Mao taught his follower, "Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed." Obama practices his politics as the master taught.
In his speech before the mourners of the January 8, 2011 Tucson shooting, he said, "As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."
Since January, he has arrogantly wagged his finger as he demonizes Congressman Paul Ryan and the Republican budget saying: "This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone's grandparents who wouldn't be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down's syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we'd be telling to fend for themselves."
This is a statement that on its face is a lie. Obama knows the Ryan budget would spend billions on these very programs.
Then Obama demonized American oil companies saying: "On Thursday, my Attorney General also launched a task force with just one job: rooting out cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices, including any illegal activity by traders and speculators. We're going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain. And another step we need to take is to finally end the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies we give to the oil and gas companies each year. That's $4 billion of your money going to these companies when they're making record profits and you're paying near record prices at the pump. It has to stop."
He says this when most economists agree that the solution to high oil prices is opening America to more oil and gas drilling, a policy Obama's Administration resists.
But the capstone was this week when he attacked the grassroots movement of millions of Americans that for nearly three years have been calling for the release of his long form birth certificate. In his statement spoken from the White House he said, "We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."
In one breath he does both. He calls for us to end vilifying each other and then he vilifies grassroots citizens as "sideshows and carnival barkers."
When Obama was elected his approval ratings were through the roof. On the day of his inaugural the country was unified behind him as his approval rating touched 65 percent. It is highly unusual to get 65 percent of Americans to agree on anything much less a political leader.
Since that day, Obama's practice of politics as warfare has torn the country apart. He has jammed unpopular legislation such as Obamacare down the voters' throats. He has expanded unpopular military adventures beyond Afghanistan and Iraq into Libya. But most importantly his stewardship of the economy has been erratic and detached. He has handed over most policy decisions to the Central bankers at the Federal Reserve and their allies on Wall Street.
Today Obama's approval has slumped to well below 50 percent, and his strongly unfavorable rating has soared from 15 percent at the time he took office to well over 40 percent today. Obama has alienated Americans because he cannot stop demonizing his opponents and polarizing the issues.
His refusal to send a short letter to the Hawaii Department of Health requesting his birth certificate for all these many months has undermined his credibility and created the perception that he is dishonest. It has also done immeasurable damage to the media that has slavishly protected him. Political figures lose when they refuse to be transparent and open.
Score one for the so-called "Birthers".
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