Republicans and conservatives are often accused of holding President Obama to an impossible standard and simply criticizing him for every decision he makes. It is not surprising that the GOP is opposed to many of the policy proposals of the president (similar to the Democrat's response to Bush), however when Obama accomplishes something in the War on Terror he deserves credit for that progress.
A recent push by Pakistan has resulted in the capture of the number 2 Taliban commander, another Taliban leader, a group of lower level leaders and then another major operative in recent days. While I could not pretend to know all of the background and closed door discussions that have went into these developments, it seems fairly clear that Obama has been able to convince Pakistan to tighten the noose on the terrorist elements camping out on their Afghan border region.
It would be hypocritical to chastise Obama for attempting to accept credit for the improvement in Iraq, while not acknowledging his contribution to the capture of these terrorist leaders.
Praising Obama is not impossible for a conservative like me. I honestly wish I could do it more, but that would require him pushing legislation and policies I support, which would lead him to alienate his natural supporters. I know this apparently shocks some liberals, like Keith Olbermann, but the vast majority of conservatives support or oppose the advancement of policies and ideas. It has nothing to do with Obama personally. On this issue, I'm grateful that Obama has been able to apply the needed pressure on Pakistan to see them step up their efforts on combating the terrorists within their borders.
Look Cin, Aaron providing proof that miracles do happen: a conservative Republican trying to be fair to Obama.
This is a repeat "miracle." What would be a real, previously unseen miracle, would be for you or Cin to not assume the worst motivations for conservative Republican actions. ;)
I don't "assume," I observe.
Louis, ever the one for pithy comments. I like it. I disagree. But I like it.
OK, could you please explain how you "observe" motivations, as that is entirely impossible.
You observe actions and infer or assume motivations. You inference or assumption may be correct, but you cannot observe my motivations or anyone else that differs from you (sexually, politically, religiously, ethically, etc.)
I do something that I have personally been accused of never doing (and collective as part of conservatism and Christianity) – praising a decision by President Obama. Your first response is to make a crack about it being a miracle that I'm "trying to be fair." Who's the one being unfair?
My concern is not motivations, but words and actions. My observation of conservative Republicans and Christians in this poisonous political atmosphere is that any attempt at all to be fair to Obama is a true miracle. You should rejoice: the age of miracles is evidently not over.
Unfortunately, TypePad deleted a comment I posted with over a dozen links to stories where I defend Pres. Obama or criticized attacks against him. Apparently, miracles are not that rare.
I can only speak for myself, but you can search through the archives and see the numerous examples where I am fair to Obama. Do I criticize him? Of course, we disagree politically. But I also defend him when I see others being unfair and dishonest.
My comment addresses conservatives in general. Still, I think it's miraculous that any right-winger could defend Obama.
Hi Louis:
Thus proof that miracles DO exist! :-)
keith
hi Aaron;
This is probably a nit picking thing but you wrote:
Praising Obama is not impossible for a conservative like me. I honestly wish I could do it more, but that would require him pushing legislation and policies I support, which would lead him to alienate his natural supporters.
It also might require him to push policies that he himself disagrees with. The thing is, people disagree about political policies. I don't think there's any reason for you to wish you could praise the President more often–there's only reason for you to wish that he agreed with you more often. This isn't a big deal, props to you for giving the President credit when you think it's due. That attitude is what's needed to help end the toxicity of present-day political discourse. But it seems to me implicit in your comment that it's a sad fact that we all cannot praise the President of the US. I think that's wrong. Unless you are saying that you generally think the President has behaved dishonorably. If that's your opinion then I'd just say you are flat out wrong:-)
keith
I don't think there's any reason for you to wish you could praise the President more often–there's only reason for you to wish that he agreed with you more often.
Glad to talk with you again Keith. Yes, that is definitely part of it. I do wish he agreed with me more. But I also wish I could praise him more for several reasons.
Personally, I like the man. I'm not one who sees him as some crazed, evil man bent on destroying the nation.
Secondly, he confesses Christ. I don't know him personally so I have no idea of his walk with Christ, but he says he is a believer so he is my brother in Christ. I do pray for him and that makes me want to praise him more often.
Thirdly, perhaps this is a bit selfish, but I don't especially enjoy being called a racist or have political commentators infer that I'm a racist because I disagree with a President who happens to be black.
Honestly, I want to praise him as well because of the historic reality of him being the first minority President. I want to live in a nation where every child can realistically dream of becoming President regardless of their personal traits.
But it seems to me implicit in your comment that it's a sad fact that we all cannot praise the President of the US. I think that's wrong.
My comment was more political in nature. I mean I can come on here and write a blog post about how I think President Obama is a good husband and a wonderful dad, from all I know about him. But that's not really anything of substance and is a personal opinion with no real bearing on news of the day.
I simply wanted to be consistent and praise the President for implementing policies and pursuing agendas which I believe to be beneficial to our nation. We disagree on so much else, but that should not prevent me from simply opposing him on everything. If I would support an action if President Bush did it, then I should do the same for President Obama. That is the standard I wish to pursue and exemplify.
I would be satisfied if the right would at least respect the President. Unfortunately, that seems to be beyond the reach of most of them.
I'm not a professional historian, and America has been contentious from the beginning, but the current atmosphere seems to be the worst since pre-Civil War times.
I know a lot of liberals and none of the people I know would say that disagreement with the President implies racism. None of the serious commentators on the left say such and (maybe more importantly) President Obama has explicitly disavowed such a sentiment. But I cannot help but think that a lot of the raging paranoia on the right IS motivated in part by racial prejudice. raging left wing paranoia is motivated by a different pathology, but it is also pathological.
One of the worst problems of our political discourse these days is the idea that HONEST disagreement is impossible, that the only reason "they" disagree with "us" is that they are reprehensible traitors or greedy bastards. IMO the tea party anger is fueled by that kind of animus, and so was a lot of the anti-religious bigotry tossed about the extremist left. From my (biased) POV, the percentage of crazy right wingers is larger than the proportion of crazies on the left–much larger. But nuts on my side definitely exist and I demounce their nuttiness, both here and when I encounter it. But I denounce it very politely:-)
your friend
Keith