Preflections on Obama inaugural

By Roger Hedgecock

During the early years of the Bush administration Democrat operatives coined the term prebuttal to describe the attack the liberals would launch on President Bush, before he even delivered his State of the Union Address.

Apparently liberals love preemption, but only when it’s launched against their domestic opponents, not our foreign enemies.

In that vein, I offer you my preflection on the Obama inaugural.

I, like most Americans, and millions more across the globe, remember this week the important contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – who would have been 80 years old today.

No doubt Dr. King would have been proud to see Barack H. Obama assume the presidency on Tuesday. And if interviewed, he would have doubtless pointed out that it was now up to President Obama to display in his deeds as well as his words, his leadership and desire to keep America’s flame of promise burning brightly into this new century.

It was Rev. King who first summoned us against judging men or women on their skin color, but instead reminded us to look deeper into the very character of the soul of our fellow citizens and elected leader: Actions must trump skin color or rhetoric.

I have no doubt that Barack Obama is a loving husband and a good father. What I doubt is whether his policies will preserve and expand liberty and opportunity in this greatest of all countries.

In the campaign, Obama compared himself repeatedly to an earlier Illinois candidate: Abraham Lincoln. Since the election, the Obama presidency-in-waiting has gone further – comparing their man to Lincoln and FDR. What’s up with wrapping yourself in the heritage of past leaders? No other president elect has ever been this presumptuous.

The extensive comparisons between a President Obama and President Lincoln have been unseemly – dare I say it – macabre. Is it wise, in this day and age, to compare yourself and your presidency to a man cut down by an assassin’s bullet? If there is a second President Lincoln, then certainly there could be a second John Wilkes Booth. This time he could come from a Middle Eastern terror group – instead of a Southern secessionist.

Understand that I would feel the same way if he compared himself to Presidents John F. Kennedy and William McKinley as well.

Sure Lincoln saved the Union and emancipated the slaves, but he also presided over sweeping power grabs as related to federal authority. Truly, in the wake of Lincoln’s presidency, we went from the focus being United States of America to the United States government, as ruler over those states. But it isn’t just the suspension of habeas corpus that gives me pause when it comes to an incoming president so enamored by the notion of expanded federal power.

President-elect Obama also compares himself to President Franklin Roosevelt, a man who took office during trying economic times. He was also an unapologetic statist – much like President-elect Obama. Roosevelt believed all power emanated from the federal government and moved outward from Washington – this was in evidence by his attempts to expand and pack the Supreme Court – granting himself a lasting judicial backstop to his wild expansion of the federal government. In this, Obama and Roosevelt are alike.

Roosevelt did lead the nation to victory in World War II. Obama has never uttered the word “victory” and seems oblivious to the real dangers our country faces. So the comparison between Obama and Roosevelt fall short due to my second concern – that President Obama will lead us to the path of defeat and appeasement in the war on terror.

The New York Times on Sunday reported that Obama will sit down with the joint chiefs on Tuesday, after he is sworn in. There can be no mystery as to what President Obama has in mind: to end the war in Iraq even as he seeks to widen the war in Afghanistan.

I think President Obama will be true to his word – that he will take America backward – to the pre-9/11 mindset – that so many of his appointees, like Holder, Napolitano and Panetta similarly embrace. This mindset holds that terrorism is a criminal problem not a national security problem. Apparently America agreed.

Obama told us during the campaign that job No. 1 would be to pull us out of Iraq and job No. 2 would be to close Gitmo. Those are his words. What will be his actions? I won’t jump to conclusions; I will heed the warning from Dr. King issued those decades ago – to judge the man on the content of his character, and if I may edit that memorable phrase, his actions as well.


Roger Hedgecock

Roger Hedgecock is a nationally syndicated talk-show host. Prior to his broadcasting career, he worked as an attorney and political leader. Hedgecock is a strong supporter of the military and founded Homefront San Diego, assisting thousands of military families in obtaining needed items. Learn more about Roger at RogerHedgecock.com. Read more of Roger Hedgecock's articles here.