The Administration Of Death

Barack Obama

While I recognize that the title seems hyperbolic, I aim to make the case that the Obama administration runs the most anti-life, and pro-death, government that the United States has ever had. I think the government’s last three-plus years, have given rise to the most lackadaisical support of life, we have ever seen. Many times, over and over again, we have seen the president and his sycophants either endorse death, or attempt to excuse away the death of others, both innocents and people who have lost their lives as a direct result of the administration’s policies.

One of the most flagrant disregards for the ultimate sacrifice of others, was the slap in the face delivered to some fallen soldiers’ families. As Commander-in-Chief, and the person who has the ultimate say on military matters, one might think that having a soldier under your command lose their life, one of the very least things you could do would be sign a condolence letter to the soldiers’ families. Not Obama. He has repeatedly been shown to use an auto-pen for form letters of condolence to soldiers’ families.

Obama has also authorized, and carried out, the assassination of an American citizen by drone. Granted, the assassinated had aided and abetted terrorists, but he was still an American citizen, with the supposed rights of a trial by his peers, and due process. Whether or not Obama actually felt bound by these rights, seemed not to matter – he sent the drones anyway, and gave the go ahead to kill, without trial. A step, with which even Salon, taken aback, actually said was a “…step beyond where even George Bush would go”.

Should I bring up the “Fast & Furious” scandal, which the administration is still hoping will somehow, just, go away? Giving his testimony before Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder, bluntly refused to apologize to or to even acknowledge, slain border agent, Brian Terry’s family. As he sat before the House Judiciary Committee, wriggling and struggling for words that would somehow allow him to tell the truth, and avoid any blame, Holder was given an opportunity to provide documents and evidence to the Committee, which it had requested for months, and he repeatedly offered nothing. Even though memos and other documents implicated Holder and his lieutenants in the scandal, instead of finally taking responsibility for the thousands of Mexican deaths and the death of  Brian Terry – Holder merely offered excuses.
Sidenote: Holder’s testimony was in the late Spring of 2012, and as of late Summer 2012, there still has not been an apology or acknowledgment of responsibility over the failed gun running operation.

We were witness to one of the most recent, and telling examples of this seeming pre-occupation with death,  at the Democratic National Convention. A party platform that relished the thought and promise of widespread, and easy, on-demand abortion was center-stage. While some pundits tried to defend this with the thought that, “Well, the democrats have no record to run on, and the economy is atrocious - let the Democrats turn to social issues…” And so, from all the social issues that the Democrats could have turned to, and supported – from the poor, the homeless, bettering care for returning veterans – the Democrats turned to the snuffing out of lives to build their platform. A spokeswoman from NARAL (Nancy Keenan), Planned Parenthood, and the infamous Sandra Fluke, were only a few of the participants at the DNC, proud to trot out the “right to” abortion, masquerading as a human-right. Maybe we should have expected this when a president who supported infanticide won the last election?

Finally, in the newest flirtation in the left’s macabre and twisted relationship with death, awareness was given to the administration of a threat against embassies and consulates in the Middle East. Approaching the anniversary of September 11th, and with warning of Muslim backlash against a movie about their Prophet – despite as long as a 48-hour window of warning – the Obama Administration did nothing. Rumors of unarmed and massively under-gunned security at the American facilities fell on deaf ears, and  led to the deaths of an ambassador (and his body’s subsequent desecration) and deaths of numerous other personnel. Despite the raising of an Arabic-language flag, espousing the aims of the Muslim Brotherhood, over an American embassy in Egypt, and the taking down, ripping apart, and burning of the Stars and Stripes, the administration still insists on continued billions of dollars in aid to the Egyptian government. Obama has issued an apology to anyone upset by Americans exercising their right to free speech, and the American media, still in love with the Obama administration, sought to excoriate Mitt Romney for issuing a presidential statement that Obama would not, or could not, bring himself to issue. A muted response has been the administration’s reaction to spreading violence and breeches at other embassies and consulates. In Libya, the post where murdered ambassador Chris Stevens lost his life, Obama has dispatched the Marines – 50 of them…This, as news sources report an angry crowd of hundreds threatening the American embassy in Yemen, and as warnings go out to other embassies to remain on guard.

