Increasingly the Liberals have "seen the light"
and started to come out strongly against DOMA

But Obama's biggest impact on America's moral foundations would take place because of his two Supreme Court appointments ... giving the Supreme Court a much more Leftist orientation. In his May 2009 appointment of the childless and unmarried Sonia Sotomayor, of Puerto Rican origins, he was actually merely replacing one Progressivist or Liberal justice with another … although Sotomayor's Liberalism was even further to the Left than that of the David Souter she was replacing.1 Then the following May (2010), Obama made yet another Supreme Court appointment, a strongly Liberal Elena Kagan, replacing the somewhat Liberal John Paul Stevens. It is important to note that Kagan was actually another childless and unmarried female, was Dean of Harvard's Law School … and well-known for her strongly Liberal views on matters. At Harvard, she had forcefully opposed the military's appearing on Harvard campus for recruiting purposes because of its "don't ask; don't tell" policy concerning homosexuals and their behavior in the military. And she was Jewish, the third such individual at that point making up the nine-member Supreme Court. But ultimately the decision came as a matter of where the "swing" justice Anthony Kennedy stood on the matter. And with respect to the issue of homosexuality, he was a strong supporter of full homosexual equality in American society. And thus it was that the Supreme Court took on DOMA, Congress's key legislative piece concerning this matter of marriage. First was the 2013 decision in the United States v. Windsor case, ending one of the DOMA provisions … soon followed by the 2015 decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case, simply striking down all of DOMA. And there was virtually nothing that the people's representatives in Congress, supposedly America's supreme legislative body, could do about these Supreme Court decisions.  The reality was increasingly clear that the Supreme Court, even by the slimmest of margins (the decision of only five justices needed), was America's Supreme Legislature as well as Supreme Court … deciding for America what exactly its foundational laws were to be. 1Previously, as a 2nd Circuit Court justice, she became well-known for her rather colorful political comments … such as the one in 2001 in which she stated: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." But ultimately it takes the Supreme Court (with a mere 5-against-4 decision) to re-legislate America’s long-standing view on the sanctity of male-female marriage. THE PRO-HOMOSEXUAL FORCES GO ON THE ATTACK Even before the final 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision, the homosexual community was on a crusade to bring down any who dared to oppose, even object to, the idea of homosexual marriage … when in 2013 owners of an Oregon bakery told one of their regular customers that when it came to baking her and her partner a wedding cake, they could not do so on the grounds of their own religious principles, and invited the two to go elsewhere to have that cake made.  But the lesbian couple were not ones to have their rights violated … and brought a lawsuit against the bakery.  Then when the story hit Facebook and the internet, protesters began to gather outside the bakers' shop … forcing the couple to have to close their bakery and try to work out of their home.  But that was not enough to satisfy the crusaders … who were thrilled to hear that an Oregon administrative court had imposed a $135,000 fine on the bakers.  And efforts of the bakers to appeal their case, Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, in Oregon's higher courts led them nowhere.  The ruin of both the bakery and the personal finances of the bakers themselves was considered to be just punishment on behalf of a couple "deeply hurt" by the failure of the bakers to be willing to make them that wedding cake. The message was thus loud and clear. Those who still (after centuries of such a standard) wanted to stay with those standards – insisting that marriage was/is intended to be between a man and a woman, principally to provide the care and nurture of a rising generation – that if they did so, they could expect severe punishment to come their way. This marked a huge shift in the American social-moral scene … one, since its founding, the nation had built its power upon – not on high-ranking and very select, and thus small, group of ruling officials, but on the grass roots foundations of millions of strong American families. But now the courts (and the president) made it quite clear that marriage was no longer about such social service.  It was about meeting the sexual desires of individuals, whatever direction those might go.  After all, wasn't this what "freedom" was all about … not having to answer to any higher authority than your own personal inclinations? As it turned out (and Obama himself commented in 2008 on how the breakdown of the American family had hurt deeply the Black community),2 this action on behalf of personal "freedom" and personal "rights" would do enormous damage to all sorts of areas of American society. 