Tag Archives: Barack Obama

by | November 1, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-84 THE ADVISOR

THREE MORE YEARS?

greendoor

The Advisor had been pacing up and down his office for nearly an hour. He was truly troubled. He hadn’t seen the President for two weeks. Even worse, if the President did come down to see him, he had nothing to say to him. He sighed heavily and sat down to drink some coffee and collect his thoughts.

The problem between us is deeply rooted in the President’s ideology and a long series of political successes by following the wishes of the far left. Only now, the President has the power. He is the President of what some still think is the most powerful nation in world history. Any historian can tell you that winning power and exercising power are two very different processes. In the struggle to seize power, you are not expected to solve the kinds of problems all presidents face. Words of inspiration and hope, and promising voters a better world are the tools of the power seeker. It doesn’t matter much if the words are true or not because the end justifies the means. To someone trying to win power, every action is good as long as the end is the seizure of power from your opponents.

The Advisor pulled out his journal and started to write:

To govern in a democracy or a republic, you must please the people by delivering security, economic progress,  social services, and national pride. In a totalitarian government, force and fear are required tools of governing. In democracies, truth is important. In dictatorships, truth doesn’t matter. Mass murder and the abolishment of freedom is the usual formula for controlling the opposition. Our current President doesn’t seem to realize he is now the man-in-charge. He must now solve issues, not just use them to weaken the opposition. Americans want to trust the word of the President. President Obama is still in campaign mode during which he used untruths successfully to defeat political opponents. The constant blaming of others is not presidential. Holding back information that makes the Administration look bad is not presidential. I’m afraid people have lost faith in his word. Once that happens it is nearly impossible to reverse.

How can I advise a President whom the people no longer trust? What should I do for the next three years of his term? The nation is in some peril and President Obama is playing to the tune of “I didn’t know,” and “I will get to the bottom of this.” That might be right because I believe he has reached the bottom. He has used up the blaming of others. He needs to spend more time looking in the mirror. I doubt even his mirror image can trust his word.

All I can do is record my thoughts in the Journal for my successors to read. Truly, I would like to help him but when a President loses the trust of the people, his term is up. I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years. Except for the progressive lemmings in the Senate and the media, there would be calls for impeachment on the grounds that he has committed at least five Watergates. Ben Ghazi and the IRS scandals being the worst. Only he is already being punished — by the sentence of three years of late-night jokes.

The Advisor put down his pen. He took another sip of coffee and reread what he had just written. It hurt him to read “I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years.” He meant it, and it meant trouble for the U.S.

This blog is written by the author of the Jack Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of government service, including two years serving Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

 

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by | October 9, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-79 THE ADVISOR

THE ISSUE IS THE ISSUE 

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It was time for the sun to come up. The Advisor had to turn on his big-screen TV to see it. Every day the world is renewed with this life-giving force. If only everyone could see the sunrise as another chance to do good things. Maybe spending so much time underground has made me more sensitive to the eternal promise of the light pushing away the dark. I’m worried about my mission to advise the President. He seems to have a hard core of anger and missionary zeal to mold America into a nation of equality, fairness, and centralized control. I don’t think he recognizes that universal fairness and equality are good, if unattainable goals, that are possible only with the excesses of centralized control.

The conflicts he has with his political opposition are rooted in the centralized control issue that cannot tolerate individual freedom or the compromises required to govern this nation. He doesn’t see it like that. To him individual freedom where each person strives to do the best they can destroys the building of socialism by an elite group. His dream is to bring about the birth of unqualified equality, not only to America but to the entire world. He believes individual freedom and nationalism must be sacrificed in the journey to a better world.

The President’s devotion to socialism and the teaching of Saul Alinsky that the issue is never the issue prevent him from devoting his talent to the solving of important national and international issues. President Obama can only see issues as opportunities to be used to destroy opposition. The destruction of the opposition clears the way for the building of an equal opportunity society where wealth is distributed by a centralized government. Just like Mr. Alinsky taught in his “Rules for Radicals.” Mr. Alinsky is a brilliant revolutionary but he was never president. His teaching may have guided Mr. Obama to the presidency but it surely does not help him to govern where issues are real. If you don’t solve them, you are held accountable. Cute messaging and flip flopping on nearly every issue, such as the raising of the debt, are hurting the president’s ability to govern. Recall his vote against raising the debt as being unpatriotic during President Bush’s tenure. Inconsistency and the loss of respect for your word damages any leader. This president just doesn’t seem to understand that lesson of history.

I believe he really doesn’t care about how the Affordable Care Act affects the people as long as it puts seven percent of the economy under government control. Nor does he worry about the number of people out of work, or the insecure national borders, foreign affairs, or the increasing cost of welfare. All these issues bring more people under the care of the central government. To maintain the momentum of people coming under government care he must keep spending beyond the nation’s income. An economic crisis will enable him to nationalize more of the economy and destroy the flow of money to the opposition for a competing  political agenda.

