Today I am going to rant. I've about lost my mind about this meme that the President isn't doing enough. It's disheartening that much of this meme is coming from the left. I'm also pretty really frustrated by hearing that if this were a Republican President we would be calling for their heads.

It's wrong, and here is why: It's a false frame. This isn't a right wing President. This isn't a guy who is breaking laws by leading our nation to war with lies. He isn't wiretapping its citizens. He isn't torturing people. He didn't give billions of dollars away to the banking industry. He didn't allow for the housing market to crumble. He didn't go AWOL when he was younger. He didn't choose the CEO of Halliburton as his Vice president who was then allowed to secretly craft this nation's energy policy. He's actually respecting our constitution. He's trying to re-regulate this nation. He got Health care reform passed. He pulled this nation back from the brink of economic collapse.

I am tired of the left treating OUR side the same way we treat them all in order to appear fair. Guess what -- it's politics -- this shit ain't fair. WE don't have to be fair if we are RIGHT. What is right is that this administration is doing everything it can in the face of this disaster. What isn't fair is that even our left wing heroes have decided to bow down to the meme that this administration is failing the country as the last administration did.

This President is not, nor EVER was, the kind of man to get up on a war carrier and claim "mission accomplished"




Obama was never the kind of man to stand up on top of the rubble after the worst terror attack in our nation since Pearl Harbor. Are these the type of images that people want from our current president?
How about Bush's response to Katrina? After we screamed and yelled, he finally went to Louisiana -- remember this?

After he left, so did the lights. It was all a show. I don't want a show now.

The term "No Drama Obama" didn't just come from no where. We elected a man who is not going to freak out. He is cool and calm under pressure. I think maybe some people are confusing leadership with a photo op.

So what do people want from this President? A response? There HAS been response. The president's biggest problem isn't really his -- it's the fact the the MEDIA has chosen to not report what is happening when it comes to this disaster. I do believe the Federal Government could have gotten ahead of the MMS mess 18 months ago - for that reason I think there should be serious scrutiny for Secretary Salazar. I don't know if it was purposeful ignorance or something that he meant to get to, but the MMS is just as responsible for this as BP at this point. I also believe that had Salazar done something about MMS, the damage was already done, in regards to what happened at the DeepWater Horizon Drill. The culture at MMS was allowed to happen under the previous administration. As far as MMS goes, it wasn't just the top brass there, it was also people who have been working there for decades who were not appointed by any administration. I know that Obama is in charge now -- but for people to be angry at this administration for not cleaning up the last administration's mess fast enough seem to be forgetting how big a mess was left behind.

I know people don't like to hear that our government is not equipped for a disaster of this magnitude. It's even more frustrating that so many on the left have been warning about this for years, even decades. That our military is unprepared to care for our own homeland is heartbreaking. I apologize if this makes me look like an Obama apologist, but if it does, so be it.

If we keep attacking our own like this, we can almost guarantee we will lose in November. Think about that alternative. There is a balance between bring critical and blaming someone, and I hope more people can try to be a little more nuanced about it. Otherwise we become as bad as what we see on the right. I know it isn't quite as black and white as that, but it's time for us to look at ourselves on the left. We need to be honest with ourselves and realize that yes, this is a horrible situation, but there are some good things happening with the response.

People have blamed this President of being arrogant and too passive. People have accused him of not doing enough and then trying to do too much. The Birthers attack him for not being a citizen, the teaparty calls him a socialist. The GOP leadership has called him thin skinned and uppity. The right is doing a fine enough job of trying to tear down this President. For those on the left to say we should do this as well with regards to the response in order to look fair is a false equivalent.

I'm scared for our country and for the Gulf. I know that everyone else is in our country as well. I suspect they are projecting their feeling on this President and administration. That's understandable considering we have more hope of getting answers and solutions from them than what we have gotten so far from BP.

When I'm busy and Nancy is busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else's mess –- we don't want somebody sitting back saying, you're not holding the mop the right way. Why don't you grab a mop, why don't you help
clean up." "Grab a mop –- let's get to work." President Obama

It's hard to be patient when things are scary. Everyone seems to have a solution in times like these, and I think it's more than fair to ask the questions and try to find and suggest solutions. That's our responsibility as citizens of the United States. This is a disaster that's almost too big to comprehend. It's unprecedented in our history. These are terrifying times.

But it's exactly for times like these that we elected Barack Obama to lead this nation as President and not John McCain.

and

Raine



*******BREAKING UPDATE*******