Ok, a bit snarky of a headline for someone who has a brain tumor, but regardless it is well suited as a by-product for the swooning feelings of euphoria brought on by the mere escalation of man to throne. Great leaders, it seems, want the masses to swarm at their feet in allegiance, or as Obama has put it, “the price and promise of citizenship“.
Or is it?
I am reminded of a quote by James Madison:, “The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted”. With that in mind, let us to turn to the source material to find the historical intent of the Executive Branch.
Federalist #69 makes a clear cut case for the duties and powers of the Presidency: He is not to be king.
The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people for four years; the king of Great Britain is a perpetual and hereditary prince. The one would be amenable to personal punishment and disgrace; the person of the other is sacred and inviolable. The one would have a qualified negative upon the acts of the legislative body; the other has an absolute negative. The one would have a right to command the military and naval forces of the nation; the other, in addition to this right, possesses that of declaring war, and of raising and regulating fleets and armies by his own authority. The one would have a concurrent power with a branch of the legislature in the formation of treaties; the other is the sole possessor of the power of making treaties. The one would have a like concurrent authority in appointing to offices; the other is the sole author of all appointments. The one can confer no privileges whatever; the other can make denizens of aliens, noblemen of commoners; can erect corporations with all the rights incident to corporate bodies. The one can prescribe no rules concerning the commerce or currency of the nation; the other is in several respects the arbiter of commerce, and in this capacity can establish markets and fairs, can regulate weights and measures, can lay embargoes for a limited time, can coin money, can authorize or prohibit the circulation of foreign coin. What answer shall we give to those who would persuade us that things so unlike resemble each other? The same that ought to be given to those who tell us that a government, the whole power of which would be in the hands of the elective and periodical servants of the people, is an aristocracy, a monarchy, and a despotism.
Clearly, the office of the President’s powers are to be contained, reserved. Our President is not supposed to be a leader of a national church, and yet Rev. Sharon Wakins, of Disciples of Christ in North America proclaimed:
“In times such as these, we the people need you, the leaders of the nation, to be guided by the counsel that Isaiah gave so long ago,” she said. “This is the Biblical way. It is also the American way.”
She told Obama, “With your swearing-in, Mr. President, the flame of America’s promise burns just a little brighter for every child in this land.” There is much work to do, and some of it will “tend to draw you away from your ethical center,” she said.
“But we need you to hold the ground of your deepest values, of our deepest values,” Watkins said. “We need you to stay focused on our shared hopes, so that we can continue to hope, too. We will follow your lead.”
Even CNSNews.com asks what biblical figure Obama is most closely representing. Yeah, seriously.
With attitudes like this, we need be very concerned. We don’t just have a king, we have a Saviour.
The soaring rhetoric expected from a politician who has arrived almost as a messiah was preceded by a human moment as Senator Obama misplaced a word in taking the oath of office.
…
It was a time to smile as heavy clouds gather. America is embattled, not just by foreign wars but within its economic borders. The toll is rising rapidly as millions find themselves out of work and institutions crumble with only deep government intervention left to save them.
Deep government intervention. Messiah. If we don’t have a Presidency by virtue of his own supporters’ statements to the fact, then what do we have? An aristocracy? A monarchy? Despotism? Consider Obama’s own words as it relates to the historical perspective of the Presidency:
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Yes, indeed the ground has shifted. It seems we no longer have a President, but King. No longer a leader, but a Messiah.
Our Founders rejected this type of government, man cannot rule over man and protect our inalienable rights. 1776 was the rejection of rule be decree. And yet, it seems, Obama would have us turn back the clock for “imagination joined with common purpose”.
My friends, we need be very concerned. Very, very concerned.
More info: http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/