Obama Learning The Reality Of Being President

Obama trades gun law for credit card victory

Posted: May 20, 2009, 2:44 PM by NP Editor

Here's a example of what makes the United States the great and fascinating democracy that it is.

Barack Obama campaigned hard against George Bush's prosecution of the war on terror, especially his treatment of prisoners of that war. He vowed to close Guantanamo, get rid of trial by military commission and unleash a new era of transparency.

He's changed his mind since then on military commissions and transparency. He's going to keep commissions, but alter them a bit. Suspects will have a better choice in lawyers, a proposal the Wall Street Journal scoffs at, pointing out that detainees already get their pick of some of the best lawyers in the country. He also changed his mind about releasing photos of detainees being abused, having decided it would only inflame enemies of the U.S. For that he's been attacked by his own left-wing allies, who believe transparency trumps security, just as Mr. Obama did before he actually became the one responsible for maintaining that security.

Obama stuck by his opinion on Guantanamo, and ordered it closed immediately after being sworn in as president. When he asked for the money, though, he was turned down flat -- by the same Democrats who supported his pledge in the first place. All he wanted was $80 million, which doesn't even register on the spending scale in an administration that yawns at anything under a trillion. But Senate Democrats turned him down anyway, noting that he's yet to explain what he'd do with the 240 detainees still at the camp. Let them loose in the U.S.? Not bloody likely. Democrats are all for defending the inherent rights of accused terrorists, as long as there's no chance they might actually set foot on U.S. soil.

So Obama isn't getting any of those three wishes. He might, however, be able to pass a bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies, a popular move among people who need to be protected from their own financial ineptitude. That would be good. But to get that win, Mr. Obama has to also sign a law allowing Americans to pack heat in national parks, carrying loaded, concealed weapons while out picnicking or hiking in the woods. Why would you need a concealed weapon in the woods? In case Bambi sneaks up on you with a Smith & Wesson? Who knows. But Republicans noticed how eager the White House was for a credit card victory, so it tacked a wholly unrelated provision onto the bill allowing the new gun rights.

You're allowed to do that in the U.S. There's no requirement that separate elements in a bill have even the slightest connection to one another. It means Mr. Obama can't get the credit card law without also accepting the loaded gun rule. To make things slightly more palatable, Congress is willing to hold a "two-part vote," meaning members can vote yes on credit cards and no on guns, but in the end they'll be reunited anyway, making the separate vote meaningless other than as a face-saving measure for anti-gun Democrats.

So Obama loses his three terrorism initiatives, and signs into law a pro-gun rule even a Republican president couldn't manage. And once again, his disappointment is due to Democrats. The New York Times says the new Congress has many Democrats from western and rural states where shootin' irons come just after God, country and family on the Top 10 list of all-American virtues. Associated Press reports that Senate support for the gun law included 27 Democrats, among them majority leader Harry Reid, who had blocked an earlier attempt to vote on the bill for more than a year. Adding to the confusion. Tom Coburn, the Republican who is championing the bill, says that, personally, he's not a big fan of guns. What he does support is "states rights," a scary proposition when you recall that southerners also insisted the Civil War wasn't about slavery, it was about state's rights.

Mr. Obama remains popular despite all this, because he's about "change." Americans are still willing to buy into that, even if it turns out that all he's changing is his own mind.

Kelly McParland
National Post