Misbehaving Presidents' Mixed Messages

“We don't win anymore. When was the last time we won? Did we win a war? Do we win anything? Do we win anything? We're going to win. We're going to win big, folks. We're going to start winning again, believe me. We're going to win.” – President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 24, 2017

Isn't winning a great message to hear from a sitting U.S. president? Contrast that to the Obama years, plagued by gargantuan failures and losses. For example, most telling was the actual level of U.S. unemployment: 95 million able-bodied Americans absent from the workforce. (The U.S. Department of Labor repeatedly claimed the rate hovered around a measly 5 percent.) Such a diet of consistent falsehoods included Obama's famous, “If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it.” That whopper earned him left-leaning Politifact's Lie of the Year in 2013.

Interestingly, misrepresentation is the defining characteristic of modern-day Democratic presidents (and failed hopeful Hillary Clinton). All that's now required is a slick persona, a tenuous grasp on truthfulness and the gift of honeyed words earnest in their bewitching power to distract the public. With Hillary's hubby, his failings were of a personal nature, embarrassing peccadilloes highlighted by an affair with a then 22-year-old intern. Remember Bill's infamous claim, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss [Monica] Lewinsky.” (The scandal rocked his presidency, but didn't end it. Ultimately, he received a pass because adultery was successfully spun as a private matter. However, his public disgrace affected his ability to govern much more gravely then was acknowledged at the time.) Also detrimental to the nation, were Barack Obama's numerous untruths. Like Clinton, he was abetted by a fawning press—and a foolishly forgiving electorate.

That same latitude is never granted to their Republican counterparts. Remember, George H. W. Bush's broken pledge, “Read my lips: no new taxes”? That one flip-flop cost him his 1992 re-election bid. By contrast, Barack Obama, not Ronald Reagan, was the true “Teflon president” . His big government tenure was “transformative” in all the wrong ways: obtrusive, overregulated and overtaxed (read: the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ObamaCare mandate because its legal basis is a tax!). Combine those systemic problems with a ballooning federal government, wasteful programs, deficit-spending and virtually doubling the nation's debt: a record-shattering 9.3 trillion! That's more in Barack Obama's eight years than all previous presidents combined (read: 212 years from Washington (1789) to Clinton (2001))!

In retrospect, the pre-election electorate was ravenous for a new voice, specifically an unapologetically pro-American one. (Hillary Clinton isn't that. Essentially, she promised a de facto Obama third term.) Enter the plain-speaking Washington outsider, a billionaire capitalist, who brashly articulated all things wrong with progressives in government. Central to that message was the concept of winning: obviously for himself and theoretically, one hopes, for the country. Today, how is that goal achieved by threatening the Tea Party's Freedom Caucus? Ironically, he attacks the very group he should champion:

“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” — President Trump's tweet at 9:07 AM on March 30, 2017

Under any circumstances, it's frankly nonsensical to ever conflate conservative Republicans with militantly obstructionist Democrats. Such groups are naturally philosophically opposed: political oil and water! For a campaign promise thwarted, he calls out the Freedom Caucus for rightfully scuttling Paul Ryan's disastrous “ObamaCare Lite” replacement? Thus, in the superficial name of “winning,” isn't that precisely like burning a village to the ground in order to “save” it?

The political landscape is, and remains, ripe for meaningful change. However, as of late, Mr. Trump's appealingly razor sharp campaign rhetoric is not living up to his muddled actions. To again reference the same CPAC speech:

“I'm here fighting for you and I will continue to fight for you. The victory and the win were something that really was dedicated to a country and people that believe in freedom, security and the rule of law. Our victory was a victory and the win for conservative values.”

