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Barack Obama Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 02, 2015 12 Comments
Now that former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer is joining CNN, the number of Obama administration officials in the mainstream media has shot up to five. David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs are on the payroll at MSNBC, and CNN is also home to former "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones. Jay Carney also went to work for CNN but has since left. As John Nolte of Breitbart points out, two members of the George W. Bush administration (Dana Perino and Karl Rove) went to work for FOX News, but not while Bush was still president. CNN made the announcement yesterday:
Dan Pfeiffer joins CNN as contributor Dan Pfeiffer, a long-time top aide to President Barack Obama, is joining CNN as a contributor, network president Jeff Zucker announced Monday. The 39-year-old Pfeiffer is a Wilmington, Delaware, native and a graduate of Georgetown University. His first presidential campaign role came in a communications post for then-Vice President Al Gore's unsuccessful 2000 campaign. He then worked for the Democratic Governors Association and later Sens. Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle and then Evan Bayh's brief 2008 presidential campaign.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 29, 2015 21 Comments
If you were paying attention to American politics in 2008, you couldn't escape from the viral Obama "hope" poster created by Shepard Fairey. His simple image became a symbol of the junior senator's presidential campaign and was proudly displayed by Obama supporters on Facebook. Unfortunately for Fairey, his love of Obama was doomed to wither on the vine. Adam B. Lerner of Politico:
'Hope' poster artist Shepard Fairey says Obama let him down Shepard Fairey, the street artist behind the famous “Hope” poster that went viral during Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential run, said that the president has not lived up to his expectations. In an interview with Esquire, Fairey acknowledged that “Obama has had a really tough time” but said he’s “not even close” to having lived up to the “Hope” poster created for him. “I mean, drones and domestic spying are the last things I would have thought [he’d support],” Fairey added in the interview, posted Thursday. He tempered his response saying that he’s met the president a few times and that he thinks he is a “quality human being,” adding that his presidential record has been largely dictated by things out of his control. “I’m not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a really good first step,” Fairey said.
That's funny. I remember when Democrats touted Obama's fundraising prowess as proof of his ability to be president. Don't worry, Shepard. I'm sure Hillary Clinton will get big money out of politics. (Pun intended.)

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 28, 2015 20 Comments
America's foreign policy in the Middle East is falling apart and health insurance premiums are skyrocketing under Obamacare, but the liberal media feels your pain, America. As usual, it's all about Obama. Amber Phillips of the Washington Post:
President Obama’s legacy is increasingly in legal jeopardy President Obama's second-term agenda, it seems, is in the hands of the courts. Same-sex marriage. Obamacare. Climate change. And now immigration. And in many cases, there is significant doubt about whether his signature initiatives will stand legal scrutiny. The latest blow to Obama's second-term plans came Tuesday when a federal appeals court in New Orleans denied the administration's request to move forward with implementing his expanded executive action on immigration to defer deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.
That's funny. He didn't run on gay marriage. In fact, Obama said in a 2008 interview with pastor Rick Warren that he believed marriage was between a man and a woman.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 23, 2015 3 Comments
The Obama administration's recent claim that their strategy against ISIS is working is being met with skepticism. On Special Report Thursday night, Charles Krauthammer pointed out the farce of their position. Transcript via Real Clear Politics:
The administration is sounding like Baghdad Bob during the invasion of Iraq. They're losing. Everybody understands that. ISIS, it wasn't only that they took over in Iraq, but it took over the town of -- the city of Amara in Syria which gives them control of half of Syria and later in the day today, they took over a crucial crossing point between Syria and Iraq, essentially erasing the frontier and making it easier to resupply Ramadi. These are huge strategic gains. They're not tactical defeats. And what Obama says, well, it's not because it's the guys trained by us who were in Ramadi, this is nuts. The idea is if you're going to have success, you have to have training and you have to have will. The idea that what the Iraqis are lacking is training is ridiculous. We've been training them for 15 years. If the troops haven't got their heart in the battle, it will not succeed. And that's what happened in Mosul when they ran away and that's what happened in Ramadi when they ran away.
Here's the video via Newsbusters: Krauthammer isn't alone in this view.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 18, 2015 25 Comments
Fresh hell alert! It's happening---the President has arrived on Twitter: Here's how the White House describes their vision for the new account:
The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him. President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and participatory in history, and @POTUS will give Americans a new venue to engage on the issues that matter most to them.
So...more Barack Obama? I'm sure you're all extremely excited about this development.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 14, 2015 11 Comments
A bill ensuring Congressional oversight on any proposed nuclear deal with Iran is headed to the President's desk. The bill passed through the House 400-25 after a hard-fought battle in the Senate earlier this month. It imposes a 30 day buffer preventing the President from waiving any congressional sanctions against Iran while Congress reviews the deal; additionally, if Congress disapproves of the deal, the President will be unable to waive certain congressionally-imposed sanctions. Opponents of the bill maintained that its provisions were not strong enough to provide an adequate buffer between the Obama Administration and a nuclear Iran; its supporters, however, argued that the bill would be the best chance for the American people to weigh in on the controversial impending nuclear deal. The legislation eventually passed the Senate 98-1, with only Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton objecting. President Obama is expected to sign the bill, giving Congress the power of initial rejection but ushering in a new round of contentious negotiations over the nuclear deal itself. The House vote came as Obama met with the leadership (though not necessarily the figureheads) of leading Persian Gulf states in a series of meetings "designed to narrow differences" over the impending nuclear deal:

