Soapbox

Excuses

One thing his opponents agree on is that they hate him. Ohh, how they hate him, with a spittle-flecked ferocity that far out-strips any hatred we held for their guy. But why? You scratch your head, ask them- what is it about him that you hate so much? and they'll tell you "We hate him because, because… um…"

We hate him because he's a socialist!
    ….which he isn't. not even close. This is a word they thoroughly and proudly refuse to comprehend the meaning of, but they use it because they're sure it means "evil"  and "freedom-destroyer" which depends, I guess, on your definition of freedom.
We hate him because he's going to take away our guns!
     …which he isn't, hasn't said a word about it, though given the number of their buddies who threaten him with assassination, maybe he should.
We hate him because he's raised our taxes!
     …except he has lowered them- but that's impossible, and irrelevent, because he's a democrat so therefore he has raised taxes, just as all the Republicans who are raising their taxes must really be lowering them, because everyone knows it always works that way.
We hate him because he's bankrupting the country!
     …except that studies show the stimulus package helped. Their own party's decades of corporate welfare, tax loopholes and bloated military spending did much more damage than unemployment extensions, a few road projects and some extra cash to keep our teachers working ever did.

We hate him because he's anti- business and is killing jobs!
     …except he's the only one who has managed to create any jobs at all, and he's been pro-business and anti-regulation and reform to such an extent that many in his own party shake their heads in despair.
Death panels, then! We hate him because he's going to make death panels that will decide who lives and who dies.
     …if you want a death panel, look no futher than the roster of  Republicans voting to take away a woman's right to have an abortion to save her life. And what is lobbying to kill the Affordable Care Act if not a death panel? Sorry- that flea-bitten dog named "death panel" belongs to you.
We hate him because he's trying to take away our freedom of religion!
     …. except that nothing he has done interfers with their right to believe what they choose and to live their own lives accordingly. One person's religious freedom ends where another life begins, and they are the ones who too often fail to respect that boundary.

We hate him because he is weak; he ended a war and appeases terrorists!
     …except he has been surprisingly militant, taking out, one by one, the top eschelon of those labeled enemies of America (and more than a few innocent bystanders) with rather chilling  efficiency.
We hate him because of all his horrible, dangerous policies,
     …many of which were policies they proposed themselves a few years ago and were cheerleaders for until he signed on to them.
We hate him because he's a Kenyan!
     …except of course he's not. No one even actually believes that anyway but the kind of folks who are desperate to keep the mask in place long after the costume party has ended. Others may say it, may answer that way on polls but you can see in their eyes- they're not that stupid, they know it isn't true.
Well, we hate him because he's Muslim!
     …Oh come on. He  has attended a Christian church all his life. What part of that seems Muslim? This reasoning also presumes that being a member of the Muslim faith is, in itself a reasonable cause to hate and revile him and millions of people on earth (whereas hating someone because they're a bigoted, close-minded Christian is just ridiculous).
We hate him because he wants to murder babies!
     …which to anyone who has ever seen him with children is just patently moronic . He's the one trying to feed them: their party is the one cutting infant nutrition programs!
We hate him because he has made the world a more dangerous place
     …except by every measure of every group except theirs, he hasn't. In fact most of the rest of the world trusts him, finds him careful, reasoned, honest.
     
Why then do they hate him, this quiet, smiling, thoughtful man?

    They will tell you that they hate him because he is too smart, too foreign, too devisive, too savage,  a communist, a fascist, a communist fascist.    
    They hate him because he's the worst president this country has ever had- how else would you describe a Kenyan Muslim socialist gun-stealing tax-raiser? They clench their fists and brandish the second ammendment and list you a dozen different justifications for their hate based on a dozen proveable lies.
    Many will eagerly admit to thinking he is the anti-christ or is possessed by demons- yes yes, they'll cop to that one in a minute!
    But the one reason for their hatred that you must never, ever dare to suggest, the one outrageous and over-the-top accusation which leaves them shocked and insulted and unable to figure out where you got such a ridiculous and untrue idea and which they will not tolerate you even hinting at is that they hate him for being the one thing he actually IS:

Black.