Of Obama and integrity (or lack thereof)

George W Bush was routinely called a liar by a broad segment of society as you might recall. Now before you go thinking this is in defense of Bush, let me say very clearly Au Contraire. Being no fan of Bush, I am only using him to offer contrast to the treatment of our current ruler, the Mighty Kenyan.

Obama was very clear all throughout his campaign that transparency would be the hallmark of his administration, and toward that end he very specifically promised that all of the negotiations regarding the then proposed healthcare reform legislation would be broadcast on C-span. These promises of full disclosure are on film for all to see, and they are unequivocal by anybody’s standard. But when it actually happened, the healthcare legislation passage was the epitome of backroom wheeling and dealing.

He lied.

On the subject of GITMO, Obama the candidate promised to close the prison there. Again these promises were unequivocal, and publicly stated on multiple occasions. Other than a handful of detainees being transferred out, the facility at GITMO remains in full operation and shows no signs of closure.

He lied.

Obama told America repeatedly and loudly that no one’s taxes would go up if they made less than $200,000 a year. Now several different money amounts were bandied about, but the point he was making was that the American middle class would not be shackled with new income taxes. Now this one has not completely played all the way out, but does anyone in their right mind believe that the American middle class isn’t going to be slapped with additional taxes? Obama vehemently told George Stephanopolis in a televised interview that the mandated cost of buying health insurance was NOT a tax. Then when challenged in court, his administration argued that the mandate for individuals to buy healthcare coverage was indeed a tax, and thus was fully constitutional under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution.

He lied.

These are just three salient examples. An honest viewer of the political scene should have no trouble coming up with many more examples of Obama’s complete lack of integrity.

Now a question: Why hasn’t the denunciation so commonly used for Bush attached itself to Obama? Why aren’t we daily hearing the refrain of “Obama lied…”? That’s a rhetorical question of course. I damn well know the answer.

Now an observation: When I was in the Marines we were taught that there were fourteen leadership traits. They are as follows

Judgment
Justice
Dependability
Integrity
Decisiveness
Tact
I… (this one I couldn’t remember – but not bad for being out for 25 years huh?)
Endurance
Bearing
Unselfishness
Courage
Knowledge
Loyalty
Enthusiasm

These character traits were held forth to all Marines as what it takes to make a good leader. Now can we all agree that a president needs to be at least a “good” leader? When a young Marine goes before a promotion board he/she is likely to be asked what’s the most important of all the leadership traits. The answer is of course integrity, because without integrity all the other traits are pretty much worthless.

It would seem to me that our Dear Leader - he who aspires to rule over us - is utterly lacking in the most important trait of leadership!