Posted on 10/04/2013 6:59:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
Shutting down the government in an effort to use a budget fight to get rid of Obamacare is not the strategy I would have recommended for the GOP. And while Republicans can be blamed for starting the shutdown, it's increasingly apparent that President Obama and the Democrats deserve the lion's share of blame for not only prolonging it, but for making it as painful as possible.
Obama has always had a bit of a vindictive streak when it comes to politics. I think it stems from his Manichaean view of America. There are the reasonable people -- who agree with him. And there are the bitter clingers who disagree for irrational or extremist ideological reasons.
In his various statements over the last week, he's insisted that opponents of Obamacare are "ideologues" on an "ideological crusade." Meanwhile, he cast himself as just a reasonable guy interested in solving America's problems. I have no issue with him calling Republican opponents "ideologues" -- they are -- but since when is Obama not an ideologue?
The argument about Obamacare is objectively and irrefutably ideological on both sides -- state-provided health care has been an ideological brass ring for the left for well over a century. But much of the press takes its cues from Democrats and sees this fight -- and most other political fights -- as a contest pitting the forces of moderation, decency and rationality against the ranks of the ideologically brainwashed.
What's unusual is the way Obama sees the government as a tool for his ideological agenda. During the fight over the sequester, Obama ordered the government to make the 2 percent budget cut as painful and scary as possible.
"It's going to be very painful for the flying public," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Americans.
"The FAA's all-hands furloughs managed to convert a less than 4 percent FAA budget cut into a 10 percent air-traffic control cut that would delay 40 percent of flights," The Wall Street Journal noted at the time.
The Department of Homeland Security announced it might not be able to protect the nation's borders, and in an effort to prove the point summarily released a couple thousand immigrant detainees, many of them with criminal records.
Obama, the avowed problem solver, set out to create problems for the American people, just to prove how great government is and how crazy Republicans were for wanting to cut spending -- much of the money borrowed from China -- a little. But don't you dare call him an ideologue!
Now, with the government shutdown and the looming fight over the debt ceiling, Obama's doubling down this ideologically perverse strategy.
The National Park Service, which has somehow become the unofficial goon squad of American liberalism, reversed course and let American World War II vets visit the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. This is obviously good news. (I was waiting to see if Steven Spielberg would come out with a new Obama-friendly director's cut of "Saving Private Ryan" in which the old guy at the end is dragged off in cuffs before he can reach Tom Hanks' grave.)
Still, it cost the government more money to try to keep WWII vets out of an open-air memorial than it would have to just leave it be. In Virginia, the NPS ordered the Claude Moore Colonial Farm to shut down, even though it's privately funded.
Far worse, Obama told CNBC's John Harwood that Wall Street should be far more panicky about Republican efforts to use the debt ceiling to win concessions from the White House. I don't blame Obama for being annoyed with Republicans for trying to use the debt ceiling the exact same way he did when he was a senator. But normally the president doesn't try to talk down the economy just to win a political point.
Whenever the Bush administration issued terror warnings, Democrats insinuated that it was all a cynical political stunt. But this week, the White House sent out National Intelligence Director James Clapper to whip up fears that national security would be imperiled by a shutdown less than 48 hours old.
When Republicans vote to fund essential or popular parts of the government, the response from Democrats is, in effect, "How dare they?" Nancy Pelosi calls the tactic "releasing one hostage at a time" -- as if negotiators normally refuse to have hostages released unless it's all at once.
In the 17 previous government shutdowns since 1977, presidents have worked to avoid them or lessen their impact. Obama has made no such effort out of an ideological yearning to punish his enemies, regardless of the collateral damage.
This is why the Founding Fathers warned us about electing an America-hating foreigner to the presidency. Bad move.
Obama Showing His Vindictive Streak.....AGAIN.
imho, fixed headline.
The GOP had better not back down this time.
Vindictive?
The man is a pure psychopath.
He showed it big time when he instructed the IRS to audit Ben Carson because Carson made him look like a fool. When is he going to get pegged for the IRS targeting? I’m sick of that little power loving tyrant.
Jonah just makes me mad sometimes.
Shutting down the government, is not a strategy chosen by the GOP.
The House controls the purse strings. The House decided not to fund Obamacare.
The House passed a budget that would keep the government open.
This is straightforward stuff. It's strictly by-the-Constitution.
The DEMOCRATS made the decision to shut down the government, and they are doing it in the most painful way possible.
It COMPLETELY MISSES THE POINT to imply that the Republicans have adopted a poor strategy.
..all narcissists have it, especially when in trouble or their many faults are shown. In clownie’s case,it’s associated with racism and hatred for the USA
But that we're talking about The Won now, not Tricky Dick.
We all know the words coming out Obama’s mouth are from Valerie Jarrett’s mind so we shouldn’t be surprised that ‘payback’ is their focus.
Conservatives cannot get their message to the general public via newspapers, TV, magazines, or most radio stations. Public schools and universities are actively propagandizing against conservative positions.
Somehow, we conservatives need to get the truth to the uniformed and misinformed. How about billboards? I suggest we buy them up coast to coast and tell our side of the story.
This President and his gang are masters at manipulating the public with threats and lies. Truth is on our side; let’s shout it out loud.
And he shows it openly
Forgot the href
Indeed. The ossified GOP elites, with whom I lump Goldberg, are being purposefully obtuse and establishmentarian. They have no clue about how to formulate a strategy nor how to win a fight. It’s all about “Picking your fights” with them, somehow failing to notice that the Stalinists are relentlessly fighting on every front, every moment of every day, to destroy every vestige of liberty. When you “pick your fights” you are choosing a starting point where you concede defeat in innumerable arenas without even bothering to act. In short, they are lazy and vapid hacks, comfortable with their lives.
Inbreeding muslims breed psychopaths. How much inbreeding was there in Obama father’s family? Did they marry within the tribe to “keep the tribe strong”? Anybody know?
Captain Barry Queeg lives in the White House.
Laura Ingram also said this shutdown was name. Even Ted Cruz admits it won’t get rid of Obamcare. So is Laura Ingram a rino too?
This guy is all about 1960’s Saul Alinsky/Abby Hoffman in-your-face radical Leftist politics.
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