Piper: How to Live Under an Unqualified President

[Jim]

How is he less qualified than Obama?

• Who has lied as “theologian-in-chief” about Islam? (wouldn’t that make him a false prophet!)
• Who has not stood for the dignity of human life (abortion)!
• Who has lead the normalization of gay marriage!

Three ways:

1) How he communicates. Obama is a poised statesman who speaks in measured, weighty ways. Trump is a child who throws tantrums on Twitter without having a clue.

2) What he knows about the things that a President needs to know. Obama understands that the issues are complex. Trump is so ignorant of the issues he actually thinks they can be solved with 140 character tweets. You may disagree with Obama’s positions but you can’t deny he has a far better grasp of the nuances of the country’s problems that Trump has and probably every will.

3) How he lives. Trump is morally bankrupt and made the bulk of his money in casinos, strip clubs and fraudulent schemes like Trump University. Obama has given us eight years with no scandals (and no Benghazi is not a scandal). He appears to be a model family man.

Over all, Obama has been a respectable leader. Trump is a joke and always will be a joke.

Obama has given us eight years with no scandals (and no Benghazi is not a scandal). He appears to be a model family man.

You mean aside from:

• IRS Scandal

  The IRS scandal of 2013 refers to the Internal Revenue Service’s disclosure that it had targeted conservative and Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny leading up to the 2012 presidential election between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

  The fallout was fierce, and led to the resignation of the head of the tax agency.

• AP Phone Records Scandal

  The U.S. Department of Justice secretly obtained telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press wire service in 2012.

  The move was described as a last resort in a leak probe, but it nonetheless outraged journalists, who called the seizure a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into The AP’s news gathering operation.

• Use of Executive Power

  There’s lots of confusion over whether Obama issued executive orders or was just taking an executive action, but critics piled on the president for trying to bypass Congress on critical issues such as gun control and the environment.

• National Security Agency’s Surveillance System

  The NSA has been using a super-secret computer system to scoop up emails, video clips and pictures on major U.S. Internet company websites, including those transmitted by unsuspecting Americans, without a warrant and in the name of national security. The program was deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge during Obama’s second term in office.

I disagree with you strongly that Benghazi was not a scandal, but I left it off the list because there’s so many other things I could point at.

I would say the IRS targeting of conservative non-profits is a scandal. It was not talked about a lot outside of FOX but it was a scandal.

Trump is smarter than you are giving him credit for. I pray that his huge ego does not get in the way to much and he will listen to his advisors on a lot of issues. You are right though…his tweets are insane a lot of the time.

I understand your dislike for Trump (I voted for him but am not a fan) but you are giving Obama way to much credit.

Obama is a disgrace and a traitor to this country. The worse president we have ever had in my life time. Just yesterday he commuted the sentences of over three hundred drug criminals (1700 altogether), many of whom had life sentences. He is a traitor to our ally Israel. An ardent supporter and promoter of the LGBTQ agenda. He is nothing short of a radical leftist who loves Islam and has disdain for conservative Christian America.. He has released many dangerous terrorists out of Cuba, many of whom have returned to the fight to destroy our country and western civilization. He has maligned the police of this country and is partly responsible for the mass execution of police officers this year by his support of radical anti-police groups. He gives them a veneer of legitimacy. His foreign policy has created Isis and lost the peace in Iraq obtained under Bush. Obama has appointed radical leftists to the Supreme Court and the Federal Courts. Trump was not my choice, but the last eight years have been horrible for our country. Trump, for all his sins, has surrounded himself with many good advisors and cabinet members,. Even Mohler has recognized this. I thought Piper’s article was one-sided and unfair, but that does not surprise me. I lost much respect for Piper years ago with his endorsements of some of the worst evangelical compromisers and the charismatic movement. The best thing Obama has done is to help destroy the democratic party. Under his legacy they have lost the majority of the congress, the senate, the supreme court (to come), governorships, state houses, and now the presidency. He may be likable and smooth, but middle America has rejected this man and his policies.

