Obama’s Enemies List Continued
Obama’s Enemies List Continued
By
Ken Eliasberg
Let’s look at the other 2 operations at the top of Obama’s “hit” list — The Chamber of Commerce and Fox News and Talk radio. But first a brief word about an enemies list, in general, and Obama’s approach to his alleged enemies, in particular. It is perfectly natural for a president to have supporters and critics, particularly in the media where their feelings are available to a wider range of viewers and listeners. And, as a consequence, it is perfectly normal that he favor certain of his supporters with more of his time than he might make available to his critics (although bear in mind we are talking about free speech, and the openness that such speech should engender: ergo, all of the public, friend and foe alike, needs to have access to their president in some form or other). It is one thing to display favoritism, it is quite another to demonize a critic with an eye toward marginalizing or, worse yet, delegitimizing him. That is censorship; it is a page right out of Saul Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals — in reality, it is tyranny. And that is exactly the course that Obama has - to his ultimate disadvantage, I hope — embarked upon. And please do not misunderstand, I have no objection to the rough and tumble of politics — a misplaced elbow under the basket, so to speak, is a part of business as usual on the political basketball court. What Obama is doing is quite different; he is practicing censorship (with the concomitant threat of reprisals and/or suppression); he is using his presidential power to stifle dissent, and he’s doing it because he knows that he can’t win in an open and honest debate.
2. The Chamber of Commerce.- Like the Health Insurance industry people, the Chamber was originally, in general, a supporter of Obama’s proposals. Again, in the course of various of his proposals being pushed through the legislative grinder, certain features emerged to which the Chamber took exception. Specifically, they did not endorse certain aspects of Obama’s proposals with respect to cap and trade and financial regulation. As in the case of the Health Insurance Industry, our Charmer-in Chief, who apparently can brook no disagreement, went on the attack, demonizing the Chamber in much the same way that he did the Health Insurance Industry.
3. Fox News and Talk Radio.- These are the industries that Obama has had in his sites since taking office. Why? Because these are the only news outlets where the public can actually receive news. It is not so much that they do not like Obama — they certainly disagree with much of his policy offerings — it is that they are the only news outlets that are not completely consumed by Obama idolatry. Do you think that Van Jones would have been outed by any of the other media outlets — T.V., radio, and/or your mainstream newspapers? Do you think the criminal nature of ACORN would have been revealed to the public without the news outlets in Obama’s crosshairs? Of course not. And the offering in this newspaper that Van Jones just blurted out that he was a communist, a 9/11 truther, and a supporter of Mumia Abu Jamal (a convicted cop killer) out of frustration (as opposed to a genuine revelation of who he is) is so absurd as to require no response. By the way, Van Jones did not just tell you who he is, he tells you even more clearly who Obama is. His Czar appointments (as well as all of his appointments and associations) tell you more clearly than anything else can just who this guy is. He is the consummate example of “the Chicago Way” — a thug, a left-wing ideologue, and a political hack!
The left, in general, and Obama, in particular, seek to suppress all dissent
and opposition. And, not just because it’s a page out of the much cited Alinsky. Alinsky just provides the means for dealing with your opposition, i.e. destroy them. And why should you have to destroy your adversary? Simple, because you know that you cannot win the argument any other way. Why not? Because you either don’t know what you are talking about (which is typically the case with your average lefty) or, worse yet, you know you’re wrong, and you are just trying to hoodwink the public (which is exactly what is taking place today). Why would you do this? Again, simple, because they want to consolidate as much power in the hands of the central government as possible. Don’t buy this garbage, and don’t let them get away with it.
Two things amaze me about lefties — first, their denial of who they are and what they are about, and second, their assumption that the public is too stupid to figure out what’s going on. The first happens because the left is so consumed with their belief in their good intentions that they are completely indifferent to the results of where their good intentions have taken us. The second happens because, in too many instances, we allow them to get away with it (or worse yet, we have so dumbed down America that, in too many instances, they are right; we are too stupid to figure out what’s going on).
In short, the left cannot engage in debate because they are unarmed to do so, and, as a consequence, their only recourse is to seek to suppress it. And they seek to do so by either actually denying access to the opposition — i.e. the Fairness Doctrine — or by demonizing, marginalizing, delegitimizing, or destroying their opponents.
In the current situation, Obama has simply acted childishly by appearing on every other network, and endeavoring to write Fox News off as not a legitimate news outlet, but merely an arm of the Republican Party. Actually, Fox is the only legitimate “news” (and Opinion) channel on T.V. By the way, do you recall the name given to CNN — it was the Clinton News Network. And MSNBC is so far over the top as to give the impression that they are broadcasting from the outpatient ward of some nut house. No, Obama doesn’t like Fox because it is the only media outlet that hasn’t just bent over and grabbed its ankles for Obama. Indeed, the other “news outlets” have forsaken their sacred journalistic responsibility to the public and have become nothing but idolatrous journalistic whores. Fortunately, when Obama overreached and tried to deny Fox access to a pooled event, the other networks, to their credit, joined ranks and refused to participate in the event, forcing Obama to back down. Perhaps they were smart enough to realize that if Obama could do it to Fox, he could do it to them.
And Talk Radio is the most reliable source of accurate, if sometimes with a partisan slant, news. And besides, the left has had every opportunity to offer a counterpart. Indeed, many of us believe that Talk Radio IS the counterpart to an otherwise completely biased mainstream media (i.e. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN plus all the main stream journals). And the left has from time to time endeavored to compete with conservative outlets. Do you remember Air America — a network that spewed nothing but left-wing garbage and did so in the most vicious, vitriolic, and dishonest way (hosted by those intellectual powerhouses, Al Franken, Janeanne Garofalo, and Randi Rhodes, etc.). It had a short life, either because it was abysmally bad, or, just as likely, because it was redundant (the left, as noted, already having almost all of the media outlets). In short order, I am certain that the left, unable to compete, will once again be advancing the “Fairness Doctrine.”
Wake up folks, you’re watching America go down the drain, and if you don’t do something about it, your grandchildren will never know the America that we have been so blessed to experience.