“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (via Jose Ometeotl)
To say that President Obama is being “damned with faint praise” is to admit that some people’s expectations of him border on the ridiculous, and so his failure to achieve their policy goals or to fix the entire nation in three years make them appear petulant and absurd.
The latest in this line of “disgruntled supporters”, Matt Damon should actually be taking lessons from his Ocean’s Eleven mentor, George Clooney. Instead of deriding the President’s “lack of balls” (no, I’m not going to delve into the psycho-sexual fascination with black men’s genitalia here), he should be acknowledging the president’s inheritance, and the myriad successes he has been able to accomplish despite political opposition and intransigence, from both the “conservadems” and the Republican elected officials who’s stated goals have been recalcitrance, opposition and defeat of each and every initiative THIS president supports.
As we move into the election year, it is important to realize that the Republican candidates for president cannot honestly argue that President Obama hasn’t been successful in leading the country. He has ended the war in Iraq, assassinated Osama bin Laden, decimated Al Qaeda, shepherded the removal of Hosni Mubarak and Mohmar Qaddafi, staved off a national depression, turned the economy around (gaining jobs instead of losing, unemployment dropping) and passed a host of legislation aimed at “promoting the general welfare”. A very abbreviated list:
The Lily Ledbetter Act – equal pay for women
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009
Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009
Saving the Auto Industry
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- That was then. This is now.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010
While there are a few areas where I have been disappointed with the actions of the President and his administration, most notably:
FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011
PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011
I don’t expect that he’ll do exactly what I want him to do on every issue. Unlike Michael Moore and Bill Maher, I don't think that because I disagree with him sometimes that he's somehow "more white" or "less black". I do, however, support the job he has done and his presidency, and I’ll be working and writing just as hard in 2012 as I did in 2008 for his election.
And I expect those who supported him in 2008, whether members of the “Professional Left” or individual citizens to do so as well. I have many friends and acquaintances whose disappointment on signature issues has clouded their vision, undermined their confidence, or blinded them to the successes and the progress on the road to recovery that Barack Obama has managed to accomplish in the last three years.
- George Clooney on President Obama
But I'm definitely here to help them see more clearly.
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