Today is a reflection of what America has become. Donald Trump is President because Donald Trump reflects the attitudes and morals of enough people in order to get elected. He may very well accomplish some tangible good in economics and nominate a Constitutional conservative to the Supreme Court. But the best economy and the best judges are not a substitute for Biblical spirituality. His son-in-law Jared Kushner is interesting - observant Jew, converted Trump’s daughter to Judaism, and lives at 666 5th Avenue. Strange.

….the man protesteth too much, methinks, if Pr. Piper truly believes that the specter of a morally unqualified President is anything new. Even beyond the reality of Romans 3:23, the names I’ve listed and a bunch more illustrate the silliness of this proposition.

And Greg, I would have hoped that no matter what one’s politics, one would not fall for the “horsefeathers” (to put it very politely) about Obama’s administration being “scandal-free.” The only way he can claim that, really, is to assert that because he didn’t allow the DOJ to do a real investigation, nobody got convicted. Add to Jay’s list; Hilliary Clinton’s emails, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, exemptions from the Health Insurance Deform Act, bribes necessary to get HIDA passed, and a whole bunch more. To draw a picture, the DOJ didn’t even convene a grand jury regarding Mrs. Clinton’s illegal server—which more or less prevented Comey from getting information except from WikiLeaks and the like.

So while it is true that Trump’s lack of self-control while speaking and tweeting does concern me, to pretend that we’ve had a qualified President for the past 8 years is just to deny reality, brother.

[Mike Harding]

Obama is a disgrace and a traitor to this country. The worse president we have ever had in my life time. Just yesterday he commuted the sentences of over three hundred drug criminals (1700 altogether), many of whom had life sentences. He is a traitor to our ally Israel. An ardent supporter and promoter of the LGBTQ agenda. He is nothing short of a radical leftist who loves Islam and has disdain for conservative Christian America.. He has released many dangerous terrorists out of Cuba, many of whom have returned to the fight to destroy our country and western civilization. He has maligned the police of this country and is partly responsible for the mass execution of police officers this year by his support of radical anti-police groups. He gives them a veneer of legitimacy. His foreign policy has created Isis and lost the peace in Iraq obtained under Bush. Obama has appointed radical leftists to the Supreme Court and the Federal Courts. Trump was not my choice, but the last eight years have been horrible for our country. Trump, for all his sins, has surrounded himself with many good advisors and cabinet members,. Even Mohler has recognized this. I thought Piper’s article was one-sided and unfair, but that does not surprise me. I lost much respect for Piper years ago with his endorsements of some of the worst evangelical compromisers and the charismatic movement. The best thing Obama has done is to help destroy the democratic party. Under his legacy they have lost the majority of the congress, the senate, the supreme court (to come), governorships, state houses, and now the presidency. He may be likable and smooth, but middle America has rejected this man and his policies.

Mike,

there is much you have said that I agree with, but with some you do not have the facts straight. Most of the over 300 drug criminals that were just released were not life sentences, but rather from the crazy mandatory minimum sentencing laws when Reagan, George H. Bush, and Clinton were in office. Every single one of them were non-violent. Let me just say, this is a very personal issue to me because several of my at-risk urban students grew up without a father due to their father being in prison for 7-20 years when it should have been a 1-3 year sentence. Basically although the war on drugs had good intentions, the unintended consequences of bad laws also led to over incarceration and even made fatherlessness a worse problem than it should have been. I find it interesting that you consider Obama is a traitor to Israel. Just watched a clip of Louis Farrakhan (with amusement) blasting Obama for favoring Israel over Islam, the middle east and just about everyone. By the way, what anti-police groups does Obama support? He’s even kept his distance, while trying to be kind and political to the BLM folks. In fact, BLM constantly criticizes him for being too nice towards our law enforcement. Partially blaming him for law officer deaths? Really? in 2016, 71% of the officers that were killed by civilians between January and May were white. Also, In some communities law enforcement are not being held accountable and I have supported Obama not only blasting the criminal activity and riots that have taken place in our country but also blasting certain police departments that have not been held accountable for their actions such as killing civilians when they didn’t have to.

