Barack Obama before shouldering the weight of the world
Never has a president of the United States suffered the indignities, insults and slurs hurled at President Obama. We have a smart, witty, charming, cool (attractive and even-tempered), courageous and capable person occupying the Oval Office. (I am a fan.) Despite the unrelenting opposition to him and his policies, he fulfilled his promise of ending the war in Iraq and is ending the war in Afghanistan. The economy has recovered from the deep recession he inherited. Unemployment is still too high, but the stock market has reached unprecedented heights. Thinks to his perseverance, universal health care is on the way to becoming a reality. He’s restored America’s image abroad.
A few decades ago, all Americans—of every political persuasion—respected and honored both the person and the office. William Thomas is appalled, but he is Canadian.
At some point, the treatment of President Obama went from offensive to ugly and then to downright dangerous.
The health-care debate, which looked more like extreme fighting in a mud pit than a national dialogue, revealed a very vulgar side of America. President Obama’s face appeared on protest signs white-faced and blood-mouthed in a satanic clown image. In other tasteless portrayals, people who disagreed with his position distorted his face to look like Hitler complete with mustache and swastika.
Odd, that burning the flag makes Americans crazy, but depicting the president as a clown and a maniacal fascist is accepted as part of the new rude America.