So, what should we make of all this? Ordering an executive “hit” on an American citizen, an attempt to excuse away a federal agent’s death without taking any responsibility, a platform leaning heavily on abortion for support, and a very weak response to deaths of State Department personnel – it all points, to this author, to an administration that simply does not value life. This administration seems to use, squelch, or squander lives for whatever purpose, then toss them aside with their roles fulfilled. Life is nothing more than a means to achieve any number of ends. Use it for political gain, use it for votes, use it to send a message to our friends (or our enemies) – it does not really matter what the aim is, because there will always be more life to continuously throw at the problems. It is all so macabre and counter to everything we as Americans value, isn’t it? History books and our teachers tell us American men and women fought noble wars, and freed people from oppressive regimes, so that they could follow their own destinies and achieve what they could. Freed people from oppressive regimes, would no longer would have to worry that their lives would be used up or wasted by regimes who wanted the oppressed people’s’ blood and sweat for their own greedy and destructive purposes. Risking American lives, and losing so many, was ultimately worth it, so that others might enjoy the sanctity of life and personal freedoms that we Americans held in such high esteem. Now, it seems like such a sad day to see so much blood and destruction being wastefully used, for so little to show for it.

Where, Oh, Where Has The Leadership Gone?

As I sit here, somewhat stuck for a reason to write a post this week, and bemoan the fact our “leaders” in Washington D.C. act so completely inept, I heard an update on the administration’s plan to release an additional $5.5 billion by this time tomorrow, to “green” companies (H/T CNBC). This, despite the previous fiasco with California solar panel manufacturer, Solyndra. The administration continues to spend massive amounts of taxpayer capital as what amounts to venture capital. Of course, as more detail comes out on how the deals and loan rearrangements for Solyndra were handled, it has become apparent that venture capitalists would not have been so careless with funds that were their own. This continued path of carelessness and ineptitude has this blogger wondering – is this administration really that clueless, that they would double down over again on failed policy, not realizing what was happening, all the while building a case for their naysayers to claim there was crony capitalism at play? Or, more frighteningly, the administration does know what is going on, yet does not care?

Examples of Missing Leadership?

Examples of the missing leadership of this administration grow by the day. In my mind, the first failure was failure to seize on the groundswell of the “Green Revolution” in Iran – the president waited and waited. Given the best opportunity the United States has had in some 30 years to press for Iranian regime change, and our president does nothing. The president waited so long to even issue a statement for the Egyptian uprising, that when he did, it amounted to little more than lip service. He refuses to reconsider any of his failed policies, and seems to want to double down on most. He is the poorest example of “out of sight, out of mind” we have ever seen in the Oval Office.

With leaders like these, who needs enemies?

He finally decided to commit NATO aircraft to the Libyan cause after Gaddafi threatened to blow up Tripoli and resist any threat to his despotic regime. While this seems like the president has finally made a tough decision to commit military power where he thought it was needed, in doing so, it resulted in two serious consequences: he broke the War Powers Act, having not gotten Congressional approval for the military action. Another, very serious problem, is that some 20,000 missiles may be missing from Libyan stockpiles. These missiles are the ground-to-air variety, that can be used to bring down passenger aircraft by terrorists, or perhaps even converted for use as IEDs in other theaters.

As a result of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms’ “Operation Fast & Furious”, one Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was gunned down in Mexico, and a United States Border Agent was gunned down in Arizona. The brilliant idea behind the plan was to arm Mexican drug and gun smugglers, and then somehow track those guns via serial number. As of today, the only actions taken against the implicated parties in the administration have been some resignations, and reshuffling of the same personnel responsible for this plan. When Congress (Darrell Issa) tried to obtain documents to investigate the scandal, they were redacted to the point of appearing like a piece of black construction paper.

Finally, the president continually touted the benefits of green technologies, and how it would build the future, and raise us out of the economic downturn we are in. After being closely connected to the principal private investor of Solyndra, and even holding a press conference at the factory, he has high-tailed it away from ties to the company. Perhaps even more telling, is that he has now chosen a completely different tack, and is touting petroleum and chemical based solutions – that is, paving new roads (with asphalt and tars, of course), and rebuilding bridges (with various weatherproofing chemicals/paints).

