Obama: The Blame Game President

Abraham Lincoln once said, “ Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” Obama’s ideologies are the collective result of his many social, political, economic and geographic exposures. We are who we are because of our exposures and experienced throughout the years.

One need only look at the associations that have guided Obama in the past to understand where he is coming from. Dreams From My Father, clearly reveals who Obama is and the ideologies that he supports.  Further, Edward Klein’s book: The Amateur, takes you behind the scenes at the White House and explicitly reveals the president’s limited understanding of executive leadership. These books support each other in that Dreams From My Father clearly lays out the indoctrinations with which he was raised and The Amateur shows how he is implementing that with which he has been indoctrinated.

The majority of Americans, regardless of color, race, or religion, want our presidents to succeed because, in the end, we all benefit. We elected Obama because he clearly enunciated the critical issues facing us and eloquently promised solutions. We became enamored with his presence, his articulation of the issues and his campaigning abilities. However, what we overlooked at that time was his unrelated background and work experiences that did not contribute significantly to executing the duties of the office. We soon found out that he was only capable of speaking about the problems identified by others and not capable of carrying out the necessary solutions. He could not relinquish his Keynesian ideology and concentrate on the issues facing America. Can anyone grow up in an atmosphere of anti-capitalism and progressivism and expect that his principles will vary significantly from those formative years? He professed socialistic principles (a distribution of wealth in support of the middle-class) while personally embracing capitalism and took advantage of the benefits of the capital environment; increasing his personal wealth significantly. “ Do as I say not as I do” is apparently his operating principle. He constantly professed that we are a country of laws, while continuously violating them. A perfect example is the Affordable Healthcare Act, which he then changed by granted compliance waivers to companies for a year when he does not have authority to do. To this day he is unilaterally making changes to the Affordable Care Act that only congress has authority to do.

Article 2, Sec. 3 of the Constitution charges the President "shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed." It doesn't say that he "should" execute the laws of the United States; it uses the imperative "shall."

Nor, does the Constitution say that the President can pick and choose to enforce some of the laws, or just the ones he likes. Nor, does the Constitution give the President the authority to create new laws. Article 1, Sec. 1 is clear on that point; "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." But for Barack Obama the limits of the Constitution matter very little; particularly so the separation of powers that the Founders crafted as a check-and-balance against an unhealthy concentration of power in one branch of the government.  In fact, Obama has publicly derided the Constitution as a "charter of negative liberties" and pledged to work to "break free from the essential constraints placed by the Founding Fathers."

In another recent column, Charles Krauthammer addressed the issue of a President who "writes his own laws." Krauthammer affixes the title befitting of the President's lawless nature: "Caudillo in Chief." After a litany of grievances as examples document his assertions, Krauthammer concludes: Such gross executive usurpation disdains the Constitution. It mocks the separation of powers. And most consequentially, it introduces a fatal instability into law itself. If the law is not what is plainly written, but is whatever the president and his agents decide, what's left of the law? What's the point of the whole legislative process — of crafting various provisions through give-and-take negotiation — if you cannot rely on the fixity of the final product, on the assurance that the provisions bargained for by both sides will be carried out? Consider immigration reform. The essence of any deal would be legalization in return for strict border enforcement. If some such legislative compromise is struck, what confidence can anyone have in it — if the president can unilaterally alter what he signs? Yet this president is not only untroubled by what he's doing, but open and rather proud. As he tells cheering crowds on his never-ending campaign-style tours: I am going to do X — and I'm not going to wait for Congress. That's caudillo talk. That's banana republic stuff. In this country, the president is required to win the consent of Congress first. At stake is not some constitutional curlicue. At stake is whether the laws are the law. And whether presidents get to write their own.

The editors at Investor's Business Daily picked up on the issue, too.  Following is what they call "just a small sampling" of a "Lengthy Legacy of Lawlessness."

 Aug. 14, 2013: The Obama administration delayed the provision in ObamaCare to cap out-of-pocket health care costs, picking and choosing parts of the law to enforce, which is to exceed its authority.

July 17, 2013: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals joined the federal appeals courts in D.C. and Philadelphia in ruling President Obama's National Labor Relations Board recess appointments — who by law must be approved by Congress — were unconstitutional. Thus far, the president has ignored the ruling.

July 1, 2013: The Obama administration unilaterally decided to delay the employer mandate provision of ObamaCare for a year, which is to provide information to the feds about the extent of an applicant's insurance. Never mind that the law states the mandate must go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014 — they are now relying on the "honor system" from applicants to determine if they are qualified for subsidies.

