Unpatriotic, Drugged, Crazy Liberal

Dear Friends,

When George W. Bush was President, he referred to me as being unpatriotic because I did not support his immoral and illegal war in Iraq.  The truth is that I did not really support anything that he did.  He had the nerve to say that even though I was a veteran who had served in a combat zone, and he was the one who got into a rich boys unit and avoided any real military service.

I love my country enough to want to change it if it is doing something wrong.  I love my country even though we have done some terrible things.  I want the country that I love to learn from our mistakes so we do not make them again.  I was hurt by constantly being called unpatriotic.  I was even called a yellow bellied chicken during an anti-Iraq war protest in Washington, D.C. by a kid who was certainly of the age that could have enlisted.  He did that even though my hat identified me as a veteran.  While I was hurt by these comments, I could take some solace in the fact that I was being called unpatriotic by people whom I did not respect. 

I was actually surprised today by how hurt I felt when I heard what Robert Gibbs had to say about criticism from the left in an interview with The Hill (here).  Here are two paragraphs:

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

It is hard to know where to start with Mr. Gibbs' comments.  I will start with the words themselves.

I have given President Obama credit for the things he has accomplished. Just because President Obama has done some things well and has accomplished much does not mean that I will not point out things that he has not done, promises that he has not kept and bad policies that he has adopted.  President Obama has said on many occasions that we need to hold him accountable, and we need to push him to do what he said he would do.  I intend to keep doing that.

I do not need to be drug tested although if Mr. Gibbs would like to accompany me to be tested I would be happy to go with him.  Also I am not crazy.  What is crazy is calling me, someone who supported Mr. Obama when he first ran for the United States Senate and when he ran for President, crazy for trying to holding President Obama accountable.

I will admit that in the last month or so I have written about how President Obama's policies are similar to or extensions of President Bush's policies, including topics such as targeted killing of American citizens, indefinite detentions, accountability for torture, transparency, national parks, shutting out the media, burying bad economic news, education policy, drug war budget, national security strategy, shield laws, abuse of the environment by mining, Afghanistan, deportation of undocumented workers, offshore oil drilling, Guantanamo, financial regulation, use of contractors like Blackwater, use of drones bombing, etc.  But in all cases, I have carefully documented my position.

But I think that what really hurts me is that Mr. Gibbs was probably reflecting the way the White House really feels about the base that got President Obama elected.  Even when he and others tried to walk back the comments, they never really disavowed them.  As David From, a journalist and former speech writer for President George W. Bush, has said (here) "my first rule of party leadership: while Republican politicians fear their base, Democratic pols hate theirs."

I am afraid that Mr. From is correct.  How does it make you feel when somebody that you have supported, given your time, energy and money to and more importantly placed your hopes in hates you and has played you for a fool?  It makes me feel foolish and ashamed for being hoodwinked.  Am I just a rube from Minnesota that was taken in by the smooth talking con man from Chicago?  I am not sure that I want to know the answer to that question.

I suppose that President Obama is not really worried about whether or not I will vote for him in 2012.  I cannot imagine a set of circumstances where I would not vote for the Democratic nominee for President in 2012.  But does that mean that President Obama should kowtow to the Republicans who want to destroy him while loathing me, the one that supports him? 

While it seems to me that if the Obama Administration can throw people like Shirley Sherrod and Van Jones under the bus for doing nothing wrong, they should certainly fire Mr. Gibbs.  But that would not give me any satisfaction or lead me to believe that President Obama understands that he needs to listen to his base and give it the respect it deserves.  If President Obama wants to signal that he gets it, he needs to fire Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner, and he needs to get out of the White House and back on the campaign trail using his incredible oratorical skills to win back the American voters to get this country headed in the right direction again.  Instead of giving into the Republicans he needs to win over the American people.  As President Obama has repeatedly said, change does not come from the top, it comes from millions pushing from the bottom. 

So I will keep pushing President Obama and holding him accountable even if he doesn't respect me or care what I think or pay any attention because we need to hold him accountable for the good of the country and the world.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal