The Obama Era, Part 4: Memories From The Worst Presidency Ever?

We are coming up on the end of another year so I thought it might be a good time to review everything that I remember about the Obama administration. He has been in office for seven years, seven long years that in my opinion have been horrific in so many ways. This was someone who entered office with approval ratings that were above 70% and who represented the so-called “hope and change” that many Americans were seeking.

Seven years later hope has become very scarce and change has almost always been for the worst. Now, before someone says that I am just a sour grapes Republican, conservative, or neo-con, understand that I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life (I started voting in the 1970s). Up until 2010, I had never voted for Republican for national office in my life. I fully support gay rights and respect a woman’s legal right to an abortion. Thus, none of what you are about to read over the next few days comes from a Republican sour grapes perspective.

But unless you have had completely had your head in the sand or elsewhere, this has been the worst Presidency that I have experienced in my lifetime. From horrid legislation (e.g. Obama Care) to a failed foreign policy (e.g. Syria) to daily lawlessness on the part of this administration (e.g. use of unsecured email accounts by high ranking administration members), the ineptness and ineffectiveness of this administration is mind boggling.

Thus, given this set up, in no particular order, this is what I will remember about the Obama Presidency, the last of four posts that were needed to cover all of the failures, disasters, and law breaking of the worst Presidency of my lifetime:

- I will remember a Presidency that gave us one of the most inane Vice Presidents of all time, Joe Biden, who in turn left us with the following nuggets of nonsense:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/joebiden/a/top-10-biden-quotes.htm

- "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States — Barack America!" --Joe Biden, at his first campaign rally with Barack Obama after being announced as his running mate, Springfield, Ill., Aug. 23, 2008 

- "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." –Joe Biden, referring to Barack Obama at the beginning of the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Jan. 31, 2007

- "A successful dump!" --Joe Biden, explaining his whereabouts (dropping deadwood at the dump) to the reporters outside his home, Wilmington, Del., Aug. 20, 2008

- "His mom lived in Long Island for ten years or so. God rest her soul. And- although, she's- wait- your mom's still- your mom's still alive. Your dad passed. God bless her soul." --Joe Biden, on the mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who is very much alive, Washington, D.C., March 17, 2010

- "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent....I'm not joking." --Joe Biden, in a private remark to an Indian-American man caught on C-SPAN, June, 2006

- "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened." –Joe Biden, apparently unaware that FDR wasn't president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and that only experimental TV sets were in use at that time, interview with Katie Couric, Sept. 22, 2008 

- "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me." --Joe Biden, speaking at a town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, Sept. 10, 2008

- "Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs." --Joe Biden, Athens, Ohio, Oct. 15, 2008

- "Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya." –-Joe Biden, to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair, Columbia, Missouri, Sept.

- "This is a big fucking deal!" --Joe Biden, caught on an open mic congratulating President Barack Obama during the health care signing ceremony, Washington, D.C., March 23, 2010 

- I will remember a President who spied on Congress, an act that still baffles why it is not illegal, impeachable, or treasonous.

- I will remember a President who defied the Constitution and repeatedly tried to shred the Second Amendment even though the majority of Americans are against his actions on gun control.

- I will remember a President that could not construct any semblance of a Syrian and ISIS strategy and plan despite most of the world standing strongly against ISIS activities and existence, a foreign policy failure of epic proportions.

- I will remember a President who left over two dozen Americans to die in Benghazi and then conspired with his Secretary of State to lie about the underlying cause of the dereliction of duty to protect a political talking point.

- I will remember a President who allowed a top staff refer to the prime minister of Israel as a “shith$%#” and suffer no repercussions from insulting our longest standing Middle East ally and the only true democracy in the Middle East.

- I will remember a President who spied on our longest standing Middle East ally and the only true democracy in the mIddle East during the Iranian nuclear arms negotiations.

- I will remember a President who was taken to the cleaners in the Iranian nuclear arms negotiations and who left four Americans to rot in Iranian jails as a result of being hoodwinked during those negotiations.

- And most of all I will remember why this President insisted in calling ISIS “ISIL,” a distinction that is explained below and which will have horrible consequences for America, Israel, and the world in the coming years:

**************************

I.S.I.S or I.S.I.L

What is the Difference and Why Does Obama Always Say I.S.I.L.

