Sometimes I supported President Obama

Sometimes I supported President Obama

Robert A. Hall

A shorter version of this essay appeared on American Thinker

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/08/supporting_president_obama.html

Not long ago, I sent a hard-left relative a local news story about 20% of registered voters in Ohio being ineligible, with some counties having more registered voters than adult residents. He attacked me as a “hater,” and suggested I get behind President Obama like he did President Bush. I’ve gotten so old and senile I can’t recall one instance of him having a word of support for Bush, though that’s probably just my bad memory.

But it did make me think. It turns out there have been lots of times I supported Obama. (When I say “supported,” I mean I liked what he said, not that I ever believed he meant to implement the idea.) A few are listed below:

I supported Obama when he promised to protect whistleblowers. I opposed him when that promise disappeared from his official website. Right after the NSA “phony scandal” broke.

I supported Obama when he said in 2006, "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 US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial 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." I oppose his raising the debt ceiling through the roof since he’s been president.

Though I’m “pro-choice” about people being forced to pay for birth control for yuppie college students, I agreed with Obama that Rush Limbaugh was out of line when he called Sandra Fluke a “slut,” and had no problem with Obama calling her to commiserate. Insults and misogyny don’t add to the debate. But it’s hard to support Obama as he isn’t serious about opposing misogyny when his outrage is so politically selective. He didn’t rebuke Bill Maher for calling Sarah Palin a “bimbo,” a “dumb twat” and a “cunt,” much worse than “slut.” No call of commiseration from him for Palin, maybe because Maher is an Obama loyalist who gave $1M to the Obama campaign SuperPAC.

I support Obama’s use of drones to turn hundreds of terrorists, suspected terrorists and anyone near them into red mush. Though we get no intel that way, it’s been more effective fighting terrorism, in my opinion, than George Bush having three terrorists waterboarded. I’m sure, from all the hype in the media about water boarding, the terrorists like it better too.

I supported Obama’s go-slow policy on getting us involved in the Syrian quagmire, where there are no good guys. I oppose his steady slide down the slippery slope towards involvement, now providing them weapons which will eventually be used to kill Americans.

I supported Obama when he said in 2007 that "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." I opposed his taking us to war in Libya with no Congressional authorization, which has resulted in chaos in that country, now a large Al Qaeda stronghold.

I supported Obama in 2005 when he opposed eliminating the filibuster. I oppose him now that he supports eliminating it.

I supported Obama when he said that all legislation would be posted on the Internet three days before he signed it. I oppose his total disregard for that promise.

I supported Obama when he said his administration would be the “most transparent in history.’ I oppose how everything there is behind closed doors, the press excluded and with his appointees having secret e-mail accounts to avoid the Freedom of Information act.

I supported Obama when he said lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House," and “will not run my White House and they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I am President of the United States of America." I oppose his appointment of more than 100 lobbyists to run his administration and White house.

I supported Obama when he promised that Healthcare Reform would be an open, bi-partisan process and the negotiations would be on C-span. I oppose his doing it behind closed doors, with only Democrat support—and they weren’t given time to read the bill!

I support Obama still keeping Gitmo open, though I opposed his promise to close it one year after he took office.

I supported Obama when he said that Afghanistan was a war of necessity, a war we had to win. I opposed his announcing to the enemy a pull out date, when they would win the war. (Though, frankly, I’m in favor of getting out now, since neither he nor the public has the will to win, so troops are dying to give him political cover. Little girls will just have to have acid thrown in their faces if they want to go to school.)

As a limited government conservative, I supported Obama when in 2011 he told La Razza (which translates to “The Race”), “The idea of doing things on my own is very tempting, I promise you, not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions.” I opposed him when he read the polls and discovered, voila, that he had the power to implement the Dream Act through executive order.

I supported Obama’s promise to be a post racial president and reduce racial tensions in the US. I oppose his race baiting to appeal to his base, such as making a huge deal of the Trayvon Martin—George Zimmerman case, but saying nothing about the very similar Chris Cervini-Roderick Scott case. I oppose his pandering to black racism by saying how fearful whites are of blacks, without noting that blacks make up 13% of the populations, but commit 53% of the murders, mostly of other blacks, that a black person is 13 times as likely to be murdered by a black as by a white and white people are twice as likely to be murdered by blacks as blacks by whites. There is a reason for the fear, and decent blacks are at least equally fearful of young black males as whites are. They are probably more fearful because they live closer to them, thus are always in danger.

I supported Obama when he co-sponsored Illinois’ Stand-Your-Ground law. I oppose his call to repeal such laws.

I supported Obama’s 2008 promise to cut the deficit in half by the end on his first term. I oppose his having doubled the deficit, adding $6T to the debt.

I supported Obama’s when he criticized Hillary Clinton in 2008 for wanting to mandate that people buy health insurance. I oppose his mandate that people must buy health insurance.

I support Obama’s desire to give his daughters the best education by sending them to private school. I oppose his denial of the same right to poor black people in DC, by opposing vouchers at the behest of the unions.

I agree with Obama’s disdain for the rich, elite life style of “millionaires and billionaires.” I oppose his living like one at our expense, sending his daughters on Spring Break to Mexico, the Bahamas and Vail, taking his family on a $100M trip to Africa for photo ops, and holding endless star-studded galas at the White House.

I’d like to say I supported Obama’s decision to get out of Iraq on Bush’s timetable, rather than the one year he promised in his campaign. But looking at Iraq, that hasn’t worked out so well, since he failed to negotiate a continued presence, and the Sunni and Shi’a Muslims have gone back to their usual pastime of slaughtering each other in the name of Allah.

Lastly, I support Obama when he goes on vacation. But I oppose him coming back.

*****

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.

http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. All Hall’s books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html