? Obama seems to be opaque to the reality that the Paris climate accord
cost millions in productivity, tacked on insane costs and empowered a eurochicken-style bureaucracy, looking to expand its
power. As for absence of leadership, ask again why so many nations want out of that accord based on our lead? The
French, if they have any sense, should appreciate the fool's existential absurdity.
Obama
In Paris: 'We Have A Temporary Absence Of American Leadership'. Did you think Barack Obama was going to follow
his predecessor, George W. Bush, and fade into the background after eight years in the White House? Yeah, think
again. Obama can't stand being out of the spotlight for even one minute, which is why last week he embarked on an
five-day trip to China, India and France, where he met with foreign leaders as if he were some sort of shadow
president. In Paris on Saturday [12/2/2017], Obama said there is a "temporary absence of American leadership"
when it comes to tackling climate change.
Obama
Claims 'Democracy Is at Stake' in Virginia Governor Race. Barack Obama claimed at a campaign rally on Thursday
for Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam that "democracy is at stake" in the Virginia governor's
race. Obama took to his first day back on the campaign trail to lament the way politics has turned "nasty," and yet
Obama melodramatically argued that Virginians need to vote for Democrat Ralph Northam because "democracy is at stake."
Obama told the Virginia audience, "America is a story of progress. Ralph Northam wants progress. He wants to take
us forward, not backward. He wants to reach out for hope, not fear. We need you to take this seriously.
Because our democracy is at stake. And it's at stake right here in Virginia."
18 minute
speech, Barack Obama refers to himself 96 times. The neo-liberal messiah, and former US President, Barack Obama
gave a speech to globalist billionaires attending the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "Goalkeepers" conference. During
his speech the former POTUS referred to himself 96 times.
What
Is the Alternative to Trump Derangement? Barack Obama [...] recently remonstrated about the evils of inequality
and the need for more diversity — at $10,000 a minute to largely white, Wall Street audiences, while whining about
the ongoing recalibration of his failed Obamacare project. That is what passes for 21st-century progressive community
organizing. Left unsaid was that Obama had virtually destroyed the Democratic party, which during his tenure lost more
than 1,000 state and local elections and both the House and the Senate. Obama left a personal legacy of a party agenda
that had no popular support, an incoming Republican presidency, a conservative Supreme Court, a tenure to be systematically
overturned, and a one-time progressive electoral paradigm that could work only for himself while imploding almost any other
candidate foolish enough to try to replicate it. And progressives oddly loved him for all that.
The
latest news from the president in exile. The government in exile — the real one, according to the
media — has had a busy week at home and abroad. "President Obama" has given up leading from behind and
presumes now to lead from overseas. His secretary of state has a new mission, as missionary to the safe places where
snowflakes fall. Mr. Obama joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to lecture America and the West to
quit being so beastly to the strivers of the Third World, and open wider the borders of the West. "We can't isolate
ourselves," the former president said from a platform at the Brandenburg Gate. "We can't hide behind a wall."
As
SWAT teams circle, Obama in Berlin complains about walls. [Speaking in Germany,] Obama was surrounded by de facto SWAT
teams. Looking for terrorists, rioters and assassins. All of these elements are linked to Germany's open door on immigration and its
failure to assimilate immigrants so that even their offspring have become human bombs, desperate to go from zero to hero as they listen to radical
imams, get drunk on Internet chat boards, and join Islamist terrorist groups. The rabid left, of course, helps out with the riots.
Instead of a world of safety for everyone which is the democratic effect of walls keeping out Islamic terrorists, what's seen here, with the
balaclava crowd and the highly trained rooftop snipers keeping guard, is the logical result of Obama's and Merkel' open door policy. Walls
for elites, zero walls for people.
Obama
Lectures Trump Over Walls, Builds One Around D.C. Home. Former President Barack Obama joined German Chancellor
Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday to lecture the western world, and ostensibly President Donald Trump, on the supposed
benefits of opening their borders to the world — not three full days after a child of Libyan migrants blew himself
up at a concert filled with teenagers and children in Manchester. Speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate as part of
an event commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Obama told the crowd that problems abroad must become the
problems of western people, and took a not-so-subtle jab at Trump.
