Mother’s Day is today. I extend my best wishes to my cohorts in the caring and feeding of our next generation. A more important job there is not.
On a normal day, I admit I do take liberties in expressing my opinions on this site. Today, I am rewarding myself for a mothering job so well done that I will be taking even greater liberties.
I am sick and tired of people who criticize President Obama and hold him responsible for all the ills in our country. He is no Messiah, but damn, he is a leader for the ages, with smarts, perspective and patience. Our President, for those of you (Republicans as well as his own Democrats) who unfailingly dump on him, let me tell you this: Barack Obama is nowhere near coming into his prime yet. He is still cleaning up the mess of Bush/Cheney.
For example, let’s talk terrorism. The chastising for the Christmas underwear bomber and the recent terrorist attempt in Times Square has got friend and foe dissing our President. Yes: the underwear bomber was able to get on the plane undetected and yes, the Times Square bomber was able to get his car, loaded with explosives, into New York City. And yes, both would-be terrorists were caught rather late in their games: the underwear bomber was nabbed during the flight and the Times Square idiot was caught just before his plane took off.
The bottom line is that we live in a huge country and the fact that these bad guys were apprehended at all is a miracle. The world and our nation has grown geometrically in the last 50 years. We are not living in our parents’ world.
I have no tolerance for Republicans and Democrats alike who think that these close calls should have never been so close. Those Americans who put down President Obama believe that he is responsible for everything and then when faced with higher government spending to alleviate those shortcomings, they balk and scream and holler. Additional hysterics ensue when the only effective antidote is the harsh curtailing of everyone’s personal rights. There is no winning for losing. I daresay there is another element at work here.
Bush/Cheney started a war with Iraq under the false pretense of connecting Al Qaeda and 9/11 with that country. Why didn’t the then administration look more closely at their partners in oil and big bucks, the Saudis, since 17 of the 19 9/11 terrorists came from that country? Oh no. Instead, Bush planted big, fat kisses on the Saudi leaders whenever they met.
On a grander scale, our forays into Afghanistan, along with our condemnation of Pakistan and Iran, are misplaced. By committing our forces, entailing huge military spending and irreplaceable loss of lives, to those terrorist outposts abroad in the name of preventing attacks here in our homeland, is not a logical, viable strategy. Nor is it working. In fact, our constant escalation of our presence in various mideast countries just may be fueling the fires of radicalism and increasing the terrorist events at home. If President Obama did pull out of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., he would be described as going soft on terrorism. So he maintains our troops there and is still deemed a wimp. Once again, I think there is another element at work here.
Similarly, with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico specifically, and energy issues generally, there is no winning. It is urgent that our nation become more energy independent, a process that would include the development of alternative energy sources. Oil exploration and production as well as nuclear power carries huge environmental risks. If you think the oil spill near Louisiana is bad, imagine a similar nuclear leak at an atomic generating plant: nuclear fuel basically never decays. Currently, there is no storage facility in the U.S. for nuclear waste, although this is a moot point considering the half-life of radioactive materials. The Louisiana spill was caused by human error, and there is a good chance that human error might cause a similar disaster at a nuclear plant. We cannot take that chance. Human error will definitely occur; count on it. It is just a matter of time. We need to assume that fact and act accordingly either by having the proper technology in place BEFORE the oil rig or nuclear plant is operable. This rush to get these generating stations on-line is also a left-over from Bush/Cheney, and their consistent, hell-or-come-high-water approach to maximizing oil dollars.
Just because President Obama came out in favor of additional oil drilling a few weeks before this spill happened, he is not responsible for it. The rig was built years ago and the proper safety precautions and shut-off valves were never installed and environmental concerns were never even considered. I think it a fair assumption the our President would never support the running of an oil rig without all the available technology and quality controls in play. Bush/Cheney would .... and did.
So on this Mother’s Day, I am taking the opportunity (call it liberty, if you will), of supporting my President for what he has done in his short tenure and even more so, for what he will do.
http://www.time.com/...
Furthermore, we all need to acknowledge that the public Obama is not necessarily the real Obama. Whatever mien he takes on publicly, know that in the end, he will do the right thing. His promises mean a lot to the people, but they mean much more to himself. Can you ever picture President Obama being unfaithful or disloyal to himself? It would never happen; his ego is too big and ultimately, his Mama did not raise him to be like that. Nor would his wife put up with that type of dysfunction and duplicity. Period.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I trust him, and for those of you who wouldn’t know reasonable loyalty, ongoing trust and a facsimile of reason if they slapped you squarely in the face, tough toenails. This is my Mother’s Day and I choose to honor President Obama, warts and all, because he is the best we have got. And that is pretty damn good. I know how hard it is to be a good mother: you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Just magnify that dichotomy about a hundred times for the President of the United States.
By the way, when I alluded to the "other element" that is in play here in the constant criticism of President Obama, can any of you guess what that factor is? Here’s a hint:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The GOP and even some Dems chastise all that President Obama does. When such criticism is so across-the-boards, so all-encompassing, perhaps their real motivation is just that they cannot tolerate having a man of color occupying the White House. Once again, tough toenails ....... and have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Stay tuned for the first photos of Yo Mama’s 2010 garden. I planted all weekend and will share with you the gorgeous outcome.
http://www.yomamaforobama.com