Good Family Man: The Conservatives Can't Have It Both Ways

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By Andrew Bard Schmookler (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Andrew Bard Schmookler - Writer

<em>This is another in that series of postings to challenge the people on the right who have been captured by the divisive, hateful propaganda of their leaders. Some of these I use in my radio shows in the conservative part of Virginia where I live. </em>

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In the months that Barack Obama has been president, America has seen a tsunami of propaganda, issuing out of the Republican Party and its media allies, attempting to demonize the new president as someone dangerous, someone with malicious intent, possibly even a monster.

To the conservative citizenry whom this propaganda is intended to persuade, there are various means available for recognizing the dishonesty of the fear-mongering and divisive tactics used by their leadership. Foremost among these is the absence of any credible factual foundation for so many of the components of the scary portrait the propagandists are seeking to draw of the president-- components like the "birther" notion, like the "death panels," like the alien-sounding use of "czars" in government positions.

But here's another one: Barack Obama clearly is a fine family man, loving and faithful to his wife, and caring toward his daughters who obviously adore him.

For years, it has been a basic idea of the conservative movement that you can tell what kind of man someone is by how he is in his family. In particular, this has been a standard by which politicians have been assessed: the conservative politician knows that he must have a beautiful family portrait to present to his public to get the support of the conservative base.

If that standard is valid, then what sense can it make to demonize Obama? The marriage appears solid, the children are well-cared for, the whole family acts with decorum and dignity and kindness.

If a good family means a good man, then Obama can't be the monster the right is making him out to be. Can't be the Nazi destroyer (Hitler had no healthy family life). Can't be the Hammer-and-Sickle Red (Stalin's murderousness did not spare his family). By your old standard, Barack Obama CAN'T be the kind of man who'd pull the plug on granny and seek to make himself the tyrant over a disarmed America.

So, my friends on the right, you have a choice. Either you've got to give up the idea that the good family man is a trustworthy leader. Or you've got to give up this demonization of Barack Obama. You can't have it both ways.

Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. (more...)

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