“Do you think when two representatives holding diametrically opposing views get together and shake hands, the contradictions between our systems will simply melt away? What kind of a daydream is that?” – Nikita Khrushchev
Our President reminds me of Santa Claus, who always knows when you’re sleeping or awake, or whether you’ve been bad or good. Apparently he’s keenly aware of our political opinions. Mr. Obama is constantly complaining about the American people’s frustrations with his policies, decrying all such complaints as a simple lack of knowledge about what his plan really is. In speech after speech, the President readdresses the need to correct people’s understanding.
In his September 9 speech to Congress, Mr. Obama claimed that “[i]nstead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics… [a]nd out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned” [1]. He tells us that the only reason we don’t like his programs is because we are uninformed. But wait – only 37.7 percent of Americans approve of his plan [2]. In our President’s eyes, the majority of Americans are thus clueless.
If, and only if, the majority of Americans are truly lacking understanding, it can only be because we are stupid or the President has not clearly communicated his plan. Considering that Mr. Obama has given more speeches during his presidency than days he has served, and because we do have access to the health care bill, we certainly aren’t missing his message. We aren’t stupid. We understand clearly.
In his interview with CBS’s Steve Kroft aired on “60 Minutes” last night, the President got very upset when Mr. Kroft suggested that Mr. Obama’s West Point speech “was greeted with a great deal of confusion.” The President immediately quipped that indeed Americans did understand and dismissed claims of contradiction, saying, “I don’t think [those claims are] a fair criticism” [3]. When he finished recapping his December 1 speech, he ended by saying that “[t]here shouldn’t be anything confusing about that” [3]. I was simply flabbergasted – and embarrassed – by the President’s rush to judge Americans as somehow maliciously incompetent.
Our President seems to have some wild and crazy belief that he knows exactly why each and every one of us is either for or against his plans. Unfortunately the only explanation I see is that either the President doesn’t care to listen or he has a team of pollsters about as capable at reading people’s reactions as Tom Green; I simply cannot fathom any other way he could misinterpret our message. Ask yourselves: what kind of person could only believe that any person with an oppositing opinion is uninformed?
1. “Transcript of Obama’s address to Congress,” msnbc.com, September 9, 2009.
2. Obama and Democrats’ Health Care Plan Polling Data, realclearpolitics.com, December 14, 2009.
3. “Transcript: President Barack Obama,” cbsnews.com, November 13, 2009.