With all this occurring, the president now attacks his own base – “Take your slippers off…put your boots on…”, and for their part, they attacked him back (Maxine Waters said she did not know who he was talking to). It seems like the left is bordering on mutiny, and it’s little surprise to me. After all, they have been without a leader of any sort for nearly three years now…

The Little Man In The Big Office

For the mythical beginnings of a presidency, fully invested in the election rhetoric of “Hope and Change”, the current realities are far short of the promises.  A massively increased deficit, an additional war (yes, I know, it’s not a war – it is a “kinetic military action“), and a highly polarized American public, are some of the things that have been changed, and the hope looks farther and farther away as his term in office rolls onward.  Regular bouts of inaction, frequently follow up by mercurial rhetoric, have also become expected by this president.  It’s almost as though at the exact times he should do nothing, he acts (usually wrongly), and at the times he should act, he does nothing.

If what he does is "progress", would it really be that bad to be left behind?

Proof of the inaction-when-action should be the order?  A few examples come to mind.  First, when the Green Revolution in Iran tried to topple one of the world’s most threatening regimes, in the Middle East, that of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  He could have decried the stolen election itself, or when the electoral opponents claimed widespread vote-fraud, the Iranian government’s violent crackdown.  While protesters were marching in the streets, and shouting at any media that they could find, requesting assistance and aid from the United States or other western powers, our president did nothing.  Perhaps he thought his presidency was too young to risk going to war to help a people struggling for some measure of freedom?  Perhaps he was afraid of unintentionally helping nefarious elements hiding in the Iranian freedom movement?  I doubt that was the case, since a year later, he was faced with a similar situation in Egypt.  Again, the order of the day was nothing.  Even the main stream media began to wonder if the president would even mention the ongoing plight of the thousands in Tahrir (“Liberation”) Square in Cairo.  Eventually, he did speak, and strongly urged the despot-for-life, Hosni Mubarak to step down.  No shots fired, and he can still take credit for “helping” the situation.  Since, he has tried to open diplomatic channels with what appears to be the new Egyptian government, consisting of the Muslim Brotherhood, among others.  Currently, while Syrians march, and face their own military’s live firing at them, the president is wholly silent on the escalating slaughter.

A (beautiful) participant in Iran's "Green Revolution"

For whatever reason, his actions seem to come with either little point, or at a major expense of some sort.  I suspect because of his formerly mentioned neglecting to act against a threat that may have been “tough”, he is now overcompensating.  While previously arguing against military actions in Iraq and escalation in Afghanistan, he has opened a new war front in Libya, via NATO.  As it stands, the world now faces a hardened and angry Muammar Gaddafi.  He has already threatened to blow up Tripoli to spite our NATO allies.  This entire military action required a complete “go around” of the United States Congress, but whatever – he’s trying to show the world he carries a big stick, I suppose.  I doubt that casts him in a good light anywhere, especially in the Middle East.

I find it ironic that the little man in the Oval Office seems far more likely to use a heavy hand with his own people than against outside threats.  You should remember his retort to American concerns about his spending, and the legislation happily passed by Congress, that he then signed – “We won”.  This is the same president who had referred to the Republicans as the “party of no”.  This is also the same guy who has rejected every plan that the Republican House has offered to try to rein in run-away spending.  This is the same president who looks into a camera and claims to Americans that he is trying to negotiate “in good faith”.  I for one do not buy it.  I have seen far too much in this still young presidency, to take anything he says at face value.  I caught a show this afternoon that raised the possibility of a Republican landslide in 2012.  Most opinion polls show his approval ratings sliding downward consistently (if you do not count the bump he got for ordering a SEAL Team Six to take out public enemy number one, Osama Bin Laden).  Senator Bernie Sanders has even raised the question of having someone primary the president.  I am heartened to find out I am not the only one who sees this political neophyte and clueless organizer for what he is.  At the same time I realize, we only have two more years of this incompetence, I think, we still have two more years of this incompetence!