The Obama Report

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, shortly after the Senate voted down his proposed gun legislation, President Obama stated in a feigned display of righteous indignation: "I've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. 'A prop,' somebody called them.... Are they serious?... Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? So all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington."

Obama is correct in one aspect: His phony display of righteous indignation made it "a pretty shameful day for Washington" on Wednesday. In fact, his perpetual displays of fake righteous indignation make a lot of days pretty shameful days for Washington.

A "prop"? I used that term on a couple of occasions to describe Obama's exploitation of the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year old Chicago native who was shot and killed in January by two gang members.

"Hadiya's parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight," Obama proclaimed during his State of the Union [propaganda] address. "They deserve a vote."

The President [shamefully] used Hadiya Pendleton's parents as a poltical prop, while casually ignoring the facts, including his own abysmal record on gun violence and crime.

Here are the facts:

In 2012, Michael Ward, the Chicago gang member who shot and killed Hadiya Pendleton [the shooting occurred the following year, in January of 2013], pleaded guilty to Aggravated Unlawful Use Of A Weapon, a felony punishable by 1 to 3 years imprisonment in the state of Illinois. But Ward never went to prison for the aforementioned conviction because of an Illinois state law that mandates a "go soft attitude" towards offenders under the age of 18; Ward was 17-years old at the time of the offense.

Ward was also arrested three times while on probation for his gun conviction but only one violation was ever reported to the judge, and he managed to avoid prison once again.

As a member of the SUWU gang faction, Michael Ward, in all likelihood, would have obtained firearms regardless of any kind of gun legislation. However, It would have been impossible for him to gun down Hadiya Pendleton from a prison cell. But sadly, he never went to jail, because of a "go-soft" attitude towards criminals - an attitude typically embraced by the progressive community.

What's more, Judicial Watch noted that, "Last fall the Obama administration quietly shut down a crucial FBI division—National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC)—dedicated to countering gang violence. The alarming move came at a time when gang violence in the United States was at an all-time high, according to the government's own figures.

"When the NGIC got the ax, its latest annual gang threat assessment had revealed that gangs are responsible for nearly half of all violent crimes in most parts of the country and up to 90% in many jurisdictions."

Investor's Business Daily recently noted that, "Nationally federal gun crime prosecutions hit a decade low in 2011 under President Obama, down 40% from their peak under President George W. Bush in 2004.

"The number of federal weapons prosecutions fell from about 11,000 in 2004 to about 6,000 under the Obama administration in 2011, before ticking up to 7,770 in 2012.

"Prosecutions for making a false statement when buying a gun are down 29% from five years ago, while prosecutions for illegal possession fell 14%, according to federal data...

"In 2010..., 6 million Americans... applied to buy a gun... Of those, the ATF referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. Of them, just 44 were prosecuted, and only 13 were punished for lying or buying a gun illegally."

"The prosecution rate [for gun violations] in Chicago" - Obama's hometown - "was the lowest in the country."

A Chicago Tribume editorial once accused Obama of being a "gutless sheep' for missing a vote on crime legislation in late 1999."

Considering the facts surrounding Hadiya Pendleton's death, and Obama's abysmal record on gun violence and crime, it is crystal clear that the President used Hadiya's parents as a political prop during his State of the Union address, while demonstrating a casual, and typical, disregard for the facts, and the truth.

Obama's State of Union deceit [prop and all], coupled with his egregious record on gun violence and crime, leaves us with no choice but to conclude the obvious: His display of righteous indignation is disingenuous, and phony, at best.

If the true motive behind his proposed gun legislation is crime prevention and protecting America's youth, how can he be soft on crime, gang violence and federal weapons prosecutions?



Here are a few previous posts detailing the facts surrounding Hadiya Pendleton's shooting and the Obama administration's egregious record on federal gun crime prosecutions and gang violence:

Hadiya Pendleton - Liberals' "Go easy on crime & gun violence" policies responsible for teen's death

Federal weapons prosecutions plummets under Obama, but ironically, Hadiya Pendleton's Mom is a big Obama fan - Go figure

The result of Obama's illegal immigration policies? Gang violence and Gang-Run Prostitution

And a couple of additional links on then-State Senator Obama's abysmal record on gun violence and crime:

The Jack Ryan Files: Obama 'shamefully soft on crime and drugs'

Obama voted "present" on a bill requiring adult prosecution for discharging a gun in or near a school