Maybe former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was on to something!
After his comment that he doesn’t think President Obama loves America, Giuliani was roundly bashed in the media. And several conservatives distanced themselves from the comment.
But a new YouGov poll found that 35 percent of respondents agree with Giuliani. Less than half of the country (47%) believes Obama loves America—a remarkable finding, given that we’re talking about the president of the United States.
I don’t know whether Obama loves America or not, but I have a pretty good idea why so many people doubt he does.
He wants to change “who we are”
Obama doesn’t like “who we are” as a people or a country—and he wants to change both. Adam Gopnik, writing recently in The New Yorker, compares Obama vs. Vin Diesel on the meaning of “who we are.” He writes:
When Obama says it, he means to appeal to something more than international law or those abstract legal principles that American exceptionalism supposedly minimizes. “It’s who we are” means “These aren’t just rules that we believe in but principles that we inhabit.” Betray them and we haven’t just done the wrong thing; we’ve annihilated our identity.
But the “principles” Obama believes the country is betraying are not values embraced by most Americans; they are HIS principles. He’s the one who trusts the government where Americans have historically been skeptical. He’s the one who believes Americans should pay higher taxes and put more people on welfare—and he’s succeeded on both counts. And he’s the one who’s traveled the world apologizing for the U.S., appalling much of the country.
What has become very clear is that Obama doesn’t like most Americans, their guns and their religion, and he wants to remake us in his own liberal image.
His best friends are America’s biggest critics
Obama relies on Al Sharpton as a prominent advisor. He’s tight with Weather Underground cofounder and terrorist Bill Ayers, and he regularly schmoozes with America-bashing Hollywood liberals. And he spent 20 years in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church, who has been vocal and public with his condemnations of America.
Does a person who loves American cavort so much and so often with those who don’t?
His refusal to enforce duly enacted laws
For better or worse, the laws of a democratic society reflect its voters and their values. When those values change, as many do over time, the people elect representatives who make changes intended to reflect that shift. It’s usually not a fast process and it wasn’t intended to be.
But when Obama decides he doesn’t like certain laws and can’t get Congress to change them to his satisfaction, he acts on his own to enforce the laws he likes and ignore those he doesn’t. That approach shows utter disregard for the rule of law and the people who elected the representatives who passed them.
His contempt for the Constitution
Nothing embodies a love for the U.S. more than respect for the Constitution, a unique document that defines and protects our liberties. The president swears to uphold and defend those freedoms. And yet last July a Rasmussen poll revealed that “44 percent think Obama less faithful to the U.S. Constitution than most other presidents.”
Those polled have some justification for their doubts. From his decision to unilaterally determine when the U.S. Senate is in session—an action the Supreme Court struck down—to his efforts to override state laws in areas constitutionally reserved for the states, to his practice and defense of government snooping in our phone calls and emails, to his willingness to kill U.S. citizens with drones just because he says they’re guilty, Obama has displayed a pattern of contempt and disregard for the Constitution.
So while it is entirely possible that Obama loves the U.S. with all his heart, his actions have given many Americans reason to doubt him. It isn’t being disloyal or disrespectful to doubt the president’s love for the country if his actions repeatedly put that love of country in doubt.