Are we going to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our political leaders inability to get this country back to work is due to philosophical differences between the two major political parties.
Will Americans continue to stand by the fallacy of "American exceptionalism" in the face of this historically racist backlash to the election of our nations first Black President?
Historian, Gordon Wood, once said " American's believe in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of ordinary people. Nothing in today's body politic would sustain that notion. That statement has never been true for all America's so-called "ordinary people".
This nation has become exceptionally accepting of some of the most vile racist behavior in American political history. This level of animus and hatred toward perceived black social / political advancement has not been seen since the reconstruction era.
The American people have voyeuristically set by and watched the wanton destruction of our political, social and economic systems because many have been culturally conditioned to fear and loath any racial minority in a position of power.
The racist attacks on this administration are not simply because "they" want Obama (along with America) to fail, they want the destruction or revocation of any accomplishments he may have had while in office, that is why there is tens of millions of dollars being spent by anti- poor, anti- middle-class right- wing groups to repeal or diminish any positive outcomes for "ordinary people" in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Failure of an Obama presidency is critical to the psychological insecurities of millions of Americans who believe that God himself was a white male and they alone were created in "his" image. We have had centuries of racism in our politics but I think the Obama presidency is Americas final test of who we are as a nation. Will we continue to define the level of vitriol aimed at the Obama White House as merely left and right wrangle or will we face up to the ugly truth about this pathological sickness that is woven into the fabric of American society.
The Republican leadership seems to think they have a mandate from their constituency to treat this President like he is a community organizer standing before the White Citizens Council asking them to do the right thing on behalf of all Americans.
Millions of Americans did in fact send some of the most corporate and racist representatives of the last hundred years to congress in the 2010 elections. These representatives were sent to Washington for the solitary purpose of invalidating the Obama presidency and validating white insecurities.
Many republican constituents were frightened, angered and appalled by the election of someone they had been culturally condition to believe racially inferior to all gods children.
What has been going on since Barak Obama's inauguration has been unprecedented animus and hatred toward one of the most decent family men in presidential history.
From the beginning Republicans made it clear that no political agenda was more important then the absolute destruction and failure of the Obama presidency.
President Obama has asked for a joint session of congress to lay out his job plans to the nation.
Rush Limbaugh, the Goebbels styled republican propagandist, ordered the Speaker of the house, John Boehner to embarrass, obstruct and deny the Presidents emergency request to address the nation in a time of high unemployment and uncertainty on the first day of business after the August congressional break.
Sadly, the right-wing media and the left / progressive punditry accused the president of cowardly acquiescing to the republicans time table. The people with the first amendment protections and responsibility to educate and inform the masses gave the false impression that our president had the Constitutional authority over the congressional leadership to order a joint session of congress.
Boehner insisted that the President's address should be done at the convenience of the Republican leadership, the needs of the American people be damned.
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