The most intriguing part of the storm surrounding Barack Obama’s involvement in the effort to remove Donald J. Trump from office is that some people still refuse to believe the allegations. There are certain Americans who continue to deny any claims concerning Barack Obama’s negative impact on the country.
Perhaps it’s that grin and laid back attitude. Or perhaps it’s his rhetorical skill set or his ability to croon Al Green tunes, or maybe it is just his knack for evoking racial remorse that causes half the nation to make excuses for Barack Obama’s troubling track record. Whatever the reason, the Obama façade is in the process of crumbling, and many Americans are admitting that people don’t change unless they agree to recognize their issues. Ergo, Barack Obama has not changed and will not change.
Surpassing even the opinions of the majority, for twenty years, the former president has displayed a level of smugness that suggests he believes he alone knows what is best for America. His sense of superiority is unmistakable, and with that kind of confidence, it’s understandable that the former community organizer would feel justified in pursuing whatever goals he deems necessary to reform America’s core ideals. Add to that his apparent self-importance and the disdain he’s shown toward things like our founding document, and toward grandmothers praying outside abortion facilities, and toward Donald Trump — and it all begins to make sense.
Despite his rhetoric about “We the people” and creating a “more perfect union,” Obama’s divisive policies have fostered the us-versus-them mentality that America now struggles with every day. From Henry Gates to Trayvon Martin, throughout his political career, Obama seized every opportunity to deepen racial divides in a country that for over two centuries had worked together to address complex issues.
Obama is committed and has consistently shaped government policy to punish any group or belief system he despises. In weaponized, politicized Obama circles, rest assured that the shadowy figure leading the anti-American crusade has always been the one at the top. However, because of the racial tensions he escalated and his ability to manipulate the nation’s mindset with words, the man who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the “diplomatic accomplishment” of being half-black has, until now, been shielded from the scrutiny he deserved for his deceitfulness, corruption, ineptitude, and ruthlessness.
An unknown author once wrote, “A toxic person only changes his victims, never himself.” Lying, reproving, spying, and stealing are common for someone who believes he is justified in doing anything to advance his agenda. For Barack Obama, progress involves secretly promoting socialist Marxist ideas on Chicago’s South Side; infiltrating the U.S. Senate; occupying the Oval Office; and, if necessary, tampering with election results.
Barack Obama’s treatment of people has provided sporadic glimpses into the former president’s true nature toward those he considers adversaries. To teach the defiant tough lessons and to drive home a message, Obama sent transgender people into the military and drag queens into women’s restrooms. To influence gun control in the U.S., Obama allowed firearms to cross the border into cartels’ hands. Obama even organized and instructed the IRS to review and deny tax-exempt status to applications that included political themes considered “anti-Obama” (whatever that means). The man has the innate ability to be cruel, self-serving, and spiteful. Just ask Putin; Netanyahu; Sam Alito; and the bitter gun-toting, Bible-clinging, anti-immigrant, racist “tea baggers,” whom Obama had just a few days before making that statement accused of being domestic terrorists.
Having spent two decades trying to navigate the minefield of division and destruction he caused from day one, Obama still publicly criticizes anyone who dares to disagree with him. The former president is proficient at manipulating an audience. Whenever Obama discusses a controversial theme, it’s with an assertiveness that suggests no one on earth dares to differ in opinion. Unpopular policies and sentiments are often presented as if there were a consensus among the majority. In his farewell speech to the nation, clever as he is, Obama found a subtle way to diminish Trump by using his all-inclusive weapon of choice, personal pronouns, to warn Americans that after he leaves office, we “must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are.”
No, Obama, what needed to be addressed were the values that make you who you are!
Despite Barack’s graceful style when suggesting that his views are mainstream, they are not, and the 2016 election proved that. To put America first, voters rejected Obama in 2016 and chose a candidate who promised a fundamental change that not only some Americans could believe in, but all Americans. The 2016 election must have been a shock because, at the time, a confident Obama was riding high on his perceived achievements. The former president fully expected a smooth transfer of power to a like-minded successor, Hillary Clinton. The obstacle to that plan was Donald Trump, who unexpectedly emerged from Trump Tower with a plan to truly “Make America Great Again.” Trump campaigned against and opposed every policy his predecessor had implemented. That clearly didn’t sit well with the person tasked with transforming the world from what it is into what he felt it should be.
Throughout his life and, most certainly, throughout his political career, the former president has never shown any significant change or softened his rhetoric, nor has he expressed any remorse for fiascos like Benghazi or the death of a 16-year-old American citizen in Yemen, who died in a drone strike he ordered. If detractors criticized him, he historically responded by doubling down on his position. Ask him, and he’ll probably tell you that he still believes that babies born alive in botched abortions should be left to die without oxygen, warmth, or hydration. The fact that Obama would likely reaffirm that belief makes his walking guns across the border, sending men into bathrooms with little girls, sending $1.7 billion in cash to the Iranians, and exchanging five Taliban prisoners for Bowe Bergdahl seem somewhat tame.
From the start, Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” mantra was more “Yes, I can do and say whatever I want.” And based on the shocking revelations surrounding the 2016, 2024, and very possibly the 2020 elections, that’s exactly what he’s been doing all along. That’s why, for those of us who see who and what he is, Barack Obama being the central figure in a bloodless coup against Donald Trump is not all that far-fetched.
Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannieology.us.
Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).