Obama Reinforces The Barricades

Closing WWII Memorial

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Our friends at The Weekly Standard report that the barricades around the World War II Memorial have been reinforced so they cannot be easily taken down or removed.

Supposedly the National Park Service decided to allow our World War II veterans to visit their memorial. So who made that decision and why?

According to The Weekly Standard's John McCormack, "Carol Johnson of the National Park Service told me that the White House's Office of Management and Budget 'sends everything down to all other departments.'"

Closing Marine Corps War Memorial

In other words, Obama is demanding the memorial be closed so he can blame Republicans. Obama won't get tough with Iran's mullahs, but he is a bully when it comes to 90 year-old World War II vets. Obama will build a wall around our memorial, but not on our border.

Shutdown Showdown Continues
As the government shutdown enters Day 4, there are signs that Democrats are starting to feel the heat. In the past two days, House Republicans have passed bills to fund veterans' services, the National Guard and the National Institutes of Health. A total of 57 House Democrats have voted for those bills. Yet Senate Democrats refuse to consider them.

Remember that when you are discussing the government shutdown and ill-informed friends or family members try to blame Republicans for denying cancer treatments to sick kids.

House Republicans and dozens of House Democrats are trying to keep the government open. But Obama's liberal allies in the Senate refuse to budge on Obamacare's individual mandate and the special exemption from Obamacare that Obama granted to members of Congress.

Compromise On What?
The polls overwhelmingly show that huge majorities of Americans, Republicans and Democrats, just want everybody to get along. They want more comity in Washington. They want government to work for the people. They want both sides to compromise.

Here's the problem: The "go along to get along" approach, or business as usual in Washington, has resulted in our $17 trillion national debt. That's well in excess of $50,000 per person.

If you take into account future unfunded liabilities for programs like Social Security and Medicare, that figure skyrockets to nearly $90 trillion.

Business as usual has bankrupted us. Something has got to change.

I am often asked why Republicans and Democrats can't just cooperate for the greater good of the country. But cooperation assumes that two sides share the same goal. For example, if both sides agreed that we need to reduce the size of government, an argument over which programs or agencies to cut could be easily solved by a compromise.

That is not the case in Washington today. One side is determined to dramatically expand (Obamacare) an already bankrupt government, and other side is determined to stop the out-of-control spending. Where is the compromise between two opposite goals?

And clearly Democrats are refusing to compromise. As one commentator noted, "Harry Reid and President Obama's single message during this impasse has been 'no negotiation, no compromise.' 'I shouldn't have to offer anything,' Obama said."

If the American people truly want compromise, it's clear that Obama and his Senate Democrat allies are the ones refusing to compromise. They are one who should be blamed by the media for shutting down the government. That's not going to happen. The best we can hope for is that the voters will somehow realize the truth and hold Democrats accountable in November 2014.

Which brings me to my final point. I also hear from many good folks complaining that the politicians in Washington are "only concerned about winning the next election." Of course they are and you should be too. You can't govern the country unless you first win the election! That is how we as a nation decide major issues -- through elections.

I have said this over and over, but it is worth repeating, especially as we watch this shutdown unfold: Elections have consequences.

As a consequence of losing recent elections, there are too many liberals in the Senate blocking every good thing House conservatives are doing. A united Congress can get things done. In the 90s, a GOP House and a GOP Senate eventually forced Bill Clinton to negotiate on welfare reform and reduced spending to achieve a balanced budget.

But because the Democrat majority in the Senate is running interference for him, Barack Obama has no reason to compromise with House Republicans. That is why it is so important for us to win the 2014 elections!
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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