Time to stop the bashing

IMO a lot of voters were swept up in the moment in 2008; it was a unique election, you have to admit.  Here was "our guy" - amazingly intelligent and amazingly eloquent [especially when compared to the person who would be vacating the office of the POTUS], young and hip with no visible "issues" and very little, if any, "baggage" [especially when compared to his opponent(s)], a guy you felt you could be friends with, one who reflected "We The People" in a way that no other presidential candidate had before, at least it seemed so to those of us who voted D in 2008. This man was the 'change' we had been looking for, and we embraced him and his message with wholehearted ingenuousness. We were so desperate to believe that we DID believe, and we believed with such enthusiasm that - just maybe - Mr. Obama also started to believe ... he believed that the mandate that we had literally thrown at him would provide him the means to make the changes necessary so that this country could be great again. 

That said, a lot of the people who voted for Barack Obama - I shall venture to say the majority of them - had and have very little idea of how the American government works in real life. That, and the fact that, not just the far right, but most of the Republican party, had been force fed toxins during the presidential campaign made the situation ripe for disappointment and disillusionment. 

Off subject a bit:  I’ve heard it bandied about that Republicans seem to be 'good followers' - or at least better followers than Democrats.  IMHO this has more to do with religious training. As a group, Republicans will proudly admit to being Christian, and the basis of that religion is abject submission and servitude to an "almighty".  Thus inculcated from birth, it's not hard to imagine how this characteristic can be and is exploited by less-than-scrupulous leaders.  This is not an insult - I came from such a family myself and I've been through the ‘brainwashing’.  It is what it is and nothing more than that.  It becomes a hideous thing only when used for hideous ends.

Is anyone dumbfounded at the attacks on Obama from the so-called professional progressive blogs?  If so, to me this shows a certain amount of sweet naiveté.  These professional bloggers - and not a few professional pundits, for that matter - figured out long ago that controversy and a willingness to be a potty-mouth will get one noticed. It's less about the message and a whole lot more about the messenger - just look at Sarah Palin's M.O.  She is still getting attention even though she's basically a non-player at this point.

There is a correlation between the invectives and the fact that the POTUS is, for all intents and purposes, Black. A majority of the Americans who are of European descent - the same ones whose ancestors basically stole this continent from the First Inhabitants, the ones whose ancestors "owned" other human beings - are incapable of owning up to the fact that they are, to some degree, racist.  Doesn't matter whether they vote 'R' or 'D' or 'I'.  The fact that a lot of Republicans - and not a few Democrats - insist that the Founders were Christians [which they most assuredly were not] and established America as a so-called 'Christian nation', protected and guided by their White God, does not bode well for any changes in the near future.  Sadly it just won't happen.

Personally I still think Barack Obama offers the best hope for America.  I can't think of anyone else I would seriously consider for president now or in 2012. 

 I don't know what I am going to do in 2016.