Don’t Waste Obama’s Last Two Years, America - We May Not See Another Like Him For Generations

BENEATH THE SPIN * ERIC L. WATTREE

Don’t Waste Obama’s Last Two Years, America - We May Not See Another Like Him For Generations

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In the interest of full disclosure, as a journalist, I feel ethically bound to make the following statement that should be taken into account whenever I write anything associated with President Obama:
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While I’ve written articles critical of President Obama in the past (and continue to stand by every one of those criticisms), overall, I’ve been such a huge supporter of his administration that I’ve been accused by some of his critics of being an Obama cheerleader. I’ve denied that allegation in the past, but after objectively looking over some of the articles that I’ve written over the course of his presidency, I now have to admit that I have indeed become an Obama cheerleader - but not because he’s Black, not because he’s liberal, and not because he’s a Democrat. I’ve become an Obama cheerleader because I love excellence, competence, integrity, and intelligence, and he’s demonstrated - at least to my satisfaction - that he represents all of those things. So I’m going to use this disclosure to try to help the public see what I see - one of the greatest presidents in the history of this country.
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I've studied Obama closely over the years, and I’ve found that he uses history and the strategies of past to make his decisions. As a result, he’s been brutally criticized by some on the left for not approaching issues in the way that they would approach them. But his critics tend to forget that he’s president, and we’re not, for a very good reason - he’s smarter than we are.
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When most of us are passionate about an issue, we’re predisposed to fight to the bitter end for it. That’s an emotional response, not a thoughtful one. Take the issue of single-payer healthcare, for example. Many of us would have gone down fighting over that issue, but that’s exactly what would have happened, we would have gone down, and literally millions of Americans would have been deprived of affordable healthcare.
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It’s easy to go down fighting for a cause when our home is not that battlefield. But take a moment to consider if it was. Let’s say, for example, that you had a beautiful and precious daughter who was twenty-five years old, but she had a dreadful disease that cost $250,000 a year to manage. So far you’ve been able to get by because she’s a part of your healthcare plan. But the problem is, her twenty-sixth birthday is looming, and she’ll be kicked off of your health plan on her birthday, and you can’t find another affordable healthcare plan for her due to her pre-diagnosed condition. That would mean that your precious daughter would be facing a death sentence on her twenty-sixth birthday. Would you be critical of President Obama’s willingness to "cave-in" then? 
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I don’t think so. On the contrary, I think you would get down on your knees and thank God that you have a thoughtfully practical president in office who's not so blinded by self-interest, ideology, and political concerns that he failed to taken your situation into account. That was the situation for millions of Americans across this country, all of them not quite so severe, but the quality of their lives were being devastated nevertheless.(http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/economy/2014/03/28/obamacare-enrollees/)
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So while some are jumping up and down and accusing Obama of caving in on healthcare and other issues, the president is willing to take the heat, because he’s practical, thoughtful, and selfless enough to see the big picture, and consider the needs of those who may not have the political clout to help themselves. In short, he’s willing to take the heat for those Americans who don’t have the time, and/or capacity, to make themselves heard. I find that very commendable, and rare, in today’s political environment.
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And at the same time, he hasn’t given up on single-payer healthcare. It’s just that he’s forward- thinking enough to recognize that once the people embrace "Obamacare," and begin to recognize the benefit that it can bring to their personal lives, they’re going to DEMAND a single-payer system. So what was most important to him was getting the people used to the fact that they have a RIGHT to government-protected and guaranteed health insurance - or, "a right to life," as it were.
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SHE DIED OF REPUBLICAN POLITICS

