Seven Sons

Sometimes stuff just builds up and I have to unload it somewhere. The following has been percolating for a few days.
“St. Obama” started in conservative circles as a snarky dig at the adoration given by some of his most ardent supporters. Funny thing is, this is true of most new presidents, except that this one actually seems to be more admirable, both professionally and as a person, than any recent predecessors. It also really doesn’t capture his personality.
I get the chuckles at every new criticism of him for being polite to foreign leaders or not rising to their bait. This is like some over the top kung fu movie come to life. They swing at him; he doesn’t take a step but seems to gracefully lean out of the way with no effort at all, making them look foolish. I thought his response to the Ortega rant was great. He let Ortega have his rant, knowing that Ortega was speaking for home-consumption of Ortega’s political base, didn’t make a big deal about it by walking out in a huff and dismissed it by saying “it was 50 minutes long.” I got what he meant, but it would have been a bit more effective and easier for the small minds on the right to understand if he had said “it was too long by 49 minutes”.
Similarly, why create a diplomatic broo-ha-ha by putting down Chavez by refusing to accept the book. Hey, you dimbulb nutwingers (sorry, that is repetitive), the title was in SPANISH, which Obama doesn’t read or write. The graceful thing to do was accept the gift and consider whether or not you want to read it later. Besides, if the cover was in Spanish, I’d guess the insides were, too. Thus, it probably ends up with all the other nick-nacks foreign leaders give President all the time. This is not a big deal and those who say it is are simply grasping at straws because they haven’t had a new idea policy-wise in 30 years.
Lastly, the English translation of the title of the book is “Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” Guess what, bozos, our country has only been around for 233 years! We didn’t even get involved with Mexico too much until the 1830s, let alone the rest of Latin America Thus, over half the book clearly has nothing to do with the United States, but rather the colonial exploitation of native peoples. No sane person denies what happened. That said, I’m not sorry for colonization. I wouldn’t be here if the Brits hadn’t colonized what is now the East Coast, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize the immoral things many colonizers have done over the centuries. The screaming bloody murder over this little thing makes it appear it isn’t liberals who have “white guilt.” Unless, that is, you care to go on record explaining how your version of Christian morals justifies the behavior of the colonizers.
Go ahead, I dare you.