Part 4, Why The Obama Adminsitration Deserves The Ranking As The Worst Presidency Since 1945

A recent public opinion poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, a traditional and unbiased source of public opinion, asked a sample of Americans who they thought operated the worst Presidency since 1945. Barack Obama won a plurality of votes in that poll for being the worst U.S. President since 1945. 33% of respondents named him as the worst President over the past seven decades with George W, Bush finishing second at 28%. 

Both of them far outpolled who I generally consider the two worst Presidents of the past hundred years, Jimmy Carter (8%) for being a President who was clueless and totally ineffective, and Richard Nixon (13%) for simply being a vindictive crook. America has to be pretty disgusted with your Presidential administration when you are mentioned 2-4 more times than either Carter or Nixon as the worst president since 1945.

Over the next few days we are going to explore the overwhelming number of reasons while this result for President Obama is not only rational but is well deserved. Before anyone starts with their counter arguments or disputing my list of Obama policy failures, criminal acts, economic ignorance, violations of the Constitution, and broken promises, keep in mind the following facts:

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life and I am over 60 years old.
• Up until November, 2010, I had never voted for a Republican for national office.
• In the first two years of his Presidency, Obama’s party was in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate with filibuster proof majorities in both places, I.e. he could have done anything he wanted politically and legislatively without any assist from any Republican.
• I am not saying that anyone else would have resolved all of the issues listed below but it is difficult to think that at least some of these issues would have been resolved by people such as Truman, Kennedy, or Reagan. The Obama Presidency has been so bad that just about every issue and problem listed below is actually far WORST rather than BETTER since the onset of the Obama administration.
• Consider an old saying: “Don’t tell me how rough the seas were, just tell me you brought the boat safely into the harbor.” In other words, a true leader takes the blame and gives the credit. No one forced Obama to become President, he knew the situation he was getting into. He should be judged on how well he managed the situation he inherited going forward. Unfortunately, instead of leadership and looking forward, he chose instead to whine, look backwards, and to blame others for his failures rather than focusing on moving forward from whatever adverse situation he inherited.

Okay, so that sets out the preliminaries: I am not a conservative, a Republican, or a neocon trying to tear down this President. This President could have done anything he wanted in the first two years of his tenure, he cannot blame the Republicans for blocking anything he failed at since he had a historic window of political opportunity. Instead of leveraging the window and leading the country, he chose to blame the previous President, the Japanese tsunami, ATM machines, and a whole host of other factors in the absence of Presidential leadership.

Thus, without any further delay and in no particular order, consider the following, next set of reasons why the Quinnipiac public opinion poll is probably an accurate view of why America rates the Obama administration as the worst Presidential administration in the past 70 years or so. Beware that these reasons carry a lot more weight than the first 62 reeasons we discussed over the past three days. Those reasons deal with Presidential administration indifference, incompetence, and vindictiveness. The following 60 reasons discussing why this is deservedly ranked as the worst administration since 1945 points out the many, many instances of Presidential behavior that are truly grounds for impeachment and removal from office:

63) President Obama led the United States into a major military action against the country of Libya, spending well over a billion dollars of taxpayer wealth and placing our armed forces in danger without the approval of Congress, violating the War Powers Act and Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

64) He refused to fire James Clapper, a high ranking member of the President’s national security team after Clapper lied to Congress about how much electronic information the National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting on every American citizen, becoming an accessory after the fact in Clapper's lying to Congress.

65) He signed the latest NDAA legislation whose sections 1021 and 1022 allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens, without trial, who the government considers terrorist suspects until the vague “end of hostilities,” which violates the habeas corpus protection of American citizens under Article I Section 9 of the Constitution.

66) He personally signed off on the assassination of American citizens in foreign lands, e.g. the killing of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki via a drone attack in Yemen, denying him and other citizens a fair trial by their peers, negating the rights, and lives, of al-Awlaki and at least three other American citizens, violating their right “to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the Fourth Amendment, and the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.

67) He has repeatedly and in varied ways denied members of our armed forces to their right to personally celebrate, follow, and take comfort in their personal Christian religion and faith, violating the First Amendment to the Constitution.

68) His administration’s development and deployment of the Fast and Furious gun running operation to supply weapons to violent Mexican drug cartels has violated any number of laws including:

• The illegal shipment of weapons to criminal organizations. 
• Violations of international treaties regarding illegal gun smuggling. 
• Abetting the violence of those cartels who used Fast and Furious weapons to kill innocent Mexican civilians and a U.S. border agent, Brian Terry. 
• Denying Congress and Congressional investigators access to pertinent Fast and Furious executive branch documents needed to investigate the alleged transgressions by claiming executive privilege.

These actions ignore and/or break existing laws and thus, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution.