President Obama is an unabashed intellectual and student of history, so he uses his knowledge of history in making his decisions and forging his administrative strategies - and the foot-in-the-door strategy is as old as the hills. So that’s generally the strategy that he uses to get the job done, in spite of unprecedented obstructionism by the GOP.
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He knows the Republicans don't believe in reading and consider John Wayne-like ignorance as manly, so he uses it against them. That accounts for why he doesn’t get into spitball fights with them. Many on the left have also bought into the John Wayne syndrome, so they also see Obama’s quiet competence as a sign of weakness. But it’s far from that - it’s a sign of a powerful and unique intelligence.
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The reason I’ve studied Obama so closely is because all my life I’ve loved going up against people who thought they were heavy. I used to stay in trouble as a kid for challenging the beliefs of adults that I thought were silly. My mother was constantly telling me to stay in my place. So I’ve always enjoyed debating and examining ideas, much like many men - including Obama - enjoy going out on the court and gettin’ into a pickup game, which I’ve never had any interest in at all. But I would hate to have to go up against Barack Obama brain-cell-for-brain-cell, because that brother is a quiet, unassuming, genius - it would be like my trying to challenge Michael Jordan to a one-on-one. 
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What the impatient left needs to understand about Obama is, contrary to the claims of some of his critics, he’s a very strong and confident man. He only seems quiet and docile, because when you have strength and confidence, you feel the need to prove it by trying to be overly macho. Obama is an intellectual heavy weight, so he doesn’t believe in trying to out-scream his opponents; he believes in out-thinking ‘em.
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Neither does he believe in attacking the walls of a fort head on and going down in a blaze of glory; he believes in climbing in through the windows, because he’s not interested in trying to look heroic - that’s an ignorant and immature motivation. He simply wants to achieve his objectives. That’s how he got Osama Bin Laden. After Bush failed to get Bin laden, in spite of spending seven years, over a trillion dollars, and killing over a million people - including, killing or maiming thousands of American troops. Obama walked through the door and got Bin Laden with three helicopters and a handful of America's finest, without bustin’ a sweat bubble - and, while dragging Donald Trump through the mud at a dinner party in the process - and never once, breaking that quietly disarming smile. And thereafter, did he assemble the troops and news cameras to watch him land on an aircraft carrier and strut around in a flight suit  bragging about what he'd accomplished? No. He simply walked away like it was all in a day's work.  This is an extraordinary man.
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So there’s a big difference between the GOP and Obama. The GOP believes in the power of money, strength, and the military. Obama believes in the power of the mind - and he’s killing the entire Republican Party with his intellect alone. Think about it. The scene in Washington, D.C. for the past six years has been much like one adult trying to manage a house filled with ranting and raving children. The Republicans have become so frustrated over their inability to handle his intellect that they’ve lost all sense of tradition and decorum - and they've forgotten all about the interest of the American in their blind, fanatical, obsession with bringing down President Obama.
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And that hasn't been lost on the American people.  As a result, I’m sure that there were many patriotic conservatives in America who disagree with Obama's political philosophy, but voted for him in the last election in spite of that disagreement, because their primary concern was what was in the best interest of the country.  So the GOP’s biggest problems is not how they package their message, but making the mistake of equating being poor or middle class, with being stupid.

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Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry Tried to Embarrass

the President in Front of Another Foreign Leader. Watch How Adroitly Obama Handles Him.

Again, Without Bustin' a Sweat Bubble. These People Are Out of Their League.

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So yes, I’ve become an Obama cheerleader, and I never intend to apologize for that again, because Black people - and America as a whole - have a lot to be proud of in this president. He’s one of the last of a dying breed of true, old-school statesmen, who wear their flag pin on their hearts, rather than on their lapel. And as such, no one has ever represented us better. So as an American - and particularly, and African-American - I take great pride in that.
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Show ‘em how it’s done, Mr. President. Show 'em what it means to be president of all of the people . . . President of the United States of America.
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Here’s What President Obama Has Done For America

http://pleasecutthecrap.com/obama-accomplishments/

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Don’t Allow Yourselves to Be Bamboozled, America - Obama is One of This Nation’s Greatest Presidents

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Don’t Allow Yourselves to Be Bamboozled, America - Obama is One of This Nation’s Greatest Presidents

