Obama's actions favor lawbreakers over law-abiding Americans

I want very much to believe our president has America’s best interests at heart. But the constant scandals and betrayals under President Barack Obama’s watch tell a different story. Some say he doesn’t even deserve mention anymore. I say a president who shows more disdain than love for the country he leads doesn’t deserve a pass -- and we should never become complacent in the face of such things, lest we allow our country to slip away altogether.

Most recently, calls for impeachment have been made over Obama’s surprise trade of five high-ranking Taliban terrorists in return for US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. In doing so, Obama broke the very law he signed which states he must give Congress 30 days’ notice prior to releasing any Guantanamo Bay prisoner. But claiming this law was an unconstitutional check on his power, Obama felt no obligation to obey it. Once again, our president considers the Constitution’s merit only when he can use it to his advantage.

News outlets say Obama was justified in releasing the terrorists because past presidents have done the same thing and because Bergdahl’s health was in danger. The media also say accusations that Bergdahl was not a prisoner of war, but an Army deserter, are nothing but Republican attempts to make Obama look bad.

But these accusations aren’t coming from Republicans – they’re coming from Bergdahl’s own platoon members who also claim Bergdahl sympathized with the enemy, and that several troop members died while attempting to bring him back to the base he allegedly tried leaving on other occasions as well. Moreover, a Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl did indeed desert the Army.

Though top military officials advised against Obama releasing the Taliban leaders, the terrorist-for-Bergdahl swap now begs the question of whether the released prisoners will eventually return to wage war against America – not to mention the likelihood that American soldiers and citizens traveling abroad will now be at greater risk.

Underscoring this point, a Taliban commander told TIME magazine that Taliban fighters are now more incentivized to capture American soldiers and citizens. “It has encouraged our people,” he said. “Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”

Despite public outrage, Obama said he makes no apologies for encouraging America’s enemies. In fact, he plans to release 78 more prisoners from Guantanamo for such bizarre reasons as a prisoner’s newfound love for yoga and another’s desire to run a milk and honey farm. To Obama, it matters nothing that some of these prisoners are known hard-core terrorists considered serious threats to America should they be released.

Many concede one positive outcome in this – for Barack Obama – is that the issue has temporarily dimmed the spotlight on the Veterans Administration scandal, where government officials are accused of falsifying data to hide how long US veterans are waiting to see doctors at VA hospitals, dozens of whom have died while doing so. The scandal also extends to several VA hospitals that show significantly higher mortality rates and dangerous infections than the agency's records reveal.

If anyone wants a snapshot of how all of American healthcare will look if Obamacare evolves into the single-payer, government-run program that Obama and Hillary Clinton hope for, just look at how our veterans are being treated. And while Obama’s 2015 budget includes a $10 billion spending increase for the VA, John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis aptly notes, “Government-run healthcare with global budgets — in Canada, Britain, the VA, Medicaid — almost always reduce costs by rationing care, reducing quality, and increasing waiting lines."

Ignoring this reality, Obama just says he’ll “wait for the facts” before acting on the VA issue. Never mind that the facts are staring him right in the face, illuminated by the lives lost under this disgracefully managed government bureaucracy.

Obama has no answers on how to better treat our nation’s veterans, but is chock-full of ideas on how to help illegal immigrants. Faced with over 60,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the border illegally this year, Obama is asking Congress for $1.4 billion to provide housing, legal counsel and healthcare to them.

With $17 trillion in debt, veterans dying while waiting for healthcare, and millions of struggling Americans forced to buy their own healthcare under Obamacare, whose side is Obama really on? Rather than offer ideas on how to prevent illegal immigration – or enforce existing laws on it -- his actions encourage it.

Nobody wants to see kids suffer, but with a president who willingly trades sworn enemies of America for suspected American traitors, and who turns a blind eye to virtual death panels at the VA, it’s easy to see this latest move with illegal immigrants as simply a ploy to further burden our already overwhelmed economy and cultivate future loyal Democratic voters. At the very least, it certainly favors lawbreakers over law-abiding Americans.

We recently acknowledged Flag Day on June 14. How nice it would be to have reason to believe our president was not only flying the Flag, but that he truly cherishes the country it represents. Since the evidence on that is lacking, it’s up to the rest of us to reflect on how blessed we’ve been to live in the greatest country the world has ever known, and to commit ourselves to preserving it from those who seek to fundamentally transform it.

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