I am at a loss to understand what Barack Obama did to deserve such widespread hostility. Get elected maybe? Get reelected?
He certainly has not accomplished all the things he set out to do. And he probably won’t. The polls predict he will have to contend with a Republican Congress during his final two years.
But you have to concede the man tried.
Of course he has made mistakes. Haven’t you?
One of the worst blunders was his attempt to make allies of Republicans, bringing them into his Cabinet, appointing them to key positions and trusting them to do a good job. They didn’t of course. They’re Republicans.
And some of them have even had the nerve to smear him in those blackguardly tell-all books.
He tried to be fair, to see both sides of an issue, walk a mile in the other man’s shoes, etc., etc.
And this approach has drawn flak from both sides of every dispute. From immigration and same-sex marriage to women’s rights, health care and economic policy, every issue he touches seems to turn toxic.
The left complains he doesn’t go far enough; the right insists he goes too far.
Some of the resentment is genuine; a lot is theater.
Political opponents have made a commitment to harass him in every way possible. His every act comes under fire, his every sentence is parsed for political ammunition.
House Speaker John Boehner has even gone so far as to get Congressional authority to file a lawsuit against the President. Incredibly, it targets President Obama for delaying provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the same Obamacare the Republicans have voted innumerable times to repeal.
So far, no law firm will handle the case for Boehner, but I don’t doubt he will keep trying until he finds some shyster who will.
And you know the Republicans will try to impeach him if they win the Senate and keep the House. They are not likely to have the votes to get actual impeachment. It takes a two-thirds majority in the Senate to do that. But they will certainly get approval from the House to impeach, and they will use the proceedings to smear the President in every possible way.
The venom is so intense I have to think it’s personal.
And I suspect some of it has to do with Barack Obama’s race. There are many Americans – even in the year 2014 – who resent progress by black people, especially by black men.
And that’s a shame. Americans had the chance to show the world they were better than that. And they blew it.
Click for the latest on the lawsuit.
Click for more on impeachment.
