Comparing Presidents

Making Marines and Presidents

[From article]
Marine Corps basic training remains an extremely tough and challenging experience for a young man or woman. I was in the Army, but the Marines are something else again, which is no secret within the military or without. A Marine who finishes his enlistment and wants to reenlist in another service (Army, Air Force, or Navy) does not have to go through basic training again. A soldier, airman, or sailor who wants to become a Marine does, just like any recruit out of high school. But despite the challenges of Marine Corps basic, the vast majority of recruits survive it and graduate to become Marines after 13 difficult weeks. That the Corps requires this of all Marines, whether they choose to become an infantryman or a cook, is as much about testing and building character as it is ensuring that in an emergency, any Marine can effectively pick up and use a rifle.
In contrast, when choosing presidents, character seems to matter less and less. Barack Obama, a man of distinctly unremarkable character, having lived a life largely devoid of what usually counts as significant sacrifice or accomplishment, handily defeated opponents who easily eclipsed him in that regard (including a Vietnam war hero.) The same could be said of President Clinton, a man who “loathed the military” and prevailed over a pair of World War II combat veterans.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/02/making_marines_and_presidents.html

February 3, 2016
Making Marines and Presidents
By Jonathan F. Keiler

Teacher of President At Harvard Law School, Opposes Global Warming Policies

[From article]
Laurence H. Tribe, the highly regarded liberal scholar of constitutional law, still speaks of President Obama as a proud teacher would of a star student. “He was one of the most amazing research assistants I’ve ever had,” Mr. Tribe said in a recent interview. Mr. Obama worked for him at Harvard Law School, where Mr. Tribe has taught for four decades.
Mr. Tribe went on to serve in the Justice Department during Mr. Obama’s first term and has argued in favor of the legal standing of Mr. Obama’s signaturehealth care law and executive orders on immigration.
Which is why so many in the Obama administration and at Harvard are bewildered and angry that Mr. Tribe, who argued on behalf of Al Gore in the 2000 Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, has emerged as the leading legal opponent of Mr. Obama’s ambitious efforts to fight global warming.
Mr. Tribe, 73, has been retained to represent Peabody Energy, the nation’s largest coal company, in its legal quest to block an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that would cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants — the heart of Mr. Obama’s climate change agenda.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/us/laurence-tribe-fights-climate-case-against-star-pupil-from-harvard-president-obama.html?_r=1

Laurence Tribe Fights Climate Case Against Star Pupil From Harvard, President Obama
By CORAL DAVENPORT
APRIL 6, 2015
New York Times

First Couple Dines In Style, Two Days In A Row

Posted January 2, 2015 4:29 PM ET; Last updated January 5, 2015 8:15 PM ET



[From article]
Just 24 hours after President Obama sat down for five-star dinner with the first lady, he was back in another renowned Hawaii restaurant for a luxury meal.
He took his family to Nobu, a Japanese restaurant inside the hip Waikiki Parc Hotel where meals cost around $180 per person.
Images showed his motorcade parked outside the stylish eatery as hundreds crowded to get a glimpse of the Commander-in-Chief, Michelle Obama and their two children.
The president first ate at the upmarket restaurant in 2012 on New Year's Day, enjoying a three-hour meal of butter-poached lobster, roasted duck, and seared foie gras. He has returned every year since.
The menu has cold dishes such as King Crab Ceviche and Lobster salad alongside hot options including a $45 Baby Abalone with Light Garlic Sauce and Wagyu steak at $30 per ounce.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2895509/Another-night-restaurant-Obamas-head-luxury-Japanese-eatery-Nobu-just-24-hours-dining-Hawaii-restaurant-charges-members-500k.html

Another night another top restaurant: Obamas head to luxury Japanese eatery Nobu just 24 hours after dining at Hawaii restaurant that charges members $500k
President Barack Obama took his family to upmarket Waikiki eatery
Meals at the Japanese-style restaurant cost around $180 per person
The menu has cold dishes such as King Crab Ceviche and Lobster salad
Hot options include a $45 Baby Abalone with Light Garlic Sauce
Obama first ate there in 2012 and has returned every year since
On Thursday evening he visited Vintage Cave where a prix fixe meal costs a cool $295
By WILLS ROBINSON and FRANCESCA CHAMBERS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:22 EST, 3 January 2015 | UPDATED: 12:25 EST, 3 January 2015

