Am I the only one getting dizzy here? All this back and forth from 45 on the Charlottesville tragedy has me very confused. One day he condemns the violence and the haters, the next he seems to defend them and this has been going on now for two weeks. Which is it going to be dude? His speech on Afghanistan was spot on, I really liked his statement on American military personnel deserving the honor of returning home to a unified country and that each of us needs to do what we can to heal the wounds that are currently dividing us. Finally, I thought, someone has gotten through and he is going to stick to the appropriate message.
I guess this is why I am not in politics or don’t have a very sophisticated political instinct, because the next night in Arizona he was back off script and swinging the bat with a fury. I was like, hey man take a deep breath. It feels like we are stuck on the Beartooth Highway with switchback after switchback after endless switchback. How do I get off?
Let’s take a look at some of the gems our President delivered on Tuesday night.
“Now, you know, I was a good student. I always hear about the elite. You know, the elite. They’re elite? I went to better schools than they did. I was a better student than they were. I live in a bigger, more beautiful apartment, and I live in the White House, too, which is really great.”
Does this have anything to do with anything? Are you really this insecure? Maybe this applies, from the Mayo Clinic:
“Narcissistic personality disorder is found more commonly in men. The cause is unknown but likely involves a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Symptoms include an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others’ feelings, an inability to handle any criticism, and a sense of entitlement. The disorder needs to be diagnosed by a professional. Treatment involves talk therapy. Consult a doctor for medical advice.” Please!
On North Korea and the two Senators from Arizona.
“But Kim Jong Un, I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us. I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact.”
“One vote away. One vote away. We were one vote away. Think of it, seven years the Republicans — and again, you have some great senators, but we were one vote away from repealing it. But, you know, they all said, Mr. President, your speech was so good last night, please, please, Mr. President don’t mention any names. So I won’t. I won’t. No I won’t vote — one vote away, I will not mention any names. Very presidential, isn’t’ it? Very presidential.”
This should bother you on a lot of levels. John McCain is an American war hero, former prisoner of war, long serving public servant and currently battling brain cancer. The President of the United States visits his state and instead of honoring him for his sacrifice and service to our country, he continues to attack and insult with raw and immature sarcasm. While feeling free to lash out at John McCain, he takes the time to pay respect to a ruthless and barbaric dictator.
Not one word about the ten missing US sailors from the USS John McCain!
Electronics Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from New Jersey
Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, from Texas
Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Missouri
Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Maryland
Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Ohio
Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Maryland
Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Connecticut
Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, from New York
Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Texas
Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, from Illinois
Heroes all, but not worthy of a single mention by the President of the United States of America while in the state that is home to the namesake of the ship they were serving on. More important to talk about his fancy New York house, I suppose. Let’s all throw flowers at 45!
On the media:
“And yes, by the way — and yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”
“You would think — you would think they’d want to make our country great again, and I honestly believe they don’t. I honestly believe it.”
Part of his genius has been to divert attention from his own stumbling by creating a new and more imminent threat. What he is trying to sell is; if we allow the removal of Confederate monuments then we are on the slippery slope toward allowing THEM to remove monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because these two men were slaveholders and in reality no different than the Confederate heroes.
Like Lee, Washington and Jefferson did take up arms against their sovereign, which was and is considered an act of treason. Whether or not the southern states had the right to secede from the union has been debated for 150 years and I suspect will continued to be debated well into the future. What is not debated is that Washington and Jefferson won and Lee did not.
The founders of the United States were acutely aware of the contradiction of a slave society declaring itself to be a place where all men are created equal. What differentiates the founding fathers from the men of the Confederacy is their wisdom in developing a system of government with the necessary mechanisms to allow for changing and evolving social structures. It is exactly these changing social structures that were rejected by the seceding southern states.
Even Robert E. Lee was fully aware of the fundamental contradiction of American society. Prior to the war he said about slavery.
“It is like having a wolf by the ears; you don’t like it but you don’t dare let go.”
In 1869 Robert E. Lee was invited to Gettysburg to assist in the design and placement of monuments on the Battlefield. This was his response.
“My engagements will not permit me to be present, and I believe if there I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject. I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered.”
If we in the south so revere this honorable and great man, why we did we so thoroughly reject his wise counsel on the topic of obliterating the marks of civil strife
Whose history and heritage is under threat here anyway?
The free population of the south at the outbreak of the Civil War was about 12 million in addition to about 4 million slaves. Are not the descendants of these 4 million slaves entitled to their part of the history and heritage of the southern states? What consideration have the African American inhabitants of the south been given as we celebrate the great Confederate States of America experience? How have we celebrated their contribution to the romanticized version of bucolic southern life prior to the recent unpleasantness?
Perhaps if we recognized southern history and heritage in its entirety, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, the romance and the reality we could overcome some of the division that this subject engenders.
Perhaps if we included our African American fellow citizens in our discussions and really came to grips with the true nature of our shared history and heritage we could find a more intellectually honest narrative in which to honor ALL those that lived and died in the Confederate States Of America.
We cannot continue to pretend that southern history and heritage are only reserved for white southerners. Those that display this flag are quick to point out their modern slogan for it’s meaning: Heritage not Hate.
I would ask them to remember something else said by the southern hero Robert E. Lee.
“Those who oppose our purposes are not always to be regarded as our enemies. We usually think and act from our immediate surroundings. The better rule is to judge our adversaries from their standpoint, not from ours.”
If it truly is heritage not hate, then we must acknowledge and embrace the reality that both southern whites and southern blacks lived under this flag and we must acknowledge and embrace all the emotions it evokes in those that view it.
If it truly is heritage not hate, then I simply ask you through your actions and through your words to show the world what that means. While our President tries to figure out the difference between right and wrong the rest of us have work to do.
Love To All!