Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Most Duplicitous President


By Alan Caruba

I have lived through thirteen presidencies starting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the late 1930s. I have followed the events of their administrations, policies, and lives, and I have read widely in the history of the nation.

I do not think I have ever seen a more duplicitous President than Barack Hussein Obama. And that is saying a lot!

I hold that all presidents must lie and be good liars at that. Having the welfare of the nation in their care and an ever shifting host of threats to America’s interests and defense, all presidents—-and for that matter—-all leaders of nations, elected or otherwise—-lie to ensure the outcome they desire.

When I say “lie” in this context, I mean the shading of the truth, the telling of less than the whole truth, or the withholding of information in one fashion or another that is intended to influence decisions to achieve a particular political or strategic objective. The best presidents dedicated themselves to great enterprises such as the waging of wars of defense or resolving conflicts of one sort or another.

The worst presidents lied to the nation to protect their personal interests and, of course, the classic example is Watergate in which President Nixon engaged in a cover-up of a totally stupid and needless break-in of the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, D.C. President Clinton, caught out in a foolish affair with a White House intern, lied to everyone until he no longer could.

President Obama, however, lies all the time and this is now so evident to the members of Congress that there are those in his own party who no longer trust him, even if they will not come out and say so publicly. Most certainly, the Republicans have no reason to trust him, but they have behaved with remarkable civility.

Well, there was one exception when Sen. Joe Wilson of South Carolina was unable to contain himself during one of Obama’s speeches to a joint session of Congress and cried out, “You lie!” He was right, but he apologized anyway.

It would be naïve to believe that all politicians don’t lie to their constituency, but some are more blatant about it than others. For the most part, the press protects them out of some unspoken belief that the people elected them and are in part responsible for the probity or lack of it.

There are ample examples when the lies and behavior become so egregious even this rule of thumb cannot apply and here too there are examples of members of Congress who have been sent to jail, censored, and generally abandoned by the electorate.

Two examples of Obama’s lies presented themselves this past week. One was the announcement that the United States would support launching talks on a United Nations treaty to regulate arms sales. Obama has repeatedly told America’s 90 million-plus gun owners that they had nothing to fear, but this reverses the Bush administration’s position which respected the Second Amendment and all its implications.

All the pretty talk about the Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty is just camouflage for gun control. It is comparable to Obama’s quick flight to Copenhagen to address the UN Conference on Climate Change, returning to the U.S. to tell Congress that there was “overwhelming evidence” to support global warming. He was laughed at when he said that. (To learn more, visit www.ccrkba.org)

The other example of Obama’s deceitful ways is the fact that the Interior Department, despite Obama’s call for offshore exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas in his State of the Union speech, has announced that no offshore energy exploration will take place in the Atlantic until at least 2014.

Obama is the most anti-energy president to hold office since Jimmy Carter who drove the oil industry out of America, leaving the nation vulnerable to oil rich regions such as the Middle East. (To learn more, visit www.ierdc.org)

Lying may not be an impeachable offense though surely it played a role in Nixon’s case and, to some extent, the proceedings against Clinton. A President can only be removed from office on conviction of treason, bribery, or other “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

As of this writing, it seems likely that President Obama will be politically neutered after the November 2nd midterm elections. When even solidly blue states like Massachusetts reject Democrat candidates, the writing is on the wall.

For now, I think we can expect to see Congress find ways to delay or dismiss Obama’s grand schemes to “transform” America. It doesn’t need transforming. It has been doing quite well, with some bumps along the way, without any more socialism, and without any more lies from the 44th President.

14 comments:

juvat said...

Mr. Caruba,
It appears you're feeling better, I'm glad. I enjoy your commentary.

I agree, that Politicians lie. What makes it particularly egregious is when they lie to protect their own posterior anatomy (e.g. Nixon and Clinton). This President lies because he thinks he can. I've got a friend who posits that the way to determine what "the won" intends is to take the diametric opposite of what he says and that's the true intent of the statement. With each passing day, I think he's very prescient.


Again, best wishes on a full recovery.

Alan Caruba said...

Thank you and, yes, I am fully recovered.

You can be sure that I will continue to write about this very poor excuse for a president.

Carolyn said...

Hi Mr. Caruba, I agree, but I still fear there are enough socialists in congress, who, even though they know they're toast in November, will still try and sneak things through anyway. They seem to be so spiteful that what would stop them from shoving a few things through just to get a last hurrah before they're kicked out? I don't know. I understand having to "fib" for national security and all, but these folks take it to a whole new level.
God Bless you Mr. Caruba! Have a great week~

TexasFred said...

