Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything
Given my Religious Right background I’m one of the President’s most unlikely fans. Maybe that’s because I know the alternative– from the inside. I fear the alternative to the President — Far Right loons of the Tea Party/evangelical religious right ilk — and have never felt I had the luxury of being an armchair lefty critic demoralizing Obama’s supporters because he’s the only person who stands between the village idiots and us.
Before he’d served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted Left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled Right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds — including this white, straight, 60-year-old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of Francis Schaeffer a famous evangelical leader described in my book Crazy For God) this most unlikely Obama supporter — stuck with our President.
Why?– because he is succeeding against the tallest odds ever maliciously and stupidly stuck in the way of any American president by the most vicious and unpatriotic crew of malcontents, racists, snobs and fools to ever try and take a president down.
Obama’s steady supporters will be proved right. His second term will be glorious. Then Obama’s critics on the Left and Right will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged fools at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst.
The Context of the Obama Presidency
Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe, the Second World War and the Depression has any president faced more adversity. Not since the Civil War has any president led a more bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial integration has any president faced a more consistently short-sighted and willfully ignorant opposition – from both the Right and Left.
As Ryan Lizza writes in the New Yorker:
“Obama didn’t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street.”
Here is what President Obama faced when he took office:
- An ideologically divided country to the point that America was really two countries
- Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that was unnecessary and immoral
- The worst economic crisis since the Depression
- America’s standing in the world at the lowest point in history
- A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture of prisoners of war
- A health care system in free fall
- An educational system in free fall
- A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions (about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done nothing) and that today’s Republicans have lied about as they serve their oil/coal company masters
- An impasse between culture warriors from the Right and Left
- A Republican Party bet on obstructing him even when it cost the country
- A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally irresponsible Bush administration…
- And those were only some of the problems sitting on the President’s desk!
“Help” from the Right?
What did the Republicans and the Religious Right, libertarians and half-baked Tea Party racist conspiracy theorists — that is what the Republicans were reduced to by the time President Obama took office — do to “help” our new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he wasn’t a real American, didn’t have an American birth certificate, wasn’t born here, was secretly a Muslim, was white-hating “racist”, was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (no kidding!) and wanted “death panels” to kill the elderly.
They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized “tea parties” to sound off against imagined insults and all government in general and gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry lobbyists and deranged (but well financed) “commentators” from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh and billionaire agitators like the Koch brothers who literally tried to buy the government.
As the LA Times noted:
“If Obama wins reelection, one would assume that, after he leaves office in January 2017 and the United States is still a free society with a capitalist economy, the conspiracy theorists will finally admit they were wrong — but I would not count on it. Conservative Christian groups that, four years ago, predicted Obama would have revealed himself as some version of the Antichrist by now have simply adjusted their schedule for the looming victory of Satan. In the same way, the paranoid imagineers of the right will come up with some creative explanation for why Obama, having achieved the nefarious goal for which he was secretly trained, ended up governing only slightly to the left of Bob Dole.”
The list of nutty fabrications about Obama, his administration and Democrats is long. Here’s a small sample from FactCheck.org:
• Obama intends to force a complete ban on all weapons for U.S. citizens through a United Nationstreaty. Total paranoid fantasy — Obama has actually broadened the number of places where citizens can carry guns.
• Barack and Michelle Obama surrendered their law licenses to avoid ethics charges. Another big lie.
• This dictatorial president has issued 900 executive orders, some creating martial law. Wrong — he’s signed 139 executive orders, none establishing extraordinary powers.
• The government bought 79% of the vehicles sold by General Motors in June. Nope, completely false.
• The Democratic National Convention hosted a Muslim prayer service while rejecting prayers from a Catholic cardinal. Another falsehood — the Muslim service took place in a park and the cardinal gave the convention’s final prayer.
• Obama plans to deny emergency brain surgery to patients over 70, do away with the National Day of Prayer and get rid of the White House Christmas tree. Once again, lie, lie, lie.
