Jim Stillman
Nevar
Nothing the President does is acceptable to some
September 13th 2009 20:41
Several days ago, I posted Timothy Egan’s article from the New York Times Really Long Link on Facebook. Mr. Egan wrote about the talk by the President to school children in which Mr. Obama told the kids that they should stay in school, study, dedicate themselves to meeting their individual highest potential. The President did not, as far as I could tell, promote any political agenda or any concepts that would be considered offensive by the most partisan among us.
Five days before Mr. Egan’s beautifully written essay, I, myself, had posted an article on another site Really Long Link about the talk to students. Several other contributors to AssociatedContent have also expressed their views, some favorable and others not. One common thread among those whose hatred of President Obama is so virulent that nothing he does will be acceptable is, as expressed by my friend, Oliver Boody, “I'd be willing to bet that the speech to students was re-written once parents voiced an opinion.”
During the campaign for the presidency (which, I have to keep reminding my friends on the Right, Mr. Obama won), he was accused of having a Messianic complex. As to whatever Mr. Obama does I am reminded of a comment made by someone, and repeated by me. If Barack Obama walked on top of the water, it would be asserted by some that it was proof of inadequacy: he couldn’t swim.
I don’t want to pick on Mr. Boody but will use two other comments of his concerning the war in Afghanistan and the President’s actions commemorating the terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001, as springboards for explanation and clarification. As to the fighting in Afghanistan, I wrote an essay
Really Long Link on Iraq, Afghanistan and the withdrawal from each. Essentially I suggested that we were trying to “nation-build”, bringing Tenth Century areas into 21st Century Jeffersonian societies. I suggested that, rather than continue to expend our most valuable resources, young men and women, and money where we were neither appreciated nor wanted, we should withdraw until Iraq and Afghanistan had stable governments that had the support of their own people. Oliver referred to this position as being one where, “you folks [meaning Democrats? Liberals?] want to tuck tail and run”.
I refuse to consider the expenditure of people on a battlefield as a test for testosterone. I acknowledge that, at one time, I thought it worthwhile and even important to have combat troops sent to Afghanistan, as opposed to Iraq. Upon reflection, I changed my mind and in this area, I feel that the President is wrong. Not a liar, not an evil unpatriotic person, just wrong. No need for silly hyperbole or name calling, just wrong.
The other remark brings up the commemorating the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. I am going to post an essay on how some of the far, far extreme Right are using the occasion to call for the violent over throw of the United States. (I do not put Oliver in that class!). But he does show an attitude that I find disturbing. “[O]bama wants to turn this solemn day into a day of community service. Comrades get your shovels and paint brushes and let's do something....” The President was at the Pentagon and laid a wreath in memory of those who died at that site. What better memorial could there be than a day in which all Americans, Liberal and Conservative, Republican and Democrat, Gay and Straight, Black and White, in short, everyone, come together in a unified country? That supports, “Comrade”?
No, it supports the conclusion that President Obama cannot swim.
Five days before Mr. Egan’s beautifully written essay, I, myself, had posted an article on another site Really Long Link about the talk to students. Several other contributors to AssociatedContent have also expressed their views, some favorable and others not. One common thread among those whose hatred of President Obama is so virulent that nothing he does will be acceptable is, as expressed by my friend, Oliver Boody, “I'd be willing to bet that the speech to students was re-written once parents voiced an opinion.”
During the campaign for the presidency (which, I have to keep reminding my friends on the Right, Mr. Obama won), he was accused of having a Messianic complex. As to whatever Mr. Obama does I am reminded of a comment made by someone, and repeated by me. If Barack Obama walked on top of the water, it would be asserted by some that it was proof of inadequacy: he couldn’t swim.
I don’t want to pick on Mr. Boody but will use two other comments of his concerning the war in Afghanistan and the President’s actions commemorating the terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001, as springboards for explanation and clarification. As to the fighting in Afghanistan, I wrote an essay
Really Long Link on Iraq, Afghanistan and the withdrawal from each. Essentially I suggested that we were trying to “nation-build”, bringing Tenth Century areas into 21st Century Jeffersonian societies. I suggested that, rather than continue to expend our most valuable resources, young men and women, and money where we were neither appreciated nor wanted, we should withdraw until Iraq and Afghanistan had stable governments that had the support of their own people. Oliver referred to this position as being one where, “you folks [meaning Democrats? Liberals?] want to tuck tail and run”.
I refuse to consider the expenditure of people on a battlefield as a test for testosterone. I acknowledge that, at one time, I thought it worthwhile and even important to have combat troops sent to Afghanistan, as opposed to Iraq. Upon reflection, I changed my mind and in this area, I feel that the President is wrong. Not a liar, not an evil unpatriotic person, just wrong. No need for silly hyperbole or name calling, just wrong.
The other remark brings up the commemorating the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. I am going to post an essay on how some of the far, far extreme Right are using the occasion to call for the violent over throw of the United States. (I do not put Oliver in that class!). But he does show an attitude that I find disturbing. “[O]bama wants to turn this solemn day into a day of community service. Comrades get your shovels and paint brushes and let's do something....” The President was at the Pentagon and laid a wreath in memory of those who died at that site. What better memorial could there be than a day in which all Americans, Liberal and Conservative, Republican and Democrat, Gay and Straight, Black and White, in short, everyone, come together in a unified country? That supports, “Comrade”?
No, it supports the conclusion that President Obama cannot swim.
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