Conservativeblogwatch.com

By Dennis Mullin

CONTEMPT: Obama makes little effort to conceal his contempt for American institutions, its history and its culture. He promised change of the sort that Middle Americans could understand, but instead has jumped the shark and has more in common with Vladimir Putin than with Germany’s Merkle on everything from the role of government in the economy to foreign policy.

 Witness the flap over Arizona simply adopting what is technically already national law on immigration. All the simple 10-page measure says is that if someone is stopped for a suspected criminal offense, it is fair to ask them if they are here legally. In other words has the alleged criminal already committed another crime? That gave the hysterical Obama establishment a pretext to go berserk over racial profiling – which is explicitly prohibited by the Arizona statute.

UNREAD: Testifying in Congress the Attorney General and the Director of Homeland Security both blasted the Arizona law, before admitting they hadn’t had time to even read it. The Democratic Party has passed a 2,000 page health care bill which nobody read – and is now rapidly imploding upon itself. They don’t even know the laws they are entrusted to enforce, and even if they do, they only carry them out selectively.

This week the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official said that his agency will not process illegal immigrants referred by Arizona authorities. John Morton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security said, "I don't think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution. The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, he said, and not a patchwork of state laws.

The law is not "good government," Morton said. In response to Morton's comments, DHS officials said President Obama has ordered the Department of Justice to examine the civil rights and other implications of the law. "That review will inform the government's actions going forward," DHS spokesman Matt Chandler told Fox News.

BREAKING LAWS: In other words, the President has instructed his officials to break the laws Congress has already passed. The top immigration official in the country is going to refuse to carry out his assigned duties because he doesn’t like the law. That is typical of this administration, which turns a blind eye to its own transgressions, assaults it foes mercilessly, and is stealing taxpayer money with reckless abandon.

Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said ICE is not obligated to process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities. "ICE has the legal discretion to accept or not to accept persons delivered to it by non-federal personnel," Napolitano said. "It also has the discretion to deport or not to deport persons delivered to it by any government agents, even its own." So, she doesn’t care about the Arizona law, she wants the one out of 10 people in Arizona who are here illegally to STAY.

And, border apprehensions in Arizona, where roughly 500,000 to a million illegal immigrants are estimated to be living, are up 6 percent since October, according to federal statistics. Roughly 6.5 million residents live in Arizona.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, said it appeared the Obama administration is "nullifying existing law" and suggested Morton may not be the right person for his post if he fails to enforce federal immigration law. "If he feels he cannot enforce the law, he shouldn't have the job," Sessions told Fox. "That makes him, in my view, not fulfilling the responsibilities of his office."

NO STATE’S RIGHTS: Sessions said the U.S. government has "systematically failed" to enforce federal immigration law and claimed Morton's statement is an indication that federal officials do not plan on working with Arizona authorities regarding its controversial law. "They're telegraphing to every ICE agency in America that they really don't intend on cooperating with Arizona," Sessions said. "The federal government should step up and do it. It's their responsibility."

The immigration debate has exploded nationwide with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showing 64 percent of Americans support Arizona's new law, as do a third of Latinos. Groups are now calling for eliminating ICE and there has been an angry response to the standing ovation for Mexico’s leader. The grass roots are not amused amid the apparent complete disregard by this administration for popular opinion and established U.S. constitutional law.

In California the Republican governor’s race is being dominated by the Arizona issue. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner began beating the drum about illegal immigration a few months back, and in the latest polls show he has narrowed a once-yawning gap between himself and rival Meg Whitman.

CALIFORNIA: Poizner, a Silicon Valley moderate, has been pushing the issue in an attempt to claim the "true conservative" mantle in the primary, where the party's right-wing base often determines the outcome. Whitman at first largely ignored his accusations that she's soft on the issue. But the eBay billionaire recently released a new radio ad in which former Gov. Pete Wilson — who 16 years ago championed the wildly divisive immigration measure Proposition 187 — promises Whitman will be as "tough as nails on illegal immigration."

The issue's re-emergence has created a dilemma for the state Republican party, one made thornier by the unique political history of this increasingly Latino state. In short: Republicans in the primary might demand tough talk on illegal immigration, but that talk likely will alienate many Latino and independent voters a Republican candidate will need to attract in the fall. Nevertheless, Whitman seems to have thrown her November caution to the wind in the wake of internal polls by both candidates and a SurveyUSA poll of 548 likely Republican voters released last week.

ILLEGAL: In her radio commercial with Wilson, Whitman asks voters not to be fooled by Poizner's "misleading ads" that accuse her of being in favor of amnesty for those in the country illegally. "Illegal immigrants are just that — illegal," Whitman says.

