The Assault On President Obama Is Unwarranted

By James Donahue

Voters handily chose Barack Obama to be America’s next president in 2008 after suffering eight long years under a Republican regime that launched two unnecessary wars, all but shut down the federal controls on industrial pollution, plunged us into multi-trillion dollar deficit spending and tarnished our image as a world leader.

Mr. Obama came into office with a promise for change. He said he wanted to stop the Iraq war and bring troops home. He favored dialogue rather than saber-rattling when dealing with aggressive nations. He promoted the concept of a green environment. He also promised to work for a national health-care overhaul, the construction of a national high speed railroad system, restoration of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and the promotion of new American business and industry that will create jobs.

Our new president hit the deck on the run. His list of accomplishments within the first six months in office was more impressive than most Americans realize. They include: a start of the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, ended the blackout of media coverage of war casualties and the return of fallen soldiers, ended the stop-loss policy that forced soldiers to remain on the battlefield longer than their enlisted date and phased out the useless and expensive F-22 fighter.

Mr. Obama ended the previous torture policy so the United States is in compliance with Geneva Convention standards, he saw that American troops were provided with improved body armor, he cut the missile defense program by $1.4 billion and reopened nuclear nonproliferation talks with Russia, China and other nations possessing nuclear weapons.

The pay and benefits for military personnel was increased, military housing improvements were ordered, there was a new policy created to promote the hiring of military spouses, and money was generated for badly needed improvements at Walter Reed and other military hospitals.

Obama also removed restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, established new federal funding for science and research labs, instituted enforcement of equal pay for women, and established limits on lobbyist access to the White House.

Our president and the Democratic Congress pushed through legislation in the job stimulus bill that is now launching spending for repair of roads, b ridges, power plants and other infrastructure repair after years of neglect. The bill includes new money for school construction and the first work on a high speed railroad.

Because of the financial melt-down inherited by the Obama Administration, legislation was passed to rescue the housing, banking and automobile industry.

Mr. Obama has visited more countries and met with more leaders than any president in history during his first six months in office. He also has reengaged in the global movement toward control of greenhouse gas emissions and treaty talks to protect the Antarctic.

Under the Obama Administration legislation has been passed to provide tax write-offs for people who buy hybrid cars and fuel-efficient appliances for their homes. The cash for clunkers program helped save and automobile industry at a time when American plants were plunging into bankruptcy.

Mr. Obama expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children, signed national service legislation expanding the national youth service program, and opened dialogue with Cuba and opened the door for Cuban families to visit loved ones in Cuba.

He ended the previous policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions. He closed offshore tax safe havens and negotiated a deal with Swiss banks to give the US government access to records of tax evaders. And he ended the policy of offering tax benefits to corporations that outsource American jobs.

Legislation was passed to offer protection from credit card abuse and predatory practices by big banks, lowered drug costs for seniors, ended the rule that prohibited Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for cheaper rates.

The list of work accomplished by this president, the Democratic legislators and the Obama Administration in just his first year in office could go on and on and yet a CNN poll this week reveals that 56 percent of Americans feel Mr. Obama does not deserve a second term in office. How can this be?

If you go back through the above list you will see that many of the policies established by the Obama Administration have obviously angered the big money interests in America. The fact that they no longer have overseas tax shelters, the US companies that moved overseas to find cheap labor are not sheltered from taxes either. And big military spending projects like the useless F-22 fighter plane and obsolete missile defense systems have been halted.

Mr. Obama is pushing hard for health care reform in spite of constant road blocks by Republican members of the Senate and House. This is angering big insurance companies because this president threatens to cut much of the money pipeline so long enjoyed by these big corporate interests and their stockholders.

Dr. Robert P. Watson, Coordinator of American Studies at Lynn University, recently noted that the media is largely ignoring Mr. Obama’s accomplishments in “focusing almost exclusively on Obama’s critics, without holding them responsible for the uncivil unconstructive tone of their disagreements.”

Watson said the media appears to also be failing to hold the Bush Administration responsible for getting America into the deep hole we now find ourselves in.

“The misinformation and venom that now passes for political reporting and civic debate is beyond description,” Watson wrote.

Indeed the open attacks on Mr. Obama by Senate Republicans, the television and radio commentators like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and numerous others, mostly financed by the Fox News Corp., has been unprecedented in American history. These people are openly doing all they can to make sure the Obama programs crash and burn, even if it pulls our nation down with them.

Then there has been the strange “Tea Bagger” movement, launched by Glenn Beck in mid-year, that has taken on a strange life of its own. The Tea Baggers appear now to be splitting into various groups. All of the groups share one thing in common, they are mad about government big spending, high unemployment, and a growing mistrust of President Obama. Some say he is a socialist. Others claim he was not legally born in the United States. Some are beginning to call for his impeachment, without cause.

What is happening to America?

MSNBC television commentator Keith Olbermann on Feb. 15 said the Tea Baggers appear to be caught up on a disguised form of racism based upon fear. And the fear is being generated by the constant media hammering by the hate mongers who are allowed to spew their daily poison without accountability for their actions. Olbermann based his premise on the fact that when Tea Bagger groups gather, there are never any black faces in the crowds.

“The whole of the anger at government movement is predicated on this,” Olbermann said. “Times are tough, the future is confusing, the threat from those who would dismantle our way of life is real, as if we weren’t to some extent doing it for them now. And the President’s black. But you can’t come out and say that’s why you’re scared.”

Indeed, the hate mongers have done a very good job in frightening a large segment of the people, and the media is having a field day reporting these goings on as “news.” But if the reporters were really doing their job, they would be looking into just who is financing the hate machine and generating all of the fear.

If we could wager on this question we would put our money on the big business interests, or organized criminals, who have had their grip on Washington for way too long. That we would have five members of the U. S. Supreme Court cast a deciding vote to give corporations unlimited power to finance candidates for elected offices has set the stage for total reinstatement of big business control of our government once Mr. Obama’s term expires.

America is in deep trouble. If the organized criminals win this fight this nation will no longer be a nation of the people and by the people. It will be a camouflaged return to the old feudal state that existed for hundreds of years in Europe . . . when the kings possessed all of the wealth and power and the people lived in squalor and labored long hours for a pauper’s wage.

There was a name for that period in history. It was called the dark ages. Will we be so foolish as to allow it to happen again?