*The following is the first in a series of three excerpts from David Limbaugh’s new book Crimes Against Liberty, which was released on Aug. 23. You can read the second excerpt here and the third excerpt here.
The Barack Obama presidency is young, but already the most destructive in American history.
Everything about Barack Obama’s radical background signals his visceral contempt for America—its culture, its values, and its political and economic systems. His unmistakable goal is to bring America down to size—an America that has been, in his view, too big for its britches, selfish, exploitive, unfairly wealthy, arrogant, and dismissive.
Tragically, Obama’s ideological blindness precludes him from recognizing America’s unparalleled record of benevolence as the world’s greatest superpower. It numbs him to the wonders of America’s free-market system. It obscures a realistic assessment of global politics that comprehends the existence of rogue nations, evil empires, and Islamic terrorists who intend us harm and who cannot be mollified through pandering and “engagement,” but must be approached from a position of strength.
His abundantly documented radical background soured his taste on America, compelling him to believe America’s wealth and power were “inherited,” rather than inspired by America’s god-fearing founders, who crafted a government designed to establish and maximize individual liberties—a government that has been preserved with the blood, sweat, and tears of generations of Americans.
Ironically, Obama’s domestic policy, foreign policy, and national security prescriptions are the opposite of what America needs. In transforming America to “spread the wealth around,” he is actually spreading the misery around, burying us in debt, and potentially enslaving us to our foreign creditors.
He is reaping destruction in America’s culture, its Constitution, and in every sector of the American economy (save the public sector), administering one kick in the gut after another and inflicting damage from which it will be difficult to recover.
While holding himself out as a post-partisan, post-racial president, he has exacerbated racial tensions, inflamed partisan divisiveness, engaged in acrimonious class warfare, and demonized anyone to the political right of the late Ted Kennedy.
For someone who inspired so much “hope” and had so much goodwill upon taking office, even among certain commentators and media professionals who consider themselves conservatives, it is striking how far he has fallen so fast. His approval ratings have cratered more rapidly than those of any modern president.
Pew Research Center reported after only his first few months in office that “for all his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval of any president in the past four decades.”
He has squandered more political capital than most presidents ever possessed. And he has done it all himself; his popularity freefall hasn’t occurred as a result of circumstances beyond his control. But that hasn’t prevented him from milking the economic crisis excuse ad nauseam and endlessly scapegoating his predecessor for the “multitude of problems” Obama allegedly inherited. He owns our current set of problems, which if he did inherit, he greatly exacerbated through a series of deplorable policies and actions.
He promised to lead a transparent, ethical administration, free of corruption and sanitized of conflicts of interest generated by the revolving door between lawmakers and lobbyists. But he appointed a host of tax cheats, lobbyists, and leftist radicals, and has cloaked many of his policy actions in secrecy. He has reportedly used his appointment power to offer high-ranking government jobs and other benefits in exchange for votes supporting his agenda. He has brought Chicago-style politics and Saul Alinsky street organizing tactics to Washington, diverting federal funds to the now-defunct ACORN as his political and re-election arm, using the Justice Department as an advocacy bureau and his campaign organization as an ongoing war room.
We were told we were getting a cool, calm, steady leader who could rise above emotional impulses to deliver classic statesmanship and prudent governance. But all too often we witness in him a petulant and vindictive bully who doesn’t seem to understand why anyone would challenge his omniscience. On more than one occasion when challenged, Obama has cavalierly shot back, “I won, I’m the president.”
His handlers held him out as a brilliant, eloquent wordsmith who would restore class and elegance to the Oval Office, following President Bush’s allegedly countrified demeanor and awkwardness with words. Instead, when the teleprompter is stripped away, we often find someone given to incoherent ramblings and verbal blunders that dwarf those of his predecessor.
The words and policies of President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party are having a devastating effect on America and its founding principles. Unless stopped—and reversed—the casualties of Obama’s systematic assault on this nation will be our prosperity, our security, and ultimately, our liberty.
David Limbaugh is the author of Crimes Against Liberty.