Over the past few years I've had this weird theory about Barack Obama and how everyone perceives him. I don't know if it's weird because it comes across contradictory or weird because of how outlandish it's about to sound in the next few sentences. My theory is that Barack Obama gets so much grief from people on both sides of the aisle because no one really trusts his judgement. Has he had a record of perfection as president? No,not by a long shot but overall I'd say it's been good given where we are today compared to where we would've been if we had stayed on the path of the Bush years. Everyone looks at him and they immediately think that he should probably be a sidekick at best. Even democrats do that and according to my twitter feed,democrats do it at a ridiculous level. Every single issue turns into "How is Obama ruining America this time?". I expect this from republicans because on a philosophical level they don't agree with his stances and how he's going about in his quest to make America a better country. They have a totally different idea and approach and they will make sure to tell you about why their ideas are better. When I see democrats constantly hopping on the bash Obama wagon it's a little weird,especially when he's doing something(Obamacare is a great example) that they've been wanting to do for years but haven't been able to do even without the frustrating political circumstances that he's been dealing with. Of course they don't disagree with his policies or even his tactics,they just don't really trust him for whatever reason.
I guess there's a natural level of distrust with politicians because they do have a history of promising a lot and delivering little but the level of distrust for Barack Obama reminds me of how people in and around Detroit viewed Kwame Kilpatrick after the multiple corruption scandals broke and he got convicted of a felony. When there's a level of distrust that high,there has to be a reason for that. I don't want to say that maybe this country has a weird distrust of black people but it's not often that you see really successful black people on TV who aren't athletes,entertainers or Oprah. When was the last time you saw someone who wasn't an older,white male in charge of something that could actually effect your life even on a small scale? I'll wait for those answers in comments but it's not an everyday occurrence. We have never seen a black person or anyone that isn't an older white male in a position of power like this before so we as a country are still trying to gauge whether he knows what he's doing despite it being more than 3 years into his term. We've all grown up in this country with the idea basically implanted in us that the hero,the leader,the best of the bunch is always a guy that kinda looks like Mitt Romney. The guys that look like me are either the enemy or the sidekick but never the hero. The Hillary Clintons of the world are always 3rd string characters and the Palins of the world are basically varying levels of Kelly Bundy. What I'm saying is that we're conditioned to not see these people in charge so when they do get a chance to be THAT guy,we wont trust them and will fight them every step of the way because we just don't believe that they can do it. Even worse we do believe that they can do it but because of the history this country has with being hateful towards them, we think that they're going to pay this country back for it with a vengeance. It's that irrational fear that let stupid things like the president's birth certificate,offhand remarks,a complete lack of actually caring about the big picture and other assorted riffraff distract us from the real problems out there.
We want a way out of the messes this country has been bogged down in. We like his ideas. We just kinda wish that he looked like a leader. Also,here's a copy of his signing statement on the National Defense Authorization Act where he basically points out the things he doesn't like about it,points out why it's not helpful and what he would rather see in its place. Of course someone will point out to me that his words are total lies because of everything I just explained above. Of course all of that is just a manifestation of things that have been swirling around in my head.
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