 |
| Former President Obama addressing the convention last night (Newsday) |
Even though I disagreed with some of what he said, I actually agreed with him about many of the failings he described in the current President (although not all of them). I miss Obama’s demeanor, his eloquence, his sense of duty to country, and his devotion to his ideals. Even though my ideals are not exactly the same as his, many of them do overlap.
One does not have to be an Obama supporter to see that. I long for a return to a time when the Oval Office was treated with the due reverence it deserves.
Although one certainly should not vote for someone who they disagree with, to not recognize the essential decency of the previous President in contrast to the apparent lack of any in the current one - one would have to be willfully ignorant of reality!
What is even more distressing to someone who wants to see the President’s economic polices continue as well as his policy towards Israel - is the fact that so many of the people that worked for him since he became President and then left have said pretty much said the same terribly negative things about him. With not a single positive word. In some cases it was from people who are more politically conservative than I am – and just as pro Israel. Like John Bolton.
It cannot be that every single one of them that say pretty much the same things are just disgruntled former employees. These were all people who entered public service with the noblest of intentions. Believing that they were there to serve their country. They quickly found out that they were serving an egotistical narcissist, whose primary concern was getting reelected without any compunction about how to achieve that. Whether ethical or not.
I believe that the President is consumed with getting reelected. To that end, he lies, vilifies, ridicules and panders to base instincts (even as he might not realize he is doing it).
I also have to wonder about his intelligence and his education (or better put - the seeming lack of any). How hard is it to pronounce the word Yosemite? Instead making it sound like the word ‘Semite’! How can anyone beyond the 3rd grade not know that injecting disinfectant into your veins is a deadly proposition? Having a man like that as the face of America is a major embarrsament. And a terrible thing to contemplate having in office for 4 more years.
That said, I strongly disagree with those who dismiss his accomplishments as insignificant or even detrimental. And while a lot of people are blaming him for mishandling the pandemic, my personal belief is that it wouldn’t matter who was in office. The pandemic is spread by people that couldn’t care less who the President is or what he says. Unless he declares some sort of martial law - they are going to do whatever they want. All of the stupid and ignorant rhetoric coming out of his mouth has nothing to do with huge Chasidic weddings and funerals, crowded bars, sunbathers on beaches, parties on college campuses, or crowded hallways in high schools that opened up with all the planned protocols almost immediately ignored.
On the plus side, one must give the President credit for operation Warp Speed. A government program that is currently paying for the accelerated production of millions of doses of several potential vaccines currently undergoing phase 3 clinical trials. So that in the likelihood that they will be proven effective, they will be ready to be distributed right away. Which NIH infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci is very encouraged about becoming a reality by the end of this year!
I also do not believe that there is no humanity in the man. I think there is. I believe that he does possess a sense of compassion and has at times in his life demonstrated it. But that is a side of him rarely seen these days. One might instead point to the opposite. Like his outrageous and unfeeling directive to border police to separate children from parents caught entering the country illegally with them - as a means of discouraging it..
Bottom line for people like me is that we have to face the fact that the policies we like come at a very heavy price. One that may not be worth paying.