Here is an explanation of the difference between the terms ISIS and ISIL.

ISIS = Islamic State of Iraq and Syria . Iraq is to the east of Jordan (shaped like the hatchet) and Syria is to the north. 

ISIL = Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant . Iraq is still to the east of Jordan, and “the Levant” is a term that comes from “the rising (of the sun, i.e., to the east)” - and is basically the land along the Mediterranean - that includes Lebanon , Israel , and those countries along there.

By saying ISIL, you “negate” Israel as its own country and lump it in with the rest of the countries along the Mediterranean - and Israel sort of disappears (loses its sovereignty) and becomes part of “the Levant ” - which is therefore part of ISIL.

If you've wondered, as I have, why all government agencies and especially BHO calls it ISIL and even spells it out every time it's used, instead of ISIS as the rest of the world here's the answer.

In one press conference after another, when referring to the Muslim terror super-group ISIS, United States President Barack Obama will use the term ISIL, instead of their former name ISIS , or current name Islamic State.

Have you ever wondered about that? Here is the difference:

What makes up the near exact center of the Muslim Levant ? Israel . 

ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Now, to us Westerners we don't really make much of a distinction, do we?

No, honestly from our perspective it’s all about the same. But how would a Muslim living in the Middle East view it?

Just what is the Levant anyway? Let’s take a look.

The geographical term LEVANT refers to a multi-nation region in the Middle East . It’s a land bridge between Turkey to the north and Egypt to the south.

If you look on a map, however, in the near exact middle of the nations that comprise the Levant , guess what you see? Come on, guess!

It’s Israel. When Barack Obama refers over and over to the Islamic State as ISIL, he is sending a message to Muslims all over the Middle East, that he personally does not recognize Israel as a sovereign nation, but as territory belonging to the Islamic State.

Now you know why Obama says that he has no plan, no goal, and no stated aim for dealing with ISIS . But he does have a plan. Obama’s plan is to drag his feet for as long as he can, doing only the bare minimum that Congress forces him to do. His plan to buy ISIL as much time as possible to make as many gains as they can.

Listen as Obama and his press secretary and the spokesperson for the State Department and his Joint Chiefs of Staff painstakingly spells out the letters I-S-I-L so there is no doubt in your mind.

And it’s working.

The Islamic State has garnered millions of dollars, a vast cache of weapons, and in their latest foray have captured Syrian fighter jets and now 12 commercial passenger planes. With each passing day that Obama fulfills his stated aim of doing nothing, the Islamic State grows by leaps and bounds. The ultimate goal, of course, has not changed and will never change.

The ultimate goal is the destruction of Israel.

Now you know a little bit more about why Obama chooses his words so carefully.
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I will remember a lot about this Presidency, almost all of it very forgettable, regrettable and often disgusting, as we have discussed over the past three days. President Obama could have been one of the most impactful Presidents of all time. He came into office with sky high popularity and approval ratings. His party had a sizable majority in the House Of Representatives. He had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The country was ready to turn away from the Republican party.

But let’s review. We have had a President who sits silent and allows ordinary Americans with intelligent, informed, contrary opinions to be slandered and demeaned by his political allies. 

He uses deception as he tries to incite different segments of America against each other for his political gain. 

Every one of his economic policies have been failures. 

It is always all about him.

He tramples on the principles laid out in the Constitution, ignoring the rule of law as he sees as convenient, often trampling the liberties and rights of Americans in the process. 

Often it seems like his golf game, his fund raising trips, and his vacations are more important than running and leading the country.

His foreign policy activities have mostly been failures, failures that are dwarfed by the unfolding disaster known as Obama Care.

He has not resolved, or even come close to presenting coherent plans to address the major issues of our times while the faulty operational aspects of the Federal government continue to be redundant, wasteful, inefficient, and ineffective. 

But the biggest reason for his disasters is his narcissistic inability to take personal responsibility for his actions and subsequent failures. It is never his fault. Someone else always ruins his plans. This lack of humility means a person never looks inward to see how he or she could improve. And a President without the ability to self evaluate and improve ends up leading a country that does not improve. 

