Codevilla: Obama’s targeting of his political enemies erodes trust in government

The Daily Caller – by Ginni Thomas

Trust in the federal government is declining to record lows while the Obama administration uses overbearing, imperious authority to suppress political dissent and intimidate his opposition, says author Angelo Codevilla.

In 2003, former Secretary of Clinton Hillary Clinton said that dissent is patriotic.  

“Hillary Clinton said that dissent is patriotic because she was doing the dissenting,” Codevilla said in an interview with The Daily Caller.

“No human being likes to be opposed, and those who have a great deal of power have to have an awful lot of character in order to tolerate their opponents and to treat them in a civil manner,” he continued. “Well, the likes of Obama and Clinton do not have that kind of beneficent, equanimous character. In fact, these are people who, after the fashion of Saul Alinsky, go out to personally hurt their political opponents. The political is personal, they say, and the personal is political.”

The government is using its power to blame and marginalize its political enemies by targeting conservatives with the IRS and by compiling dossiers on “anti-government activists” with the Department of Homeland Security, he said.

“The problem here is that the government, which has become intellectually loose and promiscuous in the designation of enemies, will find it difficult not to apply the designation of enemies and the method of dealing with enemies to which it has accustomed itself to its own domestic enemies,” Codevilla said. “There is no natural barrier to that logical progression.”

Will shame work in restraining government?

“Shame? They have no shame. Character? They have no character,” he continued. “You have got people who are bereft of character and shame in possession of a greater power. Now, unlimited power is not good in anyone’s hands, but it is especially to be feared in the hands of people with little character and no shame.”

Watch Part 1 and Part 2 of Codevilla’s interview.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/11/codevilla-obamas-targeting-of-his-political-enemies-erodes-trust-in-government-video/#ixzz2nH3kGi5Y

One thought on “Codevilla: Obama’s targeting of his political enemies erodes trust in government

Join the Conversation

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*