We Have To Give Barack Obama A Chance

Another quick-hit potential conversation starter:

If President Obama overreaches, we should pummel him for it and march on Washington if necessary. But he is our QB now, so as Americans we must allow him to begin his presidency with assurance that we have his back.

Prior to the 2008 elections, progressives projected onto Barack Obama their hopes and we conservatives projected our fears. From his initial steps as President-elect, it appears we have all had our expectations dashed.

Having your fears dashed, it turns out, is a pretty cool thing (with hopes, however … it’s not so great.) I said a couple times I would love to be proven wrong about my assumptions that Obama’s past statements and affiliations portended dark days for America’s future. It is looking like I was wrong.

AND I, FOR ONE, AM GLAD ABOUT IT.

I think there is a real danger and missed opportunity for conservatives if we go into the 2009 federal government period poised to reflexively trash the Barack Obama presidency. He seems to have a strong pragmatic streak. Not saying he doesn’t have some important issues to work out, but I plan to give him the benefit of the doubt for a long while.

Tags:

78 Responses to “We Have To Give Barack Obama A Chance”

  1. Linda B says:

    I think I’m going to cry.

  2. Had Enough says:

    Everything that is being discussed about Obama did not start since the election. There have been numerous individuals and groups that have requested information and documentation for several years without success.

    The lawsuits started early last summer after his refusal to provide anything and he then hired a army of lawyers to defend his decision not to. The democrats also hired lawyers to participate in his withholding of discovery. The plaintiff’s had hoped to have the court compel him to prove that he was indeed eligible to be president long before the election was held.

    The dems didn’t give a crap if he was legal or not, once he was the top candidate. At one point Hillary even questioned his background, she said the people have a right to know. One of the lawsuits was filed by one of her acquaintances.

    Anything and everything about this man that did not show him as a vision of the Almighty was not reported by the mainstream media in any form and it is still not.

    So, he may be a citizen of Kenya, he may be a citizen of Indonesia. He has been to Hawaii twice that I know of since all of this started and all he had to do was get the vault copy of his birth certificate, but no he had the Governor seal his records (maybe only a registration of birth, not a certificate of live birth).

    He became a citizen of Indonesia after his step father adopted him. He went by a number of different names since birth. He visited Pakistan in 1981 when NO Americans were allowed in the country. His books were filled with proven inconsistencies by major Black publications. One was about him trying to bleach himself white until his skin was raw.

    It has been said that he went to college and received aid for foreign students with his Indonesian passport. It is said that on his application for the bar, he said that he had never been known by any other names. It appears that he did not register with the selective service and that his name was recently added.

    Anyway, he refuses to release any information about his past, education, GPA, medical, passports, birth certificates, . Well, once he ran for office, his business is our business .

    At one point he was praising the Kennedy’s for paying for his fathers college education only to later say he was mistaken.

    So, this is the man that just said recently to his flock that he would not keep secrets, that is unless the secret is about him.

  3. Sour Pea,

    “guns in private citizens hands, the meanness towards immigrants and the rabid hatred coming from conservative talk shows”

    First, I think you would want to restrict gun ownership, just like every totalitarian government has just before they start ethnic purges, then the reason the constitution is written as it is written is to prevent people like you from getting changes easily. Thankfully, it takes 3/4 of the states to ratify any change. The reason is clear: to prevent a tyranny of the majority overrunning the rights of a minority, no matter how unpopular.

    The idea that there could be a law against “hateful speech” is very well covered in the 1st amendment. If such a law existed, it could easily be used against people you never intended. Suppose a president decided it was wrong to commit adultery, and that it was hateful to talk about such things as it disrupted families, violated the trust between spouses, and was an evil in the land. Just talking about having sex with someone would then be one of your “hate crimes” … which I’m sure is not what you envision as the purpose. It is folly to want to restrict speech that does not have a clear and present danger to the life of at least some individual (such as yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theater). Why? Because if you restrict speech in one direction, if the winds of public opinion change, it will be restricted in the other direction just as easily.

  4. zimzo says:

    It would really be a tragedy if your ethnicity was purged Brian.

  5. Wolverine says:

    Can’t we all just save our collective breath and wait until we see what Obama actually does after 20 January? There will be plenty of time after that to love him or hack away at him, depending on your political proclivities.

    For my part, I will be watching very closely his reactions to the recent commission report on the possibilities for a future nuclear or chemo/bio attack by our terrorist enemies. All of us should be pulling very hard for the new C-in-C on that issue.

    In the meantime, let’s have a little sympathy for old Joe Biden. He ran for Veep on the strength of his knowledge of and experience in international affairs. Now it looks like he may have to sit across the table from Hillary. I’d like to be there when he says “I disagree with you, Madame Secretary” once too often. Bet there won’t be any “global warming” in that Cabinet room!

  6. Marjorie says:

    Lovisa,

    There you go again, chasing the perverbal tail.

    as for the saudis, they are really out for themselves. Period.

    As for “I have a strong inclination to call you a paranoid muslim hating rabble rouser, who seems to WANT things to go wrong for the new President. If things go the way you describe it, it won’t be because of the President but because of ignorant, intolerant folk like you, the 133,000 petition signers, and others like you.”

    Actually I do not hate Muslims, what I do dislike is their(Jihad Muslims) intention of destroying America and I and many others are not taking Obama at face value that you seem to be doing.

    Have you ever asked yourself Lovisa just what he is hiding? That if Obama is a citizen than why not bring forth his documents and end all the lawsuits. No shomehow I think you being ignorant missed that one.

  7. Marjorie says:

    Lovisa,

    Just found this on the web, http://www.Jihadwatch.com.

    If you’ve been watching world events than you should know that England now has Islamic Banking and Sharia Law courts.

    To say the least, England is lost to Islam, below is a comment from a Muslim leader, once you read it maybe, just maybe you will understand why I protest the Islamic Movement in OUR COUNTRY.

    UK Muslim leader: “In an Islamic state, non-Muslims will have to wear a sign to show what they are – it should say Kaffir. We won’t discriminate on height, race or appearance but we will discriminate on faith.” ( My My echos of Hitler’s Germany)

    Choudary believes no non-Muslim is innocent:

    RANTING Anjem Choudary launched an astonishing anti-British tirade as terror experts warned yesterday of a Mumbai-style massacre in Britain.

    The hate preacher called for apartheid in the UK just days after backing the killers in India. And his supporters threatened to unleash “blood on the streets”.

  8. Marjorie says:

    One More Lovisa:

    Radical Muslims Succeeding In Taking Over The U.S.
    December 2, 2008 by creeping sharia

    By Herb Denenberg, The Bulletin

    Radical Islam is subverting America without guns or bombs. That’s the subtitle of a frightening and important new book by Robert Spencer, one of the leading authorities on radical Islam.

    We may have been spared the guns and bombs of the Islamofascist terrorists since 9/11, but we haven’t been spared their attempt to substitute the laws of Islam for the U.S. Constitution and to make America more like Iran, Saudi Arabia, or the Sudan, where the Muslim laws are in full force.

    http://www.creepingsharia.com

  9. zimzo says:

    Marjorie: “There you go again, chasing the perverbal tail.”

    If only Marjorie’s tail-chasing were preverbal.

  10. Marjorie says:

    Zimzo,

    word play again.. your too funny

  11. Marjorie says:

    Lovisa,
    face value and the truth…….mmmmmmm

    All of these were called from November 20 – December 2nd 2008. It is confirmed, OBAMA not born in any hospital in Honolulu County! NONE FACT!
    Hospitals you can check yourself

    The Queen’s Medical Center – Honolulu, Hawaii Obama claims as his birth hospital

    Kapi’ olani Medical Center Obama’s sister claims Barack Obama born here
    Honolulu Shriners Hospital Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Straub Clinic & Hospital Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Hawaii Health Systems Corporation – Honolulu, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Cancer Institute of Maui – Wailuku, Hawaii No Comment ???

    Kuakini Hospital – Honolulu, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific – Honolulu, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii – Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Straub Heatlh – Honolulu, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Tripler Medical Center – Honolulu, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Wahiawa General Hospital – Wahiawa, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    Wilcox Memorial Hospital – Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii Never a patient Mom or Obama
    We were pretty detailed in our calls. You can look at every hospital here and call any of them. You can file freedom of information acts, you can do everything and anything you wish. Barack Obama was never born in a hospital in Hawaii as claimed.

    Only his original that he has sealed will have this info. Will the Supreme Court force it open and thus preserve the Constitution of the United States?”

    AND France is a goner too!

