Saturday, November 7, 2009

You know you make me wanna Shout!

So here is the president, taking heat because, when the news of the Fort Hood massacre was just breaking, he was addressing the end of a White House conference. Apparently, it was upsetting to some that, before he turned his attention to what happened in Texas when one soldier - to wit, a psychiatrist - turned his guns on many, many others and caused unprecedented mayhem and grief, Mr Obama spoke in a colloquial manner to the assemblage, even using the term "give a shout-out" to someone in the crowd.

For one thing, we don't always know how to respond appropriately to something so awful as this soldier killing other soldiers. Trying to grasp the enormity of it all is beyond us, so maybe we should not quickly denigrate the president for not being verbally dexterous when given such news. I knew a traffic police who worked the midnight shift, and it was often his sad duty to go to a home to inform citizens that their loved one had been killed in an accident. He told me that often, the suddenly-bereft would reach out and smack him in the face, for such can be our untoward reactions to horrible news.

Can anyone really say that the president lacks kindness, considering all the effort he is putting into improving the country? Oh, how the racist invective poured out on the righty blogs. The man simply cannot win with some people. If he mentions something, he did it in the wrong manner, or in the wrong context, or he should have reacted more slowly....more quickly...not so moderately. They call him "ghetto" for using a term that is in common parlance among all people who aren't named Rush O'Hannity. And if we who defend the man dare to mention that his addlepated predecessor sat there reading a book about a pet goat while the nation came under attack due to his inattentiveness, whoooo boy!

Couple of facts for you: Barack Obama is a smart man. Smarter than I, smarter than most people, and I doubt that anyone can gainsay my claim that he is many times smarter than the previous occupant of 1600 Pa. Av. Another interesting fact, often ignored in the FOX world, is that a year ago this week, he was overwhelmingly elected to serve as president of the United States.

If you think you can do better, if you think your reactions and handling of everything would be more proper ("more better," according to Bush), then by all means, I encourage you to run in 2012. For now, though, how about backing up a little and giving the man room to breathe?

1 comment:

Peggy said...

You just don't know about some people, do you? Always trying to find a way to find fault with Mr. Obama. It's sad.