 June 25, 2013: The Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Eric Holder that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is "unconstitutional" and that "the formula can no longer be used as a basis for subjecting jurisdiction to preclearance." Instead of complying with the ruling, Holder filed suit to order Texas to submit to preclearance, in defiance of Congress' authority to legislate and the Supreme Court's authority to rule on the constitutionality of the law.

June 15, 2012: The Obama administration announced it will stop deporting illegal immigrants under the age of 30 in a "deferred action" policy to circumvent immigration laws. This comes after Congress rejected a similar measure about a year ago. Since then, more than 500,000 illegals have received the deferment and only 20,000 have been rejected. As for the law-abiding applicants who have been waiting in line, well, that's Obama's idea of "lawfulness."

May 20, 2013: A Washington Post article revealed that Fox News reporter James Rosen was investigated by the DOJ, which subpoenaed his phone records and emails in direct contravention of the First Amendment under the pretense of a leak investigation.

May 13, 2013: AP reported the DOJ secretly collected phone records of AP reporters and editors, a move completely outside the realm of law. Even the AP — which up until then had been pretty submissive to the Obama agenda — was appalled by the breach.

May 10, 2013: The IRS revealed it targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status beginning in March 2010, a direct targeting of political opponents through the tax laws. It's one of the crimes that led Congress to impeach President Nixon.

May 3, 2011: When asked when he first heard of Operation Fast and Furious, Attorney General Eric Holder falsely testified, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks." Head of the National Drug Intelligence Center Michael Walther told Holder about Fast and Furious in a July 2010 memo. Subsequent revelations showed he knew all along.

March 27, 2012: EPA issued final rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions on electric utilities that require power plants to use nonexisting carbon capture-and-control technology to meet new emission standards, in defiance of the Congress' rejection of cap-and-trade legislation.

April 23, 2012: The administration postponed Medicare Advantage cuts by calling them a "demonstration project" and used funds not approved by Congress to delay effects of those cuts before the election.

March 1, 2011: Attorney General Holder lied to Congress, saying "decisions made in the New Black Panther Party case were made by career attorneys in the department." Associate A.G. Thomas Perrelli, an Obama political appointee, overruled a unanimous recommendation for prosecution by DOJ attorneys.

Feb. 3, 2010: Judge Martin Feldman held the Obama administration in contempt for re-imposing an offshore drilling moratorium that was struck down by the courts.

Following is the Obama list of those who have created problems that were simply overwhelming and unfixable for him.

• Obama Blames Arab Spring and Japan’s Earthquake on Struggling Economy and Job Situation, August 5th, 2011.

• Obama Blames Messy Democracy for His Failed Policies, remarks by the president at a DNC event; August 3rd, 2011

• Obama Blames Congress for US Debt Mess; Obama news conference, June 29th, 2011.

• Obama Blames Republicans for Slow Pace on Immigration Reform, July 25th, 2011.

• Obama Blames Media for Lack of Compromise in Washington; remarks by Obama at a town hall meeting July 22nd, 2011.

• Obama Blames Technology for Struggling Economy;
• June 14th, 2011, NBC Today interview.

• Obama Blames Oil Spectators for High Oil Prices;
• April 19th, 2011, remarks by Obama at a town hall meeting.

• Obama Blames Reagan for America’s Out of Control Debt and Spending; remarks by President Obama April 13th, 2011, Federal News Service.

• Obama Blames Bush and Congress for Lack of Fiscal Discipline, April 13th, 2011; remarks by Obama, Federal News Service.

• Obama Blames Bush-Congress for Putting Off Tough Decisions, August 17th, 2010; remarks at a fundraiser for Patty Murray.

• Obama Blames Bush for Tax Cuts, Deficits; Obama town hall meeting on the economy in Racine, Wisconsin, June 30th, 2010.

• Obama Blames Bush for Deficits, June 8th, 2010; remarks by Obama at a second fundraising reception for Senator Barbara Boxer.

• Obama Blames GOP for Events that Led to Gulf Oil Spill; remarks by President Obama June 3rd, 2010, Federal News Service.

• Obama Blames Republicans for America Not Being Able to Solve Problems; remarks by President Obama June 3rd, 2010, Federal News Service.

