Obama's Do Or Die Ultimatum And Other Disturbing Developments

"This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." That's what President Barack Obama wrote in an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post if Congress did not pass his massive stimulus legislation. I can't recall in my lifetime a president making such a dire do or die pronouncement if his economic plan was not put into law. It is true that this recession is a major challenge for Americans, but so were the deep recessions in 1973-74 and 1981-82. The difference this time is that excesses are what has gotten us in this awful predicament. Given the staggering size of our national debt, a plan that adds more than $1 trillion in new debt could hardly be offered as our only way out of this mess. Massive government spending didn't get us out of the Great Depression or any other economic downturn. Natural market forces, aided by tax cuts, have had far greater economic benefit than old-fashioned, make-work government spending.

With his party in total control of our federal government, such talk from President Obama should have us all sitting up and taking notice. This is a man who has zero experience running any organization, let alone the most powerful country in the world. The stumbling start of an administration populated by certified Chicago political hacks guided and headed by the untested young leader with a messianic complex is less than comforting. Indicative of the mindset in the White House was today's announcement that census officials will report directly to the White House rather than the Commerce Secretary after partisan Democrats expressed reservations about a Republican, Judd Gregg, being in charge of the department. In one fell swoop, this action wiped out the totality of bipartisan spirit the appointment of Gregg was supposed to engender. Can you imagine the reaction from Democrats if a Republican president announced the White House would take personal charge of the census? Shouldn't we be concerned about the mischief Rahm Emanuel could create being in charged of deciding how many congressional seats will be allocated to each state after the new census?

In his first week on the job, he took to the foreign airwaves in the Muslim world for his first interview and essentially apologized for how our country is to blame for Muslim grievances with the U.S. In the interview, he embraced his family's Muslim heritage from which he spent the entire campaign last year running. Last week, President Obama signed an executive order to provide more than $20 million in emergency refugee assistance to Palestinians living in Gaza, paving the way for an influx of immigrants from this region into the United States. Talk to anyone who has visited France in the last couple of years and find out how the natives feel about all the rioting and social upheaval brought about by an immigrant population which refuses to accept the ways of a western culture and detests our democratic, civil law systems.

When President Bush expanded funding for faith-based programs, the Left was all aflutter about the use of taxpayer money to fund conservative-leaning Christian groups. Those same liberals were noticeably silent when President Obama announced he was going to spend even more than Bush on faith-based programs and the money will be shared with Islamic mosques and charities, even as our own FBI has cut off relations with the Council on American-Islamic Relations because of its suspected terrorist ties after giving the group the benefit of the doubt for the past several years. CAIR patted the President on the back for using the Koran during his recent prayer breakfast speech:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed President Barack Obama's use of a quote from Islam's Prophet Muhammad in his remarks at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast.

In his prepared remarks, President Obama quoted the prophetic tradition, or "hadith," which states: "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." That hadith may be found in Sahih Al-Bukhari, one of the most respected collections of the Prophet Muhammad's statements and actions.

On top of that, Obama disappointed families of the U.S. servicemen victims of the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole when he announced the government would drop charges against terrorist suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The judge supervising al-Nashiri's trial called Obama's efforts to disrupt his criminal prosecution "not reasonable" and not "in the interests of justice." The former commander of the U.S.S. Cole was more direct in his reaction. "I am concerned about the President considering dropping the charges because it may be indicative that the president does not intend to follow the military commissions process which has undergone extensive legal and legislative review," said retired Commander Kirk Lippold. ABC News' Jake Tapper notes that Obama pretty much tied his own hands with the handling of al-Nashiri when he signed an executive order halting all proceedings in U.S. Military Commissions.

If you aren't concerned yet about Obama's leadership, you had better perk up soon. There is way too much at stake here to sit back and let this man have his way. He will have his way with the Democratic-controlled Congress only so long as he has the popular support of the American people. With fewer than three weeks under his belt, cracks in that support are already visible. And this isn't about hoping for Obama to fail. It's about hoping for what is best for America. Right now, I'm not convinced that what Obama wants for America is at all good for the future of our country.

UPDATE: No sooner had I published this post than President Obama began what I can only describe as a highly partisan, hard-hitting attack against the GOP for opposing his trillion-dollar stimulus plan in a speech he is delivering at a posh resort where Democratic members of Congress are holding a retreat. Obama began by thanking the Democrats for giving him an excuse to take his first trip on Air Force One. When your first trip outside of D.C. is for a strictly partisan, political purpose, you aren't exactly giving the GOP a reason to give you the bipartisan support you desire.