* * *

[From article]
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, spent the first night of the new year at Vintage Cave, an upscale restaurant in Hawaii.
"At Vintage Cave Honolulu, one can enjoy exceptional food and wine at the hands of gifted masters of the culinary arts. ‘Chef’s recommendation’ commands a gravitas guaranteed to satisfy the most discerning palate. Seasoned sommelier’s conduct the process of pairing wine and food with true finesse and style. Secure in the natural embrace of the cave-like environment, guests are encouraged to relax, ‘hit reset’ and escape the ordinary," Vintage Cave's description reads on its website.
As Time's Zeke Miller pointed out, membership at the restaurant can set you back $500,000.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamas-dine-restaurant-charging-500000-membership_822640.html

Obamas Dine at Restaurant Charging $500,000 for Membership
$295 prix fixe menu.
7:01 AM, JAN 2, 2015
BY DANIEL HALPER

One Man's Transformation of A Nation

Presidential Cycles

[From article]
Americans often elect presidents who conspicuously lack the perceived defect of the preceding president (e.g., Jack Kennedy's youth contrasting with Dwight Eisenhower's age, Ronald Reagan's strength correcting for Jimmy Carter's weakness). Christie, who exudes executive authority, is the antithesis of today's bewildered incumbent floundering from the disappearing red line regarding Syria, to the HealthCare.gov debacle, to the Veterans Affairs scandals, to the no-one-tells-me-anything surprise about the Islamic State, to the Secret Service that cannot lock the White House's front door.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will100914.php3

Why Christie matters
By George Will
Published Oct. 9, 2014

Iran Leader Says Obama Weakest President

[From article]
The Iranian president’s senior advisor has called President Barack Obama “the weakest of U.S. presidents” and described the U.S. leader’s tenure in office as “humiliating,” according to a translation of the highly candid comments provided to the Free Beacon.
[. . .]
“Americans witnessed their greatest defeats in Obama’s era: Terrorism expanded, [the] U.S. had huge defeats under Obama [and] that is why they want to compromise with Iran,” Younesi said.
The criticism of Obama echoes comments made recently by other world leaders and even former members of the president’s own staff, such as Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/top-iranian-official-obama-is-the-weakest-of-u-s-presidents/

Top Iranian Official: Obama is ‘The Weakest of U.S. Presidents’
Adviser to Iranian president mocks Obama’s ‘humiliating’ presidency
BY: Adam Kredo
Follow @Kredo0
October 23, 2014 4:10 pm

Cornel West Explains Obama

Cornel West

[From article]
No, the thing is he posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency. The torturers go free. The Wall Street executives go free. The war crimes in the Middle East, especially now in Gaza, the war criminals go free. And yet, you know, he acted as if he was both a progressive and as if he was concerned about the issues of serious injustice and inequality and it turned out that he’s just another neoliberal centrist with a smile and with a nice rhetorical flair. And that’s a very sad moment in the history of the nation because we are—we’re an empire in decline. Our culture is in increasing decay. Our school systems are in deep trouble. Our political system is dysfunctional. Our leaders are more and more bought off with legalized bribery and normalized corruption in Congress and too much of our civil life. You would think that we needed somebody—a Lincoln-like figure who could revive some democratic spirit and democratic possibility.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/24/cornel_west_he_posed_as_a_progressive_and_turned_out_to_be_counterfeit_we_ended_up_with_a_wall_street_presidency_a_drone_presidency/

SUNDAY, AUG 24, 2014 07:00 AM EDT
Cornel West: “He posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency”
Exclusive: Cornel West talks Ferguson, Hillary, MSNBC -- and unloads on the failed promise of Barack Obama
THOMAS FRANK

The Golf War

White House Knows How To Waste Taxpayer Funds

[From article]
“Nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money is wasted through improper payments, but the federal government’s own astounding estimate is more than half a trillion dollars over the past five years,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. “The fact is, improper payments are staggeringly high in programs designed to help those most in need — children, seniors and low-income families.”
[. . .]
The amount of improper payments has steadily dropped since 2010, when it peaked at $121 billion.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/09/government-made-100b-in-improper-payments-last-year/

Government made $100B in ‘improper payments’ last year
By Associated Press
New York Post
July 9, 2014 | 4:57am

Is This Obama's Legacy?

