"How can people be so blinded by this socialistic, communist, red diaper baby that I personally believe is one of the dragons mentioned in the Bible. His big change is to turn our America to a communist nation." I am purposely not giving the name of the poster because I don't wish to embarrass them. That this quote came from someone I know shocked me into an awareness that it wasn't just creepy, uneducated people who believe this image of President Obama. I simply cannot believe how invested many people are in an image of Obama that was created to persuade and mislead them, but has absolutely nothing in common with the man he is. The rest of this message is directed to the people of this country who have swallowed whole the purposeful branding of President Obama as a foreigner who is seeking to overturn the country.
The above quote was on Facebook yesterday and it haunted me the rest of the day as I could not understand how someone could have such an extreme dislike and mistaken beliefs about the President who I love and admire. As I pondered I realized that this is not accidental. This is a belief that has been carefully fostered by those who wished to paint Obama as a foreigner and cast doubt upon the legitimacy of his election. God bless his little mother, she did him no favor when she honored her love for his father by giving him his name. His first name is too close to Osama, as in Bin Laden, and his middle name is way Middle Eastern at a time when we're still in mourning over terrorist attacks.
Remember, on the night of the inauguration plans were already being formed to make sure that Obama would only serve one term, including the blocking of every single jobs bill that he sent up to Congress. There is a myth that he had a Democratic advantage in Congress during the first two years he was in office, but that's not true because the so-called "blue dog Democrats" always voted with the Republicans, thus preventing any forward progress.
In order to achieve the goal of defeating the President's attempts to help the county the nation had to be gradually, and successfully, trained to believe that Obama had an anti-American agenda and could not be trusted, so the seeds began to be planted. Muslim was the first, even before he was elected. The whole birther mythos was created and pushed to prove that Obama had no right to be the President because he wasn't born here. Those who believe, or pretend to believe, that lie, despite repeated affirmation from Hawaii, have been beating that drum ever since. Guess what, if McCain had been elected, he wasn't born here, either.
Of course, seeds cannot take hold unless the ground is receptive. You have to want to believe these lies because it makes you more comfortable with rejecting Obama. A large part of that willingness was, of course, simple racism, that for the first time a man with dark skin was occupying the highest office in the land. If you don't like to face that you are anti-black, it's much more agreeable to just think Obama is not "one of us" for other reasons. I've always had a hard time regarding Obama as our first black President because that seems to invalidate his mother and all of his white relatives. I felt just as odd when Halle Berry was referred to as the first black woman to win best actress at the Academy Awards, because it equally invalidated her white mother and family. I think it must have been awfully difficult for racists to regard the President as black since he represents none of the traits that make them comfortable with their racism. He speaks well and he does not act either arrogant, which would be a huge sin for a black man, nor does he act humble as if ashamed of his heritage.
"Socialist" is the part of the quote that most interests me, how any time the government seeks to help the poor, it is automatically grounds for the feared word "socialism." The rich and the powerful have a vested interest in keeping that bugaboo alive as it serves their interests so well. I would ask that those of you who benefit from any government program that was created by the Democratic party and yet you yell "socialism," should search your conscience as to whether you should take these benefits that must be so troubling for you. If forced to choose, and should he walk this earth again, I believe that Jesus Christ would be labeled a socialist because of his insistence on helping the poor and powerless. He didn't spend any time, that I remember, in the company of the rich and powerful, and that's why his crucifixion had to be arranged to get rid of this troublemaker.
That's my point, right there. Obama came into office not owing his soul to the rich and powerful because he had found a novel way to finance his campaign through the contributions of millions of little people (like me) and announcing that the lobbyists would not be welcome in his administration. He was trouble with a capital T and had to be destroyed. So here we are with people saying horrible things about a very decent man who's done the best he can in a very difficult economy. For those of you who have swallowed whole these planted seeds and grown the flower of mistrust and hatred, who are being told by your church that you'll go to hell if you vote for him (even though it is illegal for churches to interject into elections), wouldn't it just blow your mind and test your sanity if you finally understood that your entire belief system about Obama is not just wrong, but has been propagated by those who want to go back to the way they are comfortable operating. It's very obvious that the President's funding has continued to be mainly from people like me, while Romney now owes his soul to a number of very rich men who will expect to be paid back in kind for their support.
I do not believe that this is going to change your mind or your vote, but it just might, if you think about where you formed your opinion of him, make you happier and more supportive during President Obama's second term if you begin to question the motives of those who continue to malign him and open your mind a little to the idea that he's not who you want to believe he is.