69) He unilaterally delayed the small business (SHOP) mandates from his own Obama Care legislation, without Congressional approval, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

70) He unilaterally delayed the employer mandates, without Congressional approval, from his own Obama Care legislation without Congressional, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

71) He unilaterally decided, without Congressional approval, that Obama Care enrollees in states using only the Federal health care exchange, i.e. those states that did not set up their own Obama Care exchange, would also be eligible for Obama Care subsidies, violating his own Obama Care legislation and violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

72) He unilaterally decided, without Congressional approval, that those personal insurance policies that insurance companies had to legally terminate as a result of Obama Care could indeed stay in effect, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

73) He unilaterally decided, without Congressional approval, to change out many more tenets and deadlines of the Obama Care legislation (e.g. delaying the caps on out of pocket medical expenses, waiving the income proof requirement for subsidies, waiving the criminal background checks on Obama Care navigators, etc.), violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

74) His administration has hassled, spied on, harassed, and threatened a multitude of journalists including, but not likely limited to, Bob Woodward, Lanny Davis, Fox News employees James Rosen and Mike Levine, Sheryl Atkinson, Audrey Hudson (whose home was ransacked by Department of homeland Security armed personnel who confiscated her journalistic files despite serving a court order that was restricted to only looking for guns), Associated Press reporters, and others, violating their First Amendment rights.

75) When a the Egyptian military staged an coup and overturned a democratically elected government, he refused to cut off aid to that military ruling junta as required by U.S. law, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

76) His administration allowed lucrative taxpayer funded financial credits to Congressional members and their staffs to pay for Obama Care policies in violation of the Obama Care legislation, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

77) His Obama Care legislation forced individuals, companies, and charities to violate their own religious beliefs relative to contraception and birth control, violating those citizens’ and organizations’ First Amendment rights. 

78) He illegally made government appointments to high level government positions while the Senate was still in session, violating Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. 

79) He ignored the ruling of a Federal judge in Louisiana regarding the administration’s illegal moratorium on Gulf oil drilling, resulting in the following stinging rebuke from the judge: 

“Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance, Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt.” 

80) His administration’s unparalleled invasion of citizens’ privacy via the warrantless and groundless interception and storage of just about every citizens’ electronic and other communications via the National Security Agency and other government entities is a gross violation and insult to every citizens’ First and Fourth Amendment rights. 

81) He unilaterally decided not to enforce the DOMA law, without Congressional approval, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

82) He illegally violated immigration laws by ignoring certain aspects of standing immigration law and forbidding the deportation of illegal aliens, without the approval of Congress, violating Article II, Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution. 

83) His administration illegally used the IRS to harass and minimize the impact and activities of conservative and other contrary political action organizations, violating those citizens’ First Amendment rights.

84) He secretly exchnaged five high ranking Taliban terrorists for one Army deserter without notifying Congress at least thirty days in advance of such a transacton, violating a law that he himself signed several years ago.

The reasons listed out today are much more serious than what we had been discussing up to this point. These reasons fall into the spectrum of illegal activities and impeachable offenses, probably even stronger reasons why law abiding and Consitution loving Americans continue to downgrade this Presidency to a point where a plurality of them rank it as the worst since 1945.

And the truly depressing news, we still have another set of reasons to review tomorrow.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Should Stupid Priorities Be An Impeachable Offense? Exhibit A: Senator Dick Durbin

Before we discuss whether stupid political priorities should be an impeachable offense for any politician in Congress or the White House, two sets of background information:

1) Earlier this week, the NFL commissioner and league office handed down some very severe penalties for the National Football League's New Orleans Saints. Apparently, the Saints and their coaches had been practicing a "bounty" system over the past few years that rewarded defensive players on the Saints for physically and intentionally injuring players on the opposing teams. Those that inflicted injuries were provided monetary bonuses for their injury producing play.

Now, while football in the NFL is a violent game and many injuries do occur throughout a season, most people, fans, players, and NFL executives alike, all thought this was just a random part of the game. However, when the Saints implemented a system that intentionally meant to maim and injury, and then lied to try and cover up the process, the NFL came down hard on them.

Their head coach was suspended for a year without pay (an action that will cost him millions of salary dollars and possibly end his coaching career), the defensive coach was suspended from the NFL indefinitely, the team lost two second round draft choices, the general manager was suspended, and fines were imposed on the team itself. Very severe, and appropriate punishment, for heinous behavior.

