When President Obama goes abroad, one waits and waits for really good photos that seem to keep us feeling we are not here, alone, with just the Republicans hammering away at Obama when he is out of town and can't protect his back very well.
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To me, Barack Obama is who I count on to try, and try and try to get through the reforms that will help the people of this nation.
He goes out of town. Instantly I fall into an Obama-less space...down, down, down.
As I descend there are the Palins talking nonsense, the King's being bigots, the business men who have made themselves rich as thieves carrying on and working like thieves to enrich themselves with bonuses when the nation has so many unemployed and suffering. They are cut off from feeling for the rest of the nation. What they want are big, bulging bank accounts. "Let them eat bread," they say to the populace. They don't want to think about pitchforks. In fact, I would bet that the President's comments fell on ignorant ears. They do not know enough about history to remember the French Revolution, and about pitchforks.
This is why I miss Al Rodgers. If he were shooting back pictures of the President we would know that there is our President out there for us, who is not just a super-star in the world, but a man who wants to do the very best job for us that he can do. Instead all we see are fleas, sending out darts at the king of men.
It troubles me when I see Obama trying, and understanding, to make the climate better so that the planet can exist, but always with those who chose to not look at the melting ice caps. It troubles me more fiercely when I see Democrats and Republicans with spines of jello unable to take any steps to save the planet especially if they have been paid for by lobbyists for the energy industry. I'd be sick in my heart and conscience if I were one of them, trying as hard as we can to promote the old, old, old scare tactics to keep from saving the planet and the people in the country who live on it. (I mean health care so our small businesses can get up and running and so that the economy can rebound solidly, and so that there are not people losing their lives unnecessarily because of the hideous selfishness of a few privileged road blockers to health-care reform.)
So I say again, I wish Al Rodgers had been out there photographing Obama as he moved through this week. Al always downloads the photos so that we can feel the hope of the man who really does believe in change--even in the face of those who would destroy any hope of change.
There are moments I love America so much my heart hurts. (Sometimes it is when I see Al Rodgers recording it and what he sees through his lens.) And there are times when I love America but can't stand the greed that substitutes for many other laudable feelings. I especially dislike those who can't see that the ice caps melting means the end of denial--theirs and others. They can't seem to see they are destroying the future.