Will Obama’s legacy be a disappointment?

I have been so disappointed over Obama and his Presidency.  I still like the man.  But I am angry at what has happened and what has NOT happened.  I have this sense of abandonment.  I feel like someone pulled the wool over my eyes.  I keep looking for reasons to NOT write him off.

But then I watched “By the People”, an HBO documentary about the election of Barack Obama.  I suddenly realized that if you listen to his early speeches on why he wanted to be President, he has not faltered from that.  He spoke of running this country without the fear tactics of the Bush Administration, he spoke about running this country without the distractions that are all too common in all Presidencies, and he spoke about correcting the image of America around the world and correcting the disastrous foreign policy of the Bush Administration that took America one giant step backward in the big game of political hopscotch.  I was ready to pick up my stone and my chalk and go home. 

“By the People” reminded me that Barack Obama’s launch into the political stratosphere was hard-fought and based on truth.  Modern political campaigns are long and exhausting.  What may start as a few simple ideas to define any candidate and his platform, end up with a mountain of campaign platform ideas.  The more the candidate fields questions from the incessant 24 hour press, the more his platform expands until every single backer of that politician can identify with several of the candidate’s “opinions” .  For example, Barack Obama did not promise an end to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” early in his campaign.  That came about later when he was pressed for a position.  But now, the gay community is overwrought with anger and feelings of betrayal.  I’m sure Barack Obama believes in what he said – he wants to eliminate that policy.  But is it now or was it ever the bottom row of his political pyramid?  I don’t think so.  Health care reform, yes, gay rights, no.

So after taking a long, hard look at where Barack Obama is today, just 10 months into his Presidency, I don’t feel so let down.  Barack Obama has always wanted his Presidency to be about Us, not about him.  He has always wanted the American people, and by default our representation in Congress, to participate in this democracy.  It is not just Barack Obama and his own agenda that should lead the country, it should be the country that leads his agenda.

Yesterday, I listened to Barack Obama’s eulogy at the memorial services for the victims at Fort Hood.  Not only did this man meet with every family of the people who were killed, and not only did he meet with the individuals who survived but were injured, he was late in giving the eulogy because he refused to cut his visit with these victims and their families short.  He knew why he was there.  He was there to express grief and condolences on behalf of the people of the entire United States.  And when he finally did give his speech, he mentioned each of the victims by name, every single one of them.  He didn’t just say their names; he told us all a little bit about each one of them.

As I listened, I realized that this is what an American President is supposed to be.  Honorable, honest, caring, empathetic, and strong.  He proved to me in those moments that we can turn to him during difficult times and he will lead the way.

In reality, it is too soon to evaluate what Barack Obama’s presidential legacy will be.  I was fearful that in my own disappointment, I would jump on the bandwagon and become an Obama detractor.  While I don’t agree with everything he has done, or NOT done, I still support this man and trust that he will bring America out of the cold, dark place we are in; and lead us into the light.  No President, and no Presidency is perfect.  I think that all we can hope for in a President is honesty, intelligence, hard work, and compassion.  I’m glad we have that.

Glenn Beck – CRYBABY or a Cry for Help – maybe both.

The first time I saw Glenn Beck break into tears, he was on CNN Headline News, when he used to have his 7:00 pm comedy hour (or whatever).  When CNN first gave Glenn Beck his own show, I thought he must be a leftist, I mean come-on, it’s CNN, well known as the “Clinton News Network”.  I can’t say as though I am a huge fan of CNN even when I thought they were more leftist.  But I checked in on this Beck guy because I didn’t really know all that much about him.  Had I given it more thought, I would have realized that the CNN Headline News Channel is NOT the same as regular CNN.  From what I know his ratings were good, at first, at CNN-HL but I, like others apparently, just could not stand to listen to him drone on with conservative, Neo-Con, Evangelical, born-again rhetoric about George W. Bush, the entire Bush Administrations, and Republicans in general.  I did not realize he was a Limbaugh in training.   And lied just as much.

 

Glenn Becks’ television crying sprees are all over the Internet now, so I won’t bother to waste more space and bandwidth by linking to them or uploading them to my site.  You can find them anywhere, just Google it.

