Political positions of Barack Obama

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The political positions of Barack Obama is a subject of controversy and has been even before he put himself forward as a presidential candidate. Former House majority leader Tom DeLay has described Obama's record in the Illinois Senate as that of a “Marxist leftist".[1] This matches the fact that during his campaign, some members of Barack Obama's staff were discovered on numerous occasions to have Cuban flags bearing the face of Marxist guerrilla/murderer Che Guevara.[2] Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes has called Obama a "radical communist."[3] As President, Obama has given orders to his cabinet to find loopholes that enable the president to act as a dictator and legislate without congressional approval.[4]

Pro-abortion

Barack Obama is pro-abortion. The leading abortion providers and PAC supporters have wholeheartedly endorsed Barack Obama. The National Abortion Rights Action League NARAL has given Barack a 100% rating for his efforts in Congress 2005, 2006 and 2007.[5] EMILY's List, a political action committee that funds female candidates who support abortion rights backs Barack Obama.[6] The nation's largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood has begun the process necessary to endorse pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama.[7] The board of directors of the pro-abortion group's political operation met on Friday June 6, 2008 and unanimously voted to recommend an endorsement for Obama. While in the Illinois State Senate in 1997, Obama voted against SB 230, a bill designed to outlaw partial-birth abortions.[8] Barack's wife, Michelle Obama, wrote a fundraising letter[9] in support of partial birth abortion and against the proposed ban. Barack voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act to give a child who survived an abortion procedure life support healthcare. Obama wanted the life terminated even if he or she survived outside the mother's womb.[10] With Obama no longer in the state Senate, the Born Alive legislation passed in 2005.

In the context of sex, he quipped about his daughters,[11]
"If they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
Obama makes it clear if his daughters had an unplanned pregnancy, he would support terminating the life of his grandchild and it is undeniable that Michelle Obama agrees with that decision.

Second Amendment

Obama's views on gun control are focused on an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal:[12]

As a state senate candidate in 1996, Mr. Obama endorsed a complete ban on all handguns in a questionnaire. The Obama campaign has claimed he "never saw or approved the questionnaire," and that an aide filled it out incorrectly. But a few weeks ago, Politico.com found an amended version of the questionnaire. It included material added in Mr. Obama's handwriting.

After D.C. v. Heller, Obama claimed to support Second Amendment rights.

Obama has said, "Doing the Lord's work is a thread that runs through our politics since the very beginning," and "it puts the lie to the notion that separation of church and state in America means somehow that faith should have no role in public life."[13]

Grade-K Sex education

Obama believes children should be taught sex education in kindergarten, although in what he refers to as "an age-appropriate manner".[14]

Opposition to the War on Terror

Barack Obama, in his short stint as Senator of Illinois, has made clear his opposition to the U.S. Military in policy and in rhetoric. Obama has spent much energy to argue that the Iraq War should have never been waged and that we should not be there at all, in any way.

In 2002, as an unknown Chicago representative to the state of Illinois, he declared his opposition to "dumb wars". At the time, America was united in the stance against terrorism and the prospects of a rogue enemy with Weapons of Mass Destruction worried the United States. Obama said that he did not know whether he would have voted for or against the Iraq War. as Senator he voted against the Emergency War Supplemental bill. Obama did not oppose his party debating the bill long past the timeframe requested. This action directly affects troop deployment in combat zones. Obama has repeatedly called for the return of troops in Iraq. Barack Obama has a no confidence vote for the 'Surge' before the measure was put forth by General Petraeus to Congress. Obama would not denounce MoveOn.org's slander in the New York Times advertising against the General.

Moral authority and use of torture

On November 16, 2008, in an interview with Steve Kroft of CBS's 60 Minutes program, Barack Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility by Executive Order, "to regain America's moral stature in the world."[15] A press release on January 22, 2009 claimed Obama ordered closing the camp within the year.[16] In January 2013 President Obama signed an authorization refusing to allow the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo.[17] As of the president's second inaugural, the promise to regain America's moral stature remained unfulfilled.

Obama twice nominated a former Bush administration chief spokesman for the use of torture as his CIA Director.

