Posted by
Patrick Henry on Monday, August 16, 2010 4:02:27 PM
Unable to honestly confront critics of their damaging policies, Obama and Democrats
have turned increasingly to the tactic of misdirection through the creation of armies of
straw men whom they can handily dispatch and then claim false victory. It's so obvious
that a 6th grader could see through it, and it is making few believers and even fewer
friends among likely voters.
During discussion about changing the 14th amendment to the Constitution, one
interpretation of which grants birthright citizenship to the children of aliens, Dems
have repeatedly harped on the argument that aliens come here for work, not to
have babies, and that there are no pregnant women swimming the Rio Grande to
be sure their children are U.S. citizens. That argument is fundamentally true, though
many, including this writer know of exceptions that disprove it as a rule. But, on
the other hand, intelligent advocates of taking another look at the 14th amendment
don't envision women in labor climbing the wall. What they do see is a troubling
rise in births to illegals in the U.S. What difference does it make, how, when or
why they came? And who cares? Few want to repeal the amendment. Some want
a review of the single judicial footnote that interprets it to grant citizenship to everyone
born here. By painting the whole group with the brush of believing pregnant women
are invading while in labor, Obama and the Dems create a straw man -- an idea no
one is championing -- and dismiss it by ridicule. Meanwhile, they are no closer to
producing a viable idea to solve the problem.
Then there's Obama's series of gaffes about the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, a
cultural and worship center for Muslims in the shadow of where the Twin Towers,
destroyed by Islamic extremists in the name of Allah, once stood. While hosting (mind
you) a group of disinguished Muslims at a White House dinner, Obama seized upon
the occasion to declare that because in America we have freedom of religion, there
was no reason not to build the mosque at ground zero. That was a true argument.
It also completely missed the point. No one in his right mind is saying it's illegal or
unconstitutional for the mosque to be built. But a majority of Americans see it as
spiteful, insensitive and insulting to the memories of the 3,000 who died there.
Faced with the elephant in the room (the question of whether building the mosque
is right), Obama chose to talk, instead, about the weather (whether it is legal). His
was a useless statement contributing nothing but more controversy to an already
inflamed debate. Another straw man vanquished. So what?
What the comment earned Obama was a firestorm of criticism from the 9/11
victims, politicians from both sides of the aisle and a plurality of the American
public. Faced with his term-long pandering to Muslims who clearly wish America
ill and would establish Shariah law inmthe Constitution's stead, people said enough
is enough is enough. Then came the backtracking, the pie-eyed, stupid-grinned
semi-retraction that was inevitable. In an off-the-cuff comment Obama told reporters
he was commenting only on the legality of building the mosque (which needed no
comment), and not the wisdom of it. He further said he would make no comment on
the latter. Then, astoundingly, White House spokesmen asserted that Obama's was
in no way a "political comment." What an amateurish and transparent attempt at
misdirection. In an election year virtually everything a president says is "political."
In this case it was also inflammatory and showed Obama to be neither sensitive to
nor in touch with the electorate he is supposed to serve.
But the straw men are increasingly afire, and Obama has given the Republicans
prime leverage to use with every Democratic candidate for office, forcing them to
publicly declare whether they stand with the public demand for what's right to
prevail, or with Obama's sniveling issue avoidance, denials and backtracking. Ouch!
What an incredibly amateurish mistake!
If one looks at how it came about, it is easy to see what happened. During his
campaign, Obama habitually pandered to whatever constitutency he was addressing,
speaking about small-town Pennsylvanians as "bitter, clinging to their guns and their
religion" while addressing liberals in California, but singing a different song when he
went back east. At the infamous Muslim dinner, Obama clearly pandered to his Muslim
audience. Hopelessly confusing what is right with what is legal, Obama continues to make
irresponsible statements which are either beside the point or flatly untrue. It gets even
worse when he's deprived of his teleprompter. Now the lies are coming home to roost.
Perhaps Obama is leading his party in a new and wonderful experiment on trickle
down implosion. One can only hope.