Close the Forward Hatch POTUS!

President Barack Obama has spent over $100 Million in political ads so far to gain re-election.  Some wonks wondered if one of the ads featured the President strolling by some columns, which could have been the Colonnade  by the Rose Garden in the White House. This scene had been the site for many images from President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign.   Obama’s Forward walk  image was brief file footage and the complaint seemed somewhat picayune.

Apparently, the prospective Republican nominee former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) scored a hit with his ad which featured small businessmen reacting to candidate Obama’s bluster that entrepreneurs did not build their own businesses.  In fact, the Romney campaign has been using the gaffe as a means to sell “I Build This Business, Mr. President” t-shirts as campaign fundraisers.



Thus the Obama campaign rushed out a political ad to respond to what they contend is a misrepresentations by Mitt.  An informed voter can watch the Obama Roanoke clip and decide for yourself if lack of teleprompters was to blame, if it was merely inelegant utterances on the stump or if Obama’s opponents are distorting the record.  The problem is the setting for Mr. Obama’s video response.




Unfortunately, the Obama’s “Always” ad, was recorded in the West Wing.  Jake Tapper recognized that Mr. Obama was seated in his Chief of Staff Jacob Lew’s office.  White House officials confirm the setting.

This would seem to be a de facto violation of the 1939 Hatch Act which, in part, prohibits partisan political activity in government offices.  This would include using official authority to interfere with an election or engage in political activity in a government office.  Congressmen routinely vacate their offices on Capitol Hill to Democrat or Republican Clubs to make campaign calls.

A close viewing of Obama’s “Always” ad begins with a hard cut “Those ads”.  Perhaps editors realized that by naming Romney it would have been an overt violation of the Hatch Act.

Obama supporters have made excuses for their candidate’s actions.  Some cite the fact that the White House is government housing so there is not an easily accessible safe place for candidate Obama to make partisan retorts.  Obama officials noted that prior  Presidents, including Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton had shots of them in the Oval Office when proffering partisan propaganda.  Melenie Sloan from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government gives Obama’s actions approbation as it did not involve solicitation, but she noted that Americans like to think of the White House as being sacrosanct and above partisan politics.

Between the politization of the Holder Department of Justice for suing states on Voter ID laws on the flimsiest of grounds and not prosecuting aspects of DOMA or Immigration Law which do not strike their political fancy and this flaunting of the spirit of the Hatch Act, it is hard to avoid an impression that in the Obama regime, there is a blending of partisan politics and governance.

As a political animal who supports the rule of law, I urge Mr. Obama to close the Hatch and adhere to the laws on the books.

Admiring the Exposed Super-Egos in the DOJ Voter ID Case

Victoria Rose Rodriguez is an 18 year old from San Antonio who is worried that the Texas Voter ID law would disenfranchise her.  So the Eric Holder led Department of Justice used the Texas teen to testify in Washington DC courtroom as a poster child to nullify Texas’s efforts to prevent voter fraud by demanding state issued identification before going to the ballot box.

In March, the Department of Justice blocked implementation of this Texas Voter ID Law as a violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act.  A three judge panel in Washington, DC is adjudicating the case.  Ms. Rodriguez’s testimony came at the end of the second day of testimony and clearly was an attempt by the Department of Justice to put a sympathetic human face to their case.  Attorney General Holder notes that only 8% of whites lack ID cards but that the statistic skyrockets to 25% for minorities.

Ms. Rodriguez testified that she  has limited documentation, which includes a birth certificate, a student ID and a high school transcript.  Rodriguez is currently a registered voter but enforcement of the 2011 Texas Voter ID law would prevent her from voting.

Rodriguez testified that her parents were too busy to take her or her twin sister to get a voter ID card as her dad works all day and her mother is sole caretaker of her grandmother. Moreover, Rodriguez thinks that getting a driver’s license is untenable as her parents can not afford to add her to the family’s auto insurance policy.

Interesting that a legally recognized adult is so dependant on her parents to exercise her duties as a citizen. Sad that A.G. Holder holds Rodriguez’s example as part of his brief that a young voter is so dependent on her parents to go to the DMV to get an ID card in an urban environment.

Curious that a teen whose parents are too busy to take her to the DMV to get a state ID card (not necessarily a driver’s license) had the time to drive her for an estimated 24 hours one way  from San Antonio to the nation’s capital to testify.  Perhaps she flew to the District of Calamity. But if Ms. Rodriguez used an airline ticket, wouldn’t she had to have shown an approved government issued ID? If so, then why was she testifying?  Did the Department of Justice contract for private aviation for their poster child witness so that ID did not have to been shown.  Inquiring minds would like to know.

If anyone in the Lamestream Media would actually do their jobs and ask hard questions, they would have to come to terms with Ms. Rodriguez’s travel disparity that she was presumably able to fly by showing ID to Washington and testify that she would be disenfranchised by having to show valid official ID to exercise her sacred franchise as a citizen. This would expose the Texas teen as a useful idiot who traded her integrity to get a fleeting moment of fame while aiding a partisan policy which she supports. But instead of being responsible, the AP changed their story that Rodriguez’s parents were too busy to take her to that Rodriguez was unable to get the proper ID.

The Super-Ego is a Freudian concept that relates to the conscience.  Without needing to expose her ID, the ego becomes unleashed.  The Lamestream Media’s Super Ego is covered with yellow and  Rodriguez’s Super Ego seems to have no governor. Then again, is there any governor, like the rule of law,  in the Holder Justice Department?