During a well received visit to Europe and the Middle East, President Obama presented an Olive Branch approach to diplomacy, dispelling the Ugly American air of arrogance, or dominance, too often expressed by some Americans traveling abroad, and too frequently expected throughout Europe and the Middle East. Yet many on the right have criticized President Obama’s humility, and mischaracterized his demure as a sign weakness. President Obama made it very clear, he came to “listen” rather than “dictate” foreign relations in Europe and the Middle East. President Obama was most criticized by the ‘Right’ for allegedly bowing and/or shaking the hand of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, proclaiming, “A United States president should bow to no one”. Also, First Lady Michelle Obama, not to be left out, was criticized as well for apparently touching Queen Elizabeth, which is an apparent no-no according to English folklore. It is however, acceptable to curtsy, or bow to the queen. Now let me get this straight, critics believe its O.K. to show customary respect, however pomp and circumstance, in Europe, but not in the Middle East? Come on, is this all the critics of the Obama administration got!? It has become increasing evident to many, the “Party of No” is poised to criticize, nitpick, and continue to “Just Say NO”, no matter how trivial. I contend, this strategy will eventually backfire, only to serve to strengthen forces within Independent and Moderate parties, while Centric Republican’s continue to fragment and grow exhausted from attempts to purely discredit President Obama by any means necessary. At some point, in the interest of what is good for democracy and the country, bi-partisanship politics must be embraced.
Left of Center
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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You Obama supporters might as well get used to it. Obama won with about 69 million people voting for him. About 59 million voted against him. So it stands to reason that a good number of people will be critical of everything he does. It comes with the territory, when Bush was president he was criticized continuously (especially by the media.) As far as the first lady is concerned it was the British court that was offended by her touching the queen. The US media only reported it. The real criticism is that on this trip the President wanted to change the tone of relations with Europe, get assistance with Afghanistan and have the European members of the G20 spend their way out of the recession (like he is doing.) He succeeded on the first, failed on the second and received and resounding “NO!” on the third. On the bi-partisanship front, there are some things in the Presidents agenda that no self-respecting conservative can go along with. There will be dissent. My advice to the President is to “Man UP” and govern the country (after all you did win.) Stop blaming everything on Bush, it makes you look weak. If your policies are right for America, the country will continue to reward you with a Democratic Congress and Senate plus another term. If not, I look forward to visiting the presidential library of our one term first black president.
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