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My thoughts on President Obama
Its been an interesting week. The thing I love about American politics is the reaction of the general populous to events such as Tuesday’s historical inauguration. We live in a great country where there can be so much disagreement yet power transfers peacefully. Regardless of your political affiliation, all Americans should be proud to live in a country where power transfers without a shot fired.
I want to comment on my feelings about Barack Obama. Before doing so I feel that I must state again that I did not support John McCain for President. I am not a Republican - I left the party more than four years ago. I do have deep conservative beliefs and values, which puts Obama and me on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
I still believe there is very little daylight between Obama and Bush.
Now that said I want to promise a couple of things:
1. I am going to be just as hard on Obama as I was on Bush.
2. When Obama does something right, I am going to give him credit for it.
On that note, I like that he instituted a ban on administration officials preventing them from lobbying after they leave the government. I think that’s a good policy. I also like the fact that he’s planning on shutting down Gitmo but I have to wonder where all those prisoners will go? What’s the alternative?
I pray for President Obama.
There was a ridiculous article published by right-wing evangelical nut case, Joesph Farrah, where he promoted the idea of praying for Obama to fail. I think that is asinine! I pray that President Obama will make the right decisions. I pray that he will be open to and receive inspiration from God. I pray that he will humble himself. Obama has a massive ego. So did George Bush. Look where that got us. Pride truly does go before the fall.
I know that most of the time I will not support his political decisions but if we are attacked or if we continue to drown in economic misery, I am going to pray for him and that he will be led and guided by God. One of the leaders of my Church, Elder M. Russell Ballard, who was present at the inauguration stated:
“I left with a feeling that the people of America are going to unite behind this new president and his administration and that we need to pray for him. We need to exercise our prayers and help him accomplish the great objectives that he has set.”
Now, do I think he means backing an extreme left-wing agenda that would clearly stand in contraction to the teachings of the Church? No. We have the daunting task of fixing this economy and country in front of us. We all need to get on that train and we need to pray that Obama will be inspired by God and seek out his inspiration on how to proceed with these matters. As one commenter on a local blog stated in regards to Elder Ballard’s comment:
“I pray for the country and its leaders all the time. But I only pray the meta-objective: freedom and righteousness. If Obama isn’t for those two I will pray that we are protected from him.”
Agreed.
Media cheerleading, over committing, and under delivering.
Obviously my support for Obama is conditional just as it was with Bush. We supposedly live in a free country and we have the right to criticize our elected politicians. If I hear Obama supporters criticize me for bagging on their guy (I’ve already experienced this on Twitter) after all the complaining they did about Bush - I swear I am going to blow out an eye. You’ve been dishing it out for the last eight years. Get ready to be on the receiving end. Remember it was Bush who called those who didn’t agree with him and his war on terror “Un-American”. Don’t act like Bush and his zombies.
Regarding the media, is there anything more disturbing than the news media in the pocket of a president? The media needs to do their job and ask the hard questions - something they failed to do prior to the invasion of Iraq. The media is clearly in love with Obama. Some, like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, have gone so far as to express (or admit) their desire to help “make this presidency a success“. All freedom loving Americans should be very concerned.
I’m going to go on the record right now and say that any Obama supporter who uses the race card on the critics of the President without any merit to their accusations are both intellectually lazy and Un-American. Fox News’s Juan Williams (a black man himself) stated:
“…there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist.
This is patronizing. Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority. Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.”
Obama supporters should prepare themselves for disappointment. Obama and his puppy dogs in the media have already broken rule number #1 in business: UNDER COMMIT AND OVER DELIVER. The media and his most devoted followers have set Obama up as some kind of a Messiah, a comparison that I find extremely offensive. The JFK and Lincoln comparisons are tired and predicable as well. Democrats need their hero’s (although Lincoln was a Republican and would have probably been appalled by Obama and his politics). When the fall comes it will be hard. Trust me, it will come. Again, Williams warns:
There is a dangerous trap being set here. The same media people invested in boosting a black man to the White House as a matter of history have set very high expectations for him. When he disappoints, as presidents and other human beings inevitably do, the backlash may be extreme.
Indeed. Obama’s failures will come in a number of forms. His blatant inexperience will lead to disasters. His deeply embedded liberal (some would say socialist) devotions and Keynesian economic philosophies will, I predict, lead this country further and further into economic despair. This is the 21st century. Have we not yet learned that over taxing, borrowing, printing money, and spending more than we take in is a recipe for disaster? Traditional Democratic policy is a failure. Socialism is a failure. We have just adopted it.
You see, Democrats are experts at screwing up and then pointing their finger at someone - anyone - else. Take the 2004 election. Whose fault was it that Bush got another four years? It was the Democrats fault. They failed to produce a good candidate and they failed to produce enough votes to kick Bush out of office. When they look for someone to blame for Bush they ought to look in a mirror. Where will they point the finger when Obama blows it?
