Tag Archives: Obama

by starediting | September 18, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS – 154

OBAMA’S SCORECARD – PART 2

It will soon be six years since Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. The traditional way of evaluating a president is to judge how he has done as a leader to solve problems concerning the economy, national security, and foreign policy. We could do that here, but that wouldn’t be addressing what President Obama has been doing. To be fair, he should be scored on what he has been working to accomplish. To do that, we have to use the tasks relevant to progressive goals, for those are what is important to President Obama and his legacy.

President Obama’s overall goal is the transformation of America. That term means very little unless you examine the steps that are required in the process of transformation. The first step is to marginalize his opposition, the Republican Party, by a skillful manipulation of issues. Remember, the progressive mantra is “the issue is never the issue.” In short, that means you don’t try to solve problems or issues, you simply use every issue to instead attack the opposition. Changing sides on issues or lying about what you said previously about the issue doesn’t matter and happens often.

In Part 1 of this blog I scored Obama on redistribution of wealth and weakening America on a worldwide scale. Read that blog here.

All socialist ideologies require the move of the means of production from the private sector to governmental control. Beginning with Obamacare and moving to micro-managing regulations on manufacturing, coal mining, nuclear power, oil exploration and drilling, and energy use, the president has made an auspicious start but he still has a long way to go. His grade here for advancing progressive programs only rates a “C” minus.

To create a one-party political system run by a progressive elite, Obama needs to destroy the Republican Party and absorb the legislative power of Congress into the executive branch by using executive orders and department regulations. He has made the executive branch more powerful than the office he was elected to fill, but the stubborn resistance from the tea parties and other conservatives has slowed the process and the progressives will probably (hopefully) lose control of the Senate in November 2014. The president gets only another “C” minus here.

To prepare the way to move America into the control of an international organization, he needs to withdraw from foreign bases and weaken the U.S. military forces, which are still the best in the world. The president has announced his intent to cut the manpower of the Armed Forces to pre-WWII levels. The Defense Department, under timid civilian and military leadership, has rolled over and begun implementing manpower cutbacks by informing several hundred captains and majors they will no longer be needed. I’m sure notices to sergeants and others will follow. Majors, captains, and sergeants are the backbone of any military organization. It will take 15 years or more to replace the expertise being wasted. As long as the Pentagon is so gutless, Obama will succeed in diminishing both manpower and weaponry. He gets a “B” plus here.

Unless conservatives, independents, and moderate Democrats wake up, President Obama will eventually get higher grades as a progressive than he ever got during his academic training.

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EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 153

OBAMA’S SCORECARD – PART 1

washingtontimes.com

Domestically, Obama has done this by:

increasing taxes on the top earners
instituting death taxes so families cannot pass on wealth to heirs
put forth regulations to hamper business expansion
raised minimum wages
increased unemployment benefits
expanded food stamp recipients
Obamacare
internationally signing treaties in the area of climate change
taxes on burning carbon
providing payments to the United Nations and other groups and nations that do not share our goals.

Obama, so far, only gets a “C” for his redistribution of wealth goals, but he is making progress.

Another progressive goal is to weaken America in the international arena among its allies and adversaries. A major task in this goal is to destroy America’s ability to project power outside our borders. The value of our word in foreign affairs is at a very low point. No one, enemies nor allies, believes us. They see our will and resolve as non-existent. Our unwise withdrawal from Iraq, Obama’s haste to get us into Afghanistan and then withdraw on a meaningless time table, redlines that disappear and negotiations that have no substance have been effective in reducing our world power. In the president’s drive to diminish American power and prestige internationally, he deserves an “A.”

Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog, coming later this week, which will score Obama on increasing government control; expanding the executive branch; and weaken the U.S. military.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Obamacare, Politics

Tagged as government, Obama, Progressive, Republican, Saul Alinsky, socialism, transformation

by Barry Kelly | September 11, 2014 · 6:58 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 150

SHAPE THE BATTLEFIELD

President Obama read the polls and decided he should address the nation on the ISIS threat. But he didn’t say a word Wednesday night about how his past policies have made it necessary for America to go to war again in Iraq.

He claimed to have a small coalition of nine NATO nations and Australia who have not committed ground troops. That’s a bit smaller than the last time we went into Iraq, when we were supported by 29 nations who committed ground troops. President Obama did as well as he could from the foundations of his foreign policy over the last nearly six years. Let’s not poke anymore holes into his speech about ISIS.

