Stop blaming Obama

I have noticed a growing trend to attribute every crisis or failure to President Obama. Out of control spending, the leak in the gulf, sexual education in public schools are all Obama’s fault.

While it is easy to blame the man in the White House for any number of problems in this country, and it is tempting to praise the Commander in Chief when things go right, there are more players in this grand game than the President alone. The obvious next step is to look at the President’s cabinet, those he has appointed to those roles, but that is not exactly the point I’m getting at. Sure, it’s easy to say that they are responsible for problems under the jurisdiction of their office, but that is as dishonest a response as placing all blame on President Obama.

Congress- the House and Senate- are obviously a mess, and are guilty of bringing on so much of the frustration, ills and woes that face us today. The dangerous legislation they enact, the denial of accountability, the rampant ignorance and the sheer lack of understanding that plague our legislative branch have put the United States between Barack and a hard place, but even they are not the end of the line when seeking someone to blame.

My fellow Americans, I am blaming you. Everything we have today is your fault. It is my fault. It is our fault.

We voted these people into office. We, as voters, have allowed them to lapse into untouchable incumbency, and our own ignorance has fueled their abusive corruption of our Constitution and legislative system. It doesn’t matter if you vote Democrat or Republican, Green party or any other third party. The fact is, you don’t do your damn job as citizens. Even I have failed in this regard at times. We are all to blame for the state of this country.

Those who are in a fit over President Obama’s birth certificate need to realize that they had a chance to address the situation before he was elected. Sure, the few meager attempts made were blocked by those who wanted Mr. Obama to win, but the avenues of pursuit were hardly exhausted, and the reality is that this was not a logical means by which to prevent his election. Instead, producing a viable and electable candidate to oppose him would have been more effective and likely would have succeeded. Instead, the choice was John McCain, the least electable Republican I knew of at the time. Conservatives and Republicans, you let the left wing media dictate who your candidate was, and you deserved to lose.

More importantly, conservatives and Republicans are at fault for not holding each other accountable. This “better Republican than Democrat” nonsense is why the Right is suffering so much. The value of the candidate is outweighed by his or her party affiliation, and somehow people are surprised when the Republican Party isn’t conservative.

Republicans, really, get most of the blame. I don’t mean Republican Senators or Representatives, or any other public servant. I mean all people who identify themselves as Republicans. You have allowed the truth of the party’s history to be hidden and forgotten, and allowed your opposition to take credit for matters of historical significance. You have allowed your opposition to hide its involvement in matters of social consequence, and stand idly by while supports of the Democratic Party attack you as racist, bigots, enemies of the common people. I would wager it’s because you are all ignorant of the facts I refer to, and I can’t say that I feel sorry for any of you.

By no means do I mean to claim that the Democratic Party is a nest of vipers waiting to strike. There are a handful of people within its ranks that truly want the best for America, and a handful that mean well. I would say that the ratio is about the same as the few within the Republican Party that are sincere in their desire to help the country. Unfortunately, there are so many who are misguided and lied to by the “elite” of our country- Republican and Democrat alike- that nobody can really see which way the wind is blowing anymore.

A major failing of the average American is a lack of reliable information… a lack caused by laziness, not the absence of such information. Liberals tend to rely on sources such as CNN and CBS while conservatives lambaste them for their blind adherence to the message of the mainstream media. But what about conservatives who only go to Fox News? I tend to get a majority of my news from Fox, but I don’t limit myself to a single source. I fact check, I challenge the information, I research and I dig. I realize I am not the only one, but those of us who do are in the minority. Even with all my effort, I still get things wrong sometimes. How much worse off are those who don’t even try?

Here’s a news flash: Fox News is biased! Every source of information is biased, period. The trick is in identifying the bias, because finding that can give as much information as the article or story itself. Looking at the whole picture will reveal a wealth of information you cannot find any other way. I have added the Huffington Post, a second tier news source with an obvious and deliberate liberal bias, to my daily reading. While some of what I read infuriates me, I still read it daily. I don’t know many liberals who make a point of following Fox News, despite its right wing slant. For that matter, I don’t know many conservatives who make a point of following liberal publications.

How exactly do you propose to address the “agenda” of your opposition if you don’t know what they are saying? If you only pick a handful of articles to look at, specifically the ones that are obviously and openly fallacious, and limit your response to insulting them, how do you intend to fix the problems associated with the media’s attempts to dictate public opinion?

