Campaign for Working Families - Obama Governing By Fiat

Campaign for Working Families - Unapologetically Pro-Family, Pro-Life, and Pro-Growth

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


Obama Governing By Fiat

While most Americans were celebrating Christmas, the Obama Administration was working overtime. Two reports in recent days reinforce the urgency of the new, more conservative Congress reining in the Obama socialists and restoring a government of, by and for the people.

On Christmas Day the New York Times reported that the Obama Administration is resurrecting "end-of-life" rules for Medicare that were scrapped from the ObamaCare law after intense public outrage. Consider this excerpt from the Times article:

"When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over 'death panels,' Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1. …Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats' bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill."
Sixty percent of likely voters want ObamaCare repealed, and with good reason as this headline from today's Washington Post makes clear: "Health Plans For High-Risk Patients Attracting Fewer, Costing More Than Expected." The Post reports on one of the few ObamaCare programs already up and running. Federal officials expected that nearly 400,000 people would be enrolled in the new high-risk plan by now, but only 8,000 have signed up. Yet even with so few people, the Post notes, "…it is an open question whether the $5 billion allotted by Congress to start up the plans will be sufficient." That's Big Government for you.

The Associated Press reported on Christmas Eve that the EPA, otherwise known as the "Employment Prevention Agency," issued a statement saying it was taking action to limit carbon emissions from energy producers. According to the AP, "Stymied in Congress, the Obama administration is moving unilaterally to clamp down on greenhouse emissions, announcing plans for new power plants and oil refinery emission standards over the next year." In an unprecedented measure, the EPA has taken over permitting authority in Texas -- where roughly 25% of all U.S. oil is refined. (And a state that reliably votes Republican.)

Cap and trade was a tremendously unpopular attempt by liberals to regulate and tax energy use. In fact, it was so unpopular that a successful Senate candidate ran a TV ad in which he literally shot the cap and trade bill with a rifle – and that candidate is a Democrat!

But just hours after the November 2nd election, Barack Obama said, "Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way. I'm going to be looking for other means to address this problem." Fortunately, there are some new conservatives coming to Congress (thanks to your generous support of Campaign for Working Families!) who will be looking for ways to fight back.

Don't believe the media's spin about Obama moving to the center. The real "Obama machine" isn't in Chicago, where his reelection campaign is taking shape. It's the thousands of liberal activists he has ensconced inside the federal bureaucracy who are eagerly looking for ways to ignore the results of the elections.

It is imperative that congressional conservatives reassert the authority of Congress over federal agencies. Hearings must be held and bureaucrats must be held accountable. Ultimately, Congress controls the power of the purse and agency funds must be denied if necessary.


Obama's "Evolving" View Of Marriage

We've been warning for years that the Democrat Party's left wing has been following a plan to impose same-sex "marriage" on the American people. Liberal politicians like Obama will insist they support traditional marriage, but then pack the courts with left-wing judges who have no problem imposing their values on the rest of society, including forcing same-sex "marriage" on every state.

With the successful repeal of the 1993 law banning open homosexuality in the military, the militant homosexual rights movement has become even more emboldened. How emboldened are they? The Washington Post reported Christmas eve that "President Obama now faces pressure from his allies to move on a much tougher and divisive issue: gay marriage." At a press conference last week, President Obama said his view on men "marrying" other men is "evolving." Translation: Obama supports a radical redefinition of marriage -- he is just trying to decide when to tell you.

And over the Christmas weekend, Vice President Joe Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that there was "an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage. I think the country's evolving. And I think you're going to see, you know, the next effort is probably going to be to deal with so-called DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act]."

There is nothing inevitable about same-sex "marriage." The public continues to oppose it. Our exit poll on November 2nd found that by a whopping 18-point margin voters were more likely to oppose a candidate who supported same-sex “marriage.” Unfortunately, there are some potential Republican presidential contenders who still think we need a "truce" on values issues. But how do you have a truce when the cultural radicals have declared war on Judeo-Christian values?

The candidate who recognizes that the defense of traditional marriage is a serious issue that voters genuinely care about is the candidate who will go all the way, capturing the support of conservative voters and the GOP presidential nomination.

See original work for more on this and other stories.