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Obama Is Back
Photo Credit: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com
The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis that the Left in America, its experts in Academia, and enthusiasts in the Press cannot waste. And it is also yet one more opportunity to serially skewer DJT, Republicans, and conservative Americans. Let’s face it: when you are President, there is no causation required in this calculus; you hold the office, you get the credit, or bear the blame. There is only the Obama exception to this; if you are Obama, the previous president is responsible for all ills that occur on your watch. Likewise, if things improve subsequent to your presidency, you can justifiably take credit because, well, your positive influence was sustaining.
Forget the noble idea that ex-presidents rise above retail politics when they leave office. Barack Obama stepped back into the political spotlight yesterday. Perhaps he must preserve his legacy. It is obvious that Barr and Durham are tarnishing and even threatening that legacy. So he tossed a massive Obama stink bomb at Trump for his alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging that it has been chaotic, ineffective, and incompetent. The fact that Trump has led an unprecedented response to a deadly, unknown pathogen thrust upon us by an irresponsible, totalitarian adversary, is completely lost in this criticism. The object here is not to help determine the next course of action, or to critique the possible missteps taken over the last few months to bring clarity to an otherwise untenable situation. The object here is not to help. Far from it. The object is to vilify and to sever Trump from his support.
Obama and the Democrats are perfectly willing to step away at this point and simply toss bombs at the Trump administration. Whatever the Trump administration does will result in another rocket directed over the wall. Facts be damned, Trump bears responsibility. Boom. BOOM. BOOM!
To his credit, Trump has been incredibly transparent during this crisis; even blue state governors took lessons from him in this regard. A federal task force was enlisted, including both political and expert members. Daily briefings were held. The data was released as compiled. Models were released, modified, and exposed for all to see, even as they turned out to be completely wrong or foolishly pessimistic. As Trump learned and the crisis unfolded, we were invited to watch; it was not pretty, but Trump trusted us to pay attention and sort it all out. Trump even pointed out the federal government’s limitations in this response. He rallied the governors and helped them, but let them take their constitutional responsibility. They even lauded him for it, even those from the hardest-hit blue states.
Was this all chaotic? Yes, but that is an apt description of war, which is what this is, a war against an unseen foe which we still, and may never, truly understand. Keep in mind, 20% of all common colds are caused by coronaviruses and to date, we have no answer for those pathogens either.
So what is really going on? With respect to COVID-19, no one really knows. We shut down the economy and sent everyone home. The expectation, according to the experts, was that our health care system would be overwhelmed and perhaps as many as two million citizens would die. We would run out of hospital beds and ventilators. Then we learned that ventilators were not really that effective, even, dare we say, harmful. Our hospitals were not overwhelmed. Ventilator requirements were vastly overestimated. In fact, our health care system likely contributed negatively to the spread of the disease among the most vulnerable by concentrating infection. Now we learn that an overwhelming number of newly infected patients in NY were sheltering at home. What does one make of this information? Florida, on the other hand, a state with a very high concentration of “vulnerable” citizens, took a different approach to the virus, one centered on limiting exposure among the elderly, and this has resulted in far fewer infections and deaths. What does this mean? Could it point to sunlight, vitamin D or warm temperatures as protective?
No one knows the answer to that question. The only thing that we have learned from this ordeal is that SARS Cov 2 is a nasty contagion and can be fatal to those with other severe, underlying health problems. This is really all we need to know in dealing with this disease. We need to protect the most vulnerable and the rest of the population can make their own judgments regarding movement, work, masks, homeschooling, etc. COVID-19 is not a threat to healthy citizens. Unemployment and destitution are a threat to healthy citizens. I think President Trump has come to this conclusion as well, but he cannot order governors to open their states. He can, and should, however, refuse to bail out states whose financial failure was largely written in policy long before COVID-19 arrived.
In the meantime, I expect that Obama will continue to step further into the limelight, but not because of COVID-19. He hears the footsteps of Barr and Durham. He can only stop them if the Democrats take control in November. Expect the bombings to accelerate as we get closer and closer to indictments. The corruption did not end with the IRS scandal, with Fast and Furious, with Ukraine’s prosecutor, with Benghazi, with Uranium One, with Hillary’s emails or with Weiner’s Laptop. Those were just warm-ups to the insurance policy that was operation Crossfire Hurricane. This one will punctuate Obama’s legacy and its effect will be sustaining.
Published in General
Well said, @dougkimball. I hope your final paragraph turns out to be prophetic.
It is true that Peter denied the Lord three times before the cock crowed, but at least he didn’t turn state’s evidence.
I’ve got to buy more popcorn.
The best way to cement his support is : For BHO to raise his ugly mug and lob stink bombs. :)
Democrat ex presidents don’t keep out of the fray. Only Republicans. Obama deserves to be in jail. This was one of the most corrupt administrations in the history of the country. It won’t happen but maybe I’ll get to see Comey actually do a perp walk. That will be a highlight of my life.