 

He does a radio show, coast-to-coast, every day as well.  I don’t listen to him much except to sneer at him as I scroll through the dial.  I don’t recall hearing him cry on radio.  I guess because radio just doesn’t have the same punch if you’re going to do the “ugly cry” or the “televangelist cry”.   So, CNN-HL fired him.

 

His ratings are supposedly pretty good at Fox.  But then again, so were the ratings for the 9/11 attacks live on TV.  And speaking 9/11, Beck e started a new club called the 9/12 club to try and rekindle the feeling we all felt in the days immediately following 9/11.  Well, I think he’s trying to get to Patriotism, on the surface anyway.  But for me, the day after 9/11, which happens to be my birthday, was filled with deep, deep sadness, fear, confusion, uncertainty.  I DO NOT WANT TO JOIN A CLUB FOR THAT.  So, Beck, take it somewhere else.  And all of this faux patriotism, shrouded over neo-conservative double-speak,  isn’t’ fooling anybody. 

 

Some of Glenn Back’s most recent, infamous quotes are below (and remember, in your head, read them like Jimmy Swaggart when he was crying on TV saying “I have sinned”)  along with my responses to them:

• GLENN- “Are you ready to be that person you were the day after 9/11? – ME: – NO
• GLENN – “You are not alone” – ME:- I know, and I’m glad you’re not in my 5 favorites
• GLENN – “You are the secret, you are the answer” – ME:  To what?  I thought “The Secret” was a self-help book – maybe you should read it.
• GLENN – “To our military bases in Iraq where real heroes have gathered” – ME: Well I can’t argue with that.  Even the crazies have lucid moments.
• GLENN: “I’m like you, I just love my country and I fear for it” – ME: Hmm, I love my country; too, conservatives don’t corner the market on that.  But unlike Glenn, I’m not afraid for it.
• “It seems like the voices of our leaders, and the special interest, and the media…they’re surrounding us and it sounds intimidating” – ME: Glenn, we’ve talked about this.  If you start hearing voices in your head, you need to tell the doctor so he can up your medication.  Actually, I think it would be better if he just started drinking again.  He’d be WAY more fun at parties”
• “I’m a guy who cares an awful lot about my country” – ME: Couldn’t agree more. You do love it an “awful” lot.  It’s obsessive, dysfunctional, co-dependent, and I hate the be harsh but… The country just isn’t that into you.

I just want to be clear.  I cry at Hallmark commercials.  I have no problem with crying.  But this man is coming unglued.  He makes no bones about being a recovering alcoholic.  I’m well aware of the 12 steps.  But this is out of hand.  What step is “I’m a blubbering idiot who can’t formulate a complete thought and even though I know the whole world isn’t really against me, they really are”.

If this is how Glenn Beck behaves, if this is his platform on the Fox Network, if they simply stand by and allow this guy to mentally implode on a regular basis on national television just for the ratings, then Ruppert Murdock and the Foxtones are stark, raving mad; that’s what I first thought.  Then I realized what Fox is doing.  It’s all a ploy.

 

 

And what’s up with the big ratings?  Is that because watching him is like watching a train wreck in slow motion?  YES!  That’s exactly what it is.  People can’t possibly be tuning in to hear what he has to say because he isn’t saying anything, he just blubbering.  Here’s the deal – People are tuning in because the economy sucks, nobody has any money, and watching this piss-ant have a nervous breakdown on live TV is fun…and free.

 

 

Glenn Beck says he loves his country so much. Well I’ll say it out load because nobody else will.  He only loves the 39% of our country that doesn’t think Obama is doing a good job.  As for the 61% of us who want to give Our President a chance, even though we don’t agree with everything Obama says and does, Glenn Beck doesn’t give two shits about us.  He’s not crying for the democrats, the liberals, the gays who want to get married, the gays in general, the blacks and Hispanics, the middle easterners, the Asians, etc., etc.

 

What is he going to do for his next trick, pull a Howard Beale from the movie “Network”.   I mean really, what is he going to do next to keep the viewers attention span?  After all, he is an actor.

