By Bill Wilson
Whether by ignorance or design, the first ten months of the Obama Administration have put the very security and prosperity of America in grave jeopardy. This is not mere hyperbole, nor is this conclusion reached lightly. Rather, it comes from an in-depth analysis of those policies implemented by what can only be described upon a thoughtful inquiry as a regime.
Let’s take a look at a wide range of issues and policy areas, and see how Dear Leader has done.
First Amendment
On free speech, the record of Barack Obama has been abysmal. From his appointment of Mark Lloyd, a supporter of the censorship doctrine against conservative talk radio, as the so-called “Diversity Czar” of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); to the White House’s war on FOX News; and to its open attempt to silence the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Obama looks less like a president limited in power by the Federal Constitution, and more like a third-world thug ala Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Admadhinejad—wielding with limitless abandon the “bullying pulpit” to silence critics.
This White House has been highly selective with its media access, choosing only those networks and interviewers he and his handlers are almost entirely certain will not directly challenge Obama with tough questions – and then demand honest, no-nonsense answers. He has openly attacked against news outlets that have not favored Administration policy, producing a chilling effect on speech through intimidation and retaliation.
Nor was the Obama Administration’s treatment of dissenting Americans any less overtly hostile. In fact, it may have been even worse.
Over the summer, the White House led the assault on ordinary Americans who spoke out at town halls, tea parties, and via mail, phones, and fax to alert their Congressmen not to vote for ObamaCare. They were cast as “extremists”. In the pages of USA Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote, “These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American.”
Obama called critics of his health care policy bald-faced liars. Congressman Steve Kagen (WI-CD8) said they were “uncivilized,” and Congressman Baron Hill (IN-CD9) called them “political terrorists.” Congressman Brian Baird (WA-CD3) called opponents of the legislation “Brown Shirts” and compared them to domestic terrorists, “Some of the rhetoric that we’re hearing is… eerily reminiscent of the kind of things that drove Tim McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma.”
None of which is surprising. This is the same Administration that issued the controversial “rightwing extremism” memo in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo targeted “groups, movements, and adherents… that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority” and “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” That memo also suggested that returning veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq were joining up with domestic terror groups.
At first, Obama-appointee DHS Chief Janet Napolitano defended the indefensible, promising that the DHS was not monitoring political speech. Only after public condemnation by the American Legion, conservative groups (including Americans for Limited Government), and media outlets was the erroneous memo later disavowed. Now, based ALG’s own research via a Freedom of Information Request have the American people learned that the report used no intelligence sources and instead relied on unsubstantiated news stories, kooky websites, and mere conjecture.
It does not stop there. In the most chilling and censorious move of all, the Obama White House even set up a website designed for Americans to report on their neighbors who oppose ObamaCare’s outright takeover of the nation’s entire health care system with government-run socialized medicine. And he even went so far as to urge Americans to tattle on those who oppose him “even in casual conversation.”
When the tea parties occurred on April 15th, Obama churlishly pretended to not have known that they were taking place. On April 15th, ABC’s Dan Harris reported on “Good Morning America” that “The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties and will hold his own event today,” effectively ignoring what was in effect a genuine grassroots uprising against Obama monetary and fiscal policies.
Obama has instructed his State Department to either commend Hugo Chavez—or offer consent through silence—as the Marxist dictator has systematically shut down practically every media outlet in Venezuela. Going even further, Obama nominated Arturo Valenzuela to be “Western Hemisphere Czar.” That’s the same Arturo Valenzuela who has argued for “dialogue and opening” towards Cuba, defended Hugo Chavez’ crackdown on press freedom in Venezuela, and denied that violence was a major issue in Mexico.
Valenzuela also vigorously defended impeached president Manuel Zelaya of Honduras after the strong-arm ruler was impeached for violating the nation’s Constitution. Under tough questioning by DeMint In hearings on the Honduras crisis, Valenzuela claimed that his 40 years as a college professor had made him an expert on “military takeovers.” DeMint reminded the nominee that the Honduran military was acting under orders of the legislature and courts and at no time assumed power.
Overall, by silencing opponents, monitoring dissidents, ignoring and marginalizing critics, and supporting nominations that would wield the powers of government to shut down the airwaves and to defend overseas dictators who would do the same, Barack Obama has engaged in a brutal, frontal assault on the First Amendment.
Economy
On the economy, Barack Obama has been nothing short of a socialistic catastrophe. His has attempted to rush through the most radical, aggressive domestic agenda in the history of the republic. And he has taken the most aggressive steps ever towards government takeovers of entire industries.
