In 2008, with no executive experience and a limited senatorial record, Barack Obama found it easy to make promises of "hope and change", make speeches of how things should be different and win the presidential election with a seven point margin over the GOP candidate John McCain.Three years later, Barack Obama is now campaigning for reelection and the pressure of his own record, which he now has, seems to be debilitating to him, to the point where very public mistakes and unpopular decisions are coming at a mile a minute.
Over the last couple of weeks the public has seen Obamacare aka Affordable Care Act, Obama's so-called "signature achievement" brought back out into the forefront with the Supreme Court hearing arguments over the heart of the law, the individual mandate, and whether it is constitutional, which the majority of the public, including a majority of Democrats, believe it is not constitutional.
Obama's own lawyers have been taken to the cleaners over their inability to defend what many call the indefensible.
Obama followed up that very public display with his own comments which were seen by many as an intimidation tactic against the Supreme Court, by asserting that if the Court struck down Obamacare or parts of it, it would "unprecedented" just for report after report to be published showing not only is the precedent there, but there are many examples of it in case law.
This left his administration going into full "damage control" mode, explaining, clarifying and walking back his comments.
An appeals Court, in the midst of hearing yet another health care challenge, picked up the gauntlet Obama tossed down and ordered the administration to clarify for the record their position on whether judges have the authority to overturn federal laws.
Attorney General Eric Holder was forced to respond and his response, unlike Obama's original assertion, was "the power of the courts to review the constitutionality of legislation is beyond dispute."
(Embeddable DOJ response found HERE)
The Obamacare/Supreme Court issue is not the only problematic topic for Obama during his reelection campaign.
With studies now showing that soaring gas prices will be a determining factor in the upcoming presidential election and how voters view Obama's economic policies, Obama's rejection of the Keystone Pipeline, which has bipartisan support, is being highlighted as the Prime Minister of Canada tells the world that the U.S. is no longer a reliable energy partner and America's discount on Canada's oil will be discontinued.
"Look, the very fact that a 'no' could even be said underscores to our country that we must diversify our energy export markets," Harper told Harman in front of a live audience of businesspeople, scholars, diplomats, and journalists.
"We cannot be, as a country, in a situation where our one and, in many cases, only energy partner could say no to our energy products. We just cannot be in that position."
His wide-ranging question-and-answer at the influential non-partisan think-tank -- which also touched on border security, trade, the Arctic and Syria among other topics -- followed a meeting with Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the White House for the sixth North American Leaders' Summit.
Harper also told Harman that Canada has been selling its oil to the United States at a discounted price.
So not only will America be able to buy less Canadian oil even if Keystone is eventually approved, the U.S. will also have to pay more for it because the market for oilsands crude will be more competitive.
What does Obama do in the midst of his reelection campaign and the turmoil over his rejection of Keystone which 66 percent of Americans want to see approved and when gas prices have Americans up in arms?
His administration announces a delaying tactic which will put off the possibility of new offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic coast for at least five years.
Events, directly related to Obama's record, are spiraling out of control and pressuring him into making amateurish mistakes with public comments, following those up with more public comments consisting of citations of the wrong case law, wrong precedents, alienating our energy allies, and making tactical decisions that are in complete opposition of the majority of Americans which are the very voters he is begging to reelect him to a second term.
These mistakes are indicative of a complete disconnect from political reality on Obama's part and should be a grave concern to his supporters because Obama appears to breaking under the pressure of having to defend his own record.
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