Out of curiosity I typed in the phrase “Obama goes after” into a search engine and found that President Obama likes to “go after” people and companies on a regular basis.
Here is a small sampling of what I found:
Obama goes after health insurers in weekly address – TheHill.com:
President Barack Obama on Saturday took square aim at health insurance companies who he says are holding up reform with “deceptive and dishonest ads” and “studies designed to mislead the American people.”
“It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar,” Obama said. “Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.
“In fact, the insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo.”
Now The White House Is Fighting With Car Website Edmunds.com:
It is an odd, and we’d say regrettable, pattern of this White House that it lets itself get dragged down into fights with specific media outlets.
But in addition to Fox News, now The White House is going after highly-respected and influential car site Edmunds.com.
They’re actually using The White House blog to dispute the site’s analysis of Cash-For-Clunkers (via Detroit News).
The post is snarkily titled: “Busy Covering Car Sales on Mars, Edmunds.com Gets It Wrong (Again) on Cash for Clunkers”
Seriously, what’s the point of this? Clunkers is over. It just makes The White House look thin-skinned, though it’s great publicity for Edmunds. And yes, Clunkers massively distorted this morning’s GDP number, as we demonstrated here, but we’re with Edmunds that it was a giant waste with little long-term benefit.
Obama Goes After CIA to Gain Cover on the Left:
After vowing not to become involved in recriminations over the Bush anti-terror policies, President Obama has allowed his attorney general, Eric Holder, to appoint a special prosecutor to dig up all the dirt he can find on the CIA and the anti-terror investigators whose aggressive questioning saved us from countless attacks.
Obama needs political cover, so he is creating a three-ring circus for the media by naming a special prosecutor to conduct a likely leaky investigation designed to throw dirt at the CIA. The exposures he is likely to make will dominate the headlines even as Obama disingenuously retreats from his campaign commitments on Iraq and on foreign policy in general. And, the investigation may even make enough noise to permit a retreat on health care.
Obama Goes After GOP Senator on Health Care:
With the health care debate heating up, President Obama went after a prominent Republican senator today.
DeMint, who supports tax breaks to help consumers buy private insurance, echoed GOP criticism of the Obama-backed stimulus bill in responding to the president’s comments.
“The last time the President made grand promises and demanded passage of a bill before it could be reviewed, we ended up with the colossal stimulus failure and unemployment near 10 percent,” he said in a statement.
Obama Goes After the Multinationals:
President Barack Obama has proposed outlawing offshore tax-avoidance techniques in a move that could hit US corporations with overseas divisions.
His proposals would axe some tax deductions for firms that earn profits in countries with low tax rates.
His plan envisages 800 extra federal agents to police the laws, and may reap $210bn (£140bn) in tax over the decade.
The president said he wanted to “make it easier” for US companies to create jobs at home.
Oh boy – its the 1930s all over again. It’s protectionism in a different guise. However Obama might find that the only jobs created out of this will the the “800 extra federal agents” as all the American corporates make a dash for more friendlier , low tax, countries.
Obama Goes After Critics, Not Terrorists:
There is something incredibly wrong when the White House and the Democratic Party cares more about going after critics in the media like Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santelli, and Jim Cramer than going after terrorists.
What can we take from these acts of desperation? Well I think the obvious thing is that the Obama campaign didn’t end on Election Day… it is still in full force. The difference between now and before the inauguration is that Obama can (and will) use government resources to bully and/or silence his critics. I fully expect that conservative pundits will find themselves audited at least once over the next four years… a similar intimidation tactic used by the Clinton administration.
In the end this tactic of attacking Obama’s critics, especially Rush Limbaugh, will backfire.
The Democrats, now lead by Barack Hussein Obama, are attempting to make up for their lack of leadership by making Rush Limbaugh their scapegoat… But the notion that Rush leads the GOP is just as silly as saying Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann lead the Democrat Party.
Any President should have bigger fish to fry than his critics in the media. He fooled a lot of people on Election Day into thinking he was ready to be president, but he has yet to act presidential while in office.
Obama Goes after Ammo, Gun Owners
Obama has decided to attack gun owners as expected by limiting ammunition. Now as the article shows, DoD is now going to take away jobs and profit from American Companies so we can sell the brass to China for a lesser amount of money. Gun owners and sportsmen must be sure not only to contact their Congressman and Senators but we at home need to make sure where folks like Jack Conway and Dan Monjairdo stand. And I voted for Obama, God forgive me.
Obama Goes After Dissenting Democrats:
Nothing like a nasty, internecine battle in the Democrat party to warm a GOP heart:
“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother.” That’s what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.
A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration’s stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president’s budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.
Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy. Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.
Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the “party of no.” But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.
Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama’s plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats. And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.
Obama is not just President of the United States, but Il Duce of the Party-State, and just as with certain other such leaders of the past, he’s determined that the Führerprinzip be obligatory on all party underlings. As Obamunism is now to be the bearer of the American National Ideal, to be opposed to Obama is to be, in a large sense, opposed to America.
Obama goes after media for ‘enemies list’ rumor
President Obama attacked the media today for helping circulate a story that the White House is compiling an “enemies list.”