In his short time in office, Obama has moved immediately toward the de facto nationalization of the auto, banking, mortgage, energy, and health care industries. He appointed a “Pay Czar” to oversee, manage, and coerce the salaries at zombie firms while top firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan reap tremendous profits and consolidate ownership of the nation’s financial system.
Obama redistributed ownership of GM and Chrysler to the now government-subsidized United Auto Workers union, breaching contract law with the rightful owners, the companies’ bondholders, robbed in plain sight. This was the final stake in the heart of the American automobile industry.
Obama has racked up a $1.4 trillion deficit, proposed a $3.6 trillion budget, and has made plans for spending, printing, and borrowing trillions more. The national debt will hit 100 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, $14 trillion, in 2011, and will explode over the decade to more than $20 trillion in 2020.
To inflate the debt away, Obama’s Federal Reserve is simply devaluing the U.S. dollar. Since March, the greenback has declined some 15.7 percent in value. Gold has hit a new level over $1,000 an ounce, and oil is once again flirting with a bubble, pushing $80 a barrel.
There are no supply issues pushing commodities higher. Rather, the unseemly surge is the direct result of the Fed having more than doubled the money supply in a year and having applied a near zero federal funds rate. So far, Obama has done nothing to reverse this trend as China and Russia push for a new international reserve currency, looking to hedge against the declining value of their dollar assets.
The Fed, with Obama’s active support, for the first time since the Korean War era is purchasing treasuries to monetize the debt—$300 billion this year alone. Together, the Treasury and Fed are still purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars of the very mortgage-backed securities that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once sold all over the world with the implicit backing of American taxpayers.
Following up the Bush $152 billion “stimulus” with his own $787 billion brand of deficit-spending, the Obama White House is already putting trial balloons up for a third “stimulus”. Despite this unprecedented level of spending, the GDP has shrunk for four quarters in a row as 51 million American find themselves out of work. U-6 unemployment is approaching Great Depression levels at 17 percent. And foreclosures continue to rise.
And, as Obama continues his ruinous fiscal and monetary policies, it is only likely to get worse.
Dr. Christina Romer, the architect of the “stimulus” and the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told a congressional panel last week that in 2010, the $194 billion in stimulus funds spent in the second and third quarters of this year will no longer contribute to economic growth. Really, the “stimulus” is just spending on Potemkin Villages. It doesn’t create any real jobs, instead only creating government jobs. Once the “stimulus” runs out, one should expect another spike in unemployment.
Take together, the essential Obama economic program is the destruction of real capital—at the expense of trillions of dollars of future claims on wealth not yet earned. If the ever-expansive government—the only portion of the economy growing—is not reined in, the nation’s capital base will die in an iron grip of higher taxes, interest rates, and inflation.
Making matters worse, the White House is pushing to cap carbon emissions, impose energy price hikes, and guarantee increased dependence on foreign oil. It still pursues the foolish policy of sealing off the nation’s energy reserves at the behest of radical environmentalists whose errant policies can only destroy the American people’s ability to travel, heat their homes, and power their economy.
With a combination of “green” policies that call for no exploitation of the nation’s own resources, strict carbon caps, and no nuclear expansion, Obama is guaranteeing that when an economic recovery does come, there will be not enough energy to use.
Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency has made moves that would reduce shipping in the Great Lakes by 50 percent. How? By cutting in half the sulfur emissions from ships that travel in the lakes in a move to reduce the use of No. 6 “bunker” fuel. The effect will be nothing short of devastating to the northern Plain State economies, who will be faced with higher prices and/or reduced supply of salt, iron ore, wheat, and other goods.
On international trade, the Obama policy has been to oppose free trade with allies like Columbia, and even to threaten sparking a trade war with China, which began with a 35 percent tire tariff against China. China responded with antidumping investigations into U.S. auto parts and chickens.
On health care, Obama wants to cut Medicare by $404 billion over ten years, and tax everything from wheelchairs to heart stents to the tune of another $406 billion. These marginal taxes will have a marginal impact—on the quality and quantity of care delivered. Overall, he would nationalize the entire health care system, drive private insurers out of business, reduce doctor pay, and water down the quality of coverage nationwide.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the total cost per individual per year under ObamaCare will only be about $2,858. The trouble with that figure is it is substantially (and inexplicably) less than the average cost for a premium in the United States—which is currently $4,700. That can only mean one of two things. Either, under ObamaCare, there will be below-average, watered-down care provided—or the cost estimates are wildly (and, one has to wonder, if not, perhaps, deliberately) understated and this program will not sustain itself.
Either way, why should the American people accept a declining quality of care and spiraling deficits all to achieve the utopian daydream of Obama and his lefty cronies.
In total, Obama’s economic policies penalize producers with more regulation, and more taxes on ideas, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity. Meanwhile, he subsidizes non-work, non-production and dependency—in short, welfare. It is no wonder that unemployment continues to balloon.
