Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: If you don’t love him, you don’t love America, Ed Rogers suggests.
Defending Rudy Giuliani’s assertion that he doesn’t believe Barack Obama “loves America,” Republican lobbyist and Washington Post blogger Ed Rogers (2/23/15) says “there are plenty of reasons that suggest Obama might not love America as it is or in the traditional sense.”
Funnily enough, most of these reasons seem to have little to with America, in either a traditional or non-traditional sense, but instead involve a set of foreign countries that one apparently has to take a stand on one way or the other to be a true American.
For example, here are a few of the things Rogers cites Obama as either criticizing or being insufficiently enthusiastic about, thereby suggesting that he “doesn’t exactly see America as the light in the darkness or as the world’s best hope”:
- “our loyal ally, the prime minister of Israel”
- Winston Churchill
- “the Christian Crusaders of 900 years ago”
It’s not clear why you should have to embrace any foreign politician, living or dead, in order to prove that you love America—much less endorse Western Europe’s efforts to colonize the Eastern Mediterranean 400 years before Europe was aware that America existed.
Jen Sorensen points out the flaw in the “Obama doesn’t love America because he loves ISIS” argument.
There are also a number of people or places that Obama needs to hate more if he’s going to satisfy Republicans that he truly loves America:
- Venezuela, Iran, North Korea—”America’s enemies” that he “agree[d] to meet unconditionally with”
- Cuba and Russia—”traditional enem[ies]” that he is “quick to let…have their way”
- “Islamic terrorists” whom he “leave[s] the impression that he doesn’t want to offend” because he “won’t even put the words ‘Islamic’ and ‘terrorist’ together”
Does it need to be pointed out groups like ISIS are not at all offended to be called “Islamic,” and actually much prefer it when people refer to them that way, which is why ISIS has “Islamic State” in its name?
Closer to home, there are two Americans mentioned whose connections to Obama are presented as indications that he “doesn’t really care”: “the perpetually aggrieved Rev. Al Sharpton” and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, described as a “civil rights lawyer” who “tends to look for grievances.”
Apparently, in the domestic sphere, shunning people of color who have “grievances” is the sum total of what it means to “love America.”
There *are* plenty of reasons that suggest Dear Misleader might not love America, if by “America” you mean most everyone who lives here.
They overlap in large measure with the same reasons you could present as evidence that Rogers and his ilk don’t love America.
That this idiocy passes as legitimate political discourse could be added to that list.
We white Americans have an enormous challenge to openly & within our hearts and souls accept American Persons of Color. We have a “long way to go”!
Back in the day, Fox and Friends were talking about “patriotic movies” and they included the Passion of the Christ.
The substitute host, Juliet Huddy (sp?) said, wait a minute, how is that patriotic? The regular male dunderhead host looked even dumber than usual working that one out.
Wave – Jesus was killed because he was a Jew and to the Jews, he committed blasphemy by equating himself with God.
He agreed they were the chosen people. We all agree still that they were God’s chosen people.
In Islam if you commit blasphemy which means even criticism of Islam the penalty is still death.
Next time I think of buying from Amazon.com, I’ll try to keep in mind that its founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, bought the Washington Post (for cash) and is responsible for what is printed in its pages and through its website.
With a president in the White House ordering drone attacks against such “enemies” as he, in his sole discretion determines; who deports record numbers of undocumented people; who has done nothing for organized labor; who has offered no job programs notwithstanding record numbers of unemployed; who has prosecuted more whistle blowers than any other president; whose justice department let Cliven Bundy thumb his nose at the BLM and FBI in Nevada and backed down in the face of armed insurrection; who chose to avoid his obligations, under international law, to prosecute war criminals; who reimbursed the capitalist class for its losses from the 2007-2008 meltdown, while imposing neo-liberal benign neglect on the multitudes whose fortunes have flagged or failed; whose IRS and Justice Department actively work to shut down legal medical marijuana suppliers; who’s working mightily for congressional approval of secrecy surround the Trans Pacific Partnership; whose signature accomplishment (?) is a healthcare scheme that was born in 1983 at the reactionary Heritage Foundation; whose cabinet secretary for Education is a leader in the field of privatization; and supports the encirclement of Russia by absorbing Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia into the new NATO cordon sanitaire–of what could conservatives, reactionaries and Republicans complain?
Is there a Republican candidate in the last two elections who would have had a more conservative record?
Honestly, racism is the only answer, whether they’re racists themselves or simply use such hatred to jockey themselves into positions of greater power.
I’ve been hoping that someone would step up to defend the legacy of Frank Marshall Davis, one of the most important black journalists of the 20th Century, who has become the latest casualty of attempts to impugn Obama.
And I’m pretty sure the Romans killed Jesus, just as I’m sure there’s a long list of Jewish social progressives in the history books. Some of these comments are getting dumber by the day.
I just passed a TV tuned to Fox, and saw the banner: “1/3rd of Americans think Obama doesn’t love America”.
How many Americans are republican? Oh, yeah, about 1/3rd.
What a surprise.
Great points Mr. Naureckas. I appreciate the counterpoints to the “not loving” argument. Strange stuff. Objectivity is the answer.
This poem seems relevant, by Langston Hughes:
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/let-america-be-america-again