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The Obama Watch
Professor Obama Holds Forth on the Mandate
Anyone who paid tuition to attend this guy’s course on constitutional law deserves a refund.
One reason the supporters of Obamacare were initially overconfident about its supposed invulnerability to legal challenges was their belief that the man who signed it into law was an expert on the Constitution. This misplaced faith was based on statements Obama himself made during his first presidential campaign. At a 2007 fundraiser, for example, he told his admirers, “I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution.” This claim turned out, of course, to be one of Obama’s trademark shadings of the truth. He was never a “professor” as genuine academics use the term. He was, however, a part-time faculty member at the University of Chicago, where he occasionally subjected hapless students to pontifications on the nation’s founding document.
Nonetheless, some important passages of that document have apparently escaped “Professor” Obama’s memory. On August 15, during his taxpayer-funded campaign bus tour, he made several assertions about the legal travails of his “signature domestic achievement” that suggest a less-than-perfect understanding of the Constitution. In Cannon Falls, Minnesota, he comforted a visibly nervous supporter who was worried about the “conservative wing” of the Supreme Court striking down the individual mandate by saying, “If the Supreme Court follows existing precedent, existing law, it should be upheld without a problem.” He then added, “There’s nothing wrong with saying to people who can afford to get health insurance, you need to buy health insurance just like car insurance.”
The latter assertion, that the individual mandate is analogous to laws requiring people to buy auto insurance, betrays a level of ignorance concerning the difference between state prerogatives and those of Congress that wouldn’t be tolerated in a high school government class. It’s a little unnerving coming from the President of the United States. The scholar-in-chief apparently doesn’t remember that the reach of the federal government is limited to a specific set of enumerated powers and that any power not found on that short list is reserved to the states. This is why no one has filed a constitutional challenge to the insurance mandate that was imposed on the long-suffering citizenry of Massachusetts in 2006. The Romneycare mandate was wrong-headed, but it was enacted at the state level and thus does no violence to the Constitution.
The auto insurance meme fails on several other levels as well. First, although most states have such laws, they aren’t universal mandates. Rather than forcing people to buy insurance simply because they exist, as the Obamacare mandate will do, state auto insurance mandates only affect people who buy and drive automobiles. If one’s vehicle of choice is a bicycle, there is no requirement to buy coverage. In other words, a law requiring a driver to purchase auto insurance is based on a specific and voluntary action — operating a large, dangerous machine in heavily used public spaces maintained at taxpayer expense. Obamacare’s mandate, on the other hand, applies even to individuals who are doing nothing at all. It quite literally imposes a penalty on individuals who choose not to engage in a transaction.
As to Obama’s claim that the mandate will be upheld if the Supreme Court “follows existing precedent,” he might want to point out that particular precedent to his minions at the Department of Justice (DOJ). So far, the DOJ has been unequal to the task of finding a ruling in which the Court has affirmed the power of Congress to regulate inactivity via the Commerce Clause. That no such precedent exists was confirmed on August 12, by Judge Stanley Marcus, when the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the mandate unconstitutional: “[T]here is no Supreme Court decision squarely on point dictating the result that the individual mandate is within the commerce power of Congress…” This acknowledgment was particularly damning in that Judge Marcus is a supporter of the individual mandate.
In addition to failing in their quest for judicial precedents upholding the right of Congress to regulate private decisions not to engage in economic transactions, the luckless Justice Department lawyers assigned to this case haven’t even been able to locate a case in which Congress has had the audacity to claim the unlimited power implied by the individual mandate. On this point the Eleventh Circuit majority, which included a judge appointed by Bill Clinton, made itself abundantly clear: “The fact that Congress has never before exercised this supposed authority is telling… even if we focus on the modern era, when congressional power under the Commerce Clause has been at its height, Congress still has not asserted this authority.” In other words, the mandate is utterly unprecedented.
And yet our constitutional scholar-in-chief assured his admirers in Minnesota that the individual mandate is supported by “existing precedent” and is essentially no different than state requirements that drivers purchase car insurance. Cannon Falls, as it happens, was the same campaign stop at which the President also broke the news that he doesn’t mind the term “Obamacare.” Suddenly interrupting his own disquisition about the virtues of his health care “reform” law he announced, “By the way, you know what? Let me tell you, I have no problem with folks saying ‘Obama cares.’ I do care… I do care about families who have been struggling because of crushing health care costs.” At which point, his minions trundled out a young man with a blood disorder whom Obama proceeded to use as a political prop.
