I live in Utah, which is a heavily-weighted Republican state. As you can imagine, many of these Republicans – even some who have surprised me – have gotten on the “Oh You Can Thank Obama for That ” bandwagon. Each time I hear those words come out of someone’s mouth, I feel sad and sick about the derision and sarcasm pointed at a man who is trying to do the best job he can for the nation he is supposed to lead.
President Obama is just that – the president of these United States. He is not king. He is not emperor. He is not the only voice who has a say in what happens with this nation’s defenses, finances, education or any other system in this nation. He is leading our nation, as was set up in the beginning, through the democratic process and, therefore, he has a whole bunch of people who are making the decisions for the people and telling him how it is supposed to go. There is entire governmental process through which every decision must be made so “his” decisions are filtered through this process.
We Americans, in the beginning, wanted it to be this way. We did not want to be ruled by a solitary figure who could raise his voice and say, “It is so!” and it would be. We sailed away from England to find a land where we could be free to choose, free to worship as we saw fit, free to speak, free to think for ourselves. We established America to be the land of the free led by a government that followed a very simple process – well, simple for then, but the population and width and breadth of this nation has made this process convoluted and cumbersome.
President Obama took office when our nation was in shambles and has been unable to do much of what he hoped because of the mess left by the previous administrations. There have been fires everywhere and “he” has had to prioritize to see which one needed dousing before it became a four-alarm blaze.
Thing is, I respect him for choosing to run at this time because of how horrible things were for our nation. It takes a brave man to be willing to sit in that White House and be The Man upon whom lands the blame for all the ailments and failures of this nation. It takes a strong man to hold the burden of the cries of we, the people. It takes a compassionate man to hear the mothers and fathers whose sons and daughters are dying on the killing fields of foreign nations, all in the name of peace. It takes a creative man to see visions of a better world while walking through the fires of hell that were started by other groups of people.
Do not say to me, “Oh you can thank Obama for that,” with disdain and disrespect coating your tongue. Because I say to you, those who are willing to blame others are small in my eyes. This is not about President Obama. The shambles we are in is about we, the people. Each. and every. one of us. Open your eyes and become accountable for your own personal experience and take action there, first. Then, later, speak to me of ways you can help the President reunite these United States.