A self-proclaimed guiding principle negated by his recent rant against House Republicans who stand for that precise thing! Immersed in the Washington swamp, allied with House Speaker Paul Ryan, is it possible he's lost sight of what conservatism means in concrete terms? After all, words are insubstantial compared to policy and practice. For his part, Mr. Ryan talks an equally good game. (Recall, he's been in Congress since 1998. That's 17 years before he assumed leadership of the lower chamber on October 29, 2015. For further context, for the last 7 years, the GOP has promised to repeal and replace ObamaCare.) With his reputation as a policy wonk, where has Mr. Ryan been all this time? His Johnny-come-lately response was a rushed bill—with the Republican brand simply slapped on—that fundamentally lacked bipartisan consensus: no Democratic support and not enough Republicans to pass the measure.

The American Health Care Act should have been a free market solution to health-care, but it wasn't. Hopeful for a “win,” President Trump mistakenly backed Ryan's loser: a bureaucratic 3-phased shell game that would have kept the government behemoth in place with superficial changes like substituting tax breaks for government subsides. So, it's wrong to scapegoat the Freedom Caucus for their lack of support. This debacle—this legislative “Rosemary's Baby”—is all Paul Ryan's mad creation. For this mess, he should be replaced forthwith. To that end, someone from the Freedom Caucus would be fitting.

Thus far, Mr. Trump's dealings with Congress have not lived up to his appealing CPAC rhetoric. The author of “The Art of The Deal” need not play things so fast and loose by vilifying other Republicans. While he owes the Republican establishment nothing, he would be wise to adopt the following Reaganesque Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any conservative. To do otherwise artificially divides the GOP against itself. And given their demonstrated lack of effective leadership, they need all the help they can get.

Polarizing allies won't achieve the right results for the American people. Still, Trump's willingness to work with everyone is exactly what President Reagan did. In that regard, “The Great Communicator” effectively went directly to the American people over the heads of his detractors (as The Donald does with his well-conceived tweets). Yet, Mr. Reagan never used the bully pulpit to literally bully anyone. Therefore, killing his Tea Party darlings in this way is something “The Gipper” would never do. That's not winning; it's reactionary, shortsighted and ultimately self-defeating. 

Lasting success for America equals a staunchly conservative agenda. To get there, Mr. Trump needs to appropriate the cohesive framework of principles embodied by the Freedom Caucus. Going forward, embracing them—rather than Paul Ryan's ilk—would greatly aid his cause. For instance, they would make an ideal legislative sounding board while he makes deals and takes constructive action. As modern history clearly demonstrates, only Democrats get away with misbehavior and mixed messages. Those types of mistakes are invariably fatal to the prospects, and success, of any Republican president.

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog

http://patriotpost.us/commentators/446

http://www.americanthinker.com/author/david_l_hunter/

http://canadafreepress.com/members/74987/DavidLHunter/976

http://newstex.aci.info/authors/15977720f5100100002

Chicago: A Microcosm of Obama Years

It's appropriate that Barack Obama gave his “farewell address” in his political hometown. Against this backdrop of pervasive and obvious despair, Mr. Obama has completely ignored the results of his disastrous tenure. While he lives as a pretender, a deluded Great Gatsby golfer, he struts and preens as America's first black president. In retrospect, all empty symbolism obscured by the reality of his abject failures.

Who has suffered more than the black community in the windy city? Poverty, joblessness, violence and homicide: Chicago—nicknamed Chiraq—has it all! Did Mr. Obama address the fact that Chicago has been the nation's record-breaking murder capital for five of the last eight years of his presidency? Or did he crow about his illusory “successes” like adding 9.3 T in debt or the fictions of a 4.7 employment rate (with 95 million people out of the workforce) and the job-killing, premium-surging debacle that is ObamaCare?

America has paid a terrible price for embracing aloof Obama's cult of personality; the superficiality of identity politics that has taken America to the brink. The only value in Mr. Obama's self-serving Chicago bloviating is in one word: goodbye.

