A.J. DiCintio
The Emperor-in-Chief
By A.J. DiCintio
When life presents open-minded, innovative folks with lemons, they make a satisfying lemonade, a reality that explains why we are so often confronted by the sight of Establishment Republicans floundering hopelessly among a mountain of moldy, hardened yellow fruit that will satisfy no thirst, delight no palate, fortify no constitution.
The thought comes to mind these days for this reason:
When President Obama dumped an entire harvest of lemons upon the nation with his corrosively acidic, shamelessly political edict that delays Obamacare's employer mandate until after the 2014 Election, one of the first and most highly publicized Republican reactions to it was that of former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who described the act as "deviously brilliant."
Incredibly, a man whose education and experience ought to have set him to work producing gallons of an intellectually and morally refreshing beverage for his fellow citizens chose, instead, to behave like a Kool-Aid drinking Obamaphile.
To be specific about what Holtz-Eakin ought to have said, I'll begin by saying he could have imitated Nat Hentoff (wnd.com), the author and life-long defender of the Constitution who has been relentless in his efforts to inform the public about the "dictatorial side" of a president whose love of power is evidenced in an alarming number of ways, including his support for an "omnivorous surveillance program" aimed not at suspected terrorists but every person in the world, including every American citizen.
Invoking the notion of Obama's imperial side, which rejects George Washington's notion that legitimate law arises only from "an explicit and authentic act of the whole people," Holtz-Eakin could have easily avoided the nonsense about devious brilliance to point out the dictatorial nature of "Obamacare."
After all, it doesn't take much thinking to decide the best way to begin the task is to remind the public that Nancy Pelosi let slip Obamacare had to be passed "so that we can find out what's in it."
Who will tell us? Well, in harmony with the calculated vagueness that lies at the heart of Obama's entire shtick, the uber-liberal from California conveniently left out the details.
That's because Pelosi didn't want to mention that Emperor Obama does the telling.
And that's exactly how things have worked from the beginning.
For instance, as Obamacare was being rammed down the nation's throat by congressional Democrats, it was ultimately Barack Obama who approved the trillion dollar lie about its cost, the mountain of generalities that would eventually be made specific in thousands of pages of regulatory gobbledygook, the creation of a new, labyrinthine federal bureaucracy, and the selection of the monstrous IRS as strong-armed enforcer.
After Democrats used every dirty trick in the political playbook to pass the act and the president signed it into law, it was Barack Obama who told us exactly which of his favorite unions are exempt from Obamacare's "Cadillac policy" penalties; exactly what kind of insurance policies can be sold in the law's healthcare exchanges; exactly who qualifies for and exactly how much a person can receive in government assistance to help pay the premium for those policies; and, of course, exactly which of the law's provisions can be indefinitely postponed, such as the employer mandate, the job killing part of the law Democratic politicians fear will kill them in the 2014 Election.
As a matter of hard fact, the power of the executive branch to execute and enforce (or refuse to enforce) laws means that regarding any aspect whatsoever of the oxymoronic "Affordable Care Act," Barack Obama can see to it that his will is done simply with a call to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius or any similar political shill currently "acting" as Director of the IRS.
At this point, Mr. Holtz-Eakin could have greatly increased his service to the country by saying this:
"As dear as the issue of medical care is to us, we must understand that the president's autocratic vision of government is not limited to the healthcare system."
For proof, he could have cited the fact that during the government's bailout of General Motors, it was, ultimately, Barack Obama who decided exactly how much of a "haircut" GM bondholders would take, exactly how many shares of GM stock the government would receive and exactly what government will do with them, exactly how many special favors not available to other American workers would be handed out to members of the UAW, exactly how many and exactly what kind of GM vehicles the federal government would purchase, and (should anyone be surprised?) exactly who would serve as GM's CEO.
Then, Holtz-Eakin could have spoken of the deadly Benghazi debacle, which Obama imperiously declared a mere "bump in the road" on his way to soothing the savage breast of murderous terrorist fanatics responsible for what he terms "man-caused disasters."
Moreover, he could have pointed out that Barack Obama has decided he owes the public no explanation regarding his actions during the entire attack, for example, regarding why, fully aware that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered American diplomats and their few guards to a city the Director of the FBI would later describe as too dangerous for FBI investigators to enter, he approved, in defiance of military tradition observed over millennia, an order that commanded soldiers who would have fought to save lives in Benghazi to stand down.
Having brought up Benghazi, Holtz-Eakin could have gone on to speak of Obama's dismissive arrogance regarding the IRS scandal, an insult made all the more contemptible by the reality that IRS officials who provided confidential information about Tea Party groups to the their political opponents have committed an act so atrociously totalitarian it ought to be defined as a hanging offense.
Reminding the public about the coal industry's role in providing the nation not just with enormous amounts of affordable energy but, directly and indirectly, a huge number of desperately needed middle-class-sustaining jobs, he could also have spoken about the president's gutting the industry with imperial executive orders that once again reveal nothing but disdain for the Constitution's insistence upon the supremacy of "We the People."
In a final reaction to Barack Obama's dictatorial spirit, Holtz-Eakin could have continued to align himself with Nat Hentoff, who vows, "My main job now is to focus on how we can keep future Obamas out of the Oval Office."
But he didn't.
Let's hope that Douglas Holtz-Eakin and other members of the Republican Establishment will dedicate themselves to learning how to make a truly life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness affirming lemonade from the sour lemons an emperor-in-chief continually dumps upon the public, exclusively using the genuine, quintessentially American recipe bequeathed to us by this nation's Founders.
