DearAbby (1000+ posts) Sun Nov-07-10 12:39 PM
Original message
America - He's Your President for Goodness Sake!
There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied round their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a republican or democrat, but the President of the United States. The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders and it was America versus the rest of the world with the president of all the people at the helm.
Silly me, I didn't think we had borders anymore. Be that as it may, I was stunned at the seething rage, hatred, and hyperbole directed at President.
Suddenly President Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.
A person's (or president's) exceptionalness isn't determined by criticism or praise but by actions.
Four days before President Obama’s inauguration, before he officially took charge of the American government, Rush Limbaugh boasted publicly that he hoped the president would fail. Of course, when the president fails the country flounders. Wishing harm upon your country in order to further your own narrow political views is selfish, sinister and a tad treasonous as well.
Irony, thy name is DUmmie. President Bush got much worse from the left. The left puts a Hitler mustache on Bush, it's patriotic. A conservative puts one on Obama (after all Hitler WAS a socialist) and it's racist. Evidently the first African American (well, actually a halfrican American) isn't supposed to garner the same kind of criticism as every other president. If he can't take the heat and all that. And here I thought dissent was the highest form of patriotism. But maybe that's only when you're throwing fake medals over a fence.
Besides, for a group of people who pride themselves nuance you certainly have a hard time understanding it. Rush wants Obama to fail because he wants his policies to fail.
Subsequently, during his State of the Union address, which is pretty much a pep rally for America, an unknown congressional representative from South Carolina, later identified as Joe Wilson, stopped the show when he called the President of the United States a liar. The president showed great restraint in ignoring this unprecedented insult and carried on with his speech. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so stunned by the slur, she forgot to jump to her feet while clapping wildly, 30 or 40 times after that.
A State of the Union address is NOT a pep rally. It's more like a CEO report to the board of directors and stock holders. If it was supposed to get the kiddies hyped up before the big game Friday night, Obama failed miserably. Never in my life have I seen president so petulant, immature, self-absorbed, and arrogant. His speech was an exercise in calling out those he considers enemies (basically anyone who disagrees with him) which sullied the dignity of the occasion. And Joe Wilson wasn't the worst by far. I couldn't believe he actually called out the Supreme Court (not very peppy), a coequal branch of government who
Last spring, President Obama took his wife Michelle to see a play in New York City and republicans attacked him over the cost of security for the excursion. The president can’t take his wife out to dinner and a show without being scrutinized by the political opposition? As history has proven a president in a theatre without adequate security is a tragically bad idea.
Remember: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?â€
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