In politics being right is impossible. The important thing is being able to convince people you have the answer when you are wrong. Career politicians know this. It’s how they stay in office. If they can’t be right and don’t live up to their promises they make sure there are other people to blame for their failures. Being convincing is what counts. It gives the appearance of being right.
When you are obsessed with being right being part of a political machine is a big help. Just ask Barack Obama and his new best pal, Hillary Clinton.
Power and influence makes being right easier
When elected office grants you power and influence being right is easier. Naïve people look up to you. The higher up the scale you go the more credibility you have because of who and what you are. Part of the nation is going to believe whatever you tell them just because of the party you belong to. Others will think whatever you say is a lie for the same reason. That’s how partisanship at its most banal and mindless works. Being right is decided by whether you are a Democrat or a Republican.
It doesn’t hurt to be president of the United States, either.
No wrong this year, only right
There is no wrong in politics unless you get caught breaking the law. Even then there are only interpretations until the judge’s gavel comes down.
After being led around by the nose for months by two candidates of less than stellar reputation we are on the brink of a big decision. Despite a lackluster legacy replete with unfinished business, Mr. Obama has appointed himself the arbiter of what America should be.
The president is hot on the HFA campaign trail. He is staying busy convincing Americans that being right is what the Obama-Clinton agenda is all about:
That’s why we’ve got to work as hard as we can, not just to make sure that Hillary wins, but to make sure she wins big — (applause) — to send a clear message about who we are as a people; to send a clear message about what America stands for.1
Many Americans believe him. Despite skyrocketing Obamacare costs, disastrous foreign policy crises, mediocre changes in income, and an immigration free-for-all the next Congress and president will have to fix, Obama has enormous power and influence. People listen to what he says.
The White House campaign to convince us that the Obamas and Clinton are joined at the hip should have given Americans pause to ask what’s going on after all the high-level accusations against the former Secretary of State went nowhere.
It hasn’t.
Is the Obamas’ opinion enough to get someone elected president?
When being right is an abuse of power and influence
Being right is no reason to abuse your power and influence. We have seen both happen over the two terms of the Obama presidency. A slew of executive actions descended on our heads from a president so convinced of the correctness of his beliefs that he denied the people a voice. Republicans called it an abuse of power. Democrats blamed the GOP.
Now the White House is doing everything it can to make sure the legacy of abusing power never ends. With a Republican House to say no to Clinton we can expect another deluge of executive orders we don’t have a say in and can’t do anything to stop.
Thank Obama for teaching the nation that representative government is for losers.
Being right means being a Clinton
False hysteria after Trump’s remark about the election results ignores just how obsessed liberals are with getting their way. They are convinced that being a Democrat means being right. It’s hard to imagine anything that would be considered out of bounds, including violent interference with Republican campaign events.
There are problems with using your influence to be right. We have seen them all year, even in the endless gutter campaign ads bearing the “I approved this message” stamp of approval. Politicians mobilized their people in pursuit of a vision endorsed by a handful of leftist elite. The First Lady joined in. She is doing her best to further the Clinton cause by convincing voters that the Obamas and Hillary are just like everyone else:
Now sadly, for some reason, Hillary’s opponent comes from a different place. I don’t know, perhaps living life high up in a tower, in a world of exclusive clubs, measuring success by wins and losses and the number of zeroes in your bank account — perhaps you just develop a different set of values.2
The coziness of the Obama White House and its chosen successor is appalling, but it doesn’t seem to bother voters:
Well, Barack and I — and our friend, Hillary — (applause) — we have a very different perspective on this country, one that has everything to do with where we come from and how we were raised.3
What does being a friend mean? It could mean a last minute pardon for any and all offenses the new president may have committed while she was Secretary of State. Perhaps it means a continuing voice for the departed Obama, who has learned tricks for defying the legislature the likes of which we have never seen before.
It certainly means the endorsement of Democratic machine politics that will ensure an Obama successor every bit as damaging as who we are finally saying goodbye to.
Abuse of influence or trust?
The tradition of the White House taking time out to push its choice for president is something we don’t question. Too many trust the president simply because of what he is. Is it an abuse of influence to mislead the nation about the rightness of voting for his choice for successor when the reasons for backing Clinton are based on nothing but partisanship?
Damn right it is.
We are familiar with campaign trail deception, but it’s not the same when it comes from a person credited with being the leader of the free world. Obama has no basis for his claim that Clinton is the best we’ve ever had:
And that is why I have been working so hard, and Michelle has been working so hard — (applause) — to make sure that probably as qualified a person as has ever run for this office is the 45th President of the United States — Hillary Clinton. (Applause.)4
How far can being right go before you cross the line?
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