Of course, as a Phoenix colleague of mine notes, it'll be a *gentle* coup....
Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention
By: John L. Perry
There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military
will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't
dismiss it as unrealistic.
America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it
will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont.
Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the
following through military eyes:
# Officers swear to "support and defend the Constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Unlike
enlisted personnel, they do not swear to "obey the orders of the
president of the United States."
# Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to
defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are
nationalized.
# They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this
nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as
America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation
in office.
# They can see that the economy -- ravaged by deficits, taxes,
unemployment, and impending inflation -- is financially reliant on
foreign lender governments.
# They can see this president waging undeclared war on the
intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent
functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile
world overseas and at home.
# They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted
at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America's troop strength is
allowed to sag.
# They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously
in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react
in time.
# They can see the nation's safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.
So, if you are one of those observant military professionals, what do you do?
Wait until this president bungles into losing the war in
Afghanistan, and Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear bombs falls into the
hands of militant Islam?
Wait until Israel is forced to launch air strikes on Iran's
nuclear-bomb plants, and the Middle East explodes, destabilizing or
subjugating the Free World?
What happens if the generals Obama sent to win the Afghan war are
told by this president (who now says, "I'm not interested in victory")
that they will be denied troops they must have to win? Do they follow
orders they cannot carry out, consistent with their oath of duty? Do
they resign en masse?
Or do they soldier on, hoping the 2010 congressional elections will
reverse the situation? Do they dare gamble the national survival on
such political whims?
Anyone who imagines that those thoughts are not weighing heavily on
the intellect and conscience of America's military leadership is lost
in a fool's fog.
Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down
with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the
national equivalent of a "family intervention," with some form of
limited, shared responsibility?
Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution
through an interim administration that would do the serious business of
governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained,
nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left
commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president
would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.
Military intervention is what Obama's exponentially accelerating
agenda for "fundamental change" toward a Marxist state is inviting upon
America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama's radical ideal is
not acceptable or reversible.
Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to
the Obama problem. Just don't shrug and say, "We can always worry about
that later."
In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent,
indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has
sunk the nation into this morass.