Obama: The Undemocratic Democrat

By Johanan Raatz

When Americans elected Barack Obama they assumed they were electing someone who adhered to democratic principles. After all, Obama's flowery rhetoric was quite convincing, and "hope" and "change" were in the air.
Now however that these vacuous slogans have been filled with substance we find that the actions do not meet the rhetoric . After the fact it is starting to appear that the Democratic party has nominated and the American people have elected a rather undemocratic Democrat to the presidency.
In America his domestic policies thus far have been mostly ruinous. Unfortunately, Americans are not the only people affected by his policies. Being a leader on the world stage, what happens in America often affects politics across the globe.
Traditionally America has used it's influence to promote the ideals of freedom and democracy abroad. President Obama appears to be changing all of that though. Instead of championing the ideals of democracy he has used America's influence to oppose it. Thus far he has:

I.) Attempted to foist a Chavez like dictator onto the Honduran people: After forcibly attempting to change the Honduran Constitution in a step towards becoming president for life, Manuel Zelaya was removed from the presidency and exiled by the Honduran Supreme Court, under Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution. Obama has since condemned this legal action as a "coup" and attempted to put Zelaya back in power. Only 28% of Hondurans want him to return though.

II.) Imposed upon the Dominican Republic to remove a newly passed amendment to their constitution, banning abortion throughout their country. The vast majority of Dominicans see fetal homicide as murder and oppose it. Additionally, of the 210 members of the Congress, 171 members voted in favor of the amendment while only 32 voted against it. Apparently cultural imperialism is wrong unless one is trying to push the counterculture and its moral degeneracy down others throats.

III.) Resisted supporting the Iranian people in their democratic movement against the corrupt theocratic regime in Tehran. Ahmedinejad's recent overreach and the subsequent reaction to it was an excellent opportunity to promote democracy in Iran. However, instead of vigorously supporting the Iranian people in their struggle against a dictator, Obama took the cowardly approach and needed to be dragged by his hair to finally -and halfheartedly- take the right stand.

Though I did not vote for him I can not help feel a sense of responsibility towards the people of the world for this man's behavior. Perhaps I could have done more to oppose him while there was still time.
I believe I owe an apology towards the people of these nations for the abhorrent behavior of our current president. I only pray that in time they will forgive us. Hopefully, by then Americans will take their role in the world seriously, and be more responsible in whom they elect to the presidency.