August 19, 2013
Phony Is As Phony Does
DSC_6475 by archangel 12
By
Annie Kobus
We have all heard the admonitions of teachers, parents and role models as we grew from wishy-washy teen-agers who hope they would not loose their school lunch when reading the term paper to the class into confident adults who can deliver a speech with the best of them; "Just be yourself and you'll do fine!" We never really believed them back then. They just didn't get the risk to making a jack-ass out of one's self in front of jeering peers who enjoyed the entertainment of watching the school dweeb shaking ankles and sweaty foreheads, the victims of last minute nerves before addressing the multitudes.
Ah, how far we have come since those days? Some of us have come further than others. As in the case of our once romanticized president who prophetically promises that his upcoming speech will be a "good speech" as his loyal followers chuckle. If the quality of speeches could be measured in over used clichà ©s, unsubstantiated claims and awkward pauses while one must glance at a teleprompter our unfettered speaker could be considered one of the greatest. Unfortunately for us, this is not the case.
The only line in President Obabma's August 9, 2013 speech that was remarkable for its impact on the audience was his incredible use of the adjective "phony" when referring to the three "deep dookey" pits he has fallen into in the past year namely the IRS admittedly targeting conservative groups, the death of our 4 Americans during the terrorist attack in Benghazi Libya and his jaded response, and the targeting of Fox News Reporter James Rosen by the Justice Department.
In the past weeks many have attempted to get the president to explain himself and are met with more side-stepping rhetorical dancing than Fred Astair crossing a fresh patty laden pasture. We are left to conclude for ourselves -- and conclude we will.
The obvious facts of the matters are that President Obama does not consider himself to be accountable for anything that happens on his watch. He makes decisions based on poorly advised knee jerks and past adversarial posturing against George W. Bush. If in fact Former President Bush is to blame for any of these situations Obama has done nothing at best to resolve the issues and has in fact made things worse. Today the security over-reach by the federal government to monitor the electronic conversations of private Americans will no doubt go down in his book as another phony scandal. Rather than address the problem squarely but putting the fledgling Patriot Act under the microscope, he has taken apathy to a new level, that is, unless you want to bring up Edward Snowden. Now that's a guy who can unwind the President's tightly wound hair -- a real scoundrel. The feds certainly have a nice jail cell all ready for Snowden and any other whistle blowers they can catch.
Obama could save himself a lot of drama by owning up to some of these scandals, be himself and simply explain his purpose for the choices he made, explain his actions or his whereabouts (during the Benghazi raid) and allow the natural course of events to unfold. In retrospect, we usually find that our role models and parents were correct. The truth is almost always safer than hiding under a web of denial, deception and avoidance. He could take a few lessons from his democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton, whose presidency was filled with scandals, yet is still greatly loved and admired today.
