To view Barack Obama as feckless, power-hungry, uninformed, eager for war, uncaring, and ill-suited for the office of the president is stunning to me when I run across it. I take solace that many thinkers I admire and trust do judge Obama's presidency as I do. Not all of them do, of course, but I feel I'm in good company.
George Bush may well go down in history as one of our worst presidents, setting us back decades in countless ways, while Obama may go down as one of our best. Only history will tell, but that’s my prediction and definitely my hope. Because we're at a tipping point. My support of Obama is not based on an expectation of perfection because he can't be all things to all people and not even to one: me. Neither is he a dictator to attain and achieve all he wants. It’s no secret that the Congresses he has had to work with have been unwilling to work with him, and even worse, all too willing to sacrifice all of us in their effort to hamper his presidency, and they will not be judged kindly by history; maybe more like the most treasonous and obstructionistic for its abject lack of willingness to pass any meaningful legislation at a time when Americans have suffered in a manner and to an extent rivaled only by the Great Depression. Even in light of the suffering, dastardly republicans and spineless democrats refused to work with the president, no matter how it hurts us, now and in the future. The president is not a dictator, as much as George Bush liked to joke about that and if Congress won't deal, nothing gets done, domestically anyway.
George Bush may well go down in history as one of our worst presidents, setting us back decades in countless ways, while Obama may go down as one of our best. Only history will tell, but that’s my prediction and definitely my hope. Because we're at a tipping point. My support of Obama is not based on an expectation of perfection because he can't be all things to all people and not even to one: me. Neither is he a dictator to attain and achieve all he wants. It’s no secret that the Congresses he has had to work with have been unwilling to work with him, and even worse, all too willing to sacrifice all of us in their effort to hamper his presidency, and they will not be judged kindly by history; maybe more like the most treasonous and obstructionistic for its abject lack of willingness to pass any meaningful legislation at a time when Americans have suffered in a manner and to an extent rivaled only by the Great Depression. Even in light of the suffering, dastardly republicans and spineless democrats refused to work with the president, no matter how it hurts us, now and in the future. The president is not a dictator, as much as George Bush liked to joke about that and if Congress won't deal, nothing gets done, domestically anyway.
The comparison of Obama to Dubya reminds me of just how ridiculous American voters sometimes are – the ones who vote, which is a little less than half of us. Of those who do vote, a scary percentage of them believe Obama is Muslim and not American. Many who do accept his citizenship announce that they cannot support him for one reason or another, always understandable righteous grievances, but so, too, did President Bush have righteous reasons for waging war – God told him to. Voters would probably not have been happy with George Washington since he owned slaves; would have opposed Franklin Roosevelt because he was too rich and privileged; would have taken exception to John Kennedy because he was Catholic and there was that business about his father’s dealings; Abraham Lincoln was too inexperienced and besides, he proved himself to be bloodthirsty, sending soldiers off to die… You get my point...? :) Nobody is perfect, not even us voters. I'd like us to take a broader view of government and our role in it, at election time and the three years before and after it.
"Obama is a war criminal just like Bush was." You've heard that too? When other countries issue arrest warrants for Obama's war crimes as they have done in the case of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and a few others in that administration, then you can allege that Obama is a war criminal. Until that time, let's focus on the real criminals, who, although criminals, are smart enough to not travel, to stay away from those countries.
"Obama is a war criminal just like Bush was." You've heard that too? When other countries issue arrest warrants for Obama's war crimes as they have done in the case of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and a few others in that administration, then you can allege that Obama is a war criminal. Until that time, let's focus on the real criminals, who, although criminals, are smart enough to not travel, to stay away from those countries.
To criticize supporters of this president as uninformed, unsophisticated, and just not as aware as we should be or not smart, or have been paying attention for years on end as political junkes do :D is the kind of arrogance usually reserved for the right-wingers and evangelicals. Why, that’s why they must be told what to think, who to love; to give up control over our own bodies. Occupiers are loathe to support Obama, fearing co-optation from the Democrats. I understand that, I really do, but in reality and in fairness, we should stand up for Obama if we ask him to stand up for us -- which he should do. We must push him in the direction we want him to go rather than sit on the sidelines, saying and doing nothing except hoping for the best, and then criticize and complain when it doesn’t work out the way we’d like.
I get impatient and saddened by the “He’s just like Bush.” “He’s no better than Bush.” It concerns me that people are so simplistic, still, even after eight looong years of Bush & Co. and the damage they’ve done; to think that Obama is half as bad as him worries me about the unformedness of Americans, and that kind of childlike thinking reminds me how naïve American voters are -- the minority of us who bother to vote. (There has never been an election I haven't voted in even when I was discouraged, which I am not now.)
If you haven’t been paying attention to Obama’s accomplishments (beyond the historical nature of his presidency, which also now apparently is taken for granted), read the link below. If you need even more of a reason to support the president besides the evangelical war on women, the corporate war on environment, workers, students, and minorities, if these are enough of an impetus for you, please, read on. Please take a moment to learn what you might not have known. Please allow that it may surprise and inform you.
