The last
several months have been downright horrible for Barack Obama, and for any true
American patriot it has been hard to watch. Whether you voted for Obama or not,
anyone who cares about this country, our economy, national security and
healthcare wants to see the president succeed, even if he's not of your party.
However thus far he hasn't succeeded, or at least to the degree that many in
the public want him to, and in fact, his base is increasingly saddened and
disgusted by his perceived 'weakness.' I strongly advise all of those who are
paying rapt attention to the conflicts in Washington do a little light reading
over the coming week, and check out the article “Goodbye to All That:
Reflections of a GOP operative who left the cult,” by Mike Lofgren. It just
might change how you see President Obama.
Lofgren
retired earlier this year after being a Republican congressional staffer for 28
years. Which means that he's served under three Republican presidents and until
the 1990's a mostly Democratic Congress. He was working with the party during
the first Gulf War, he was there for the re-count, basically this man is not a
RINO he's a tried and true Republican.
And yet,
after all that time in service the events of the last decade or so have driven
him to not only leave his party but refer to it as a cult and write scathing
expose's about the current state of the Republican party. If you can even call
it that after reading his most recent work.
Lofgren's
piece gives a sincere glimpse into a world that political pundits occasionally
talk about but seldom give the level of attention that is needed. The author
says that the current Republican Party is like an apocalyptic death cult. That
they view any Democratic president as illegitimate and especially Obama, whose
never ending crime of being Black is just more than most in the GOP can bear.
However we're all aware of that, we all know that the GOP has some loonies and
some crackpots but what makes this analysis particularly disturbing is that
Lofgren suggests that the GOP operatives know it too and don't care. John
Boehner, Eric Cantor and the like are perfectly willing to fuel a ridiculous
conspiracy theory like “Birtherism” for years with coy non-committal responses
like “I take the president at his word” as long as it stokes the white working
class into a voting frenzy on their behalf. The end result is a party that
literally, and let me be clear about this, a party that explicitly within their
own ranks wanted to drag America and the entire world economy into default,
putting millions out of work and ruining chances for economic recovery for
years just to get rid of the current president. This is not political
gamesmanship, this isn't hardball, it is simply a nihilism towards government
and a deep pathological hatred for the president of the United States. Throw in
the overpowering influence of corporate funds and it's a wonder that anything
gets done in Washington anymore.
However
here's the rub. The president gets blamed for being weak, not standing up for
himself and failing to articulate a message I believe in large part because the
left does not truly understand just how delusional the opposition truly is.
Lofgren paints a scary picture where his former GOP operatives weren't just
hostage takers, but dead set on destroying American government while at the
same time revering the Constitution. For all of the criticism heaped upon Obama
how exactly is the president supposed to actually combat that level of
intensity?
When your
opposition has nothing to lose, they don't care about getting re-elected, they
consider the nation to be in decline already and they serve constituents that
are equally obsessed how are you able to actually negotiate with them? You
can't and that's why our nation is in the mess that its' in according to him.
The
Democrats and President Obama deserve blame for not being effective in some
areas of government but amidst all the dinner table grousing on Obama's
weakness there should be some things taken into consideration.
Jason
Johnson is an associate professor of political science and communications at
Hiram College in Ohio, where he teaches courses in campaigns and elections, pop
culture and the politics of sports.
