Attention please. Will all those that believe that the President of the United States is a political neophyte in desperate need of your political acumen in dealing with a Republican Party that has had a psychotic break with reality please raise a hand. WOW, that is a lot of hands. Thank you for you enthusiastic response; you may lower your hands now.
Now, will all the minorities and women that have been elected President of the United States please raise their hands. Wow, not so many hands up now, even as I look back through history. Actually I am having a hard time seeing any hands up. Wait, I see one; it is actually not that far away. I can see it clearly now. It is coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Sir I recognize you. Maybe you remember me? We first shook hands in February of 2008 in Rodney Square in Wilmington, DE. Yeah, there were a lot of people there (20,000 +/-) and you did shake a lot of hands, but I was the campaign volunteer that was wearing the red Republicans for Obama button so I kind of stuck out in the crowd; there weren’t many of them around then. I had only gotten my button a few days before after I placed an order on the campaign website as soon as they were available. No, I understand completely; you see a lot of people and shake a lot of hands.
Maybe you remember me from when we shook hands at the White House in 2009? You and Michelle had invited my wife and me (and a few hundred other people) over for a Christmas party your first year in office. We shook hands again after you came down with Michelle and spoke to all of us. Still no? I know what, you will remember me now. I am the one that thanked you for not holding it against us for putting you into the terrible position that you are in, because I know that after volunteering for you in 10 states you might not be inclined to be too charitable to those of us that did this to you. You actually stopped and told us a story about an exchange President Lincoln had with a supporter of his only a few feet away from where you and I spoke along a similar line of thought. Yeah, that was me. See, I told you that you would remember me. And I still thank you for not holding it against us by the way, because I believe that you are dealing with the biggest mess since Lincoln took office.
I know you are crazy busy, but while I have a moment of your time I would just like to clarify a few things. There are some among those assembled here that seem to believe that your grasp of politics is tenuous at best, and that you are in need of some of their clairvoyant political insight and guidance.
First, I just want to make sure that I understand the lay of the land. Is it true that your name is Barack Hussein Obama? That’s a yes; okay... Did you ever think that a better name might be something like George Thomas Jefferson Adams Franklin if you were thinking of running for office? Oh, I see, your parents didn’t consult with you on your name. You know that is really unfortunate because it so happens that there have been some real trouble makers on the world stage with similar sounding names. I see, you have noticed that too, I thought you might.
Also, I understand that you managed to get yourself born in the semi-State of Hawaii; is that also true? Well, you and I know that it is technically a state, but it isn’t connected to all the others so a lot of people don’t really buy into that whole ‘state’ idea. Ah, so yes, you were born in Hawaii. Once again, did you ever consider being born in Ohio or New York (Virginia wouldn’t work for obvious reasons) because those states have lots of people in them and historically we have elected a few Presidents from them? I see, now your parents just weren’t very cooperative in the context of your future political ambitions were they…
Also, is it true that your father, who I understand was black man from someplace in Africa (maybe Kenya?), wasn’t a United States citizen? I see, that is true too. Wow. You know that isn’t really too helpful either in the context of politics in the country even on a good day, and the politics haven’t been having a good day for quite a while now. I see, you have noticed that it wasn’t particularly helpful either; quite understandable given all you have had to put up with.
I know that you are very busy, but I have just one more question before I let you get back to trying to save us from ourselves. Are you the same Barack Obama who gave the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention? I thought you were. The name was a clear clue, not to mention you look a lot like him but with more grey hair. That speech really resonated with me and got me thinking. It took me a while to process it all but as time wore on, and as I read your book, and saw you speak I really, for the first time in my life, thought that I might end up voting FOR a President instead of against one by the time 2007 came around.
I really appreciate your time but I have to let you go. You have to go deal with climate change, or one of the wars, the out of control budget process, the Federal judicial appointments that have gotten gummed up, or maybe get ready for that speech about jobs and the economy that is coming up next week; I need to chat with everyone else that is hanging out here about a couple of things.
It was really nice of him to spend that much time clarifying things for me. I mean he is busy and even though I travelled all over the country volunteering for him while holding down a full time job, and a part-time job, and paying a mortgage, it isn’t like I am the only one who did that, there are thousands of us and he rightly could have just tried to keep his attention on keeping the country together while dealing with an opposition party that has lost its fucking mind instead of answering my questions. He is a good man, and I do thank him for his time, both in talking with me and being willing to continue to strive to do his best dealing with this incomprehensible mess that is facing us.
That said, the rest of us need to chat. Now I understand that it would be more emotionally satisfying if when Boehner blatantly and publicly disrespected him and the Office of the Presidency with his political grand standing yesterday over the scheduling issue for the jobs speech if Barack had called him out, but the game isn’t about my emotional satisfaction, or yours. I also understand it would have been more satisfying if on every other issue that he has faced from healthcare to closing Guantanamo he had just said fuck you to the opposition assholes and continued on his way, but that wouldn’t have gotten us anywhere either in all likelihood given what he is dealing with.
