Earlier today, one of my former co-workers posted a picture on Facebook declaring her support for Obama's re-election next year. The picture is of the back of Obama's head, with the caption "I've got his back" across the top. My former co-worker also added her own caption under it, saying, "It takes MORE than 4 years to CLEAN UP what someone messed up over 8 [years]!"
I don't normally like involving myself in political debates, mostly because both sides get so heated about their respective viewpoints. In this case, I had to jump in, and below are direct copies of my comment, followed by my former co-worker's response:
Me: "I humbly disagree. This country is, in my opinion, in worse shape than when Obama first took office. The deficit is worse, unemployment is higher, and the housing market is still in the toilet (if not worse as well). Mitt Romney is my guy next year, but if Herman Cain gets the nomination I would happily vote for him too."
Her: "Not to pull the race card, cause I NEVER do, but he was NEVER given a fair chance, by the House or Senate...yet they let Bush run this country into the ground!!!
I don't follow politics enough to argue much, but from what I've taken notice of....its a race game, and in America "we" never win:)"
Her response flat-out angered me for several reasons. In the interests of not turning things into an ugly argument via Facebook comments, I chose not to post anything else, so instead I'm going to talk about it here. First, I was dismayed at how she completely ignored the facts that I had laid out in my comment. She had nothing to say about the overall state of the economy, including unemployment, the federal debt, or Obama's politics. She even openly admitted she's fairly ignorant of politics, so I don't understand how she could arbitrarily support Obama when she doesn't even know what he's trying to do (actually, I do have a theory about why she supports him, but that's for later). Still, if she was going to post something on Facebook openly showing her support for Obama, how could she not be prepared for someone to disagree with her and/or Obama, if not openly challenge her? If I were to put something on Facebook showing which presidential candidate I supported, I'd definitely be prepared for some blowback from the other side.
Second, it's completely inaccurate to simply state Obama wasn't given a "fair chance." He's a Democratic President, and for the first two years of his term Congress was controlled by the Democrats on both sides. It's downright idiotic to make a claim like that given the reality of the situation. In fact, such a failure shows a real lack of organization among the Democrats as a party if they couldn't get together collectively and follow a single direction. If a Democratic President working with a Democratic-controlled Congress for two years isn't a "fair chance," then I don't know what is.
Third - and this really encompasses the previous two issues I took with her comment - such a comment reflects what is the lowest common denominator among Democratic voters. She made no secret that the fact that Obama was black was the deciding factor for her to support him. Let me also reiterate that she had openly admitted she didn't know much about politics or the political machine as a whole, but she still chose to support him because he's black. Friends, there's a word for that kind of behavior, and that word is racism. Choosing to vote for a candidate because he's black is no different - and no better - than choosing to vote against a candidate because he's black. How is such a view going to improve our country?
I like to keep an open mind, especially about something like politics. I've long considered myself a moderate conservative, and I have several close friends who are hard liberals. We discuss our different views and more often than not disagree on them. And that's fine. We raise our beer glasses, say cheers, and take a drink afterwards. I think it's healthy to be able to debate in a friendly manner like that. What angers me is people like my former co-worker who blindly follow a candidate without really knowing what the candidate's views and values are. People like that actually do a disservice to the rest of the country by not being informed and actually knowing what they're getting themselves into.
Now don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to use this post as an anti-Obama opportunity. I may not agree with him, and I certainly won't be voting for him next year. If anyone reads this post and can comment with an educated, well-constructed argument, I'd love to hear from you (and that's a genuine offer). But if all you have to say is Obama needs a "fair chance" and that it was racism that kept him from achieving his goals during his first term in office, I'm going to shake my head in disgust.
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