OBAMA REPORT CARD V: How’s That “Fundamental Transformation” Doing? Too Well, I’m Afraid!
OBAMA REPORT CARD V: How’s That “Fundamental Transformation” Doing? Too Well, I’m Afraid!
By
Ken Eliasberg
Let’s delve into the substance of Obama’s governance, i.e. less of who he appears to be and what he tells us about his plans and more of what he is doing, what he has done, and what he seeks to do (which, in the final analysis, tells you who he really is). We’ll do this by examining his policy efforts on both the national (domestic) and international (foreign) front. And, in doing this, I urge you to keep in mind his declared goal — of “fundamentally transforming” America (without ever really pinpointing where we are, what’s wrong with us, and why we need to be “fundamentally transformed,” let alone providing precise insight in to exactly what it is he wants to transform us into).
How’s he doing in his transformation effort? Not as well as he’d like to be doing (or at least not as well as his far left base would like him to be doing) — thanks in large part to members of his own party (and, more to the point, thanks to the American public which has communicated its displeasure over his policies to members of his party facing election in November) — but a lot better than is good for America. For background, and as a reference point, I direct the reader to two columns that I did on Obama in this paper on completion of his first 100 days in office: Policy: Obama’s Foreign Policy Initiatives —Kiss Up, Suck Up, And Fold Up, 4/23-29/09 and Obama’s Domestic Policy: Central Planning And Debt As Far As The Eye Can See, 4/30-5/6/09. The next 350 days have only served to solidify the observations I made and the conclusions I reached in those preliminary pieces, to wit, Obama is a statist and his goal is to convert us into a European welfare State (interestingly, at a time when those States are moving rightward as a result of at least partially recognizing the bankruptcy which their politics of the left have produced).
Obama’s stated transformational concerns (other than the economy, which he somewhat summarily dealt with in his Stimulus package — a package which seems to have stimulated little more than the creation of a significant number of new government jobs) were directed to the following areas: (1) On the international front, improving America’s image (by whispering sweet nothings in the ears of all of our enemies while throwing many of our friends under the bus); (2) healthcare, which he managed to bludgeon through the Congress by bribing, bullying, and borrowing against political capital from whatever source he could (but get it through he did); (3) energy (cap and trade, an extravagantly expensive, and completely unnecessary, program that would have bankrupted us - more deeply, that is, than we are already bankrupt) in an effort to placate his radical, left-wing global warming supporters, which, thankfully, died in the Senate (after passage by the House, who, under Nancy Pelosi, will apparently pass just about anything): and (4) education, on which his goal is to shackle it with further government intervention, e.g. having the government take over the student loan program (which he managed to do by sneaking it into the aforementioned health care reform legislation without any public debate whatsoever) as well as substantially revise the No Child Left Behind program. What is the common denominator of all of these efforts? Diminishing our power (and, as a consequence, our actual image abroad) while governmentalizing as much as possible here at home (and, as a consequence, destroying our economy). The aforementioned is only an overview of his efforts to fundamentally transform America; let’s examine these efforts in greater detail
Foreign Policy: Placate Enemies And Alienate Allies.- Shortly after his inauguration he embarked on a whirlwind worldwide tour, with particular emphasis on various Islamic centers, in an effort to enhance our popularity in these centers. Actually, his worldwide tour began before his inauguration with his speech in Berlin, which was intended to do two things: First, to establish some sort of foreign policy expertise, or, at the very least, the appearance of some sort of foreign policy expertise, an item conspicuous for its absence on his resume (and in some of the people who he has chosen to advise him on matters of this nature, e.g. Hillary Clinton) and second, to herald the coming of the geopolitical messiah. There is no doubt that Obama, a skilled speaker, feels that he can talk his way in, out, and through any situation (domestic and/or foreign), and there is no situation which will not yield to his abundance of charm. In this respect, how’s he doing? Not particularly well — apparently, there are limits to how far charm goes in the geopolitical arena, particularly when you are dealing with backward belligerents like Iran and North Korea, neither of whom appears to take him very seriously — a condition that more and more Americans are coming to appreciate.
And make no mistake, Iran’s acquiring nuclear weapons is the number one issue on the foreign agenda; you may recall that, during his campaign, Obama made it clear that Iran was not to be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, a position from which he has never rhetorically wavered, but one which he seems unable to put into meaningful action. You may also recall that a year ago he informed us that he was seeking sanctions against Iran that would “cripple.” More recently, Hillary Clinton, while addressing AIPAC, notedthat the U.S. was seeking sanctions that would “bite.” In somewhat sarcastically commenting on this scaled down threat, Charles Krauthammer observed that next we would be talking about sanctions that would “pinch.” Frankly, I don’t believe that we shall come up with sanctions that even “tickle.” Meanwhile, while we have been engaging in all this bluster, Iran, a maniacal Mullahcracy, has been proceeding at full speed towards becoming nuclearized.
The Administration has been trying to build a meaningful coalition in support of such sanctions but has been quite unsuccessful. The Russians and Chinese have not gotten on board, notwithstanding their more recent statements indicating modest concessions. The Russian foreign minister, you may recall, previously expressed the opinion that sanctions don’t work (and in this position I concur; if you are not prepared to back up sanctions with meaningful force, then you are not to be taken seriously — AND WE ARE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY). Hell, Hillary could not even get Brazil to get on board. Let me tell you what’s going to happen — we are going to huff and puff, put somesort of group together in support of sanctions, AND IRAN WILL BE NUCLEARIZED. In short, all of Obama’s charm will come to naught, and the world will be a more, not less, dangerous place, notwithstanding the efforts of our Charmer-in-Chief (to be continued).