The Weather Underground's Declaration of War against the United States issued by Bernardine Dohrn, a primary Obama sponsor. The text reads in part, "Dope is one of our weapons... Guns and grass are united.... We will never live peaceably under this system. [18]

Support for a "global regime"

Obama is for a one-world government unaccountable to the American people, a threat to U.S. sovereignty and independence. He said "for all nations in the world to come together to build a stronger, global regime"[19]

Terrorist associations

Obama, having been asked about his employment, association, and taking grant money from William Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist,[20] claimed that views of his friends[21] are not necessarily his own. Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, hosted a fundraiser for Obama to introduce him to their friends in their home to help at the start of his political career in 1995. Dorhn issued the Weather Underground's Declaration of War Against the United States in 1970 .[22]

Immigration

Obama spoke at the May 1, 2006, illegal immigration march in Chicago.[23] In 2012, President Obama announced a policy of selective enforcement that would allow a number of undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation.

We are hungry for change! S.C. January 26, 2008.

Gun control

On January 16, 2013, President Obama signed executive orders that took a number of gun control steps without further Congressional action.[24]

Recess appointments

On January 25, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were illegal.[25]

Saturday postal service

On February 6, 2013, the United States Postal Service announced that it would end Saturday residential letter delivery in August 2013. For years, Congress included a rider in annual appropriations bills that required the Postal Service to maintain mail service on six days per week. However, because the Postal Service is operating on a continuing resolution, the Postal Service says that the long-standing requirement does not apply at this time.[26]

Inflated credentials

He has no clear personal achievement that cannot be explained as the likely result of affirmative action. Some examples border on the absurd: Obama has no background in physics, yet it is claimed that "Obama analyzed and integrated Einstein's theory of relativity, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, as well as the concept of curved space as an alternative to gravity, for a Law Review article that Tribe, for whom Obama worked as a research assistant, wrote titled, 'The Curvature of Constitutional Space'." [27] Obama's "research" for Constitutional Law Professor Tribe on this article also raises issues about preferences, as Obama had not yet even completed any law school courses[28] on the Constitution.[29]

Throughout his career, Obama repeatedly ducked controversial stands in a transparent attempt to make it easier to be elected to higher office. In example, as a state senator in Illinois, he voted "present" rather than "aye" or "nay" nearly an astounding 130 times.[30] During that same period, he was planning to run for the House of Representatives, which was unsuccessful, and then for U.S. Senate, which was successful after his opponent Jack Ryan, a millionaire school teacher, was smeared with a court-ordered disclosure of confidential divorce records that both he and his ex-wife wanted to remain sealed. A newspaper that favored Obama took the unusual step of suing to force the confidential divorce information to become public, and a California judge opened the records at a pivotal time in the campaign.[31][32][33]

Public speaking

Barack Obama is often praised for his speeches, except when he is not able to read them from a teleprompter.[34][35] "Shorn of his Teleprompter, we saw a different Obama. His delivery was halting and unsure. ... The prepared text for his remarks, as released on his website, sounded a lot like a typical Obama speech. ... [But with] no Teleprompter signaling the prepared text, Obama failed to deliver the speech in his characteristically flawless fashion."[35] The New York Times noted that "Mr. Obama excels at inspirational speeches read from a teleprompter before television cameras, critics have noted, but many of his other speeches on the campaign trail have failed to electrify."[36] Indeed, when unable to read from prepared text he often fails at articulating his positions and is caught tripping over his own feet.[37] His most recent debate performances illustrate that he may have been extensively coached over the course of 2008, although he still repeatedly fumbles at moments where he moves off his memorized remarks.[38] When Obama ridiculed Hillary Clinton for being like Annie Oakley, it is apparent that he was not writing his own speeches.[39] Even Vice-President Biden jokes about Obama's use of the teleprompter. In 2009, when Biden was giving a commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy, a strong gust of wind blew over his teleprompter and Biden said, "What am I gonna tell the president when I tell him his Teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?" [40]

Obama often makes reference to his "two decades of experience" in public service work. During most of that time he claims experience, he was either going to school, working for a law firm, writing a book, or organizing community events.