Now some of you think that he is weak because he doesn’t call out and confront people in the way you think he should and I think some of you as wrong as the Republican Party. A weak man doesn’t make the decisions that he has made: entrusting a Presidency to a handful of brave guys flying in a collection of spare parts flying in formation (otherwise known as a helicopter) to penetrate deep into another country to kill the guy who killed 3000 of us (including people I knew personally) is not weak. Those are balls of titanium there. That was one of the bravest and most correct decisions a President has made in the last 60 years, and guess what, that would still be true if the mission had failed. One of the reasons I voted for the man was that he said he would do just that if there was no other alternative, and there wasn’t, so he did; big titanium balls.
The black guy named Barack Hussein Obama, born in Hawaii, son of a Kenyan, who decides to take on the most formidable Democratic political machine in at least a half-century for the Democratic nomination for President after about 15 minutes as a United States Senator, and then proceeds to kick its ass, is not weak or a political neophyte; that is an individual who is comfortable carrying those balls around and understands more about politics than all of us put together can ever hope to know.
Now this is my first (and who knows, maybe my last) post here but I have been lurking here for a long time, since the fall of 2007 when I came to the conclusion that as a nation we needed to change course. I lurked through all the drama of the 2008 campaign cycle watching the posts about how Barack could never win against Hillary and even if he did the country would never elect a black man in any case, particularly one named Barack Hussein Obama. I lurked here during the transition and read about how he was making all the wrong appointments (I will admit that the Hillary for SoS thing did blow my mind, I will also admit that I have been impressed much to my surprise). I have lurked here and seen his motives, competence, intent, and just about every other aspect of the man questioned, bludgeoned, and impugned since he took office. There have certainly been voices of reason and support (I really miss blackwaterdog), but there has been a great deal of harmful talk too.
Enough already. I understand that we aren’t all happy, satisfied, or even grudgingly accepting of some, most, or all the decisions he makes. I don’t agree with every decision he makes either. However I do know that he is smart, way smart (like off the charts smart). I know he is a good man and that it must eat at him every day knowing what must be done, and knowing that he has to fight a claw to achieve even the most routine and modest successes, much less the things that should be done to ease the fear, pain, and suffering that many people are experiencing. You can see it in his face. You can see it in Michelle’s face as she worries for him. You can see it in his hair.
I trust his judgment. I may not always understand why he does everything that he does, but I know he is trying to move the ball as far down the field as he can, so I will defer to the judgment of the black guy named Barack Hussein Obama who managed to work himself into the Oval Office.
Now I am just a dumb fucking firefighter but I know this too: Barack Hussein Obama must be elected to a second term as President of the United States in November of 2012, there is no alternative. Now once again I am going to do all I can to make that happen because the alternative, no matter which know nothing, do nothing ignorant Republican is nominated will be catastrophic, not just for those out of work, or without insurance, or that happen to be the wrong color, or go the wrong church, or no church, or for the country, but for every sentient being on the planet. Gary Johnson might not be a total catastrophe, but I have as much chance of getting the Republican nomination as he has, and every other one of science denying, ignorant, biggoted, aspiring plutocrats would be, and one of them will get the nomination.
The Republican nominee must be crushed. It would also be good if we can flip the House and hold the Senate, but the Republican nominee must be crushed regardless. The election must be as painful as possible for the Republican Party, that is the only hope of snapping them out of their psychosis and back into reality. Because whether we like it or not they are going to be around, at least for a while, so it is in our best interest if they have at least a passing awareness of reality.
I own some responsibility for this mess. From my 18th birthday in 1981 until October of 2007 I was a registered Republican and had always voted Republican in Presidential elections. Yeah, I voted for Bush both times, and the 2nd time, along with Barack’s 2004 speech, is what really got me thinking and ultimately led me through 10 states working for Barack in 2007/8. I am doing what I can as one individual to try to fix what I helped break.
After the November 2012 election there will two groups of people here; those that did everything in their power to ensure that the Republican gets crushed and those that didn’t. I know which cohort I will be in, do you?
And maybe, just maybe, instead of the collective handwringing after every perceived act of weakness on his part by some we can remember that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, he is a black man born in a semi-State to a Kenyan father, that he goes to work in the Oval Office every day in spite of the astronomical odds against that reality, and that we must ensure that we do all we can to make sure he isn’t seeking other employment opportunities until January 20th of 2017 in spite of the risk that he might hold that against us at some point between now and then (if he doesn't now).
Sorry for the rant, but the handwringing over the jobs speech just put me over the edge for some reason. Obviously some of the other accumulated stuff from four years of lurking vented too once my relief valve popped off. Also, sorry about being clueless on tags and whatever other social niceties I screwed up because although I have lurked for a long time I have only recently registered with site.
If you stuck with this rant for this far I am greatful and amazed. I am going to lunch now. I will check in when I get back and see if I can still access the site.
Thu Sep 22, 2011 at 7:32 PM PT: Sorry, I retract my suggestion that Gary Johnson might not be a total disaster; it is now evident he would be. I had misinterpreted his somewhat rational positions on social issues as originating from a rational individual: My bad.