Obama waves magic wand
Posted: April 21, 2010
1:00 am Eastern © 2010
The Washington Post news story read like this: “President Obama mandated Thursday that hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and allow same-sex couples to share medical power of attorney, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.”
I’ve been in the news business for 30 years. I taught journalism at a major university. I may be something of a newsroom relic, but I was around when “gay” still meant happy.
So, let me tell you how that story should have read: “Barack Hussein Obama waved his magic wand Thursday and created a new special privilege applying only to men and women based on their sexual proclivities – forcing hospitals across the country to permit visitation rights and medical power of attorney to partners of homosexual and lesbian patients.”
Make no mistake about it: This is a perfect illustration of where Obama and company want to take America – granting approved classes of people politically protected special privileges.
I won’t call them “rights,” because, as our Founding Fathers understood, we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. Government can’t bestow rights. It can only protect them or abrogate them.
Note that his magic wand did not grant the same privileges to celibate roommates. It did not grant the same privileges to lifelong friends. It did not grant the same privileges to paid caretakers of the elderly and infirm. It did not grant the same privileges even to those shacking up together outside of marriage if they happen to be of the opposite sex.
Thus, we can see that this was not an act of human compassion and kindness. It was, instead, another clearly unconstitutional action designed to keep a small but vocal and wealthy class of people aligned with him politically. It was another action designed to flout the law of the land and claim for himself powers nowhere authorized in the Constitution for a president, or, for that matter, even the Congress of the United States.
Neither can Obama honestly state his action is about ending discrimination. Because, as I have pointed out, it actually isdiscriminatory. Previously, the rules and regulations and operating procedures of most hospitals treated everyone the same. Everyone operated under the exact same rules. After Obama’s magic wand was waved, one group, based on sexual behavior, suddenly operated under a different set of rules.
Where is all this leading?
Officially, of course, Obama has said he is opposed to same-sex marriage.
After an action like this, you have to ask yourself why.
Of course, it shouldn’t take you too long to answer your own question: The only reason Obama says he does not support same-sex marriage is because overwhelmingly Americans disagree with him. He knows taking such a position puts him directly at odds with every expression of opinion in polls and referenda conducted in the U.S.
(Column continues below)
So Obama has chosen to move America in that direction incrementally, all the while lying about not having the goal in the first place. It’s clear he also believes in “affirmative action” based on sexual proclivities. That’s why he has made a point of hiring so many homosexuals and lesbians – touting them as minority hires and hailing his own sensitivity and compassion.
Now, maybe you want to know how that magic wand works. Obama managed this feat simply by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit “discrimination” in hospital visitation. If hospitals don’t heed his tyrannical, extra-constitutional directive, he will see that their Medicare and Medicaid funding is pulled. Imagine the kind of power he will have over hospitals when the new health-care legislation kicks in.
There was some truth in that Washington Post account: “Obama’s actions are the latest attempt by his administration to advance the agenda of a constituency that strongly supported his presidential campaign. In his first 15 months in office, he has hailed the passage of hate-crime legislation and held the first Gay Pride Day celebration at the White House. Last month, Obama’s top military and defense officials testified before Congress in favor of repealing of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for gays in the armed forces.”
That’s really what this action is all about – pandering to a special-interest group, extending privileges based on sexual behavior.
What do I think about this?
Disgusting, illegal, immoral, contemptuous, disingenuous.
Did I leave anything out?
Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His book “Taking America Back: A Radical Plan to Revive Freedom, Morality and Justice” has gained newfound popularity in the wake of November’s election. Farah also edits the online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.
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I can’t tell what this guy’s complaint is. Is he saying that I, as a gay or lesbian American, should not have the right to have a legal document naming anyone I wish (like my spouse) as my healthcare power of attorney? Or is he saying that he does not believe that gay and lesbian people who have healthcare powers of attorney have ever had these POA’s ignored by hospitals? In any case, this article just seems like a vehicle for him to spew his bigotry. I’m wondering why you posted this. Is your intention simply to offend and hurt your gay and lesbian relatives and neighbors?
I would appreciate your interpretation of what point you think he is making exactly. I also would appreciate your explanation of why you posted this. Thanks.
“Bette” if you read what the author is saying is that by this unconstitutional act, Obama IS DISCRIMINATING. According to Farah, there was no discrimination against anyone in the hospital system before, everyone was treated the same. NOW, gay and lesbian patients and their families get special treatment not accorded to anyone else…
This is just like the so-called “Hate Crimes” legislation where special groups like gays/lesbians and minority group members get special treatment as victims of crimes. If I were violently assaulted as a white women, my perpetrators would not be subject to the same, harsh penalties as the perpatrators of the extact same crime agains a gay/lesbian person or one from minority group! How is that “equal protection under the law”?
This is just Obama pandering to the radical groups that help to put him in office again!
It’s a complex issue. I have worked as an RN since 1977, the majority of that time in ICU settings, trauma settings. So I’m more familiar than most with these types of situations. One thing that occurred to me years ago is this: If someone of the opposite gender walks in and states “I’m her husband” or “I’m her wife”, I have never once in 33 years seen anyone ask for a marriage certificate to be produced. If someone of the same gender says “I’m her partner” then she is asked to produce a Healthcare Power of Attorney. And actually, there have been cases where these HCPOA’s were not honored, which is what I think Obama is trying to remedy. Here is a NYT story from about a year ago describing such a case. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/health/19well.html?_r=4&hp
I have over the years, seen nurses make really ignorant statements about same sex relationships in the healthcare setting. If memory serves me, these have fortunately been few and far between, but If you’ve ever had a loved one in an ICU, then you know you are pretty much at the mercy of the nurses in terms of access.
We might agree on more that you think as to Hate Crimes legislation, but let’s just save that topic for another day. I would like to point out that you as a Christian (I’m making a guess that you identify as a Christian) are one of the protected groups.
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game.
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