**Believe it or not, I started writing this post about a month after President Obama was sworn into office. I completed it to a point then left it alone, my better judgment convincing me it would be best to put off this subject until well after the heated emotions of the election, both for me and those who would be reading this post.**
I know that some of my friends voted for Obama for various reasons. This post is not directed toward people who voted for him for policy reasons. This rant is entirely directed toward people who did not know the issues or the policies and were duped into the "messiah" mindset via Obama's impressive oratory and dashing good looks or those who voted for him simply because he is black. (That final point brings up an entirely different rant which I will only touch on here: if you voted for Obama only because of the color of his skin, then you are just as guilty of racism as those who didn't vote for him for the opposite reason. That is all.)
Seriously, did everyone come down with selective amnesia and conveniently forget that Obama was rated the Most Liberal Senator in 2007? In his first two years in office he was ranked 16th and 10th, respectively. How could his partisan liberality bordering on socialism be a surprise to anyone? It's as if people actually believed what he SAID in the campaign rather than what he DID before the nationally sanctioned event where you attempt to win as many votes as possible. Even the liberal media brought up his voting record when discussing him as a candidate. His record in the Senate was not swept under the rug. Yet, somehow, many people came away with the conclusion that he was more of a Centrist than many other candidates on the primary Democratic ticket.
Besides the typical campaigning to respective audiences, Obama was surprisingly loyal to his platform and sincere in his goals. No one could logically accuse him of waffling on policy issues during the entire campaign. He simply said what he thought would be received best to different audiences. He didn't outright lie on anything significant that I know of. Bill O'Reilly said it very well in the Sept. 22, 2008 edition of TIME Magazine "he's a sincere man and a tough guy. His policy is what he says it is. He's no phony. He's telling you: I'm going to set up a big government apparatus, I'm going to redistribute income and I'm going to use more soft power than hard power abroad. What he says is what he believes."
Those major policies that he was up front about from the very beginning are what he is working hardest at in these first 100 days in office...and that is why people are crying over voting for him in the first place? You've got to be kidding me.
We have both a responsibility and a privilege as Americans to vote in both national and local elections. And part of the responsibility of voting is knowing the issues and the policies of those you are voting for.
Now, the reason I resurrected this post from the better judgment abyss is because of the media firestorm a few weeks ago over Obama's gaffe when addressing the attack on Fort Hood. Even media outlets that have historically been Pro Obama to a fault took notice that the President's version of "condolences" showed "frightening insensitivity" not to mention the usual Fox News drivel. I have heard the same kinds of thoughts from friends and acquaintances of mine. My question is: "Why does this surprise you?" It doesn't surprise me in the least because for all time in his public life he has been calm and measured. That is one of the things that he was lauded for in the campaign. Now you expect him to be outraged at something? I am not saying these things to defend President Obama or because I agree with how he handled the situation or because I agree with his policies or even because I like the guy. I'm saying them to point out the lack of logical thinking that has crippled the country for the last several elections.
Just as it is dumb to attack Palin for being a workaholic public servant (as she has always been), it is dumb to attack Obama for the very thing people praised him for in the campaign. That kind of rhetoric doesn't reflect poorly on the Commander In Chief, it reflects poorly on those who were blind to Obama's straightforward personality in the first place only to now say "what an insensitive guy we have leading us!" I say again, this guy is not using smoke and mirrors. He is being upfront about what he believes and what he plans to do. "I won." And he means it.
The fact that Obama is such an excellent politician makes me not trust him. He is very careful with how he words things so that, in my opinion, he has yet to be caught making obviously contradictory statements. He just makes subtly contradictory statements depending on his audience. But how some people become so taken by a candidate that they become blind to that candidates' faults is beyond me. Every person has their faults, every politician moreso, and with politicians you know that no matter how altruistic they may seem there are always financial doners pulling the strings.
And that, I believe, is the crux of the situation. The best way to know a candidates' platform is to look at who their big doners are. It is easy to do because it is a matter of public record and, thanks to modern technology, those public records are often available online. Find it. Use it. But most of all, use your brain and not your heart when voting. Politicians can only win your heart if you turn off your brain.
Please take these ramblings on logical fallacies and apply them to other parts of your life or maybe even *gasp* candidates for public office.
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