A Failing, Disingenuous President

Member Group : Glen Meakem

After a majority of the Supreme Court Justices expressed skepticism regarding the Administration’s defense of President Obama’s healthcare law during hearings two weeks ago, the President last week attacked the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Among other things, the President had the audacity to say, "Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress." You can listen to this past weekend’s radio program here.

There were two major untruths in the President’s effort to question and intimidate the Supreme Court.

First, President Obama’s healthcare law did not pass Congress by strong majorities. In fact, quite the opposite occurred. The law barely passed the House of Representatives. The vote was 219 for and 212 against with significant bi-partisan opposition and only Democrat Party support. In addition, Obamacare barely squeaked through the Senate after Democrats used every legislative trick in the book. Do you remember the Democrat Party leaders in the Senate using the "nuclear option" – calling Obamacare a mere budget item and getting it through the Senate on less than 60 votes? And do you remember the "Corn Husker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase?"

Second, the Supreme Court has used its power of judicial review to protect Americans from unconstitutional overreach by Congress and the Executive Branch for well over 200 years. Since the Marbury v. Madison case in 1803 firmly established the power of judicial review under Article III of our constitution, the Supreme Court has overturned Congressionally passed laws on average once every 16 months for violating the U.S. Constitution. For someone who is touted by liberals as a constitutional scholar, President Obama sure seems to lack knowledge of our constitution and its history. Or perhaps he just does not feel any obligation to anchor his comments in the truth. No one can say that Barack Obama is the product of failing American Public schools. After all, he attended Muslim elementary and middle schools in Indonesia and an elite private high school in Hawaii. Yet, it seems we still need to help him out with both his math and vocabulary. So, for the record Mr. President, when something has already happened over 150 times, it is not "unprecedented!"

Why did President Obama feel such a need to attack our nation’s highest court? David Porter, an attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC joined me on the program and provided insight based on the historical application and understanding of the Commerce Clause in the United States’ Constitution. The bottom line is that based on their analysis, Porter and many other experts believe President Obama’s healthcare law is unconstitutional, and will be overturned in whole or part by the Supreme Court.

As if attacking the legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court was not enough; last week, President Obama launched a full-scale assault on Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) proposed federal budget. And the President did this after his own budget was voted down in the House 414-0. In spite of his failure to lead on the economy (and in spite of the failure of the Democrat controlled Senate to pass any budget at all for more than 1,070 days), President Obama made the political decision to aggressively demonize Paul Ryan’s modest attempt to address our out of control annual deficits and exploding Medicare costs. Ryan’s budget is far from conservative.

• It does not balance the federal budget until 2040.
• It cuts discretionary spending by a mere $40 billion per year.
• It implements a "premium support" Medicare reform approach that was approved by President Bill Clinton’s Medicare Commission led by Democrat Senator John Breaux in the 1990s, and
• Senator Ron Widen (D-Oregon) has publicly endorsed Ryan’s Medicare plan.

Even though we would like to see a more aggressive and conservative plan, Ryan’s budget is a rational, bi-partisan first step in addressing our severe federal budget problems – and yet the President attacks it.

The President should be ashamed of himself – first for completely ignoring our growing budget crisis, and then attacking any one else in Washington with the courage to address it. He is a negative follower, not the positive leader America needs! It is time for him to go!

Glen Meakem is a successful technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative talk radio show host, who offers information and insights on how individuals and our nation can be more successful. Glen’s unique perspective has been shaped by his experiences as founder, chairman and CEO of the B2B internet success Freemarkets Inc – which he founded in 1995, took public in 1999, and sold to Ariba in 2004. In 2005, Glen co-founded Meakem Becker Venture Capital, a firm that invests in early stage start up companies. Concerned about the liberal political agenda that has gripped the United States and his home state of Pennsylvania, Glen launched "Glen Meakem on the Weekend" in 2008. Glen served as an officer in the United States Army Reserve and is a veteran of the First Gulf War. He also earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his MBA from Harvard Business School. For more information about Glen and his radio program, or to read his blog, please visit http://glenmeakem.com.
Proudly sponsored by
________________________________________
Tune in each Saturday or Sunday (Click here for stations and times), or listen any time at GlenMeakem.com. And if you enjoy the show and these updates, reply and let us know, and please forward them to your friends!
Unsubscribe: http://www.mailermailer.com/x?u=82673202L-1b611464

________________________________________
Email list management powered by http://MailerMailer.com