And that is what I will remember most: this country, our freedoms, our democracy, and our financial well being are in far worse shape today than they were on that long ago day in January, 2009 when the Obama Error began.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Obama Administration: The Type Of Presidency That Nixon Aspired To

Back in early 2014 we did a series of six posts that were very critical of the Obama administration up to that point. Our criticisms ranging from the inability to operate efficient and effective government services to promises that were never fulfilled to outright lies, especially in the area of Obama Care, to impeachable and treasonable activities. The first three posts looked at dozens of failures of this administration that were not impeachable offenses, just general incompetence and deceit. The first of those three posts can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/01/part-1-first-twenty-failures-of-obama.html

The first twenty failures listed, just to give you an idea of how widespread the ineptness is, went as follows:

1) He promised to quickly shut down the oppressive detention center at Guantanamo Bay shortly after being elected but failed to do. This has resulted in the American taxpayer paying out almost half a billion dollars a year to keep the detention facility up and running.

Relevant Obama quote: "We will close the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, the location of so many of the worst constitutional abuses in recent years." 

2) He promised to cut the annual deficit in half but instead ran up record setting TRILLION dollar deficits for four years in a row.

Relevant Obama quote: “What my budget does is…by the middle of this decade our annual spending will match our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to the national debt.”

Relevant Obama quote: “When George Bush came into office, our debt—national debt—was around $5 trillion. It’s now over $10 trillion. We’ve almost doubled it… But actually I’m cutting more than I’m spending, so it will be a net spending cut.” 

3) He promised that if his economic stimulus program was not implemented, unemployment could go as high as 8%. The program was implemented and unemployment skyrocketed well beyond 8% and stayed there for a record number of consecutive months.

4) He promised that economic programs such as Cash For Clunkers would stimulate the economy but subsequent analysis has shown that all those programs did was waste billions of dollars for no economic benefit. The latest analysis by the Brookings Institute shows conclusively that Cash For Clunkers involved about 380,000 vehicles, none of which were incremental, economic stimulating sales, they were sales that would have happened anyway but without taxpayer support.

Relevant Obama quote: “Now, more American consumers will have the chance to purchase newer, more fuel efficient cars and the American economy will continue to get a much-needed boost."

5) He has abused and disrespected our armed forces’ veterans by allowing veterans’ benefits requests turnaround time to skyrocket to over a year, coldly and unnecessarily shutting down veteran memorials during the sequester, and legislation that reduces veterans’ benefits.

Relevant Obama quote: “When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you've served us - because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they need when they come home.”

6) He has presided over economic policies that has seen about a 50% increase in the number of Americans that are receiving government food assistance, a total of about 47 million Americans.

7) He has presided over economic policies that have left well over 20 million Americans either unemployed or under employed.

Relevant Obama quote (Associated Press, July, 2013): "Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream." 

8) He has presided over economic policies that have resulted in large numbers of college graduates unable to land a job in their preferred profession, assuming they can find a job at all.

9) He presided over economic policies that have kept minority unemployment levels substantially higher than the overall unemployment rates in America.

10) He has presided over an $833 billion economic stimulus program that was so inefficient that it conservatively cost over $300,000 per job created or saved, an unsustainable and failed economic policy.

Dozens and dozens of other failures can be followed up on by accessing the two blog posts listed after the linked post above.

We then spent three days worth of posts to discuss the actions of the Obama administration that were quite likely impeachable actions and offenses. The first of those more serious posts can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/01/grounds-for-impeachment-part-1-obama.html

The first ten impeachable offenses listed in that post, to give you an idea of how widespread his impeachable actions are, along with the parts of the Constitution and Bill of Rights he violated and abused include:

1) He 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.

2) 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.

3) 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.

4) 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.

5) 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.

6) 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.

6) 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.

7) 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.

8) 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.

9) 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.

10) 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.

The dozens of other impeachable offenses he may have incurred can be accessed by going to the post that immediately followed the link cited above.

Now, before we go any further, let me again make clear that in know way can I be considered a Republican,conservative, neocon, etc. and that I am just out to do a hatchet job on this Presidency. I have never voted for a Republican for President and not until 2010 did I vote for a Republican for national office since I began voting back in the 1970s. The above accusations and observations are based strictly on reality and the words in the Constitution and Bill of Rights,not my political leanings.