    France embraces Shariah Compliant Finance
    Posted by allysonrt on December 3rd, 2008

    03 December 2008
    Paris: The second edition of the French Islamic Finance Forum that took place in Paris on November 26th, welcomed some of the foremost sharia scholars in the world, highlighting the necessity to set up a genuine French-speaking sharia committee to advise on sharia-compliant operations in this region.

    http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/

  12. Lovisa says:

    Thank ever so much, Marjorie, for all the time you have spent on me. I’m flattered. I’m taking it all in BUT

    until it’s proven beyond any doubt, Obama is a bona fide US citizen, and

    until it’s proven beyond any doubt that Obama intends to make the US into a muslim country

    I refuse to accept rumors.

    “We were pretty detailed in our calls…” Who are the “we” you are talking about? Which group are you representing? Is this your full-time job? To undermine a future president through insinuations?

  13. Lovisa says:

    “…, Obama is NOT a bona fide…”

  14. Marjorie says:

    Lovisa,

    Just trying to spread some information to individuals whom do not know what to look for.

    I’m all for higher education, but as the saying goes,

    you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.

  15. G. Stone says:

    “The creeping socialism that so many seem to be alluding to lately is as much a result of the Bush administration’s spending on new things like the prescription drug benefit and failure to rein in expenses as it is the fault of the Democrats in Congress.”

    Amen. Thanks a lot Mr. President. For you Mr Bonoir, stop crying, buck up and start acting like a conservative. If Republicans put in half the effort to restrain spending as they did acting like Democrats bailing out every special interest that comes down the pike we would be OK.

    Trust but verify !

  16. dans says:

    ” If Republicans put in half the effort to restrain spending as they did acting like Democrats”

    Another one in the 10 ring G..

  17. Marjorie says:

    I make these notices about islamic banking and sharia law for a reason;IT THREATENS AMERICA AND OUR CONSTUTITION.

    To all, Islamic banking and Sharia go hand in hand, one cannot exisit without the other.

    HERE is an article about AIG Insurance comapny and Sharia.

    Article is as follows:
    “Risk Specialists Companies, Inc. (RSC), a subsidiary of AIG Commercial Insurance, is introducing what it says is a first in the U.S.: a homeowners insurance product that is compliant with key Islamic finance tenets and based on the concept of mutual insurance.”

    “The Takaful Homeowners Policy is underwritten through RSC member company A.I. Risk Specialists Insurance, Inc., in conjunction with Lexington Insurance Co. and in association with AIG Takaful Enaya. Headquartered in Bahrain, AIG Takaful Enaya was established in 2006 to provide Takaful products, including accident and health, auto, energy, property and casualty products.”

    “The Takaful home policy is the first installment in Lexington Takaful Solutions, a series of Shari’ah-compliant (Takaful) product offerings in the U.S.”

    “The Takaful Homeowners Policy builds on LexElite, the homeowners policy from Lexington that is sold throughout the U.S. The Takaful Homeowners Policy is available in all 50 states.”

    “According to Jim Crain, associate vice president and personal lines underwriting director for Risk Specialists, the coverage, terms, commissions and sales proceduers are the same for this new products as they are for LexElite.”

    “‘The introduction of Takaful products in the U.S. represents an important and emerging growth opportunity for AIG Commercial Insurance. We are pleased to offer socially responsible solutions to this segment of the domestic market,’ said Matthew F. Power, president, Risk Specialists Companies, Inc.”

    “AIG Takaful Enaya is licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain and its Shari’ah Supervisory Board is composed of Shari’ah scholars Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, Dr. Mohammed Ali Elgari and Dr. Muhammad Imran Usmani.”

    “Risk Specialists Companies, Inc. is a U.S. surplus lines broker providing access to specialty casualty, property and personal lines insurance from Lexington and other AIG companies.”
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/message/18960
    Sharia Finance: AIG Offers First Takaful Homeowners Insurance Product for U.S.
    http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2008/12/02/95930.htm
    — U.S. Taxpayers have partial ownership of AIG
    http://federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20081110a.htm
    http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/11/stopsharianow
    http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/116.html

  18. ACTivist says:

    Here’s the deal. Osama-bama is a freshman senator. Some people think they know everything about a car when they show up at a dealership. They know how to turn on the radio, steer the wheel, brake, clutch, gas pedal and roll the windows up and down. But when they take a mechanics course all of a sudden a whole new and unexplained universe has opened-up before their eyes and they “see the light”. Barry is just “starting” to see the light and once he gets a full briefing as to what is going on, the Michael Jackson bleaching he was doing as a kid will pale to what reality will do to turning him white. Bush, in his 2004 debate and corny sayings said it all-”this job is tough”. Barry will soon realize he doesn’t have much choice in what he does. I would suspect that he will realize that he is WAY over his head and go running back home to Chicago, screaming!