The utterly discredited Roman Catholic bishops teamed up with the utterly discredited evangelical leaders to denounce a president who was trying to actually do something about the poor, the environment, to diminish the number of abortions through compassionate programs to help women and to care for the sick. And in Congress the Republican leadership only knew one word: “No!”
“Help” from the Left?
The Left’s lack of faith became a self-fulfilling “prophecy” in lost voter enthusiasm — snipe at the President and then watch the poll numbers fall and then pretend you didn’t have anything to do with it.
What did the Left do to help our newly elected president? Within weeks some of them excoriated the President because they disagreed with the bad choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan that he’d inherited from the worst president in modern history. They pissed and moaned on MSNBC, Alternet, Huffington Post et al because the President didn’t do everything he wanted to do soon enough. People like Paul Krugman second guessed everything President Oabama did, until — belatedly — a few folks like Krugman backtracked after President Obama’s list of huge accomplishments became hard to argue with.
Others on the cranky Left (like Bob Woodward who said President Obama was “Arrogant, aloof, and unprepared” in his book The Price of Politics) stood up and bravely proclaimed that the President’s economic policies had “failed” before the President even instituted them. Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been fully won within virtually minuets of the President taking office, they’d been “betrayed”!
Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on election night in 2008 turned into an angry “disappointed” mob Leftist saying how discouraged they were that they’d not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House. Where was the “change”? Contrary to their expectations they were still mere mortals!
“Governing”?! What the hell does that word, uh, like mean?”
The President’s critics Left and Right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history. Then of course there were the white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just couldn’t imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren’t as smart as they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their president. He hadn’t consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong!
Meanwhile back in the reality-based community as listed by the Daily Kos President Obama had:
Improved the Economy and Reduced the Debt
1. 3,680,000 private sector jobs created since the end of the Bush Great Recession ref ref
2. Expanded government’s fight against fraud in Financial ref, Federal Contractor ref and Health Care areas ref
3. $2,000,000,000,000 in deficit reduction ref
4. He saved the economy from ruin (until the Tea Party took over Congress) with a stimulus that was as large as possible given the political realities ref
5. Saved the US Auto Industry ref, ref
6. Health Care Reform ref
7. Reduced military spending by $500,000,000,000 ref
Reigned in Wall Street Excesses
8. Wall Street Reform ref ref ref
9. Leaned on the banks to recover almost all “bailout money” with interest ref ref
10. Saved the world from global financial collapse ref ref
11. Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. ref
Made America Safer
12. Killed Osama Bin Laden ref
13. Killed a whole generation of al Qaeda leaders ref
14. Stopped numerous terrorist attacks in this country ref ref
15. Authorized and oversaw a secret mission by SEAL Team Six to rescue two hostages held by Somali pirates. ref
16. Unified the world against Iran and brought unprecedented united international pressure against Iran’s nuclear bomb potential ref
17. More deportations per year than Bush ref
18. Hired more border patrol agents than Bush ref
Reduced Taxes
19. Tax rates for average working families are the lowest since 1950. ref
20. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, cut taxes for 95% of America’s working families. ref
21. Reduced Social Security Taxes for 2011 and 2012 ref
Brought More Efficiency to the Federal Government
22. Smaller Government ref ref
23. Fewer regulations than Bush ref
Strengthened Personal Liberties
24. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; Instituted equal pay for women. ref, ref, ref
25. Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. ref
26. Support’s states’ right on medical marijuana ref
27. Repealed “Don’t ask don’t tell” refref
28. Appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. ref
29. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. ref
30. Changed HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing ref
31. Publicly expressed support for the right to enter into a same-sex marriage. ref
32. Implemented much of Dream Act via Executive Order ref
33. Appointed two pro-choice women to the Supreme Court ref
Helped Make the World a Safer, More Democratic, and More American Friendly Place
34. Ended the war in Iraq ref
35. Established a date for transferring Afghanistan fighting to Afghanis. ref
36. Toppled Gadhafi without an American casualty ref
37. Fired the first salvo of the Arab Spring with his address in Cairo no less ref
38. Has the Arab League watching Syria ref
39. Presided over democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Bahrain
40. Helped to restore America’s reputation around the world as a global leader that does the “right thing” in world affairs, at least according to the rest of the world. ref ref
