It’s politics? ‘Baby killer’, ‘Terrorist’, ‘Socialist’, ‘Communist’, ‘Un-American’. We are not talking about Charles Manson or the KKK. Neither are we referring to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma Bomber. No, we are talking about the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Being America’s first black president is not an easy pill to swallow on the right corner of the isle. For an example, take Daniel Cowart; a skinhead from Tennessee who recently pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to carry out a killing spree back in 2008. His targets were African Americans and then presidential candidate Barack Obama. I think it would be ignorant if one did not see this coming. As much as I find his crimes repulsive, Daniel’s actions were predictable. Nobody was prepared for it or expected to witness a black American President this soon. Not even the Democrats and Liberals. Obama himself said the following after he won the Iowa premiere: “You know, they said this day would never come. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose”.
It is a fact that America has a large scale of racist groups who advocates white supremacy 365 days a year. The hate climate the American society has known through out its history is suppressed but has not vanished from the hearts of the Daniel Cowarts out there. And yet I do not think the young boy was referring to skinheads when he posed that remarkable question. I think Terence meant politicians who have called Obama every possible name in the book. Politicians who have transformed themselves into spokespersons for these hate groups and don’t even hide it. He meant radio personalities who want the President to fail, whose words reaches racist group sympathizers. There are emerging separatist groups who believe they can play a bigger role in the conservative party. And Republicans are embracing their ideologies, which are uncompromised conservative values. I have seen representatives take the stage at hate charged rallies where marchers are holding signs reading ‘Terrorist, Hitler, Banana Republic’ etcetera. And before this assembling of blind patriotism, a Republican congressmen and women alike will take the stand and say “This is real America, they are mad”. You are endorsing hatred to the extend, making people like Daniel Cowart to believe that killing the black president is a call of duty and saving America from the ‘terrorist’.
During the campaign Obama was the Muslim, the non-American hanging around with terrorists. Right after his victory he became a national security threat, he posed socialist ideas and so on. More recently we have witnessed many more hate spewing by right wing media personalities towards their commander in chief. We have witnessed disrespectful behaviour by Republicans and even some Liberals. Fox News has turned his cable news channel into Anti Obama news channel. Conservatives falsely accused the Health Care Bill of many things. Some leaders even went as far as to say Armageddon was coming if the health care bill gets signed into law. Well guess what; the health care is signed into law and the world is still spinning. Conservatives are successfully labelled the party of ‘NO’ by Democrats. In lockstep, they have voted against every Obama agenda so far.
Now tell me, is this how America treats her presidents? I think if being the most powerful man in the world is still not able to gain respect for a black person, then we have a long way to go. I know politics when I see one. Personally I feel like when a politician wants a good will president to fail, he wants his country to fail. It is selfish and should be seen as a severe crime. Really, the American congress is on drugs. After the health care bill passed with no support of the Republicans, former Republican president candidate John McCain immediately let the word out: “There will be no Republican cooperation with the president for the rest of the year”. You see this BS? Talk Show host Bill Maher said it best when he said: “New Rule: You can’t use there will be no cooperation for the rest of the year as a threat if there was no cooperation in the first half of the year.”
So why does the US congress persist to go on with this provocative behaviour? Is it a game plan or a sincere opposition? The answer is simple: American voters reward misconduct by their representatives in public. When a congressman or women misbehave, both parties capitalize on the misbehaviour. When a congressman from South Carolina heckled the president by saying “You Lie!” during the president’s health care speech to Congress, he became an instant rock star. He quickly apologized but capitalizes on the remark; voters donated over a million to his campaign fund. The same with a Florida Democrat who said Republicans wants sick people to ‘die quickly’ on the House floor. He went from an unknown congressman to a national figure. So I do think the media deserve some of the blame for their coverage and as well as the public for putting up with it.
Now I do believe that people are mad. But you can’t convince me that they are mad because of Obama. I think they are mad because of this BS, theatrical behaviour, by congress men and women who are acting like little kids when they don’t get what they want. That is why they are mad. The actions of Republicans and Democrats alike are creating a division amongst the people. I think having another one or two parties will not be a bad idea. There should be a midway. Until then, American politicians will lead their people through blind patriotism and fear. And the majority will suck it all up.