Some of the most popular proposed laws are those that would force members of Congress to abide by the same rules they impose on the rest of us. Senator Rand Paul proposed a constitutional amendment two years ago to do just that.
Wouldn’t it be great if those efforts could be applied to presidents—especially after they’re out of office?
I’m hearing from lots of people who are frustrated because they’re having to wade through their health insurance options. These voters are not happy. Their plans have been canceled or significantly changed. They’re trying to figure out if their doctors are in the new, very restricted networks—a process made harder because the family doctor might be in Plan A but not Plan B, while the family OB/GYN is in Plan B but not Plan A.
But as a president, Obama gets special treatment. He and his family get the best care available from some of the best doctors in the world and we taxpayers get to pay for it.
Oh, he signed up for Obamacare. But as Time magazine explained at the time, “Obama’s move is only symbolic, because as president he receives coverage from military physicians of the White House Medical Unit.”
The rest of us don’t get the option of political symbolism. We have to live with what he created.
Even when he becomes a former president—that sounds good, doesn’t it?—he will still get special treatment, not because the law necessarily exempts him, but because of the country’s provisions for former presidents. And so it’s unlikely he will ever have the “joy” of living under the health insurance circus he imposed on the rest of us.
Or take his new effort to pass stricter anti-gun laws. Until the day he dies, Obama will have highly trained security professionals with lots of guns protecting him and his family.
The vast majority of us can’t afford that kind of security detail, but at least we have the constitutional right and privilege to learn how to protect ourselves with them. And yet Obama is desperately seeking to have those rights revoked—or at least limited—making us vulnerable to any maniac or ideologically driven killer.
And then there’s getting a job. As a former president, Obama will have countless companies and organizations begging him to affiliate with them so they can use his connections to parlay taxpayer money or competitive advantages from the government.
While millions of lower-income Americans will be struggling to find a job or get enough hours to pay the bills because employers are hiring less and at lower wages thanks to Obamacare and possibly minimum wage increase legislation—see the recent CBO report—Obama won’t have to worry. He’ll get lucrative speaking and corporate board offers from all over the world that will keep him and Michelle flying in private jets and living in huge energy-guzzling homes.
Which takes us to the last point: don’t expect to see Obama standing with the masses to ride the D.C. Metro any time soon. Like the vast majority of his rich liberal friends, he will consume all the energy he wants in his post-White House limousines and mansions, as he trots around the world to scold the rest of us for not living up to his green dreams.
Which is to say that Obama’s post-White House hypocrisy will be every bit as blatant as when he inhabited the White House.
It would only be justice if we could somehow force Obama to live under the laws he’s passed. But don’t hold your breath. People like Obama live to make your life more difficult, while ensuring their own lives get even easier.