Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Obama’s Executive Amnesty

19 Comments

Is he trying to lose the lawsuit over it?

Whenever I seek an explanation for Barack Obama’s behavior, Occam’s Razor would indicate incompetence and (as Mickey says) hubris, rather than clever Machiavellian intrigues.

[Late-morning update]

“Obama really needs to listen to others, because he really doesn’t understand politics.”

The things that Obama doesn’t understand would fill a large library.

[Update just before noon]

A court has found Obama’s amnesty order unconstitutional. Good.

19 thoughts on “Obama’s Executive Amnesty”

  1. What is the method by which Obama is making these changes to immigration law? He has not issued an executive order concerning immigration since his speech on Nov 20. I find it odd that no one in the media is talking about that fact.

  2. “The things that Obama doesn’t understand would fill a large library.”

    In fairness, that statement applies to all of us.

    1. But, Ed, none of us have been purported to be the smartest man in the room. Perhaps Rand meant “the things that Obama doesn’t understand (but thinks he does) …”

      1. Most of the time I AM the smartest man in the room, by a country mile. But the statement applies to me, too. It applies to the handful of people I know who are smarter than me, too – including Garth Zeitsman (IQ : 230).

        I do see what you’re saying, though. Obama may be smart, but humility sure ain’t his strong suit.

    1. Thanks. So now a president can ignore written law not only by issuing an executive order but simply by telling a cabinet head to write a memo to ignore written law.

      In what way are we not becoming a banana republic under this president?

  5. “The president is going to have to listen to some people other than the little group of people around him now,” McDermott said.

    My comment: That’ll be the day.

    McDemott again: “He is all by himself. He doesn’t have the Senate to save him as they have in the last six years. He is really in danger of really doing some awful things because he really doesn’t understand.”

    My comment: Congressman McDermott, you’re the one who doesn’t understand the situation. Even if you understood it, you have no power to change it. Just sit back and try to enjoy the ride.

    BlueMoon

  6. “Whenever I seek an explanation for Barack Obama’s behavior, Occam’s Razor would indicate incompetence and (as Mickey says) hubris, rather than clever Machiavellian intrigues.”

    Hmm, he is certainly appears incompetent but he does like scheming and micromanaging. Don’t fall for the meme out of the White House that Obama doesn’t know anything and only learns about things from watching the news. He may skip all of his meetings but he sends in underlings who then report to his closest advisers who then meet with the President. This doesn’t mean Obama is disengaged, it means he is highly engaged but hiding his involvement. It is a lot like how organized crime operates.

    In Gates’ book it was revealed that Obama had a direct line to commanders in Afghanistan in order to bypass the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Why wouldn’t this also be the case at the DOJ, IRS, EPA, and other government agencies? As other commenters noted, Obama didn’t issue an executive order but instead took a Machiavellian route to implement his plan.

    Obama appears to be incompetent because his detractors view his policies as failures. But what if the detractors are wrong? What if Obama is actually competent and his plans are succeeding when measured against the goals he set for them? Just because some people don’t like the outcomes, doesn’t mean that those are not the intended outcomes for those policies. It was clear from the answer to Joe the Plumber’s question, we will never get a straight answer from Obama.

  7. You don’y need Occam’s Razor. They are childish minds in a bubble. Nothing will get them out of that bubble, so of course they are tone deaf. Neither do they play by or even consider the rules, most of which are unwritten and only followed by adults.

    They can not be educated because they already ‘know’ all they need to… facts are no hindrance. They have a group mind. We call it the narrative, which is almost always arrived at in back channels.

    The reason we struggle to understand them is because there is nothing to understand. The greatest irony is they believe they are intellectually elite when group feeling trumps reason.

    There is nothing there to understand. End of story.

  8. The real question we need to be asking ourselves is why we continue trying to reason with people that are completely and absolutely unaffected by reason? It’s like a dysfunctional parent trying to reason with a spoiled child.

    We need to focus on defunding and marginalizing. They do not exist on their own money. They exist by taking ours. Focus!

    1. That’s it! That’s what you’ve been missing in your Mars plan. How does it generate a profit before the colonists arrive? If you can show that someone with sufficient capital to get this going can also make a tidy profit the entire time before the colonists arrive at Mars, you’re golden.

      1. You are absolutely right that profit is the only thing that makes it work and superior to begging govt. for hand outs.

        1) All must profit, including the colonists themselves. So they each must have a personal mass allotment with there ticket that is sufficient to give them a good start on there new life. They will not cash in immediately, but that doesn’t matter as long as life support is abundant. In particular they must not be starved for energy. If the first colonists aren’t, that should take care of the rest since abundant energy gives them the means to produce more.

