The Paradoxical Nature of an Anti-Obama Rant

It's time to Break It Down!

The French writer, Victor Hugo, is credited with having coined the phrase, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” That is akin to the way “Believers” view Barack Obama’s rise to the Presidency. Of course non-believers hold a different view. More accurately, they hold a variety of different views, but make no mistake about the essential point; the view, no matter what it is, differs from the notion President Obama was anointed for the Office of the Presidency.

On the way to his becoming President, and certainly after the fact, Mr. Obama’s detractors affixed a variety of titles, intended to disparage him, his candidacy, and his Presidency. One could devise a lengthy example of slams and slurs. Just to provide a sampling, I will assemble a Letterman-like Top 10. The following list is not intended to represent a definitive 10 most-used, but rather, as noted, serves as an example. This list includes:

• 10) Tax and spend liberal

• 9) Community organizer

• 8) Terrorist sympathizer

• 7) Politically inexperienced

• 6) Naïve about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

• 5) Selling out Israel

• 4) Focused on Healthcare instead of jobs

• 3) Shakedown artist (Re: the BP Oil Spill)

• 2) Barack the Magic Negro (My personal favorite)

• 1) Socialist (Last but not least)

The list spans the continuum, and projects issues of ideology, character, savvy, intelligence, snobbery, and race consciousness, at a minimum. Each of the ten items could support a blog discourse, in its own right. For the purpose of today’s discussion, however, I am going to make a few points about just one item, Number 1 of course.

One of the hallmark cries, made familiar during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, and a label that managed to successfully transition from the days of the campaign to Mr. Obama’s Presidency is the assertion that Barack Obama is a Socialist. When I was a child, my parents consistently challenged me to avoid the use of course language. They argued, often in vain, I can now admit, that the use of expletives, curse words, in the vernacular of the street, was a sign of a lack of intellectual vigor. In essence, they contended that it revealed a lack of imagination, innovation, creativity, and intellect.

As I consider the name calling directed at then candidate, and now President Obama, I am reminded of the advisories of both Hugo, and my parents. First, in a basic sort of way, Barack Obama was the answer to the compelling question of the moment; his candidacy, an idea whose time had come. But further, his detractors, largely bereft of big ideas to offer as counterpoints to those presented by Mr. Obama, were reduced to injecting the game with course language, expletives, profanity/curse words, and other disparaging names.

So it is that I made Socialist the top item on the list. As you might infer from the title, I see an acute irony in that piece of intended condescension. If you were to ask a Socialist if Mr. Obama is a member of their body, the likely answer is no. Mr. Obama’s boldest domestic moves to date, the Financial Bailout, The Automobile Industry Bailout, and Healthcare Reform all aimed to help corporate interests retain control of their financial and economic interests; they did not purport to transfer those interests to the people, as Socialism would dictate.

Even Ron Paul, Republican Congressman from Texas, and one of Mr. Obama’s sharpest critics has conceded President Obama is not a Socialist. Congressman Paul suggests that if labeled, Mr. Obama should be called a Corporatist, for the reasons noted above. It should be added that Paul, a physician, brings more of an intellectual bent to his assessment than many who make the Socialist argument. To be sure, this creative appellation is not a compliment, but it does denote a clear understanding of what a Socialist is…and is not.

Moreover, there is a gaping Black Hole in the Socialism as anathema gambit. After all, Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, and public education, are all staples of the life and lifestyle we have come to know and love as Americans. These institutions are as American as apple pie, and they predate, not only Mr. Obama’s Presidency…but his birth also. As the fellas on the block might say, “What up with that?”

Finally, as we enter the 80th day of The Great BP Spill, you may be aware that everyone from CNN Talking Head, Anderson Cooper, to former Alaska Governor, and unsuccessful Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin have castigated President Obama for failing to sufficiently curb the excesses of BP’s stalling, deflecting, and otherwise evading its responsibility to eliminate The Spill, which has become the worst manmade environmental catastrophic disaster in American history. There really is only one (very major) thing wrong with this line of thinking. If the President were to personally trump BP, and take an action(s) that resulted in ending the spill, it would fly in the face of the Free Marketers’ arguments. It would in effect epitomize executing the very principles inherent in “The Paradoxical Nature of An Anti-Obama Rant!”  He would become a Socialist, at least for the moment.

Of course the fact that there is a great hue and cry calling for Mr. Obama to do the very thing he has been vilified for representing all along is par for the course. On Thursday, June 17, 2010, another Texas Congressman, Representative Joe Barton, apologized to BP CEO, Tony Hayward for "President Obama’s $20 Billion shakedown." This took place in televised hearings by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and was intended to embarrass Mr. Obama for his role in the process of dealing with the BP Spill. Congressman Barton was ultimately persuaded by his own Republican colleagues to retract his ill-timed remarks. His comments were made in spite of the fact that President Obama was integral in Mr. Hayward agreeing to have BP set up the Fund to repay claims to Gulf Coast residents. In summary, groups who contend the President is not doing enough, try, consistently, to discredit accomplishments he does make.  Go figure!

So what have we learned today? Simple; we know now, when people hurl the S-word (for Socialist) at Barack Obama:

• It is not because he is one. Practicing Socialists say he is not.

• It is not because as Americans, we disavow anything that reeks of Socialism. On the contrary, Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, and public education are integral to our way of life.

• It is not a reflection of persons having chosen to rely upon imagination, innovation, creativity, and intellect

• It is an indication of what happens when the powerful force of an idea whose time has come is confronted by course language, expletives, curse words, and other disparaging names

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADFA_enUS382&q=obama+socialist&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=4_wzTP-iKoH98AaLjs38Ag&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQsAQwAA

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/14/Obama.socialist/index.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/The-Daily-Reckoning/2010/0429/Ron-Paul-Obama-s-not-Socialist-he-s-Corporatist

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,590532,00.html

http://deanesmay.com/2010/04/16/is-obama-a-socialist/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28645

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124359632

http://dailycaller.com/2010/02/01/a-tricky-question-is-obama-a-socialist/

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/is-obama-a-socialist/#

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/06/70s-board-game-contains-eerie-bp-oil-spill-scenarios/?hpt=Sbin

http://www.slate.com/id/2256920

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-obama-should-put-bp-u_b_595346.html

http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/jun/21/robinson-bp-obama-should-take-responsibility/

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/jackson/index.ssf/2010/06/local_readers_criticize_presid.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_the_Magic_Negro

http://newsone.com/obama/casey-gane-mccalla/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/3303-ron-paul-obama-is-another-corporatist-not-a-socialist

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_s_ally