The media’s agenda driven corruption and departure from journalistic purity is your fault, America. Instead of holding so-called journalists accountable, the average American is content to listen to what is deemed “worth reporting,” and soaks in the ideology the media elite want to perpetuate. The same is happening with fans of Fox News and talk radio. There is regurgitation without contemplation, and it’s killing our country. Yet, instead of calling each other out for this, Americans try to avoid conflict and try not to “make anyone feel bad.” Sometimes people need to feel bad. Sometimes that’s what it takes to spur them to correct undesirable behavior. Conservatives love to say that Congress is not supposed to be full of elites, but rather it was meant to be a body of common people representing the best interests of common people. If that’s the case, why did we let things get so out of hand? More important, why do we complain about it instead of fixing it?

I don’t have a solution. I don’t have a magic fix that will put everything back the way “it should be.” But I do intend to hold myself and my peers accountable. That means I don’t tolerate this “blame Obama” mentality that is going around. Nobody should settle for pinning blame on the President, even if you can see his involvement. Hold the President accountable for his part in this mess, but hold your elected officials on all levels accountable. Hold your friends and family accountable. Hold yourself accountable. Don’t let people sit in their ignorance. Don’t let them make ridiculously off base claims without challenging them. Don’t settle for citation of sources that don’t give the full picture. Do a little research and have some facts to work with, and use those facts in discussion with others.

And make sure you are friends with people who don’t agree! They will be your biggest resource when developing your arguments and challenging your ideas. They may even be your best friends.

What it all comes down to is that we can see the writing on the wall. We see what our "leaders" are doing, how our representatives are betraying us. We get all up in arms, but every time an election cycle rolls around we put ourselves in the same boat. We do it to ourselves. Then we blame Congress. We blame the President. We blame the liberals, the conservatives, the Democrats, the Republicans. We fight amongst ourselves, and let the people at the top encourage our division so they can stay in power.

Quit whining, do something about it, stop shifting the blame. If you don't want Obama and the Democrats to pursue their agenda, get them out of office. If you happen to believe in the Democrats and their agenda, make sure they stay in power.

Stop throwing accusations and insults, and use some facts to sway others to your side. Listen to the opposition. If you're really right, you have nothing to worry about.

What it all comes down to is that Americans have failed America, and it's time for us to be held accountable.

I really like what you included there. I’ve saved it to read again.

And I agree, it needs to be stopped. I suppose the issue is that I am frustrated and spinning my wheels in political mud. I don’t see anything coming of simply crying out at Obama, Peloi and the rest of the Democrats as they pull their hideous anti-American stunts, so I’m looking to the average American as the cure for what ails us.

Sure, my rant was “craptastic” in its diction and style, but is it really wrong to expect more of our peers? Is it really wrong that in a nation founded on the idea that the PEOPLE make the nation WE THE PEOPLE are responsible for our fate and our future?

Frustration is the seed of this, really, and I haven’t a clue how to voice it. Casting ballots isn’t enough when those ballots are dictated by the media and liberal orchestration.

Have you ever been in a position where you know what’s being done isn’t enough, but you don’t know what else to do? That’s sort of how I feel about our current situation. And I think the American people, if held to their duty as citizens, can make the difference here.

Thanks for your constructive input. If you put this kind of effort into the defeat of the liberal moonbats and the Obamanation then victory is assured!

Seriously, this is the kind of weak blather that fuels my frustration and makes me think that the average voter is at fault. If this is how you handle that which you dislike, instead of giving some kind of means by which to address the issue or improve the situation, you’re the kind of person I’m talking about.

Others who have responded have given me exact examples of what the problem is, and drawn my attention to what was unacceptable in my presentation. I’ve taken that into account and will develop my approach as a result.

You whined.

Surely you can see the difference.

We sure can. First we vote, and if that doesn't work we fight,civil disobediance,demonstrations ,whatever works.You are not alone in your feelings.The whole nation is distraught and ready to rise.

See, I would have wrote that as: I’m smarter “Than you”....

See it? It’s subtle but, it’s there and is ex-positive of a differential fact.

While I see that and appreciate it, I was trying to take the high road and not criticize the grammar. There's enough juvenile mockery and insulting going on, and I didn't want to contribute. Not that you went quite that far, but surely since there are quite a few insults being slung my way, a response of that sort would have seemed a desperate attempt to distract from the actual point of contention.