Joel, your points are well taken, but it’s also been pointed out that a fair number of the “nonviolent” drug offenders were armed when arrested—OK, so they didn’t shoot somebody at that time, but they were certainly capable of doing so. So I don’t think we can—as much as I’d like to—take Obama at face value when he claims they’re nonviolent drug offenders. I’m all for reducing the scope of the war on drugs, especially vis-a-vis marijuana, but I dare say Mr. Obama chose one of the worst possible ways to address the issue by cherry-picking a few theoretically nonviolent offenders, and then commuting sentences but not pardoning them. I’d guess you see a lot of guys with skills who can’t get employed because that felony conviction is still on their record, too.

I think Obama missed a huge opportunity with BLM as well by failing to step forward and say “you know, with all their faults, the police are your friend, and you should work with them to get violent criminals out of your communities.” He could pledge to work to get body cameras while at the same time reminding people what #1 on the Pareto was. Chicago’s murder rate was not up 50% last year because he was an effective leader—he even de-prioritized federal gun law prosecutions there.

So Bert, if you want to blame Obama for Chicago’s increase in murder over one year, are you also going to give him the credit for the overall decrease in violent crimes in this country over the past 8 years? https://mises.org/blog/fbi-us-homicide-rate-51-year-low

​My guess is no…

I would love to know specifics of how Daniel navigated his way through several pagan cultures while serving in high office and maintaining his integrity and obedience to God. What a life he had.

[Bert Perry]

Joel, your points are well taken, but it’s also been pointed out that a fair number of the “nonviolent” drug offenders were armed when arrested—OK, so they didn’t shoot somebody at that time, but they were certainly capable of doing so. So I don’t think we can—as much as I’d like to—take Obama at face value when he claims they’re nonviolent drug offenders. I’m all for reducing the scope of the war on drugs, especially vis-a-vis marijuana, but I dare say Mr. Obama chose one of the worst possible ways to address the issue by cherry-picking a few theoretically nonviolent offenders, and then commuting sentences but not pardoning them. I’d guess you see a lot of guys with skills who can’t get employed because that felony conviction is still on their record, too.

I think Obama missed a huge opportunity with BLM as well by failing to step forward and say “you know, with all their faults, the police are your friend, and you should work with them to get violent criminals out of your communities.” He could pledge to work to get body cameras while at the same time reminding people what #1 on the Pareto was. Chicago’s murder rate was not up 50% last year because he was an effective leader—he even de-prioritized federal gun law prosecutions there.

Bert,

Yes I know that some had weapons. Knowing the gang culture that I do (devoted over 2 decades of my life ministering among them so far), most of the non-violent offenders with weapons are not the ones who actually do the hits or use them. They hold them for the bad guys who use them (many are cousins or younger brothers of the actual violent people, some feel forced to do their bidding and won’t snitch on them because they’re related to them). Remember, this is a cat and mouse game between the police and those who control the underground economy. Also, most of the 300 so people that he commuted their sentences had already served at least 10 years for their crimes, had a flawless prison record, obtained their GED in prison, took classes/counseling on overcoming drug abuse, and etc.. Most of these drug offenders were low-level dealers who are also addicted to drugs as well.