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog

http://patriotpost.us/commentators/446

http://www.americanthinker.com/author/david_l_hunter/

http://canadafreepress.com/members/74987/DavidLHunter/976

Millennials: Pokemon 'Dopeyman'

The soft bigotry of low expectations now plagues America's political landscape. Disconnected millennials—likely rabid former socialist Bernie Sanders supporters, now tepid Hillary ones—play the latest video game fad, the Pokemon Go app. To the uninitiated, the players walk outdoors in the real world hunting virtual creatures such as Golems, Porygons and Dragonites. (These characters appear on the screens of their smartphones.) So utterly distracted are they, one can literally walk into walls or oncoming traffic. So, actual risk to life and limb is worth playing a nostalgic video game?

What a perfect analogy to their abject cluelessness. As an example, politically speaking, they have no concept of the danger of electing yet another Clinton president. Why else would they support the ruling class of liberal fascists masquerading as lying Democrats? Unfortunately, they have been weaned in a coddled culture that awards everyone a school trophy for simply “showing up.” That's high school; however, college is no better. No matter the subject matter or type of degree, every parchment now issued is a BS in liberal indoctrination (many with pricey 6-figure prize tags). Therefore, when millennials get into a pressurized scenario, like a job (assuming they can find one at all with 93 million unemployed) they are utterly unprepared to cope.

Speaking of another petulant person completely out of his depth is Barack Obama. Straight out of a bright and shiny millennial fantasy, he just “showed up” (on the political scene) and was foolishly handed the U.S. presidency, not once but twice. What of note had BHO accomplished as junior senator from Illinois? Nothing. The same was true less then a year in office when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Indeed, Mr. Obama's ongoing, bowing and scraping apology tour to leftist dictators the world over hardly equates to the Nobel's “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy between peoples.” The reality remains that during his failed tenure radical Islamic terrorism has spread like pernicious brush fires all over the globe. America has been a non-entity overseas due to Mr. Obama's “leadership from behind.” As a pro-Islamic ideologue with a murky upbringing, his administration's feckless, surrendering “negotiation” will likely lead directly to a soon-to-be nuclear Iran. And as this greatest state sponsor of terrorism inevitably grows in influence so too will an ever-flourishing ISIS. Like fist in glove, the two go together.

What greatly assisted Mr. Obama's reelection was the artificial muzzle of political correctness. People were afraid (even to themselves) of being labeled “racist” for not voting for America's first black president, so they did. Yet, in retrospect, Barack Obama's hope has been non-existent; his nebulous change has been radically un-American. Specifically, for 7 ½ years he has demonized police as “stupid” and/or “racist.” Hence, Black Lives Matter anarchy. They cause and/or inspire the burning cities of Baltimore, MD and Ferguson, MO. And the latest tragic domino effect: commonplace assassinations of police in New York, and most recently in Dallas.

Who else but he has so politically polarized our society (with the water-carrying MSM distracting from his multitude of failures)? Like a noxious witches' brew, his media minions have dutifully stirred the simmering pot of racial tensions repeatedly to boil. Now, Obama suddenly pivots at a memorial service in Dallas, suddenly expressing “pride” in murdered police? (This flip-flopping hypocrisy mirrors his “evolution” on gay marriage. That, too, was a naked political calculation: designed not to promote equal rights, only to shore up a lost campaign funding source.) His Johnny-come-lately pro-cop pronouncement is no different. Why else would he say “how inadequate my own words have been” and “we're not as divided as we seem”? This is the same self-serving lip service that has defined his presidency. A feeble, last minute legacy-preserving attempt to change the tone of his last 6 months in office. One can easily imagine the colorful language MLK would have for this charlatan.

In the final analysis, Barack Obama is as happily oblivious as millennials' playing Pokemon Go. As history has already demonstrated, he is completely out of touch with the world as it is—and heedless to its dangers. Yet, the President and his family have nothing to worry about. Via one of Mr. Obama's executive orders, lifelong Secret Service protection has already been arranged. On the other hand, game-playing millennials—tracked and cornered like sheep by criminals—won't be so safe. Pokemon's apt and ironic catchphrase: “Gotta catch 'em all!”

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog

http://patriotpost.us/commentators/446

http://www.americanthinker.com/author/david_l_hunter/

http://canadafreepress.com/members/74987/DavidLHunter/976