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[ManintheMiddle]

Note to Steel Rails: this is called a headline, which has limited space and needs to grab the browser's attention, same as my last thread banner.

General Colin Powell endorsed Obama for President last year, tipping the scale for me in favor of the latter, as I indicated on this forum. I trusted Powell's judgment although I knew his racial kinship had at least a little to do with his decision to cross party lines. But as an Independent, I could appreciate the move and his reason for having an axe to grind with the outgoing administration (i.e. Rumsfeld and Cheney, not Bush, who he still likes). In the end I didn't vote at all, suspicious of Obama's stand, or lack thereof, on affirmative action, and his lack of foreign policy experience. And, frankly, it was and is a little unnerving for me to have a President who's younger than me and sometimes acts like it.

Nonetheless, like any patriotic, well-meaning American, I gave our new President the benefit of the doubt, though. I even applauded him where I thought he was going in the right direction. A recent example was his speech to the NAACP National Conference in New York, for those of you without long memories here. I also pointed out that his election might serve as a positive role model for Black youth, which it has to an extent, and inject energy and innovation into the national agenda, which it also has, to a point. Finally, I hoped he would live up to what he wrote in his second book, when he aspired to be like Lincoln on some level, and when he repeatedly talked of being a uniter of people during the campaign, and bipartisan in his actions and outlook.

I also resisted the temptation to be petty, to refer to him by his middle name, "Hussein," because of the very negative image it obviously conjures up. Yet I grew tired of Bush being branded "W" or "Dubya," which I found offensive, especially when used by journalists (as opposed to bloggers and posters).

But now I'm going to sometimes call Obama "Hussein," because he's earned the moniker, in my view.

Cases in point:

Recently, Hussein has tried to lump all Republicans under the mantra of Rush Limbaugh. Not accurate and big mistake.

Secondly, he has stood by Pelosi rather than the CIA and his own nominated chief, Panetta, in the fallout over waterboarding.

Third, he has betrayed the Far Left, and Center Left by going back on his own promises to close Gitmo, speedily conduct trials, and so forth, as bacasper has amply noted here. He seems not to have found a viable solution to the problem, suggesting overconfidence if not overpositioning on his part during the campaign.

Fourth, he has taken a page from Bush, Jr., whose White House staff followed ABC (Anything But Clinton) when they first got into office by now distancing himself even in his stance on North Korea from Bush, failing to take into account the recent change in policy of Pyongyang.

Fifth, he has angered the White House Press Corps, including stalwart liberal Helen Thomas, by planting reporters without credentials and staging questions (including the last one yesterday on the Gates matter).

Sixth, in his press conference yesterday, with the exception of Chuck Grassley of Iowa, he had nothing good to say about Republican opposition to the current health care bill and made them the scapegoat for the delays it's experiencing in several congressional committees. Never mind the fact that it is so-called Blue Dog Democrats who are holding things up just as much.

Finally, and this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me, he had the incredible indiscretion to denounce the Cambridge Police Department--many of whose captains and lieutenants are Black--of "stupidity" in their handling of the Gates arrest despite their having dropped charges against the professor. And while he admitted to being a friend of Gates--somthing well known by those who travel in these circles anyhow--he proceeded to position the incident in to the sordid but often confused history of racial profiling. He even referred to his own work on this front as a former Illinois State Senator. Never mind that Crowley, the cop in question, was hand-picked by a Black captain on the force to deliver sensitivity training sessions for his fellow officers. Never mind that he's received several commendations, that he single handedly tried to save the life of that Black NBA player a few years back. Never mind that the police report explicitly condemns Gates' conduct or that the arresting officer who took him in is Black and the second officer on the scene is Latino.

No, Obama took the low road and didn't even have all the facts. And today he put a spin on his remarks to ABCNews saying that he didn't mean to call the police force stupid but was only trying to highlight racial profiling in America. Never mind that the officer, Sgt. Crowley, was summoned to the scene by a dispatcher responding to a 911 call or that there had been NINE burglaries in the vicinity of Gates' home (and even previous attempt on his own home, which Gates himself later admitted). That's not profiling, that's called doing your duty. Obama still doesn't "get it" because he's covering for his buddy, Skip Gates, as he calls him. Hell, even the leader of the Black Association of Police Officers, himself a liberal, criticized the President.

So let's see what happens now, if Hussein loses his famous cool when his health care bill is delayed and repackaged--when he doesn't get what he wants and feels entitled to.

And if and when he starts taking the high road again, as any good President does, I'll stop calling him Hussein.

After all, he's only six months into his first term in office and he's still learning on the job, like JFK did, and despite what his handlers would have us believe.

[ubermenzch]

[Ya-ta Boy]

As one of the main exemplars of Obama Derangement Syndrome on the board, it's hard to accept your rationalizations...

a.

[catman]

[ManintheMiddle]

Ya-Ta Boy replied point-by-point:

[Enrico Palazzo]

[catman]

[ManintheMiddle]

catman:

He admitted they have often lied in the past (see Church Amendment, 1975), rather vaguely. He did not say they lied when informing Congress of their interrogation methods at Gitmo.

29 words, one set of numbers.

[RufusW]

[dmbfan]

[NAVFC]

Maninthemiddlee, the Republicans begging Rush for forgiveness has EVERYTHING to do with your comment.

If Rush Limbuagh has such power in the GOP that any republican who has offended him ends up apologizing to him and asking his forgiveness, then lumping the republican party with Rush is a fair statement, because no other single republican has that kind of power.

By virtue of the power he holds it makes him the GOP's most senior member..when all others, who can't hold that kind of power over each other, would yield it to him.

[ManintheMiddle]

Dufus wrote:

[RJjr]

As the de facto ruler of Iraq, it's appropriate that Obama should be called "Hussein." Caesar/Kaiser is so pre-2000 A.D. In this age of peak oil, Hussein is the new title for emperors.

[bacasper]