This is a question that I've been asking myself quite often lately. I'm Facebook friends with a number of conservatives, and it amazes me the extent to which they are angry. When I ask about the cause of the anger, I never get a real answer to the question. They talk about how the country is headed towards "socialism" and how they are "scared" of President Obama, but when pushed to explain why they don't offer any sensible explanation.
Here are some of the statements from one Facebook page:
1. How many vacations, date nights, Hawaiian luaus, etc., has our idiot prez had since January? It's an elected job, not spring break.
2. I wonder how he got into Columbia.
3. Seriously are we the only ones who see the way our country has and will be ended! Really thank you Obama supporters for screwing our wonderful country up
4. A true patriot loves there country. He tries to destroy it.
5. If I were head of the CIA, I would stage a coup and install a competent dictator until elections could be held.
6. Holden is should be prosecuted for crime against the state! Has he seen this video? http://www.aliennationreport.com/pg5.html It took me a long time to find this because the administration is SANITIZING THE NET.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that these are otherwise rational people and look at these one by one.
1. The vacation critic is one of the biggest President Reagan fans. Reagan took more vacation days than any president except for President Bush. Yet a week in Martha's Vineyard irritates him.
2. How did he get into Columbia?? I guess this is a knock on his intelligence. One would assume that the President of the Harvard Law Review has some academic credentials. I'll bet you a dime to a dollar that this poster thinks Sarah Palin is "smart".
3. The country will be ended??? I'm not even sure what that means.
4. He tries to destroy it?? Even if you disagree with the President, does any rational person honestly believes he ran for office with the deliberate intent of "destroying" the country.
5. Actually advocating a coup by the CIA. These are the people who called others "un-American" for saying anything negative about the war in Iraq, yet suggests a coup by the CIA (obviously not contemplating that the President is Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. If you really wanted to stage a coup, the Joint Chiefs would probably have to do it)
6. The administration is trying to "sanitize the net". I challenge any reasonable person to read that article and find where it says anything even remotely resembling that statement.
So my question is; what's really going on here??? Is it just sour grapes over a lost election? Is it just a bunch of easily led folks who are buying in to what they hear on Fox News, Michelle Malkin, or any of the other right wing kooks who benefit from stirring up conservative anger? I look at the criticisms; President Obama's place of birth, his date night with his wife, fear of
"government run" health care from people on Medicare, he's trying to do too much. It just doesn't seem to add up. Legitmate political disagreements are one thing. The attacks on President Obama appear to me to be much more personal, much nastier than the usual political opposition. I often say to my conservative friends on Facebook that if President Obama were to find a cure for cancer, I think they would criticize him for not doing anything about the common cold.
"government run" health care from people on Medicare, he's trying to do too much. It just doesn't seem to add up. Legitmate political disagreements are one thing. The attacks on President Obama appear to me to be much more personal, much nastier than the usual political opposition. I often say to my conservative friends on Facebook that if President Obama were to find a cure for cancer, I think they would criticize him for not doing anything about the common cold.
One last thing. This growing trend of bringing loaded firearms to town hall meetings really concerns me. I know that people are angry. Anger plus loaded guns generally tend to bad results. It's only a matter of time until somebody gets shot at a town hall meeting if this trend continues. I think it's time for conservatives to accept the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is the President, and will be for at least the next 3 1/2 years. I encourage them to voice their opinions, political debate is great and should never be suppressed. But tone it down and bring facts instead of insults. Research instead of name calling. And if you really want your opinions to be heard, try getting some national candidates that can actually win elections.
