The American Spectator

The Obama Watch

Much has been made by the political left of Richard Nixon's infamous enemies list. The reality is most of those named were people who did not receive presidential Christmas cards or White House reception invitations.

In contrast, Barack Obama has a real enemies list the peace prize-winner and his proxies have attacked during the past year, including the minority of news outlets that do not worship the media's latest false idol.

In August 2008, the Obama campaign implored the Justice Department to levy criminal charges against those funding an American Issues Project commercial that proved embarrassing to Obama. Days later, the campaign sent an "Obama Action Wire" to thousands of liberal activists exhorting them to harass Chicago's WGN radio because an on-air guest unearthed university documents that contradicted Obama's claims about his long-time ties to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

In the autumn, state prosecutors and top sheriffs in the swing state of Missouri who were prominent Obama supporters complied with a chilling Obama campaign request. The officials threatened to prosecute media outlets that printed or broadcasted material they deemed to be inaccurate about the Democratic nominee.

In the final days before the election, three newspapers that endorsed John McCain were booted from the Obama campaign bus. The New York Post, Dallas Morning News and Washington Times were unceremoniously shown the door immediately after their papers' endorsements appeared and were replaced with Jet and Ebony magazines.

In only his third full day as president Obama personally went on the offensive against a media personality. Obama warned Congressional Republicans against listening to Rush Limbaugh. The man who offered to sit down with Holocaust denier and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drew a line in the sand regarding a born-in-the-heartland radio talk show host.

Earlier this year, Justice Department political appointees killed a six-month investigation by career DOJ lawyers into the most blatant voter intimidation case in 40 years. Last November, jack-booted, uniformed, baton-wielding thugs from the New Black Panther Party obstructed a Philadelphia polling location and behaved in an intimidating manner toward white voters, apparently for having the appearance of someone who might possibly vote for McCain.

Only weeks into his term, Obama established several embarrassing presidential firsts including targeting private individuals by names, assigning Shauna Daly a well-known "partisan dirt-digger" and non-lawyer to the White House Counsel's Office to likely gain access to Bush Administration documents protected under attorney-client privilege, and moving the senior political advisor into the West Wing. Daly left the White House after a mere month and returned to the Democratic National Committee where using privileged attorney-client information in opposition research would set a new low in unethical practices.

At the cost of denigrating the Office of the President, Obama's chief political strategist attacked a 21-year-old beauty pageant contestant whose public views were out of step with those of Administration allies. Fifty-four year-old David Axelrod appeared on National Public Radio last May and insisted Carrie Prejean was one of three finalists for the Obama family dog. An NPR studio audience showered Axelrod with cheers. Weeks before, Prejean was victimized by a militant homosexual judge who was angered she did not enthusiastically endorse gay marriage during the Miss USA competition.

Earlier in the spring, the Department of Homeland Security circulated a document warning law enforcement of an alleged threat posed by "domestic rightwing terrorists." Included in the group of potential terrorists were individuals who are pro-life, support the Second Amendment and oppose the flood of illegal aliens. The DHS pamphlet also singled out military veterans as possible domestic terrorists in-waiting.

White House targets include sectors of an entire industry. A common thread among the list of 789 Chrysler dealerships ordered closed by the White House is that the owners donated to GOP candidates, Republican-leaning causes or donated to Hillary Clinton or John Edwards during the Democratic presidential primaries.

Apparently successful franchises such as Chrysler's highest-rated 5-star dealerships were ordered closed in favor of less successful car lots and the consistent discriminator was which political party the owners supported. Reportedly, the closure list was drawn up by the office of the then-car czar, Steven Rattner. It is no surprise that Rattner's wife is Maureen White, the former Democratic National Committee Finance Chair.

Also targeted during the auto industry purge were financial institutions that did not willingly accept Obama's political demands in Chrysler's restructuring. One fund manager reported being on the receiving end of a profanity-laced tirade by Rattner that included threats to use the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission in gangster-like enforcement roles.

At mid-year, the White House ordered the firing of Gerald Walpin as Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service after Walpin discovered a key Obama supporter misused federal grant money. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson squandered $850,000 in grant funds to inflate staff salaries and pay for personal services instead of the intended purpose of tutoring impoverished schoolchildren. Walpin's firing was in direct violation of a federal statute barring the removal of an IG without first filing a 30-day notice with Congress.

When the Tea Party movement was at its height, the White House publicized an email address, encouraging supporters to turn-in neighbors who opposed the Obama Administration's socialized medicine proposals. In a similar vein, the White House began collecting and archiving comments from social-networking sites without disclosing these practices to the public.

The Department of Health and Human Services threatened health insurance companies against communicating with their customers over proposed legislative measures implying the agency would punish offenders when it came to Medicare reimbursement.

Color of Change, a deeply partisan group founded by Obama political appointee Van Jones, launched a boycott effort against Fox News personality Glenn Beck. The talk show hosted outed Jones for his crackpot theory that George Bush was complicit in the September 11th terrorist attacks.

In recent weeks, the White House escalated its assault against Fox News, urging other news organizations to sever ties with the news channel. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Communications Director Anita Dunn and Axelrod attacked FNC for -- among other things -- fact-checking false statements made by Veterans Affair assistant secretary Tammy Duckworth. In comparison, the Obama Administration was silent when CNN's Wolf Blitzer hosted a newscast that fact-checked a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch that lampooned Obama.

The Obama Administration has media accomplices when it holds free speech hostage. The New York Times, the self-anointed Praetorian Guard of the First Amendment, editorialized against Fox News and for Obama, omitting troublesome facts and mischaracterizing events. The paper abandoned the role of media watchdog, and served as Obama's lap dog. The New York Times' political support of a controversial leader is reminiscent of events of 75 years ago. It was Richard Euringer, the library director in Essen, Germany, who endeared himself to the regime in the mid-1930s by selecting more than 18,000 works to be burned for not conforming to the Nazi ideology.