Posted by Jay Caruso on May 13, 2015 24 Comments
When scanning the spectrum of President Obama's presidency, it's difficult to find anything that he does with any kind of competence or skill. That said, when it comes to erecting straw man arguments, it's hard to find an equal to President Obama. As demonstrated before, Obama routinely engages in this practice by making a claim and then presenting an alternative or a solution to a problem that does not exist. The President recently participated in a panel discussion on poverty with Arthur Brooks from The American Enterprise Institute, Georgetown University President Joe DeGioia, and Robert Putnam of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; during his remarks, Obama raised scenarios that simply did not exist. The first was a recall of the good old days when rich people and poor people co-mingled in the same neighborhoods, contrasted with the current "reality" where successful people separate themselves and thus have no clue about life in the middle class:

Posted by Amy Miller on May 13, 2015 9 Comments
Whoever would have guessed that trade policy could turn into the US Senate's latest stumbling block? Yesterday, Senate Democrats voted to block the start of debate on a bipartisan bill that would renew and broaden the President's negotiating authority over international trade agreements. The bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority renewal legislation was introduced back in mid-April by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). If passed, it would give the President authority to negotiate trade deals that would then be sent off to Congress for either rejection or approval. Because the TPA legislation would not permit Congressional amendments to the deals, the update is seen as a "fast track" option. If passed, the TPA could be used to fast-track approval (or rejection) of the Trans-Pacific Partnership; the Partnership would include 11 other nations (both developed and developing), and stands to affect up to 40% of all US imports and exports if approved. The block isn't the end of the TPA renewal, but it represents a divide in the caucus, and the willingness of Democrat leadership to go against the agenda promoted by the White House.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 13, 2015 19 Comments
Elizabeth Warren had a reputation in academia as a climber with sharp elbows, said New York Magazine in 2011 ("A Saint with Sharp Elbows), and The Boston Globe in 2012:
Behind the scenes, some of her peers bristled at her ascent, viewing her as smart and capable but also as a climber with sharp elbows.
Warren brought those sharp elbows to her 2012 Senate campaign against Scott Brown, and when Brown elbowed back he was accused of sexism. Brent Budowsky at The Hill accused Brown of "sexist slime" for raising the obvious question as to whether Warren's false claim to be Native American in a law directory used for hiring might have juiced her career. Budowsky wrote:
First Brown implied that Warren was a Harvard elitist. Presumably Brown would attack John F. Kennedy for the same reason. Now Brown suggests that Elizabeth Warren is not really qualified to teach at Harvard. Huh? Brown's using the old Karl Rove-style "dog whistle" attack, suggesting Warren just maybe got the Harvard job because of affirmative action. What sexist garbage it is that Scott Brown is trying to sell? Elizabeth Warren got the Harvard job because she was supremely qualified, as are most women who are attacked in this way.
The Warren campaign made the same sexism charge:

