The clash between Obama and the Justices (or at least the majority of them) has been well-publicized in the Mainstream Media. This was inevitable since it took place during his State of the Union Address before the TV cameras of the world. It was a clash that could not be ignored. The bare bones of the event are that during his Address, Obama expressed in very clear language his disapproval of a recent 5/4 decision of the Court. He did this to the enthusiastic cheers of his Democrat comrades of Congress. The nine Supreme Court Justices, who were sat in the forefront, and who have no right of reply, had to endure this criticism and baiting in silence. Obama made two statements that were inflammatory and they concerned the Court’s decision to reverse part of the Mc Cain/Feingold limitations on campaign finance. Obama asserted that the Court had reversed a law that had stood the test of time for some 100 years and he also asserted that the consequences included allowing foreign corporations to buy political advertizing time before an election. The TV cameras picked up one of the Justices mouthing the words “Not true” or words to that effect.
The reactions to this clash have been predictable. Leftists have feigned outrage that a Justice would contradict the President in this public way on such an occasion – in other words, bad manners! They have also expressed outrage that such an act is political and an example of conservative Justices overstepping the boundary of their role and revealing their conservative bias. The Mainstream Media (MSM), with very few exceptions, has amplified these reactions and put Justice Alito in the dock.
Conservatives on Talk Radio and Fox News have claimed that it is very bad manners for a President, in this forum, to attack the SCJ’s and Court decisions, especially when the Justices are sat there and in no position to refute the attack. Conservatives have also pointed out that Alito was correct on matters of fact, for the recent ruling only undid a controversial law passed some 20 years ago and nothing in the Court decision allows foreign entities to intrude into the election process. Facts of course are of little concern either to Leftists or the Media Class. What matters are the ends and if the ends are Leftist then the means are justified. In other words it did not matter one iota that Obama was wrong in fact or that he misused a national forum when going after conservatives and whipping up public wrath against the enemy for that was good and feigned outrage was justified.
The Supreme Court Justices attend the State of the Union Address as a matter of courtesy and it is a tradition of long standing. This event symbolizes both the unity of the three Constitutional powers of President, Congress and Court and their separate identities. In the past, no President has attacked the SC in this forum. Conservative commentators have pointed out that whereas Obama was obviously aware that the cameras and microphones were going to capture his every word, Alito had no reason to believe that his own mouthed reaction would be seen by the world. The Justices had only been allowed to see the copy of the speech some half hour beforehand and Obama had had time to ponder his words and choose them. His attack on the Justices was therefore calculated.
Conservative commentators in concentrating on both the ‘bad form’ of the attack and its factual inaccuracy, have, in my view, missed the bigger implications. The MSM has also ignored the implications, but that is deliberate for the Media people are in the business of promoting their man in the White House and care as little for facts as does he.
First, in attacking the Justices, Obama was tearing up tradition. We should not be surprised by this for he is part of a revolutionary movement, as are his Congressional comrades of the Democrat Party. Secondly, in choosing a moment when the Justices were shackled, Obama revealed himself to be a bully. He had lured them into a trap and then sprung it to the intense gratification of his comrades. The comrades clearly enjoyed both the skill of his ambush and his bullying and thus revealed the pack mentality of a Leftist mob. These are the kind of tactics that Hugo Chavez and his comrades employ and if Stalin was watching he must surely have smiled with admiration.
Thirdly, many conservative commentators have concluded that Obama is badly served by his legal advisors, especially Eric Holder, and this is how they explain the factual mistakes. Former Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich went on radio and claimed that Obama would not have had time to check the facts in his speech and would have relied on the incompetent Holder. It is true that Holder, like Obama, is not a great legal mind and we can assume that both men got through law school via affirmative action, but these are old Leftist buddies and Holder has been chosen by Obama because both share an attachment to the same ends and means. Obama has been to Harvard Law School, purportedly the best in the land, and edited its journal. We are frequently told by the Media that he has great intelligence and is, unlike his predecessor, an intellectual.
Regular visitors to this website will know that we have never considered Obama to be a man of great intelligence but consider him to be a man skilled in opportunism and blessed with one or two other ‘gifts’. Indeed a cool reflection of this State of the Union Address must lead to the conclusions that Obama and his speech writers and advisors, including Holder, were well aware that they were ignoring facts but that this was justified by political expediency. They were also aware that attacking the Justices was a new departure from tradition but could care less. These Leftists care nothing for traditions, indeed they despise them. Furthermore, they are incensed by decisions that go against them and do not subscribe to the ‘game ‘of politics where there are rules to be followed.
Obama and his Leftist gang have their backs to the wall following the debacle of the Health Bill and the stunning voter rejection in Massachusetts. There is much at stake, not least the revolutionary agenda that is intended to remake America. Obama knows that he can say and claim anything he likes and the MSM will applaud as long as he does not stray from the Media Class agenda. He is a man who can lie without blinking time and time again. Indeed he can lie and smile at the same time and look right into the cameras. We must assume that he has always been a liar and has been able to rely on never being challenged, either because he was lying in the pursuit of Leftist policies or because he was a member of a protected minority. Now he enjoys the protection of the massed Media whose members, like all Leftists, greatly admire gigantic bold lies in the cause of their agenda.
There is much to be said for lying all the time when in a position of power and when the organs of massed communication are amplifying your words. A few lies can be refuted by opponents who do not have the bully pulpit, rather like a marksman shooting a single target, but endless lies packed into every speech overwhelm the marksmen, and a gullible public can rarely bring itself to believe that the man it has voted into power never tells the truth. Justice Alito’s impulsive response to two of Obama’s lies, captured on camera, was a dangerous moment for the new Ruling Class for he is like the boy who said the Emperor had no clothes.
On this website we never under-estimate the power of the Media Class and its Leftist allies to retrieve any situation, yet we are beginning to wonder if Obama and his comrades are becoming recklessly over-confident and under-estimating the intelligence of those Americans who make their livings outside of Academia and the public services. The next nine months will tell!