Which gets us to the following 76 points. This list is a new, recent  list from Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican Senator who is running for President. I include his list here for four reasons:

• It is an update/refresher list of offenses and impeachable actions that update my posts from back in early 2014.
• It includes impeachable offenses that I did not include.
• However, it does include a lot of the same impeachable offenses that I researched and identified back in early 2014 that does lend credibility to his entire list.
• Thus, just because he is a Republican it does not mean his listing of 76 impeachable offenses by a Democratic President are invalid, not true, and not reality.

Since back in early 2014 I have often may the claim that we are living through the most lawless and unConstitutional political class and Presidential administration of all time, the following list from Senator Cruz does nothing to contradict that observation and conclusion:

1. Disregarded 1996 welfare reform law in granting broad work waivers for work requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

2. Implemented portions of the DREAM Act, which Congress rejected, by executive action.

3. Ended some terror asylum restrictions, by allowing asylum for people who provided only “insignificant” or “limited” material support of terrorists.

4. Allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally, who are relatives of military troops and veterans, to stay in the country and get legal status.

5. Extended federal marriage benefits by recognizing, under federal law, same-sex marriages created in a state that allows same-sex marriage even if the couple is living in a state that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.

6. Recognized same-sex marriage in Utah, even though the Supreme Court stayed the court order recognizing same-sex marriage in Utah and Utah said it would not recognize same-sex marriages performed before the stay.

7. Refused to prosecute violation of drug laws with certain mandatory minimums.

8. Issued signing statements, refusing to enforce parts of Congressional-enacted statutes.

9. Illegally refused to act on Yucca Mountain’s application to become a nuclear waste repository.

10. Falsely portrayed the Benghazi terrorist attack as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim YouTube video, and then lied about the White House’s involvement.

11. Illegally revealed the existence of sealed indictments in the Benghazi investigation.

12. Failed to enforce the Magnitsky Act as required by law, by not adding Russian human rights abusers to a list of people not permitted to travel to or do business in the U.S.

13. Killed four Americans overseas in counterterrorism operations without judicial process.

14. Continued to give Egypt aid after the military took over its government, even though federal law prohibits aid to Egypt in the event of a coup.

15. Granted a “hardship” exemption from the individual mandate for people whose health plans were canceled because their plans weren’t Obamacare compliant.

16. Delayed the individual mandate for two years.

17. Allowed individuals to buy health insurance plans in 2014 that did not comply with Obamacare. Extended this delay until 2016—past the mid-term elections.

18. Extended the deadline to enroll in Obamacare.

19. Illegally granted businesses a waiver from Obamacare’s employer mandate. Twice.

20. Illegally continued the Obamacare employer contribution for congressional staffs.

21. Illegally delayed the Obamacare caps on out-of-pocket healthcare payments.

22. Illegally delayed Obamacare verification of eligibility for healthcare subsidies.

23. Illegally required people to violate their faith via the Obamacare contraception mandate.

24. As of May 2011, over 50% of Obamacare waiver beneficiaries were union members (who account for less than 12% of the American work force).

25. Ordered Boeing to fire 1,000 employees in South Carolina and shut down a new factory because it was non-union.

26. Implemented a moratorium on offshore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill without statutory authority, and continued to enact new versions after federal courts repeatedly invalidated the moratorium.

27. Treated secured creditors worse than unsecured creditors in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

28. Terminated the pensions of 20,000 non-union Delphi employees in the GM bankruptcy.

29. Had SWAT teams raid a Gibson guitar factory and seize property, on the purported basis that Gibson had broken India’s environmental laws—but no charges were filed.

30. Government agencies are engaging in “Operation Choke Point,” where the government asks banks to “choke off” access to financial services for customers engaging in conduct the Administration does not like—such as “ammunition sales.”

31. Made illegal “recess” appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board when Congress wasn’t in recess. Ignored the rulings of three federal courts of appeals that held those nominations unconstitutional. 2.

32. Appointed czars to oversee federal policy specifically because czars do not require Senate confirmation, earning criticism from stalwart Democrats such as West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.

33. As of January 2012, 36 of the President’s executive office staff owed $833,970 in back taxes.

34. As of 2011, 311,566 federal employees or retirees owed $3.5 billion in taxes.

35. Illegally targeted conservative groups for heightened IRS scrutiny.

36. Circumvented the Freedom of Information Act, by requiring White House Counsel review of all documents to be released under the Freedom of Information Act that the Administration believed pertained to “White House equities”—and then delayed in producing many of these documents by FOIA’s statutory deadline, or didn’t produce them at all.