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 13, 2015 19 Comments
Obama's obsession with FOX News is well documented. In 2009, shortly after being sworn in as president, his administration said FOX wasn't a real news network and accused FOX News of being a wing of the Republican Party. It doesn't matter to Obama that he's received the most fawning media coverage of any president in the last fifty years; he just can't sleep at night knowing that there's one cable news network that has dared to question him. The president's thin skin was on full display yesterday when he appeared at a "poverty summit" at Georgetown University. While invoking straw men who apparently hate poor people, Obama couldn't resist demonizing his old standby enemy. Transcript via John Nolte of Breitbart:
I think that the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving, got traction. And look, it’s still being propagated. I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant venue. They will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them. They’re all like, “I don’t want to work. I just want a free Obama Phone, or whatever.” And that becomes an entire narrative that gets worked up. And very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress, which is much more typical — who is raising a couple of kids and doing everything right but still can’t pay the bills.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 11, 2015 21 Comments
Well, that's embarrassing. What if you threw a summit and no one came? That's Obama's reality this week as four of six Persian Gulf heads of state have declined his invitation to a summit at Camp David later this week. The kings of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have dropped out entirely, as have the heads of state from the United Arab Emirates and Oman. (Kuwait and Qatar haven't dropped out yet, but there's still time.) This is a huge deal, considering the purpose of the summit is (in part) to address Iran's growing influence in the region, and to discuss security guarantees from the Obama administration. Although Saudi and the other absentee nations will be sending deputies, the absence of their figureheads sends a strong message about the state of relations between the Middle East, and Barack Obama. Via Fox News:
"We first learned of the King's possible change of plans from Saudis on Friday night," a senior U.S. administration official told Fox News. "This was confirmed by the Saudis on Saturday. We coordinated closely with our Saudi partners on the alternate arrangement and timing of the announcement and look forward to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This is not in response to any substantive issue."

Posted by Amy Miller on April 09, 2015 27 Comments
Back in 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood before the body of the United Nations with a piece of poster board and a red marker. During the two weeks prior to that moment, he had been waging a public battle with the Obama Administration over the dangerous progression of Iran's nuclear program---sound familiar---and made the decision to cut through the rhetoric in hopes that a visual aid might wake up the rest of the world. So, he picked up his marker and drew a literal red line that served as an ultimatum: “At this late hour there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs, and that is by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.” Remember? NATIONS-articleLarge Yesterday, the Obama paid passive-aggressive homage to Netanyahu's famous "bomb" with one of their own:

Posted by Amy Miller on April 07, 2015 34 Comments
At this point, I've pretty much given up on the idea that I'll be able to make it through a week without somehow being maligned, insulted, or "made to care" about something by the President of the United States. He is who he is, and he's made it abundantly clear that he's not going to turn a 180 anytime soon. Yet I was somehow still shocked when I heard that he had taken a beat during a recent speech to lob an insult at Christians in general for being...un-Christian, or something. Did I mention this happened during his speech at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast?
“On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love,” Obama said. “And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned.” As the crowd began to murmur, the president backed off, saying, “But that’s a topic for another day.” “I was about to veer off,” he explained. “I’m pulling it back.” “Where there is injustice we defend the oppressed,” Obama said, returning to his prepared remarks. “Where there is disagreement, we treat each other with compassion and respect. Where there are differences, we find strength in our common humanity, knowing that we are all children of God.”
Watch:

