It has been suggested that we begin holding Obama accountable (When is it Obama’s fault 1/13/10). On Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, President Barack Obama will have been in office one full year. As the leader of our country, he should be held accountable for the events, good and ill, of the past 12 months. Surely his gargantuan efforts to insure “adequate and affordable” health care for every American must be laid upon him. His Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts toward negotiation rather than confrontation between nations, is fully his responsibility. His ongoing efforts to regulate and control the financial empires of America, and his calling for a return of billions of dollars loaned by taxpayers toward saving those empires, is something for which he must be made accountable. Those that crashed his party, the foolish fly-by of Air Force One certainly point an accusing finger at the effectiveness and seriousness of the president’s team. The tragedy of Ft. Hood points to a failure of the military over which he is Commander and Chief. Yes, and the near tragic bombing on Christmas Day aboard the Detroit-bound commercial airline flight has been on his watch. But, as I recall, he readily accepted responsibility for this latest terrorist attempt. I remembering him say that the “buck stopped with him,” and that he was going to respond with resolute increased security. Such an open admission of culpability was a rare instance of presidential honesty and candor. I’ve yet to hear any such admission of culpability by any member of the previous administration. The failures of the Bush administration have always been “poor intelligence” or the actions of some lower-level “hot-head.”
So I intend to hold the president accountable. Should he preemptively invade a nation that had done nothing to America, destroy it, occupy it and begin a war that has cost over 4,000 young American lives; should the president hide the costs of his military adventures from the tax-payer through extra-budgetary supplemental appropriations and borrow from foreign governments the resources to fund them, I’ll blame Barack Obama. Should the president give tacit approval to torture and then when it is discovered blame it on the “little enlisted guy,” or should the president build a concentration camp against all the principles of American decency and law, where people whom we don’t approve of can be incarcerated indefinitely without any pretense at justice, I would blame Obama. Should he ignore the greed and arrogance of the financial sector of the economy and allow the bilking of billions from the average person with obscene bonuses to questionable leaders, I would hold Obama accountable. But until Barack Obama does any of these horrible things, I’ll continue to hold accountable the one who did them, and who has yet to accept responsibility for them.
President Barack Obama inherited the worst situation of any previous president - a faltering economy and two illegal, immoral and unnecessary wars were left to him to settle. The concentration camp that continues to be a breeding ground for ever more fanatical terrorists was bequeathed to him. The legacy from the previous administration of frenzied hatred against America was left for Obama to somehow quell the hate, while protecting America from its consequence. Where the preceding administration began with a hefty financial surplus only to squander it and create a back-breaking indebtedness and deficit, Obama got the debt and the deficit. With such an agenda left to him, I believe that in the first 365 days, Barack Obama has done splendidly.
Obviously there remains much to do. Not every envisioned change has been accomplished. Yet, Obama has only served one-fourth of his elected term. It took eight years to foul our nest. It will take more than one to cleanse it. Yet, most recently, the “doomsday clock” was set back a minute. That “clock,” established by nuclear scientists in 1947 to measure humanity’s march toward nuclear self-destruction, was turned back one minute. The scientists in charge of the clock said that their optimism and hope had much to do with President Obama’s policies of “pragmatic problem solving and his efforts to reduce nuclear stock-piles” which made the world a little safer. All Americans should be rallying to the president’s banner, willingly and energetically committed to assist him in his mission to purge, save, and renew America and make the whole world a better and safer place. I’ll blame him for that, too.
An Obama loyalist…
Fr. Bob Layne (Episcopal Priest –retired)
McPherson, Kansas
|
|
|
It has been suggested that we begin holding Obama accountable (When is it Obama’s fault 1/13/10). On Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, President Barack Obama will have been in office one full year. As the leader of our country, he should be held accountable for the events, good and ill, of the past 12 months. Surely his gargantuan efforts to insure “adequate and affordable” health care for every American must be laid upon him. His Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts toward negotiation rather than confrontation between nations, is fully his responsibility. His ongoing efforts to regulate and control the financial empires of America, and his calling for a return of billions of dollars loaned by taxpayers toward saving those empires, is something for which he must be made accountable. Those that crashed his party, the foolish fly-by of Air Force One certainly point an accusing finger at the effectiveness and seriousness of the president’s team. The tragedy of Ft. Hood points to a failure of the military over which he is Commander and Chief. Yes, and the near tragic bombing on Christmas Day aboard the Detroit-bound commercial airline flight has been on his watch. But, as I recall, he readily accepted responsibility for this latest terrorist attempt. I remembering him say that the “buck stopped with him,” and that he was going to respond with resolute increased security. Such an open admission of culpability was a rare instance of presidential honesty and candor. I’ve yet to hear any such admission of culpability by any member of the previous administration. The failures of the Bush administration have always been “poor intelligence” or the actions of some lower-level “hot-head.”
So I intend to hold the president accountable. Should he preemptively invade a nation that had done nothing to America, destroy it, occupy it and begin a war that has cost over 4,000 young American lives; should the president hide the costs of his military adventures from the tax-payer through extra-budgetary supplemental appropriations and borrow from foreign governments the resources to fund them, I’ll blame Barack Obama. Should the president give tacit approval to torture and then when it is discovered blame it on the “little enlisted guy,” or should the president build a concentration camp against all the principles of American decency and law, where people whom we don’t approve of can be incarcerated indefinitely without any pretense at justice, I would blame Obama. Should he ignore the greed and arrogance of the financial sector of the economy and allow the bilking of billions from the average person with obscene bonuses to questionable leaders, I would hold Obama accountable. But until Barack Obama does any of these horrible things, I’ll continue to hold accountable the one who did them, and who has yet to accept responsibility for them.
President Barack Obama inherited the worst situation of any previous president - a faltering economy and two illegal, immoral and unnecessary wars were left to him to settle. The concentration camp that continues to be a breeding ground for ever more fanatical terrorists was bequeathed to him. The legacy from the previous administration of frenzied hatred against America was left for Obama to somehow quell the hate, while protecting America from its consequence. Where the preceding administration began with a hefty financial surplus only to squander it and create a back-breaking indebtedness and deficit, Obama got the debt and the deficit. With such an agenda left to him, I believe that in the first 365 days, Barack Obama has done splendidly.
Obviously there remains much to do. Not every envisioned change has been accomplished. Yet, Obama has only served one-fourth of his elected term. It took eight years to foul our nest. It will take more than one to cleanse it. Yet, most recently, the “doomsday clock” was set back a minute. That “clock,” established by nuclear scientists in 1947 to measure humanity’s march toward nuclear self-destruction, was turned back one minute. The scientists in charge of the clock said that their optimism and hope had much to do with President Obama’s policies of “pragmatic problem solving and his efforts to reduce nuclear stock-piles” which made the world a little safer. All Americans should be rallying to the president’s banner, willingly and energetically committed to assist him in his mission to purge, save, and renew America and make the whole world a better and safer place. I’ll blame him for that, too.
An Obama loyalist…
Fr. Bob Layne (Episcopal Priest –retired)
McPherson, Kansas