• Obama Blames Corporations for Everybody’s Problems, Federal News Service. He said, “If you’re a Wall Street Journal bank or an insurance company or oil company, you pretty much get to play by your own rules regardless of the consequences for everybody else.” June 3rd, 2010,

• Obama Blames Bush for Overall Standing of American Economy, at a fundraising reception for Senator Boxer. April 19th, 2010

• Obama Blames Bush, Congress for Deficits, delivering remarks on the budget. February 1, 2010,

• Obama Blames Bush for Regulatory Policies; remarks by the president at an event with attorney general Martha Coakley in Massachusetts. January 17th, 2010

• Obama Blames Bush for Overall Standing of Economy and American Standing, Obama delivering remarks at a fundraising reception for Senator Boxer and the DNC. April 19th of 2010.

• Obama Blames Bush and Congress for Deficits, in remarks delivered on the budget. February 1st, 2010.

• Obama Blames Bush for Regulatory Policies, remarks by the president at an event with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. January 17th, 2010.

• Obama Blames Wall Street Fat Cats for Economic Disaster, CBS News’ 60 Minutes. December 13th, 2009.

• Obama Blames Bush for Overall Economy, remarks by the president at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual dinner. September 27th, 2009,

• Obama Blames Bush for Stifling Unions, remarks by the president at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic. September 7th, 2009.

• Obama Blames Bush for Prescription Drug Bill; remarks by the president, health insurance reform town hall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 11th, 2009.

• Obama Blames Bush for Jobs, news conferences by the president. July 22nd, 2009.

• Obama Blames Bush for Failure to Recognize Europe’s Leading Role in the World, April 3rd, 2009; remarks by President Obama at a Strasbourg [France] town hall, and in those remarks he said this: “So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years we’ve allowed our alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there’s something more that has crept into our relationship.” “In America there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world, instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive of you.” That’s Barack Obama, speaking in Europe at Strasbourg, blaming Bush for a failure to recognize Europe’s leading role in the world, April 3rd, 2009.

• Obama Blames Bush for Deficits, Obama delivering opening remarks at fiscal responsibility summit. February 23rd, 2009.

• Candidate Obama Blames Fox News for his Elitist Label, New York Times, October 2008.

• Candidate Obama Blames Fox News for Likely Loss in Kentucky Primary, May 2008.

• Candidate Obama Blames Washington for High Gas Prices, remarks of Senator Barack Obama, press availability on energy plan,  April 25, 2008.

The “Blame Tactic,” Obama believes to be effective, otherwise why would it be used so often? For many years he has blamed George W. Bush for the anemic recovery. He said the tepid economy at the start of 2012 resulted from Republicans "playing games" on the debt ceiling in 2011. He blamed the negative economic growth numbers in the fourth quarter of 2012 on "bad decisions in Washington," by which he meant Republicans in Congress who insisted on budget cuts that caused a decline in government expenditures.

Obama repeated the doomsday rhetoric in several of his press conferences. “The sequester cuts, he warned, will have a ‘negative’ effect on the overall economy, yet we see little impact other than a slight reduction in spending. It's going to put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk." He added that Republicans couldn’t see the obvious solution (higher taxes, of course) that is right in front of them."

The obvious suspicion is that Mr. Obama is hedging his bets on an economy that continues to tread water. "This is a president," says Karl Rove, "who blames anything and anyone but himself" for a bad economy. This is what you do when you do not know what to do. Consumer spending and business investment is necessary if the economy is going to grow significantly.

At a news conference: Diana Williams,  of WABC-TV asked: You were the one many years ago, when you were running for this office who said, you know, 'I'm going to create a bipartisan atmosphere in Washington.' Yet, Washington is more split than ever before. This country is more divided than ever before. Why have you not been able to create a bipartisan atmosphere here and do you take any of the blame on yourself for that?



President Obama replied: Well, you know, I think that if you look at my track record over the last four years, I have consistently sought compromise. Sometimes, to the point that Democrats have been mad at me, but I didn't care because I did what I thought was best for the country...

The problem that we have right now is that on the other side, just a faction of the Republican party -- it doesn't represent all Republicans -- that have decided to take a very extreme position and to use very extreme tactics in order to get stuff done. And the more moderate, reasonable members of the Republican party up in Congress often times have difficulty dealing with that faction. And, what we've seen as a result is the kind of mess that we're seeing today. 

So, the upshot is this: if you look at both my policies as well as the approach that I've taken in governing, there is a lot of overlap between what I'm proposing and what Republicans have proposed in the past. I take their ideas all the time. What we haven't seen is a willingness on the other side to engage in the basic compromises that are required for governance.

This is the same president that said: “I will not negotiate ….”