Barack Obama's God Complex: The Danger of a Lame Duck President In An Election Year

One thing that tends to get lost in an election year where the incumbent is not on the ticket is the fact that the person in office is still at the controls of the government.  That is, if the media wishes us to forget. In 2008 they didn't want us to forget and they had Barack Obama running against George Bush even though he was not on the ticket.  But in 2016?  Meh...

In reality, this is actually the most dangerous time of any Democrat presidency because the lefty press has little motivation to focus on anything they are doing and would rather work to get the next Democrat elected.

And so we find ourselves in a perfect storm, with two pitiful candidates competing to replace the most harmful president in American history and the press is having a field day covering them. One wonders exactly how much damage Barack Obama is going to inflict on the country on his way out the door? As we get closer to the end of his term I have no doubt Barack Obama would like to see himself as a modern Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte and simply refuse to leave, but I’m hoping he will not go quite that far. That doesn’t mean that he can’t do much damage however. Between giving away control of the Internet and suggesting the highest gas tax hike in 80 years he’s seeking to destroy both the new and old economies.

But it’s more than the economy in general he has his sights on however. Barack Obama knows without a doubt that the cities, neighborhoods and homes Americans choose to live in are fundamental to who they are. They are where we spend most of our family time, our free time and where we go to rest.  People pick where they live for a wide variety of reasons from commute time to the love of trees and lawns to the quality of schools. A mortgage is typically the most important investment any American ever makes. Even for renters the monthly rent is typically the single most expensive obligation they have every month.

And so it is right here at the heart of America where Barack Obama wants to put his stamp…

1. He is seeking to force the broken neighborhoods of America’s inner cities on the suburbs where people have moved to escape the crime. How? By reconfiguring the Section 8 Housing program to drive renters out to the suburbs while and penalizing landlords and communities that choose not to participate. And it’s probably not a surprise that the Section 8 program has a long history of failure, harming both renters and landlords.
2. At the same time, he is seeking to prohibit renters from doing criminal background checks on prospective tenants because minorities are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Landlords say they must focus on the safety of their tenants… but unfortunately for them, that conflicts with Barack Obama’s agenda.
3. He is forcing banks to make loans to unqualified lenders, which was exactly what caused the economy to collapse in 2007. One might think Obama must have slept through 2007 and 2008, but no, he was there, and unsurprisingly, he learned nothing. He is demanding banks lower credit standards in pursuit of the same “affordable housing” goal.

Taken together, these actions, building on the previous seven years of government evisceration of freedom and the free market, will not only have the effect of further depressing the already feeble economy, but they will destroy communities as the crime from inner cities spreads to the suburbs like a cancer as the already dysfunctional suburban schools simply collapse. If citizens can’t work hard and strive to live in a community where they feel safe and their kids at least have a shot at getting a good education, what’s the point of putting in the effort in the first place? The reward of living in a place where you feel comfortable and your family feels secure is one of the driving forces in the pursuit of the American Dream… and, no surprise, Barack Obama seeks to dismantle that in his pursuit of his version of racial “equality” and economic parity. Of course I’m guessing that wherever Washington neighborhood the Obama family settles in once they exit the White House – assuming they do – that their next door neighbors won’t be Section 8 renters.

When Bill Clinton left the White House he gave us the Mark Rich pardon and his team destroyed thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment, but for the most of the country was left relatively unscathed by last minute subterfuge. Somehow I don’t think the nation will be nearly as lucky with Barack Obama. After having spent seven full years seeking to – and doing a good job of – hobbling the American economy and fomenting race and class divides, we should expect nothing less over the last few months of his administration. As the press willingly ignores pretty much anything he does and a spineless, feckless GOP providing no opposition, Barack Obama’s God complex will likely rise to unseen levels. That doesn’t bode well for anyone, but it certainly shouldn't surprise anyone either... 

The Obamanization of your neighborhood... turning your community into the south side of Chicago

Next to families, communities are perhaps the single most important part of American life. Communities are made up of the places we shop, the churches we attend, and perhaps most importantly where we live. Aside from where we work, our homes are probably the places where we spend the most time. It’s at home where we typically can be most relaxed, where we can be ourselves, where we can feel comfortable, or at least usually have some level of control.

If you are like most Americans, your home, whether it’s an apartment you rent, a single family home you own or anything in between, is the single biggest expense you have and we usually take great care in figuring out where we want to live. Everything from the number of rooms to its proximity to your job to quality of the schools to the price all play a role. Another big part of the decision about where we live is the understanding that we are making a significant commitment, not only in terms of dollars, but in our time as well.

One of the great aspects of the American Dream has always been the notion that one of the benefits of hard work and becoming successful is that we give ourselves more options in terms of where we can live. We may have more income to spend on housing which may allow us to buy a bigger home or move to a nicer neighborhood. We may have more highly valued skills that expand the number of cities or states we can go for a job. Whatever it is, for most Americans a core element of the American Dream involves some element of housing. The ability to choose where we live, the communities we want to be a part of are integral to the concept of being American.

With the advent of the civil rights legislation of the 1960’s, many limitations of homeownership based on race were eliminated. As a result communities across the country became integrated as minorities found that they too could move anywhere they could afford to buy or rent.

That ability for anyone to live where they want, to live anywhere they can afford to purchase or rent is a core American freedom. While there is no “Freedom to live where you want…” enshrined in the US Constitution, that’s because the Founders understood that it was such a basic freedom that it didn’t need to be codified. Needing such a declaration would be the equivalent of needing one that says “The freedom to breath air is protected.” Some things are so basic that they simply don’t need to be stated. The freedom to live and raise our families where we choose has lasted for two centuries, but it may not last much longer.

If you are one of those homeowners or renters who has chosen to live in a good neighborhood, worked hard to move to a community with (relatively) good schools, if you’ve decided to move to a community where trees and green lawns are common, the Obama administration is coming after you. If you and your family struggled to leave behind the crime, deprivation and crumbling schools of the city for the relatively tranquil suburbs, don't get too comfortable, the Obama administration is planning on sending you back to the future.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the people who inflicted the squalor and tragedy of public housing on citizens and communities for five decades, have decided that they are now not only qualified, but also have the power, to decide what your neighborhood and community should look like. That’s right, the Obama administration has decided that they have the power to decide what your community should look like from an economic, racial and ethnic makeup. Essentially they can decide who should live in your neighborhood. If you’ve moved into a neighborhood that only has single family homes they can force local authorities to zone for apartment buildings or high rise condos. If you’ve moved into a community that recognizes that owners tend to take better care of their properties and therefore limits rentals… too bad. If the citizens of your community choose not to rent to those using Section 8 vouchers for payment, too bad, the government can force them to do so. Essentially, the government that gave us a failed education system, figured out how to make welfare pay more than work and loses billions of dollars annually on green energy boondoggles now plans to manage our neighborhoods…

Our communities are the core of American life. They are where you spend the majority of your non working hours. They are where you are the most vulnerable – i.e. where you close your eyes and go to sleep. They are where you raise your children, send them to school and volunteer at their scouting functions. They are where you go to church and the Rotary. They are the anchor around which much of your life revolves. So the question is, for something that is so fundamentally important, who is better positioned to decide what your community should look like, some nameless cog in the machine of government sitting behind a desk in Washington or the people who live in the houses, mow the lawns, attend the churches, raise their families and pay the property taxes? If you said the latter, you must be one of those anti-government zealots who the Obama administration thinks is a threat to America. Welcome to your new neighborhood. Enjoy!