[From article]
The biggest headline is Obama’s ideology, not his race.
[. . .]
So far, Obama has shown utter contempt for the U.S. Constitution, for our military, and for the crucial duties of the Department of Justice, the Border Patrol, and the IRS.
[. . .]
Starting with the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, radical Muslims joined the Alinsky axis to make the toxic triangle of revolution, criminal mafias, and reactionary Islamism.
[. . .]
Starting with the Clintons, we have seen state mafias gain national power – first the Dixie Mafia, and now the Chicago Machine. Obama is simply the logical outcome of forty years of indoctrination in our politics, education, and media.
[. . .]
The Clintons failed to pursue Osama bin Laden after the first World Trade Center bombing in New York in 1993. Major money flows have been going from the ultra-radical Muslim Brotherhood to the Carter and Clinton centers.
[. . .]
In sum, Obama has presided over the most malignant foreign policy in U.S. history.
This is not an accident. This policy was planned and executed by radical leftists like Susan Rice and Valerie Jarrett, corrupt media barons like the New York Times, and Islamofascists like John Brennan. They include the same Big Media corporations that control our “mainstream” media. They also include famous Silicon Valley high-tech companies like Apple and Google, who support Obama’s Progressive Policy Institute, and George Soros, who supports the anti-Israel front group J Street.
[. . .]
the 1970s, after the Arab oil embargo, when Wahhabi and Khomeinist Muslims started to buy politicians by the barrel in Europe and America. Obama is the culmination of decades of Muslim influence-buying, which now controls much of our media, politics, and educational system.
[. . .]
Obama’s self-appointed mission in life is to destroy the most productive and beneficial culture in history.
[. . .]
Sane and sensible people today cannot rely on our twisted media, and we cannot believe our broken politicians.

http://americanthinker.com/2014/06/dangerous_times_obama_the_betrayer.html

July 5, 2014
Dangerous Times: Obama the Betrayer
By James Lewis

President's Secret Schedule

[From article]
the president’s private schedule.
It’s a document so closely held that Obama aides, like their counterparts under George W. Bush, are expected to dispose of it at day’s end in “burn bags” typically reserved for documents so sensitive they cannot be consigned to mere shredding.
Where the public schedule blares “for immediate release,” every page of the private schedule warns: “This schedule contains sensitive information and is provided for your information only. It may not be distributed, forwarded, or printed without the express written permission of the Director of Scheduling.”

http://news.yahoo.com/inside-president-obama-s-secret-schedule-183756327.html

Inside President Obama’s secret schedule
There’s what the White House announces to the world he’s doing. And then there’s what he really does.

By Olivier Knox

Yahoo News
July 7, 2014

Secret Meetings With President

[From article]
A number of journalists have spoken openly about their closed-door pow-wows with the president, which often take place ahead of major policy changes. For instance, last month Obama held a closed-door meeting with foreign policy journalists ahead of his announcement of a troop draw-down in Afghanistan.
The meeting, held earlier this year, brought together a more progressive group. The two mainstays were Brooks and Dionne, who Obama has previously mentioned as being among his favorite journalists. Brooks is a moderate conservative, while Dionne is liberal.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/05/liberal-journalist-wont-say-if-he-met-president-obama/