2) Think about where the country is today:

• Gas prices have doubled since President Obama took office.
• Over $5 TRILLION has been added to our crushing national debt in just the past few years.
• We are losing a war in Afghanistan that is costing us lives and money.
• Unemployment and under employment remain stubbornly high.
• The U.S. government received its first ever credit downgrade last year.
• The number of Americans on food stamps is at an all time high.
• We continue to lose the war on drugs and enrich and empower the violent drug cartels of Central and South America.
• Our borders still leak and we still do not have a coherent, fair, and compassionate illegal immigration strategy and policy.
• Iran and North Korea continue to push headlong to having nuclear weapon capabilities.
• We still do not have a coherent and strategic national energy policy.
• Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid continue to lose more than $200 billion a year of taxpayer wealth to fraud, waste, and criminal activity.
• The IRS continues to be so incompetent that it fails to collect over $300 billion a year in taxes owed every year.
• Our 70,000 page tax code is cumbersome, expensive, unfair, and inefficient.
• Obama Care has turned out to be an atrocity that will not curb escalating health care costs, will not provide heath care insurance for tens of millions of Americans, will not solve the root causes of high health care costs, and according to a recent analysis by the head actuary of Medicare and Medicaid, Obama Care will add over $300 billion to the national debt in the next ten years.
• Our nation's infrastructure of roads, bridges, and tunnels is crumbling.
• Recent government economic programs have almost always been abject failures relative to their promises and results (e.g. Economic Stimulus Program, Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Caulkers, Cash For Appliances, HAMP, etc.)
• Recent government alternative energy programs have almost always been abject failures, rife with cronyism, relative to their promises and results ( e.g. Solyndra, Beacon, Spectra, Evergreen, E.ON, Terra-Gen, Iberdrola, etc.)
• Our Washington politicians are more interested in their personal enrichment and furthering their political careers than solving the nation's problems.
• Our overall economic growth has been sluggish, at best, over the past few years.
• Our trade deficit with China and the rest of the world is still sky high.
• Our kids continue to be under educated vs. most of the kids in other countries around the world.

Pretty depressing stuff. The country is really facing some tough issues, many of which have been with us for decades.

Which gets us to the question of the day: should there be a process in place that would allow us to impeach and remove from office any politician that has priorities that are screwed up beyond belief? Exhibit A in this discussion is the recent actions by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

Apparently, the above list of daunting issues and priorities, problems that probably touch just about every American in one way or another,  are not important enough in Senator Durbin's view. According to a recent Associated Press report (http://www.courier-journal.com/usatoday/article/38865793?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CSports%7Cs):

Sen. Dick Durbin is setting up a Judiciary Committee hearing about bounties in the NFL and other major sports in the wake of news that New Orleans Saints players received extra cash for hits that hurt particular opponents. The assistant Senate majority leader, an Illinois Democrat, says he wants to examine whether federal law should make such bounty systems a crime.

Never mind that the NFL has already harshly and appropriately handled the situation.

Never mind that gas per gallon prices are rapidly approaching $4.00 a gallon.

Never mind that the government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars a year either through criminal activity, fraud, waste, tax evasion, inefficiency, or ill run and ill thought out programs.

Never mind that our kids are under educated, our debt is over the top, and our border leaks like a sieve.

Never mind that millions of Americans cannot get a job and millions of them need food stamps to survive.

Never mind that the country's fiscal house is in disarray and the financial viability of the country and our democracy is in danger of collapsing.

Never mind that the nuclear arms club is about to expand to include two of the most unstable countries in the world.

No, rather than deal with and address the right priorities, the good Senator would rather expend government and taxpayer resources, time, and money on an issue that affects just about no American outside of the New Orleans Saints organization. There is absolutely no chance at all this bounty behavior will occur again since the league has proven that it will cost future offenders money, time, and their careers.

But no, the Senator wants to have Congressional hearings on something as trivial as this. I am not sure it is because the Senator and his peers do not know how bad life is outside of the Beltway or it is because they really have no clue how to solve our truly serious problems and waste their time on this type of trivial nonsense.

In either case, there should be a process put in place that would remove such politicians in office for wasting our time and our resources and for not focusing on the highest priorities challenging us all. I would suggest that every year when we file our tax returns, we be allowed vote out of office any Washington politician that spent time on trivial matters such as what Senator Durbin is planning to do.

If two thirds of those filing their taxes feel that any politician wasted the country's time on idiotic priorities (like NFL bounties), that politician would be banned from any future Federal political office and would step down when their current term was over. Longer term, implementing Step 39 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would be the better solution since it would impose term limits on every Federal politician.  If a politician knew that he or she had only a limited time to make an impact on Ameircans' lives, hopefully they would not waste that time on NFL bounties and other types of silliness. 

I do not mean to single out Senator Durbin. We have previously reported on other acts of stupidity such as when the Federal political class passed a law that regulated the sound volume of television commercials, or when Congress held hearings the process for determining the national champion in Division I college football, or when a Congressman wanted to establish a tax deduction for house pets.

The idiocy is not confined to one politician, it is rampant across many. That is why the answer to the question posed in today's title is a definite "Yes." I bet if you removed just one from office by the process proposed above, you would never have to remove another since finally, we would have a process in place that focused politicians on real issues and not nonsense.


We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:


http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/


The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.


The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/