Free Divider-in-Chief by Kate Obenshain Page A

remain unaware of his betrayals. In fact, many Americans take at face value the liberal talking point that claims conservatives and Republicans are chiefly to blame for the
divisiveness in politics. This book is not an indictment of division in political discourse. Our country was founded on differences of opinion—starkly contrasting ideas that were articulated passionately, openly, and with integrity. It was through the free and open exchange of ideas that our founders determined the best course.
    But Obama’s call for post-partisanship has as its goal the subjugation of differing points of view to the ideology of radical leftism. In ObamaWorld, partisanship can be transcended only when everyone agrees with Barack Obama.
    With his attempt to force religious institutions to violate their core beliefs by covering their employees’ birth control, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, Obama has made a political calculation that appealing to secular and liberal female voters is more important than the constitutional rights of believers.
    The day he publicly endorsed same-sex marriage—a decision he claimed was rooted in his faith and inspired by “Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf ” 1 —Obama immediately jumped on a plane to attend a Hollywood fundraiser, where he raised nearly $15 million off the announcement. 2
    He’s taken credit for the successes and heroism of others, and blamed others, including his predecessor and even the public, when his own initiatives have failed. When congressional Republicans wouldn’t compromise on tax cuts, he began referring to them as “hostage-takers.” 3
    Democrats tried to rally liberal voters to the polls ahead of the 2010 mid-term elections by releasing a video of Obama imploring “young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women” to unite and go to the polls for Democrats just like they did back in 2008. 4
    The video was a desperate and cynical attempt to energize voters with an “us versus them” appeal. Obama ran for president as a post-partisan, post-racial uniter. But his instinct was to respond to the coming disaster by dividing on the grounds of age, race, ethnicity, and sex.
    Obama’s re-election campaign is also based on pandering to key constituencies—young people, ethnic and racial minorities, radical feminists,
gays, environmentalists, public employee unions—while demonizing Republicans, conservative women, business owners, portions of the media, religious organizations, and any other group or institution that challenges his agenda or threatens his power.
    Because Obama spends so much of his time catering to special interests, he has very little time to focus on the national interest, in particular reviving the economy and creating jobs.
    Obama has embraced a slash and burn approach to his 2012 re-election bid. As early as August 2011, the Obama campaign signaled it would focus on, according to Politico , “a ferocious personal assault on Mitt Romney’s character and business background.” 5
    The dramatic and unabashedly negative turn is the product of political reality. Obama remains personally popular, but pluralities in recent polling disapprove of his handling of his job, and Americans fear the country is on the wrong track. His aides are increasingly resigned to running for reelection in a glum nation. And so the candidate who ran on “hope” in 2008 has little choice four years later but to run a slashing, personal campaign aimed at disqualifying his likeliest opponent. 6
    â€œUnless things change and Obama can run on accomplishments,” a prominent Democratic strategist aligned with the White House told Politico , “[Obama] will have to kill Romney.” 7
    To that end, the Obama campaign hired Stephanie Cutter as deputy campaign manager to oversee the campaign’s daily combat operation. Cutter is famous among Democrats for her