Former
U.S. President Obama Preaches Inherent Value of Communism to Italian Audience. [Scroll down] Four months
ago the man speaking those words, directly from the ideological outlook of the communist manifesto, was President of the
United States. I do not anticipate too many people watching that entire Obama video, but I did. It is alarming to
identify exactly what systems and methods the global overlords are anticipating having to construct. All in preparation
for ruling people. Because we are so far down the path, at this specific moment in history it is possible to see the
horizon ahead (where we are going), and also see the horizon behind (where we came from), and understand exactly where we're
standing. Understanding their long term agenda also helps to understand why there is so much opposition to President
Donald Trump. There are trillions of dollars at stake.
Obama's
Contradictory Climate Talk. He blamed climate change for everything from weather conditions in America ("where
states are seeing floods on sunny days, where wildfire seasons are longer and more dangerous") to the EU's influx of
migrants, which he claimed was caused not only by the conflict in Syria, but also by "food shortages that will get far worse
as climate change continues." (He later said the strain that climate refugees have put on the EU's political system is
"just the beginning.") That wouldn't be the only humanitarian tragedy that Obama would attribute to man-made climate
change during his appearance. He also blamed the phenomenon for making food production more difficult. "We've
already seen shrinking yields and spiking food prices that in some cases are leading to political instability." But for
most of the world outside, say, Venezuela or North Korea, this is simply not the case. Yields continue to rise in every
major crop. High food prices, scarcity, and hunger are almost always the result of failed government and economic
systems, not the methane emissions of cows. And yet Obama seemed unsure of his own message. For at the same time,
he added, producing food is also a major cause of climate change: "Food production is the second-leading driver
of GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions ... and if we don't change course, the World Bank predicts that by 2050, agriculture and
land use change may account for as much as 70 percent of global GHG emissions." In short, we aren't making enough
food because of climate change ... but making all this food is causing climate change.
The Insufferable
Mr. Obama. President Obama is still lying about Obamacare, peddling the fiction that it covered 20 million
people who lacked health insurance and that the Democrats who voted in favor of it made out "profiles in courage" rather than pols
following the party line. Accepting the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Sunday, Obama spoke at what felt like
Castroite length. All that was missing was the traditional leftist praise of "free" Cuban health care.
"Every man should study conciseness in speaking; it is a sign of ignorance not to know that long speeches,
though they may please the speaker, are the torture of the hearer."
Barack
Obama: Eating More Steaks Contributes to Climate Change. Former President Barack Obama warned the world
that more people on the planet were eating meat, causing a dramatic rise in climate emissions. "As people want to
increase meat consumption, that in turn is spiking the growth of greenhouse emissions coming out of the agricultural sector,"
Obama said, pointing to countries that were consuming more meat.
Obama
Describes White House Life as 'A Very Nice Prison'. Former President Barack Obama bluntly likened living in the
White House to incarceration during an environmental summit in Milan, Italy on Tuesday [5/9/2017]. Former White House chef
Sam Kass had wondered, "Everyone wants to know about what you miss about the White House. I'm curious to know about
what you don't miss." "The hardest thing about being the President of the United States is it is unique in its
isolation," Obama said. "You live in what's called 'the bubble.' And it is a very nice prison."
Obama
'travels with gas-guzzling 14 car escort to give £2.5million climate change talk'. Barack Obama was
reportedly accompanied by hundreds of police and a massive motorcade featuring gas-hungry SUVs as he arrived to discuss
climate change at a conference in Milan. The former President — who reportedly pocketed £2.5 million
($3.2 million) for the one and a half hour speech — appeared at the Global Food Innovation Summit on Tuesday [5/9/2017]
to urge conference-goers to reduce their carbon footprints. But footage from the event shows an ostentatious arrival, with
police cars, motorbikes, and gas-guzzling armoured SUVs ferrying the ex-Commander in Chief to the event.
Barack
Obama Jets to Milan to Deliver Climate Change Speech. Former President Barack Obama jetted to Milan, Italy on
Monday [5/8/2017] for a speech about climate change. After the ex-president enjoyed his flight to the famous Italian
city, he hopped in an SUV in a 14 car convoy direct to his hotel, according to the Daily Mail.