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There are Many people in the country who are going to accuse me of being an Obama cheerleader for what I’m about to say, but I’m not. My definition of a cheerleader is an ideologue who defends the leader of his or her team whether they are right or wrong. That’s not me. As a non-ideological progressive, I’m against mindless ideologues of any and every stripe. I’m a cheerleader for truth and for justice towards all, and it is my position that if you follow truth in the pursuit of justice, that negates the need to be ideological, because truth has no ideology, and neither does justice - and the truth is, Barack Hussein Obama is proving to be one of the greatest presidents that this country has ever had.
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A conservative might challenge my assertion by saying, "You admit to being a progressive. Isn't that an ideology in itself?" In response to such a challenge, I would assert that it is not. To be a progressive is to be cognizant of the fact that this country needs change, as oppose to "conserving" the dysfunction of the past, or the status quo. So to be a progressive is not an ideology; it's a simple recognition of reality.
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But, of course, there are many ideologues who are going to scoff at that assertion, because they’ve been blinded by the fog of their own ideology. For the same reason, there are many people in this country who are DETERMINED that you NEVER find out the truth about Barack Obama - which again, is, he is one of our GREATEST presidents - in fact, possibly among the top three. But he won’t get the recognition that he deserves until he passes in to history and his administration can be assessed objectively, and free of politics, self-service, and emotion.
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There are three reasons why Obama critics are desperately trying to obscure the significance of Obama’s accomplishments. First, his competence blows the theory of White superiority all to Hell; secondly, White bigots are afraid that Obama’s success will cause the nation to want to elect more Black presidents, senators and congresspersons; and finally, Black "bligots" see Obama’s very existence as a slap in the face to their personal status, and their delusions of grandeur.
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As a result, Obama’s critics are trying to keep America focused on their criticisms whether than the President’s accomplishments, which are numerous. A small example of which are listed directly below (with a more extensive list as an attachment at the end of this discussion) - any one of which, alone, would have insured any president a favored place in history:
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1). He averted a second global Great Depression with his stimulus initiative.

2). He Brought America back from the Bush Disaster.

3). He saved the American auto industry.

4). He brought Osama Bin Laden to justice.

5). He punished Wall Street and got the American Taxpayer reimbursed for the Wall St. Crash.

6). He’s brought affordable health care to millions of Americans.

7). He’s lower the national deficit to its lowest point in 60 years.

8). He averted a war with Syria and got them to destroy their chemical weapons.

9). He’s got Iran to allow nuclear weapons inspectors broader access to their nuclear facilities.

10). He’s accomplished all of this with the Republican Party fighting him tooth-n-nail every step of the way.
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If George W. Bush and the Republicans had been as competent in handling 9/11 and the Iraqi war, it would have saved over a trillion dollars, a million Iraqi lives, and the lives of thousands of American troops who were either killed or wounded in the Iraqi atrocity. 
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Just imagine what Obama could have done - and still do - with a RESPONSIBLE Republican Party. Naturally, Obama haters are going to vehemently disagree with this assessment of President Obama, but when they do, simply ask them who was a greater president, and why? Then watch ‘em squirm.

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Here Are 235 Other Things That President Obama Has Done For America

http://pleasecutthecrap.com/obama-accomplishments/

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Eric L. Wattree http://wattree.blogspot.com/
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Why is Healthcare Reform Too Expensive, While the Sky is the Limit For War?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Why is Healthcare Reform Too Expensive, While the Sky is the Limit For War?

I find it extremely curious that the very same people who are jumping up and down about leaving a debt on our children by providing affordable healthcare are willing to send the country into bankruptcy to dispatch that very same generation of young people to their death in Afghanistan. It's also curious that we only heard perfunctory grumbling from these people when we spent $700 billion to bailout Wall Street, but now that it comes to spending money on a stimulus plan to help the average American, all hell is breaking loose.

The GOP's behavior in this matter should make it clear to any reasonable observer that the Republican Party is ideologically oppose to doing anything to help the poor and middle class. The reason for that is when it comes to bigotry, they're a step ahead of the American people . Since they deal primarily in dollars and cents, they've come to recognize that mere racial division is no longer sufficient to accommodate the economics of the new world order. The greed of the beast must now be fed with the greater numbers found only in class.