Liberal Journalist Won’t Say If He Met President Obama
8:17 PM 06/05/2014

Daily Caller

Going Rogue at 1600

[From article]
What Winston Churchill said of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles — that he was a bull who carried his own china shop around with him — is true of Susan Rice, who is, to be polite, accident-prone . When in September 2012 she was deputed to sell to the public the fable that the Benghazi attack was just an unfortunately vigorous movie review — a response to an Internet video — it could have been that she, rather than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was given this degrading duty because Rice was merely U.N. ambassador, an ornamental position at an inconsequential institution. Today, however, Rice is Barack Obama’s national security adviser, so two conclusions must be drawn.
Perhaps she did not know, in advance of the swap of five terrorists for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the, shall we say, ambiguities about Bergdahl’s departure from his platoon in Afghanistan and the reportedly deadly consequences of his behavior. If so, then she has pioneered a degree of incompetence exotic even for this 10-thumbed administration. If, however, she did know and still allowed Obama to present this as a mellow moment of national satisfaction, she is condign punishment for his choice of such hirelings.
[. . .]
The 44th president, channeling — not for the first time — the 37th (in his post-impeachment conversation with David Frost), may say: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” Already the administration says events dictated a speed that precluded complying with the law.
This explanation should be accorded open-minded, but not empty-minded, consideration. It should be considered in light of the fact that as the Veterans Affairs debacle continued, Obama went to Afghanistan to hug some troops, then completed the terrorists-for-Bergdahl transaction. And in light of the fact that Obama waged a seven-month military intervention in Libya’s civil war without complying with the law (the War Powers Resolution) that requires presidents to terminate within 60 to 90 days a military action not authorized or subsequently approved by Congress.
[. . .]
This episode will be examined by congressional committees, if they can pierce the administration’s coming cover-up, which has been foreshadowed by the response to congressional attempts to scrutinize the politicization of the Internal Revenue Service. If the military stalls on turning over files to Congress pertaining to the five years of Bergdahl’s absence, we will at least know that there is no national institution remaining to be corrupted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-when-a-president-goes-rogue/2014/06/04/bb172cc2-ec12-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_print.html

When a president goes rogue
By George F. Will

Published: June 4, 2014

Nader: Obama Should Be Impeached, Book Review

[From article]

"Libya was the most egregious violation of the Constitution by President Obama," Nader told ABC News-Yahoo News. "He attacked Libya with European nations without a declaration of war, he didn't ask Congress for an authorization of funds. He didn't get an appropriation of funds from Congress. He found a billion and a half dollars somewhere in the Pentagon budget. That is an impeachable offense flat out."
"The reason why Congress doesn't want to do it is because it abdicated its own responsibility under the Constitution."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/204670-nader-obamas-libya-mission-was-impeachable-offense-flat-out

April 29, 2014, 11:41 am
Nader: Libya mission was 'impeachable offense'
By Mario Trujillo

* * *

[From article]
That’s the premise of the new book “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State” by longtime political activist and five-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who contends that such a left-right alliance is not just the stuff of imagination but is actually emerging.
“On Capitol Hill, I'm seeing more and more in Congress, left and right,” Nader told “The Fine Print.” “It was a vote in the House over a year ago over the NSA snooping, it almost broke through … so we're beginning to see formulations that once they click together, they're unstoppable.”
Nader was referring to a vote in July 2013 over a measure known as the Amash Amendment that would have curtailed the National Security Agency’s ability to collect bulk phone call data. The measure narrowly failed by 12 votes, in part due to a concerted White House lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.
[. . .]
When it comes to the current president, Nader said that Obama has violated the Constitution on several occasions and should be impeached.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/ralph-naders-america-impeach-obama-decriminalize-drugs-libertarians-progressives-unite-110418813.html

Ralph Nader's America: Impeach Obama, decriminalize drugs, libertarians & progressives unite!
By Jeff Zeleny, Jordyn Phelps, and Alexandra Dukakis
April 29, 2014

* * *

[From article]
Anyone who now considers Benghazi a “fake scandal” is a either a complete liar or a moron. This new release of emails thanks to Judicial Watch is literally a call to arms. We will now see if there is even a figment of honesty in our mainstream media and if our elected representatives are to be trusted in any way.
It is our duty as citizens to put as pressure on those representatives as possible to carry through this investigation to its natural conclusion — impeachment

http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2014/04/29/new-benghazi-emails-mean-obama-impeachment-trial-must-be-launched/?singlepage=true

New Benghazi Emails Mean Obama Impeachment Trial Must Be Launched
April 29th, 2014 - 11:39 am
Roger L. Simon

Infantile President

[From article]
Adolescents also try to truncate arguments by saying that nothing remains of any arguments against their arguments. Regarding the ACA, Obama said the debate is “settled” and “over.” Progressives also say the debate about catastrophic consequences of man-made climate change is “over,” so everyone should pipe down. And they say the debates about the efficacy of universal preschool, and the cost-benefit balance of a minimum-wage increase, are over. Declaring an argument over is so much more restful than engaging with evidence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-barack-obama-the-adolescent-president/2014/04/23/a835f872-ca3e-11e3-a75e-463587891b57_story.html

Barack Obama, the adolescent president
By George F. Will

Published: April 23, 2014

Washington Post

Can President Declare Peace Against Nation Making War on U.S.?

