The Bumbling Barrister of Pennsylvania Avenue
I am not a lawyer and never had any aspirations of becoming a lawyer. I thought it best to leave that pursuit to the brilliant, detail-oriented, argumentative types, possessed of a natural penchant for truth, justice and the American way. Such are the kinds of people who spend some time in the trenches as prosecutors or ambulance chasers in their home states before deciding to take their prodigious skills, experience, and knowledge to Washington. There they roam the halls of Congress to develop, propose, and enact the laws of the land. As has occurred previously, one of them might just end up in the White House. Our current White House occupant claims the credentials of a lawyer, yet his actions might lead one to think otherwise. Lawyer or law-breaker? Is it even appropriate to question why the individual serving in the respected and august role of POTUS might be showing more disdain than respect for the law? Of course it is, but, unfortunately, it seems we can’t leave that job to the nation’s media. Found anyone yet in the mainstream (insert your favorite derogatory adjective here) media who’s really doing their job and asking the right questions? Allow me to attempt to fill the void in my own humble manner.
Beginning with the stealth passage of a bill that no one except nanny staters who always know better what we, the people, need, President Obama has ventured down the trail of legislating against the masses and apparently, in opposition to the Constitution. The individual mandate inherent in his cumbersome healthcare act has been declared unconstitutional; the administration merely shrugs it off. I suppose if you want to re-define commerce as the refusal to engage in commerce that you neither need, want nor choose to pay for, the gang in the White House has a point. Let’s find out if SCOTUS agrees – I highly doubt it.
Without considering Congressional approval, history’s fastest Nobel Peace Prize winner then blundered the US into Libya to support who knows who in attempting to overthrow Libyan strong man and perennial winner of Blackwell’s Worst Dressed Dictators on Earth Award, Moammar Q'Daffy. John Boehner wrote the President: “Either you have concluded the War Powers Resolution does not apply to the mission in Libya or you have determined the War Powers Resolution is contrary to the Constitution.” In one of its few bipartisan efforts since Obama was elected, 10 congressman have filed suit against the president for his ill-advised and inconsistent segue into war profiteering. Isn’t that what Republicans do after all?
Earlier this year, the President cut a fund-raising video at the White House in which he promoted a raffle to win dinner with him and VP Joe Biden. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called him to task on possible violations of FEC laws, just what the RNC chairman should be doing such a violation is suspected. And it’s simply another yellow flag, another indication of the administration’s blatant disregard for the law. Personally, I am offended by the crass promotional effort that drove the video in the first place – win a raffle to have dinner with the President? Using consumer promotions to raise cash? Doesn’t get more lowbrow than this. But, I suppose it’s his way of showing his connection to us common folk.
In another, more obviously lawless move, the President has directed Attorney General Eric Holder not to defend DOMA, proclaiming royally that he deems it unconstitutional discrimination made law. It is law, however. This obviously is a friendly pat on the butt of the gay community who’ve been griping endlessly that Obama hasn’t done enough to advance gay rights and marriage, specifically. And might this be the same Eric Holder who refused to prosecute baton-bearing uniformed thugs engaged in obvious acts of voter intimidation outside Philadelphia voting locations? No lawbreaking or unfair influencing going on there…move along now, nothing to see. And yet again, it is the same Eric Holder who may have authorized the Fast and Furious sting-gone-wrong-program, selling arms to questionable parties in hopes of tracking them back to the Mexican drug cartels. Hundreds, or more likely, thousands have died from those weapons, including at least one Border Patrol officer. Investigations are rightly underway, but one can’t help notice there’s something of a black cloud (quick – somebody call Ed Schulz and Al Sharpton) over the office of the Attorney General these days? Are we not seeing a pattern of impropriety here? Make your own conclusions but I suggest AG Holder begin polishing his resume, and soon.
In one recent classy, in-the-middle-of-the-night-while-wearing-night-vision-goggles move, the twice-defeated Dream Act was passed by a vote of one and signed off by the dramatic stroke of an Executive Order pen. The Dream Act would allow illegals amnesty if they agree to join the military or enroll in college. Obamas’ June 23rd executive order ended the automatic deportation of illegal aliens, permits work authorizations for illegals, and sets up a new task force (i.e. more bloated government) to determine who gets amnesty. These goals mirror those in the DOA Dream Act. This order adversely affects American taxpayers who want our borders secured; it protects and favors 12-15 million lawbreakers (= illegal aliens). Is there any reason to think the President is governing in accordance with the will of his people?
Governing against the will of the people while circumventing the Constitutional maker of laws [the Congress] to do so seems to be an awfully dictatorial and recurrent pattern of behavior within this administration. President Obama continues to respond ideologically to issues best solved with common sense approaches and big picture thinking. Being beholden to the fragmented groups that comprise the Democrat party, identity politics – it’s what he knows best. The President has to lead all the people, not just those he has an affinity for. His decisions must affect the majority of American citizens and they have to be made with the welfare of the majority in mind. The barrister on Pennsylvania Avenue is not bumbling into the future, but willfully grabbing power and continuing to move us toward a more inclusive and European styled socialism. Let me now add my warbling voice to those who believe that articles of impeachment may be the logical and necessary next step in this Washington drama.
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