Opinion

Seeing The Forest For The Trees On The Cotton Letter

J. D. Gordon Former Pentagon Spokesman, George W. Bush Administration
Font Size:

Tense relations between the White House and Congress aren’t unusual, and certainly not new.  Yet over the past month they’ve hit lows not seen since President Clinton’s impeachment trial.

Are Congressional Republicans really “TRAITORS” as the New York Daily News screamed in all caps on the front page?  Should Mr. Obama be “embarrassed” for them, as he told Vice News?

I don’t think so. Here’s why:

While many people focus on each separate action taken by Congressional Republicans as if they were a random collection of impulsive temper tantrums, they’re missing the forest for the trees.

From the 30,000 foot view, President Obama is doing his best to “transform” America, just like he pledged since the 2008 campaign. Congressional Republicans are trying hard to stop him, and save our nation as we know it.

Mr. Obama only has two years left, so he’s pushing hard. As he gloated during the State of the Union, he doesn’t face any more elections. Translation: He can do whatever he wants.

That’s frankly terrifying.

And why? Because to President Obama and the international left, American power is the problem. His actions since day one show that’s the only reasonable explanation. Thus he’s taking charge, often by executive action, of softening us.

It explains the obsession with closing Gitmo, releasing as many Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists as possible even as our intelligence agencies report nearly one of three released detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight. Mr. Obama traded the Taliban’s top five leaders for an Army soldier who walked off his post, an unprecedented act of appeasing our enemy during wartime.

It explains a weak accord with the United Nations P5+1 and Iran, paving the way for Tehran’s nuclear weapons. The interim agreement and follow-on accord only pertain to uranium enrichment, not warhead development, nor missile technology. And while Secretary Kerry has repeated President Reagan’s mantra of “trust but verify,” how can anyone possibly verify when Iran isn’t opening up all its roughly 30 nuclear sites for inspection? How can we trust Iran when President Rouhani openly boasts of deceiving the West? Answer: We can’t. Yet Team Obama prefers any deal that gives us “peace in our time.” It’s Munich, 1938.

It explains the failure to utter the words “radical Islam” as in the self-named “Islamic State.” The re-established “caliphate” rules 1/3 of Iraq and Syria, has allies in a dozen countries, wages genocidal campaigns against Christians, Yazidis and fellow Muslims, and threatens to destroy America. Yet to Mr. Obama, they’re just “violent extremists.” If we appease them and we’re weaker, he thinks they’ll leave us alone.

It explains the Russian reset and reassuring Moscow that he’ll have more flexibility on missile defense “after the elections.” Meanwhile, much of eastern Ukraine has since been gobbled up, adding to 20 percent of Georgia already under occupation.

It explains amnesty for millions of immigrants who came here illegally. Citizenship comes next. Since it usually takes immigrants a couple generations to climb the socio-economic ladder, it means a massive new block of mostly lower-income voters relying on big government. Which means the Democrats can coast to decades in the White House, and majorities in Congress.

It explains conducting secret negotiations with Cuba’s regime in Canada, cutting Congress out of the loop entirely. The Castro brothers always whine about “Yankee Imperialism.” Mr. Obama apparently feels their pain.

It explains blaming the Benghazi attack on a video, re-writing White House talking points a dozen times, both deceiving the American people.

It explains $1 trillion in defense cuts, the smallest Army since WWII, and smallest Navy since WWI.

It explains why he says climate change is our biggest threat. Because the other threats are just reactions to our so-called overreach, so they’re really our fault. Meanwhile, he can attack American industry while China and India gain a competitive advantage.

If America is the problem, weakening it will make the world a better place. So the Oliver Stone conspiracy theory goes.

None of this should be surprising.

President Obama often reminds us that we’re the nation of slavery and Jim Crow. He referenced it during the National Prayer Breakfast last month. And let’s not forget his reminders about Japanese-American internment camps during World War II, or decimation of Native Americans.

In the faculty lounge where Mr. Obama shaped his worldview, America must atone for its sins.

In trying to survive Obama, protect America, and literally keep Israel on the map, congressional Republicans are hitting a series of panic buttons. They’re slamming on the brakes, desperately trying to weather the storm on behalf of us all, stopping Obama’s vision of a “transformed” America before it’s too late. When we look at the big picture, who can blame them?

J.D. Gordon is a retired Navy Commander and former Pentagon spokesman who served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-2009. He is a Senior Adviser to several think tanks based in Washington, DC. 

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel