Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Office of The Presidency

With the exception of my Twitter feed I have largely kept my politics to myself this election season, because I realize I see things from a certain perspective, that my loved ones have different points of view, and my love for my family to me is infinitely more important than my desire for the political victory of any individual politician or political party. I believe my family has largely made up their minds about their vote this year, as have I.

When my family (my siblings, their spouses, and I) discuss politics, it can become heated at times. Since our discussions are usually everyone in my age group "against" me, I sometimes walk away feeling very concerned that I am somehow seen as "the opposition." I have certainly been told that my blog is "partisan," to which I have answered and will answer "yes it is." I am a conservatively-minded person, and I make no bones about it. I recognize the good and bad in both parties, and while I have not always spoken out as loudly about the wrong actions taken by Republicans, we all can grow and learn. I think, therefore I am.

At this moment in time, given recent events and information coming to light, I now can no longer bite my tongue in good conscience. I write this expecting my family to read this, and I hope they will put aside their partisan differences with me and see the big picture of what is happening right now on the world stage, and how it is being affected by President Obama.

I also write this for anyone who comes across it, and I invite you to take my perspective into consideration as you decide who will earn your vote for President on November 6, 2012.

Please understand I don’t say these words lightly; What breaks my silence is that we are learning President Obama and his administration has been dishonest with us, and therefore cannot be trusted.

A quick “disclosure” of sorts for those who don’t know me personally or who may not read my rants: I am a recovered addict, and therefore at times in my life I was a liar. I spun truth. I deflected responsibility and pointed the finger of blame, or told complete lies in an effort to better my appearance for various reasons. I lied to employers, I lied to people I considered friends; I lied to myself, and worst of all I lied to my family. I made excuses for everything, always had someone or some circumstance to blame for my deficiencies, and only would accept responsibility for things when the outcome was in my favor.

When one lie is told, it is often because other lies have been told and the liar has been able to get away with those lies. We’ve all heard the old saying “He lies so much he probably is starting to believe his lies are truth.” I was that person at a time, and I have developed a rather keen sense for detecting such behavior in others. Takes one to know one, they say…

Of course I am not here to claim that I am perfect. I am human, therefore I am flawed. But I have insights and a sense of perspective that perhaps others may not have, due to the places my life’s choices have taken me. To say I have seen things others have not seen is an understatement, to be certain.

Below I link to a few articles describing the situation surrounding the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, what the administration knew, and when they knew it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-benghazi-emails-idUSBRE89N02C20121024

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57538689/emails-detail-unfolding-benghazi-attack-on-sept-11/?tag=AverageMixRelated

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/state-dept-email-white-house-607-pm-91112-ansar-al-sharia-claims-responsibility



It is now more than evident that people inside The White House knew at approximately 6pm on September 11, 2012 that our consulate was under attack, a group was taking responsibility, and that group was an Islamic militant group. This information came to The White House from no less than The State Department, which means that multiple agencies inside our federal government knew the truth as the attack took place.

To be fair, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement which said, in part, that "posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence."

I believe the evidence is and has been overwhelming since the attacks took place.

Ask yourself; Would the same Facebook account be deemed credible by this administration, were it broadcasting that America had assassinated on of the terror group's leadership?

On September 12, 2012. President Obama got on a plane after a full night’s sleep. He was headed to Las Vegas for a campaign stop. President Obama received the proverbial 3am phone call, and rather than be the leader he presents himself to be, he slept while four Americans were murdered in Benghazi, Libya.

On Sunday, September 16, 2012, The White House sent UN Ambassador Susan Rice out to five Sunday talk shows to perpetuate the lie about a YouTube video. It has been discussed as common knowledge amongst many media veterans that it would definitely be The White House that would decide who would represent the administration in such circumstances, therefore top advisers made the decision to dispatch Ms. Rice and certainly President Obama was aware of her agenda that day.

At the service where the bodies of the murdered Americans arrived stateside, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama mentioned the video. President Obama went before the United Nations and mentioned this YouTube video no less than six times during his address to the General Assembly.