Presumably, Obama does indeed care about some things. This would be more comforting if they included telling the truth about his background. It would be more reassuring still if he appeared to care about the nuances of the Constitution he has sworn to uphold. If he actually believes the things he said in Cannon Falls, he was an incompetent teacher and is a dangerous man to have in the White House. If he actually knows better but chose to lie, he has demonstrated once again that what he really “cares” about is reelection. Either way, the voters need to deny him tenure on November 6, 2012.
About the Author
David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (100) | Leave a comment
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Mike Hawk| 8.23.11 @ 6:41AM
So far nobody has surfaced who attended his classes.....nor anyone he hung around with. The classes must have been great without a teleprompter. " The ..uhh.. Constitution ...uhhh,uhhh...was writtem...uhhh by...uhhhhhh...(and so on)
Mike D.| 8.23.11 @ 7:30AM
Whoaaa, now wait a minute, this guy is so intelligent and polished that he makes Cicero look like a carnival barker. Uhhhh, what uhhhh ummm teleprompter....
Teaghan| 8.23.11 @ 9:49AM
Does anyone really believe for one minute that Barry has actually read the bill? Come on now!
Drunken Sailor| 8.23.11 @ 12:06PM
He read the "Cliff Notes". Same thing isn't it?
Southern_Comment| 8.24.11 @ 7:11AM
Does anyone really believe for one minute that Barry has actually read the Constitution? Come on now!
:)
Teaghan| 8.23.11 @ 9:52AM
No galfriends either. Hmmm, maybe he doesn't dig chicks.
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:18AM
Thursday is "man/boy" love day in many Muslim countries. This may have been what he found so enchanting living in Indonesia.
RCV| 8.23.11 @ 3:51PM
You guys are pretty vile human beings.
Dai Alanye | 8.23.11 @ 4:33PM
But then, Barry O is quite a vile teller of untruths.
Skippy| 8.23.11 @ 7:57PM
Thanks!
Clint Brooks| 8.24.11 @ 1:38AM
Not as vile as your hero in the white house.
Southern_Comment| 8.24.11 @ 7:12AM
and his band of flying monkey liberals.
CESC| 8.24.11 @ 7:00PM
Yeah, we read the HuffPo for vileness instructions. That place is full of vile creatures. I would hesitate to call them human beings. At least we have cause to be opinionated about pres. zero.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:02PM
Mccaon could teach a few words of Vietnamese he learned at the Hanoi Hilton:
"ouch"
"more rice, please"
"can I have a blanket?"
"where's the soy sauce?"
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:04PM
McCain could teach a few words of Vietnamese he learned at the Hanoi Hilton:
"ouch"
"more rice, please"
"can I have a blanket?"
"where's the soy sauce?"
A.Men| 8.24.11 @ 12:37PM
Not one "friend" shows up from Obummer's past!
rightasrain| 8.23.11 @ 7:07AM
Another important distinction between the requirement to buy auto insurance and the Obamacare mandate is that people do not have to drive. It is deemed a privilege, not a right. But your mere existence makes the Obamacare mandate kick in.
Mike Hawk| 8.23.11 @ 8:32AM
Car insurance is meant to cover you in case of accident and injury primarily by someone else being involved in the accident. If you don't drive or have a car, you don't need to carry it. If you have a car, you do not need to carry collision coverage unless it is still being financed and that is to cover the loaner's investment. It covers Liability and associated bills as the result of the accident. It does not cover service and repairs and does not regulate what your mechanic can and can't do when your car needs service or repair. The comparison of Obama care/ Socialized medicine with auto insurance is not valid in any way.
MM| 8.23.11 @ 1:46PM
Let's stay on the subject of the article - it provides so much more for discussion than has been touched on.
How much did Elena Keagan contribute to his "less than perfect understanding" or his belief that there was an existing precedent? Will she recuse herself when this case goes to the Supreme Court?
There is no evidence that Obama lectured on Constitutional Law, while photos exist of him teaching from Rules for Radicals.
"Obama cares"? About himself! The healthcare monstrosity that bears his name had nothing to do with caring about anyone, but an attempt to curry favor and get his name on something he thought would get him re-elected.