2In one of his less ideological moments – Obama commented (on Father's Day of 2008, when first running for the presidency), "Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it." Refusal to bake a wedding cake for two lesbians brings a fine of $135,000 ... and closure of the Klein's bakery ... plus continuing harrassment by the pro-homosexual community in Oregon BLACK-WHITE RELATIONS TURN UGLY Obama knew this problem personally, his African father and his White mother having separated soon after Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961. He would see his father only once after that – a half-hour visit with his father when Obama was 10. He would grow up having difficulty deciding whether he was Black or White … although he finally found while a student at Columbia University in New York City that he more easily identified himself as Black – finding the Black churches he attended in nearby Harlem to be a much better fit for him than the surrounding White world. That identity would then grow as it led him this way and that in his early professional years … first as a Harvard Law student and then as a summer intern (1989) at a Chicago law firm – where he met Michelle Robinson … and married her in 1992 in a ceremony led by the Black preacher, Jeremiah Wright, who became to Obama something like the father he had never known growing up.3 As eventually a Chicago lawyer himself, he became involved in a number of various community service organizations … and taught constitutional law as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. In 1995, he took the time to publish an autobiography, Dreams of My Father, about the challenge of growing up bi-racial. The next year (1996) he was elected to finish out a term as Illinois State Senator, then reelected in 1998 and 2002.  And in 2004 he became a national figure, delivering a keynote address at the Democratic Party National Convention … at the same time running for the U.S. Senate … against a Republican who had to step down over a sex scandal that summer just before the election – giving Obama an easy ride into Congress in January of 2005 as Illinois' new senator. It did not take long for Oprah Winfrey – at the very top of both CNN's and Time's list of the world's most powerful women – to find deep interest in Obama … and suggest at several interviews with him that he should run as U.S. President. Why not? It was about time America had a Black president. And thus it was decided that he would indeed run … on the platform of bringing deep "change" to America. And obviously that had deep racial implications. Thus elected President in the 2008 elections, not only was Obama quick to support the homosexual community, he was just as quick to jump into matters when race was understood to be at the heart of things. The Trayvon Martin – George Zimmerman tragedy (2012) When a young Black, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in a struggle with White (Hispanic) neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in early 2012, the incident quickly became a national issue, with the Black community furious over the event and demanding that Zimmerman be charged for murder … before the details of the event were even known. And that included Obama, who intervened to demand action – and commented that if he had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon. During the trial, it was revealed that Martin was shot only when Zimmerman found himself on the ground and Martin on top of him, pounding away at Zimmerman for over 40 seconds. Ultimately Zimmerman, under the “Stand Your Ground Law” was found innocent of the charges. Needless to say, this was not the verdict that the Black community demanded ... and birthed the "Black Lives Matter" movement. The Ferguson Missouri incident (2014) But even more explosive was the event in Ferguson Missouri that erupted in August of 2014 when a local police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed a young Black, Michael Brown. A very false portrayal of the event was issued by another Black, who was with Brown at the event, and who claimed that Brown had raised his hands and requested "don't shoot" when stopped by Wilson – but was shot in the back by Wilson anyway. This then set the Blacks off over a ten-day period on a rampage of plunder and torching of American neighborhoods – chanting the now-famous words "hands up, don't shoot." Even White youth (such as at the nearby St. Louis University) turned out in huge numbers, demanding Wilson be brought to justice – and demanding also an end to all injustice and poverty afflicting America … that this event represented. And Obama quickly (only several days after the shooting) made it clear that the Department of Justice was not going to simply let the local authorities sweep this matter under the rug – Obama indicating that he was fairly certain this would be how the matter would be handled locally because of the racism that runs through America – and sent Attorney General Holder to Missouri to do his own investigation. Eventually other witnesses at the scene gave a very different account of the event, describing Brown as having charged Wilson when he was shot – and he was definitely not shot in the back trying to step back from the confrontation. Finally, try as he might, after a long investigation (lasting until March of the following year) Holder had to admit that the Justice Department could find no basis for bringing charges against Wilson. But, being Black himself, Holder could not resist the temptation to spell out how he felt the same agonies that America's minorities surely felt in such a White America.  In short, instead of supporting the racial reconciliation that the nation needed, he merely invited American minorities to continue to register their deep animosities to the way America was structured.  Like Obama, he was indicating that America needed change – deep change.4 Refusing to stand at the playing of the National Anthem Thus it was also that Obama just had to come out at the beginning of the 2016 football season to support the mostly Black players who – at game time – refused to stand in respect during the playing of the National Anthem … instead kneeling in protest against American racism – especially against the racial oppression conducted by the police.  