Post-racial?
Despite being touted as a “post-racial” president, Obama foolishly injected himself into the arrest of Harvard professor Louis Gates by Sgt. James Crowley, saying that the veteran officer was “acting stupidly.” His surrogates have also resorted to using the race card against Obama critics, while the White House has sat passively by, or offered only the most tepid rebuttals. In the process, Obama is rubbing racial tensions raw.
The Obama Justice Department, headed by Obama confidant Eric Holder, is not doing much better. On one hand, it refuses to prosecute the clear civil rights violations by Black Panthers engaged in voter intimidation in Philadelphia. On the other, it has overruled the use of non-partisan elections in Kinston, North Carolina.
Their reason? Partisan elections are needed so that black voters can elect their “candidates of choice.” In North Carolina, those candidates are Democrats and almost exclusively black. In other words, Justice concluded that blacks would not know who to vote for if the label, “Democrat” were not on the ballot. Not only is this outrageous, it’s racist. And yet it’s government policy—Obama’s policy.
Holder is also responsible for helping to fashion the new “Hate Crimes” laws so as to deliberately exclude any and all racially motivated attacks upon Caucasian Americans. When Senator Jeff Sessions asked if a minister preaching against homosexuality would be protected under federal statute when attacked for his beliefs by a gay activist, Holder replied, “Well, the statute would not—would not necessarily cover that. We’re talking about crimes that have a historic basis. Groups who have been targeted for violence as a result of the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, that is what this statute tends—is designed to cover. We don’t have the indication that the attack was motivated by a person’s desire to strike at somebody who was in one of these protected groups. That would not be covered by the statute.”
In other words, Holder’s Justice Department will only prosecute “hate” crimes against the voter groups of the Democrat Party. Those perceived to have had an “historic basis.” As if religious persecution has no historical basis in the Founding of America.
Security
On border security, the Administration has canceled the construction of a 700-mile fence along the nation’s southern border. At the same time, Obama has proposed another push for the comprehensive legalization of millions of illegal aliens, taking jobs away from Americans who will be forced to pay more in taxes to subsidize the illegals’ use of public services.
On defense, the Obama regime has been slashing the budget—by a full 10 percent–while the nation finds itself in two wars. He gave away a key component of national security—missile defense in Eastern Europe—to Russia. For nothing in return.
In Afghanistan, Obama has been unable, or unwilling, to make critical defense decisions, clearly attempting to placate the anti-war Hard Left as the commander in theater, General Stanley McChrystal, has urgently asked for more troops. CentCom agrees with McChrystal, stating that a troop surge is necessary to reverse recent gains made by the Taliban to retake the country.
Faced with the prospect of defeat in what he stated was a necessary war, Obama is indecisive. Meanwhile, he has done nothing to stop Iran from its rapid trajectory to build nuclear weapons, nor has he made any significant moves to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Obama has repeatedly insulted America’s greatest ally, Great Britain, turned his back on Israel, attempted to overthrow democratic Honduras, undermined Columbia in the face on free trade, and thrown Poland and the Czech Republic to the Russian bear. The League of Former Friends is growing. And serious foreign policy analysts are openly wondering who will be the next to be “thrown under the bus”?
Meanwhile, Obama openly (and literally) embraces Chavez’s Venezuela, greeting the dictator with a hug and a warm handshake. In a startling display of naiveté, Obama quipped, “It’s unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interest of the United States.” That, as if the American people are unaware that every move by a President is carefully calculated and orchestrated, especially in the foreign policy arena.
By ignorance or design?
In totality, it is not that hard to see why Obama has been plummeting in the polls. The American people have striven mightily to give him the benefit of the doubt. They wanted to see him succeed on America’s behalf. And instead, they have seen their leader fail time and again. No longer distracted by Obama’s symbolism, now they’re looking directly behind the curtain.
And they’re finding failure on its face. It may be no accident.
It is hard to believe that Obama does not know that he is so severely endangering the national security and future prosperity of the American people and their nation. That he does not know that silencing critics is the oppressive differentia of Third-World brutes and Marxist despots. That he is oblivious to the fact that he is systematically destroying the private sector. That he is unaware that his own policies are designed to devalue the dollar and bankrupt the nation. That he is inflaming racial tensions. That he is losing a war, and emboldening the nation’s enemies.
In short, it’s hard to imagine that Obama has not thought all these things through. But, to be fair, he may be too busy reading the teleprompter.
Former President Bill Clinton once said: “If you see a turtle sitting on a fencepost, he had help getting there.” America is failing on every front under Barack Obama’s watch. And whether it was by ignorance or design, history will ultimately be the judge.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
