The ideologues in Washington are scaring Americans.
by Gary Andres
Weekly Standard
January 14, 2010
The candidate of hope and change has now become a president of fear and doubt. This is hampering the economy and the American people’s sense of security.
The fear factor manifests itself in several ways. Consider what was formerly known as the “war on terror.” Whatever the president wants to call it these days, we’re losing. This is a scary thought. It’s deeply frightening when an al-Qaeda operative nearly blows up an airliner filled with American citizens, over an American city. Yet when that same terrorist gets treated like someone who just robbed a bank, the people’s fear becomes widespread doubt – skepticism emerges about this administration’s capacity and commitment to protect its people.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a terrorist and enemy combatant, not a common criminal. He should not enjoy the constitutional protections belonging to American citizens. Period. Allowing the military to hold and interrogate him could have yielded critical real-time intelligence about persons and plans to kill more Americans. We missed that opportunity and now could pay a catastrophic price.
Unfortunately, Mr. Obama seems like a naïve college professor, more committed to a theoretical ideal of preserving Miranda rights than to defending America.
This perception is growing, and it’s contributing to the fear factor…
…Fear also hampers the economic recovery. And Mr. Obama’s domestic policies are causing angst here, as well. Growing choruses of economic analysts recognize this point. Larry Kudlow, writing in National Review Online last week, argues the collective weight of all these measures – the “stimulus monster,” cap and trade, government takeover of health care, increases in marginal tax rates and capital gains tax rates – is dragging the economy down. “It’s creating so much uncertainty that even profitable businesses are afraid to hire new workers and expand,” Kudlow writes…
Read the entire article at the Weekly Standard.
