“Swiftboating” President Obama and the American people

Just A Thought

 

 

By Juanita Bratcher 

 

There are many Americans who don’t give a “hill of beans” about what “hatemongers and racists” have to say in their efforts to spin the truth and divide the country, yet the media ram their incendiary remarks straight down our throats on a daily basis as though it’s priority news when a leftover menu of “real priority news” can’t find its way to the front burner.

Americans are concerned and frustrated about a slow economy, slow as a turtle in bouncing back; whether they’ll still have a job tomorrow, whether money will be available to send their children to college, whether they can hold on to their houses, cars and other basic necessities, and hopefully, be able to meet the mortgage on their homes as opposed to foreclosure. Not what some “hatemonger” said while getting high on hatred.

And nowadays it’s become commonplace to say any ill-willed thoughts or any incendiary remarks that come to mind, and once said, come back and apologize for what never should have been said in the first place. Obviously, if an apology is in order, apparently no thought was given beforehand to what was being said. I call it the game of “Say it, just for the hell of it, see how much will stick, and go back and apologize later.”

There’s been a lot of that floating around in the atmosphere lately.  And frankly, it comes off as a game inasmuch as the damage has already been done, an indelible image was made, and the messenger got exactly what wanted – executing the hateful deed and then apologizing.

And a lot of those ill-willed statements and incendiary remarks are made toward President Barack Obama by “Birthers” and people at Tea Party rallies. A recent poll stated that 24 percent of Americans that participated in poll believe Obama is a Muslim when he says he is Christian. I say this, not as a negative to Muslims, but because of controverse surrounding it.

There’s a lot of negative, misconstrued talk, and a large stream of it is coming straight out of Washington. And those who do it intentions are ugly – they are demagogues practicing demagoguery, inflaming and polarizing the country – “swiftboating” President Obama and the American people.

It is what it is!

Recently, I came across the lyrics of a song by the great Stevie Wonder – “Heaven Help Us All”.

I was truly intrigued by this excerpt in the song:

Now I lay me down before I go to sleep.
In a troubled world, I pray the Lord to keep, keep hatred from the mighty,

And the mighty from the small
Heaven help us all.

And to that I say, Amen! Heaven help us all – the haters and the peacemakers.