Barack
Obama 'to pocket £2.5million for sold-out speech in Milan today'. Barack Obama will reportedly pocket a
staggering £2.5million (€3million) today for delivering a speech to a sold-out audience in Milan as part of his
lucrative post-presidential speaking tour. The former President, who has already earned hundreds of thousands of
dollars for private speeches since leaving the White House, will make his highest-paying appearance yet at the Global Food
Innovation Summit today [5/9/2017]. President Obama flew into Italy's business capital yesterday, and according to local
media headed straight for the extravagant Park Hyatt hotel, which can cost up to £7,100 (€8,400) a night.
Former
DNC Head: 'None Of Your Business' How Much Obama Is Paid For Speeches. Former Democratic National Committee
Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Tuesday it's "none of anyone's business" how much money former President Barack Obama
makes for a speech to a Wall Street bank. "It is none of anyone's business what someone who is a member of the private
sector decides to accept in terms of compensation, with all due respect to anyone who chooses to comment publicly on what
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or anyone earns as a member of the private sector. It's just, like, MYOB," Wasserman
Schultz told CNN's Erin Burnett Tuesday night, citing the acronym for "mind your own business."
The Cost of Barack Obama's
Speech. [Obama] wrote in 2006: "I know that as a consequence of my fund-raising I became more like the wealthy donors I met.
I spent more and more of my time above the fray, outside the world of immediate hunger, disappointment, fear, irrationality, and frequent hardship of
... the people that I'd entered public life to serve." Is it a betrayal of that sentiment for the former president to have accepted a reported
$400,000 to speak to a Wall Street firm? Perhaps not, but it is disheartening that a man whose historic candidacy was premised on a moral
examination of politics now joins almost every modern president in cashing in. And it shows surprising tone deafness, more likely to be
expected from the billionaires the Obamas have vacationed with these past months than from a president keenly attuned to the worries and
resentments of the 99 percent.
Maher
Rips Obama for Wall St. Speech: Can't You Live on Your $10M Book Deal? On "Real Time" last night,
Bill Maher took aim at former President Barack Obama for his planned speech to a Wall Street firm, for which Obama will
reportedly be paid $400,000. Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino broke the story this week about Obama's September
speech on health care to Cantor Fitzgerald LP. Maher joined others on the far-left — like Bernie Sanders and
Elizabeth Warren — who are calling Obama out for his apparent change of heart on the financial industry, especially
after he talked tough on Wall Street "fat cats" during his time as commander-in-chief.
Obama to
deliver speech in Chicago on Wednesday. Former President Barack Obama will return to Chicago, the Sun-Times has
learned, to deliver a speech Wednesday night [5/3/2017] to the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, where he will
reflect on his two terms and his Obama Presidential Center.
Obama
[was] Paid $800,000 From Wall Street In One Week For A Job Well Done. Seems there is a great deal of money to
be made giving speeches about caring for the poor. Ironic. The first speech the president signed up for is a
banking summit where he will earn a quick $400,000 speaking and schmoozing with the very people he convinced voters he was
against: [Video clip] The second speech was a 90-minute giggle and nod affair given in front of a roomful of
Wall Street media advertisers. These paid speeches are but the first of many likely to come from the Obama Machine.
Obama
scores another $400K speaking fee amid criticism. Even as President Obama faced criticism for getting $400,000
for a speech to a Wall Street bank, he pocketed the same amount of money for a second speech, The [New York] Post has
learned. Obama made another $400,000 on Thursday when he appeared at the A&E Networks advertising upfront at The Pierre
Hotel. He was interviewed over 90 minutes at the Midtown Manhattan event by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
in front of the cable network's advertisers. Out of office just 98 days, Obama caught some flack earlier this week when
it was learned that he had agreed to speak in September at a health care event sponsored by Wall Street bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Obama Turns Out to
be a Greedy One-Percenter. President Obama's devotees no doubt had hoped he would come out swinging against President Trump.
Instead, the only thing he's done so far is cash in on his presidency with a massive book deal and a six-figure speech gig.
