Obama Attacks New York City

Were you wondering why America is divided against itself? Were you wondering why the national mood is so foul, why Americans are increasingly at each others’ throats?

The answer is easy and difficult. It is easy to identify the source: it is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is more difficult to understand how the awful behavior of the president trickles down through the population at large.

It’s not new that the Obama White House is petty, vindictive and mean-spirited. Didn’t its treatment of Israeli Prime Minister show off Obama’s ugly side… which at the same time giving a green light to anti-Semitism?.

Now, Obama has focused his wrath on New York City. He wants to withhold funds that would be used to fight terrorism. The reason: Senator Chuck Schumer had the audacity to oppose Obama’s Iran deal. Besides, Schumer is Jewish and Jeremiah Wright’s protégé never had good relations with Jewish supporters of Israel.

Mort Zuckerman  makes the case against the Obama administration. Since Zuckerman has long been a severe critic of Obama, he is not late to this game.

Writing in U. S. News and World Report, Zuckerman says:

How dare the senior senator from New York, Charles Schumer, have a mind of his own? How dare the presumed next Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate have the nerve to speak up for the city against a stupid decision by Washington when he has already offended the White House by voting against last year's Iran nuclear deal? They are questioning his "credibility in talking about national security issues," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, which really means it is payback time for Schumer for being the highest profile Democrat to join Republicans in opposing the president's international agreement with Iran. Credibility? His credibility undercut the president's.

The extraordinary broadside of petty politics came just hours after Schumer joined New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton in a triple protest at Washington's folly of reducing the protection against terrorism's No. 1 target. The Homeland Security budget for New York City is threatened to be cut in half, from $180 million to $90 million. That money will surely – must! – be restored. This petty and mean-spirited behavior by the Obama administration plays personal politics with the lives of New Yorkers and, oh just incidentally, could be a blow to the national economy.

This absurd news came with no warning, no consideration, no explanation to anyone with the grave responsibility of protecting a major city. It seems unthinkable that the city is being punished because the senator eloquently and bravely made the case against Obama's treasured deal with Iran, but the unthinkable is about the only explanation anyone can come up with for something so irrational as exposing New York at a time when, at every level of terror intelligence, officials are so concerned that homegrown radicals will stage a Paris-like attack on our soil. 

How dare anyone in Obama’s American think for himself?

As you know, American universities are awash in political correctness. It’s almost as though the thought police are running the asylums. Now, where might the students have gotten the message that such behavior is acceptable? Why do they think that insolence and petulance are acceptable? Where did they learn that they had a right to mount vendettas against professors who dispute the dogmas of the Church of the Liberal Pieties?

Surely, they learned some of it from their radical professors. But, do you think it's a coincidence that this has occurred during the administration of Jeremiah Wright's protégé?

It is very difficult to show exactly how a president’s bad behavior filters down the public at large. When you elect a president you elevate him to the position of national role model. You are telling everyone that they should emulate his behavior. People cue off of his manners. If they are bad manners, his being the president makes them good.

Obviously, Obama sets a very poor example. But he is an especially slick operator. His behavior is all the more influential for appearing to be the model of decorum and good manners. Chuck Schumer—as loyal a Democrat as one could wish—has just seen its true face.