And I couldn't AGREE MORE!
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.
Suddenly
president Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional
president, has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic
rule.
Four
days before 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.
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.
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 theater without adequate security is a
tragically bad idea. (Remember: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did
you enjoy the play?”)
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At some point, the treatment of president Obama went from offensive to ugly, and then to downright dangerous.
The
healthcare debate, which looked more like extreme fighting in a mud pit
than a national dialogue, revealed a very vulgar side of America.
Obama’s face appeared on protest signs, white-faced and blood-mouthed in
a satanic clown image. In other tasteless portrayals, people who
disagreed with his position distorted his face to look like Hitler,
complete with mustache and swastika.
Odd
that burning the flag makes Americans crazy, but depicting the
president as a clown and a maniacal fascist is accepted as part of the
new rude America.
Maligning
the image of the leader of the free world is one thing; putting the
president’s life in peril is quite another. More than once, men with
guns were videotaped at the healthcare rallies where the president
spoke. Again, history shows that letting men with guns get within range
of a president has not served America well in the past.
And
still the “birthers” are out there claiming Barack Obama was not born
in the United States, although public documentation proves otherwise.
Hawaii is definitely part of the United States, but the Panama Canal
Zone where his electoral opponent Senator John McCain was born? Nobody’s
sure.
Last
month, a 44-year-old woman in Buffalo was quite taken by president
Obama when she met him in a chicken wing restaurant called Duff’s. Did
she say something about a pleasure and an honor to meet the man, or
utter encouraging words for the difficult job he is doing? No. Quote:
“You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body.”
Lady,
that was the president of the United States you were addressing, not
one of the Jonas Brothers! He’s your president, for goodness sakes, not
the guy driving the Zamboni at “Monster Trucks On Ice.” Maybe next it’ll
be, “Take Your President To A Topless Bar Day.”
In
president Barack Obama, Americans have a charismatic leader with a good
and honest heart. Unlike his predecessor, he’s a very intelligent
leader. And unlike that president’s predecessor, he’s a highly moral
man.
In
president Obama, Americans have the real deal, the whole package, and a
leader that citizens of almost every country around the world look to
with great envy. Given the opportunity, Canadians would trade our
leader—hell, most of our leaders—for Obama in a heartbeat.
What
America has in Obama is a head of state with vitality and insight and
youth. Think about it: Barack Obama is a young Nelson Mandela. Mandela
was the face of change and charity for all of Africa, but he was too old
to make it happen. The great things Obama might do for America and the
world could go on for decades after he’s out of office.
America, you know not what you have.
The
man is being challenged unfairly, characterized with vulgarity and
treated with the kind of deep disrespect to which no previous president
was subjected. It’s like the day after electing the first black man to
be president, thereby electrifying the world with hope and joy,
Americans sobered up and decided the bad old days were better.
President
Obama may fail but it will not be a Richard Nixon default, fraught with
larceny and lies. President Obama, given a fair chance, will surely
succeed, but his triumph will never come with a Bill Clinton caveat—“if
only he’d got control of that zipper.”
Please.
Give the man a fair, fighting chance. This incivility toward the leader
who won over Americans and gave hope to billions of people around the
world that their lives could be enhanced by his example just has to
stop.
Believe
me, when Americans drive by the White House and see a sign on the lawn
that reads, “No shirt. No shoes. No service,” they’ll realize this new
national rudeness has gone way, way too far.
