Posted on 11/04/2009 6:35:00 PM PST by hillsdale1
R. J. PESTRITTO
When Barack Obama campaigned for president last fall, he vowed to “change” and even to “remake” America. There was ample evidence at the time that Candidate Obama had been heavily influenced by those with profound contempt for this country and its constitutional form of government. That President Obama has attempted faithfully to follow through on his campaign rhetoric should be surprising to only the cynical among us (who are always surprised to see campaign promises fulfilled), especially if we consider the absence in Congress of any significant check on the more radical aspects of his agenda.
Democrats said something else during the campaign that we should have listened to. With remarkable consistency, they identified themselves with progressivism and made clear that they aimed to revive the principles and policies of the Progressive Movement from the turn of the 20th century. Many assumed this to be mere rhetoric — “progressive” was simply thought to be a nicer way of saying “liberal,” which had become dirty word in American politics. But the Democrats clearly had more in mind, and have now pursued the main planks of the progressive agenda originally laid out by the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.
That agenda was as clear as it was radical: Wilson and Roosevelt loathed the Constitution’s limits on federal authority and sought various ways to undermine them, sometimes through a direct frontal assault but more often through a creative or “living” interpretation of the Constitution’s language (think of how today’s Democratic leaders dismiss the slightest questioning of Obamacare’s constitutionality). They also planned for the national government to take on a much-expanded role in regulating society and private wealth by delegating significant discretionary authority to expert bureaucracies (think of our present TARP program and its progeny — and thank the Bush administration for helping to give the Democrats a running start).
The progressives assumed that in turning government in a new direction, they were tapping in to a new historical spirit and riding a wave of popular support. What remains to be seen for us is whether today’s Democrats are also riding such a wave, or if, instead, a popular backlash will render a different judgment.
— R. J. Pestritto holds the Charles and Lucia Shipley chair in the American Constitution at Hillsdale College. He is a senior fellow of the College’s Kirby Center and of the Claremont Institute.
Obama SAID he would be fiscally responsible, while promising everything under the sun.
And a whole snort load of ignorant people bought his line of bull. Never forget what party brought us this POS kenyan born doofus.
the real problem with Obama is that the guy will not take responsibility for ANYTHING. The guy wants to blame Bush for the problems that he is creating. And it’s not working. Many who voted for Obama know he’s making excuses and it’s why they are souring on the lying scumbag Chicago criminal who is half white. At some point, this issue of blaming Bush is going to severely backfire on him as his buddies in the press start to turn on him, assuming they do. I am waiting for the TIME magazine cover, “Why is Obama a Failure?”
Already started.
Fascism will never take this nation away from its fundamental freedoms.
Pestritto is not accurate in calling Obama a progressive. He is much more that that. He is a nationalist socialist who has delusions of being the permanent ruler of America through a well organized Junta.
A matter of prediction: At best he will be de-elected. At worst he will be carried away in a pine box.
0bama is the result of a brainwashed electorate.
To take back the country, first we must take back the schools.
“Obama SAID he would be fiscally responsible, while promising everything under the sun.”
Look how well government ownership of the railroads turned out.
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