Obama refers to America in the third person, as a foreigner would. In his first television interview after becoming president, Obama declared that "all too often the United States starts by dictating." Earlier, when Obama gave his acceptance speech, he said "We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."[41]

Lack of experience

Obama has no military or executive experience and little foreign policy experience.[42] Yet he was the favorite of the leftist attack site "MoveOn.org" for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election,[43] campaigning to the left of Hillary Clinton.[44]

Partisanship

Obama often refers to his office without proper respect to those that came before him. When talking of President George W. Bush, he frequently refuses to call him President George Bush or even Mr. George Bush. Obama has also disrespectfully called him 'George Bush'. Oddly, when Bill Clinton spoke with Obama on September 11, 2008 predicting he would win handily, Obama responded, "There you go, you can take it from the President of the United States."[45] It appears Obama will use the term for a former president, but not for the then-current president. Examples of Obama's treatment of George W. Bush:

  • "I am happy to have a debate with John McCain and George Bush about foreign policy," Obama said [46]
  • "For all his talk about independence, the centerpiece of John McCain's economic plan amounts to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush's policies," [47]
  • "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists." [48]
  • Obama called the U.S. economy a disaster thanks to "John McCain's President, George W. Bush" [49] Side note, George W. Bush is also Barack Obama's President.

Uninformed

Obama displayed ignorance about American history when he said, "Throughout our history, America's confronted constantly evolving danger, from the oppression of an empire, to the lawlessness of the frontier, from the bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor, to the threat of nuclear annihilation."[50] (His defenders claim that he was using a figure of speech that makes illustrations more vivid by giving examples in the singular, even though the United States fought several oppressive empires (England and Spain) had several lawless frontiers, and had many bombs drop on Pearl Harbor.)

Obama has described himself as a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago.[51] He held the position of Lecturer, an adjunct position, from 1992 to 1996. He held the position of Senior Lecturer from 1996 until his election to the senate in 2004. Dan Ronayne, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, has pointed that Obama was only a senior lecturer and not a full professor.[51] The University states that Senior Lecturers are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure track.[52][53]

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama admitted using illegal drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, which he referred to as "blow" and "pot" respectively, in his high school years and into his college years, before claiming to choose a different path in life.[54][55]

Obama wore an American flag lapel pin after 9/11, but later stopped wearing it without adequate explanation.[56] Presumably it would have hurt him with anti-military campaign donors.[57] Recently, he has begun wearing one again for reasons that are likely political pandering.

In his memoirs, Obama claimed a Life magazine article about a man who had become ill after trying to lighten his skin color by chemical means had a major impact on him. In fact, Life never published any such article.[58][59]

Obama said that "[t]here was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born." In fact, Obama was born in 1961 and the Selma march took place in 1965.[60]

Obama's campaign "is proud to be actively participating in over 60 local and state wide homosexual Pride events over the summer."[61]

Obama claimed to have visited 57 states while campaigning for President of the United States in 2008.[62][63]

Obama did not know there is no Austrian language.[64]

During a fund raising event in Virginia in May 2007 Obama told donors,

This week there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died. An entire town destroyed.[65]

Statements

Obama has been noted by several independent sources as misquoting historical events and statements by famous persons. A notable example came after Obama's win in the North Carolina democratic primary. Obama was quoted as saying, "I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies as Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did." (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt spoke with none of the Axis or Japanese leaders and the only communication that was sent to them was unconditional surrender. (President) Harry Truman took over for FDR and continued his unconditional surrender philosophy as well as ending World War II with an atomic bomb.[66]

On Memorial Day 2008, speaking to an audience of military veterans, Obama made the claim "I had an uncle who was one of the, part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps."[67] In point of fact the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz, and Obama equated his uncle with the communists.[68]

