Obama’s Email Arrogance

[Rule of Reason Blog]

By [email protected] (Edward Cline) from The Rule of Reason,cross-posted by MetaBlog

Obama’s Email Arrogance

Yesterday I sent this impertinent message to President Barack Obama when his staff sent me the invitation to inform on other Americans who criticize his and Congress’s plans to impose socialized health care on the country.

The White House

[email protected]

5 August 2009

Dear Mr. President:

What is your definition of "fishy"? That it is odiferous? Bad-smelling? Unwelcome? Stinky? Ready to bury?

How dare you refer to Americans criticizing your socialist health and economic plans, and the facts they are bringing to light about your whole power-lusting, corrupt regime as fishy? How dare you threaten to abrogate their First Amendment rights?

Oh, that's right. I forgot. You don't want to be president of a nation of free men. You want to lord it over a nation of dependent troglodytes, ever grateful for the crumbs you throw them after you've eaten the cakes they created through productive work.

If anything can be described as fishy in this country now, it is your administration, and Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, and Barney Frank, and the whole crew of your looting parasites.

So, flag this!!

Regards,

A real American and a genuine patriot.

The key paragraph in the White House’s invitation is this:

“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors travel just beneath the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to [email protected].

This was preceded by two other interesting paragraphs:

“Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, ‘facts are stubborn things.’

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to ‘uncover’ the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.”

This announcement was posted by Macon Phillips (White House Director of News Media, go here for the career of this non-entity), but bets can be taken that the idea of inviting Americans to inform on each other is not flying too well at the moment, for undoubtedly the “in box” of [email protected] was almost immediately filled to overflowing with emails from outraged Americans, organized or not. This was not a good idea. Phillips and his handlers in the White House should have realized, given the genuine opposition across the country to Obama’s and Congress’s health care bill, that the reaction to it would have been overwhelmingly instant and “negative.”

What were they thinking? Perhaps, given that opposition, which has chiefly taken the form of what White House denizens have characterized as “disrupters” not tolerating the bromides and platitudes of elected representatives’ raucous town hall meetings about the proposed legislation, they are feeling desperate enough to try anything.

In addition to having the gall to quote John Adams, Phillips (or whoever wrote the invitation, it was probably a committee effort) also paraphrased Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” as though that reference to Gore’s discredited “scary movie” on global warming still had some currency among Americans. He also refers to First Amendment communications between bloggers and individuals as “scary chain emails” and videos as “percolating” on the Internet, chock full of “disinformation.” Facts, however, are not what the White House and its allies in Congress are conveying to the American public about the contents of the health care bill. They have launched, for the length of August up until Congress reconvenes in September, a campaign of disinformation not only about the contents of the bill, but against anyone opposed to the legislation, whether he is a Republican, a voter, or a blogger.

One might wonder where Obama and Company get their arrogance. They get it from the fact that the have gotten away with lies and disinformation for so long.

What is worrisome -- and that is the kindest term I can think of at the moment -- is that all the emails, friendly or not to the idea of informing on fellow Americans, can be collected and used somehow to punish or reward, whether or not the health bill legislation passes. Remember the outrage of the news media over President George W. Bush’s “lost” emails? Even the ever-loyal news media is stammering its reservations about the informant program.

Senator John Cornyn raises this issue in his letter to Obama about the impropriety of asking Americans to inform on others.

“Furthermore,

Cornyn wrote

, the collection of e-mails could amount to the

White House amassing

various forms of personally identifiable information.”

Among other things, Cornyn posed this important question to Obama:

“At the very least, I request that you detail to Congress and the public the protocols that your White House is following to purge the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in “fishy” speech.”

It will be interesting if Cornyn gets an answer to any of his questions. Read the whole text of his letter here. There is some comfort in seeing that not all politicians are clueless or indifferent.

But, make no mistake about it: If Obama and Company are willing to stoop to so low a tactic as inviting Americans to inform on each other, even in “casual conversation,” what else would they be willing to do? Aside from all the lies and disinformation conveyed to the public over the last six months about not only the health care bill, but about TARP, the cash for clunkers program, and even Harry Reid’s pet project, a magnet-train link between California and Las Vegas (!!!), this tactic reveals the core, evil soul of Obama and his supporters in and out of government in their quest for total power. Germans were asked by Hitler to inform on their fellow Germans, and tens of thousands of Germans wound up in work camps or concentration camps.

