Category Archives: Government
Obama Third Term
The most transparent president ever is promising the smoothest transition ever. Still, President Obama couldn’t resist a little trash talk. He says if it weren’t for the U.S. Constitution he would have won a third term.
President-elect Trump didn’t take it lying down:
President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! – jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016
Obama: YES, WAY!
Meanwhile, the most transparent candidate ever, Hillary, does seem to be taking it lying down. And thereby looking Way more presidential than the other two.
No Third Term
President Obama also reminded us during the election that he wasn’t on the ballot but his policies were. That’s unfortunate for his party. While his approval rating is way up, his policies have contributed to yuge losses for Democrats.
Barack Has Your Back
The UN likes to pick on Israel. But the U.S. usually stands up for its ally by vetoing hostile Security Council resolutions. Last week was different. UN ambassador Samantha Powers ole’d through a resolution condemning Israel for building settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
Abstention on the UN vote reflected our values – according to John Kerry.
However, the resolution didn’t reflect the values of Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz. He does not believe Barack has your back:
“It goes right to the heart of Jewish Jerusalem. It says Jews can’t pray at the holiest site in Judaism, they can’t attend Hebrew University,” Dershowitz said, adding that Obama had Israel’s back, but “as a target.”
It won’t be easy for Trump to roll back a Security Council resolution because Russia and China hold veto power. But one thing The Donald could do is cut the United States $3 billion contribution to the UN. That amounts to 20% of all UN funding.
Speaking of having Israel’s back, Bret Stephens says Obama has a habit of helping enemies and back stabbing friends.
Barack Has Your Back
Stanford Professor Victor Davis Hanson thinks Obama has sought to rewrite the traditional approaches to foreign policy.
To paraphrase the Sophoclean code, it is wise to help your friends and hurt your enemies…
Turning the other cheek is the proper New Testament aspiration for individuals to live by, but the Sermon on the Mount is deadly for nations, at least until the nature of man changes…
Diplomacy is like the tax code: Subsidize hostility and you get more hostile actors; tax friendship and you get fewer friends.
Bibi, on the other hand, won’t be turning the other cheek. Or his back.
Awesome Beautiful Presidential Power
President Obama banned oil drilling in parts of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. His proclamation is permanent and irreversible. The president says he derives this power from the Continental Outer Shelf Land Act.
He commanded the planet to heal and the oceans to slow their rise eight years ago. So this would seem a minor extension of his mandate.
But not everyone agrees he has the power to enforce his will on future presidents and Congresses. Here’s Kevin Williamson in National Review:
Legally speaking this is, as Professor Patrick Parenteau of Vermont Law School wryly put it, “uncharted waters.”
Awesome Beautiful Presidential Power
David Harsanyi in The Federalist agrees the president can’t have have his way with those who come after him. But he fears that future presidents may not want to overturn Obama’s will. So much the better to expand their own awesome beautiful presidential power:
So Republicans could likely overturn this diktat as they can the rest of Obama’s rickety legacy, predominately built on circumventing the law-making branch of the United States government. The problem is that Trump (and anyone else who comes along) has little reason not to adopt Obama’s unprecedented use of the executive power.
Bitter Deplorable Hacks
The Clintons seem bitter.
Bill chatted up a reporter among others at a small bookstore near his home in Chappaqua NY. He said this about Trump: “One thing he does know is how to get angry white men to vote for him.”
Not sure if that was a complaint or a compliment. In 2008 he told Ted Kennedy, “A few years ago this guy (Obama) would be getting coffee for us.”
Rather than reaching out to the non-elite, Hillary characterized Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
Deplorable Hacks
Meanwhile, back at the bookstore, Bill wasn’t finished:
On the question of Russian cyberattacks damaging the candidacy of his wife, Hillary Clinton, the former president said “you would need to have a single-digit IQ not to recognize what was going on.”
Bill didn’t blame deplorables for Hillary’s loss. He blamed FBI Director Comey.
But he didn’t mention the IQ required to recognize what was going on on that tarmac in Arizona.
Democratic Party Meltdown
The Democratic Party meltdown continues.
The party’s condition took a turn for the worse when Jill Stein’s election recount turned up more votes than voters in Detroit. The recount was ended.
Then John Podesta demanded that the 538 members of the Electoral College be briefed by the CIA. The purpose being to inform the electors of Russian efforts to elect Trump.
For his part, President Obama is back to drawing red lines. He says the U.S. will respond to Russia “at a time and place of our choosing.”
Democratic Party Meltdown
Meanwhile, President-elect The Donald tweets, “Are we talking about the same cyber attack where it was revealed the head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?”