As commander-in-chief, he needs to be clear on a few critical points. The first is call the threat what it is. It is radical Islam. Within those circles which include most of the Islamic world, it is a good thing to kill infidels/nonbelievers. Where are the moderate Muslims? The Saudis have funded radical madrases/schools all over the near, middle and far east for at least two decades. Money from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Kuwait, and Pakistan have poured resources into the Taliban and other radical Islamic organizations for years. Nearly all the World Trade Center bombers were Saudis. In Egypt the more moderate military is nearly fully occupied dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood that Obama backed against Mubarak. Libya doesn’t seem too moderate, nor does our old ally, Turkey. Pakistan is not a moderate Islamic nation. Good luck, Mr. President, in finding moderate Islamic states to join your coalition with real help and commitment. They may not continue to support ISIS but I doubt they will stand up with a Christian nation against ISIS. Their only interest is keeping ISIS away from their territory.

The second point is that competent boots on the ground are necessary to win any military campaign. Obama’s examples of his strategic success in fighting terrorism in Yemen and Somalia are not even relevant. The relevant bit of recent history is the Bush Administration defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan with approximately 500 American boots on the ground, all military or civilian special forces warriors and, of course, thousands of tribal fighters from the Northern Alliance. Enough fighters to push the Taliban into massing to defend against attack so the U.S. Air Force, flying no holds barred missions, including B-52s, destroyed the defense positions of the Taliban down the length of Afghanistan. The air strikes were guided to the kill zones by American civilian and uniformed Special Forces. That is a proven tactic. The problem is that skilled fighters like those of the Northern Alliance have yet to be identified.

With a clear broad view of the strategic battlefield, victory is possible without large U.S. combat units, but small units on the ground will be needed. First the Kurds will fight and can fight as soon as the Obama Administration recognizes the Kurds will fight for their own homeland. We need to accept and welcome Kurdistan into the alliance. As of last week they reported that had not received any arms shipments from the U.S. Our in the box thinkers had to send all aid to the Kurds through Baghdad which is the same as not sending any. Shiites don’t send weapons to Kurds.

The next tactic to hurt the heads of our people struggling to put Iraq back together again is to rekindle our Special Forces relationship with the Sunni tribes. They will not go back into a Shiite-dominated government so recognize that, and tell the humpty-dumpty bureaucrats trying to patch together a phony country to cease and desist. The Sunni tribes, if promised their own land and given weapons, will fight and take care of the ISIS forces in Iraq. The next step is easy. Let the Shiites retreat south of Baghdad until they decide they will stop and fight for their own land, Shiiteville. All we have to do then is separate the not so bad guys from the really bad guys in Syria and work with them to get rid of the Assad tyranny. All this can be done in less than a year with very few American WIA or KIA. What was Iraq is now nearly the same as it was before arrogant western diplomats drew unreal lines on a map and created the nightmare of Iraq. None of this can be done unless the president gets out of the way and lets the Pentagon and CIA run the war on terror and radical Islam.

Written by the author of “INSIGHTS: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You are encouraged to share this message and follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.

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Filed under Afghanistan, Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Kurds, Obama, Shiite, Sunni, Terrorism

Tagged as America, iraq, ISIS, Islam, Middle East, military, Obama, u.s.

by Barry Kelly | September 1, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 147

A MAGIC TELEPROMPTER

http://www.frontpagemag.com

Our president talks the talk better than any modern-age politician. But that is it. Walk the walk never follows.

He seems to believe words do not need to be followed up by actions. By some magic, the teleprompter follows up with more words that are delivered passionately with a choir of adoring acolytes standing behind him taking in every word. These people also believe President Obama’s words are complete in themselves. No action is required. Putin, the Ayatollahs, Syrian President Asad, ISIS, China, Iraqi Prime Ministers, all will fall in line once the King has spoken.

Maybe it worked that way a long time ago in make-believe land, but not in this cruel, hard, beautiful world we live in. It is incredible a two-term president who has a Harvard law degree can stand on his podium with a straight face and watch the words flow off the teleprompter believing he has handled whatever the crisis was. Does he believe he has a magic teleprompter that converts words into actions?

