"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." Even if there were a different interpretation possible of this statement, no wise or true leader would utter the words, knowing the pain and hurt they might cause. Such words are windows to the soul.
Amen to that. . .
His limited understanding of the history of civilization, of the Founders' ideas of liberty, and his failure to appreciate the remarkable opportunities resulting from the Founders' work make him look foolish and provincial. Apparently, his professors and mentors immersed him in Mao, Marx and Lenin, in order to mold him in that direction. Pity that his own intellectual curiosity was either lacking or did not prepare him for leadership of a free society, but only for the role of organizing robots who would do his bidding and that of wealthy people like George Soros.
In 1776, America's Founders abandoned the European model and triggered the greatest explosion of liberty for individuals, the greatest opportunity for individual achievement, and the most prosperous and wealthy nation on earth.
Leaders of that day, including Edmund Burke in his "Speech on Conciliation. . . ," as well as early American historians, made note of the astounding difference between the American and European economies. They also noted the difference between the amount of individual liberty which existed for citizens.
While Europe struggled with oppressive government intervention, the genius Founders of America recognized enduring truths about human nature, the human tendency to abuse power, and the possibilities of liberty for individuals. Richard Frothingham's 1872 "History of the Rise of the Republic of the United States," Page 14, contained the following footnote item on the condition of citizens of France:
"Footnote 1. M. de Champagny (Dublin Review, April, 1868) says of France, 'We were and are unable to go from Paris to Neuilly; or dine more than twenty together; or have in our portmanteau three copies of the same tract; or lend a book to a friend: or put a patch of mortar on our own house, if it stands in the street; or kill a partridge; or plant a tree near the road-side; or take coal out of our own land: or teach three or four children to read, . .. without permission from the civil government.'
Clearly the government of France laid an oppressive regulatory and tax burden on citizens, robbing them of their Creator-endowed liberty and enjoyment thereof. Frothingham observed that such coercive power constituted "a noble form robbed of its lifegiving spirit."
In 2010, our so-called "progressive" leaders who have been nurtured by the ideas of Mao, Marx, and Lenin, are attempting to take America back to the bad old days of European-style planning and control.
Too bad their Ivy League educations have not schooled them in ancient wisdom literature, in Adam Smith's understanding of the "Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," and in the ideas of liberty which made America a place where millions of oppressed Europeans fled to find freedom and prosperity!
Taking from those who inoovate and achieve, and "redistributing" it to others, both here and abroad, who simply wait to be enslaved, is not the mark of a leader. It is the mark of a petty despot.