Be a man of principle. Fight for what you believe in. Keep your word. Live with integrity. Be brave. Believe in something bigger than yourself. Serve your country.

Last week the Wall Street Journal remembered a fallen Marine known as the "Lion of Fallujah." The heroic Maj. Douglas A. Zembiec kept a notebook compiling various axioms and thoughts, one of which was read at his 2007 memorial service, as it was emblematic of the way in which he lived his life:

Teach. Mentor. Give something back to society. Lead from the front. Conquer your fears. Be a good friend. Be humble and be self-confident. Appreciate your friends and family. Be a leader and not a follower. Be valorous on the field of battle. And take responsibility for your actions.

Zembiec entitled this creed, "Principles my father taught me."

As I read these words, I thought of the president. Not because these words depict the man occupying the White House, but because none of these virtues can be associated with Barack Obama. And I wondered whether being raised without a father nearby to instill strong values and serve as a positive example produced the unprincipled man who has set out to transform America.

Much has been written about Obama's past and what factors led to his anti-American values. Dinesh D'Souza has produced books and a movie explaining the negative influences on Obama's psyche, including his Kenyan father's absence. But one would think that overcoming hardships as he has would have left Obama with some humility that the grave responsibilities associated with the presidency include setting an example for all Americans -- not just those he deems worthy of government handouts living in "Promise Zones."

Alas, let's take a moment and look at the example that Barack Obama has set for young Americans with hopes and dreams of making it big, immigrants who have traversed great distances and endured great hardships in order to succeed in the land of opportunity, and even politicians and media personalities. Obama has bowed, hugged, and whispered sweet nothings to dictators, dissed and belittled America and its citizens in far-off lands, and lied to the electorate about everything from their national security to the future of their healthcare. He uses Chicago-style mobster tactics to silence his critics and throws lifelong friends and colleagues under the proverbial bus whenever politically expedient.

He has used the White House and Air Force One as his own private playgrounds hosting concerts and parties, attending fundraisers, and playing 160 rounds of golf and untold numbers of basketball games -- all with the rich and famous. He has stoked racial tensions denouncing anyone with white skin who has a conflict with a black person while playing the race card at every ill-opportune moment possible. He has denounced and over-regulated every major jobs-producing industry from automobile and coal to finance and healthcare. He has ignored the constitutional limitations of office and abused his power like a third-world dictator. And he put our soldiers in harm's way in a war he had no intention of winning.

Obama is teaching generations of American citizens that laziness and self-entitlement are virtues, success and wealth are only acceptable when in the hands of powerful liberals, starting a business is not worth the effort, big government is the answer, and rich people are the root of all evil. He is teaching class resentment, racial hostility, and sexual disorientation while instigating anti-American resentment across the globe.

What he has not exemplified and taught the citizenry is that America is (or at least was) a great nation because it was founded on Judeo-Christian values that led to its superior culture, power, military, economy, and education, and healthcare systems. "Hope and change" was misunderstood by an electorate who did not realize what transforming America truly meant.

But what Obama is really doing, with the help of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel, and the entire MSNBC staff, is setting back black causes decades. There is no need to go back to his ridiculous comments about the white cops arresting his black friend or that Trayvon Martin could have been his son. The empirical evidence that his policies are failing his people (as Eric Holder likes to call them) is borne out in the unemployment (black unemployment is twice that of whites) and crime rates (49% of black men and 40% of white men