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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 8/28/09

Wield the Sword, Mr. President (Sixth Piece)

By Andrew Bard Schmookler  Posted by Andrew Schmookler (about the submitter)       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   No comments
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Dear Mr. President,

A moral and spiritual force, working through the American people who'd been inspired by you, is what bore you aloft to the presidency. You need to re-connect yourself with that Force to re-empower your presidency and fulfill its potential as an instrument of the Good. (See "Second Piece: Re-Connect with the Force from Whence Came Your Power, Mr. President" at click here

Part of this re-connecting involves re-capitulating the rhythms and patterns through which you inspired the American people during the campaign. (See "Third Piece: How to Put the Force Behind Health-Care Reform" at click here

But another part of this re-connecting involves wielding the power of that moral and spiritual Force against that amoral and dark-spirited forces that have shown their complete commitment to destroying you and their utter lack of scruple in how they go about it. (See "Fifth Piece: Fighting Back" at click here

I'd like to propose two main ways that you should fight back. Both of these are in alignment with what I said in closing the "Fifth Piece":

THE POINT IN FIGHTING BACK IS NOT TO SINK TO THE LEVEL OF YOUR ENEMIES. THE POINT IS, ON THE CONTRARY, TO FIGHT BACK IN PRECISELY THOSE WAYS THAT EXPOSE THE DIFFERENCE --IN MORAL AND SPIRITUAL LEVEL-- BETWEEN YOU AND THOSE WHO MAKE WAR UPON YOU.


It is this approach which makes fighting back not a detraction from your work in leading this country out of darkness and toward the light but rather an essential part of that task.

Call Them on Their Perfidy

I began "Fifth Piece" with these words:

Your enemies have been coming at you with attacks most foul and unscrupulous, and you have maintained your gentlemanly calm.

You defend your program against their lies. But you do not go on the attack against your enemies for their lying.

The result is, you are playing defense, and they remain on the offensive. You attempt to parry their blows, but you land none of your own.


The point here is simple: when they fight you with tactics that show the darkness of the spirit that animates them --the same dark spirit that led the Bushite regime to lie us into war, to conduct torture, to trample on the Constitution, to put the extension of their power over any public interest or sacred American value-- it is your job to counter-attack by exposing that darkness.

There is little that is more important, at this point in American history, than for Americans to see clearly the darkness of the spirit that is animating the American right in our times, and to repudiate it in favor of our best American moral and spiritual values.

Therefore you should utilize honest speech to expose their lies, integrity to expose their duplicity, devotion to the common good to expose their unprincipled opportunism.

And one more thing: when your enemies act outrageously, your counter-attack should convey some sense of outrage. If you act bemused, it communicates to the American people that it is a matter of no great import. You have to model --even if subtly-- what it is that the American people should FEEL about the evil whose stench is degrading the political system in America today.

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Andy Schmookler, an award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Virginia's 6th District. His new book -- written to have an impact on the central political battle of our time -- is (more...)
 
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