When questioned about where is the presidential action, his puppets speak with one voice, with great patience, and in a condescending manner refer the rude questioner back to what the president said. It is wonderful to watch the expression on the questioner’s face — “Did I hear what I thought I heard?” — and so on until the next magical speech like the one he gave recently to the American Legion. Here, he promised a number of executive orders to improve the life of veterans needing assistance. There is nothing wrong with the executive orders, except, if he can do that with his pen why wait until now. Didn’t he know the Veterans Administration was in deep trouble over the deceitful ways it covered up its failure to help veterans? Don’t worry, the teleprompter will reach out and fix all wrongs. The imperial president has spoken.

The magical teleprompter won’t be able to fix the real problem of the president’s deliberate down-sizing of the Armed Forces. The teleprompter can’t do away with battalions of terrorists, or an increasingly aggressive China, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or Putin’s plan to re-constitute the Soviet Empire. At times it seems Putin also has a magic teleprompter. Probably built one with the information Snowden stole from NSA.

How can a sane person stand in front of a audience of veterans and cast out promises of a better life for warriors when he is firing them and sending them back to an economy that has no jobs for them when the world grows more dangerous by the day? The teleprompter, in its best voice, implied American soldiers were responsible for the world troubles we are facing today because of their long occupation of other countries. Maybe he never heard of America’s role in two world wars or the Marshall Plan to give the European economy a new start. A world without America would be very different and not for the better. Does leaving some U.S. force level in Iraq look like a bad option now?

President Obama is stuck with his teleprompter in a pro-Muslim, anti-American mindset where the only solution is to destroy American military and economic power so wealth can be shared with the third world nations we have prevented from equal development and prosperity. All words, but very dangerous words because his inaction and failure to maintain a strong military force level equipped with advanced weapons will lead to the destruction of this great Republic. The only applause will be from radical Islamists.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. If you think this message is important, please share it.

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 145

RESIST OR RESIGN OR BOTH?

The president, as commander-in-chief, directs the activities of the Defense Department. The secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs advise the president and send him recommendations. We all know that. Civilian rule over the military is a long-established and necessary doctrine. But what happens when the commander-in-chief is not capable of developing defense policy and providing the leadership to implement the policy? Are the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs still required to follow presidential guidance? The answer is a clear yes. We have a thing called the ballot box that settles who is our commander-in-chief.

President Barack Obama announces former Senator Chuck Hagel, second from left, as his nominee for Secretary of Defense. Photo by Matt Compton, from whitehouse.gov.

But that doesn’t mean that General Dempsey and the secretary of defense are powerless to resist dangerous policies or can’t argue forcefully against presidential (commander-in-chief) orders. We have a president who, to my memory, has not been right in a single foreign or military issue. His decisions always put his politics and image ahead of what professionals think/know is best for the nation. Just review the mess in Libya with Gaddafi’s regime looking better every day since he was ousted and central control over Libya vanished, ending up with Benghazi and weapons flowing to radical Islamic groups though out the Middle East and Africa. The president’s inability to see the world as it is has led to a dangerous situation in the Ukraine as Putin takes advantage of the absence of American power and resolve. The famous disappearing redline in Syria, the failure to aid moderate Islamic forces to overthrow Asad, the vacillation over the reformation of the Iraqi government, the plans to drastically reduce the armed forces, the constantly televised presidential statements telling our enemies what we will not do and when we are leaving the theater are some critical examples. It is too late for the moderate secular Muslims have now been killed or absorbed into ISIS.

Dempsey and Hagel have had ample opportunity to judge the effectiveness and wisdom of their commander-in-chief. Some of their statements indicate they disagree with President Obama. Even if their refreshingly strong recent statements are walked back within a day or so, it might be a start. They are required to follow President Obama’s lead by our founding documents but they also took an oath to defend America and its people. If they cannot convince the president to change or modify his orders, both need to resign and take their case to Congress and the public. They have a duty to do so. But maybe they think they are indispensable or that by remaining in office they are preventing a bad situation from getting worse. Or do they just want to keep their prestigious positions and titles? I hope both of these men who have honorably served their country will choose the right path.

At the very least they need to stop the disintegration of the Armed Forces back to pre-World War II levels and to invest in developing new weapons to ensure America’s ability to defend itself and its allies. Congress will cooperate, they know peace comes through strength. War thrives on weakness. Every historian, except those with a progressive political agenda, will agree.