Future generations will want to study Barack Obama's presidency, not only because he made history by being America's first black President, but because he also appears to be on track to be America's worst President. Sure, everybody wants to know the minute details of what Abe Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt did in the White House, but how many Americans are clamoring for the full story of the U.S. Grant or Jimmy Carter presidencies?
That's a shame, too, because those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it and it's not certain that America could survive another incompetent of Obama's caliber in charge -- although, in all fairness, Rome made it through quite a few emperors who were probably only marginally more on the ball than Obama, so perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic.
In any case, one day` when future generations of Americans are studying chapters of their American history books like, "No longer a Super Power: The Long Slide Down" or alternately, "Why We're Eating Our Own Shoe Leather Now," I'd like to think that articles like this one will be helpful for them.
In no particular order:
20) In another historic first, Obama has opened up the possibility that members of the party out-of-power now may be arrested and thrown in jail over political disagreements -- in this case, over the legality of waterboarding, making terrorists tired, and making them swleeeeeepy!
Granted, policies of that sort have consistently led to retaliatory arrests, bloodshed, and even revolution in other countries, but since Obama is repeating many of FDR's failed plans, the fact that these schemes have led to disaster since before even the days of the Roman Empire probably isn't going to phase him.
19) In another great moment for the presidency, Barack Obama publicly referred to his own country as "arrogant" while he was in Strasbourg, France. Jeremiah Wright must be so proud!
18) In what appeared to be an effort to undercut the nationwide anti-tax Tea Parties that occurred on April 15th, Janet Napolitano released a report that encouraged law enforcement agencies to be wary of military veterans and,
Right-wing extremists as 'groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,' and includes those 'rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.'
Make no mistake about it: if the Founding Fathers were alive today, every one of them would be on the Department of Homeland Security "right wing extremist" watch list.
17) The only thing more startling than finding out that there were banks that want to give back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of taxpayer money was being told that Barack Obama’s administration was refusing to let them give the money back so he could retain control over the banks.
16) After rebuking freedom-loving Venezuelans by shaking hands with their thuggish dictator for life, Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama accepted an anti-American book that Chavez gave him as a gift. A President who loved the country he led would have been insulted. Obama probably just thought, "At least he didn't get me a bunch of DVDs that won't work in my DVR."
15) Under Obama's hear-no-evil, see-no-evil leadership, people around the world are for the first time wondering: which group of radical Islamists who want to kill millions of Americans will get their hands on nukes first? Will it be the Ayatollahs in Iran or Al Qaeda and the Taliban -- who, emboldened by Obama's weakness, have begun trying to take over Pakistan in earnest.
14) In a move that has typically only been seen in banana republics run by tinpot Castro wannabes, Barack Obama became super-CEO of General Motors by firing the CEO and most of the board, while dictating how they were going to run their company in the future. It would be far more comforting if Obama had, say, as much business experience as an assistant manager at Burger King, since he's now running one of the world's largest companies.
13) After ferociously attacking earmarks during the campaign, Barack Obama signed a budget with over 8,000 earmarks in it. However, it was Obama's calls for earmark reform on the very same day he signed a bill larded up with a staggering number of pork projects that showed the sort of utter shamelessness that makes him stand out in the sea of con men, hustlers, and flim-flam artists on Capitol Hill.
12) Despite the fact that Obama went to an anti-white church, he ran on racial reconciliation. Therefore, it was a wee bit of surprise when his attorney general, Eric Holder, described America as a, "nation of cowards." Perhaps Holder lost his bearings for a minute, thought he was overseas, and figured that would be an applause line. That's certainly a tactic his boss uses on a regular basis.
11) Once again, Obama made history -- not by breaking his campaign promise that no one making under 250k a year would have to pay new taxes, but by proposing the largest tax increase in the history of the world with his cap and trade plan. The cost per family of Obama's tax increase? $3,900 per household.
10) In a stunning display of haphazard incompetence that quickly came to define Obama's scattershot approach to foreign affairs, Barack Obama gave Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, 25 DVDs that wouldn't even play in a British DVD player. Tragically, that probably meant the British head of state wasn't able to unwind after a hard day's work by watching Psycho -- which, yes, really was one of the movies Obama gave him.
9) Most of America watched Barack Obama deeply bow to the Saudi king either on YouTube or the news, which made the "who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes" denial that there was a bow, that came from the White House all the more stunning.
8) Despite the fact that Obama's State Department has more than 18,000 employees, apparently none of them speak Russian because Hillary Clinton handed Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a button that was supposed to say "reset" It actually said "overcharge," so perhaps it was meant for one of the hundreds of companies now suckling at the government teat thanks to the stimulus and TARP.
7) In the best example yet of Obama's over-reliance on a teleprompter and the mainstream media's fervent devotion to him, during an appearance with the Irish prime minister, there was a mix-up -- and "President Obama thanked President Obama for inviting everyone over." The same mainstream media which relentlessly mocked George Bush for his slip-ups wouldn't even release the footage.
6) In yet another horrible precedent, the man who talked ceaselessly about bipartisanship and unity when he was running for President, yanked the census away from the Commerce Department so it could be manipulated to help the Democratic Party. There's nothing quite like preparing to cheat Republican states out of electoral votes and congressional representatives to help heal that partisan divide in the country!
5) In another wonderful moment that truly gives you insight into Barack Obama's raging narcissism, he actually gave the Queen of England an iPod that featured photos of himself and audio of his speeches. Many observers were undoubtedly surprised that Obama didn't force the queen to sit down and watch a slideshow of his last trip to the Grand Canyon, but he may be saving that treat for a future meeting.
4) After listening to a fifty minute rant against his country from fellow socialist Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Obama responded, "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." Translation: Trash America all you like as long as you say nice things about me.
3) In a move that is shockingly typical of Obama's modus operandi, it was announced that he was closing the prison for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay despite the fact he has yet to figure out what to do with the prisoners. This is sort of like opening all the cages at the zoo and not worrying about what happens next -- except worse. Lions don't strap bombs to themselves and blow up buildings, but terrorists do, and it now looks like some of the terrorists from Gitmo may actually be released into the United States population.
2) While in Turkey on his "Trash America" tour, Barack Obama said this,
"We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. uh uh We consider ourselves uh uh a nation of US citizens"
What's this "we" stuff, pal?
1) If you want evidence of how the government "watchdogs" of the mainstream press have turned into lapdogs on Obama's watch, you couldn't do much better than White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs giving them a "strong A" grade. Roll over. Fetch! That's a good press watchdog! Who wants his belly scratched?
PS: If you're wondering why Barack Obama's approval rating isn't at about 23% after all these screw-ups, this last one explains it.