Whom did he want to curry this favor with? The people it was supposedly written for? Hell, no!
The progressives who wrote it for him and convinced him that it was waterproof.
Look at the waivers. A nice trail of evidence to those for whom the favor was for.
Intelligent Design| 8.23.11 @ 7:08AM
After Obama leaves the White House in ruins in January 2013, he will become a Professor of American Un-Exceptionalism at Harvard or Columbia, his alma mater(s). He's that useless.
David W| 8.23.11 @ 9:09AM
Ya think? Or perhaps he will somehow, over the objections of many free-world countries, be elected as the head of the UN. Then he can foist his third-world ideas and plans on the entire world, dragging the west down to the level of the middle eastern and african thirld-world countries.
Intelligent Design| 8.23.11 @ 9:49AM
All the more reason for the U.S. to stop funding the UN, pull out, and turn the UN building in NYC into a condominium.
Mike D.| 8.23.11 @ 10:00AM
Better yet, how about looping a cable around the building, hooking it to a couple of cat d10's and drag it into the river where it belongs.
Mike 3/505| 8.23.11 @ 12:53PM
Mike,
D-11s. :-)
Regards,
Mike
Mike D.| 8.23.11 @ 1:20PM
Better yet!
Mike D.| 8.23.11 @ 1:20PM
Better yet!
SpiralArchitect| 8.23.11 @ 1:35PM
Bah, just allow Wal-Mart discounted rent in their absence.
sablegsd| 8.23.11 @ 9:12PM
Damn straight! I have been saying that for years.
Pecos Pete| 8.23.11 @ 10:04AM
I've ofter wondered what King O will do when he is forced out of the White House in January 2013. I don't see him returning to Chicago, that gig is done. Nor to Hawaii, too far out of sight and out of mind.
D.C., maybe. New York, maybe. Anyone have any thoughts?
David T| 8.23.11 @ 10:22AM
He'll open an office in Harlem so he can be with his peeps, like Bill Clinton, our first black president.
Buck Ofama| 8.23.11 @ 11:08AM
Willy is more "black" than Jokebama the mulatto.
MM| 8.23.11 @ 1:28PM
Oh come on David! When have the Obama's ever 'been' with other blacks?
The only peeps they hang with are from the ivies, not found much in Harlem.
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:20AM
How about we arrest him and Holder and send them to Mexico to stand trial for the murders of innocent people thanks to their illegal arms deals (i.e., Fast & Furious)?
big bob| 8.23.11 @ 1:39PM
They would be heroes down there!!!
Intelligent Design| 8.23.11 @ 3:50PM
Let's send Holder and Obama on a camping trip along the border of Arizona and Mexico. They can share their rations with the illegals.
mister Z| 8.23.11 @ 7:37AM
After Obama leaves office...here's a random, question...who gets his 'library'? Or better, who wants it?
And what will be in the library besides Executive Orders? His massive collection of scholarly articles, or his master's thesis from Columbia? Essays on the Constitution, perhaps, or letters of explanation on the finer points of the law? The slew of scholarly books he's written on international politics or policy administration?
Timothy L. Pennell| 8.23.11 @ 7:46AM
How about, JAKARTA?
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:21AM
It's "man love Thursday once a week" there.
Born_N_Texas | 8.23.11 @ 8:32AM
His teleprompter !!!!
Teaghan| 8.23.11 @ 9:50AM
His library will go down to Maxine Water's district. Maybe one of the big black buses can go on display as well.
Mike D.| 8.23.11 @ 11:48AM
Ahhh, Maxine, proof positive that you can be a mental midget and gather enough other mental midgets around you to elect you to congress.
DAC21| 8.23.11 @ 9:55AM
No problem, I'm sure his buddy Bill Ayers is already Ghost wrting all the credentials the Phony in Chief needs to fill his 100 sq. foot Library.
Buck Ofama| 8.23.11 @ 11:08AM
The library will have to be closed, as all the coloring books will have already been colored in.
Timothy L. Pennell| 8.23.11 @ 7:46AM
THANK YOU.
He was NEVER a Professor of anything. Not even part time.
He was a Guest Speaker. He RAN HIS MOUTH!
He has NEVER had a Job IN HIS LIFE.
Unless, one considers "Voting "Present" to be a job, these days.
It might be time to look at all those College Transcripts that he's got, so Transparently, LOCKED AWAY, in that VAULT, in Hawaii.
