So there is this email going around – says it is from Sherry Hackett, but Snopes says otherwise. You can read the message there too, but I researched the claims in the letter just to give it some thought. In the end there is a lot more research needed to quantify some of the subjective statements… the research and links are shown after the obligatory soap-box rant…
TODAY’S RANT
Interesting… the letter is real, the real author is not Sherry Hackett but Faye Parrish:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/wenoticed.asp
This email has some truth, some fiction, and like most, it ends it a bunch of sweeping generalities that, albeit one person’s point of view, won’t help you or I do anything but maybe feel better. To actually get Obama out of office might save us trillions of dollars as taxpayers (that would be nice), but who are the Republicans going to run? Palin? Epic Fail. I’d rather elect a stalk of asparagus. And what campaign strategy will the Republicans try next time…in 2008 the Democrats chose their typical Hollywood Hope and Sensationalism model – very effective at sweeping voters off their feet. Republics came back with nothing but fear…a giant campaign telling us what we don’t want from the Democrats. That won’t sell voters… The Tea Party is the same BS…all about protesting, but they have no solutions lined up…thanks…for nothing.
To get Obama out, the Republicans have to pull their heads out of their ass and come up with a real campaign based on real results. Hey, here is a novel concept…tell voters what you are going to do in concrete terms, and once elected…actually DO IT. But, see, can’t have that because the crazy number crunchers locked in a padded room in Area 51 have already proven the only way to win an election is to be vague so that people vote based on what they hope will happen. See that word “hope”? I wonder why the Democrat candidate won? Oh yeah, their campaign was based on hope. Wow, how amazingly clever of them to tie their campaign directly to what the entire country was looking for, and spearhead that campaign with a charismatic public speaker. Hmmm, maybe the Republicans will learn something from that little Pawn to Castle in DC maneuver. Anyway, I hope the Republicans come up with something – otherwise I am writing in Mr. Asparagus for President in 2012.
We’ve had the first black President – that was cool from a color perspective, but he got the office in the most screwed up time since, ironically, the Civil War. So maybe it is time to branch out… get a vegetable in office. Yup, more I think of it, Mr. Asparagus is it for me: Healthy, broad appeal, does well under pressure, goes well with melted economy on top. I’m ready to vote already!
RESEARCH AND MHO
- The claim about not saluting the flag is apparently true: http://www.erumors.net/rumors/o/obama-salute.htm – Sad.
- The claim he said 57 states is true, however he was tired and meant to say 47 (visited all 47 continental states, with 1 to go). Reference to Islam is a paranoid stretch (to the OIC? C’mon people) – I side with Snopes – this was likely just human error: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/57states.asp
- The roses are in issue of old school etiquette – I don’t count his actions as “nonchalant”, but he does seem to have an issue with protocol! You be the judge: http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/11/ground-zero-etiquette-a-tale-of-two-roses/ Of course it’s not like Bush was a brilliant protocol observer… !?
- There seem to be a great number of articles about the different platform’s view of nationalism – he does seem to apologize for our rudeness and arrogance a lot… but after some of the Bush blunders, he was likely trying to make amends… I don’t know, I would have to understand each situation fully. For the British Crown incident: The President/Wife should have been briefed on the cultural expectations, and then it is likely someone in a support role did the shopping. Who knows, either he really thought DVDs were super awesome (!?), or someone supporting him dropped the ball with their shopping selection! http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2009/03/07/obamas-british-gift-gaffe-not-reported-u-s-media
- Pastor Wright – to me, that is hate ministry. At the end of the video one member said “It’s not radical, its being black in America.” I disagree, just like I disagree with the hate ministries in the white community. Now, the media only showed about 20 seconds of the guy, and maybe that’s not how he was for every minute of every sermon, but to think this guy was Obama’s spiritual leader… is kinda spooky to me: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/DemocraticDebate/story?id=4443788&page=1
- On “transforming America” – America has degraded over the decades, the results of citizens being stretched thin as consumers and as taxpayers: the results of mega corporations buying and manipulating internal and global policy. I think America needs a transformation – back to its Constitution, back to nationalism, and back to being a nation ruled by its people. That’s not what we got… we got a 3 Trillion dollar tax bill so we could pay bonuses to corporate leaders that sold out their country’s financial health in exchange for personal gain (in the name of Capitalism – but in real Capitalism, businesses are allowed to fail.). That is not the transformation I was looking for…
- The statement about his appointees is probably true of every President to some degree – from a civilian perspective it seems rare when someone of true talent rises to the top, those positions appear to attract people who are good at the game of rising to the top. That’s a different game.
- The statement about the horror… yup, can’t argue that.
- The statement about our right to speak up and be heard – we STILL have that right. Obama hasn’t invoked any policy that attempts to curtail that right… but complaining doesn’t solve problems. It can be a start, but it is not an end. Problem-solving solves problems. Invoking Initiative and Referendum solves problems, educated voting solves problems, being involved in our government solves problems, putting key performance indicators to match candidate performance to their campaign speeches would solve problems, having a political system that couldn’t be bought and could have at least one foot in the world of virtue might solve some problems.
- The rest is more opinion – but the same can be said of every administration for one reason or another, probably since the dawn of the office.