The Patriot Post® · Obama Gets Tough!

After nearly eight years of groveling at the feet of the world’s worst tyrants, from the mullahs of Iran to the Castro brothers in Cuba, President Obama has finally located his spine and laid down the law. Unfortunately, the target of his ire was not the North Koreans or ISIS, but the dreaded Brits!

Britain is in the middle of an important debate over whether to withdraw from the European Union. The press has dubbed the June vote “Brexit.”

Polling shows voters are deeply divided. As Europe struggles with a massive influx of migrants and growing national security issues, many British voters believe they are giving up too much national sovereignty in exchange for a quagmire of European problems.

Enter Obama. Always hesitant to lecture any dictator about what he should or should not do, he quickly jumped into Britain’s domestic political debate and made it clear how he wanted the British people to vote.

And just in case they weren’t listening, he threatened to punish England if its citizens voted to withdraw from the EU. Obama suggested that the U.S. would make trade deals with Europe first, and would only get around to making trade deals with Great Britain five or ten years later.

His interference in a domestic debate has riled many British commentators, as it should. Some are predicting that far from helping the pro-European Union cause he actually hurt it. I hope so.

As reports of Obama’s aggressive interference in a purely British domestic debate poured in over the weekend, I couldn’t help but remember what happened when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu came to the United States to address Congress on the Iranian nuclear deal in March of 2015. Obama and his cronies were furious at Netanyahu’s “interference” even though the deal would directly and immediately impact Israel’s national security.

So in Obama’s world, it is okay for him to interfere in a British referendum on a matter of no national security interest to the United States, but it is unacceptable for the prime minister of Israel to offer advice to Congress on a matter that poses an existential threat to his nation.

With Obama consistency only shows itself in one way: he consistently rewards our enemies while threatening and lecturing our friends.

Europe Under Siege

To understand why many in Great Britain might want out of the European Union, just consider the chaos caused by the current wave of Muslim migration that is sweeping the continent. Conservatives have been warning that Europe’s lax immigration system was being exploited by ISIS. In fact, ISIS has bragged about it.

Now even The Washington Post is belatedly acknowledging reality. In a front-page story this weekend, the Post retraces the steps of four ISIS terrorists, two of whom were involved in the deadly Paris attacks.

Europe’s experience is relevant to the United States, especially given Barack Obama’s intention to bring in more Syrian refugees, virtually all of whom are Muslims.

Justice Arthur Goldberg famously wrote that the Constitution “is not a suicide pact.” Compassion is not a suicide pact either. In a time of war, which we are in, compassion untempered by rationality leads to death. Sadly, too many elites in the West continue to stick their heads in the sand.

Cruz/Kasich Tag Team Trump

The Cruz and Kasich campaigns announced [Sunday] that they were coordinating their strategies in the upcoming primary contests, hoping to deny Donald Trump the victories he needs to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

There are 172 delegates at stake in [today’s] primary contests, and everyone concedes that Donald Trump is going to have a good night. Trump is expected to run the tables in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Those wins will push Trump’s delegate count close to 1,000. To make sure he falls short of the 1,237 majority needed to clinch the nomination, the Cruz campaign is going to focus all its energy and resources on winning the Indiana primary on May 3rd. […]

The Kasich campaign will not contest Indiana. The Cruz campaign will in turn “clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said [Sunday].

Meanwhile, Senator Cruz continues to score big wins in the delegate selection process. Cruz supporters claimed at least 65 of 94 delegate positions awarded in Kentucky, Maine, South Carolina and Utah.

Of course, that only matters if there is a contested convention requiring more than one ballot to pick the nominee. If Donald Trump wins another 400 delegates during the primary contests between now and June 7th, he will be the GOP nominee.

McAuliffe Rewrites Virginia Constitution

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) signed a sweeping executive order Friday restoring voting rights to more than 200,000 ex-felons. The move potentially expands Virginia’s voting rolls by nearly 4%.

That is not an insignificant figure. Virginia’s 2014 Senate race was decided by fewer than 18,000 votes or eight-tenths of one percent. The year before, the race for attorney general was decided by 165 votes out of more than 2.2 million cast, or 0.007%.

And in 2012, Barack Obama won Virginia by fewer than 150,000 votes or 3.9%.

McAuliffe was clearly borrowing from Barack Obama’s playbook. This executive order is likely unconstitutional and exceeds McAuliffe’s authority as governor. But don’t take my word for it.

Democrat Tim Kaine, who served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, was asked by the ACLU to do exactly what Terry McAuliffe just did. The Kaine Administration declined, telling the ACLU that “A blanket order restoring the voting rights of everyone would be a rewrite of the law…”

Even the left-wing New York Times acknowledged as much, writing, “The action effectively overturns a Civil War-era provision in the state’s Constitution.” No governor has the power to overturn his state’s constitution!

Once again, the left does not hesitate to assault the rule of law in order to advance its own agenda.

William Howell, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, blasted McAuliffe’s action that includes “even the most heinous violent crimes including murder, rape, child rape, and kidnapping.” Speaker Howell vowed to “immediately begin a detailed review of the Governor’s policy to determine what options are available to the General Assembly.”