Can We Trust Obama?

As a Democrat, I had to like Obama. I didn’t like the questionable links to Islam, but I did like the fact that he was black. To me, nothing highlighted what makes this the finest nation in the history of the world like a real true example of a descendent of slaves rising to occupy the highest office in the land. I knew that he didn’t actually descend from slaves, but he represents the African American population. The point was that America was putting its money where its mouth was finally, and not letting race be a factor that prevents a candidate from becoming President.

     I also liked his promises not to unfairly favor the wealthy, or big business, and instead to give advantages to the poor and the working class. I have never understood why it is allowable for multimillionaires to be able to shelter and hide their vast incomes from the IRS while schmucks like me have to pay in a third of our relatively paltry salaries every year. I can tell you that my life would improve significantly if I got to keep that money. Of course, I realize that someone has to pay the bills, and that all of our lives would suffer unthinkable changes if the US government didn’t have funding to support the infrastructures that make for the luxuries we all take for granted. So, I don’t really begrudge paying my taxes so much. I just wish that the burden to do so were spread about more fairly.

      Now, I must profess some ignorance. I really do not know technically what would ever appeal to anyone about socialism or communism. I have never read more than I was required to in high school or college about Karl Marx, and V.I. Lenin, and about McCarthyism here in our own country. To me, socialism and communism are evil, but to others, usually intellectuals whose knowledge of these philosophies vastly eclipses mine, there must be some merit because there are still socialist and communist parties here in the United States.  I’ve never even physically visited a communist country, and have little desire to ever do so. What I know is good old American Capitalism, and to me, that is all tied up with the social mobility and freedom of choice that make America the envy of the rest of the globe.

     So, what are we to think when our president, inside of his first 100 days, makes it a priority to meet with world leaders who embrace outright socialism? We all heard the rumors during the campaign that Obama had once belonged to the Socialist Party in Chicago and that this was where he made many of his less-flattering acquaintences. I even saw a copy of a document that purportedly proved it. Still, I chalked that up to propaganda from the other side. But now, meeting with Chavez and Castro? Slapping them on the backs, shaking hands, and swapping books with them? What does that mean?

    Then, he went to Turkey and announced to the world that the U.S. is not at war with Islam, and went on to say that the U.S. did not consider itself to be a Christian nation. Well, first of all, I am willing to agree with the statement that we are not Technically at was with ALL of Islam, but we most certainly are at war with the segment of it that encourages bombing our innocent civilians. However, when he denies to the world the heritage and history of the faith of the founders of our nation, by saying that we are not a Christian nation, well, it is inaccurate to say the least.

      Now, I read daily in the papers about President Obama’s plans to take over the banks and the Motor Vehicle industry, and since the taxpayers are bailing them out, these businesses are no longer privately owned, but owned at least in part by the government. Isn’t that what socialism is all about? When I read about his intentions for the healthcare industry, I can’t escape the impression that it sounds an awful lot like “socialized” medicine. I am beginning to seriously wonder whether this president isn’t really a Socialist who has every intention to inflict his views irrevocably on the rest of us. 

      Furthermore, I am grappling more and more frequently with my ability to trust him. Little nagging things that in and of themselves don’t amount to much, but my mind just won’t let them go  are eating away at my confidence in our presidents truthfulness. For example, his statements to distance himself from the controversial Rev. Wright. Are we really supposed to believe that Obama attended that church for 20 years and never heard the words the preacher was speaking?  And this is petty, but the dog thing bugs me. Obama promised that his family would adopt a stray dog. However, somehow that stray wound up being a highly coveted breed that was a gift from the Kennedy family. I might have let it slide if it weren’t for the pitiful cover story that Obama’s people tried to spin about how the pet was initially intended for someone else who couldn’t take it, thus making the pet a stray for about 15 minutes, blah blah blah. Nobody bought it. It was just too insulting to the intelligence.  Oh, and then there is the matter of his bowing for the king of Saudi Arabia. We all saw the footage. If that wasn’t a bow, then I don’t know what one is. And I am a square dancer, and bowing is something I have done thousands of times.  I could forgive him for bowing to the Saudi king. It was a breach of decorum, but nothing any worse than President Bush did, but what bothers me again is that he lied to us about it. He said it wasn’t a bow, when clearly it was.

    I suppose Obama feels confident that the press, which adores him still, would take him at his word on the bowing issue, and for the most part, they did, but that opens up a whole new concern. If we can’t trust our media to be unbiased in its treatment of the president, then how can we be sure that we are getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? What is really going on in Washington?

     Finally, I have to say something about the disturbing trend of censoring information that we have seen with this president. If you try to look for documents from his past, like the Socialist party affiliation issue, or to look up his thesis papers from college, you quickly come to the realization that these records have been purged, and made inaccessible in a way that any normal citizen would not be able to accomplish. Even some or all of his voting and attendance records as a Senator are off limits.  I don’t know what to make of the whole birth certificate issue either. When it was first mentioned to me by a rather extremist acquaintance of mine, I discounted it immediately as the ramblings of a disgruntled person whose candidate was losing the election, but I eventually looked into it a little more, and I have not seen any convincing proof that Obama was born in Hawaii as he claims. To the contrary, I have actually seen some rather disturbing evidence that there is some kind of a cover-up taking place. Obama’s party posted one copy of his alleged birth certificate, and then later changed it to something else, and most recently, what was presented was a “certificate of live birth”, which is not the same thing as a birth certificate. A Certificate of live birth, in fact is what is given to mothers whose babies are born OUTSIDE of the country.  I have even heard the quote from Obama’s African Grandmother when she describes the day when he was born in Kenya!  And now, you guessed, the Hawaiian birth records of our president are sealed from public viewing. The public is not able to verify that the man in the whitehouse is able to meet the constitutional requirements to be president. It seems to me that it would be so very simple to put that matter to rest and simply produce the original document. Why all this secrecy? 

    Frankly, I don’t even care where he was born. His mother was an American citizen. That should qualify him no matter what, shouldn’t it? But why must they cover up, censor, and block access to the documents? 

       These things bother me a great deal. I can not recall a time in my life when the American people were more in the dark as it pertains to what our president is actually up to. I can also not recall a time in my life when the stakes were as high, or the economy in such a mess as this. To me, this is a very dangerous time for us to have a secretive president who has ideas that the majority of us may not share, and whose actions are cloaked and affectionately handled by a press that is biased in his favor way too heavily.

     Wake up America. I am not saying that there is any diabolical plot to destroy us, but how would we know if there were? What is Obama’s ultimate solution, and are we comfortable with it? How far from the U.S. Constitution are we willing to allow Obama and this Congress to stray?