Wow! I’ve never found myself defending Obama like this because I’m normally one of his greatest critics (in certain circles that I am part of) Obama has repeatedly made it clear that both blue lives and black lives matter in so many different speeches that I’ve lost count. By the way, if Obama was to ask BLM people to go back into their communities to work towards reducing crime then the police would need the infrastructure of community policing to make that happen. Community policing develops trust between the neighborhood and the police. Both groups began trusting one another because neither of them are viewing each other as the enemy because they have developed relationships of trust. People know longer are afraid to report crimes when relationships of trust are established. One of the main reasons violent crime dropped in the 1990’s in Chicago was they had money to do community policing. When they dropped the community policing in favor of “getting tough on crime,” crime increased. Now I am not saying that community policing is the magic bullet, but it will go along way in breaking down barriers between inner-city communities and law enforcement.

[GregH]

So Bert, if you want to blame Obama for Chicago’s increase in murder over one year, are you also going to give him the credit for the overall decrease in violent crimes in this country over the past 8 years? https://mises.org/blog/fbi-us-homicide-rate-51-year-low

​My guess is no…

Here are the data that cover the Obama administration. Murders of blacks are up fairly significantly since BLM got going, and are up overall since 2009. Murders of non-blacks are somewhat down, though up since Michael Brown’s death, and you’ll see that there was also something that increased black murder rates from 2004-2008. Overall the trend is flat to slightly down, which is to say I can at least give Obama (and states, communities, and ordinary citizens) credit for not totally screwing things up.

Bill Clinton ends up looking pretty good in part because various factors reduced the crack trade—among them the harsh sentences Joel is talking about. I’m not totally in favor of them, but there is that correlation.

The thing I have against Obama regarding BLM is that it’s not sufficient to say “blue lives matter”. He needed to say, forcefully and in black areas, that imperfect as they are, the police are doing the black community a lot more good than harm by putting criminals in jail. Moreover, one thing he did that was clearly harmful was to use “disparate impact” theory to impose sanctions on communities and school districts. More or less, if the % of people arrested/put in detention at school exceeded the percentage of blacks/minorities, the DOJ initiated legal action, completely ignoring the question of whether more problems were from those groups.

In other words, the DOJ was actively undermining community policing efforts under Obama, with the result that hundreds have died.

[Joel Shaffer]

Wow! I’ve never found myself defending Obama like this because I’m normally one of his greatest critics (in certain circles that I am part of) Obama has repeatedly made it clear that both blue lives and black lives matter in so many different speeches that I’ve lost count. By the way, if Obama was to ask BLM people to go back into their communities to work towards reducing crime then the police would need the infrastructure of community policing to make that happen. Community policing develops trust between the neighborhood and the police. Both groups began trusting one another because neither of them are viewing each other as the enemy because they have developed relationships of trust. People know longer are afraid to report crimes when relationships of trust are established. One of the main reasons violent crime dropped in the 1990’s in Chicago was they had money to do community policing. When they dropped the community policing in favor of “getting tough on crime,” crime increased. Now I am not saying that community policing is the magic bullet, but it will go along way in breaking down barriers between inner-city communities and law enforcement.

I’m not exactly defending Obama since I didn’t see the list or read the charges. But I find myself in a strange place after several years working in the prison system and now in a drug clinic with mostly all clients court-stipulated. Daily they come from state or county prison. In Philly they are now called “returning citizens” rather than ex-cons to avoid the stigma. No one would excuse me of being soft on crime. However, there are those who have received sentences disproportionate to their crimes. Anyone who doesn’t think money talks (and the other stuff walks) in the legal system where the inability to hire high-priced defense lawyers is the difference between probation with community service or prison lives in a world I don’t recognize. I know. “Do the crime. Do the time.” Yet there are times when sentences should be commuted and pardons offered. I don’t particularly care that one man makes that decision in theses cases but that’s our system. I don’t say this lightly or often. Several decades ago I spent time on the other side of the bars in one of the very prisons where I then worked in the past few years. I’m thankful for the grace of God which kept me from returning. That’s what these men and women really need. In the meantime we might offer them a little grace to return to their homes and families, and yes I know, some back to a life of crime. The solution is not always “lock ‘em up.” Sometimes it’s “let them be free.”

Steve