Like most, I have received more than enough emails expressing disdain for President Obama and his administration. Some are nothing more than cherry-picked examples of things that he has done wrong or gaffs he has made. Many are simply racist. Most are made up of lies. Recently, I was forwarded an essay written by someone named Maureen Scoot that was so ridiculously constructed and filled with such vitriolic drivel that I felt compelled to respond. If you want, take a moment to read her essay here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/scott/130301. It is hard to read through it without laughing, and she basically repeats the same thing over and over again. In any event, Ms. Scott is clearly uniformed and does not seem inclined change her close-minded and false views. She is deliberately malicious, and as I will reveal, a liar. I want to be clear that I am not an Obama devotee. He has done many things that I find deplorable, but my issues are with his policies. I disagree with some of things he has done; I do not hate the man nor do I think that he is out to destroy our democracy. Any person who can get elected as President is so thoroughly vetted by the primaries and actual election campaigns that the notion that an "anti-American" is now in the Oval Office is beyond belief. Apparently, Ms. Scott needs to be reacquainted with reality, assuming that she was ever familiar with it in the first place.
Let me begin with the actual definition of a demagogue. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a demagogue is "a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power," or "a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times." In other words, it is someone who uses peoples' fears, prejudices, or popular opinion to obtain and hold onto power. Based on the description provided by Ms. Scott, President Obama is anything but a demagogue. According to her, Obama works against the popular ideas of the people and advocates for the decline of the country. Clearly, this is not a demagogue. Rather, her message is that the President of the United States hates America and wants to destroy it. This is patently false, and her claims are unsupported by any evidence. Moreover, despite her claims to the contrary, Ms. Scott's essay is nothing more than thinly veiled racism. It is the classic example of "he is different, therefore he is not to be trusted."
Instead of simply being forthright and saying that she just doesn't like the President, Ms. Scott uses an ad hominem attack against Obama in a poor attempt to portray him as a bad President. Not once does she mention any actual policies, laws, or actions. She begins by planting the false idea that President Obama was raised by a family that taught him to hate America. Nothing can be further from the truth. First, for the first 10 years of his life, Obama was raised by his white Mother, Ann Dunham, who was from Wichita, Kansas. True, Obama's father was a Kenyan, but his father left before Barack was a year old and only visited his son once before he was killed in a car accident in 1982. Barack was born in Hawaii, but his mother (after divorcing Barack's father) remarried and moved to Indonesia to be with her new husband. For two years, Barack went to a Catholic School and then went to a secular, public school. At no point did he ever receive any indoctrination against America. When he was 10, Barack went to live with his maternal grandparents (again, they are white), Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. Stanley Dunham served in World War II with the 1830th Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Company. I doubt that a WWII vet would teach his grandson to "hate" America. Barack went to a college prep school from age 10 until he graduated high school. Remember, this was in Hawaii. Where along this time would he have been exposed to negative ideas about the U.S.? Who would have taught him to be resentful of America? The answer: no one.
As for Ms. Scott's claims that the President is "void of emotion" when it comes to the U.S., I'd like to offer several examples that refute this idea. First, as a community organizer in Chicago, Barack showed great compassion for the poor and under-served. He set up job training programs, tutoring programs, and other types of assistance. At the time he was earning a pittance, and only someone who truly cares would make the kind of financial sacrifice that Barack did. After law school, Barack taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago and was also a civil rights attorney, again showing his commitment to both the rules of the country and the citizens themselves. During his first presidential campaign, Mr. Obama praised the U.S. and its people many times. Here are just a few examples from some of his speeches (emphasis added):
"It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well."
"We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma."
"Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend."
"Thank you, and God bless America."
"This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people."
True, President Obama pointed out the short-comings of the U.S. and things that could be improved. That's because he wanted to improve them. "Yes we can!" meant that we as people can work to make this country even better than it is. If you think that this country is perfect then you are delusional. When Barack states that something is wrong with the country, he is not saying that everything is wrong with the country. When you love something you want to see it succeed and achieve its potential, and the U.S. still has so much more potential. The President knows this and works towards making America better. He has made mistakes, even lied, but what president hasn't? Remember the Iran-Contra Affair? Watergate? How about "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Or WMDs in Iraq. President's aren't perfect, but screwing up doesn't mean you hate the country. President Obama has never done anything to compromise America's dominance over every other country on the planet.
Ms. Scott calls the President "haughty," but his apparently "cold" demeanor would be called "stoic" in anyone else. Make no mistake, the President has shed tears for the people of this country. He was visibly tearful after the school shooting in Connecticut, as he was at the late Senator Inouye's funeral. He clearly was emotional when he thanked his campaign staff after the election. With heartfelt words, he praised the troops at Arlington Field on Memorial Day. The list goes on.
Ultimately, the reason President Obama is called the most divisive president in our history (which in itself is ridiculous considering that the country split in two under Lincoln), is that the people are so divided. Most Republicans never gave him a chance and allowed their own prejudices to color their view of the President. Obama's detractors don't listen to his words or policies; they just see an angry black man. It is one thing to disagree on politics. This is fine and is a healthy part of the democratic process. But when a large portion of the country refuses to see past their own biases and would rather see the country immobilized on nearly every front, things have gone past the point of normal, political disagreement and entered into the realm of intractable hatred for anyone who holds an opposing view.
The President did not and does not want to divide the country. The people did that on their own. Ms. Scott is just another knife in a drawer full of extremists seeking to further cleave this country in half. Her words are destructive, false, contradictory, and misguided. She herself seems to be filled with the vitriol and spite that she attributes to the President. Patriotism is not some blind devotion to a mythical, idealized notion of what America once was. Patriotism means putting aside our differences in order to work together for the betterment of the country. That is love for the U.S., and it is something that the President has advocated since day one.
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