References

  1. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1753197/posts
  2. Obama Workers' Che Guevara Poster Was No Fluke from Moonbattery
  3. Alan Keyes: Obama Will Destroy U.S. NewsMax, February 23, 2009
  4. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/10/11/obama_tells_advisers_to_find_how_to_approve_stimulus_projects_without_additional_congressional_authorization.html
  5. http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm
  6. [1],EMILY's List backs Obama, June 6, 2008
  7. https://www.lifenews.com/nat3971.html, Planned Parenthood Begins Process to Endorse Pro-Abortion Barack Obama, June 10, 2008
  8. "Barack Obama on Abortion", On The Issues
  9. http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/10/post_5.php, February 17, 2004
  10. http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007034.cfm, Obama Blocked Born Alive Infant Protection Act
  11. http://michellemalkin.com/2008/03/30/sunday-meditation-obama-and-the-punishment-of-unborn-life/
  12. David Kopel, "The Democrats and Gun Control," Wall St.J., Page A19, April 17, 2008 [2]
  13. Obama says religion has place in politics, By Todd Dorman, Sioux City Journal, June 18, 2007.
  14. "Barack Obama reaffirmed to Planned Parenthood this week that he believes elements of sex education should begin in kindergarten." (ABC News) July 20, 2007
  15. 60 Minutes: Obama Reiterates Promise To Close Guantanamo Bay. Youtube.
  16. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=barack+obama+guantanamo+bay&aq=4&oq=Barack+Obama+g&aqi=g10
  17. Years After Vow to Close Gitmo, Why Has Obama Signed NDAA Bill Barring Transfer of Its Prisoners?.
  18. Weather Underground Declaration of a State of War
  19. [3]
  20. [4]
  21. Ayers calls Obama 'a family friend', By Rex W. Huppke, Chicago Tribune, November 14, 2008.
  22. FBI file Weather Underground, pgs. 46-48 pdf.
  23. http://nomoreblather.com/barack-obama-and-the-immigration-marches Immigration marches
  24. "Obama's gun-control proposals", Washington Post, January 17, 2013, p. A4. 
  25. Court Throws Out Recess Picks. Wall Street Journal (January 25, 2013). Retrieved on February 8, 2013.
  26. Jelinek, Pauline (February 6, 2013). Postal Service To Cut Saturday Mail Delivery To Save $2 Billion Per Year. Retrieved on February 8, 2013.
  27. http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/barack.obama.harvard.2.334825.html
  28. Obama did not start his second year of law school until September 1989, the earliest he could have taken constitutional law, yet this article must have been written, submitted and accepted prior to that time to be published in the November 1989 issue of the Law Review.
  29. The liberal Professor Tribe saw the best law students for several decades, yet insisted that Obama was the "best student I ever had" and the "most exciting research assistant." [5]
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20obama.html
  31. http://www.nbc5.com/politics/2898641/detail.html
  32. http://www.nbc5.com/news/3289561/detail.html
  33. http://www.nbc5.com/politics/3444371/detail.html
  34. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26101
  35. 35.0 35.1 The Daily Standard, Obama Unplugged Lost without a Teleprompter, by Dean Barnett, 02/12/2008 [6]
  36. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/fashion/20speechwriter.html?_r=2&ex=1358485200&en=bb179297e5f61acb&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
  37. This was first displayed in the Saddleback Forum, and has occurred subsequently also.
  38. After one debate against Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, the Obama campaign announced that the questions were too difficult and that Obama would not agree to future debates with her.
  39. "Some Obama adviser probably earned his or her dollars for that cut," the USA Today wrote. [7]
  40. Biden Teases Obama Over Teleprompter Dependence, After Mishap
  41. [8]
  42. "Fresh doubts over Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London – and none elsewhere in Western Europe or Latin America. ... Mr. Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman."[9]
  43. MoveOn.org reportedly favored Obama by 70-30% over Clinton
  44. For example, Obama promised not to use nuclear weapons against terrorists, a promise Hillary Clinton refused to make. [10]
  45. https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/11/campaign.wrap/index.html
  46. [11], CNN Obama blasts Bush McCain, May 16, 2008
  47. http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=28189
  48. [12], BBC Obama attacks Bush over Iran , May 15, 2008
  49. http://vodpod.com/watch/956078-obama-we-already-have-economic-disaster-from-john-mccains-president-george-w-bush
  50. https://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/07/obama_ignorance_watch_1.asp
  51. 51.0 51.1 [13]
  52. https://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/was_barack_obama_really_a_constitutional_law.html
  53. [14]
  54. [15]
  55. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/26/obamas_senate_foreign_relations_work/
  56. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/when_did_obama_stop_wearing_a.html
  57. In 2007, at critical moments in his campaign for the nomination, Obama had difficulties securing the support of anti-war activists. [16]
  58. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601583.html
  59. "Then there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don't exist, say the magazine's own historians." [17]
  60. http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/21/barack-obama-gaffe-machine/
  61. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/jcitron/gG5VLs
  62. Barack Potatoe Obama?
  63. http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/05/12/obamas-freudian-slip-there-are-57-islamic-states/
  64. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7zhnctF4c
  65. Transcript: 'Special Report with Brit Hume,' May 9, 2007, retrieved from FOX News, 06/13/07.
  66. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obama_needs_to_study_history_b.html
  67. Obama's uncle liberated Auschwitz? Youtube.com
  68. https://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65448