John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a hero of my childhood. His admonition, splashed across a calendar hung on my wall, rang through the land:

 

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I was young, but I’m pretty sure that his was a call to civic service rather than to government servitude. To me, JFK represented an America united, strong, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Alas, for how the Presidency has fallen – from the Executive of Kennedy to the Imperial of Obama.  There’s this old joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto – cornered by Indians, the Lone Ranger cries, “We’re surrounded Tonto. What do we do!” Tonto replies, “What do you mean ‘we’ White Man!” This joke is funny because, while Indian, no-one questions Tonto’s loyalty to the Lone Ranger.

Well, I’m not laughing at Barack Obama. While our country is cornered, threatened by Islamists gaining strength and confidence around the globe,  I have to ask myself “Whose side is he on?”  Why does Obama always seem to take issue with traditional American principles, such as those held by JFK?
 

Please consider:

 
War – Obama won’t fight for us. He essentially surrendered Afghanistan by announcing a withdrawal date. He’s since hog-tied our military there with onerous ROE (rules of engagement).  Why do we allow this? Didn’t we learn anything from the Vietnam War?  Obama withdrew troops from Iraq, regardless of conditions on the ground, leaving a void to be filled by Iran and al-Qaeda.  He would not fight in Benghazi even to protect our Ambassador, SEALS, other American personnel, the American Embassy, CIA compound or Intelligence materials. Drones are no substitute for engagement. “Being tired” of engagement is no excuse for negligence.

Red Skelton plays Aubrey Filmore in “A Southern Yankee”

Foreign policy – Obama supports Islamists over dictators, as in Egypt and Syria.  He supports dictators over freedom-seeking people, as in Iran.  He shows “flexibility” toward adversaries like Russia and disrespect toward allies like England. He demonstrates no interest in perpetuating the American Way, promoting freedom or protecting free markets.  He reminds me of Red Skelton in ‘A Southern Yankee’ … walking the battle line with his flag – Confederate on one side, Union on the other. This strategy of appeasement seems to be failing, as Muslim Spring turns to Islamist Winter.  It’s hard to tell, though, whether this is not the intended result.

Economy – Obama doesn’t seem to care about budgets, private enterprise, or “the economy” at all. His party won’t even produce a viable budget.  He’ll be long gone by the time people figure out there isn’t enough money in the whole world to pay for his promises. Meanwhile, critics are demeaned as racist or sexist, ensuring these chickens can’t come home to roost.  The more Obama claims to fix things, the worse they become.  The “fixing” began with a literal vengeance when he and his party took Congress in 2006.  “Fixing injustice” in the mortgage industry, they precipitated the housing crisis which culminated in the crash of 2008.

Employment – Obama claims to want to create jobs, but his policies seem designed to destroy and prevent them. Companies must meet his approval, be green industry, union-backed, EPA approved, OSHA regulated, and preferably owned by a Democrat.  Work, itself, is his last priority. There is likely to be no real recovery; just a long slow death by strangulation of the job market.  Free market competition creates jobs, regulates prices, and produces gainful employment. Profit is the fruit of productivity; without it, everything becomes counterproductive.

Religion – Obama only invokes God, the Bible or American Tradition when it’s in support of a political objective.  He asks for “a lot of prayer” for something like his idea of a “budget deal.”  Meanwhile, he demeans Christians as “bitter clingers” and demeans Jews with his overtures to Iran and his apparent lack of appreciation for the precarious existence of the Jewish State. He specifically demeans Catholics, such as JFK, by redefining religion as merely worship, to gain control over their activities. Meanwhile, he affords Islamists every courtesy, scrubbing his lexicon of any references to Islamo-fascism, radical Islam, or Global War on Terror.  He avoids even acknowledging the existence of Islamic Jihad, as in Fort Hood and Benghazi.

Federalism – Obama does not respect Constitutional limits to Federal authority. He works to consolidate power at the Federal level in violation of the Tenth Amendment. When Congress won’t cooperate, he rules by Executive Order.  Enthusiasts think this is fine, but they will regret this precedent when eventually the shoe is on the other foot.  Federalism, my friend, is the vehicle of American freedom.

Freedom – A preponderance of Obama’s associates are anti-freedom. They are crusaders for “positive rights”, Socialism, Communism, Marxism, restrictive environmentalism; crusaders intent on remaking our society from the top-down rather than building upon our foundation of personal liberty and economic freedom. Wright, Ayers, Dorn, Farrakhan, Holder, Rice, Jarrett, Davis, Butts, Katy, Axelrod, Sunstein, Dunn, Sebelius, Stern, Holdren, Koh, Power, Van Jones … the list goes on.

Demographics – Obama pits groups of people against each other. Identity politics works for him, but ‘E Unum Pluribus’ is not the American Way. With a healthy, private-sector economy, race becomes a non-issue, young women can afford their own birth-control, and most of us can afford our own health insurance.

So, is Obama really on our side as Americans?  Will he protect and defend America, the land of freedom and opportunity that we have inherited from our founders, the country JFK loved?  I don’t think so. I can only pray that you will ask yourselves, when the heat of battle has passed, “Is this the America I really want?” Faith tells me, the answer must be “No!”

I remember the last President you were stuck defending to the end.  He had an illicit affair, potentially subjected himself to blackmail, then lied about it under oath.  You seemed … ashamed … afterward.

Please, think about it.