[From article]
No fighting in Pakistan. Better to play along with the “war of necessity” charade. Why Pakistan could pretend to be an ally and charge the U.S. exorbitant rates for the privilege of supplying its pointless military endeavor over Pakistani roads. Clever, wasn’t it?
Brilliant. Positively brilliant. Thousands of American troops dangling at the end of a lifeline ultimately controlled by the sponsors of al Qaeda wasting billions of dollars on Obama’s strategy.
If ruse it was then it was eminently successful. Gall notes that, even after the Raid, even after burying Osama at sea so as not to offend … well who? … Obama has still not identified the principal enemy as Pakistan. In fact he may never. “The United States was neither speaking out against Pakistan nor changing its policy toward a government that was exporting terrorism … after 13 years, more than a trillion dollars spent, 120,000 foreign troops deployed at the height of the war and tens of thousands of lives lost … the real enemy remains at large.” There are bigger considerations, you know.
It’s a monstrous accusation, all the more horrifying because it might well be true. Where does an American president get the power to foist a lie upon an entire nation in order to take upon himself the burden of truth so that all of his countrymen might sleep soundly in their imagined security?
[. . .]
can the president ”declare peace” with a country currently waging war against America?
[. . .]
Of course, one may ask: who cares? The whole point is that half the voters don’t care, as long as they get their dose of reality TV and talent shows; their Obamaphones and their Obamacare.

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2014/03/21/ego-te-absolvo/

Ego Te Absolvo
March 21st, 2014 - 6:18 am
by Richard Fernandez

Whining President Shows He Is Ungrateful

[From article]
“There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President,” Obama told The New Yorker’s David Remnick in the magazine’s Jan. 27 issue.
“Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black President,” he added.

Ya think? There are some people who don't like me because I am white. There are none who like me especially because I am white, unlike black people who get extra privileges because they are black. There are some people who do not like me because I am old. Some because I do not have a degree from Harvard University, and some because I have a college degree. Others because they think I am disabled. Many at Harvard University dislike me because I do not have upper class parents. I receive a lot more hatred than the President and I do not have any armed guards or PR flacks protecting me. The whining White House multi millionaire, shows his lack of gratitude, his greed, his mendacity, and his misguided self centered view. Shall we start a Facebook page to gather donations for Obama's hurt feelings? Is he pathetic? The President of the United States whining that some people do not like him. Poor guy. Imagine what he might have accomplished without racism. Ahem!

http://nypost.com/2014/01/19/obama-some-folks-dont-like-me-because-im-black/

Obama: Some folks don’t like me because I’m black
By Sean Piccoli
January 19, 2014 | 4:55pm

More People Trust Fox News Than The President on Health Care Law

[From article]
Notice that MSNBC is the most untrusted.
Maybe its because the shills at that so-called "news" outlet have more dishonestly covered this program than any other.
Phil Griffin should be so proud.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/11/13/poll-more-people-trust-fox-news-information-about-obamacare-obama

Poll: More People Trust Fox News For Information About ObamaCare Than Obama
By Noel Sheppard
November 13, 2013 | 12:29

Obama's Direction Apparent in IRS Targeting of Tea Party

[From article]
What was sold to the American public as a low-level scandal perpetrated by a few rogue employees – a scandal stopped after senior officials became aware and asserted control – is now (to borrow a Watergate phrase) “no longer operative.” Instead, we detail a long-running assault on the Tea Party, beginning shortly after its emergence in 2009, that is empowered, encouraged, and orchestrated not only by senior IRS officials in Washington, but also through outright targeting by the White House, Congressional Democrats, and the mainstream media.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/20/obamas-fingerpints-all-over-irs-tea-party-scandal/


Obama’s fingerprints all over IRS Tea Party scandal
By Jay Sekulow
Published October 20, 2013
FoxNews.com