President Obama has gone on a number of talk shows – The View, Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, Letterman to name a few… and the story has been completely inconsistent. Vice-President Joe Biden has been out there spinning the same stories, just as erratically.

However, the news that continues to pour out shows us that The White House has been perpetuating misinformation, most likely for political expediency. Of course I don’t know with certainly the reason any more clearly than most anyone else, but I believe we can safely assume this administration thought that they, with the help of their friends in the complicit media, would get away with telling the ‘YouTube video’ story and keeping the truth under wraps until after the election.

It is my opinion that if you believed that George W. Bush lied to us about WMD, or was in any way "reckless" or "irresponsible" during his presidency, then you must see this as being of the same egregious nature as anything that ever happened during Bush's time in office. At this moment we already have more conclusive evidence that President Obama lied to the American people than can be found related to any claim made against Bush.

I'm not here to retry all the events that took place before 2008, and I'm not going to go into any other issue about Obama's time in office and say it's relevant. I am simply here right now asking fair-minded people to take an honest look at the facts, and then think about what you would say, were there a (R) next to Barack Obama's name on the ballot.

This is not Donald Trump or Sheriff Joe Arpaio on a fishing expedition for a birth certificate, and this is not Rush Limbaugh “twisting” the information in his favor as I know many non-conservatives believe he does. This is not about a Black man being in The Oval Office; this is about the trust that MUST exist between Americans and our elected officials; nothing more, nothing less.

This is real, blatant misinformation put forward by The President of The United States of America, and this is a travesty. The trust of The Office of The Presidency has been compromised, and we no longer can trust the man who holds that office.

Four years ago many Americans voted for Barack Obama on the hope of change. I don't say that to be snarky, I say that because it is true, and I have come to understand why.

We all want to believe that someone will do right by us when we cast our vote in their favor, but never in my lifetime has that promise been made with such an amazing force of marketing, and simultaneously believed in so strongly as was the case in 2008.

Candidate Obama made promises of transparency and transformation beyond our wildest dreams. He promised he would change Washington and politics as we know it. He told us we could trust him, because he understood our plight and felt our pain. He said his administration would be the most transparent ever. He promised we would no longer be “red states” and “blue states,” but instead we would be “The United States.”

In retrospect we can recognize that was all not much more than campaign rhetoric. And sadly as it relates to the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, it has become an insult to the memory of four Americans who served respectfully and died tragically, perhaps unnecessarily. The White House had information about two attacks on the very same facility in the months leading up to September 11, 2012, yet they did nothing to provide more security, if even for a day.

In fact, the administration and campaign spin machines have blamed Republicans, citing budget cuts they claim were the fault of The House of Representatives. No need to recognize that any legislation with such cuts would have to pass a Senate vote and be signed by The President.


We can all agree Ann Coulter should not have said "retard" the other night on Twitter, just as I hope we can all agree that Eva Longoria (a paid Obama campaign official) should not have called Mitt Romney a "racist/misogynistic twat" on Twitter, and that Bill Maher and David Letterman should never have said about Sarah Palin and her daughters all the awful things they have said over the past four years.

The politics of personal destruction has been part of American politics since our nation’s founding, and it is not any more attractive today than it was back then.

But what really matters is not what the pundit class says, nor the snarky zingers thrown by the candidates during a debate or on the campaign trail.

What really matters is the level of respect We, The People receive from our elected officials. After all, their work is called ‘public service,’ and ultimately they work for us. We, The People, are The United States of America, not our elected officials without regard for our interests.


In the early 1970’s President Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign under the certainty of impeachment hearings because of a misdemeanor breaking and entering case, as well as the cover-up of his own involvement in some very questionable actions. There were no Americans killed because of these actions, but his behavior was no doubt illegal and inappropriate.

In the late 1990’s President William Jefferson Clinton was brought up on impeachment charges because he lied under oath during his testimony about a sexual indiscretion. His behavior was immoral and his false testimony illegal, but no lives were lost.

