Friday, June 12, 2015

He's My President, Too - Reprinted from 16.9.2009



I don’t care for the man.  It’s as simple as that.  I didn’t vote for him, and so far nothing he has done would make me think twice about that decision.  To the contrary, he seems to have gone out of the way to demonstrate that I got it right, and the American electorate got it wrong.
That’s normal for me.  The getting it right when the rest of you got it wrong bit.  Like the guy driving down the freeway during rush hour when his wife calls him on his cell phone.  Being a careful sort of guy he activates his hands free and when his wife warns him that she heard that there’s some lunatic going the wrong way on the freeway, ha replies that there isn’t just one, but hundreds of them!
Really – it feels like that some days.  “All the world is a little strange but me and thee…and some days I’m not so sure about thee!”  That sort of thing.
I know I got it right, but I just can’t prove it.  On the plus side…no wait, I won’t go there.
I struggle with the idea that the President says - wrongly - that my country is one of the world’s largest Muslim nations – “in God We Trust” notwithstanding.
I struggle with the notion that he feels the need to apologize for the country that gave him the platform he is using to apologize.
I disagree with his notions, his policies, his racism, his naivety (even more naïve than Jimmy Carter, I think) and his big government throw money at the problem approach.
But, and it’s a big ‘but’, he IS the president!  If I don’t like it, well, this nation has a built in term limitation program even better than the two tem thing for Presidents.  Ronald Regan called it “Throw the bums out!”  I call it the election cycle.  It applies to every single elected office in this Republic of the United States.  If you don’t like the person you elected – don’t re-elect him!  That’s term limitation at its finest!
Now – here’s a key bit of the idea- he’s my president, too.  I am bothered by the idea of Americans who shout from whatever portal they can find, things like “Now WE have a president – he’s My president” because of a perceived notion of commonality due to a perceived common heritage based on skin color.
Newsflash – the individual in the Oval Office has more African-Arab blood than Negro blood, my friend, and strangely enough, I haven’t noticed bin Laden shouting “He’s my president!”  Your perception has more to do with gene dominance than heritage.
Even so, if your ancestors came to this country 200 years ago, regardless of the circumstances, while there is an ancestry of foreign derivation in your past, the fact remains that in all likelihood for five of the last 6 generations, your heritage is that of mixed race American; born in the USA!  Just like most of the rest of us.
Here’s where the rubber hits the road, my friend.  Mr. Obama is MY President too!  Every bit as much as he is yours!  And that is what makes America great!  An American born (let’s just assume that, shall we?) citizen was elected to be President of the nation of his birth in a free election.  If you don’t like it, in just over three years you can activate the built in term limitation system and unelect him.
But until then, he is ALL of our President!
As I said to start this off, I don‘t much care for the man, but he IS MY president, too, and I respect the OFFICE of The President of the United States of America, if not the office holder, and if you’re a long time reader, you already know my opinion of his predecessor was also remarkably less than 5-star!
And as a Christian, I am still compelled to remember the words of the prophet Daniel in far more dire political circumstances than the ones I face:
“He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” Daniel 2:21 NIV
God is still in control as regards this ‘one nation under God.’ Mr. Obama may be confused on that issue, having spoken of his Christianity and his Muslim heritage, but the Bible is strikingly clear on the subject. There is only one God. He is Jehovah, not Allah, and one day every knee will bow to Him, and every tongue will proclaim that He is Lord! (Philippians 2:9-11)
NOTE: Many of the issues that concerned me when I wrote this post originally for my blog on 16th September, 2009, remain unanswered. My inspiration to write was twofold: first, the number of black friends, not a one of whom I would label as racist or race driven, were suddenly openly proclaiming Barack Obama as “Their” President based solely on the color of his skin, and second, the number of 2008 questions (birth certificate, school records, financial records, ties to foreign governments and entities who are enemies of our nation, and other questionable background claims that, still, almost six years hence, remain unanswered.
Now I am being challenged as being suddenly racist, and an Obama hater because of the color of his skin, as well as being guilty of “unwarranted disrespect” of the President. It is to that end, I am reposting a six-year old BLOG to reinforce two ideas:
1. These are old ideas simply rehashed, and the idea of posting negative op-ed where the President is concerned did not begin with Obama. I actually wrote sardonic pieces to the Miami Herald regarding Richard Nixon and Spirow Agnew while still in High school.
2. It is entirely possible to respect the Office of the POTUS while having absolutely no respect whatsoever for the POTUS, himself. Office and office holder are NOT synonyms, however poorly the one may be a reflection of the other.  One might argue that if Mr. Obama himself respected the office he holds, he would resign before further desecrating its image.

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