When I was a child, I thought like the Obama administration

[Paul A. Ibbetson]

Remember when you were in grade school, or dare I say high school, and you found yourself in a humiliating situation after having failed to read the day’s assignment and being called to expound upon your of knowledge in front of the class? If this happened to you then you don’t need me to frame how things transpired, since for most, this was a situation of distress, confusion, sadness, and shame. The memory of facing the class and trying to repel each of the teacher’s questions like incoming missiles can create a sheen of perspiration on the brow even today.

Some people find they relive these situations in their dreams from time to time when the sandman decides to deal them a dirty hand at bedtime. For most, the saving grace that allows us to break free from such situations is that we grew up and took on the responsibility to prepare for the tasks that we face today. This truth is eloquently stated in the Bible in Corinthians, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” How the Obama administration could gain from following these wise words!

Arizona’s new immigration law SB 1070 is being attacked by liberals around the globe as racist, overreaching, barbaric, draconian, and the list of descriptors is almost limitless. From the White House, President Obama called the law “misguided” and now jumps back and forth on the issue of whether or not Arizona’s law promotes racial profiling. Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, both highly critical of Arizona’s law, recently admitted in public forums before television cameras that they had not even read the 10-page bill they had been condemning. I wonder if they felt silly, like children who had failed to do their homework and were then called to the front of the class to give their report. To many it appeared so, but to me they were more frightening than anything. Should the American people require that they stay after class, or even be held back? Way back? When I saw how little the facts really mattered to these government officials when it came to how they dealt with Arizona and the America people, I began to see the childlike mentality that dictatorships often encompass.

This is a scary place where deliberation and decision making is devoid of fact and reason and based merely on party line politics and the whims of the White House. The words in Corinthians come back to me with modern-day applicability: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like the Obama administration. It’s a painfully accurate fit.

I would say that reading the laws would bolster the credibility of the White House’s opposition to laws, with which they disagree, but the problem here is much deeper than understanding that “reading is fundamental;” you also have to care about the people and respect the rule of law. As Fox News reports, John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated that illegal aliens from Arizona may be rejected for processing based on his view, which subsequently falls in line with the White House’s stance that Arizona’s law is not the solution to the illegal immigration problem. Has John Morton read the law he now rejects? Well, he certainly has not been briefed on the specifics of Arizona’s SB 1070 by Obama administration officials such as Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano. It is apparent that right now America has an administration quick to turn in their verdicts and slow to do their homework.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a published author, lecturer, and radio host. He can be contacted at [e-mail].