His plan won’t work in the long run and it will cause great damage to the nation and the American safe harbor for individual freedom which is the bedrock of a free people. I’m the Advisor and I don’t know what to do. I’ll give him the best advice I can but I must also protect the nation. Maybe he will see a better path.

By the author of the Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

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by | August 19, 2013 · 9:07 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 70 – THE ADVISOR

 EGYPT AND OBAMA

Safe in the Shadows

The Advisor sat in front of his wide-screen TV watching the streets of Cairo turn to chaos. Minutes later he was astonished at President Obama’s comments on nationwide TV. Advisors were not to be surprised by the actions and statements of their Presidents. For the past two weeks, since the President had not sought his advice, the Advisor had been frantically searching the Presidential Journals written by Advisors since Washington’s first term. He had a treasure of history lined up on the floor to ceiling book shelves. Surely there were bits of history that would help him advise this President, he had thought. His search had not turned up evidence of another Advisor being  continually surprised by the man in the Oval Office.

Recently, a thought had been trying to insert itself in his thinking. Maybe he was using the wrong assumption. All of his predecessors assumed, rightly, that their Presidents were seeking solutions to problems affecting the nation’s well being and progress. What if President Obama has a different vision? A vision that required the destruction of the present to usher in a period of greater fairness and equality for, not just America, but for the entire world? He definitely had a serious problem with the colonial past of both Great Britain and, a different kind of world domination by the United States. Nothing he was doing or planning to do would improve National Security or the nation’s economy. His record showed he was constantly putting obstacles in the way of national independence in the energy field from fossil fuels in favor of a vision of green energy from non-existent technology that was, at least, several decades in the future. Cheap energy in America would do more to bring back manufacturing jobs and products than all his cumbersome regulations and pronouncements. 

Egypt is what brought the President’s destructive words and actions into focus. Here, the people rejected a military dictatorship for free elections and democracy. Their sacrifices brought elections that put the most organized opposition into power. The Muslim Brotherhood  is not a political party. It’s like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Both are armed militias that do a modicum of social work. Once acquiring power, either by coup or the ballot box, they do not give up power. One person, one vote, one time. Germany under the Nazi party had a similar experience. Once the Muslim  Brotherhood under Morsi gained power they moved immediately to ensure their permanency. Their intent was not to benefit the Egyptian people or nation, it was to install an Islamic nation under sharia law.

The Egyptian people ousted the dictatorship of the Brotherhood with the backing of the Army. President Obama gave lukewarm support to the overthrow of Morsi, while lamenting the loss of democracy. The Brotherhood took the fight to the streets demanding the return of Morsi and democracy, vowing to fight to the death. The streets are jammed with Brotherhood supporters, even though they are a definite minority. Chaos is spreading. The already shaky economy is vanishing. The Army moves to restore order. The Brotherhood uses weapons to fight back. Casualties mount on both sides. Progressives, with the President at the point, condemn the Army’s brutality in putting down the Brotherhood revolt, demanding a return to the democratic process and canceling a joint U.S.-Egypt military exercise.

Clearly President Obama has sided with the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Progressives and their Presidential leadership forget that if you added two zeros to the number of dead in Egypt you would still have far fewer dead than in Syria, where a hands-off policy was Obama’s choice. Yet with Christian churches burning and armed Brotherhood roaming the streets of Egypt, President Obama calls for talks and negotiations to restore the democratic process.

The Advisor mused. Doesn’t he know there are times when talk is impossible? A return to democratic elections would only mean the best organized and ruthless group, Morsi and the Brotherhood would win again. This time there would be no return. The Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel would end. Morsi would align Egypt with Iran and attempt to establish an Islamic Empire, forcefully rejecting all Western influence. The war for Islamic dominance is on and our President is supporting the Islamists. His circle of advisors has several Islamists pressing their version of the future.

I must find a way to show the President a different vision. A war between Islam and Christianity is not in America’s interest. Islam weakness is its rejection of reality and the absence of love and forgiveness in its theology. There is nothing democratic about Sharia Law. It is a real war on women.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com. The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful.

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

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by | June 17, 2013 · 8:19 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 57

OVERSIGHT?

Our Constitution, most state constitutions, judicial procedures and corporation bylaws, all contain checks and balances.  All aspects of our republic purposely contain a system of checks and balances. The premise behind the need for such restraints is that people can be corrupt and power breeds corruption. Corruption in government and unchecked power can and will destroy individual liberty. It doesn’t matter which political party is in power, the motivation to use the full and unchecked power of government for ideological supremacy is always there. Our system of checks and balances relies on another principle for its effectiveness. The protector of viability of checks and balances  is Congressional and Judicial  oversight and an aggressive questioning press, which is the third, very important leg of oversight.