4
reasons Obama's $400,000 Wall Street speech is a bad idea. Former president Barack Obama reemerged this week
for his first formal public event since leaving office, but all people can talk about is a future event — specifically,
one for which he will be paid his old annual salary for one speech. News broke Monday [4/24/2017] that Obama would be paid
one of those exorbitant speaker's fees that Hillary Clinton received: $400,000 for speaking at a Wall Street conference
put on by the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Obama's situation is not the same as Clinton's, in that he cannot run
for president again. So taking Wall Street's money, at this point, won't directly affect official U.S. policy that Obama
will pursue in the future. Nor is there any rule prohibiting him from receiving the money. But that doesn't mean
the arrangement isn't problematic — especially these days and especially for Obama and his party.
The Editor says...
Barack H. Obama can't run for president again, it's true. Unless his wife runs as a placeholder. (Much like
Lurleen Wallace of Georgia and Ma Ferguson of Texas.) And as president, Michelle Obama would probably report directly
to Valerie Jarrett, just like Barack did. So (follow the money!) there is reason to believe that Mr. Obama is
getting $400,000 per speech because the buyers hope to acquire much more than a mediocre speech.
Obama's
$400G Wall Street speech leaves liberal base stunned. Former President Obama's upcoming speech to Wall
Streeters is putting $400,000 in his pocket — and putting longtime supporters in a difficult situation. Democratic
Party leaders and grass roots activists alike are at a loss to explain how the onetime champion of the 99 percent could cash
in with a September address at a health care conference run by investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald. "Spiritual leader of
the people's #Resistance cashes in with $400k speech to Wall Street bankers," read one tweet.
Obama
Vows to Continue Community-Organizing America. Former President Obama suggested he will focus his
post-presidency on redistributing wealth, emptying prisons, and sabotaging the economy with carbon-emission controls, during
his televised return to the national stage yesterday. Obama reiterated the politically tone-deaf radical policy
priorities of his presidency in a speech at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. [...]
So what Obama failed to mention was just as interesting as what he did get around to saying. He did not say the name of
his successor. He did not say anything about his multifaceted taxpayer-funded efforts to kneecap Donald Trump's
administration before it took office. Obama did not say that he wiretapped candidate Donald Trump while his CIA
Director, John O. Brennan, conspired with foreign intelligence agencies to spy on Trump. Obama did not say that he
worked with Hillary Clinton to promote the utterly wacky conspiracy theory that Trump colluded with Russia to change the
results of the November election. Obama did not say that he is waging war against the Trump administration through his
generously funded agitation outfit, Organizing for Action, to defend his grotesque record of failure and promoting civil unrest.
Obama
spokesman defends reported $400,000 Wall Street-backed speech. A spokesman for Barack Obama spoke out Wednesday [4/26/2017]
against critics who called out the former president for reportedly accepting a $400,000 speaking fee, backed by a Wall Street bank.
Eric Schultz, the spokesman, said that in 2008, then-candidate Obama pulled in more money than any candidate in history, and went on to
"implement the toughest reforms on Wall Street since FDR." Fox Business reported that Obama has agreed to speak at a Wall Street
conference run by Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The speaking fee will be $400,000, which is nearly twice as much as Hillary Clinton, his
secretary of state, and the 2016 Democratic Party candidate, charged private businesses for such events.
Obama
Cashes In: Set to Take $400,000 for Speech to Wall Street Firm. Barack Obama has agreed to a $400,000 fee
for speaking to a prominent Wall Street firm, according to Charlie Gasparino of the Fox Business Network. Former
president Obama will speak to a health care conference sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald in September, Gasparino reports.
After
his billionaire vacay, Obama cashes in at the speech trough. For ordinary Americans, the one way you draw a
$400,000 paycheck is to do something to create value. This is the story of very hardworking small businesses
everywhere. As one wag put it several years ago in a book title, the first $20 million is the hardest. Then
there's Obama, fresh off his billionaire vacation over in Tahiti at Marlon Brando's exclusive hideaway estate, now drawing
his first $400,000 paycheck for a speech, from Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. [...] The bigger question to ask may be
what Cantor Fitzgerald got in return for its $400,000. Was it an expectation that Obama's minions would be returned to
power, and an expectation of being remembered for their emoluments, or was it a payoff for some favor the Obama administration
did during his presidency? A good investigative reporter should probably check into this.
The Editor says...
One could easily suspect that the payoff is part of a long-term influence-peddling plan connected to Michelle
Obama's upcoming presidential campaign. Obama's speech couldn't have been that good.
