Why Does President Obama Say Such Outrageous Things?

In recent months, President Obama has made a number of statements which strike many – not just conservatives – as both false and ridiculous. 

Some examples of his utterances:

          *The Supreme Court, when deciding on the Constitutionality of Obamacare, must obey the will of Congress since to do otherwise would be “unprecedented, extraordinary”.  [Hardly.  Since 1803 (Marbury v Madison), the Supreme Court has overturned Congressional actions on 165 occasions.]

          * A 30 percent tax on those earning over one million dollars annually is necessary to “stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade”.  [He’s kidding right?  The congressional tax committee projects that such a hike would generate less than 5 billion dollars a year in revenue.  Alas, that amounts to a .1% (1/10^th not 1%!) of annual expenditures (4.7 trillion) proposed by the Administration over the next ten years.  And our budget deficit for 2011 was 1.3 trillion!

          *The budget proposal drafted by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan which has been adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives and endorsed by Mitt Romney is a “radical proposal” and a “prescription for decline”.  [Really?  The GOP budget would reform Medicaid and restructure Medicare and slow – not eliminate – the growth of the national debt at a sharper rate than the President has in mind.]

Why does Barack Obama say such outrageous things?

A cynic, like Republican campaign guru Karl Rove, says it’s all politics.  Undeniably, President Obama is a very bright, well informed individual.  He’s simply trotting out campaign themes which will solidify his Democratic Party base and turn independents against the GOP.  Certainly, he knows the statements aren’t true.

Or does he?

Maybe the President prefers to believe what he wants to.  If these were the days of the Clinton era, one would probably be correct in asserting that Bill Clinton would calculate the political impact of everything he said.  He wouldn’t necessarily believe any of it.

But Barack Obama is not Bill Clinton.  His roots are in left-wing Chicago politics.  Remember, he was a “community activist” who was a decades- long member of radical Rev. Wright’s congregation and a friend of Weatherman terrorist William Ayres. 

It is highly likely that the vocal sentiments recited above are his genuine views.  Perhaps he’s simply a “true believer”.  Since he knows the truth, there must be something wrong with those who disagree.

After all, isn’t there a high likelihood that the President’s inflammatory remarks are prompted by his belief that those in opposition can only be motivated by ignorance and/or ill-will?  He may very well be of the view that one simply cannot converse with such people in a rational, civilized manner.  They are beyond the pale and, therefore, unworthy of respect.

Is it any wonder, then, that conservatives are so hostile to President Barack Obama?