obama getting high : smoke shop mural upper haight street, san francisco (2012)
(Image by torbakhopper) Details DMCA
Let's see. What were the worst things President Obama did recently that convinces me he doesn't deserve to be in the White House? Oh, I know. He wore a tan summer suit and he said we didn't have a strategy yet. Oh the horrors.
Well I think he looked better in that tan suit than Reagan or Clinton or Bush 1 did. And he sure looked better than Bush 2 did in his cowboy costume. And I do mean costume. He is about as much a Texan as are the Iranian Ayatollahs.
And then there's that strategy thing. Well for one, I don't trust government foreign policy strategies in the Mideast and I'm happy he's not jumping to conclusions, like the one based on the "slam dunk" truth of Saddam's solicitation of enriched nuclear materials to supply a non-existent weapons of mass destruction program. Yes, that's the strategy that keeps on giving. All one needs to do is read the hourly reports about a completely destabilized Mideast that started when we toppled Iraq, a major stabilizing factor.
We can thank the Bush administration for that strategy, based on lies, distortions, and real Texas style hubris. And we all know, everything's bigger in Texas.
Recently, I developed two theories about the constant nitpicking complaints and downright obscene insults thrown at this president. The obvious reason is his color. In a country with institutionalized racism, a tan-colored man in the White House is an omen that foretells the changing demographics in the United States from a predominately pinkish-ecru majority to a multi-colored plurality. It's a tough reality to face but we'd better get used to it.
But the deeper reason that probably exists at a subconscious level is that by making this president look incompetent and at the same time responsible for every disaster on the planet, those believers, mostly Republicans, can deny and not admit to the tragedy that was their guy, Bush II : Unnecessary wars, trillions of dollars in debt, completely wiping out the budget surplus left by Clinton, creating the worst job losses and economic crisis since the great depression, (although he had some help from previous deregulation-crazy presidents from both parties).
Yea, I guess it's much easier to deny the cause of the twisted reality they live in and be convinced that this president and everything he does and/or doesn't do is bad. We obviously live in two different universes.
In mine, this president has presided over the resurrection of the economy, new records on the stock market, and the highest corporate profits in 60 years. (Yes! I'll concede he doesn't deserve sole credit if you concede he's not solely responsible when these measurements go sour) He's ended the original war in Iraq based on Bush's Status of Forces agreement and is now drawing down in Afghanistan. He's keeping our young people out of harm's way in new wars (so far). He's the sponsor of the first real attempt to provide healthcare to the uninsured, (based on a Republican idea I agree with -- the individual mandate.) He had the real reason for 911, Osama Ben Laden, eliminated. He's re-created a proper presidential image that the rest of the world respects. He's attempted to get to the root causes of the mutual hostility between the East and the West. And finally -- "drum roll, cymbal crash," - from Forbes Magazine, --Compared to the size of the economy, the deficit in 2013 is much lower than in 2009, when Obama took office. The deficit will be 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, nearly half the 10.1 percent of GDP in 2009."
But I know, some will call me a icky liberal, socialist, sympathizer and completely blind to the truth that oozes from every pore on the fabulous faces of the beautiful blondies on the Fox News team. (Ok, I'm beginning to sound like them. Sorry.)
If anything has weakened this country it has been the incessant creation of an alternate reality where this president is hated with a passion I've never seen in my 74 years on the planet.
Just remember a house divided falls. And remember who's created this house divided by openly avowing this president's failure: Republicans. And the goal of their propaganda arm, Fox News is to create the belief that he is at fault.
Well, they may be on to something. A tan suit can mean a lot of things, including, its summer.
Robert DeFilippis