The 2012 election and the independent voter
In a June 2011 episode, Nick Gillespie, identified by Bob Zadek as editor of Reason TV and Reason.com and former editor-in-chief of Reason magazine, described the independent voter as fiscally conservative and socially tolerant, and argued that this impulse is broadly libertarian. Gillespie illustrated the change in American society by noting that when Barack Obama’s parents, a white woman and a black man, got married, a majority of Americans were against mixed-race marriages, and that now nobody cares Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011).
Gillespie also said that one of the brutal facts of the 21st century is that Barack Obama is effectively continuing all of the major landmark legislation of George Bush before him, citing bailout economics, intervention around the world, and spending without regard for how much money is being taken in. He described a midterm election as a rejection of the status quo rather than an embrace of the Republicans, and noted that almost 90 new freshman congressmen were coming in Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011).
Zadek framed the moment as comparable to the spring and summer of 1787, when the founders were drafting the Constitution, and said that another four years of the trend since Bush II might make it almost too late. He described the Tea Party movement as bottom-up, with no leader saying follow me, and said voters had jumped up and said, whoa, we better stop Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011).
Crony capitalism and the window manufacturer
An August 2011 episode, titled in the source list as Obama Nationalizes General Electric, presented the case of Serious Materials as the classic example of crony capitalism at work. Zadek said the company is a window manufacturer which makes insulated windows, and that Kathy Zoi, described as an Obama apparatchik who works in Washington giving out contracts for tens and hundreds of millions of dollars for weatherization of low-income housing, is married to Robin Roy, the vice president of policy for Serious Materials Obama Nationalizes General Electric (2011).
Zadek asked listeners whether they knew, when selecting a president and a vice president, that they were voting for an insulated window salesman. The episode played clips of Joe Biden saying the workers were making some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world, and of Barack Obama saying Serious Materials had reopened a manufacturing plant outside of Pittsburgh and that these workers would now have a new mission: producing some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world. Zadek responded that Obama was window salesman in chief and that Obama and Biden had made the decision for us which insulated window to buy Obama Nationalizes General Electric (2011).
Zadek developed an analogy to the NFL, imagining the league deciding it would be nice to have a football team in Portland, Maine, and giving that team a 14-point head start every game to encourage a team to go there. He said that would not make the NFL a meritocracy, that the winner of the Super Bowl would not be the best team, and that the difference is between the government being a mere referee and participating and influencing the outcome. Luigi Zingales agreed that the government tries to influence the outcome all the time, and said that even more dangerous are the businesses themselves that use the government to influence the outcome in their favor, through indirect ways, in commissions, in very small norms that are not easy to detect Obama Nationalizes General Electric (2011).
Civil liberties and the 2012 candidates
In a January 2012 episode, Gary Johnson, who said he was running for the Libertarian nomination, described a study of all the presidential candidates and their records on job creation in which he had the best record of everybody running for President. He said that as Governor of New Mexico he did not create one single job, but that he contributed to the notion of a level playing field through rules and regulations that made job creation easier within the private sector The Triumph of Principle Over Politics (2012).
Johnson also said that about 10 days earlier the ACLU had come out with a report giving a grade to all the presidential candidates. In that report, Barack Obama took third place when it came to civil liberties, Ron Paul took second place, and the candidate who got the highest grade from the ACLU was Johnson himself. Johnson said he was excited by that because the ACLU is an organization dedicated to the preservation of civil liberties, the Bill of Rights The Triumph of Principle Over Politics (2012).
Executive orders and the abdication of Congress
A June 2019 episode with Jeffrey Bergner addressed immigration as an example of congressional abdication. Bergner said immigration is clearly an issue which the Congress is supposed to address, concerning who should come legally, how many people, what kinds of people, how to prevent people who are not coming legally from coming, and what to do with the 11 or 20 million people already here illegally. He said this is not something for one man to decide but something for the Congress to decide Redefining the “Deep State” (2019).
Bergner said Congress showed a complete and utter unwillingness to address the issue, leading in turn Barack Obama to begin to issue executive orders with DACA and the others, and then in turn Donald Trump to issue executive orders, and then in turn for the court to get itself so deeply involved in deciding the viability, the constitutionality of these executive orders in a way in which it has never done before. He said Congress has fueled this entire process, and that in some ways it is to their advantage as members because they do not have to make a hard decision Redefining the “Deep State” (2019).
Bergner also discussed Obamacare, saying that if you look at the 906 pages of the bill, on virtually every other page there is not legislation but an authorization for the Secretary, meaning the Secretary of HHS, to do whatever he or she pleases to implement Obamacare. He said the net of the Obamacare bill was not really a law in which Congress spoke about things, but a law in which Congress devolved huge amounts of new authority upon the Secretary of HHS, which he never had before. He said that is why Obamacare got as far as it did under Obama, and why Trump has been so easily able to roll back some of the parts of Obamacare, because they are not really in the law itself Redefining the “Deep State” (2019).
Bergner also said trade is supposed to be something Congress has the lead role in under Article One, to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and that the same pattern appears with war powers, with President after President engaged under the flimsiest of pretexts in wars which the Congress ought to have spoken to Redefining the “Deep State” (2019).
Across episodes
Obama appears in all four episodes as an example rather than a subject. The 2011 episodes use him to argue about spending, independents and crony capitalism; the 2012 episode uses an ACLU ranking to place him third on civil liberties behind Ron Paul and Gary Johnson; the 2019 episode uses his executive orders on immigration and the structure of Obamacare to argue that Congress has abdicated its legislative role. The excerpts show no development in the treatment of Obama himself across the eight years — the same figure is cited, in each case, as evidence for a pre-existing libertarian argument about limited government.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not describe Obama’s biography, his career before or after the presidency, or any policy in his own words beyond the two quoted clips about Serious Materials. They do not state the name of the landmark legislation Gillespie refers to, the content of the ACLU report beyond the rankings, or what DACA stands for or provides. No excerpt states a date, a title, or a legal holding for any of the executive orders or for Obamacare.