When I was a little boy I would always hear my mom say two things pretty frequently. “Lord give me strength” was one and the other was “if it ain’t one thing it’s another.” I grew up in a working class neighborhood with a working class family who had working class issues. So if our power was shut off I would hear both phrases and if my mom’s car chose to breakdown I would usually hear “Lord give me strength” more than the other.
To hear those expressions now bring back memories of hard times and struggles, but they also remind me of how much strength my mother had then and still has now.
Strength to call on the Lord’s name when things were going right and strength to press on during those hard times.
When dealing with the politics of politics I sometimes catch myself thinking “if it ain’t one thing it’s another.” Well I recently had one of those moments. In listening to some politicians from the right and a few talking political heads discuss the politics of the death of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi I thought heavily on the word hypocrisy.
On one hand I see international headlines of praise for President Obama on how he chooses to carry out his foreign policy. From the International Business Times a headline read “Gadhafi Dead: When It Comes to Removing Tyrants, Obama is 2-0.” The Star-Ledger out of New Jersey states, “With Moammar Gadhafi’s death, Libya is reborn. There were plenty of good media pieces to drawn upon for the President as he was consistently commended for helping to remove the eccentric dictator. Not many agreed with his action to engage American resources in Libya, but the end result is what most Americans would consider to be a victory.
But then I started to see what those on the right had to say about Mr. Obama. Media figure Sarah Palin called the praise for Obama “ironic” due to the criticism conservative hero Ronald Reagan received back in the 80’s for orchestrating air strikes against Gadhafi.
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions called Gadhafi’s death a “victory for justice” but said that the president should have acted sooner.
If it ain’t one thing it’s another.
Those on the right, like Senator Sessions and talking head Palin, are constantly calling President Obama weak and stating that Democrats are feeble when it comes to national security. Well…what is one to call Obama’s removal of the man responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11th and a brutal African dictator? Meager?
Entertainer and comedian Rush Limbaugh, who routinely disrespects President Obama by calling him Barry, says that the media is having an “orgasm” over Obama’s “killing” of Gadhafi.
Last week President Obama announced that the majority of American troops stationed in Iraq will be removed by the end of the year. Obama kept to a campaign promise to bring them home as well as the timeline set by the Bush Administration as to when troops should be removed from Iraq.
Once Obama made the announcement, Republican presidential candidates were quick to pounce on Obama’s decision. Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and current GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain said that he believes Iran will use the vacuum created by the withdrawal of U.S. troops to control Iraq.
Millionaire Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says that Obama simply failed to deliver on Iraq because there will not be a secure transfer of power.
I firmly believe that if Obama gave the Republican Party all that it wants except his job, they would still remain an un-happy bunch of malcontents. For what its worth President Obama captured the one man Republicans and former President Bush and Vice President Cheney spent over a trillion dollars trying to capture: Osama Bin Laden.
In terms of foreign policy GOPers, what else does he have to do?
When it comes to jobs I understand that a lot of Americans are struggling. Here in Florida the unemployment rate sank a little from 10.7 percent to 10.6 percent. Obama has traveled the country, including stops in Florida, to serve up his plan for jobs. As President Obama traveled to a fundraiser in Lake Mary he found out that the Senate voted his jobs plan down.
But there is only so much Mr. Obama can do when it comes to creating jobs, especially if a plan he pushes is voted against. What about local and state leaders?
Let’s take Florida Governor Rick Scott as an example. When President Obama first started to reveal his plan for jobs, Mr. Scott said he would turn back any money due to Florida from the jobs bill back to the federal government. Scott’s reasoning you ask? Because if he took the money it would help Obama carry Florida in the 2012 general election.
Scott’s logic is right in line with that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Late last year McConnell said that his main goal was to make President Obama a one term President. In an article posted on MSNBC.com McConnell is quoted as saying that Obama had a stark choice: “Move toward the GOP or get no help from its lawmakers.”
Another illustration is that of House Speaker John Boehner who at one point earlier this year said that, if some federal workers lose their jobs under a Republican jobs plan then “so be it.” This coming from a man who co-leads a party who kept asking “Where are the jobs?” during the 2010 mid-term election campaign. If Mr. Boehner thinks that the federal government should shed jobs then he should give his up.
I give each example of Republican stonewalling to exemplify just how much anger and abhorrence comes from the right. This is all aimed toward the defeat of one man and not necessarily the policies of that man.
Our political discourse has evolved into a divide as wide as the Nile. One party is dedicated to the destruction of one man even if means America suffers in the process.
I have been a harsh critic of President Obama on jobs, African-Americans, and the economy. I will continue to criticize him when I feel that he needs to be called to the carpet, but I still remain strong in my support for Obama. Under his leadership there was an expansion of Pell grants, something that helps low-income students go to college. I, like so many other Americans, relied on Pell grants to pay for college.
Republicans often point to Obama’s lack of job creation but last year there were more private sector jobs created than during the entire eight year span of the Bush administration.
I don’t want to sound like an Obama administration talking point but, it’s gotten to the point of defense for Obama.
I understand the anger about the lack of jobs and the high unemployment rates for minorities. I share that anger but I also understand that fixing our economy didn’t start with Obama and will not end with him. We are in the throes of a long and arduous process and Republicans have done a masterful job of turning the conversation away from themselves and back onto the White House.
I’ll say it again as I’ve said it before: Why return to the failed economic policies of the Republican Party?
Mitt Romney thinks that corporations are people, Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan will raise taxes on the poor and the rest of them are about to drop so far off of the radar that it does not matter where they stand at this point.
President Barack Obama is still America’s best hope but, until we get our chance to vote again in 2012, there will be a whole lot of “Lord have mercies” and “if it ain’t one thing it’s another.”
-JH
i think you’re a good writer, but you are thoroughly mislead. Obama is not hope. obama is death for our country. he is two faced and i really think he is doing ALL he can to ruin america. He is teaching people that its OK to spend money we do not have. why would you want someone like that running your country? giving that kind of example to young people?? anymore americans are so spoiled and have this attitude that we DESERVE to be driving around new cars while we are feeding off of welfare, while our dumb president chooses to cut millitary expenses (which is basically a slap in the face to americans) over welfare spending, by people who as far as i can see, eveyone i know on welfare does NOT need it, just lazy. so basically out “heroic” president is saying that is is more important to spend MY hard earned money on people who for the most part, just do not want to get their butts out there to work. its more important to enourage this deserving attitude amoung spoiled americans rather than protect our people to the best of our ability. its more important to feed welfare recipients awful habbits of being lazy than to pay our debt. he sounds like the hope that america needs!!!!! im a full time pharmacy tech, i see this every single day. im paying, with my tax dollars, for people who just DO NOT wnat to work, to go to the doctor, get xanax and get it covered by medicaid. yet i actually need medicine for my migraines, and i cant even have health insurace to do that. instead im paying for something so stupid for people who do not want to even get ahead. if you are serious about a job, you will find one. obama has brainwashed everyone who is so obsessed with not WANTING to actaully work to better themselves. and i do not feel one bit sorry for those people! HERMAN CAIN 2012!!! someone who actually promotes work and facing the consequences of irresponsible choices and getting back to COMMON SENSE. and maybe you shoud research before you write an article becuase his 9-9-9 plan WOULD NOT tax the poor too high, he has said it a million times. this is one of american voters biggest problems!! they’re sponges! believe the first thing they hear instead of actually looking for THE TRUTH!