Friday, February 14, 2014

Who's gonna stop him? Part II

The Obama administration does what it wants...

Where is the outrage over the lawlessness of the Obama administration? It's unfortunately understandable that the media pays only lip service to the blatant lies and unconstitutional unlegislated actions taken by the executive branch, we have come to expect that. There is some outrage on talk radio and Fox News, but it does not translate into public exasperation or outcries because it is not reinforced day after day by the New York Times, the big three networks or the wire services.

The IRS scandal alone is undoubtedly criminal but the President gets to declare on national TV that there is not a smidgen of of impropriety and that's it, case closed. Any other administration - even a Democratic one - would be smeared ceaselessly with just the appearance of this sort of impropriety. Consider the breadth and scope of the NSA domestic spying issue, ironically brought to the light of day by an illegal act itself. It should be making everyone upset, particularly the liberal left. But it doesn't. Why? Instead of outrage and indignation 60 Minutes, a stalwart watchdog of government wrongdoing turns over the NSA scandal to a spokesmen, a former FBI official to essentially tell us to move along, there's nothing to see here. Two days later he lands a sweetheart job in New York City that was greased by the folks in Washington.

It doesn't end with these stories. The administration has since day one chosen which provision of the law it wants to enforce. The executive branch is supposed to execute the legislation the legislative branch passes. Instead the legislature sits idly by while the Obama administration does what it wants...The Affordable Care Act has had parts delayed or ignored without consent of the Congress numerous times and there has been no real outrage. This is the law the President lobbied for and signed. The Justice Department declares without the approval of the legislature what laws it will enforce and which laws it will look the other way on. This is clearly illegal, but no one on Capitol Hill pushes back. Why? Why the apathy across the board?

I hear nothing at work, almost nothing in my day to day interaction with family and friends and surely nothing on the editorial page. There can only be a few explanations for this silence. Fatigue is the one I expect the most. The strategy to overwhelm the senses is a good one. Essentially there are so many things to be outraged over that one loses the ability to sustain his ire. I also think that people in the media will not go after this President in the way it is deserved because of the color of his skin. There I said it.

Explain how a stupid parochial tit for tat scandal about a traffic jam in New Jersey could garner more minutes and column inches (and bits and bytes) in the major media than a scandal involving the blatant misuse of IRS power if there isn't some kind of prejudice going on. You can't. No one can.

It seems that the people diametrically opposed to this administration are content now to ride out the last few years and let the chips fall where they may. It may become, it will become the lost decade economically. There will have been social changes that will be permanent, but even the health care legislation will need major overhauling - it's unworkable the way it is. The rest of the damage to the economy is likely to be recoverable. The ridiculous official unemployment rate that gets reported doesn't reflect the fact that millions of people that want to work and get ahead don't because of the way the government handles fiscal policy, regulations and taxes. This too is reversible, eventually. Unfortunately the damage to the real people who have been without work and those of us whose income has stagnated in the face of rising costs for food, fuel and taxes (direct and indirect) will continue to devastate. It's unconscionable that the news media refuses to examine the real effects of this administration's follies is having simply because they have so much invested in the appearance of the President's success. We haven't even touched on his foreign policy failures.

We should be outraged with this administration, I know I am. It sometimes feels like I'm all alone - at least in my circles. No one want's to hear me rant, they are tired of it. It doesn't matter what the facts are, just shut up please. This is how the Obama administration gets away with it - who's gonna stop it?

Ugh

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