© A.J. DiCintio
July 14, 2013
When life presents open-minded, innovative folks with lemons, they make a satisfying lemonade, a reality that explains why we are so often confronted by the sight of Establishment Republicans floundering hopelessly among a mountain of moldy, hardened yellow fruit that will satisfy no thirst, delight no palate, fortify no constitution.
The thought comes to mind these days for this reason:
When President Obama dumped an entire harvest of lemons upon the nation with his corrosively acidic, shamelessly political edict that delays Obamacare's employer mandate until after the 2014 Election, one of the first and most highly publicized Republican reactions to it was that of former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who described the act as "deviously brilliant."
Incredibly, a man whose education and experience ought to have set him to work producing gallons of an intellectually and morally refreshing beverage for his fellow citizens chose, instead, to behave like a Kool-Aid drinking Obamaphile.
To be specific about what Holtz-Eakin ought to have said, I'll begin by saying he could have imitated Nat Hentoff (wnd.com), the author and life-long defender of the Constitution who has been relentless in his efforts to inform the public about the "dictatorial side" of a president whose love of power is evidenced in an alarming number of ways, including his support for an "omnivorous surveillance program" aimed not at suspected terrorists but every person in the world, including every American citizen.
Invoking the notion of Obama's imperial side, which rejects George Washington's notion that legitimate law arises only from "an explicit and authentic act of the whole people," Holtz-Eakin could have easily avoided the nonsense about devious brilliance to point out the dictatorial nature of "Obamacare."
After all, it doesn't take much thinking to decide the best way to begin the task is to remind the public that Nancy Pelosi let slip Obamacare had to be passed "so that we can find out what's in it."
Who will tell us? Well, in harmony with the calculated vagueness that lies at the heart of Obama's entire shtick, the uber-liberal from California conveniently left out the details.
That's because Pelosi didn't want to mention that Emperor Obama does the telling.
And that's exactly how things have worked from the beginning.
For instance, as Obamacare was being rammed down the nation's throat by congressional Democrats, it was ultimately Barack Obama who approved the trillion dollar lie about its cost, the mountain of generalities that would eventually be made specific in thousands of pages of regulatory gobbledygook, the creation of a new, labyrinthine federal bureaucracy, and the selection of the monstrous IRS as strong-armed enforcer.
After Democrats used every dirty trick in the political playbook to pass the act and the president signed it into law, it was Barack Obama who told us exactly which of his favorite unions are exempt from Obamacare's "Cadillac policy" penalties; exactly what kind of insurance policies can be sold in the law's healthcare exchanges; exactly who qualifies for and exactly how much a person can receive in government assistance to help pay the premium for those policies; and, of course, exactly which of the law's provisions can be indefinitely postponed, such as the employer mandate, the job killing part of the law Democratic politicians fear will kill them in the 2014 Election.
As a matter of hard fact, the power of the executive branch to execute and enforce (or refuse to enforce) laws means that regarding any aspect whatsoever of the oxymoronic "Affordable Care Act," Barack Obama can see to it that his will is done simply with a call to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius or any similar political shill currently "acting" as Director of the IRS.
At this point, Mr. Holtz-Eakin could have greatly increased his service to the country by saying this:
"As dear as the issue of medical care is to us, we must understand that the president's autocratic vision of government is not limited to the healthcare system."
For proof, he could have cited the fact that during the government's bailout of General Motors, it was, ultimately, Barack Obama who decided exactly how much of a "haircut" GM bondholders would take, exactly how many shares of GM stock the government would receive and exactly what government will do with them, exactly how many special favors not available to other American workers would be handed out to members of the UAW, exactly how many and exactly what kind of GM vehicles the federal government would purchase, and (should anyone be surprised?) exactly who would serve as GM's CEO.
Then, Holtz-Eakin could have spoken of the deadly Benghazi debacle, which Obama imperiously declared a mere "bump in the road" on his way to soothing the savage breast of murderous terrorist fanatics responsible for what he terms "man-caused disasters."
Moreover, he could have pointed out that Barack Obama has decided he owes the public no explanation regarding his actions during the entire attack, for example, regarding why, fully aware that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered American diplomats and their few guards to a city the Director of the FBI would later describe as too dangerous for FBI investigators to enter, he approved, in defiance of military tradition observed over millennia, an order that commanded soldiers who would have fought to save lives in Benghazi to stand down.
Having brought up Benghazi, Holtz-Eakin could have gone on to speak of Obama's dismissive arrogance regarding the IRS scandal, an insult made all the more contemptible by the reality that IRS officials who provided confidential information about Tea Party groups to the their political opponents have committed an act so atrociously totalitarian it ought to be defined as a hanging offense.
Reminding the public about the coal industry's role in providing the nation not just with enormous amounts of affordable energy but, directly and indirectly, a huge number of desperately needed middle-class-sustaining jobs, he could also have spoken about the president's gutting the industry with imperial executive orders that once again reveal nothing but disdain for the Constitution's insistence upon the supremacy of "We the People."
In a final reaction to Barack Obama's dictatorial spirit, Holtz-Eakin could have continued to align himself with Nat Hentoff, who vows, "My main job now is to focus on how we can keep future Obamas out of the Oval Office."
But he didn't.
Let's hope that Douglas Holtz-Eakin and other members of the Republican Establishment will dedicate themselves to learning how to make a truly life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness affirming lemonade from the sour lemons an emperor-in-chief continually dumps upon the public, exclusively using the genuine, quintessentially American recipe bequeathed to us by this nation's Founders.
© A.J. DiCintio
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
