The Post Racial President or Divisive Manipulator

“I am president.  I’m not king.  I can’t do these things just by myself.  If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying we’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder, and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2nd. …Well, I’m disappointed, too.  Many Republicans who used to support comprehensive immigration reform, like John McCain, decided not to support it.  The problem that we have is that until I can get some cooperation from the other side, then people who are anti-immigration reform can continue to block it.  And that’s why this election coming up is so important because we essentially have to say that those who are politicizing the issue, who are supportive of the Arizona law, who talk only about border security but aren’t willing to talk about the other aspects of this, who don’t support the DREAM Act, who are out there engaging in rhetoric that is divisive and damaging, those aren’t the kinds of folks who represent our core American values”. – Barack Obama on Univision, 10/25/10 

Obama also said, “Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled the economy out, and now the progress has been made, we can’t have special interests sitting shotgun.  We gotta have middle-class families up front in the car.  We don’t mind the Republicans joining us.  They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in the back.’

How ironic is this statement? After all this is the President of the United States talking. The president who is suppose to be a healer and “post racial”. He was the president that was supposed to inspire and unify America. When before in history has a U.S. President suggested that fellow citizens that didn’t agree with his policies are the enemy and should be punished? Obama has finally showed his true colors in a public forum in a way that can’t be denied.

Given the tone of this statement, how can he accuse anyone else of “rhetoric that is divisive and damaging”? Does the president even know anyone who represents core American values?

So far the only thing this president has demonstrated is the ability to divide as well as unbelievable arrogance and a stubborn streak a mile wide. Since taking office he has repeatedly sent the message that it’s his way or no way. There is no evidence that he is capable of meaningful compromise. He has had many opportunities to give small compromises to the Republicans during the past two legislative sessions. There were opportunities in both the Stimulus and Healthcare debates. In either case small compromises would have helped him neutralize the Republican objections but his ego wouldn’t permit it. Here are some examples of his arrogant posturing:

On the Economy:

After a long meeting with Congressional leaders prior to the passing of the Stimulus Bill, Republican leaders were voicing there disagreement and offering ideas on ways to compromise on the contents of the bill. After shooting down all their ideas, Obama told the Republicans, “on some of these issues we’re just going to have ideological differences.” The president added, “I won. So I think on that one, I trump you.” 

At a DNC fundraising dinner in San Francisco, President Obama took a shot at his critics saying, “Another way of putting it is when, you know, I’m busy and [Speaker] Nancy [Pelosi]’s busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else’s mess — we don’t want somebody sitting back saying, you’re not holding the mop the right way.” Or from a Virginia fundraiser, “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to just get out of the way so we can clean up the mess!” In others words – Shut Up!

On the Tea Party and Conservatives:

In a meeting with Congressional democrats to promote his healthcare reform bill Obama was quoted by the New York Times as saying, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”

At a San Francisco fundraiser Obama said, “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations”.

Apparently, all conservatives or anyone for that matter who disagrees with his policies is a frustrated, bigoted, extremist.

On Immigration:

On July 2nd, President Obama gave a speech at American University and said, “…it’s not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive — although it has fanned the flames of an already contentious debate. Laws like Arizona’s put huge pressures on local law enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable. It puts pressure on already hard-strapped state and local budgets…. These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.” 

“One of the things that the (Arizona) law says is local officials are allowed to ask somebody who they have a suspicion might be a illegal immigrant for their papers. Now, suddenly, if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re gonna be harassed. That’s something that could potentially happen.” – Barack Obama 

Based on the above comments, Obama’s recent remarks on a webcast designed to fire up his supporters seems quite hypocritical…

“The question, once again, is going to be whether hope overcomes fear. Essentially, what the other side has decided is that they are going to try to ride fear and anxiety all the way to the ballot box on November 2.” – Barack Obama

And let’s not forget, the President also struggles with his own feelings on Race and Racism: 

“I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of twelve or thirteen, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”

“I found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.”

“To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully.  The more politically active black students.  The foreign students.  The Chicanos.  The Marxist professors and structural feminists.”

“I learned to slip back and forth between my black and white worlds.  One of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves.  They were more than satisfied; they were relieved — such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn’t seem angry all the time.” 

“The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity.  She doesn’t.  But she is a typical white person…”

“That’s just how white folks will do you.” 

–         All of these quotes are from Obama’s books, writings and speeches 

And one more contradiction for good measure – Obama on why the democrats are having such a tough time in the mid-term elections:

“Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country is scared.’’  Apparently, we are not real smart. 

Some of the Presidents friends and supporters have also weighed in on why the democrat’s strategies are failing and their concerns about the conservative message:

Sen. John Kerry -“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on, so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth.’’  John, can you say “Hope and Change”? 

ABC’s Christiane Amanpour – “I mean there’s been a long and venerable tradition of conservatism in this country. You can go back at least to Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, all of that sort of intellectual conservatism that lasted about 30 years and people are saying that right now, it’s really gone to the extreme. People are looking at the tea party and saying this is not conservatism as we knew it, but it’s extreme”.  Apparently, conservatives used to be smart, now we’re just scary! 

Rob Reiner explaining his fear of the Tea Party with a Hitler comparison:  “He wasn’t a majority guy, but he was charismatic and they were having bad economic times – just like we are now – people were out of work, they needed jobs and a guy came along and rallied the troops. My fear is that the Tea Party gets a charismatic leader, because all they’re selling is fear and anger and that’s all Hitler sold – “I’m angry and I’m frightened and you should hate that guy over there.”  Ironically, polls indicate that unemployment is highest among those who likely voted for Obama.

