There is a reason to be concerned about New York Times columnist David Brooks because, based on a recent column, the poor man is having serious memory issues, perhaps even a case of dementia. In the column called “I Miss Barack Obama,” Brooks bemoaned the fact that Obama isn’t running in 2016 because he will miss the president’s “integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance.” I was very difficult to read, not because it was poorly-written, but due to the shock of his first assertion – that Obama ran a scandal-free administration.
As this primary season has gone along, a strange sensation has come over me: I miss Barack Obama. Now, obviously I disagree with a lot of Obama’s policy decisions. I’ve been disappointed by aspects of his presidency. I hope the next presidency is a philosophic departure.
But over the course of this campaign it feels as if there’s been a decline in behavioral standards across the board. Many of the traits of character and leadership that Obama possesses, and that maybe we have taken too much for granted, have suddenly gone missing or are in short supply.
The first and most important of these is basic integrity. The Obama administration has been remarkably scandal-free. Think of the way Iran-contra or the Lewinsky scandals swallowed years from Reagan and Clinton.
Brooks eliminated the Hillary Clinton email scandal from his consideration, saying the president was not involved. But, even if one concedes that point, the Obama administration has been full of scandal. The difference between this and previous administrations is that the leftist media has been reluctant to cover the scandals.
To help jog Mr. Brooks’ memory, I put together a list of 25 Obama scandal stories which appear below, in no particular order. The list isn’t meant to be all encompassing; these were simply the first to come to mind.
- Going to war in Libya without first seeking congressional approval.
- Bypassing Congress to issue an illegal executive order granting amnesty to illegal aliens, and ignoring the court order not to implement the order.
- Canceling the border fence and other border security programs.
- The administration’s betrayal of the primary GM investors so he could give the company to his buddies in the UAW.
- Offering Joe Sestak a White House job to drop out of the Senate race against Arlen Specter
- The IRS targeting of conservative/tea party groups
- Offering Andrew Romanoff a White House job to drop out of the Senate Race against Michael Bennett.
- Dropping an already already-won case against the New Black Panthers.
- Refusing to prosecute African Americans for Civil Rights violations.
- Ignoring a court order to ease up on restrictions against deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and, instead, issuing tougher restrictions.
- Circumventing the Senate by setting up a “shadow cabinet” of Czars.
- Lying about the safety of admitting refugees into the country.
- Obama’s Justice Department’s refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), thus ignoring his constitutional responsibility to defend laws passed by Congress.
- Firing (and slandering) AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin after because he was investigating Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson a friend of the Obamas.
- Practicing crony capitalism and wasting taxpayer money with Green energy loans to Solyndra and other failing companies.
- A No-bid contract given to a company owned by a major Obama donor for a small pox vaccine that doesn’t work.
- Fast and Furious: Giving guns to Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to take away guns from law-abiding Americans.
- Lying to America and the world by claiming a YouTube video caused the Benghazi attack.
- Receiving foreign donations for his 2012 campaign.
- Slashing the pensions of Delphi’s non-union employees leaving the UAW employees‘ pensions alone.
- Purchasing bullets to drive up costs/empty supply.
- Prosecuting Thomas Drake, an NSA whistle-blower who leaked unclassified information about government waste and fraud.
- Trading five Taliban “generals” for Bowe Bergdahl without giving Congress the 30 days notice required by law.
- Ignoring ISIS in 2012, because it didn’t fit his reelection theme
- Using the NSA to spy on congressional discussions with Israeli PM Netanyahu.
Now, to be fair, it’s very possible that David Brooks doesn’t have memory problems. Perhaps, he didn’t hear about the above scandals or any others because, in most cases, they were ignored by the leftist media. Or another option is that Mr. Brooks is in the tank for Obama.
The cartoon above was created by my friend and 2x Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael Ramirez. If you don’t read Michael at Investor’s Business Daily or on Facebook you are doing yourself a great disservice! His work is incredible there is no other way to put it. He should be a daily read!