        2) The ticket sellers, Musk and potentially anyone else, will have profit included in the ticket itself. I expect, by sending more at a time than others propose, they can make a profit at less than $120m per dropping as low as $10 per over time. I’m pretty certain $500k per is not achievable even with a fully reusable MCT, but would love for Elon to prove me wrong.

        3) The ticket buyer is not a colonist (which kills off colonization.) This is where I propose using a trust (but a billionaire could bypass this if they think it important enough.) It’s a chicken/egg problem that my lawyer assures me a trust can solve. Ordinary people pay into the trust for their own reasons which could include speculation on future mars land values (which absolutely will trend up over time) although the rate is unknown the trend should be reliable.

        The trust buys tickets at market rates for as many as want to go. The colonists, as part of the terms for their ticket, claim land into the trust after they arrive on mars. Title is given at a rate of 25 cents per square meter, so a typical 2000 m3 lot would be given to any that put $500 into the trust (open to anyone in the world and not requiring any governments blessing.) An exchange would be set up so people could trade all or parts of their plots as well. Nobody is guaranteed profit on the land. It’s pure speculation, however over time people will realize living on mars is not a harebrained fantasy and more will invest over time.

        Unless someone else is offering land claimed by possession there would be no reason to lower the price from 25 cents, but private owners could give up some of the limited deeds if they chose to. Because it would be limited I do not expect they would. It also doesn’t matter if others don’t think it worth it. They simply don’t participate until time changes their minds. The important thing is to get the land in private hands with martian enforced laws (included as ticket terms) so owners absolutely own their property and can not be deprived of it by government machinations. It’s important to establish these rules before the state shtupers do.

        I considered a lower than 25 cent rate, but my 70+ mom who has bought and sold real estate all over this country was emphatic it shouldn’t be less. People will pay just to pass title to their grand kids. It’s just a question of proper marketing which includes care not to get too far ahead of the market.

      2. About that billionaire. He gets the same deal, but it’s the thousands that put in their small sums that give it force. Perhaps with a $10 per month subscription?

        A dozen colonists at $120m per is less than $1.5b gives them title to 6,000,000,000 m3 (6000 sq. km.) They could then hire some of the colonists to develop that land however they like (with no government interference.) Some might like that idea. Some billionaires actually have an imagination.

        This is a much better offer than they get from others for just a launch vehicle component. A also perhaps better than a few minute joyride in space because you get something permanent for the money. Perhaps even permanent, in the history books, fame which some might value.

  9. Ctrot and Wodun,
    It turns out that President Pen-and-Phone also issues directives to the Executive Branch via memoranda. Wodun nailed it with the Machiavelli call: President “I have not issued as many Executive Orders as BOOOSH!” is literally correct when he says that. Tallying all his EOs and memos, however, President Obama’s total is ahead of his 4 immediate predecessors, with 25 months left in his term of office. The data is in this article:

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/16/obama-presidential-memoranda-executive-orders/20191805/

    Related (scary) reading:

    http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2014/12/life-in-post-truth-america.html

    1. Bluemoon,

      That second link is my point as well. This is why argument is stupid as a means of dealing with the left. Reasoning with the unreasonable is daft. We need to fight a winning fight which starts on the ground and ends with starvation of funds which they get from us.

      To reach the young that should NEVER have gotten the vote, we need to effectively without letup ridicule the talking heads. Take one issue, like minimum wage, and destroy it without mercy on every occasion. When no talking head is willing to take it up we move to the next issue. We collude and provide our own talking points. We acknowledge their feelings (yes people should be able to live on what they earn if they are resonsibly providing for a family)then beat them into a whimpering pulp with the facts. N

      1. Ken,
        I believe we are way past the point of a plan like yours succeeding. The only way the attitudes and political commitments of most people in the Deep Blue areas of the country will be changed is when they feel significant impacts in their wallets, when they feel their vision of America for them and their children is at risk, and when they feel insecure riding public transportation, in their office parking garages, and in their gated communities or fortress-like condo and apartment buildings. Rational Talk is not a forcing function that many, many Deep Blue residents will pay attention to. IMHO.

        We’re a long way from the Deep Blue-area middle class population feeling their lives are at significant financial or criminal personal injury risk. And millions of them may soon move farther from those risk points. I read a web article a couple months ago that predicted a lot of post-Boomer Generation middle class individuals and families (sorry, I cannot recall the estimated number of people) will become relatively wealthy during the next 20 years, as the Boomers die and their beneficiaries receive substantial life insurance policy and estate payouts. A lot of money can buy a lot of financial, personal safety, and political beliefs insulation.

    2. The issue I have with Obamas executive orders has nothing to do with the quantity thereof but the unconstitutional content.

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