MM| 8.23.11 @ 8:44AM
While I cannot locate it, there was an email that was available between some of the faculty of the school in question that showed that the actual professors 'tolerated' Obama on the staff, but that he actually did not do anything while being allowed to be called a staff member.
Wonder if even that got 'scrubbed'?
RCV| 8.23.11 @ 3:54PM
I'm sure you can't "locate" it, because it's utter BS.
Dai Alanye | 8.23.11 @ 4:42PM
RCV will now discuss Obama's big-time Wall Street job where he dealt with German and Japanese financiers. Except he actually copy-edited cheap newsletters. BO's entire background is exaggerated.
Clint Brooks| 8.24.11 @ 1:39AM
As is RVC's intelligence.
CESC| 8.24.11 @ 7:05PM
Intelligence? He just poops out liberal BS daily. No intelligence needed.
Von Mises Jr.| 8.23.11 @ 7:48AM
Our Constitution is based on inalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. This means government "shall make no law" infringing on these rights. So ObamaCare, that denies life saving medical treatment is in direct conflict withour Constitution.
This is not the case for car insurance as the author so clearly describes.
Ryan Rupe| 8.23.11 @ 8:27AM
Let him keep talking about his signature achievement. The more he does speak about this unpopular law the more 2012 will be a referendum about him and the greater the chance he loses. Then, in 2013, the new Congress can pass H.R. 1 and S 1 and repeal this attack on our liberty.
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:16AM
Amen.
VBMax| 8.23.11 @ 8:52AM
Whoever paid for Obama's university "education"
should get a refund.
Buck Ofama| 8.23.11 @ 11:10AM
This USSA taxpayer will gladly accept the refund.
Dan Hirsch| 8.23.11 @ 9:09AM
David;
You write:
""I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution." This claim turned out, of course, to be one of Obama's trademark shadings of the truth. He was never a "professor" as genuine academics use the term."
We are in very difficult times - times when time is of the essence and we really don't have time to shilly-shally, and run around being 'nuanced.'
Call a spade a spade. President Obama knows that he was not a "professor," he means to deceive by calling himself a "professor" saying so to bolster others' belief in him, and he did so. Those attributes add up to one thing,
a lie.
The President lied. The President lies regularly, almost as much as he tells the truth. And as a self-proclaimed professor of law, he should be conversant with the concepts of truth and falsity.
Obama, you lie! We've heard that before, haven't we? Why mince words, David. No time for niceties.
So President Obama is truly a 'Professor' in the Music Man's Howard Hill mode: he doesn't know music, he can't play a single instrument, and he doesn't know the territory! So he teaches others, less knowledgeable than himself to do what he cannot. There's your Professorship, Mr. Obama.
Why did the Democrats not see him for the Professor that he is and run him out of town?
Oh, yes, I forgot-they think that way, too. For example, Mr. 'what the meaning of is is" Bill Clinton, himself...
David, the President is a second rate, inveterate, intemperate liar, who does so for the promotion of himself over the welfare of the Nation.
At least Bill Clinton was good at it!
Sheesh....
Pete| 8.23.11 @ 9:46AM
At least Clinton considered "plausible deniability" before he let some of the whoppers he told escape his lips. Obama doesn't think twice, because he always has the race card in his back pocket if anyone dares call him out.
Louis Jenkins| 8.23.11 @ 9:10AM
A man may claim what he wants to claim about himself. However, when the rubber hits the road it can go all to pieces. Obama says he's a Constitutional scholar? Give us a break!! His entire tenure and administration has nothing to do with the Constitution, in fact, they'd use it for toilet paper if it weren't protected! Thanks for the article Mr. Catron, but we already realize Obama is no Constitutional scholar, and never will be.
hardcard| 8.23.11 @ 9:13AM
You ask ,"Whoever paid for his university education" the answer is "we did". Diversity, you know wake-up !!!
Redstateboy| 8.23.11 @ 9:58AM
The more I learn about Hussein - the people who support him I do disdain.