Posted by Amy Miller on April 06, 2015 24 Comments
Last week's "nuke deal" with Iran has drawn criticism both at home and overseas as being less of a "deal" and more of a capitulation to a belligerent enemy of freedom. (I wouldn't argue with those criticisms one bit.) It has caused many to call into question President Obama's motives for making such a deal, and forced discussions about what a nuclear Iran would mean for the future of the Middle East as we know it. Of course, the elephant in the room is Israel, a country whose future depends on the efforts of more powerful allies to block Iran's path to a nuclear weapon. Not only have we have failed to do so, we have also set Benjamin Netanyahu up as the chief fall guy in the event of a breakdown in negotiations. CNN's Jim Acosta interviewed Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, and spent a lot of time focusing on the breakdown of the relationship between Israel and the United States.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 31, 2015 18 Comments
At this point, it should be obvious to most people that Obama doesn't have Israel's best interests in mind. Even Democratic members of the Senate are coming around. The Times of Israel:
Senators warn Obama against rescinding UN veto As reports proliferate that US leadership is considering stripping Israel of the protective diplomatic umbrella with which it has historically provided the Jewish state in the international arena — including its previously guaranteed vetoing of UN resolutions damaging to Jerusalem — a bipartisan group of US senators urged President Barack Obama in a letter Monday to avoid threatening Israel with such punitive measures and to reassert Washington’s support for the state. The letter obtained by the Times of Israel was signed by two Democrats and two Republicans who did not directly criticize the president’s policies, but did warn that “using the United Nations to push Israel and the Palestinians to accept terms defined by others will only ensure that the parties themselves are not committed to observing these provisions.”...

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 28, 2015 20 Comments
As if things in the Middle East couldn't get any worse, we're now at a point where our allies don't trust us. It's becoming quite clear that the only person who thinks Obama's pursuit of a deal with Iran is a good idea, is Obama. Daniel Bassali of the Washington Free Beacon:
Richard Engel: Military Officials Say Allies No Longer Trust Us, Fear Intel Might Leak to Iran NBC’s Richard Engel reported Friday that U.S. officials were stunned they were not given any notice before Saudi Arabia launched attacks against Houthi rebels. According to Engel, military leaders were finding out about the developments on the Yemen border in real time. Engel said officials from both the military and members of Congress believe they were not given advanced warning because the Arab nations do not trust the Obama administration after they befriended Iran. “Saudi Arabia and other countries simply don’t trust the United States any more, don’t trust this administration, think the administration is working to befriend Iran to try to make a deal in Switzerland, and therefore didn’t feel the intelligence frankly would be secure. And I think that’s a situation that is quite troubling for U.S. foreign policy,” Engel said.
Watch the segment: Ed Morrissey of Hot Air commented:
Engel’s report strongly suggests that it’s not just incompetence that has the Saudis and other US allies rattled, but a suspicion that they’re being purposefully sold out by Obama to get a deal with Iran that will unleash their ambitions to dominate the region.

Posted by Jay Caruso on March 24, 2015 35 Comments
Texas Senator Ted Cruz became the first "official" contender to announce he is running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. One of the more bizarre narratives to quickly form after Cruz made his announcement, has been the comparison between him and President Barack Obama. While there are some similarities --- both first term Senators, both graduates of Harvard, both are prone to more grandiose type speeches and both lacked executive experience, that's where the comparison really ends. However, there are some who arguing Ted Cruz being a first term Senator leads to him being a bad President, were he to win the nomination and ultimately the election in 2016. This accusation is not just being thrown around by random people on social media. It's appearing in Commentary Magazine. After listing a handful of points of comparison between Cruz and Obama the post concludes:
In short, Ted Cruz is not, except for his highly distinguished academic career and legal clerkships, dissimilar to the present incumbent of the White House. It seems to me that the last thing this country needs come January 20th, 2017, is a right-wing Barack Obama.
Charles Krauthammer made a similar point on Fox News during Special Report saying, "We already tried a first term Senator." 

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 21, 2015 14 Comments
Since Netanyahu's victory last week, the Obama administration has offered little more than a cold shoulder to Israel, and seems more interested in talking to Iran. The fact that Israel is our best ally in the region is overlooked while Obama continues working on his so-called "non-binding agreement." This morning on FOX and Friends, Tucker Carlson discussed the issue with Ann Coulter: Obama and others on the left seem to harbor a belief that things would be different if someone other than Netanyahu was the prime minister of Israel.
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