Obama and I could hang together.
I think Obama has the ability to be truly great. All presidents do. Bush could have taken 9/11 and made lemonade out of lemons. Instead he waged an immoral war, pissed on the Constitution, spent us into oblivion, and eroded our God-given civil liberties. Fail.
Obama needs to turn to God and the Constitution for guidance. He needs to drop the idea of compulsory service. Compulsory service is a form of slavery. He needs to recall the empire and get America back to its roots. He needs to stop trying to play Robin Hood. He doesn’t have a moral, ethical, or constitutional right to do so. He needs to inspire the small business owners of this country - the real producers who pay taxes and employ 97% of the people in the country. If he ignores them, over-regulates them, and over-taxes them they will run for the hills and America won’t recover.
Obama needs to follow the example of Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress of the 1990’s and balance the budget. Except this time they need to do it without raiding the Social Security coffers. Most of all, he needs to dramatically curb spending, which means not implementing a lot of social programs he has planned for the next four years. We simply cannot afford it. But right out of the gate we have a problem with this very thing. His inauguration on Tuesday cost $170 million. Is that not irresponsible given the state of the economy and the deficit of the federal government? Again…ego.
All in all, I have little hope of him actually doing the right thing. At the end of the day Obama is a politician. What’s that old saying…all a first term president cares about is a second term and all a second term president cares about is a legacy.
I hold Obama voters responsible.
Over the last two years I’ve come across a lot of Obama supporters. I classify Obama supporters into four groups:
1. The “change” people.
2. The people who wanted to brag that they voted for the first black president.
3. The moderates and independents who hated bush and wanted to elect a Democrat as revenge against the Republicans.
4. The die hard Democrats who would vote for Satan if he were the Democratic candidate.
Those are all very bad reasons to vote for someone. I’ve met very few Obama voters who know what Obama is about. I’ve met very few who have researched the issues. I’ve met very few who can articulate his platform beyond the word “change”.
Obama supporters: If it all goes wrong will you stick by him or will you do the right thing - like so many real conservatives did in the last eight years - and stand up for what’s right? What will your responsibility be in all of this?
I still believe in America!
Finally, I want to say that even though my support for Obama is conditional and my distrust of the government is constant - I still believe in America. The government is not America. You and I are America. We can make this country a better place. If Obama inspires you to do and be better then more power to you.
I don’t care who the president is. The president simply changes the tone of a game. He doesn’t change the game. So don’t check out of the game. Change your strategy. Grab a ball and go.
Great read, Chris.
Left by Richard K Miller on 01/21/2009Very well put. For the last 2 years I’ve been looking at the Presidential Candidates thinking “THIS is the best we can come up with?”. I blame Republicans for Obama - they selected the lousiest candidate out of a batch of lousy candidates.
Obama has a vision for America that is wholly Un-American. I don’t understand how anyone can read his agenda and support it unless they are completely unaware of the Constitution and the founders principles. The amount support he receives just seems to speak of the ignorance of his followers. But then again, it’s not like there was a decent alternative. (for the record, I voted for Ron Paul)
Left by Phil801 on 01/22/2009Thanks, Richard!
Left by Chris Knudsen on 01/22/2009Phil:
You bring up a really good point. The Republicans had two candidates who would have been worlds better than Obama: Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. The media destroyed Paul. Huckabee and the evangelicals destroyed Romney.
Republicans ought to look in the mirror and blame themselves for Obama.
Left by Chris Knudsen on 01/22/2009There’s a minor debate over on Facebook regarding separation of church and state. I posted the following:
Allow me to say more on the separation of church and state. The founding fathers definitely believed in the separation of church and state. They had seen the destruction caused when organized religion intermingles with and sometimes runs government. In Europe this was a problem with both the Catholic Church and the Church of England. So they didn’t want the same thing to happen in America. I think its a good idea as well. However, the founding fathers never meant (go to their writings for more on this) that government should be Godless.
I’m glad that Obama appears to be no longer under the influence of Rev. Wright. I do hope, that on his own and without the influence of organized religion, that he will seek out God’s council and that he will humble himself.
Left by Chris Knudsen on 01/22/2009There seems to be a growing voice that a politician can’t reference God or look to the heavens for guidance. I second what Chris mentions. I reread the first 10 inauguration speeches and all call on God to support the new government and themselves as the President. Any one that claims otherwise simply is ignorant to our own (albeit short) history.
Left by Blaine on 01/22/2009@Blaine:
Great comment!
Left by Chris Knudsen on 01/22/2009[...] (For an interesting read, see Chris Knudsen’s thoughts on President Obama.) [...]
Left by President of the United States, Teacher-in-Chief | Richard K Miller on 01/25/2009[...] an interesting read, see Chris Knudsen’s thoughts on President Obama.) Filed under: General No Comments Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this [...]
Left by President of the United States, Teacher-in-Chief « widaca on 06/19/2009