Feeling the Heat of Obama’s Hypocrisy Hell
Lewis’ Guignard’s recent PunditHouse post on Obama’s Hypocrisy, while excellent, barely warmed the tip of the (allegedly melting) iceberg. Obama’s hypocritical statements and actions are legion.
Debt Ceiling Hypocrisy
Obama’s opinion on the debt limit in 2006, when he voted against increasing the ceiling: “ The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
Apparently, he has changed his mind and we no longer deserve better…In 2007 and in 2008, when the Senate voted to increase the limit by $850 billion and $800 billion respectively, Obama did not bother to vote. (He did vote for TARP, which increased the debt limit by $700 billion.)
War Hypocrisy
On most of the foreign and security policy issues he lectured George Bush about — the folly of deposing despots, closing the prison at Guantanamo, using military tribunals to try terrorists, and withdrawing from Iraq, President Obama has reversed himself. He has performed these reversals without explanation and without apology for his shrill condemnation of his predecessor. He condemned Bush’s “ideology,” but his own foreign policy has dissolved into incoherence.
When debating America’s entry into Iraq Obama so eloquently stated: “I don’t oppose all wars … What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by … armchair weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne…”I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. But … Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors …”
As young Americans are sent to yet another middle-eastern conflict, this time against Moammar Gadhafi, a man in many respects even more vile than Saddam, the nation is entitled to an explanation. How has Obama concluded that a war against another Middle East villain is now justified? How is the case for war in Libya smarter (since he is against “dumb” wars) or less “ideological” than the Iraq War?Will he now intervene on behalf of other freedom fighters in Syria, Darfur and other places around the globe?
We don’t know, because unlike George Bush, who took his case for war to the American people through a vote in the United States Congress ( 110 Democrats voted in favor), President Obama has acted unilaterally when he relied solely upon the vote in the United Nations as his mandate for military action. This snub of Congress and indeed the American people established a fearful new principle of diminished U.S. sovereignty. American forces can now be ordered into action by the president and the U.N. – without the U.S. Congress!
On most of the foreign and security policy issues he preened himself about – the folly of deposing despots, closing the prison at Guantanamo, using military tribunals to try terrorists, and withdrawing from Iraq – President Obama has reversed himself. He has performed these reversals without explanation and without apology for his shrill condemnation of his predecessor. He condemned Bush’s “ideology,” but his own foreign policy seems to have amounted to marketing the image of himself as the first African-American president and the first Muslim-sympathetic president. Image-making is easier than policymaking — and when it came time for decisions, President Obama dissolved into incoherence.
Patriot Act Hypocrisy
In January Obama chastised the Chinese, saying: “We have some core views as Americans about the universality of certain rights — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly — that we think are very important and that transcend cultures.” Yet the Patriot Act that Obama hated, despised, railed against under Bush, comparing him to Hitler or Mussolini is now okay. In fact, he re-authorized it upon several occasions. In 2003, he promised to repeal the Patriot Act yet still voted for it. In December 2005, he stated that he wanted to end the wiretapping provision under the act. Yet In March 2006, he voted to re-authorize the Patriot Act.
As President, Obama’s signed an extension of the Patriot Act which incredibly included a NEW provision allowing the FBI track “lone wolf” suspects—those having no ties to, or even suspected of having ties to, terrorist organizations. That means that anyone could be tracked and detained—for no real reason whatsoever—under this law. All they have to do is invent some reason—be it political views, blog entries, speech taken out of context, etc., and there you go, they can track you. Apparently when Bush was violating our first amendment rights and destroying our civil liberties it was BAD. But under Obama it is PRUDENT.
Racial Hypocrisy
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun questioning Libyans living in the U.S., part of an effort to identify any Libyan-backed spies or terrorists, and collect any information that might help allied military operations. “(wsj.com)
You may recall Obama called police “stupid” for allegedly racially profiling a black man who resisted arrest. He said this “disproportionate” behavior against Blacks and Latinos is wrong.
Obama supporter Luke Visconti, founder and CEO of DiversityInc, (no irony there) compared black tea party patriots to Jewish guards at the Nazi Concentration Camps. Obama’s Attorney General refused to prosecute voting rights laws against the black panthers for intimidating white voters.
So which is it? Is racial profiling bad or not?
In May 2010, he told guests at a private White House dinner that race was probably a key component in the rising opposition to his presidency from conservatives, especially right-wing activists in the anti-incumbent “Tea Party” movement.
Blacks are 12% of our nation’s population, which means it took many million white votes to put Obama in the Oval Office. Yet he has no qualms about using the race card against these folks to promote his agenda.
Healthcare Hypocrisy
“Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don’t have to prove they are citizens.” -Ben Stein
After pushing through his atrocious “let grandma die” healthcare plan last spring, cutting Medicare by approximately 1/2 trillion dollars, he dares to portray Paul Ryan’s budget plan as one which will deny healthcare to the old and sick. President Obama lashed out at Paul Ryan’s budget plan and the affect it will have on the health of seniors. Yet a comparison of the president’s Medicare plan’s clearly shows his proposed cuts to be much more drastic – and immediate – than anything in the GOP proposal. While the Republican Medicare changes take effect in 2021, Obama’s cuts will begin hurting seniors right away.
Obamacare was supposed to make our lives healthier and longer. Yet his polices are to be administered by his newly created Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) of 15 members appointed by the president. Its recommendations for cuts in services or for reductions in reimbursement will not be subject to congressional approval but will take effect by administrative fiat. Right now. The IPAB will decide who gets what care. Its decisions will be guided by a particularly vicious concept of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QUALYS). So if you have already lived too long, too bad.
Despite Obama’s claims that his policies will lower healthcare costs, 111 businesses and unions have already been granted waivers who cannot afford to implement the provisions. Apparently Obama’s desire to improve American’s health is extended only to those who have enough “quality of life years” left, and is promise to lower costs was meant only for those who are well connected enough (unions and those businesses who give to his campaign) to get waivers from the very plan designed to lower costs.
Does it Even Matter?
Although these examples are but a tiny drop in the ocean of Obama’s and the left’s (rising) ocean of hypocrisy, the sad fact is folks like Lewis’ friend are unlikely to see the light anytime soon. We suffered eight years of lefty assassination fantasies about George W. Bush, yet Bill Ayers’ bombing campaign is explained away as a consequence of him having social conscious.
The left calls for the right to stop the use of “war metaphors” – yet democratic union supporters make ACTUAL threats against republican lawmakers and the left is silent. The left claims to be about free speech yet denounces conservative websites and Fox news, and champions “net neutrality” and the “fairness doctrine,” which would suppress and even criminalize free speech. These and other double standards abound – particularly on the part of the press – while Obama supporters fail to acknowledge or even understand the rampant hypocrisy.
So while this site and other outlets can continue to sound the clarion call for truth…don’t hold your breath that our liberal friends will hear the siren anytime soon. Perhaps the truth is like a dog whistle – and only conservatives can hear it.
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