Dave | 8.23.11 @ 10:03AM
With all of Obama's political dung laying around in the streets for all to see and suffer with, our beltway Republicans and their professional prognosticators continue the offensive against any Republican or Tea Party candidate who has the unmitigated gall to carry around actual conservative credentials in their attache case. Rocket boys like Karl Rove and the rest of his minions continue opining that -- "we need a candidate not so radical in their views and concepts as to turn off potential swing voters with more that two functioning brain cells to rub together." In analyzing drivel like that, I'm guessing G.W.'s former b.s. advisor would prefer our next presidential pick be someone in the mold of a ... (oh, let's see) John McCain? Or maybe a Mitt "I Brake for Mandates" Romney? Sorry, Karlton. Been there, done that. Don't want no more!
Incidentally, Karly, how'd that last RINO work out for us?
crickets ...
Here's a suggestion, Karlo: Pack your tooth brush and some extra socks, then go away and enjoy a nice long vacation at Thumb Suck Mountain Resort. After you're all signed in and registered, order a few frosty ones and prepare to leave the rest of us alone to select an honest to God conservative who might actually have a chance at winning this next election.
The way I see it, and with Barry's current production results, winning next November shouldn't be all that tough. But if we end up supporting another blobby butt like Mumbles McCain, we might as well join you up there on Thumb Suck Mountain. The kitchen smells will wafting the aroma of burned toast.
Let's see if we're smarter ... this last time.
Dick Nome| 8.23.11 @ 10:13AM
I told a joke to an assembly of people once. It was about a blind mule. I didn't claim thereafter to be an Optometrist or a mule skinner. Furthermore the joke wasn't about Obama either.
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:24AM
Barack Obama is the posterboy for the failure of affirmative action. Let's see the grades Barack (who failed to get tenure).
Jeamar3u| 8.23.11 @ 12:26PM
MT: Mr. Obama would not be eligible for tenure since he was not really a professor although many college/university students refer to their instructors as professors being under the delusion they are actually being taught by professors. In Az. Obama would probably be considered an "adjunct faculty member." They are usually high school teachers with post graduate degrees teaching night school. Beside not be eligible for tenure, they do not receive any benefits. That sounds more like the truth about Obama's "scholarship." He is basically a con man and a fraud in all cases.
RCV| 8.23.11 @ 3:55PM
He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and could run intellectual circles around most of the posters here. Jealousy, Jealousy....
Wayne | 8.23.11 @ 4:09PM
By running in circles, you mean get nowhere right?
Dai Alanye | 8.23.11 @ 4:58PM
Obama isn't stupid, and probably has an IQ near 120. But he has an apparent inability to learn from experience, something even most retarded folks can do. Witness his dealing with the economy.
The difficulty is probably caused by his narcissism, a mental disorder that causes the sufferer to vastly overrate his own abilities, and which makes it extremely difficult to acknowledge flawed actions or opinions.
VBMax| 8.23.11 @ 5:09PM
Intelligence and ethics are not related. Intelligence is of the mind while ethics is of the spirit.
Clint Brooks| 8.24.11 @ 1:41AM
Then expalin why he hasn't figured anything out yet and never sees anything coming. Grow up tard boy.
CESC| 8.24.11 @ 7:11PM
We've seen Perry's school records. Where are pres. zero's? Oh yeah, typical libtard. They don't have to reveal their records. We just have to trust him that he graduated with honors. Yeah, OK. Sure. And, he has run no circles with anyone unless he has the teleprompter-in-chief nearby. The man is simply not as smart as the fawning media would have you believe. He is a simple liberal regurgitation machine, a manchurian president.
Riff Raff| 8.25.11 @ 11:09AM
Uh, no offense RCV, but this is preposterous. It is clearly EVIDENT that O'Bozo can't run "intellectual circles" around a small room of grade school teachers, wherein he required a teleprompter for a short speech. Listening to him without his teleprompter is painful, as he stumbles and stutters, unable to put together a coherent sentence. This is not a claim, this is fact in evidence. Jealousy?! Hardly. I'll match my intellect against that dolt's any day.
susan W| 8.23.11 @ 10:59AM
I totally agree with what you said. Great post. However, Cannon Falls is a little town in southern Minnesota.
jshizzle| 8.23.11 @ 11:25AM
It really is remarkable how inept and unintelligent he is. I would bet $100 that the reviled, evil Boosh's grades are much higher than Obama's. Obama has clearly skirted by on his race his whole life. There is just no other rational explanation for how someone so ignorant rose to the Presidency.
Oldefarte| 8.23.11 @ 11:38AM
The COMMUNITY ORGANZER-IN-CHIEF knows about as much on this subject as he does economic and financial matters, which is to say........ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!