In order to compete effectively in a  global market, America can no longer afford the luxury of a thriving middle class - at least, one as large as the American people have come to expect. So the class system in the United States is rapidly being realigned.  That accounts for why the educational system and unionism are under attack. It also explains why undocumented workers are being allowed to flood into the country in unprecedented numbers. These people are not sneaking in - they're being herded. 

If the powers that be in the United States really wanted to stop illegal immigration, they wouldn't even have to touch the borders. All they'd have to do is arrest anyone who housed or hired illegal immigrants, but that's not conducive to their game plan. The leaders of the Republican Party and their corporate benefactors  are working diligently to get as many undocumented workers into the country as possible in order to undermine the wages of the American middle class, while the xenophobic tendencies of the Republican base is just as strongly dedicated to keeping them out - legal or not. So it's going to be quite interesting to watch the GOP try to resolve that conflict once their base begins to recognize they've being manipulated.

And yes, it's going to be just as interesting to watch you Teabaggers and such have to face that reality, because the fact is, the leaders of your party have already come to the conclusion that in order for the United States to compete in a global economy where the competition's workers work for mere pennies a day, it is absolutely necessary for the United States to grow an undereducated and hungry workforce.  They need a hungry underclass to both feed their war machine, and work for their corporations for whatever crumbs they decide to throw your way.

So the fact is, Teabaggers, if you don't wake up real soon, you're going to have to change your name to the Apple Peddlers to accommodate your new status - and I guarantee you, when that happens, taxes are going to be the very least of your concerns.  If your party gets its way, before long you're about to get a crash course in what it means to be Black in America, and then some.

So before you attend your next tea party, you need to give this matter some serious thought, because you're already being used in the very same way that the Confederacy used Black soldiers during the Civil War - like worthless cannon fodder. The only difference is, you've been given a megaphone to brag about your stupidity.

Now, you may want to write me off as being ridiculous, but think about it. Did the Republican Party promote demonstrations or give illegal "news conferences" to whip you into a frenzy when they gave the world's largest windfall to those who harass you every month over your mortgage and credit card debt?  Absolutely not - and that's in spite of the fact that Wall Street spent part of your money wining, dining, and passing out huge bonuses to themselves. So why are they doing it now, when it comes to helping you and your family?  And worse yet, they now have you blindly fighting against healthcare for your own family in order to protect the assets of the very same people who just robbed you on Wall Street. How dumb can you get?

What makes it more "socialist" to help you and your family than it is to help the rich and theirs? Yet, when President Obama suggested that it was time to help the average American, many of your Republican "representatives" started frantically looking for ways to refuse the money. In fact, Gov. Rick Perry became so incensed over the prospect of helping the people of Texas that he even brought up the possibility of seceding from the union.

Now I ask you, when have you ever heard of a politician becoming fighting mad over having money thrust upon him? That alone should send up a huge red flag for anyone with eyeballs. It just doesn't make sense - that is, unless the politician's interest is diametrically opposed to the people he represents, and that's exactly the case with respect to the Republican Party.

The Republican base is in deep denial. You're like a wife who catches her husband in bed with another woman. Then as the wife stands there in shocked disbelief, the husband hustles his lover out of the room, then casually looks at his wife and asks, "What woman?" He then goes on to convince his wife that she can't believe her lying eyes; that he only rented the room because he intended to call her for a romantic night of passion. Then after hearing his explanation, his wife wants to believe him so badly that she allows herself to be convinced that she imagined it all. She then apologizes for being so silly and falls into his arms, and a soaking wet bed.

While that's a well worn comedy skit, that's exactly what's happening with the Republican base. It should be clear to anyone with any kind of common sense that the Republican Party is aggressively working against your interest. But you want to believe your version of reality so badly, that you're willing to make love in a previously soaked bed.