41. On his second day in office, he signed a detailed Executive Order that banned torture, reversed all Bush torture policies, and put the United States in compliance with the Geneva Convention. ref ref
42. Three new trade agreements ref
Increased Respect and Public Support for American Soldiers
43. Increased veterans/benefits every year ref ref
44. Along with Congressional Democrats, not only reauthorized families of fallen soldiers to be able to visit when the body arrives at Dover AFB, but also provided funding for it. Ended the media blackout on coverage of the return of fallen soldiers. ref ref
45. Signed the Democratic-sponsored Post-9/11 GI Bill, also known as GI Bill 2.0 ref
Invested in Education
46. Invested in college students: 1) by repeatedly increased funding for student financial aid, and at the same time cut the banks completely out of the process. ref ref ref 2) by reforming student loan program, to make it possible for students to refinance at a lower rate. ref and 3) by overseeing an expansion of the Pell Grants program, to expand opportunity for low income students to go to college. ref
47. Invested in primary education: Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , invested heavily in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. ref
48. Oversaw major expansion of broadband availability in K-12 schools nationwide ref
49. Oversaw major expansion in school construction. ref
50. Also through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he put $5 billion into early education, including Head Start. ref
Protected What We Eat, Drink and Breathe.
51. Strengthened environmental protection via new laws and policies. ref ref ref ref refref ref.
52. Fast-tracked regulations to dramatically increase fuel efficiency standards ref ref
53. Strengthened the bond between clean energy and commerce by overseeing establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, to create more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. ref Oversaw the creation of an initiative that converts old factories and manufacturing centers into new clean technology centers. ref
54. Pushed through a tax credit to help people buy plug-in hybrid cars. ref
55. Obama EPA reversed a Bush-era decision to allow the largest mountaintop removal project in US history. ref
56. Turned America toward native sources of renewal energy Ordered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources like wind and solar, by 2021. ref (As you can see, Republicans are trying hard to kill it.)
57. Created a program to develop renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that will produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents. ref
58. Bypassed Republican opposition in Congress and ordered EPA to begin regulating and measuring carbon emissions. ref
59. Oversaw doubling federal spending on clean energy research. ref
60. Reengaged in the climate change and greenhouse gas emissions agreements talks, and proposed one himself. He also addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference, officially reversing the Bush era stance that climate change was a “hoax.” ref ref ref
Who actually has failed?
The Americans that can’t see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth are the failures. It’s right under our jaded noses!
Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the Left and Right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proved correct in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned “news” into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.
The future looks good
After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts — with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.
So when are President Obama’s critics, people like Paul Krugman (from the Left) and Mitt Romney (from the Right), going to offer President Obama an apology?
Both have often loudly predicted that he made the economy “worse” and was putting America on the wrong economic path. Both are being proved wrong by the economic comeback we are in. I mention them not to pick on Krugman, who I respect, or even on Romney (who I regard as vapid and bought and paid for by corporate interests) but to make a point: President Obama is going to have the last laugh on his critics, no matter what ideological spectrum they hail from.
President Obama is succeeding in spite of the fact that he’s been up against a Republican Party willing to destroy the economy in order to destroy him.
As the New Yorker notes:
“Two well-known Washington political analysts, Thomas Mann, of the bipartisan Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, agree. In a forthcoming book about Washington dysfunction, ‘It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,’ they write, ‘One of our two major parties, the Republicans, has become an insurgent outlier–ideologically extreme, contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime, scornful of compromise, unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.'”
The President keeps proving himself smarter than his detractors
President Obama will win a second term 2012. And 4 years later all that will be remembered about his critics is that they were impatient, deluded and wrong.
Given what was on his plate when he took office and the fact that we’re successfully struggling out of both recession and the aftermath of 2 wars — and succeeding — President Obama is one of the best of the American presidents already. His second term will consolidate that verdict and bodes true greatness and national recovery as his legacy.
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Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.
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