The fake controversy of the week: The president giving a speech to children telling them to work hard and stay in school. Next week the Republicans protest Flintstones Vitamins as a subversive influence on our children.
The real issue here is race. White racists don’t want a black man talking to their children. Such racists still haven’t accepted a black man as their president.
Think about the signs at the town hall riots and tea bag marches: “I want my country back!” and “Where’s the birth certificate?” Let’s take a look back at some of the smears thrown his way. The first caricature of Obama was that of a strange, foreign, and possibly gay man who eats arugula from Whole Foods, sucks at bowling, and just isn’t “black enough.”
The next was of a militant, black nationalist, terrorist. The tape of Reverend Jeremiah Wright shouting, “God Damn America” ran nonstop on cable news. Sarah Palin said he “pals around with terrorists.”
Shockingly, the right wing found a way to denigrate and dehumanize Muslim and Arab-Americans. It turned out Obama had a… (gasp!) Palestinian-American friend, Rashid Khalidi. He’s the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Said”Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University”Columbia University. In other words: a terrorist. Hide the children honey, we’re about to get suicide bombed!
Thus began the “secret Muslim” phase. Apparently this smear stuck, as there are still plenty of comments about Obama being an “Indonesian Muslim socialist” to go around. Finally, I’m sure we’re all clear on the “Obama is a socialist” storyline.
Conversely, “Liberals” and Democrats deify Obama and think of him as a savior with secret plans we’re just too ignorant to understand. He’s a good guy who wants to do the right thing. When the U.S. military bombs and kills in three Muslim countries (at last count), it’s not because Obama’s pro-war.
The War Supplemental bills aren’t to fund three wars, they’re to bring the troops home. He’s “secretly” for peace. Plus, he’s only been in office 6 months. Would you just be patient and stop ruining the fun!?
The excuses for this behavior are propagated by an elite public relations team. It’s an army of Obama “Yes We Did!” T-shirt wearing, fair-skinned, cigarette-smoking, Starbucks soy latte drinking groupies. There are other Obama apologists; this species just happens to be the most common and uniquely deluded of the bunch.
To these deluded souls, change happens from the heroic crusader at the top (who bravely commands the American Empire), not from a grassroots social movement from the bottom up. It’s also better not to criticize President Change, even when he does the exact same things we criticized Bush for doing.
Obama has a “D” next to his name. When the U.S. military bombs the hell out of a wedding party in Afghanistan, the grieving parents are grateful their children could die for savior Obama’s “war of necessity.”
During the Bush years, such parents would have been furious, desperate and joined the Taliban to exact revenge. But, bombs filled with Obama’s special brand of hope and change kill children ever so softly and charismatically.
I don’t know if the bizarre fantasies of the right or the left are more far-fetched. When will an accurate assessment of the man come into play? He’s a centrist. He does his job as an American president. He corrects the excesses of the previous administration. He gives just enough hope to just enough interest groups to maintain the legitimacy of the American system of government and keep the masses from rising up in revolution.
He’s made lovely speeches that made me feel butterflies in my tummy, but his policies (when separated from his pretty speeches) are basically the same. Name one that’s different. Not a speech, not a “plan”, but something he’s actually done.
Criticizing “your guy” is OK, in fact it’s a positive thing. Criticizing something in the process of making it improve is what healthy adults do. Needing to preserve your delusional crush / fantasy about Obama by making ridiculous excuses for his behavior is just childish.
“You Lie” was based on Obama reassuring the public that his plan wouldn’t help those who are “here illegally.” This congressman was saying Obama was lying and the plan would cover “illegals.” Liberals like to say, “health care is a human right, not a privilege.” Either Obama thinks “illegals” aren’t human beings; or health care isn’t actually a human right; but a privilege to be earned.
I really don’t give a damn about the “sanctity” of “the office.” I hope there are more “You Lie” outbursts, because he was right. Obama is a liar, and hope and change are crappy marketing slogans.