That's why we call you wingnuts. Because it's nothing short of amazing how the GOP can get you to turn out in droves, and on the verge of insurrection, in order to prevent President Obama from shepherding in legislation that would prevent the insurance industry from cutting your throats. You've allowed yourselves to be convinced that blocking guaranteed healthcare for your families is in your families' best interest - and that's in spite of the fact that the families of the politicians you're listening to are comfortably enjoying that very same healthcare that they're claiming will lead to America's destruction.

Even though an audit by the Congressional Budget Office indicates that healthcare reform would actually lower the national deficit, you're allowing the GOP to convince you that the cost of protecting your families is too much of a burden for America to bear. But how does that square with the fact that in the very next speech these very same politicians are urging President Obama to send an additional forty thousand of your sons and daughters to possibly die in Afghanistan, at a cost of a million dollars per soldier?

So, pardon my terminology, but this is clearly a case of wingnuts seeing only what you want to see. You need to open your eyes to the fact that the GOP has but one agenda - regaining power. That entails two things - satisfying the coffers of their corporate masters, which entails picking your pocket; and sabotaging President Obama's effort to bring you relief, which entails making sure that you and your family are miserable for at least the next four years.

Your willingness to accept, in fact, promote this nonsense leaves many to believe that you either have less than an animal's sense of self-preservation, or that you hate the idea of Obama being in the White House so intensely that you're willing to throw both your families, and America, under the bus to ensure that he's not successful. That suggests that you're at best, merely stupid, but at worst, both stupid and racist - which, of course, is synonymous.

But don't feel alone, because you're not the only ones who need to wake up. If president Obama escalates the war in Afghanistan, we're going to hear clinking champaign glasses all over GOPland, because Republicans know better than anyone that the war in Afghanistan is a no-win quagmire just waiting to happen.

Dick Cheney is pressuring Obama into Afghanistan as a lobbyist for the war machine. If this man had any character at all, after his cowardly behavior during the Vietnam War, and his atrociously inept performance during his eight years in office, he should be ashame to face the American people. But he has no shame, and he's more than willing to give YOUR all to enrich the coffers of war machine.

While Cheney is a coward and was inept in office, he has a genius for destruction, and he's become fixated on trying to destroy President Obama. He knows that once Obama commits to escalating the war in Afghanistan the president is going to have a huge liability in the 2012 election. He also knows that an escalation of the war will waste badly needed resources that we could use to improve the economy. But most diabolical of all is that Cheney knows that escalating the war will leave the president having to account for the lives of your sons and daughters who are happily walking around today getting married, having children, and planing their future. He's depending on them not being around in 2012.  After that, Bush's disaster in Iraq won't look quite so bad. So again, Cheney is pushing for your kids to be used as cannon fodder to better Republican chances in the 2012 election.

Thus, the president needs to realize that it's easy for Cheney to pull for the war. He and his cohorts aren't contributing one thing to the war effort, so it's a win-win situation for them. Their kids are safely at home, they reap windfall profits, they make the president look weak to his base for caving in, and they take the Iraqi disaster off the table for the 2012 election.

So while we share differing political views, I'm pulling for the lives of your children, and I hope the president does the same. I'm hoping the president realizes that only the insane tries the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. As an intelligent man and student of history, he simply has to recognize that we've tried the exact same thing, using the exact same rationale, in both Vietnam, and Iraq, and they've both turned out to be utter disasters. All we've gotten in return is a hemorrhaging treasury, and bulging cemeteries.

Candidate Obama promised us change, and the most profound change that he can provide us at this point in history is fewer mourning families. I hope he recognizes that as long as this nation continues to treat our troops like pawns instead of people who love their lives, and have hopes and dreams for a future, all other change is merely superficial.

So as the president deliberates his course of action in Afghanistan, I'd like him to ponder two questions on behalf of us all. The first: What decision would he make on Afghanistan if he knew with certainty that his own daughters would be the very first casualties in an escalation of the war? In such a case, I'm virtually certain that he'd decide that the effort wasn't worth the cost. And the second question is, what makes the lives of our children of any less value than his own?

If the president can answer those two questions honestly, his course of action should be clear.


Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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