PAUL| 8.23.11 @ 12:14PM
This is the end game of affirmative action, a President that has not run so much as a lemonade stand.
no name| 8.23.11 @ 12:22PM
Only a foreigner could think, reason and say the ingorant things he say's about this country. No number of fake, false, artificial, immitation, nor counterfeit birth certificate can over come! If it walks like.....
gundog76| 8.23.11 @ 12:28PM
Cannon Falls, MINNESOTA !!!
George S| 8.23.11 @ 1:45PM
The constitutional arguments about required insurance is a subterfuge. What is really at issue is the blurring of the distinction of economic decision and commerce.
In order for commerce to take place, and hence the regulation thereof, an economic decision must first be made. For example: if I walk past a gun store and choose not to go in and buy a gun, I have made an economic decision that impacts both me and the store owner -- I want the money more than I want the gun and the proprietor still has the gun (which he finds less desirable than my money). However, if I make a positive economic decision to buy the gun, commerce has taken place. Now the regulatory reach of Congress applies: I have to undergo a background check, fill out permit forms, etc.
So what is the difference if I pass by an insurance store without partaking their wares? Well, sayeth the government, your economic decision not to purchase insurance affects everybody because they have to pay more to cover people who cannot pay their bills (a morality tale for another day). This affects commerce and therefore we can regulate it and therefore we can require you to purchase insurance. Well, no sh*t, it certainly did affect commerce -- but so did my decision not to buy a gun.
Yet those economic decisions (buy, yes or no?) are made billions of times a day. Today I need socks, tomorrow a plumber. The literally countless of other offerings made available by free people and free enterprises are routinely ignored by millions of people -- except when a need arises. Today, I have no need for health insurance. Who knows what tomorrow brings.
This is only the start. If government can extrapolate their own version of economic chaos from the individuals personal economic decision making -- especially negative decisions -- then there is no freedom. For the very essence of freedom is to be left alone.
Jack London| 8.23.11 @ 5:06PM
'Today, I have no need for health insurance. Who knows what tomorrow brings.'
If you don't know what's happening tomorrow George then you need insurance today I reckon.
Ground Control| 8.25.11 @ 11:13AM
Whether he needs it or not, whether he buys it or not, is HIS decision, not yours and not the government's. The US government has no more authority to order George, or anyone else, to buy health insurance than it does ordering anyone to buy toothpaste. The notion that it may be a good idea is no grantor of power to the US government.
ABNCP| 8.23.11 @ 1:50PM
As I have posted before. This disaster of a President only provides misinformation, disinformatin, half truths and damm lies. Has done since forever. Because so many Americans had their brains scrambled up by the progressive B.S the lame stream media vomits out, liberal political snake oil salemanship, big smiles, and the let's show that we can all be friends and elect a minority that this incompetant boob got elected.
Maybe, just maybe the majority of the people in this country are starting to realize the horrible mistake that was made in 2008.
john| 8.23.11 @ 2:30PM
Obama; My grandfather was a muslim , my father was a muslim, I lived in 3 muslim countries, I'm guided by these experiences.
And can we forget; there is no nicer sound than the call to prayer in the evening.
Anthony| 8.23.11 @ 2:39PM
This POS law lecturer cum president is not only ignorant of what the Constitution says, he is a pathological liar to boot.
The unconstitutional mandate in his signature legislation is just the first of Obozo's blatant disregards and total distain for the Constitution, because it inhibits his power.
Don't forget his recent presidential edict suspending legislation enacted by Congress to stop the deportation of illegal aliens.
Don't forget his uniltateral destruction of energy production in this country as well as his other assault on the Constitution, "Operation Fast and Furious".
He needs to be impeached yesterday; that said, we damn well had better rid ourselves of him in 2012, or the Constitution will be torn to shreds by him on national television.
Anthony| 8.23.11 @ 2:42PM
P.S. How could I forget, his" kinetic military action" a.k.a. WAR, undeclared by the Congress of the U.S.A.
lady2b2c| 8.23.11 @ 3:16PM
President Obama has done zero to create jobs unfortunately...
