The Man To Beat in 2012

Many pundits have said that Barack Obama will be difficult to defeat in the 2012 presidential election. They say that on a personal level, people still like the president and that the republican field is weak. People may not agree with everything Obama has done but many are still willing to give him a pass based on situations he inherited from the previous president.

One group that may be somewhat reluctant to give Obama a pass is doctors. Obama has said that there are doctors who cut out healthy tonsils, even healthy limbs in order to earn extra money. He said this as if it was common practice and that such procedures are encouraged by the medical profession. Obama’s casting of all medical professionals with this slanderously broad brush may anger those doctors and nurses who truly care about helping and curing people.

Police officers may also not be too thrilled to support Obama in 2012. Police officers and police unions spoke out angrily when Obama said the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. He made this comment only moments after he said that he didn’t know all the facts of the case. His rush to judgment on the ‘stupidity’ of the police officer involved shows an inherent distrust of police, in general.

Another group that may be somewhat distrustful of Obama is the British. Obama made a point of packing up and sending back a bust of Winston Churchill. If he truly didn’t like the bust of Churchill, he could have simply put it in a closet. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that by sending it back, Obama actually WANTED to insult the British. He also has insulted the Queen and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He has sided with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. He called France America’s strongest ally and has also challenged British influence in NATO.

But other than doctors, police and British people, everyone likes Obama -- Unless you are a member of the Supreme Court or are a person who believes in a constitutionally mandated balance of power between different branches of government. When Obama insulted a Supreme Court decision during a state of the union address, he insulted more than just the decision and the members of the court who made that decision -- he insulted the very idea of what the United States is as a Constitutional Republic. By calling on congress to overturn a Supreme Court decision he showed a lack of grace and civility that is certain to lose votes among people who believe in and cherish the constitution.

People in the United States generally think that America is an inherently good and moral country. When Obama went to Egypt and to countries in Europe and said that in the past, America has acted arrogantly, he insulted all the people who felt that America has done an incredible service to the world. Isn’t America insulted enough by Europe and by Muslim countries in the Middle East? Does the United States need to be insulted by its own president? How about the president bringing up all the American people that have died protecting people in other countries? How about his bringing up all the technology invented by Americans that have saved lives? How about his bringing up all the wealth American policy has created for the world and the generosity of Americans in freely giving that wealth to countries? Other countries, by the way, who continue to criticize the methods of that wealth creation which they are the beneficiaries of!

Obama has insulted the military and the CIA which, after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, has worked tirelessly and effectively to prevent another attack. President Obama said “Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained”. According to Marc Thiessen’s brilliant book “Courting Disaster”, an officer at one of the detention camps said “I’m not doing anything to create terrorists”. Another said “I take offense at that. The detainees here are better fed and live in better conditions than prisoners anywhere in the world. Some have had the opportunity to leave, and chose not to.” Other prisoners have been transferred to other detention camps and asked to be returned to Guantanamo. Officers at Guantanamo have done an incredibly difficult job. They’ve been harassed mercilessly by their captives and have shown incredible restraint and professionalism only to be insulted by their very own commander-in-chief.

During the presidential campaign, then Senator Obama skipped a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the Pentagon would not allow campaign staff or media to accompany him into the hospital. It would seem as if Obama only cares to show support for wounded veterans if he can gain political mileage out of it. This is a truly amazing display of arrogance and lack of respect to the US military and all wounded veterans.

President Obama has also insulted Christians. He refused to issue an Easter or Good Friday greeting to the nation as other presidents have done, but he is quick to recognize holidays of other religions. He has openly mocked the bible, in particular Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. In addition, he has remained eerily silent as Christians are being persecuted TODAY in Iraq, Egypt and other North African countries.

Obama has insulted rural Americans creating a caricature of them as ignorant unthinking people “clinging to their guns and religion”.

Obama has insulted the surviving relatives of the 9-11 attacks and all New Yorkers by having his justice department propose bringing the trials of accused terrorists to New York. Though popular demand ended that ridiculous idea, there is still the travesty of a mosque purposely being proposed in the sacred ground of the World Trade Center.

Obama has insulted Poland on more than one occasion. He pulled out of the agreement over Third Site missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, forcing the Poles to rethink their deployment in Afghanistan. At first he wasn’t going to attend the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster. He later changed his mind on this but couldn’t get there due to the grounding of planes due to volcanic activity. In addition, rather than Obama paying his respects to the Polish fallen by visiting the recently erected Victims of Communism memorial in Washington, or at the very least, signing the condolence book at the Polish Embassy, he chose to play a round of golf.

Obama has also insulted Jewish Americans and other Americans who support the state of Israel. He has drawn moral equivalencies with Israel, a country that wants to live in peace, and only acts in its own defense, with groups of terrorists such as Hamas which are bent on its destruction and the killing of innocents. He has insulted the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on more than one occasion. He has made the ridiculous request that Israel retreat to the indefensible borders of 1967. He has drawn moral equivalencies with Israel’s building of settlements (houses!) for people to live in with people walking around with suicide belts. He has tried to push Israel to suicidal peace agreements with Syria. He has made the accusation, directly and indirectly, that Israel is the cause of instability in the Middle East. He has referred to Israel as occupied territory when, in fact, much of that land is disputed territory which Israel has more of a legitimate and historic claim to than anyone. It’s difficult to say who he has insulted more, Israel or Britain!

OK, so Obama has insulted doctors, police, the British, the Supreme Court, Constitutionalists, people who are proud -- not ashamed of America, the CIA, the military, wounded veterans, Christians, rural Americans, family members of 9-11 victims, Polish Americans and Jews. The cliché goes that ‘you have to break a few eggs in order to make an omelet. Obama should be judged by the job he’s done as president and not by the many groups he has offended.

Rather than end wars, he has added a new one. Rather than reduce the debt, he has raised it to a level that is so unsustainable it threatens the very future of the country. Unemployment has skyrocketed from 6 percent, when he took over, to 9 percent. The housing market is in shambles. Terrorism remains as big a threat as it’s ever been. The Muslim Brotherhood is taking over the Middle East while moderates such as Mubarak are gone and Iran is getting ready to go nuclear.

Barack Obama is a lock to win the 2012 election? On what planet?