If Congress and the Senate can be taken back, IF Conservatives truly do neuter Obama and stop his assault on American freedom, it will be a great day for America.

You mention Mr. Peanut, he and Obama will go down in history as the 2 most miserable failures to ever hold the Oval Office.

Mr. Peanut, useless then, still useless, the *gift* that sadly, keeps on giving. I wonder how many years into the future we'll be stuck with the Obamanation after he's tossed out on his Dumbo ears?

Eddy said...

"Politically neutered after November"? You are an optimist, Mr. Caruba. As an elitist-communist-world-improver, Obama is not going to allow Congress to stop him. He is already preparing the use of his executive powers to get things done without Congress, and trust me - I know these little do-gooders-the-end-justifies-the-means-facists only too well - he will go as far as he can in this.
Gives me the shivers!
Eddy

DC said...

The problem isn't Obama. The US has been always leaned leftwards, but it's taken place slowly and gradually - Obama is just speeding up the process, which has created resistance. I cant think of a single issue that conservatives have won on in the long term

they've lost on:

abortion

immigration

limited government

global warming

homosexuality

gay marriage (coming up)

gun control

sex outside of wedlock

strong nuclear families as opposed to an atomized individualistic culture

religion (versus atheism or Gaian nature worship)

affirmative action

welfare

taxes

What have they ever won on thats more than just a shortterm victory?

The job of conservatives is to put up token resistance to the ever-leftward bent of society. In my opinion, this leftward bias is inherent is all Judeo-Christian societies.

Alan Caruba said...

DC, I would have to take issue with some of those items.

Global warming as an issue is all but dead.

Immigration in the form of a new amnesty was defeated in Bush's last term.

Even Clinton bragged about reducing welfare (with the help of a GOP Congress)

Gun control cases are being won in the courts.

As for the "lifestyle" issues like gay marriage, it has not fared well and been generally rejected by the voters.

Eddy said...

I must agree with DC in principle.
Margaret Tatcher called this the ratchet principle: a conservative PM or president (or congress) can stop the ratchet from turning leftwards for a while: but it impossible to turn the screw back... (unless you brake it, of course...)

DC said...

Alan:

Re immigration: the white population of the US is now at 65%. Whites will be a minority in the country in the next decade or two. In 1965, at the time of the immigration act, whites were around 90% of the population. The rate of immigration is at a level unprecedented throughout all of human history - and your response is about some shortterm trouble with an inconsequential amnesty program? This is an issue that was decided, and lost, by conservatives a long time ago.

Re: gun control - the groundwork has been laid for a national database registry, something that would have been considered impossible 20 years ago. Another "assault" rifle ban can also be sprung on the American public at any time - see some of Holder's recent statements. You're right that this particular issue isn't quite settled yet, but like every other issue I posited, immigration will eventually be the final say on the matter (immigrants and their children vote Democratic; alas, this is an inherent and fundamental problem in a democratic society. One party always figures out that immigration and welfare = votes)

Re: gay marriage, I stated that it was upcoming. Various amendments and referendum that fail by a 2-5% margin now will be inconsequential in the long run. If you look at voting trends, young voters believe in gay marriage by a large margin. This ratio will only increase with time as the Progressive consensus trickles down through top educational institutions and the media.

DC said...

Alan, have you read any of Mencius Moldbug? I've found his arguments to be...compelling, especially his older stuff. Here's a couple links to some of his work:

http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/04/case-against-democracy-ten-red-pills.html
http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/05/iron-polygon-power-in-united-states.html
http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/06/ultracalvinist-hypothesis-in.html

Alan Caruba said...

DC...after a cursory look at this writer's views, I find myself in disagreement.

DC said...

Fair enough. You may find this link instead more interesting, which argues that the Soviet Union was much better prepared for a societal collapse than Amerikwa now is:

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259

Ayrdale said...

"Global warming as an issue is all but dead..."

...may well be correct, but what is needed now, is an explanation for the political support it mustered, and the billions of dollars it still commands. Sources are alleging an illegal cartel has been in action...

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/climategate-skeptics-cant-relax-yet-%e2%80%94-real-fraud-is-measured-in-dollar-signs-not-degrees/?singlepage=true

Alan Caruba said...

Arydale: An interesting, timely Pajamas Media article and, coincidently, I just wrote a blog post on the same subject which will go up either tomorrow or the day after.