Will Americans follow suit, or are there still enough of us alive to put a brake on our march to fascism?

Cross-posted from Metablog

[RussK]

I'm curious, how many think that this invitation is truly an act of fascism, etc.? There are many of blogs that I frequent and hold in high regard, including the poster's, that have made such accusations. My opinion is that this program, if one wants to call it a program, is simply a method to stay ahead of the propaganda and lies being spread by liars on the right; although, it obviously hasn't worked out too well for the administration, so far, when it comes to public relations. I don't think there is anything nefarious going on here at all. I've received numerous emails that spread complete lies about the current proposed health care reform; it's gotten so bad that I've heard that snopes.com has started to debunk them. Individuals sending the content of these lies, as they get them, to the 'tip line' may help the left propaganda machine to respond faster. Note that this is not to say that I support socialized medicine and the proposed health care reform, or think the democrats are the truth tellers, or think that it's a good thing for the left to respond quickly with propaganda; however, I do think too much has been made out of this request on the white house blog.

[Thales]

I'm curious, how many think that this invitation is truly an act of fascism, etc.? There are many of blogs that I frequent and hold in high regard, including the poster's, that have made such accusations. My opinion is that this program, if one wants to call it a program, is simply a method to stay ahead of the propaganda and lies being spread by liars on the right;

No it's not. It's their way of keeping the truth from Americans. They are not in the least bit honest about what they're doing.

[softwareNerd]

... is simply a method to stay ahead of the propaganda and lies being spread by liars on the right;...

No, I would say it is a method to stay ahead of what is being said (truth or lies) in opposition to their health care plan. (I agree that the intent was probably not the collecting of names as such.)

They would actually be far more scared of truthful opposition than of lies, because the latter are less easily believed and more easily discredited.

I think that people who have respect for the truth sometimes come up with things that might sound like lies, but are actually simply exaggerations. For example, people who say one would lose one's health-care under Obama's plan are right if one gives their statements a certain additional context: i.e. if one adds: "... not immediately, but after a few twists and turns of continuing in this ideological vein".

In contrast to this, Obama is a very accomplished liar.

[The Wrath]

Unless they start actually targeting the people who are the subjects of these "flaggings," then they're not exactly doing anything illegal or unconstitutional. But it's still pretty creepy and Big Brother-ish.

[Zip]

Governments always put out their version of the truth (however riddled with lies that version may be) and they always listen to their opposition so that they can craft their response to the spin of the enemy. That's politics.

The difference here is that someone has decided that that process needs to be beefed up. They are so scared by the initial reaction to their plan that they have stepped out into the light as it were. Now some might say "Well what's wrong with that? Its the same process after all."

The difference being that it is the job of the government to govern all the people. It is not their job to divide them. Government is like Mom and Dad all rolled up into one entity. Mom and Dad should never have favorites and even when they do they should never let the kids know,and they should certainly never ask their favorite to rat out their brother.

[RussK]

No, I would say it is a method to stay ahead of what is being said (truth or lies) in opposition to their health care plan. (I agree that the intent was probably not the collecting of names as such.)

They would actually be far more scared of truthful opposition than of lies, because the latter are less easily believed and more easily discredited.

I think that people who have respect for the truth sometimes come up with things that might sound like lies, but are actually simply exaggerations. For example, people who say one would lose one's health-care under Obama's plan are right if one gives their statements a certain additional context: i.e. if one adds: "... not immediately, but after a few twists and turns of continuing in this ideological vein".

In contrast to this, Obama is a very accomplished liar.

Very true, I didn't think of that. If the main purpose is to quickly spread left propaganda, it stands to reason that they would also desire to collect anti-health care reform material that is truthful as well, as you point out.

I understand that there are people who are exaggerating things, but I wasn't necessarily accusing that group with being liars. I agree with your assessment that some people are just bringing things to their implied logical conclusions, which you use losing health-care as an example--I believe that private insurance would be destroyed, as well as other private institutions. My main target for the accusation of liar was individuals or groups who supposedly quote the health care reform plan, and fabricate things. I've long since deleted the e-mail, but one example of this would be the "One word to describe ObamaCare," which I'm sure is still floating around on some of the Right supporting blogs.

[RussK]

Governments always put out their version of the truth (however riddled with lies that version may be) and they always listen to their opposition so that they can craft their response to the spin of the enemy. That's politics.

