Some People Just Can't Let Go

My alma mater gave an ethics award to former President Obama last week.  Needless to say, I'm less than proud of my school -- the University of Illinois -- for its misguided action, however politically motivated and necessary it was.  And for ethics, of all things.  But I digress.

It seems that the last administration is having trouble moving on.  We know that Cankles is still dealing with her campaign loss two years after the fact.  In which of the five stages of grief she finds herself is confusing, because she just keeps keening about it.  Joe Biden takes swipes at the President and suggests that he'd like to duke it out with the President.  I'm not sure the country's ready for geriatric boxing.  But two people who are having an exceeding tough time letting go are former President Obama and his second erstwhile Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Obama, in his remarks made accepting Illinois' butt-kiss, took credit for the economy's rebound under Donald Trump.  What's interesting about that is he scoffed at then-candidate Trump's optimism about the economy, suggesting rhetorically

“Well, how exactly are you going to do that? What exactly are you going to do? There’s no answer to it,” Obama said, referring to Trump's campaign rhetoric.

“He just says, 'Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.' Well, what, how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And, usually, the answer is he doesn’t have an answer.”

Given that statement, it's fair to assume that Obama thought there was no chance that President Trump could revive the American economy.  Yet last week,

“When you hear how great the economy’s doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started,” Obama said. 

He's come out with statements critical of President Trump at home and abroad, trying to play it sly and not mention the President in some accounts, and in others making thinly-veiled comments critical of President Trump.  What's unusual about this behavior is that rarely, if ever, have retired Presidents criticized sitting Presidents.  President Bush hasn't criticized Obama -- although he has criticized President Trump -- President Clinton didn't criticize Bush, and on down the line.  But Obama has even stated that the American people would have voted for him a third time if they could have.  That assumption, like all assumptions, takes liberty with the facts.

Meanwhile, John Kerry flirts with prison.  Unlike either Biden or Obama, Kerry doesn't seem to have political aspirations at age seventy-four, but he claims not to have ruled out another run for president.  If that's the case, he may want to familiarize himself with the Logan Act.  Succintly, the Logan Act states:

The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States.

This week, Kerry was advising the mullahs in Tehran how to outlast President Trump.  Considering that President Trump has blasted the Iran deal and tensions between the two countries are simmering, it would seem there is a dispute, thereby invoking the Logan Act.  Still, Kerry seems to think he's a diplomat without a portfolio and talks with foreign governments, advising them how to thwart this administration's positions.

Much like the antifa whom they refuse to repudiate, Obama and Kerry seem to think that they have the moral imperative, which in turn blesses any action they take or any utterance they make.  In our republic, once an administration is over, it's over.  No shadow presidents or diplomats.  These two, however, eschew protocol and let their wonky moral compass guide them.  Aided and abetted by a compliant MSM who refuses to drill down on the emerging details of corruption and abuse that existed during his administration, Obama flaunts his undeserved status as the MSM's darling and acts the bully.

In many ways, President Trump doesn't display presidential timber, much to my chagrin.  I've complained continuously about his tweeting, for example.  But Obama, although by far the more polished politician of the two, is doing a discredit to this country that threatens to wound it even deeper.  His insidious, invidious attacks on this administration, coupled with his former secretary of state's rogue actions, show a disrespect for the country they claim they are trying to protect.  In fact, by showing our enemies and our allies that this is a house divided invites disrespect and, possibly worse.

They need to stop this and go home.

(c) 2019 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles