Crushing On Charles Krauthammer

At my conference in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, one of the guest speakers was Dr. Charles Krauthammer.  He is a conservative columnist whose work I have admired for a long time.  His discussion did not disappoint me, as he is witty and and dynamic in addition to being totally brilliant.

Dr. Krauthammer poses with us after his
presentation (and yes, I've already decided
to get rid of that blouse after seeing this picture!).

This being an election year, his topic was of course the 2012 presidential race.  He made very clear his opinion that if Rick Santorum were to become the GOP candidate against President Obama, not only would Republicans lose the presidential election but we would lose the House and Senate as well.  In his view (and I very much agree), Rick Santorum would be so divisive in the social issues that the emotional appeal and scare tactics used by the Democrats would chase all the independent voters away from Santorum and back towards Obama.  Over the last couple of weeks Santorum has allowed himself to get mired in this "birth control controversy" instead of the "freedom of religion controversy" that we are actually facing, which is totally proving Krauthammer's point.

But the crux of Krauthammer's discussion that day was a poignant synopsis of President Obama's narcissism and the effects it has already had on our country.  Dr. Krauthammer stated that Obama's goal is to make history by fundamentally transforming America.  He planned to do it in three areas, and stated such in one of his early presidential speeches, by changing 1) Healthcare (which comprises 1/6 of our national economy), 2) Energy (if you control energy you control the economy), and 3) Education (which sets the direction for our future).

Because our country was mad about the recession and the wars coming out of the Bush years, President Obama thought he would have carte blanche power to assert his agenda, just as in 1933 when people looked to the President to do whatever it took to get them out of the Great Depression.  But Obama miscalculated.  Americans didn't want fundamental transformation of our country - we wanted him to fix the damn economy!

Instead what we got was Obamacare.  In the history of our country, all other important pieces of legislation that were huge changes in paradigm (like the Civil Rights Act, Social Security) had some bipartisan support.  Obamacare was passed in a crooked way with not even one Republican vote.  And America got pissed, which resulted in the Republican sweep across the country in 2010.  President Obama realized this, and in the past couple of years has been instituting these same type of changes in a more sly fashion - through recess appointments and administrative changes such as new committees or bureaus that make regulations.  These are ways that still implement his agenda, but without the publicity garnered by the Obamacare debacle - which helps when he needs to think about reelection.

Dr. Krauthammer stated it correctly when he said that this election is not just about Republican versus Democrat, it is a debate over the nature of the American social contract - a debate about an individual's relationship with the government.  For several decades we have been operating under the fundamental transformation inspired by President Reagan, who said that Government is not the solution, it is the problem.  Now we have a President who believes Government IS the solution, and wants to impose the will of the Government on the people, when it should really be the other way around.

If Obama is reelected, not only will we be stuck with Obamacare, but he will be unrestrained by not having to worry about reelection.  What you will see is the equivalent of Obamacare in the areas of energy and education.  If he does not have control of the House and the Senate, he will push his agenda through administratively, as we have seen with his non-recess appointments and the actions of the NLRB.

Dr. Krauthammer eloquently put into words the fear that has been gnawing at me regarding this election.  Republicans are accused of disliking President Obama because he is a black man, but that ridiculous assertion could not be further from the truth.  Republicans dislike Obama because he stands for everything that we think is destroying this great country - he is for increasing the people's dependence on the government, he is for government telling the people where their hard earned money should be spent, he is for controlling our lives in the way of energy, healthcare and education.

If we do not change this course in 2012, I'm afraid that President Obama will be successful in his fundamental transformation.  That is an America I do not want to see.

To read more of Dr. Charles Krauthammer's recent columns, check out this link.