Reverend Peter Marshall's Commentary Archive

". . .Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Luke 12:56)

     President Obama launched his administration on a bitterly cold Washington, DC afternoon with a fairly brief but somber inaugural address. The man can give good speeches, no doubt about that. But, on the 1-10 Inaugural Address inspiration scale that one registered about 6.5. Oh, there were some good lines, but for the careful listener, there were plenty of indicators that Team Obama is indeed going to foist its leftist agenda on a nation reeling from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and hardly in a position to withstand a major assault on whatever traditional social values it has left.

Now, let me say at the outset that no one wishes more fervently than I that Barack Obama succeed in leading the nation out of our current, and ever worsening, crisis. Do I want to see him fail, in the spirit of "I told you so!?" Absolutely not! Nor, in making some comments on parts of his speech, do I wish to be mean-spirited, and just pick at his words. But anyone with conservative Christian principles and values is certainly not about to jump on the bandwagon of giddy enthusiasm about the future of this administration that was on display in Washington on Tuesday. As I watched the President's address, in between the inspirational lines I could catch glimpses of the way he thinks, and unfortunately, they tended to reinforce my previous perceptions.

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end."

What our new President is telling us here is that he has no philosophical objections whatsoever to ever-growing government control over the American people. He doesn't care whether the government is too big -- he's not even asking that question!

"Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

The market, and by inference our free enterprise system, is by definition the best economic system the world has ever seen -- it is always a force for good. Only someone who doesn't understand this could even raise the question. And, correspondingly, the market can never "spin out of control." What does that mean? The market always corrects itself -- it is never "out of control." The "watchful eye" phrase means that Obama believes that the government needs to exert control over free enterprise. To the extent that happens, we will no longer be free. And, notice the accusation that the market favors "only the prosperous." Wow! That's simply Marxist socialism. In fact, the market "favors" anyone who makes good investments, whether they're rich or poor. What I'm hearing in that phrase is another rationalization to justify re-distributing the wealth -- in other words, to take from those who have money and give it to those who don't. At a time when Europe and other parts of the globe are finally turning away from failed socialist policies (European nations are slashing tax rates drastically), the Obama Administration and the Democratic controlled Congress want to embrace them. (A case in point: Government-owned banks and financial institutions. More on that next week).

"With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet."

Groan. He obviously still subscribes to global warming, when the planet is in fact experiencing global cooling (see last week's commentary), and has been for several years. Global warming has now become a politically correct article of faith for leftist politicians.

There were some good lines in the speech, particularly when it came to confronting the terrorists:

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

Amen! But how will you do it, Mr. President? Not by sending Hilary Clinton to negotiate with them, that is for sure. They're not interested in talking, only killing. Their only agenda is to destroy us. Only by hunting down those terrorists and eliminating them can the threat to Western civilization be removed. And a Bill Clinton-style lobbing of a few cruise missiles at ‘em ain't gonna get it done, either! It remains to be seen what kind of Commander-in-Chief Mr. Obama will turn out to be.

The endemic sloppy ignorance of American history was displayed in the midst of one of the better paragraphs of the speech -- probably more the fault of the President's reported 27-year-old speech writer, rather than his own -- but regrettable nonetheless:

"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth (he means 1776, though America was born over a 150 years earlier), in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. (He means Philadelphia, but we had no capital in 1776!). The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. (This is an allusion to Valley Forge, but that wouldn't happen until a year later!). At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt (it was more in doubt a year later at Valley Forge), the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people (Washington ordered them read to the army, not to the people):

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it). "

The passage Obama was quoting comes from Thomas Paine's crucially timed  1776 essay "The Crisis," which famously begins: "These are the times that try men's souls." Though Paine's tract was a strong motivation for discouraged Patriots that winter, the sad irony is that instead of choosing for his speech an inspirational quote from the General who was relying on Divine Providence to save the fledgling nation, Obama picked one from a man who would later be revealed to be an avowed atheist.

In any event, my pick for the "punch line" of the speech, if I could only choose one, would probably be this:

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

And that, my friends, is precisely what I am afraid of. America doesn't need re-making by the Obama Administration, or any other -- it needs a re-discovery and return to the principles and virtues on which we were built. Renewal is the operative word, Mr. President, not re-making. The word "re-making" reveals the arrogance of the Democrats, including Mr. Obama. These people want to re-make America in their own image. That will entail throwing out traditional American Bible-based values, of course, in spite of their claim that they are exhibiting a Biblical type of compassion for homosexuals, lesbians, transgendered people, etc.

 Well, the words of the Inaugural Address are now history, destined to take their place alongside all other inaugural addresses. The pressing question of the hour is: what is this administration going to do?

If the agenda posted on the official White House website (whitehouse.gov) is an accurate forecast of what is forthcoming from Team Obama, they are planning on driving the nation further away from Biblical values than any other administration in our history. Here are the exact quotes: 

* Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not. (Catholic Services in Boston shut down its adoption agency rather than comply with a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling ordering it to place babies for adoption by homosexual and lesbian couples).

* Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section. In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law. (The danger here is that because so-called hate crimes are notoriously hard to define, this legislation could be used to prosecute anyone, including ministers of the Gospel, who dares to assert the Biblical prohibitions against homosexuality, or even publicly offer ministry to homosexuals).

* Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (The threat is that employers will be forced to hire homosexuals, transgendered people, etc., even if it is against their religious principles, or against their organization's religious beliefs).

* Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights. (The Obama Administration is obviously determined to ram homosexual marriage down the throats of the American people, even though during the campaign Obama declared himself in favor of traditional marriage. See next item).

* Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

* Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals. (The Defense Department has become so politicized in recent years that there is a large disconnect between the official position on this issue taken by the spokespersons for the Joint Chiefs on the one hand and the opinions of the troops in the field on the other. My understanding is that most of those in combat units seem to feel that the presence of homosexuals and lesbians in the ranks undermines morale and is a deterrent to combat readiness).

The above items from the agenda listed on the Administration's website represent only a small sampling of what they have written. I have quoted only some of the more egregious examples of their rejection of Biblical values.

But, it should be readily apparent that much, much prayer is called for. We must pray constantly for the President, for his advisors, and for the Congress. In my view, for the foreseeable future this nation is in for some very intense spiritual warfare.

Yet, our God has not abandoned us. He is in control of all that happens to this nation, and will, if we return to Him in repentance and brokenness, lead us out of this prolonged moral and spiritual winter.

Note: In next week's commentary I want to talk about the global financial crisis, what the Obama Administration is currently doing about it, what their chances of success are, and what is likely to happen in the future.

Copyright, 2009, Peter J. Marshall. All rights reserved.

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