37. Got secret permission from the FISA Court to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and emails, permitting the NSA to search American’s communications in its databases.

38. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to monitor about 80% of U.S. credit card transactions.

39. Targeted Fox News reporter James Rosen by falsely labeling him a possible “co-conspirator” in a criminal investigation of a new leak.

40. Secretly obtained phone records from staff at the Associated Press.

41. Had meetings with lobbyists in coffee shops near White House to avoid disclosure requirements.

42. Aided drug cartels instead of enforcing immigration laws—as found by a federal judge. Border Patrol agents, multiple times, knowingly helped smuggle illegal immigrant children into the U.S.; “the DHS is encouraging parents to seriously jeopardize the safety of their children.”

43. Illegally sold thousands of guns to criminals, in the operation known as Fast and Furious and then refused to comply with congressional subpoenas about the operation.

44. Dismissed charges filed by Bush Administration against New Black Panther Party members who were videotaped intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling station during the 2008 election.

45. Argued for expansive federal powers in the Supreme Court, which has rejected the Administration’s arguments unanimously 9 times since January 2012.

46. Sued Louisiana to stop school vouchers and keep low-income minorities trapped in failing schools.

47. Threatened to arrest military priests for practicing their faith during the partial government shutdown.

48. Muzzled the speech of military chaplains.

49. Sued fire departments saying their multiple-choice, open-book written employment tests were racially discriminatory.

50. Gave 23,994 tax refunds worth more than $46 million to aliens here illegally using the same address in Atlanta, GA.

51. Released a mentally ill Guantanamo detainee… who had been a high-risk al Qaeda fighter in jihad combat since the 1980s.

52. Backed release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.

53. President Obama told NASA administrator to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim world.”

54. Claimed the Fort Hood shooting was “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

55. Signed a stimulus bill that spent money on bonuses for AIG executives, and then acted shocked and outraged at the bonuses.

56. Gave $535 million to Solyndra, which went bankrupt; Solyndra shareholders and officials made substantial donations to Obama’s campaign.

57. Reneged on a campaign promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.

58. Increased the national debt more in one term than President Bush did in two terms.

59. Extended mortgage assistance to people who bought multiple homes during the housing bubble.

60. Proposed rules that would have decimated family farms, by prohibiting children under 18 from doing many forms of farm work.

61. Former “safe schools czar” has written about his past drug abuse and advocated promoting homosexuality in schools.

62. Nominated Timothy Geithner—who had significant tax issues —to head the Treasury Department, which enforces tax laws.

63. Reneged on campaign promise to broadcast healthcare reform negotiations on C-SPAN.

64. Reneged on a campaign promise to wait five days before signing any non-emergency bill (at least 10 times during first 3 months in office).

65. Unilaterally, increased the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10, via executive order.

66. Cancelled all White House tours after sequestration—purportedly saving $18,000 per week—even though President Obama had spent more than $1 million in tax money to golf with Tiger Woods one weekend a few weeks before.

67. Adopted pro-union “ambush election” rules.

68. Pressured Ford to pull an anti-auto-bailout TV ad.

69. Actively, aided in George Zimmerman protests.

70. Tried to seize a privately owned motel when guests used illegal drugs at the motel.

71. Shut down the Amber Alert website, while keeping up Let’s Move website, during the partial government shutdown.

72. Gave supervised release to a convicted criminal (an alien here illegally) who later killed a nun in a DUI.

73. Shut down an Amish farm for selling fresh unpasteurized milk across state lines.

74. Spent $7 million per household in “stimulus funds” to connect a few Montana households to the Internet.

75. Spent $205,075 in “stimulus” funds to relocate a shrub that sells for $16.

76. Fired an inspector general after investigating an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant received by a nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson (now mayor of Sacramento).

Now, granted, many of these are not impeachable offenses. They are signs of incompetence, hubris, and general arrogance. But dozens of Cruz’s statements are impeachable offenses for which nothing has been done. Which gets us to the title of today’s post: The Obama administration is the type of Presidency that Nixon aspired to. Lawless, un-Constitutional, ruthless, uncaring, and petty, everything Nixon was and more.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

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.

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