Dinesh D'Souza, Call Your Office

IBDEditorials.com

Hidden Agenda: A new theory about President Obama and his motives for appeasing enemies like Iran is crystallizing among pundits. But it's not really new — scholar Dinesh D'Souza first posited it during 2012's election.

As we learn more about this president and his policies, it looks more and more like D'Souza nailed it with his film, "2016: Obama's America."

The box-office hit accused Obama of sharing the anti-colonialist doctrine of his late African father and of conspiring to punish the U.S. and its allies in furtherance of that doctrine.

D'Souza argued the leader of America was secretly trying to turn America into a Third World country to get even for its past sins.

The theory was quickly shot down by the mainstream press. Even many Beltway conservatives found it a bit much.

But now it's gaining traction as a way to explain Obama's shocking capitulation to Iran, for example, and why he would risk hurting our interests and those of our top ally in the region.

Several pundits suggest Obama is allowing Tehran to go nuclear to weaken the U.S. and put countries in the region on more of a level playing field with Israel.

"The Weekly Standard" even speculates Obama "switched sides" in Syria to assuage Tehran.

The president's strategy in Afghanistan is now viewed with similar skepticism, thanks to post-election revelations by Robert Gates. In his memoir, the former defense secretary suggested Obama was "convinced (it) would fail," yet pursued it anyway.

Indeed, his troop surge only led to a surge in U.S. casualties as the Taliban exploited Obama's restrictive rules of engagement. His planned retreat next year will almost certainly result in the Taliban retaking power.

"For him, it's all about getting out," Gates wrote, not about winning.

Even some journalists who welcomed Obama are coming around to D'Souza's point of view.

"Obama's style is First World, but the polices and execution are Third World," complained Ximena Ortiz, author of "The Shock and Awing of America." "He has eroded U.S. standards and distinction in legal, policy and moral arenas ... draining American power and character."

Along with redistributing U.S. power abroad, D'Souza warned that Obama aims to redistribute wealth at home from the "haves" to the "have-nots." Or in the case of ObamaCare, from the insured to the uninsured.

The fact of the matter is, ObamaCare takes happily insured Americans and herds them into the dysfunctional government-run insurance exchanges to subsidize the uninsured.

This massive new entitlement can't exist without millions of hard-working middle-class taxpayers to finance it.

Not only did middle-class families get stuck with higher premiums — belying the savings Obama promised them — but they got kicked off the private insurance plans he promised they could keep.

Indeed, millions were "de-grandfathered" out of their plans — a brutal violation of Obama's oft-repeated mantra of recent years that "if you like your insurance plan, you can keep it."

So much for President Obama's much-vaunted sympathy for the middle class. He screwed the middle class he claims to champion.

Why? Because, as D'Souza has pointed out, this president actually hates the American middle class.

It represents everything his former Chicago church and preacher condemned regarding "neocolonialism" in America.

And it's the same reason his housing secretary is preparing to launch a war on the suburbs over racial and economic "segregation."

D'Souza warned that Obama is on "a campaign of revenge" to bring down America as a "military and economic power."

This explains why an American commander in chief would be so hell-bent on gutting America's nuclear deterrent, slashing our warheads down to the size of France's meager arsenal.

It also explains why his attorney general just announced he'll now seek criminal charges against Wall Street bankers, after already shaking them down for some $100 billion in civil penalties. Stock advisers are now warning their clients that the administration's goal is to "punish" banks.

Finally, it explains why Obama has allowed U.S. debt to reach fiscally dangerous levels, while standing in the way of meaningful reductions in federal spending and desperately needed entitlement reforms.

The hidden agenda is finally coming into view, and now D'Souza himself is on the receiving end of Obama's Punishment Doctrine. Federal prosecutors last month charged him with illegally donating $15,000 to a GOP Senate candidate. He could face up to seven years in prison.

D'Souza suggests the investigation may be "payback" for "2016," which he says got under Obama's skin. "There was a rant against the film on Obama's website, so we know the film rattled him."

It's becoming increasingly clear this president has a dangerous grudge against the country he leads and the patriots who defend it.

His policies are a pox on America not by accident or incompetence, but by sinister design.