Obama expressed his own concern about the racism afflicting America – and the importance of making a show of our opposition to this evil … leaving it to the listener to decide whose racist evil he was referring to … racism on the part of both Whites and Blacks – or just White racism? 3Despite Obama and his family having found themselves under the pastoral leadership of Jeremiah Wright for nearly two decades, when in running for the presidency in 2008 the media caught parts of a highly racist sermon preached by Wright (not likely his first … just the first time it hit the national media), Obama abruptly and completely cut Wright out of his life. 4All of this despite statistics put out around that time by a government report which cited 2011 figures showing that that murder was the No. 1 killer of Black males of the age 15-34, running at 40 percent of the deaths in that age range (compared to 3.8 percent for White males of that same age) – nearly all of that Black on Black killings. However, the report also pointed out that more Whites than Blacks are killed by police, almost on a 2 to 1 ratio, although Whites make up five times the number of Blacks, so therefore the percentage figure for Blacks is higher.  Nonetheless this does not conform well to the highly inflated claim that Blacks are subject to some especially high rate of killing by cops. Indeed, very tragically, blaming the police for the chaos that rocks Black neighborhoods is a horrible distraction from the real causes, which are: little moral training in manhood by missing fathers, poor educational motivation, high unemployment, and gang membership as the only option that many young Blacks find as their path to manhood.  All of this serves to create a very violent environment in which both police and civilians are expected to function in a civilized fashion. The Ferguson Missouri disaster Michael Brown and officer Darren Wilson Brown caught on security video apparently stealing cigars from the Ferguson Market and Liquor Store& ... shortly before his encounter with officer Wilson August 16 – Looting the Ferguson Market & Liquor Store where Brown stole the cigars "Hands up Don't shoot" becomes the mantra of angry Blacks and social justice warriors (despite the fact that as far as Brown was concerned this was pure fiction) August 12 – The Rev. Al Sharpton – ever ready to stir up racial anger in the name of "justice" – on the steps of the St. Louis Missouri Court House with Michael Brown's father Michael Brown, Sr. (t-shirt), St. Louis attorney Crump, and Lesley McSpadden (Brown's mother) ... cheering on those who turn out to "fight racial injustice." Obama sends Attorney General Eric Holder to Missouri (August 20th) to run his own investigation of the shooting ... tending to believe that there would be simply a White-cop-coverup in the official investigation.  Apparently Obama had already made up his mind about the matter ... without any facts of his own on the case. October 2014 – Students at St. Louis University protesting against injustice and poverty November 2014 – Anger that the Grand Jury decision did not go in the direction social-justice warriors wanted "Black Lives Matter" and "Kill Cops" More violence in Ferguson (November 2014) September 2016 – Reid and Kaepernick kneeling in protest rather than standing in respect for the flag at the playing of the national anthem September 2016 – Obama (naturally) signs  in on the issue in support of Kaepernick, underscoring the huge problem of racism afflicting America ... and the importance in standing forth to show our opposition to this evil (White America being the source of the problem, of course) THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY REMOVES RESTRICTIONS AGAINST BIG MONEY'S INVOLVEMENT IN NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS On the other hand, and also very harmful to Middle America, it would be the Conservatives on the Supreme Court (including Kennedy in this case) that would take American politics off in yet another direction. In a 5-4 decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case (2010), the Supreme Court overruled an earlier 1990 decision (Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce) that upheld restrictions against election spending by corporations … claiming in the Citizens United decision that such restrictions, such as contained in the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, violated the First Amendment's freedom of speech clause. Supporting the decision were Kennedy, Alito, Scalia, Roberts, and Thomas (in part). Dissenting in the decision (in most parts) were Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor.  This was definitely not a popular decision with the American citizenry … but stood nonetheless. Also in 2010, a decision of the nine-member U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided unanimously in the SpeechNow.org v. the Federal Election Commission case – as a follow-up to the Citizens United case – to strike down as unconstitutional limitations on funding for groups or programs involved in electoral campaigns … although restrictions against direct contributions to individual candidates supposedly still held.  This decision helped immensely to open the way for the growth of the huge Super PACs (political action committees) – massive funding organizations created to shape national and local election outcomes. Such organizations were, however, required to register and report their activity publicly.  But such requirements hardly slowed up the Super PACs as unique shapers of electoral outcomes.  That was, after all, the purpose of their very existence. As a consequence of these court rulings, money would now speak more loudly that the vote of the ordinary citizen in deciding political contests.  Go on to the next section:  Obama and the World   Miles H. Hodges