Proposition 187, aimed at cutting off most public services to illegal immigrants, won overwhelming voter approval in 1994 but was overturned in federal court. The issue drove many Latinos from the GOP and played a role in solidifying California as a blue state. Latinos, the fastest-growing minority group in the country, now make up 18 percent of California's electorate and will be a key — perhaps deciding — voting bloc when Poizner or Whitman faces Democrat Jerry Brown in the fall.

Perhaps more worrisome is the outbreak of regular confrontations and the sense that things are spinning out of control and no adults are in charge, This week 20 Justice Department officials were caught charging $30,000 on government credit cards on personal appliances, and several Federal Communications Commission officials were caught stealing $100,000 in federal funds – but none will be prosecuted or even lose their jobs because they are Obama appointees. Yet Obama calls Afghanistan President Karzai corrupt.

UNIONS: Hundreds of union members assaulted the home of a bank executive in Washington suburbs last week barricading a 14-year old boy inside. Children in California have been expelled from school for wearing an American flag on their shirts – it was deemed offensive to Mexican immigrants.

In Schenectady, N.Y. a 13-year-old was suspended from school for wearing rosary beads. The school said students are barred from wearing beads because they may be gang-related.  In another California town a woman was shot dead by two police officers in dispute after she refused to answer census questions. In New Hampshire, a farm was seized by the use of the federal statue of eminent domain to rebuild a custom’s station in order to “carry out the goals of the President’s stimulus package.” 

The great irony is that the more Obama expands government and increases the deficit, the more like Greece America becomes. Government is the height of inefficiency. Now municipal workers in New York City make almost half again as much as private sector workers in the same categories – a complete reversal of market realities. Ten New York workers retired this week at $100,000 pension under the age of 40.

California is dead broke, and the City of Los Angeles is in desperate shape. Yet this week it decided to boycott Arizona over the law nobody has read, despite the fact that Arizona provides over 25 percent of the city’s power. The Arizona Senate is discussing the possibility of cutting off the Los Angeles power supply.

MISSING: As the Republic collapses, where is Obama, Trying to take over Wall Street, the entire energy complex, praising every dictator in the world, castigating America and applauding Mexico which is so bankrupt it survives on the remittances of Mexicans living here illegally.

The only hope is that come November the Democrats will take such a beating they will give pause, before they can be thrown out in 2012. Some Democrats on the campaign trail have hit upon a winning campaign tactic: Run against President Obama and his agenda -- especially the health care overhaul. Democrat Mark Critz railed against the Obama administration's health care reforms while campaigning in his western Pennsylvania district -- and was easily elected to the House. In West Virginia, Democratic stalwart Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, who voted against an administration-backed energy bill last year, was defeated in his primary after his challenger accused him of not having enough disdain for the measure that was wildly unpopular in his home district. He was also hammered for supporting health care reform.

KEY ROLES: Rep. Joe Sestak, in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary, challenged the White-House-endorsed five-term incumbent, Sen. Arlen Specter, and was rewarded with a cushy eight percentage-point win. While other factors and issues played key roles in Democratic primaries and special elections this year, shunning -- or even rebuking -- the White House so far has helped Democrats.

Michael D. Tanner, a political analyst with the Cato Institute, says, “I think it's fair to say that one of the reasons there's so much unhappiness out there [among voters] is that the administration's policies have upset people." That is an understatement, and if the current trends continue America could be facing one of the greatest crises in its history.

FAILURE: Michael Goodwin of the New York Post sums it up well: "President Obama is the backward man. Teddy Roosevelt's advice to "speak softly and carry a big stick" was meant as a guide to successful foreign relations. Obama has completely muddled the message. He speaks softly to foreign adversaries and uses the big stick on American dissenters.

"Iran and Syria are wooed endlessly with carrots, apologies and promises of grand bargains. They respond with taunts and threats and pay no penalty. North Korea sinks a South Korean ship, and our secretary of state says it means no more business as usual. That's an admission it has been business as usual even after the loony kingdom tested nukes.

"The President berates American citizens for expressing their views through the democratic process, and yet shamefully applauds those who kill their critics. A State Department aide apologizes to China -- to China! -- about our treatment of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, American "fat-cat bankers" and "greedy" doctors and sundry opponents are demonized as enemies of the state. They respond by sullenly surrendering the health-care and financial industries to Big Government.

"Welcome to a double disaster. America now has a foreign policy that is a dangerous flop and a homeland as bitterly divided as ever. And don't forget 10 percent unemployment and skyrocketing deficits and debt. That's the Obama record. Just because he won't face it -- or even answer questions about it -- doesn't mean the rest of us must ignore it. America is in trouble, and Obama can't be counted on to save her."