What Does A Second Obama Term Look Like?

Barack Obama has many admirable qualities: intelligent, hard-working, and charismatic. Coming from a mixed-race background with virtually no input from his biological father, he rose from being a top student of Harvard Law School, to an Illinois State Senator, US Senator, and eventually President of the United States. Though he does not, as he once quipped in 2008, look like ‘those Presidents on the dollar bill,’ he does carry himself like a President. From all appearances he is a dedicated family man, devoted to his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, serving as a role model to the nation, and especially to the African-American community. Furthermore, Obama claims to be a Christian who believes he has eternal life. He told Christianity Today in 2008: ‘I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.’ He started his Presidency by inspiring high hopes on a message of change. World leaders in 2009 looked forward to meeting this popular new President.

He has been convincingly re-elected as America’s President for another 4 years. It was not a landslide by any means and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, put up a good fight., clearly winning the first presidential debate. The results may even be indicative of a divided nation, but it was nevertheless a victory. What can we now expect from a second Obama Administration, which no longer has to face direct voter backlash (though it did in the 2010 mid-term elections and may again in the 2014)?

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, nearly 90 years old, said to Obama when she came for lunch at the White House: ‘You are a “Leftie!”’ In a good-humored response, he pleaded guilty: ‘Yes, I’m a leftie.’ Barack Obama could possibly be the most left-wing President America has ever had (and it’s had a few!). This means several things: an enlarged federal government offering more entitlements in exchange for less privacy, liberty, and democracy; more taxes and government spending; and the adoption of trendy minority-driven causes. It can also mean another renewed full-blown, military-style offensive on traditional (Biblical/Christian) values in the half-a-century old culture war.

Take the economy, for instance. Four years ago, America was reeling over the effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Obama’s solution? More government intervention and more spending. The annual budget deficit has grown from 500 billion in the Bush years to 1.6 trillion under Obama. America lost its AAA credit rating. Bailouts and stimulus packages, never a long-term solution, have exacerbated the debt issue. While the official debt is $15 trillion, the unofficial unfunded liabilities are close to $70 trillion. While Obama did not start this trend, his big government philosophy can only contribute to the debt issue, as we have already seen. The solution to debt is not more debt!  There may be struggles with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives regarding spending cuts vs. tax hikes, and the American people are tired of the bickering in Washington between the White House and Congress. Yet, the bickering may well continue.

President Obama, with the help of former House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, instituted a national health care program, dubbed Obamacare. It is too early to assess the merit or flaws of this program since it is not yet fully operational. The President allegedly quipped, ‘I’m glad they call it “Obamacare” -- because ‘I care!’ He probably does. But again, is big government running the health care system truly the solution? Wastage, cost blowouts, and ‘rationed care’ rather than ‘universal care,’ as well as coercive means of joining, could be the result.

In the area of foreign policy, Obama seems to be respected, but more as ‘one of the boys’ rather than the ‘leader of the pact.’ He does not speak like the leader of a superpower, and this diminished stature means that regimes around the world no longer ‘think twice’ before taking actions that would be anti-western, anti-American, anti-democratic, or anti-Christian. While Obama has been very willing to reach out to the Muslim world, it appears, ironically, that America’s stature has decreased in this region, rather than increase. Though he claims to be a friend of Israel, relations have been rocky at best. During the next four years, America’s stature may continue to erode while relations with Israel, under the nuclear cloud with Iran, may erode further (though not necessarily with the US Congress, which is still pro-Israel).

Perhaps the greatest cause for concern over the next four years is in the moral and religious sphere. For those who cherish the sanctity of life, Biblical definition of marriage, and full religious freedom, the next four years could be a war-zone. Obama is the most pro-abortion President in US history; he has been known to say that a woman’s right to choose is absolute -- anytime, anywhere. Though relatively restrained about advocating abortion rights during his first term, an all-out endorsement, even push, may be in the offing during the second.

Obama is also the most gay-rights friendly US President in history. He observes ‘Gay Lesbian Pride Month’ in the White House. To the surprise of no one, he recently came out in favour of same-sex marriage, to the consternation of many, including African-American pastors who once supported him. He has allegedly promised gay-rights leaders that if they will help him get re-elected, he will give them what they want. This is something to watch.

While concerned about the feelings of Muslims, Obama has been strangely silent about the suffering of Christians worldwide. The ‘Arab Spring,’ with secular dictators being replaced by Islamist/Salafist forces, has released an unprecedented wave of persecution of Christians in places like Egypt and Syria. Yet the White House and US State Department are have ‘no comment.’ Indeed, the threats to religious freedom worldwide are downplayed. For example, the State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights deliberately omitted the section on religious freedom, which, no doubt, would have highlighted these abuses against Christians and other minorities. When the House of Representatives voted by a huge margin to appoint a special envoy for religious minorities in the Middle East and South Central Asia, the State Department, headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, opposed it. Such an envoy would help spotlight the blight of suffering religious minorities in certain Muslim countries.

Instead of condemning the murder of Christians in Nigeria by Muslim militants, Obama says it has nothing to do with religion and the Nigerian government should make more concessions and even build more mosques. The militant Muslim group, Boko Harem, responsible for some major attacks on Christians, is still not labelled a terrorist group by the Obama/Clinton State Department. Even more breath-taking is the incident when the Mufti of Saudi Arabia said that the churches on the Arabian peninsula should be destroyed. Neither the President nor his Secretary of State made any public rebuke of this statement. The power of the presidency can do much good in helping oppressed people worldwide. Unfortunately, since Obama came to office, persecution of Christians has increased worldwide. Unless there is a serious change of heart, this will only increase.

Many conservatives are very upset and pessimistic about the next four years. They even anticipate that the persecution of Christians overseas will happen with more fury in the United States. I don’t believe in being pessimistic; but I do believe in what I call ‘healthy realism.’ Yes, there will be battles. Polarization and government intrusion will increase. Yet let us also remember that God is still very much on the throne, and ‘the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’ Daniel 4:32ff (NKJV). We have to conclude that, for whatever his holy and sovereign reasons, He has allowed Barack Hussein Obama to have a second term as America’s President. Furthermore, we are commanded to pray for all in authority and that includes President Obama. So let’s do our spiritual homework, pray for our leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, and do the work of the Great Commission. Presidential elections are not the solution for society’s problems; the gospel of Christ and revival through the Holy Spirit are! Let’s never forget that in a liberal democracy, the chief executive is not ‘omnipotent’ -- that label belongs to God alone, and His kingdom will have no end. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. Daniel 4:34ff (NKJV).