Restitution

Apparently I have been naughty this year, but I STILL got presents! I had the opportunity to meet up with Bub this past weekend and talk a little bit on the state of the union and the state of the children (mostly the state of the children of course since that is a highlight of our lives at this point). He noted that he’d had a chance to look at some of my postings (yes, some really about sums up all of the postings I’ve written over the past few months) and his basic conclusion was that “wow, he sucks.” In my defense I would only point out that recently my wife and I brought our first son into this dark and dreary world and unfortunately my work doesn’t allow me to post as often as I’d like. But excuses, excuses, right?

Just to show Bub and our stalwart 3 (is that a stretch?) readers I wanted to comment on something that has been lurking in the back of my mind now for the past few weeks: I cannot stand the Republican Party. Don’t get me wrong. I agree with a majority of what they profess and believe but I fail to understand their methods of application of these beliefs. In the face of an overpowering Democratic majority the Republican Party has basically become a group of seven year olds whose only defense in the face of such great opposition is to point out every little thing that the Democrats are doing wrong and by so doing, come off as, well, whiny bitches.

I am not an eloquent man. Sorry.

Realize that I am not saying that they don’t have reason or cause for such criticism of what the current administration and crooks in congress are implementing at the very moment I type these hollow words. There is much to be said in criticism of the policies and “legislation” (I put it in quotes only because ramming inefficient bills through Congress is little more than your basic schoolyard bullying… “Give me some tots Napoleon…”) but I think that Republicans fail to realize that the country is tired of hearing the same mantra that the Democrats have completely missed such and such point or that they are evil crooks (even though it’s true it doesn’t hold water coming from a group with so many members involved in so many well-publicized infidelity scandals).

I am not advocating disengagement or surrendering the fight. I just think they could play it a little smarter.

Take, for example, the recent news of the attempted bombing of NWA flight 253. In this case security measures meant to keep men like Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab from getting as far as he did on his bombing mission completely failed. Yes, someone should be held responsible. Yes, airline security needs to be updated with better machines, training and policies. Yes, there needs to be more interagency communication. Yes, Napolitano is a complete tool bag. But you can’t lay every incident at the feet of an administration (especially one that has only been in office for a year and has been dealing with two wars and an economic collapse. I mean really, do they have time to revamp airline security while they are singlehandedly trying to destroy America, the American way of life and all freedoms associated with those rights and privileges as we know them? ...I digress…).

I guess I just expect more from leaders. Leadership isn’t about mere criticism of your opponent (I think it has something to do with leading or something) and it would be nice to see some leadership come out of the Republican Party that isn’t so consistently contrarian to the Obama administration. Yes, Obama is a liar and shows real, tangible disdain for America and its differences in relation to the rest of the word. But guess what? He’s still an American. He’s still POTUS. As much as I hate to say it, his election was historic.

America’s first black president. That is something to truly be excited about (politics and ideologies aside of course).

Sometimes I think leading means you have to embrace certain aspects of situations. Again, I am not advocating an attitude of humping Obama’s leg like every MSM outlet has done for the past two years. I just think that when something like this happens and America is attacked we, as Americans, should come together and act as one. Perhaps stop for five minutes and say “Mr. President, we got your back this time.”

Is that too much to ask?

Even the Democrats found it within themselves to support President Bush early in his presidency after the heinous attacks of 9-11.

I can commend them for that (even though they eventually broke down and acted like the French later on).

Scott Ott is a conservative editor for Scrappleface.com and recently ran for Lehigh County Executive (PA) against a Democrat incumbent. He wrote that one day, prior to the election, he went to a certain part of town, parked his car and sought out citizens with whom he could speak about politics and his goals and ideas for the county. He soon stopped at a small store where the owner sat outside talking with another man. Upon introducing himself and handing the owner his campaign bookmarker the owner asked him a number of questions leading up to the real question of the day.

What did he think of the president?

The spirit of his response, I think, should be present in the minds of our Conservative leaders as they seek to regain seats and power in Congress in the next election.

I told him I oppose almost every policy of the president's that I can think of. However, I said that I literally wept with joy the night he won at the thought that a black man had reached such a position in our nation. I said that I admire the fact that our president had worked hard, learned much, translated his skills into wealth through writing books, married a woman and remained faithful to her, and by all accounts is a great Daddy to his girls. I noted that his hard work, persistence, vision, focus and sense of personal responsibility had brought him to his current place. I only wish, I said, that he himself would understand the elements of his success story and recommend them to others, and that he would stop talking about Americans as if we were victims, and stop telling people that government would solve their problems. His message should be, "I grabbed the opportunity that America offers to every citizen, and my diligence has been rewarded beyond my wildest dreams. It's hard work, but it's worth the effort, and you can do it
too."

I will never agree with even a small number of Obama’s methods for “improving” our great nation. There are just too many ideological differences between approaches. But I do think we need to learn a new way to engage him. He is, and always will be, respected by millions of Americans. Attacking every teeny tiny event that occurs during his administration makes Republicans look petty. It makes them look just like the liberals during the latter half of the Bush Administration.

Is that really what we want to be?