He could start by ending the Outsourcing of US jobs and punish corporations through new tax codes that would tax them at a higher rate until they bring the work back to the USA, More jobs = less UE & welfare. It would also replenish the SS monetary fund. Put Americans back to work. then, Fix Medicaid, It is reported that billions of dollars have been wasted over the last several years. There are private and public sector companies working on solutions. DHS is one of them www.datahealthsystems.com. It is time to put America first, AGAIN.
Ask why our government does not look for common sense solutions.
Rick| 8.23.11 @ 5:11PM
Your a bigget and a rasist!
John II| 8.23.11 @ 6:22PM
"Presumably, Obama does indeed care about some things."
True. There is a great body of evidence to suggest that the Professor cares passionately about himself.
And now back to "Horse Feathers" (1932), in which Groucho Marx plays a REAL professor--or rather, plays a huckster at Huxley College (i.e., a college president) with the title of Professor in the course of sending up the pretensions of people who call themselves "professor"--or rather, . . . whatever.
Gee, I wish Groucho Marx were with us today so he could tell us how he feels about the Professor. "And to think that I wanted a competent president; imagine my disappointment when the Professor came along."
bluecollarbytes| 8.23.11 @ 6:54PM
Didn't Obama complain at least once about "the federal government being limited to a specific set of enumerated powers and that any power not found on that short list is reserved to the states."?
As I remember, he acknowledged the 'constitutional problem' of the Federal govt wielding all sorts of powers not specifically granted in the constitution.
Obama knows full well he oversteps the constitution. There's nothing to be gained by giving obama the 'benefit of the doubt', or assuming it must be his stupidity, or ignorance of the constitution.
Brubaker| 8.23.11 @ 7:09PM
The auto insurance meme fails on at least one other major point: The auto insurance that states require drivers to carry is liability insurance, the insurance that protects other people from harm caused by you.
That is very different from the health insurance mandate which requires that individuals purchase insurance to cover their own health problems.
John OB| 8.23.11 @ 8:43PM
When he refers to "existing precedent" he means because it is so. He just pulls it out of the air. His own Constitutional eligibility was questionable from the start, so the list of unconstitutionalties grows ever longer from there.
adi | 8.23.11 @ 11:07PM
nice share..... nice cars and free wallpapers
POST American| 8.24.11 @ 12:06AM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE------------------------
--'90's Show' Rock--F--L--O Tavistock Institute
'Calm--place--n'---see' SAP OP --ALERT!---
Richard Baker| 8.24.11 @ 1:22AM
Constitutional scholar/professor? This guy is upset because the Constitution, as he has said, says what the Federal government can't do (you know, limited enumerated powers) and not what the Federal government should do. This guy is supposed to be an intellectual?
Farhan | 8.24.11 @ 2:54AM
Better yet!
________________
http://sticky.tk
hperfuse 2011 | 8.24.11 @ 3:59AM
Not as vile as your hero in the white house.
Luis Stecca| 8.24.11 @ 4:46AM
Hey, do you think they'll ever name an aircraft carrier after Obama ? Can you imagine that.. The USS Barack Hussein Obama..
Nah, that'll never happen... Harry Belafonte's banana boat, maybe.. But a US Naval Vessel, no way !!
fwb| 8.24.11 @ 10:02AM
What people do not understand is that a course on Constitutional Law is no where close to being a course on the Constitution. The gap between the two is wider that the Pacific Ocean. Constitutional Law is the "law" as sqeezed out of the Constitution by a bunch of thugs in black robes who supposedly have the special ability to know things that are not readily apparent to the common people. Funny, it was the common people who created the document. And the folks who claim the authority to "interpret" the document are subordinate to the document. Next time you talk with your boss, tell him his job. See you in the unemployment line.
Never vote for anyone who has ever held an elected office.
shipley130| 8.24.11 @ 6:36PM
The geniuses that brought free emergency medical care are now asking that you all pay for care that you may never receive.
Lakewood Bob| 8.25.11 @ 2:12AM
Years ago Obama said that "the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties and reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day." These words are antithetical to everything the Founders believed and clearly demonstrates Obama's disdain for the both the Founders and the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson: "On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying to determine what meaning can be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
The Constitution is not and was not intended to be Esoteric! The American people through the States are the ultimate arbiters of the meaning and applications of the Constitution; not the Supreme Court, not the Congress, and especially not the Executive Branch!
BTW; there is no legitimacy to the concept of 'Constitutional Law.' We either have a Constitution or we don't! Court decisions don't change the Constitution; only Amendments do!