Political Sidestep

One of the most frustrating parts of the past few months of presidential campaigning wasn't the name calling or friendships breaking up, but the constant blame game.

For the past four years, Obama has consistently blamed gridlock, transigent Republicans, and (mostly) President George W. Bush for everything that went wrong during his term of office. The economy was in such a mess because of Bush, in spite of Congress being controlled by Democrats, something that changed quickly after the first few months after Obama's election. Well, that and having forced a stimulus bill through Congress at light speed (D.C. wise) to make sure that Bush took the fall for the numbers since it was still fiscally 2008.

And there was so much more of the Obama Shuffle to go along with his world wide apology tour and snubbing of American allies. I've come to expect that kind of thing with Obama and his team of operatives and even considered not facing them down with facts and figures. I decided not to give in. Someone, even little old me, Cassandra of the 21st Century, needs to stand up and say NO in a frequently very loud voice.

Every time I wrote about the facts of what was going on in the government and in the economy, I was shouted down, called a moron (among other less polite names, like Repugnican or Republican, neither of which I am), and ordered to provide facts and figures that didn't come from Fox News. I guess they didn't read what I wrote because the facts and figures were there in the article or op-ed column, but they didn't sit well with the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds crowd determined to hang onto their one shot at forgiveness for having had relatives or having known people somewhere along the ancestral roots that owned or transported slaves, or did their best to keep the blacks down. Obama was the way they proved to the world they weren't racist because they backed a bi-racial candidate for president and he won. As long as they supported him and continue to support him, even in the face of damning evidence, they would be absolved of their associations.

Let's forget about civil rights and the millions of WASPs that supported and marched with black. Let's forget that Obama said that his campaign platform wasn't about race, even though anyone who opposed Obama or disagreed with him must be a racist. How else could they not see the celestial light of wonder that shone through him as they chanted, "Yes, we can." I still cannot figure out what they can do, but I know what Obama has done and will now finish doing. The writing is on the wall. Cassandra has spoken and is once again ignored. Troy will fall and the burning stench of her fall will darken the sun.

Okay, a little over the top, but I'm making a point here.

I posted side by side facts about the economy when Bush left office and with Obama in office for four years and the responses were vicious from the Obama Choir. "After all," one of them said, "the president has nothing to do with the economy and the cost of living."

Um, what?

Memories of a car in every garage and a chicken in the pot flitted along my synapses. Presidential candidates down through history have promised things will be better (Obama certainly did, "Yes, he did.") and that the economy will bountiful along that rose strew path to prosperity.

Of course, the president has everything to do with the economy and the cost of living. His policies and what he supports and hammers through Congress create and maintain the economy. I guess it was a little too much to expect polite discussion and civil debate from people whose eyes are filled with the light that shines from . . . somewhere out in the world (the White House is too boring for Obama and his family) while he continues his apology tour . . . and the feeling of renewal that came when their sins were washed white as snow by voting for a bi-racial candidate, who identifies himself as black in spite of his very white mother and maternal family. No one should be allowed to take that away. They earned it.

They turned blind eyes from the truth, like America's AAA credit rating falling to AA and the deaths of two Navy SEALS in Benghazi, not to mention the death of the American ambassador, while they hoped that change had come to them and life would get better. Gas would be 30 cents a gallon once again and the American dollar would soar so that travel overseas would once again be affordable, even on a janitor's salary. America would remain the only super power keeping the lands and seas safe from terrorists and the Red Skull (or whoever is the bad guy this year -- I think it's Islamic jihadists) and people could relax and take care of their two cars in the garage, lavish vacations, and even more lavish lifestyles with a new laptop computer and iPhone every 3 months.

So, to my Democrat friends who still believe in Obamessiah and continue to shout with unrelieved fervor, "Yes, we can!" I say, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot damn Republicans or Centrists or Moderates or Conservatives or Independents on the facts and refuse to see the facts when they don't shine with benevolent light on the man you have mortgaged this country for.

Yes, the president is responsible for what happens in the economy as he piles on even more debt and sells government bonds to China and the rest of the world. Yes, Obama is responsible for the cost of bread and milk and gas because every time he grants a government contract to a foreign national company, he takes jobs away from Americans. Yes, Obama is responsible for the growing unemployment, for the hundreds of thousands of people who have stopped looking for work and no longer get unemployment compensation. Even though they no longer figure in the numbers and percentages of Americans out of work, they are still out there and still don't have jobs. Yes, Obama is responsible for the unprecedented increase in Welfare and food stamp recipients, among them military personnel and their families, and, no, their communities are not supposed to support these soldiers and their families; that is the government's job because the government hired them to protect and defend this country and our allies around the world.

I could go on, but I wonder if any of this is getting through.

Bottom line: Facts are facts. Number don't lie, unless you know how to cook the books the way that Slick Willy did during his two terms of office. At least Clinton did one thing, cooked books and all, and that is put out a budget during his 8 years in the White House. Obama failed to put out a single budget in his entire first term, a term he promised would be his last if he didn't fix the economy and repair the damage Bush had done.

Let me be one more to voice reminding Obama he didn't fix the economy and he worsened the damage Bush and his Democrat-controlled Congress did.

No, I will not be silent over the next 4 years. Get used to the idea that this writer does more than write books and humor and slices of life. This writer is also passionate about this country. I am a flag waving, Yankee Doodle Dandy of an American. I always have been. I still stand up when the national anthem is played and I sing out loud and strong with tears streaking my face. I am still stirred by songs like America the Beautiful and my heart beats loudly for "...purple mountains' majesty above the fruited plain." I need no one to absolve me for the sins of racism and slavery because I am a result of a melting pot of ancestry that includes Native American, black, and European in a cohesive package that has not forgotten the past but refuses to repeat the mistakes of the past with new mistakes in the present for a future worse than Nostradamus ever predicted.

I am an American and I will hold fast to my freedoms, however they may be eroded. This is one Cassandra the gods will not silence.

I see what you are doing and have done. Say it wasn't you, but I know and soon all will know . . . Yes, you did.