079 Capitol Hill United States Congress 1993

079 Capitol Hill United States Congress 1993 (Photo credit: David Holt London)

In our federal government structure, the Congress and the Courts provide the arms of oversight of the Executive. It is the Executive branch of our government whose management of the nation’s business contains the power to encroach on individual freedom in the name of security or in  misguided attempts to destroy opposition to changing or transforming the American nation. Up until the last ten years the check and balance process has worked well  with effective oversight.

In the 1980s and ’90s, the Executive often struggled to maintain its position of prominence in running the affairs of government. At times it seemed to those of us working in the Executive branch that Congress believed oversight meant management. Congressional staff members and reporters made their bones by ferreting out real and imagined overreaches and inefficiencies of the Executive. There was a constant stream of officers from various agencies marching up to testify in front of various committees. One Director of the CIA often commented, “That while CIA is an executive agency under the command of the President, CIA works equally for the Congress.” (This is not an exact quote but it is very close and was accurate at the time.)

The power and effectiveness of the oversight process has been steadily degraded. Four things are primarily responsible for the weakening of the oversight process.

First: The Executive Branch of Government has grown much larger, starting with President George W. Bush and continued by President Obama. The Congressional and Judicial Branches have not kept up.

Secondly: The media has become politically one-sided and ignores covering events that might be critical of President Obama. In doing so they have abrogated their historical position as a key element of the oversight process.

Thirdly: Only the Executive Branch has keep up with the technology necessary to improve the management and control of their branch of government.

Lastly: No one in the Legislative or Judicial Branches anticipated that a political party would so openly and ruthlessly use the power of the executive to destroy political opposition groups. There is scarcely a piece of the executive that has not stepped over traditional lines to seize and expand political power. A few examples of the most egregious are the IRS, EPA, the State Department, the Justice Department, ranking military officers, DEA, Immigrations, HHS, Department of Labor and others that will emerge if oversight regains its footing. How can we expect Congress to oversee the collection and use of information on U.S. Citizens if it cannot even provide oversight of  the the IRS, one of the most bureaucratic  and pervasive of all agencies?  This is not over. Watch the Congressional hearing.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels.         http://www.factsandfictions.com

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by | June 13, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 56

English: The western front of the United State...

English: The western front of the United States Capitol.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

WHAT’S TO BE DONE?

I’ve been asked to write a blog recommending action to stop the Progressive program of the Obama Administration from further eroding our freedoms. We are closer to a one-party political system than most Americans realize. Obama is using the weight and power of the Federal Government to destroy his opposition — meaning anyone who disagrees with him. The main opposition, the Republican Party, is presently ill-equipped to stop the President’s progressive program. The Republican leadership is entrenched in practicing politics as usual. Most of them have been in office too long. The Republicans need new blood to think outside of the box.

We must push hard to support Libertarians, Tea Party candidates, and others who campaign on the promise to reduce the size of government and to defend the Constitution. Support from the former followers of Obama are welcome. We are all Americans and it is in the strength of our faith and belief in the sacrifices of those who went before us that we will find the will and the power to make the sacrifices necessary to turn back the onslaught of elitist progressive ideology that today threatens the very life of our nation.

Step 1: Support Libertarians, Tea Party candidates, and others who think like we do. Give generously of your time and money to these candidates. Write to them. Tell them you are supporting them because you believe in limited government and the Constitution. Tell your friends about your beliefs and seek support for your candidates. Be willing to put a sign in your yard and a bumper sticker on your car. Become a candidate yourself or at least a party worker.

Step 2: You cannot advise your friends and support the “right” candidate if you don’t educate yourself. Watch a couple of different news channels, read the local and national papers. Go online to investigate issues. Hold discussions in your home with like-minded friends and associates.

Step 3: Treat those who have different beliefs with respect. They, too, are Americans who may have made more sacrifices than you have.

Step 4: Separate the facts from political hype and debate the facts, not your opponents’ opinions or beliefs.

Step 5: Strive to find common ground with your fellow citizens. Even a small one is starting point. Example don’t argue over Obamacare. Instead agree that our health care system needs improvement. But there is a better response to fixing the current system than Obamacare. Talk about what needs improvement from your perspective.

Step 6: Most importantly of all, don’t sit around and whine. Get involved. Whiners were not at Bunker Hill, the Alamo, Gettysburg, the Yalu River, Guadalcanal, Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge, the I Drang Valley, Khandar, Ramadi and scores of other places, and certainly not in your house. Keep the House and take the Senate in 2014. Support the Congress in all the scandal investigations. 

Step 7:  Never give up.

By the author of the Jack Brandon thriller series.            www.factsandfictions.com

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