Obama Q&A for $200 Alex.
Alex: The answer is:
"Well the truth of the matter is, you know, as President of the United States I have a lot of responsibilities,"
Abraham: What did Obama answer when he was asked, does the President of the United States have a lot of responsibilities?
Alex: Sorry, no.
Martin: What did Obama answer when he was asked, what's the funniest thing President Bush told you?
Alex: Sorry, that is incorrect.
John: What did Obama answer when he was asked, does Michelle load you up on the weekends with honey-dos?
Alex: Sorry, not even close. The correct answer is, what did Obama say on June 11, 2012 in response to, there are a lot of Democrats that are upset you didn't campaign for Tom Barrett.
Unfortunately, it is non-responsive answers like the one our President gave above that has put our constitutional republic in serious jeopardy.
Let's give the President credit for correctly stating the volume of responsibilities of the President of the United States. They are conveniently enumerated in Article 2 of our Constitution. The President is the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy and the Militia, he may require the opinion of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, he shall have Power to grant reprieves and pardons, he has the power to make treaties, he shall appoint Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court and certain other officers of the United States, he shall have the power to fill vacancies while the Senate is in recess, he shall from time to time provide a State of the Union, he shall recommend to Congress for their consideration measures that he judges to be necessary, he may convene both houses of Congress, he may adjourn Congress if there is a dispute over adjournment, he shall receive ambassadors, and finally, he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
The President certainly has a lot of responsibilities. So has every one of the 43 President's that came before him. So will the 43 that come after him.
Implied in the President's answer is the time required to fulfill his responsibilities left no time available to go to Wisconsin and campaign for Mayor Barrett. This part of the President's answer, like so many other answers given by the President and his surrogates, is so blatantly untrue that I wonder how they speak these words while maintaining a straight face. Don't ever play poker with Obama or members of his inner circle.
The signatures on the petitions to recall Governor Walker were certified on March 30, 2012 and the election took place June 5, 2012, leaving 66 days available for campaigning. According to the President's daily schedule, during those 1,584 hours he attended several meetings and signed legislation that appears to be in keeping with his constitutional responsibilities. His schedule also shows that during the 95,040 minutes he attended 29 campaign (code word for fundraiser) events. He also hosted an Easter Egg roll, traveled to the country of Columbia (where some his secret service agents got secretly serviced) and joked he was there scouting out vacation spots, honored NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, hosted the NCAA football champs, was interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, hosted the NCAA basketball champs, completed the evolution of his thoughts on gay marriage (with help from his daughters), hosted at the White House a concert honoring songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David (apparently my invitation got lost in the mail), was a guest on The View, welcomed the Major League Soccer champions to the White House, gave the commencement address at Joplin High School in Missouri (haven't these people suffered enough?), delivered the commencement address at the US Air Force Academy, and presented the Medal of Freedom to the Honorary Chair of Democratic Socialists of America.
Most of the weekend days during the 5,702,400 seconds showed no public schedule for the President. We do know Obama played golf six times on the weekends on the dates of April 1, 7, 21, 29, May 12 and 26. Perhaps the President was not aware there are golf courses in Wisconsin. 505 golf courses to be exact. With a little planning Obama could have flown to Wisconsin, campaigned early in the day at a diner for breakfast, played 18 holes with some union bosses, and then back on the campaign trail for dinner with some wealthy liberals.
The President's claim that his presidential responsibilities left him with no campaign time for Wisconsin is laughable. (If only he had an airplane at his disposal to fly him wherever and whenever he wanted to fly.) The speculation that Obama stayed out of Wisconsin to avoid being associated with another election loss may be true but even if Walker was too strong of a candidate to defeat and Barrett too weak of a candidate to win, it was an opportunity for the President to be seen and heard by members of his base that he will need in November. As with Coakley in Massachusetts, Corzine in New Jersey, and Giannoulias in Illinois, if the Obama backed person loses the blame gets attributed to the weakness of the candidate.
Obama entered his presidency with the belief he could bully Congress and the States to sign off on his agenda. After the 2010 mid-term election he found out this was no longer possible. Gridlock does not begin to describe the current stalemate in Congress. It is more like an asteroid has hit the Earth and the grid has been vaporized. Nothing is getting done in Congress between now and election day.
The States are even more out of Obama's control. Twenty-seven States have sued the Federal government over Obamacare. The Federal government sued Arizona over its new immigration law. Florida and the Federal government are suing each other over the process of validating its voter rolls. The State issues are filled with real world nitty gritty details that get in the way of Obama's grand utopian views. Getting into the trenches of the local politics of Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Racine would not have resulted in capturing the hearts and minds of the Badger state.
Obama has learned there is no need for hand to hand combat along the streets of Madison when you have the ability to fly drones all over America. The only way for the President to move Forward with the Hope and Change agenda is to bypass Congress and the Courts. He ignored the court when it ruled he had to lift the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf. He unilaterally decided to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act. He made recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess. He signed a treaty without the approval of Congress arguing that what he signed was not a treaty but rather, an executive agreement (whatever that is.) These have been big, sweeping, unprecedented, unconstitutional executive branch actions or inactions. Other than some huffing and puffing by Republicans, the President has gotten away with his failure to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. The checks and balances the Framers counted on to keep our government limited, are safely stored in the same lock box with all of our social security savings. Somewhere the anti-Federalists are screaming a collective, "I told you so."
On Friday, June 15, 2012 the President bypassed Congress again with the announcement of a new deportation policy. This appears to be a clear usurpation of an enumerated power of Congress stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." If Congress does not do everything within in its Constitutional power to check the executive branch then we may as well cut spending by shutting this Congress down.
Alex: It is time for Final Jeopardy. The category is Authoritarian Rulers. Contestants, round your wagers to the nearest trillion.
Alex: And the answer is, Barack Obama, 2009 to 2035. (Cue the music.)
