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“Why today, Mr. President?”
That question was posed in an editorial in the New York Post on Wednesday, the day that Pres. Obama was arriving in town for not one but three separate fundraisers in the heart of Manhattan.
The only problem? It was the same day as the city’s big annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and concert, resulting in a “Midtown meltdown” occurring “nearly simultaneously with the tree-lighting.”
Was this merely a scheduling snafu on the president’s part?
Hardly.
As the Post pointed out, Obama chose this night in particular for the fundraisers, at these specific locations, knowing full well what would be happening at the exact same time. As the paper related: “Obama’s visit is a purely optional campaign stop that could’ve been set at any time other than a moment when thousands of tourists will flock to the Midtown area. The tree-lighting ceremony, on the other hand, occurs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. each year on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving — a fact easily checked.”
So this was no mere mishap. It was done very purposely and deliberately.
Still, the Post saw it largely as an issue of convenience, complaining that “you’d think he’d be a little more sympathetic to beleaguered residents and workers schlepping home on a work night — especially during the holiday season.”
But for me, the matter is a far more serious and disturbing one.
Let’s not forget that only a week earlier, Obama purposely and deliberately left any mention of God out of his annual Thanksgiving message. Nothing new there. He’s been omitting references to God from his presidential messages, even on Christian holidays, since he took office.
That’s a far cry from Abraham Lincoln — the man whom Obama supposedly patterns himself and his presidency after (what a joke that is!).
Lincoln set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving by issuing a proclamation which recognized this country’s blessings as “the gracious gifts of the Most High God,” declaring: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.”
The proclamation marked the new holiday as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” and concluded in imploring “the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation [in the aftermath of the Civil War] and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”
“Why today, Mr. President?”
That question was posed in an editorial in the New York Post on Wednesday, the day that Pres. Obama was arriving in town for not one but three separate fundraisers in the heart of Manhattan.
The only problem? It was the same day as the city’s big annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and concert, resulting in a “Midtown meltdown” occurring “nearly simultaneously with the tree-lighting.”
Was this merely a scheduling snafu on the president’s part?
Hardly.
As the Post pointed out, Obama chose this night in particular for the fundraisers, at these specific locations, knowing full well what would be happening at the exact same time. As the paper related: “Obama’s visit is a purely optional campaign stop that could’ve been set at any time other than a moment when thousands of tourists will flock to the Midtown area. The tree-lighting ceremony, on the other hand, occurs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. each year on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving — a fact easily checked.”
So this was no mere mishap. It was done very purposely and deliberately.
Still, the Post saw it largely as an issue of convenience, complaining that “you’d think he’d be a little more sympathetic to beleaguered residents and workers schlepping home on a work night — especially during the holiday season.”
But for me, the matter is a far more serious and disturbing one.
Let’s not forget that only a week earlier, Obama purposely and deliberately left any mention of God out of his annual Thanksgiving message. Nothing new there. He’s been omitting references to God from his presidential messages, even on Christian holidays, since he took office.
That’s a far cry from Abraham Lincoln — the man whom Obama supposedly patterns himself and his presidency after (what a joke that is!).
Lincoln set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving by issuing a proclamation which recognized this country’s blessings as “the gracious gifts of the Most High God,” declaring: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.”
The proclamation marked the new holiday as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” and concluded in imploring “the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation [in the aftermath of the Civil War] and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”
Lincoln was obviously another one of those “right-wing Republican preachers,” as Democrats and their liberal supporters now routinely demean conservatives who dare pay due homage and honor to God for His manifest goodness and manifold mercies.
Obama’s decision to step all over New York City’s big annual Christmas tradition, and his Thanksgiving Day snub of God, came just a few weeks after he announced his opposition to adding an inscription of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C.
As we approach the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 7, 1941, which pulled America into WWII, it is also worth remembering the events of D-Day on June 6, 1944, the day that marked the beginning of the end of the war, setting the stage for the ultimate victory of America and other Allied forces.
That day, with the future of the world hanging in the balance, FDR “used the power of radio to link the nation in prayer,” as historian Stephen Ambrose put it.
The networks broadcast the text of the prayer throughout the day of June 6, and newspapers printed it in their afternoon editions, so millions of Americans were able to pray along with him: “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. These men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”
Back then, unlike today, there was largely a consensus in this country about maintaining a national reverence for God. And history shows that God answered in miraculous fashion on D-Day with the events that unfolded across the beaches of Normandy. But Obama wants all of that forgotten.
From his twisted perspective, having an inscription or plaque of FDR’s prayer at the WWII Memorial would somehow “dilute” the central message of the site (although he didn’t explain exactly how).
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins responded furiously: “This is further evidence that [Obama] has created an environment that is hostile towards American history — but in particular towards Christianity. I hope America wakes up and realizes what this administration is doing to this country and how they want to radically and fundamentally change America.”
“They want to erase every aspect of America’s heritage,” he added of the Obama administration. “Any president, any official in history that has embraced Christianity, is no longer welcome in this administration.”
But, then again, Obama is the same guy who, when he thought he was speaking privately to some fellow leftists in ultra-liberal San Francisco during the 2008 campaign, blasted Christians for “bitterly clinging” to God out of hate and fear.
Now, I understand that Obama was elected on the strength of a campaign that was unprecedented in all of American history in that it was largely, and very overtly, Messianic (brazenly blasphemous, that is) — descending from those Greek columns, saying his election would cause “the ocean levels to recede and the planet to heal,” etc. — but eventually he’s going to learn a lesson that all the other pretenders to the throne have learned before him.
That being, his arms are too short to box with God.
e-mail: tom3264@msn.com, or go to tom’s Facebook page to send a message