The difference here is that someone has decided that that process needs to be beefed up. They are so scared by the initial reaction to their plan that they have stepped out into the light as it were. Now some might say "Well what's wrong with that? Its the same process after all."

The difference being that it is the job of the government to govern all the people. It is not their job to divide them. Government is like Mom and Dad all rolled up into one entity. Mom and Dad should never have favorites and even when they do they should never let the kids know,and they should certainly never ask their favorite to rat out their brother.

Good point. Traditionally, the parties and their sub-groups monitor each other for competing propaganda, and then come out with material to counter the oppositions'. The difference here is that the white house is asking the population at large to get involved, dividing the nation as you say.

[gags]

Unless they start actually targeting the people who are the subjects of these "flaggings," then they're not exactly doing anything illegal or unconstitutional. But it's still pretty creepy and Big Brother-ish.

If my memory serves me, there is actually a federal law that was enacted in the aftermath of Watergate that prohibits the White House from even accumulating lists of names and addresses for people who oppose its policies. Given the way previous administrations have used federal agencies like the IRS to go after their "enemies", I think this sort of thing should be watched closely and opposed vigorously when possible. The Left has a history of screaming bloody murder when they even sense that the government is accumulating information on them because of their protestations against this or that policy. Odd they way they don't seem to raise a peep when it's happening to the other side.

[softwareNerd]

... I think this sort of thing should be watched closely and opposed vigorously when possible.

Most definitely so. Even if someone in government has no evil intent with something like this, it can set a precedent for someone else -- perhaps a few administrations down the road -- who might use it inappropriately.

The Whitehouse should respond to the public anger at their request for emails. At the bare minimum they should do two things: they should ask people not to send them the source of anything they think is false-information (neither email-addresses nor original URLs); and, much more important, they should reiterate an enforce an internal policy to destroy any such information that is sent to them anyway. Needless to say, they should do both these things earnestly, else it would be reasonable to assume they do not have honorable intentions.

Edited August 8, 2009 by softwareNerd

[Jake_Ellison]

Unless they start actually targeting the people who are the subjects of these "flaggings," then they're not exactly doing anything illegal or unconstitutional. But it's still pretty creepy and Big Brother-ish.

The Constitution lists all the activities the government may be involved with, and flagging people who are opposed to socialized health care is not one of them. So it is unconstitutional, along with any activity associated with this effort to socialize health care. It is also illegal for the reasons gags mentioned.

[Thales]

It's a mistake here to assume good intentions, when there is so much evidence to the contrary.

The White House recently said about tea party "mobs" that they'd "punch back twice as hard" ... and Obama sent a letter to union thugs to commit themselves to going to these things and lo and behold union thugs showed up.

Obama has also basically told the opposition to health care to shut up, when he said the following:

But I don't want the folks who created the mess -- I don't want folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.

Remember, Obama was associated with Bill Ayers and nobody wanted to take that seriously. Perhaps now it is clearer why we should have taken that seriously.

Ever see the movie "The Lives of Others"? These are the kind of people we're dealing with.

[Zip]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNCILi1odyw...player_embedded

Indeed Thales

[Thales]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNCILi1odyw...player_embedded

Indeed Thales

Pretty good, Zip.

[spaceplayer]

It's a mistake here to assume good intentions, when there is so much evidence to the contrary.

The White House recently said about tea party "mobs" that they'd "punch back twice as hard" ... and Obama sent a letter to union thugs to commit themselves to going to these things and lo and behold union thugs showed up.

Obama has also basically told the opposition to health care to shut up, when he said the following:

Remember, Obama was associated with Bill Ayers and nobody wanted to take that seriously. Perhaps now it is clearer why we should have taken that seriously.

Ever see the movie "The Lives of Others"? These are the kind of people we're dealing with.

Thank you, Thales. The naivete is startling, to say the least.

[D'kian]

Some bloggers on the right suggest writing many emails reporting the misinformation being spread by the administration and congress regarding the health care bill.

[Zip]

Wonder what they'd be able to do if this became legislation. Information is power

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106056

[PatriotResistance]

That any America administration could request fishy comments be reported to the guvmint is so astonishing it makes my head spin!

Have you seen the Flag Yourself movement?

I flagged Obama and Barney Frank! lol

[K-Mac]

A moral government would have no need for such a request. It's disgusting for many reasons, much less the really dangerous ones.