What can he say to help his listless ex-VP? What can he say when his DOJ is in the hot seat and he may have been in the room when it all hatched? What can he say when his ex-VP had cozy ties to China and Ukraine? The cheap shots that he’s taking toward President Trump and his handling of the virus are beyond disgusting. Obama’s failures are too close to memory and he’s taking a very low road.
This week, Donald Trump should issue a Barack Obama a pardon for any and all crimes related to the abuse of power relating to Gen. Mike Flynn. It would be the ultimate troll move and nicely taint Obama as a crook. And at the same time pardon Manefort and Stone. Media meltdown.
You are a devious one, my friend.
Manny, you need to get out more.
At least we know he doesn;t take his wife’s advice. Come to think of it, neither does she.
That is fiendish.
I like it.
If he gets a pardon, doesn’t that mean he has to testify truthfully, because he has immunity? If he’s caught perjuring himself, the pardon and immunity is rescinded? That would be fun.
I was thinking more along the lines of removing any threat to Obama puts the focus back on his henchmen. At that point, it is every man for himself. Comey vs. Clapper vs. Brennan … that would be fun. Announce that there are n malefactors and n – m plea deals.
You could end up with the dynamic of the Enterprise in the episode “Mirror, Mirror.”
Fascinating.
So do I. So did I.
http://ricochet.com/524931/archives/group-writing-20180606-the-evil-czar/
I have not been paying particularly close attention to the spying on Trump allegations. I think I have the general idea, agree that it’s terrible, but one of those unfortunate things that we have to live with.
BUT . . . that Obama chose to emerge from his general silence and lob criticisms the very week that information comes out suggesting events happened in the Oval Office raises my suspicions that Obama thinks he really does have something to worry about, and that he has something to hide. That Obama chose now to speak up makes me more interested in having him and Biden investigated than if he had remained silent.
Obama’s actions are really a call-out to the Democratic Party activists, both in and outside the media, to rally to protect the King. But very few people outside that circle are going to care (which was seen back in early 2013 after Obama won re-election, when he thought he could get the millions of people who voted for him in November 2012 to then go all in on attacking Republicans over the budget sequestration battle. Crickets, and the president had to back down).
I don’t doubt if Durham’s probe started returning indictments against the minions we’re going to start to see Dems and their media backers try to gin up support for Biden in November by making appeals to Obama’s 2008-12 voters that Joe needs to be elected in order to save Obama’s legacy from being destroyed by Trump, Barr and Durham, but I doubt anyone’s going to get fired up outside of the True Believers in order to protest John Brennan or James Comey from the federal legal system.
Like a magician distracting the audience with one hand while using the other hand to advance the trick, Obama has decided to join the chorus of those who claim Trump invited the virus in the White House basement and used his rallies to spread it. I tend to agree with Rush that Obama will likely not be touched for prosecution, even if he personally directed the Russian hoax (which includes the Flynn debacle). However, all of the underlings involved might start fleeing the country any minute . . .
I didn’t miss him.
Xactly. I used to roll my eyes at the people who wanted to rope Obama, personally, into it. I figured he was smart enough not to leave a trail. But all of a sudden he seems nervous, very nervous. He has roped himself in.
He sees some of his underlings facing possible jail time and doesn’t want them making deals with Durham or Barr, so he’s rallying the troops for the Holy Crusade that is looming on the horizon. I’m sure what Obama said that was officially leaked is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s been said in private, and probably involves telling his people in some way that they’re all fighting for their political lives and need a Biden win (or a win by whoever the Democratic nominee is in November) in order to get past this crisis.
Or as the great Kurt Schlichter calls them: “The gang that couldn’t frame straight.”
I did a post about this in which I remarked on the Dems “ham-handed under-handedness.”
LOL, I really can’t stand Obama and Comey. They’re a bunch of lying, cheating SOBs.
My fear is that Barr, by not prosecuting Comey or McCabe has indicated he just wants to get through this and “Clean” the DOJ and is wary of being seen as partisan
I think it would be incredibly damaging to go after Obama. The best options for preserving the Republic (if, indeed, that’s the aim anymore) is to either name him an unindicted co-conspirator or, as suggested earlier, preemptively pardon him. I fear going after a former president is just too banana-republicish, even if he richly deserves comeuppance.
Everyone else involved, though, should be punished. My desire to wipe the smirks off Comey’s and Strzok’s faces is strong. Those two, especially, I want to see in orange.
Nice idea, but doesn’t the “subject” have to ACCEPT the pardon?
I don’t know about that. It is effectively an order to the Justice Department that he not be prosecuted. The president can give that order whether Obama accepts it or not. And the only thing a future Democrat in the White House could do to undo it would be to announce that they will prosecute him. Not likely to happen.
Ironic for Obama to accuse Trump of being disorganized when his administration couldn’t even get a web site for health insurance to work for 2 years.
Methinks he’s squawking too much. He hears Durham’s footsteps.
If Obama’s caught red handed, Trump is not the type of person who will just let it go. I might not want to just let it go.
I’m with you, Manny.