I really did have the best intentions here, and while a lot of people seem to have developed the idea that I'm some sort of libtard, just because I don't march in lock step with the average FReeper and have criticized the GOP, conservatives and Americans at large. It's not fair to expect them to be familiar with all of my positions, so they should only judge this post based on its content. I absolutely accept the label of "craptastic" that was levied against it, but don't regret posting it here. How else am I going to get the swift kick in the ass I needed?

But be that as it may, just because someone who implied that I am "less smart" is apparently unable to differentiate between "then" and "than" does not mean I should react with an emotional response and ding them for grammar. I'll just hold their teachers accountable. But, whatever... thanks for the assist, Vendome.

Just don't wimp out. Thats what people object to. Americans do not like this sort of thing, its not in the tradition of the Republic. Butthis is NOT business as usual. There is no delight in the politics of destruction, but now is the hour of the Obama Junta weakness, not a time for kissy kissy prosthetalyzing. We must strike them to their very heart, no holds barred.

We mean to destroy the Obama Junta utterly and completely, a nasty dirty task. We need to get on with it,even though there is no delight, joy or peace in it.

You will have to face deferred gratification like the rest of us.

So, instead of how I presented this, were I to say something along the lines of:

"Don't just blame Obama, hold yourself and your peers accountable for the mess we've gotten ourselves into. Step up and do something to prevent him from doing more worthy of blame."

Less satisfying, I think, but is that the general manner by which you think this should be presented? I guess it's fair to say I treated the issue with kid gloves and got slapped for it, but I was trying to hold a high road in an otherwise rocky and filthy path tread by liberals.

The buck stops in thew WH. No matter he is not directly responsible for each word and action taken by those in his Administration, the ultimate responsibility IS his just as it is with the CEO of a failing company.

Employees do what they are told to do or what they are allowed to do and it is up to their “leader” to lead and direct them. Their failures are his failures.

The author is clearly a horse’s *ss. During the Bush administration, everything that went wrong was “Bush’s fault.” Harry Truman famously said, “The buck stops here.”

If Obama - America’s answer to Lenin - doesn’t like being president, he’s more than welcome to retire on his big, fat pension and let someone do the job who knows his butt from a hole in the ground.

Hold your peers accountable is disempowering. You couldn;t sell that to a naked monkey. Look . Obama is the closer to a movement which has beenworkinng steadily to take over the country. He is an enemey. You do not spin such a person to becomme less than he is as an enemy.

The country has awakened, and the nation’s attitude has to be fixed and ruthless.And there is nothong that can be done about it. Treason and farud deserve that. The nation deserves to be safe from them.There is no way that could or should be pacified.We fight socialist revolutionaries. You either join or get out of the way.

History is full of your ilk. The German people went about sayong the same thing to cosrvatives who wanted to fight Hitler early on, and look what hap[ened then. We are in a parallel situation.

Try looking at it this way:

Obama is the symptom. A polity that would run and then elect him is the disease.

Both have to be treated. After all, it’s the symptoms of a disease that kill you.

Now, not all of the polity is infected with the disease, but too much of it is. And the symptom is pretty awful.

To treat the symptom, we need to Blame Obama and do all we can to oppose his agenda.

To treat the disease, we need to educate the polity and make sure we keep motivated.

>>I didn’t either. How does that make you smarter than me?

Did not mean you, but the author. Guess my limited education did not help me reply clearly.

Guess I’d better just set back and read only and keep my comments to myself.

No, please don’t keep your comments to yourself. I actually want to hear what people have to say.

And I am the author, so by Jack’s standard I am a “horse’s ass.”

Listen, I realize I flopped with the presentation itself. I’m going to address this again after I have considered the various criticisms offered in this thread, and hopefully I can more clearly present my point. I still feel that we, as Americans, ALL of us, are the ones responsible and that the willful ignorance of those around us is the illness that plagues us.

So far I find the primary flaw to be that I directly referenced Republicans who have voted in RINOs, and voters who have allowed incumbents to remain in power despite their abuses but said little to nothing about the Democrats who have done the same. I think the reason for this is that I expect more of conservatives and Republicans than I do liberals, and THAT in itself is anathema to my argument, as I am arguing that EVERYONE should be held accountable. On the other hand, we’re always criticizing the left for its flaws but never looking at our own contributions, so that also influenced my approach.

I think a more accurate and appropriate means to address this would be to provide equal examination of both sides and the contributions to our dangerous situation, rather than just laying accusations on “my side.” That certainly seems to have given my piece a liberal slant that, frankly, pisses me off. I can’t blame anyone here for taking this poorly, as if someone else had written it and I didn’t know them better I probably would have jumped to the same conclusions.

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