“(C)hutzpa: Gall, brazen nerve, effrontery,.. presumption-plus-arrogance such as no other word, and no other language, can do justice to … a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.†(Emphasis the author’s – excerpted from The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten, Copyright 1968, Simon & Schuster).

 

Readers of the Westchester Guardian are by now aware of the present scribe’s suspicion and mistrust for the incumbent, president number 44.  Mr. Obama deserves especial low regard for his many distortions, misstatements of fact and other pronouncements which if proffered by lesser favorites of the media such as Richard Nixon would now be catalogued in a hardback best seller with the likely title of “Cheater-in-Chief’s Numberless Outrageous Lies, Tergiversations and Fictions.†But let’s keep things civil, a prudential favor rarely allowed the 37th president who after founding the Environmental Protection Agency (eventually to become a citadel of political activism, popular with “liberalsâ€) was the first president to acknowledge and actually “go†to the People’s Republic of China and also cultivate relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russia) to the extent of “detente†(“relaxation… the easing of strained relations,†Wikipedia) Still, Nixon was frequently and forever tagged “Tricky Dick†(and less frequently, “Slick Rick†and “Red Hunter.â€).

 

 

Obama Fib-Factory of Fallaciousness and Falsehood
Consider the numerous misstatements and mistruths of the present White House occupant:

 

Of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), he: pledged to eliminate “hundreds of billions of dollars†from Medicare, volunteered that the legislation would reduce the deficit by “$1 trillion†and said illegal immigrants would not be insured. In truth, all four committee-passed bills in Congress allowed illegal immigrants into the proposed Health Insurance Exchange. The White House extoled the benefits of Obama Care, proclaiming that implementation will save money. The administration approved waivers to make 1,372 organizations immune to provisions of the act. Congressional leaders then decided not to follow the normal protocol of reconciling House and Senate versions of their respective bills in bipartisan conference committee. Instead, closed meetings were held with only Democrat leaders from both houses of Congress and representatives from the Obama administration – Republicans were excluded.  Later in that torrid session, Obama told senators that they had faced more filibusters in a single year than in all of the 1950s and 1960s combined. This was nonsense.  Not a single successful partisan filibuster was mounted in 2009.

 

Regarding his then-proposed health care package and federal deficit spending, he said,  “I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future.  Period.”  In the very next sentence, he continued, “And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.” A promise in one sentence ending with a conclusive “Period†immediately undone in the next. Is this Obama’s signature rhetorical invention – the self-executing lie? http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/here-they-are-barack-obamas-five-biggest-lies-can-you-guess-them-video/. In 2009 he offered that the budget deficit that was $161 billion in 2007 and then stood at a staggering $1.6 trillion, he proclaimed, “We’ve also got to get back to fiscal responsibility.” (ACA – Obamacare narrative and analysis foregoing, courtesy of website, “The Obama File – Sometimes Obama Just Lies,†years 2009-2013).

 

More of the president’s profound aversion to Bible-quality truth telling: “If you like your insurance plan you can keep your insurance plan.†After cancellation letters issued to 4 million Americans, the public finally realized his assurances were false. “With Obamacare we will reduce your insurance premiums by $2,500, per family per year.â€â€¨Said 22 times. Fact: According to the Washington Times, in July 2011 premiums skyrocketed some 78 percent.  “I cannot pass amnesty through executive action… I am not a dictator.â€â€¨Mentioned 22 times. Following this last pronouncement he implemented an immunity scheme by executive fiat. “Not one dime of Obamacare will go for abortions.†12 mentions. Fact: There are 1,036 ACA-approved abortion packages. “Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Catholic nuns who provide care for the poor, were forced to file a class action mandate to obtain a judgment so they could refrain from providing access to abortion-inducing drugs.†http://nrb.org/news_room/articles/ft/members-congress-weigh-little-sisters-poor-case/

 

<subhead>  Nervy Truth Avoidance Grows in Foreign Policy

 When Obama was running for reelection in 2012, he took credit for “ending the war in Iraq.†Then in August 2014, when he sent troops back to Iraq to fight ISIS, Obama said removing U.S. troops from Iraq was not “my decision.†“As a result of his casual fecklessness, thousands of innocents have been murdered, … enslaved, relocated forcefully, terrorized and tortured.“

Soon after Obama blamed the Pentagon for his lack of a strategy to fight ISIS, a top Pentagon official was heard to exclaim “What the f*** was that? We’ve given him lots of options!†(For the preceding tally of Obama distortions and untruths, credit to website Gateway Pundit, contributor Jim Hoft, July 11, 2015).

To our peril, the president wants safety and security on the cheap. Instead of resolving to do whatever it takes to free embattled minorities from the bloody grips of terrorist ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Shabab and the Al Nusra Front, he authorizes limited pinpoint, precision steps of Special Forces raids and drone strikes (Drones are his favorite toys. They can be witheringly effective and their horrific effect on buildings and human tissue are out-of-range of American news-consumers’ prying eyes. For Obama, they are breezily preferable to unwieldy and suspect domestic FBI and US Attorney-based investigations and prosecutions. Plus, they avoid military court proceedings and incarcerations at the U.S. Marine’s Guantanamo, Cuba base which he claims “hurts us, in terms of our international standing†(Reuters, April 30, 3013)). Undoubtedly, certain theaters of operation call for discrete measures where strategic measures would be out-of-scale. But his aversion to putting “boots on the ground†betrays a hesitation, squeamishness at being Commander in Chief  – a caution rarely displayed when he busily issues executive orders and other dodges of his responsibilities to Congress, the Constitution and the American people.

But worse than such legal abuse, his failure to respond with strategic savagery against murderous Islamist armies (prior to Obama’s inept stewardship, these were no more than roving murderous gangs) has created a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions. His promise to “lead from the rear†in North Africa is emblematic of the United States’ enfeebled moral /military presence in the world, not deserving of respect or alliance. His active facilitation, encouragement and sanctioning of mass refugee migrations to Near Eastern counties, Europe and the United States is even worse. It is a desertion of the custom of our international neighbors and colleagues to “follow our lead†and defend shared interests utilizing all military means at our disposal.

Masking his failures in military leadership and coalition building, he has issued Constitutionally suspect 11th-hour calls on the 50 states to resettle thousands, maybe millions of Arab migrants created by those very executive failures. This is worse than incompetence. It is “chutzpah†of epic proportions, making “orphans†out of not the pathetic model of the knave in the first paragraph’s definition above, but of the Iraqi and Syrian unfortunates haunting us daily from TV images and crowded newspaper front pages.

 

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Stephen I. Mayo is an attorney, owner of Mayo Linoleum Works LLC, host of “The Steve Mayo Show†Thursdays, 6 to 7 PM on WVOX radio 1460 AM (www.thestevemayoshow.com) and legal counsel to the Westchester County Tea Party. He is not embarrassed to be known as a Republican.