But there you have it, if you breakdown the opinions and commentary from the left as laid out above, you would probably conclude that conservatives are scared, angry, ignorant, bigoted, simpletons who will follow the first smooth talking shyster (lawyer/community organizer) with a great slogan (Hope & Change) that comes along, down a path that will destroy America.  Wait a minute!! So why aren’t these people jumping on the Obama bandwagon?  Oh, yeah their conservatives with American values. 

This president has attempted to divide America on the basis of race, class and partisanship for his own political gain and to further his progressive agenda. He is not above telling a big lie and repeating it with conviction to manipulate his listeners. Now using his “big lie” techniques and out of desperation to avoid a mid-term electoral disaster as a last resort, the president is calling for “punishing of our (political) enemies” and the “rewarding of our (political) friends”. 

Wake up, America! It is time to clean the House and the Senate of the “friends” of the Progressive Agenda! It is time to take back our country and stop its fundamental transformation. On Nov. 2^nd vote for America and freedom. Vote conservative! 

Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left! 

“The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves” – George Washington   

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen”- Samuel Adams 

“A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins” – Benjamin Franklin 

The Conservative Revolution: The Truth about the Real America

 Since early 2009 a conservative backlash has been brewing in America. It started slowly with a few small local Tea Party rallies, mostly focused on the impact of high income tax and excessive government spending on families, the economy and America. Tax Day (April 15^th) 2008 marked a turning point as rallies large and small were held across the nation. Suddenly conservatives realized two things – there were a lot more of us than we realized and we could loosely organize to make a difference.

 The nationwide Tax Day rallies were the result of a grassroots internet campaign. These rallies were self funded and run almost exclusively at the local level. I know – I was one of the organizers of the St. Paul MN rally held on the steps of the state capitol building. Our rally drew over 7,000 attendees that day. Even in liberal Minnesota there were signs of the coming backlash.

 So here we are nearly two years later and halfway through the first term of the Obama presidency. Obama was swept into office with a message of “Hope and Change”. Many of those who voted for him bought into the slick marketing of his campaign. They believed that this president would right the wrongs and end government as usual. He promised fairness as well as a new prosperity that would make America a better place and people bought it. His campaign positioned him as “the post racial president”, a healer and center left moderate but in reality he is a progressive.  As people began to realize who they had elected the euphoria which reined after his election quickly turned to discontentment.

The mood of America is now colored with grim concern. The independents and blue dog democrats that helped elect Obama have come to realize that he does not share their values or belief in the American way of life. In fact, they finally understand what Obama meant when he said that “we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America” in an Oct. 31, 2008 speech in Missouri. Obama and his cohorts would like to create a new foundation for America, a foundation based on progressive values which have their roots in socialism/communism.

Their idea of government would be more of the European model of a socialist democracy with over reaching government controls, entitlements and heavy taxes to support a “nanny state” approach to “social justice”. There are two major problems with this model. First, it doesn’t work. It has not worked anywhere it was tried. It’s already falling apart in the liberals current favorite example of social democracy, Venezuela.  Second, Europe is an economic disaster. Its’ citizens are rioting in the streets as their governments try to figure out how to make good on all the entitlements they promised as their economies tank. (See Greece, France and Portugal for examples) To add additional salt to the wound, European society has begun to spiral out of control as years of “open borders and society” has resulted in a Muslim occupation in some areas of Europe leading to bitter fights over the secular rule of law versus Sharia law. These are all consequences of a social democracy.

If we are not careful we will end up in the same place. Just this year, the Congressional Budget Office said that our national debt as a percentage of GDP will triple by 2035 which would be 185% of GDP. This represents nothing short of an economic train wreck.

To stay on a path that leads to a social democracy would be a fundamental transformation of America! As it turns out though this is not what most Americans want. Most Americans (75% overall) still believe in the American Dream and traditional American values according to recent surveys. Here are some other findings of recent polls that indicate that America is still a Christian leaning, patriotic, capitalist, center right country with traditional values:

• The majority of Americans in every age group still believe that America is the land of opportunity.
• 75% of Americans still believe “America is the greatest country in the world”.
• 80% of Americans claim Christianity as their religion and 50% of Americans believe life in the United States would be better if more people lived Christian values
• 64% of voters say the country is on the wrong track and this number is steadily increasing.
• 90% of Mainstream voters favor a free market economy. 75% of likely voters overall believe in a free market economy rather than one controlled by the government.
• 58% of all voters favor increased competition over increased government regulation as the best way to hold big business accountable.
• 65% of voters overall, prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes rather than one with more services and higher taxes. Even 32% of Democrats now prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes.
• 83% of Americans believe it is somewhat likely that the federal government will have to cut government spending in the next 10 years.
• 53% of likely U.S. voters favor repeal of the health care law, including 43% who Strongly Favor repeal.
• 51% of Americans believe the healthcare law will increase the federal deficit. Only 30% believe it will reduce it.

Data sources: Rasmussen Reports, Real Clear Politics, ABC News, The Arizona Republic

It appears that Americans are reconnecting with their values. Sometimes it takes hardship to reawaken our spirits. I believe that recent times have taught us to value our freedom and our way of life. So now that we have the momentum to change the direction of our country and return to our core values, what’s our next move?

First, we must remember that the Republican Party has been a part of the problem as much as the Democrats for the past 20 years. Many moderate Republicans are progressives, too.

If we give the Republicans our votes – it should be done with this clear message – you work for us and from now on you will be held accountable for each and every vote you cast. No more back room deals, no more compromising. You campaigned on a platform that earned our votes, in return you need to vote the agenda that got you elected. If you don’t there won’t be another term.

This is the message that needs to be sent. No more politics as usual. There are many new faces on the political scene this year – most are riding the resurgent conservative wave. Hopefully they are who they say they are. Republicans, Independents and Tea Party candidates need to now do what is necessary to put America back on the right track. It’s time.

Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left!

 “If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control”.  – Martin Luther King