Render Unto Caesar: Troops Fight On Obama's Behalf?

IBD Editorials ^ | May 10, 2012

[Kaslin]

Leadership: Lost in his gay marriage flip-flop was the president's claim that our armed forces fight for him, not their country. It was like following his spiking of the football over the Osama bin Laden kill with an end-zone dance.

Few caught the revealing Freudian slip during President Obama's interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News in which he said he no longer considered what he described to evangelist Rick Warren in the election year of 2008 as the "sacred union" of marriage to be just between one man and one woman.

But there it was, from the lips of the man who considers the Navy SEALs as stage props in his re-election bid and whose use of the first person pronoun "I" has set some sort of Guinness Book world record.

"I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors," he said, "who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

This arrogant statement is reminiscent of the days of Imperial Rome, when the legions pledged their personal loyalty to the emperor. More modern tyrants have demanded and received such pledges of loyalty. But Obama surely must know that while he is their civilian commander in chief, he is not an emperor commanding his Roman legions.

[theBuckwheat]

The Constitution elaborates and enumerates what authority the Commander in Chief has and what he doesn’t. The concept of Render to Caesar also implies that we must not enable Caesar to take more than his share, which is clearly has been the the case for many years, at least since Lincoln.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Certainly not what America’s “foreparents” envisioned a president to be — a servant, not a master!

[EagleUSA]

I think many Americans who made the horrific and ignorant error of voting for Obama in 2008, now realize what a twisted and hateful ego they need to vote away in November....as if the trail of damage he has done to America in only a little over three years is not enough to witness.

And the agenda has not changed, and another four years of it will destroy our country based on his clearly public plans, behaviors, and associations.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Yes. The Constitution is a pact.

[DesertRhino]

Hey,,this is nothing new. Some soldiers did swear a personal oath to their leader after all.

“I swear by God this holy oath, that I want to offer unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, and be prepared as a brave soldier to risk my life for this oath at any time.”

[shove_it]

After checking the Guinness World Record on the number of times a sitting US President said I, ME or MY in one sentence, I found no established record. It would have cost me 450 lbs. to fast track my application for the record on behalf of Dear Reader (3 to 5 days). For a free application (4 to 6 months) so I passed.

Oh well, I'm pretty sure ten times in one sentence is a record and will stand unbroken forever. Congrats Barky.

[goat granny]

He is insane medically and legally if he believes that..

[The Shrew]

Few caught the revealing Freudian slip during President Obama's interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News in which he said he no longer considered what he described to evangelist Rick Warren in the election year of 2008 as the "sacred union" of marriage to be just between one man and one woman.

But there it was, from the lips of the man who considers the Navy SEALs as stage props in his re-election bid and whose use of the first person pronoun "I" has set some sort of Guinness Book world record.

"I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors," he said, "who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

I caught it. And I was on the air with Mike Rosen on 850 KOA discussing it. Horrendous arrogance on Obama's part.

TS

[muir_redwoods]

If one is going to be commander in chief of the awesome forces of the US military one had better realize very quickly that those forces do not fight on some personal behalf. Those forces represent the interests of the American people and no one individual, president or anyone, sends them into harms way on a personal whim.

The Kenyan is a childish embarrassment.

[RC2]

Many Emperors were killed by Roman guards.

[rovenstinez]

I have always begrudged Rick Warren and him bringing Obama into his circles of influence. He should have been a wiser man than be duped by someone that had no credentials to govern in the highest elected office of the land.

[himno hero]

.... an interesting thing. Most of Africa and most of the muslim world call their “leaders” “rulers”. For them in their backwards, tribalist worlds they can have rulers. Heck (!)they need them to try to keep them out of perpetual war.

I think that Obama is drawing on his heritage and understanding of the world as opposed to a American heritage.

Plain old fashioned... he ain’t wun of us.

[sam_paine]

"I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors," he said, "who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

I hear it slightly different, but it's still bad.

I think the script was intended to taunt conservatives. "Hey, there's gay people in the military out there doing the fighting for each of us, so how could I or any of us not give them what they want."

But he's such an "I/me/my" narcissist, that it came out without sounding like a non-royal "I."

But the lamestream will cover his tracks. BTW, what happened to all the pundits not long ago, Rush included, who claimed that the MSM was souring on him. They're still totally in the tank....look how they fawn on this one.

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Our” is hardly a rare word. I call a Freud-o.

[Pelham]

Warren has shown himself to be a sycophant.

[castlebrew]

The military’s oath is to the Constitution, NOT to any person.

I fight in defense of the Constitution, not on behalf of those who would subvert it.

[Godebert]

"I fight in defense of the Constitution, not on behalf of those who would subvert it."

If that were true, Obama would not be the commander-in-chief.

[shove_it]

I challenge the English majors on this forum to diagram the following sentence containing ten first person singular nouns/pronouns:

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don't ask, don't tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

[raptor22]

We come not to praise this Caesar, but to bury him in November,