The $789 billion stimulus plan failed, Obamacare will cost at least twice as much as advertised and will kill as many as 700,000 jobs, his green energy initiative resulted in multiple bankruptcies and no jobs and he hasn't passed a budget in nearly four years, but it's not his fault.
China and Russia refused to support tougher sanctions against Iran, Iran refused his direct appeals to abandon its nuclear weapons program and even accelerated it, he was asleep at the switch during the Arab Spring, Egypt is run by the Muslim Brotherhood, Iraq is falling apart, the Taliban will reconquer Afghanistan after we retreat, Pakistan is in turmoil, AI Qaeda is running loose across North Africa, Syria is a bloodbath, China, Russia and even Ecuador openly mock us over arresting the fugitive Edward Snowden, but it's not his fault.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is dead because Eric Holder allowed known drug traffickers to buy guns in the United States and take them back to Mexico to arm the drug cartels, and Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed by Muslim terrorists in Benghazi, Libya, because all their requests for extra security were denied and their urgent appeals for help during the attack were refused, but it's not his fault.
The EPA and the IRS conduct a campaign of harassment and intimidation against conservative non-profit groups, the Justice Department refuses to prosecute members of the Black Panthers for voter intimidation during the 2008 presidential election, and the same Justice Department obtains the private telephone records of over 100 Associated Press employees as well as Fox News reporter James Rosen in an effort to intimidate the press, but it's not his fault.
Two Gallup polls released recently indicate a 24-point gap between the people's dissatisfaction with the direction of the country and Priest-King's job approval. This phenomenon manifested itself very clearly in the 2012 presidential election when people recognized that the country was in horrible shape but refused to blame Priest-King himself, as if he were only a bystander in his own administration. What could explain this paradox? How can the same people complain about the effect of Priest-King's policies, who may have even lost their job or their business because of Priest-King's policies, but hold Priest-King himself blameless? Here are some ideas that I came up with:
Reason #1: The people polled were mainly Democrats with a natural loyalty to Priest-King.
Reason #2: The people polled were afraid to blame Priest-King in front of the pollster for fear of being called a racist.
Reason #3: The people polled think that Priest-King is trying hard but needs more time to turn things around, his staff are letting him down, circumstances are beyond his control and they want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Reason #4: The people polled think that Priest-King is trying as hard as he can but they don't want to admit that the first black President is out of his depth.
Reason #2 is certainly valid since everything in the United States is viewed through the prism of race, especially these days. (On Tuesday the 25th the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required states of the old Confederacy to submit any changes to their election laws to the U.S. Attorney General for review and approval, infuriating the Left.) Reason #3 is also valid as people, liberally-inclined or not, want to give their elected officials a fighting chance to prove they can do the job, but it also indicates a sort of recognition among those polled that Priest-King really isn't the Messiah the Left thought he was in 2008: If everything has to be perfect in order for his policies to work, then maybe his powers aren't as awesome as advertised. Reason #3 gets us closer but I think Reason #4 hits the nail on the head. With over four years' worth of empirical evidence proving that Priest-King's approach to domestic and foreign policy is an absolute disaster, over 66 million Americans nonetheless voted for his reelection and a plurality still approves of his performance. When Jimmy Carter mangled the Presidency and essentially gave up, the American people showed him the door; likewise when George H.W. Bush broke his famous pledge "read my lips: no new taxes," the voters turned on him and gave us eight years of Bubba. But with Priest-King, job performance isn't tied to job security and I think that reveals an embarrassing trait in those die-hard Priest-King supporters: they've set the bar pretty damned low for him, lower than any other President. For all the soaring rhetoric and imperial bearing and crowds of adoring fans and hope and change and hyperbole, people really don't expect a lot from the Priest-King of the Americas. He can sink us under a mountain of debt, he can raise taxes as high as the sky, he can interfere in every segment of American society (what business is it of the President to appear with Dave Letterman, to inject himself into a local arrest in Massachusetts or to comment on the Trayvon Martin case?) and fumble every foreign policy issue on the table and still be idolized by the masses. Millions of people thrown out of work and kept out of work, businesses ruined, homes and families destroyed, freedom lost, America diminished, yet Priest-King smiles and waves to his adoring fans and they forgive him all. After four years of pandering to the Islamic world, to Russia, to China, after four years of apologizing and bowing to foreign monarchs to prove how humble and contrite he is, what did that get us? When China and Russia had the opportunity to help us arrest the fugitive NSA employee Edward Snowden, they dismissed our appeals out of hand - even Ecuador felt empowered to kick sand in our face - and Priest-King said and did nothing, the President of the United States mocked and humiliated like a pimple-faced teenager in the school cafeteria. If my fellow citizens are satisfied with
mediocrity, failure, bankruptcy, abuse of power, lying, disrespect, criminal neglect and needless death from their Chief Executive, then I urge them to splash some cold water on their faces and wake up: If all they want is an empty suit, then go to Brooks Brothers.
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