  19. Lovisa says:

    OH, MAAAAAAAAN!

  20. Rachelfriend says:

    I just don’t actually get what’s meant by “give him a chance”.

    If you’ve been speaking truthfully in the past about the issues that are of concern to you regarding Barack Obama, then why should that change? He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t suddenly become a new person. Whether he appoints Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, he still has a track record of being someone who is not pragmatic, but self-serving at the expense of living up to a certain moral code.

    Promising to take public financing and then switching at the last minute is not being pragmatic, it’s being self-serving, regardless of the moral consequences.

    Being friends and colleagues with Bill Ayers, and then claiming he was just “someone in the neighborhood” wasn’t being pragmatic, it was self-serving and untrue.

    Promising his constituents that he would “give” them health care as good as Congressmen wasn’t being pragmatic, it was self-serving and bordering on immoral in that it fostered a sense of entitlement that is dangerous for people in a democratic society to embrace.

    It’s too soon for him to have changed enough to make it reasonable for conservatives to just stop thinking critically about his Presidency.

    If Barack Obama is pragmatic, then George Bush was being pragmatic when he basically embraced socializing portions of the banking system. I think that’s what George Bush thought about his own choices, but I absolutely disagree with him. If it’s OK to say that you disagree with a Bush decision, it’s still OK to speak up and disagree openly with an Obama decision. Speaking truth to power IS giving them a chance while keeping them honest at the same time.

    And, yes I know this was a rant, but I just couldn’t help it.

  21. Rachel, believe me I disagree with Obama decisions and statements. But we do have to move ahead and what is the most productive basis on which to do that? My opinion has changed because of what I have seen since he won. That’s all there is to it, that is my opinion.

    Maybe we will get to discuss this in person?

  22. Lovisa says:

    “10 questions for Barack Obama”

    Obama will have the entire time with Tom Brokaw on his Sunday talk show. POLITICO lists ten questions and the reasons for wanting answers to those particular questions. You might want to take a look.

  23. dans says:

    “He hasn’t suddenly become a new person.”

    Actually he has, he has become the President elect, soon to the President of these United States. Just as it was with Reagan, Clinton and Bush, we cannot predict what Obama the president will do based upon his record. The reality is the office does change the man.

    For me, putting aside my differences with Obama to give him a chance is what I call “Country First”. Obama is a smart man, and I am sure he realizes that is was not the left that got him elected. The question that remains to be seen is how effectively will he rein in nutjobs Pelosi and Reid.

    As Joe points out, Obama has planted himself firmly in the center with his post election actions. With that, he has come to me more so than I have gone to him. And for that, he gets a few Brownie points…

  24. Rachelfriend says:

    Dans, the office does change the man (to a certain extent), but he has not taken office yet. If winning the election makes him change drastically in just over a month, then by the end of his first term he should be a card-carrying Republican.

    Putting “Country First” does not mean ignoring the past actions and proposed policies of the winner of a Presidential election. If the term “pragmatic” becomes a synonym for “self-serving” then that’s not going to be a good thing for the country in the long run.

    I don’t have a problem agreeing with Obama’s choices and policies when they are right, but I think it’s unhealthy to ignore his past actions and stated policies in the name of “Country First”. I’d rather go into the next administration with my eyes open than put on blinders and pretend I don’t know his history and documented inconsistencies. If McCain had won, a lot of conservative Republicans would have definitely switched into “monitoring” mode to ensure McCain didn’t start moving more towards the center, because that wouldn’t be good for the country (in my opinion). I see no reason to deal with a President Obama any differently.

  25. Rachelfriend says:

    Joe, I respect your position, but of course disagree. I will write in in 6 months and acknowledge I was mistaken if I find that you guys were right on this.

    I’ve been warned away from a certain establishment for health reasons. :-)

  26. dans says:

    Rachelfriend

    “he has become the President elect soon to the President ”

    Yes, I believe this means he has not taken office yet.

    There is a world of difference between pragmatism and unfounded fear.. Like I stated, I have not moved closer to Obama, he has moved closer to me. This is why I am being pragmatic.

  27. Cathymac says:

    I heard Obama can move mountains – we shall see!

  28. dans says:

    Yes, Cmac, and we shall also see if he has made the seeing blind..

Leave a Reply