But the simple truth is that he doesn’t need Republican support to do anything. The Democrats control both houses of Congress with large majorities. The problem is that there is disagreement among Democrats about their leader’s socialist agenda. So his plea for Republican help and cooperation in enacting socialized medicine fell on deaf ears. He knew it would, but he had to convince his base that he was not giving up on the revolution.
In his often angry State of the Union message, Obama revealed a great deal more about his own state of mind than the state of the Union. He referred to himself almost a hundred times because he sees himself in confrontation with a nation reluctant to accept his socialist agenda. And so he is not only angry at Republicans but especially at the American people with their Tea Parties.
The election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts, replacing liberal, Camelot denizen, Ted Kennedy, has been nothing less than a political earthquake shaking every Democrat legislator in Washington. The true mood of the country was reflected in Brown’s stunning victory which shouted a resounding “No” at national socialized medicine.
So when Obama took the podium before Congress on January 27th, he was not in the best of moods. He chided Democrats for their reluctance to take national healthcare over the top. Stop running to the hills, he said. He then scolded the Supreme Court for favoring the First Amendment rights of corporations. And while he did so, every camera in the room zoomed in on Justice Alito who shook his head ever so slightly and silently mouthed the words “not true.” The members of the court were invited guests to the occasion, but they were pummeled by Democrats like Schumer loudly agreeing with the President.
Obama’s rambling speech attempted to respond to all of the problems now besetting the nation. Jobs. He was going to enact a jobs program. Exports. He was going to double American exports. Taxes. He was going to lower taxes, but not for millionaires. Spending. He was going to enact a spending freeze next year, with exemptions.
When he stated that he believed in Global Warming, there was laughter in the chamber. He knew where it was coming from, and had he the power he would have silenced them once and for all. His dictatorial temperament was easily aroused, but he had to constantly remind himself that this was not Venezuela.
After enjoying the fantastic smooth sailing of the election campaign with adoring mobs of Americans young and old ready to kiss his feet, he now faces an opposition he never dreamed of. Yes, like every good leftist radical he knew there would be opposition, but not on the scale that it has grown into.
He did advocate building more nuclear power plants and removing restrictions on off-shore drilling for oil and gas. That did please conservatives. But everything else was a reaffirmation of his basic socialist agenda. He made it clear that he was not a quitter and would continue on the road to socialism.
One must admit that Obama is a masterful leftist politician who understands revolutionary strategy. He believed that the American people were ready for the transition to socialism. At the huge rallies during the campaign, they gave every indication that they were ready for fundamental “change.” They were ready to tear up the Declaration of Independence , the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution and accept the embrace of total government. And Obama thought he was clever enough to pull it off.
But he gravely misread the American people, and that is why in the first year of his administration his socialist agenda is nowhere near enactment. He blames it on Congressional gridlock even though his own party controls both houses. He blames it on conservative radio talk-show pundits. He blames it on Republican extremists who have called his program a “Bolshevik plot.”
But while he has not been able to get Congress to enact national-socialist healthcare, he is still the President with enormous power to make changes requiring nothing more than the signing of an executive order. Thus, while he has taken one step back, it is still to be seen how and when he takes the next two steps forward.
Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of nine books on education including NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, The Whole Language/OBE Fraud, and The Victims of Dick & Jane and Other Essays. Of NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms of Idaho said: “Every so often a book is written that can change the thinking of a nation. This book is one of them.” Mr. Blumenfeld’s columns have appeared in such diverse publications as Reason, The New American, The Chalcedon Report, Insight, Education Digest, Vital Speeches, WorldNetDaily, and others.
