Wednesday, November 20, 2013
From: Gary L. Bauer
Obama Still Crashing
I don’t like to dwell on polls because they can change quickly. But the latest poll from CBS, one of the more pro-Obama polls, finds that the president’s approval rating is down to just 37%. That’s down nine points in one month. Over all, President Obama has a 20-point gap in his approval rating with 57% disapproving of his job performance.
The numbers are even worse for Obamacare. Only 31% of Americans approve of Obamacare (down 12 points since last month) and 61% disapprove.
Now here’s a key point to keep in mind. Only 43% of those surveyed want Obamacare repealed. A solid majority want to either keep Obamacare as is (7%) or think it needs some changes (48%).
I know Obamacare is a bad law. The public clearly does not like it. At the same time, the public is not yet convinced that the solution is to repeal Obamacare. We still have work to do.
Obamacare Still Crashing
The polls are clear that the president is being dragged down by Obamacare, and the bad news about Obamacare shows no signs of letting up. Here are some examples:
- In the last 24 hours, a bombshell report broke that may have some administration officials seeking legal advice. An outside consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., was brought in to check the progress of Healthcare.gov. The firm warned top administration officials at the end of March that the website would not be ready by October 1st.Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was briefed on April 4th. Yet, two weeks later Sebelius told members of Congress, “I can tell you we are on track.” Sebelius could be facing perjury charges.Again, it is worth reminding everyone what the government shutdown debate was all about. Congressional conservatives, led by Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, warned that Obamacare was bad law and was not ready for prime time. But Obama refused to admit what he knew was the truth!
- Henry Chao, one of the Obama Administration’s top tech officers, dropped another bombshell yesterday during his testimony before a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. Approximately 40% of the Obamacare website is not even built yet. “It’s not that it’s not working,” Chao said. “It’s still being developed and tested.”
- While Chao was testifying, four cybersecurity experts were warning the House Science Committee that Healthcare.gov is at risk of being hacked and the personal financial information of its users is at “critical risk.” According to ABC News, “Three of the four witnesses agreed that the Obama administration should take the site offline in order to address the security flaws.”One of the witnesses, David Kennedy, told the committee, “Just by looking at the website, we can see that there is just fundamental security principles that are not being followed. We can actually enable their web cam, monitor their web cam, listen to their microphone, steal passwords,” Kennedy said. “Anything that they do on their computer we now have full access to.”We already know this administration has a problem keeping phone and tax records private. Now, thanks to Obamacare, your financial information is going to be at risk too.
Jobs Reports Manipulated Too?
One of the most important reports in Washington is the monthly jobs and unemployment report. When the October 2012 unemployment report was released just before the presidential election showing major job gains, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch set off a firestorm and was ridiculed for questioning the figures. Welch tweeted, “Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers.”
Welch was on to something. The New York Post reports that Julius Buckmon, a Census Bureau employee, was caught fabricating employment data two years ago and the report suggests it is still going on.
A spokesman for the Census Bureau pushed back, saying, “We have no reason to believe that there was a systematic manipulation of the data.” But Buckmon said he was ordered to make up the data by his supervisors. Buckmon told the Post, “It was a phone conversation — I forget the exact words — but it was, ‘Go ahead and fabricate it’ to make it what it was.”
Members of Congress are vowing to investigate this latest revelation and they should. We were lied to about Benghazi. We were lied to about the IRS scandal. We were lied to about the scope of NSA spying. We were lied to about Obamacare. The pattern is clear and, more than likely, there is another scandal waiting to be unearthed here too.
Al Qaeda In Kentucky?
Desperate to change the subject from Obamacare, liberals in Congress are trying to resuscitate their quasi-amnesty legislation. But a shocking report should refocus our immigration policy on enforcement and border security.
ABC News reports that two Iraqis, Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, claimed refugee status and were resettled in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2009.
Based on a tip, the FBI began investigating Alwan later the same year. Investigators were able to match Alwan’s fingerprints to an improvised explosive device assembled in 2005. It turns out that Alwan had even been arrested in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 2006 and confessed to making bombs. Yet somehow he was later granted asylum and allowed to enter the United States.
In 2011, Alwan was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in jail. While Alwan’s case is old news, it rightly caused a reexamination of the asylum program. And according to one agent, the FBI is “supporting dozens of current counter-terrorism investigations” just like the one that brought Waad Ramadan Alwan to justice.
In other words, right now law enforcement officials are trying to track down dozens of suspected terrorists. At the same time, liberal politicians are undermining our immigration laws and trying to make it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the country.
A Hopeful Sign
In a 5-to-4 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to block enforcement of a new Texas law that bans late-term abortion and requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Twelve Planned Parenthood facilities have failed to meet that standard and will close as a result. Planned Parenthood is challenging the law and had sought an injunction against its enforcement.
To be clear, the Supreme Court did not uphold the Texas law. It merely allowed it to remain in effect while Planned Parenthood’s challenge proceeds. But it is encouraging that a majority of the justices saw no reason to block it now.
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