I don’t know that this is necessarily an impeachable offense at this time. In the days and months leading up to September 11, 2012 President Barack Obama and his administration had the opportunity to investigate the security needs in Benghazi, Libya and make improvements if needed. They did not. Had the prior attacks been better known by the public, perhaps if our media was actually reporting on important issues instead of worrying about our President’s NCAA brackets or what style dress Mrs. Obama was wearing at an event…


People can differ philosophically about whether the Republican or Democrat Party has the best intentions of Americans at heart, but all that goes out the window when we have a President who is being dishonest with America.


I don’t write to instigate; I write because I care. I hope everyone who reads anything I ever write, understands that my first interest politically is always the good of all Americans, and that what I care about most is my family. Across the 2000 miles I chose to travel when I moved to Arizona nearly twelve years ago, I think of my family many times each and every day, and I always hope you are thinking of me too.

God Bless.

3 comments:

Jen said...

Very good post. This whole Benghazi thing has bothered me from day 1. As the news comes out, it is so clear this President has lied repeatedly.

Soloman said...

Vineyard, thank you..

It's tough, to watch.. there's no political feeling about this issue, other than that there is another candidate and he'd better serve us in a more responsible manner.

I believe he will, because he seems to be that kind of man.

In the mean time, I pray for the families of those tragically lost and pray for our future as a nation.

Anonymous said...

Since I am one of the siblings that you mentioned I thought I would take a moment to publicly respond on behalf of myself, and my spouse, to your comments.

Before I begin, I'd like to reiterate that I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. I watch FOX News and I watch MSNBC. From time to time I will also watch CBS, ABC, or even CNN depending on if commercials are interrupting either of the two cable "news" networks. I watch both cable "news" networks, more often than not, to see what they have to say and to see just how biased and ridiculous they are on that day. While you see bias in everything that is said by MSNBC I see the same from both MSNBC and FOX News. FOX News is the anti-MSNBC. Their slogan of "Fair and Balanced" is very odd considering that they are not in any way fair or balanced. They show exactly the same amount of bias as every other "news" network. It's just directed in the opposite direction. In addition to what I watch on television I also read articles and opinion on over a dozen websites and I see the same bias there as I do on cable news. And yes, I read "news" and opinion from both sides. Unfortunately there is no middle ground in news anymore so you have to read both if you really want things to be "Fair and Balanced."

It's funny that in this post you mention that you "have not always spoken out as loudly about the wrong actions taken by Republicans." That in itself is bias and is exactly what you accuse the media of doing wrong. That's exactly what is wrong with MSNBC and is exactly what is wrong with FOX News. Something to consider if you want your own blog to appear as something other than just another place to read the daily right wing talking points.

As for "putting aside my partisan differences" I can tell you that they were put aside the very moment that this campaign began. As a registered member of the Republican Party I waited, and waited, and waited for someone of substance to step up and contest President Obama for the Office of the President of the United States. Unfortunately, nobody with the convictions, morals, or values that I was looking for stepped up to become a candidate. And, of those that did throw their name into the hat, nobody that held my interest lasted long enough to be nominated. Instead the Republican Party ended up with, in my opinion, a nominee that is the Right Wing equivalent of John Kerry. A candidate that flip-flops over every issue that confronts him and changes his stance on every issue based on whatever speech he's giving that day or question he's being asked that moment.

With all of that said, I am absolutely keeping an open mind right up until the day of the election. There's too much at risk to have already made a choice. Neither of these candidates represent what America, or We The People, needs right now. To have already made a choice between the two available candidates is a huge mistake and would only serve those who vote the party line. I will likely decide who receives my vote one or two days before the election. Until then I will continue to do what I've done all along which is to keep an open mind and not let anyone, family member or otherwise, influence my vote. I voted for for President George W. Bush. A President that, in my opinion, did not hold up his end of the bargain but instead gave us 6-7 years of wars, and spending, and nation dividing that lead us to exactly where we are today. Now, that's not blaming the previous administration as so many say it is, that's me knowing how I exercised my right to vote and not wanting to make the same mistake again no matter which candidate receives my vote.

Sincerely,

Your brother.