“This is another example of how the media ends up just completely distorting what’s taking place,” Obama said.
The story started when the White House asked supporters to forward “fishy” claims about Democratic healthcare legislation, the goal being to check and refute those claims.
Critics said that forwarding emails would let the White House compile a list of political opponents.
Obama said today that he just wants to be responsive to concerns about the bill and help correct misinformation.
Obama Goes After Flexible Spending Healthcare Accounts:
Those tax-free spending accounts that you and your co-workers use to help pay for dental work, insurance copayments or over-the-counter drugs face a hit under the health overhaul bills in Congress – unless a coalition that includes a powerful union, insurers and others can stop it.
Workers can use the accounts to save pretax income, which then can be used to reimburse a range of medical expenses, including dental and vision costs, prescription and over-the-counter medications and copays and deductibles – again without being taxed.
Obama Goes After Food Giant:
Crain’s Chicago Business has a front page story on how the Obama administration through the NLRB is putting big time pressure on the giant US Foodservice Inc. They are based in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont. The Teamsters who are organizing to represent the employees are in a tough fight.
The NLRB is pushing more than a hundred complaints of illegal union busting tactics. Crain’s reports that the NLRB has “rebuffed the company’s settlement attempts, underscoring the seriousness of the charges.”
Both sides, US Foodservice on the one hand and the Teamsters, the Obama administration, the NLRB and the Democratically controlled Congress see this as part of the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act.
Obama Goes After Sheriff Joe:
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is an American hero. Arpaio spent 25 years as a special agent with the DEA stationed in Turkey and Mexico, and finally to the position of head of the DEA’s Arizona branch. He became the Maricopa County Arizona sheriff in 1992 and has been re-elected four consecutive times. That alone tells you something.
He serves inmates bologna sandwiches, outlawed sexually explicit material, broadcasts classical music, opera and Frank Sinatra hits throughout the jail, uses tents to house inmates and makes them wear pink underwear and uses pink handcuffs. What a guy.
In the past his detractors have included Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.
Now the Obama administration is going after him because he orders his staff to deport illegal immigrants.
In a letter dated March 10, 2009, Loretta Smith, acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ, detailed what her department would be investigating:
“This is to inform you that the United States Department of Justice is commencing an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (”MCSO”) pursuant to the pattern or practice provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,42 U.S.C. §14141 (”Section 14141″) and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,42 U.S.C. § 3789d (”Safe Streets Act”), and pursuant to the prohibitions against national origin discrimination in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-7 (”Title Yr’) and the Safe Streets Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3789d(c).”
The letter continues: “The investigation will focus on alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO, and on allegations of national origin discrimination, including failure to provide meaningful access to MCSO services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.”
What are they saying? Does this mean that they cannot target hispanics anymore? Maybe they should be looking for illegal French people? The real twist on this is the people Arpaio and his staff are deporting on the ones they find right inside their jail.
Concerning the DOJ’s investigation, Arpaio told CNSNews.com: “I will not back down. What I am doing is upholding the laws of the state of Arizona, and I will not be persuaded to turn my back on my oath of office as sheriff of this county.”
“While the Sheriff’s illegal immigration and human smuggling operations conducted on the streets and roadways here have netted nearly 2,300 arrests, another very successful effort to locate illegal aliens has been quietly happening inside Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails,” the release said.
It continues: “Despite the growing criticism of the Sheriff’s illegal immigration fight by some valley politicians and activists, Sheriff Arpaio says 60 detention officers trained by ICE officials have conducted over 106,000 interviews and investigations of inmates booked into jail since April of 2007.
“In those 18 months, 16,000 inmates were determined to be illegal aliens. Either they have already been deported or will be deported after being tried and/or serving their sentences for crimes committed in the valley. The work being done be Arpaio’s detention staff is a likely contributor to the recent reduction in crime in the valley,” the press release added.
“That number of 16,000 represents a full one-third (1/3) of all inmates in the United States who have had holds placed on them after being identified by jail or prison officials as illegal aliens.” Full story [here].
ICE training is not something that’s exclusive to Maricopa County.
Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries wants to give some of his officers extra arrest powers when it comes to enforcing immigration violations against certain immigrants here illegally.
Fries wants at least 10 of his officers – and possibly up to 20 – from both the traffic and confinement divisions to enter into a program dubbed 287(g) and conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The program would give those officers the power to arrest people for immigration violations if they are also charged with serious felonies or driving while intoxicated.
“The arrest powers could be used only in those officers’ normal course of duty, according to ICE regulations. Fries said it would apply to all illegal immigrants. According to Fries, he feels the program would be backed by anyone who was here legally, including immigrants.
“There’s a right way to come here,” Fries said.
Apparently Obama’s administration doesn’t agree with Arpaio or Fries.
Amazing.
Amazing indeed.
President Obama has been office for less than one year, yet he has targeted free speech on numerous occasions, law enforcement officers who uphold immigration laws, republicans and democrats who don’t agree with his policies, news media stations, radio and talk show hosts, gun and ammunition owners, private citizens, small and large businesses, car websites, insurance companies, just to name a few examples.
I would ask who President Obama will go after next, but he’s running out of targets.
