12/31/2012

On Obama and the G.O.P.

It seems apparent that from the very beginning of President Obama's term, the Republican Party has done whatever is possible to defeat the President at every single turn. Not once, in my recollection, has any Republican come out to support any policy or position of the President. If this premise needs testing, simply ask any Republican to identify any policy or position of the President that they support. You will get nil. What you will get is a diatribe of Republican and Tea Party talking points that you have heard ad infinitum.

In fact, it would seem that several Republican policies that have been adopted by the President have come under severe attack such as his Health Care plan which resembles the Health Care plan put into place by Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president in 2012.

Mr. Romney's entire campaign appeared to rest on the thesis that President Obama was responsible for every bad thing that happened in this country since he took office and that as President, he did nothing right to fix any problem. This position seemed to me so entirely unreasonable that I could not entertain supporting the Republican candidate.  It seemed quite unfair to hold the President responsible for actions and deeds that happened well before his inauguration; to neutralize through opposition any efforts the President made to resolve issues, to deny any progress that the President made towards resolution.

Or, one might test this thesis of "neutralization" in the context of the current budget talks.  Simply ask any Republican what 

Can any Republican out there recite any good decision or program that has come from this administration?

No?  The oft-heard Republican admission that The President "has a nice smile" doesn't count.

But even a broken clock is right twice a day.

So where is the rationality of the Republican Party?

In 2007, there was a tremendous economic crisis facing this country. Not knowing the consequences of their actions, both parties endorsed a program which included bail-outs. Republicans today seem to want us to believe that they had nothing to do with the bail-outs, that the bail-outs were wholly unsuccessful and that Obama is at fault!

There does not seem to be any rational conclusion to this line of thinking other than Republicans view Obama as an individual threat who must be neutralized regardless of his policies.  

He has been labelled a "socialist". I do not know what policy or program that would indicate that he is more or less a "socialist" than any of us. Any political scientist can tell you that our current system of government is, to some degree, socialist. Socialism is simply redistribution of wealth.  It permeates our entire system from insurance to taxation to tort law. This label is useless in describing the individual but useful in galvanizing opposition to the individual. 

I have read and heard that President Obama wants to "take our guns away". Up until the most recent shooting events in Newtown, Connecticutt, I have not seen one single policy that the President has implimented or suggested that would indicate a position of increased gun control, let alone the ultimate gun control position of "taking peoples' guns away". Again, the label is a lie which galvanizes opposition to the President. Which gun control advocate is suggesting that all guns be eliminated?  There is already "gun control".  The advocates of gun control are suggesting that some of the laws be tweaked to eliminate weaknesses. I don't hear gun control advocates suggesting that 2nd Ammendment advocates have the position that all gun control laws should be repealed!!!!

 
There is a pattern here. Create an extreme position to galvanize opposition, identify the President with that position and disseminate those falsehoods to the populace. 

Why is it possible to do this?  The answer is simply racism. The hatred towards the President lies just beneath the surface.  Any lie or false argument or false statement finds a welcome home in the minds of the haters.