Some of the people responding to this post are younger than I am. For me at 70+ the Watergate Hearings were the beginning of incivility in American government. I watched those hearings almost in their entirety; whereas before that time often congresspeople and senators of both parties came together across the aisle on some issues and introduced bills together, today it is a rarity which generally happens after a disgrace such as a government shutdown.
Although I may bore you with this statement I will continue as life is short and I think and feel strongly on this subject. A lesson I have learned that transcends my left philosophy is that when too long on one’s soapbox—as I have stood occasionally—great opportunities for change pass by. For instance, Richard Nixon and many other Republicans, beginning I believe with Theodore Roosevelt, have proposed health care bills and Democrats have not gone along; the second example is in many ways more tragic: Ariel Sharon, that fierce Likud warrior, intended to make a two state solution with Palestine. Because of his status among conservative Israelis and others who feared that they are surrounded (by millions more than their population) those who wish that Israel would cease, Sharon had the power to push such an agreement through the Knesset. Then he had a stroke that disabled him completely. And by the way, I never supported Likud or Sharon until the time he sought a two state solution.
I agree that Barack Obama has done so much to be admired and cherished and that a loud portion of the American public does not even attempt to understand let alone appreciate his efforts. My very favorite of his accomplishments is that he introduced to the world the idea that all countries, especially those of the first world need to step in and work with the U.S. when circumstances such as in those in North Africa and the Middle East go awry (George H.W. Bush formed such a coalition in the first Gulf War), that the U.S. will no longer carry this burden in lives or resources alone And moreover that the first attempts at change should Always be negotiation And that violence should Always be the last resort.
Racism against President Obama transcends anything I would wish to imagine and it is worse than I know. During the 2012 campaign I saw lynching photos on the ‘net in which people had hung Obama in effigy.
Well now I have spoken what I wanted and you can all wake up.
umemarublog 