 

 

He’s not a journalist – he admits that quite frankly.  So what is he?  He’s an actor who can cry on queue to wrap up a neo-conservative message in a packet of tears, wrapped in fake patriotism and serve it to the hungry masses that are looking for entertainment.    If Glenn Beck, or Fox, thinks that people are tuning in because they like the guy, and agree with him, then they all belong in the loony bin.

 

 

The Glenn Beck Show, brought to you this hour by … “Glenn Beck Facial Tissues:  now with even more Scoville Units..”For those times when you’re own fake tears just aren’t enough”.  This is America damn it.   The Republicans are hurting.  Cry Already!!!!

Whether or not the tears are real or fake, this is a man who needs help.  If they are real, it is even more disturbing.  But if a conervative talk show host feel that the walls are closing in on him, who am I to suspend the Republican-backed gun laws in this country.  Go for it Glenn.

Gun Violence

I tried to write an article on gun violence last week and was attacked by so many boneheads that I removed the post.  I can not stand trying to have an open-minded dialog with close-minded people, in this case, gun owners.

This week in Los Angeles, a teen age boy who played high school football was shot, gunned down, murdered; call it whatever you want.  He was the victim of gang violence but not a member of a gang.  He got caught in the crossfire.

I highly doubt that the founding fathers came up with the second amendment giving Americans the right to “bear arms” with this in mind.  I don’t think they sat around a table and said, “I think it should be OK for anyone to own a gun and shoot at random”.

I’ve read the second amendment.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what the REAL intent of the words are.  And I don’t believe for one minute that anybody else does either, no matter how scholarly on sentence structure they claim to be.

Gang members aren’t hunting wild life.  They are not members of an organized militia, protecting the homeland in the interest of national security.  They are murdering people.  They are killing rival gang members and the general public who are in the crossfire of these personal vendettas.   You will never convince me that this is what the second amendment means; granting these people the right to hold and use murder weapons, yes murder weapons, that’s all they are.

But if I try to appeal to gun owners to take a fresh look at the laws for the betterment of society, they all freak out and start quoting this, and that and the other thing, and these statistics, and those statistics, and blah, blah, blah.  All the while, more people are dropping dead on the streets; killed by people who never should have had a gun in the first place.

I keep hearing “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. That is absolute bullshit.  People with guns, who shouldn’t have them, kill other people”.

So I asked the question.  Why can’t we put a moratorium on guns, all guns, with the exception of law enforcement and the military, for two years.  Make it illegal for two years for any guns to be owned by anyone other than the military and police.  I don’t even care if it is two years, two days, two decades, or an hour.  My point is that I just want these second amendment supporting gun-toters to think about it differently for just two seconds.  Can’t you just try, try and take a step back and actually think about it from a different point of view from your own.  I have.

I live in Maine.  Lots of people have guns here.  If I wanted to own a gun to hunt, or to protect myself, yes, I think I should be allowed to.   But if it was discovered that I was in a gang, the gun should be taken away from me.  If it was discovered that I was on anti-psychotic medication, the gun should be taken away from me.  And if I get fired from my job, the gun should be taken away from me.  At least for a while until we can be reasonably sure I won’t misuse it.

I know what they will say.  My recommendations are ridiculous and unenforceable.  How are we going to control gun ownership at this level.  It is impossible.  And they are right.  What I am asking is to start thinking about gun ownership differently, picture it if we could manage gun ownership at this level.  Why is that so hard.

I am tired of statistics.  I don’t understand how any statistics can disprove the fact that gun violence kills innocent people.

Back to the incident I referenced at the top of this post.  There was a women on a morning show this morning who is a Sargent in the Iraq war.  She was allowed to come home to bury her son who was shot and killed in the crossfire of gang violence.  That is a truly sad statement on the condition of the streets of America.  And if a gun supporter can’t take this simple scenario and pause for a moment to re-think the gun laws in this country, then I don’t think they deserve to own a gun either.

Gun Violence and the Second Amendment

POST REMOVED: Inbox filled with ridiculous, hot-headed, narrow-minded ideals.

Some of these gun owners should just shoot themselves in the head and end it all right now.  There’s some gun violence I can live with.

I love when people stop by and take pot shots at my writing sytle.  I am not a professinal writer, and as I state so clearly, it is simply an opinion, so get over it and don’t read what I write it it is going to affect your blood pressure that much.