Obamagate and the correspondents' dinner
I wasn't the biggest Obama supporter, but I came round. By the time he was elected, I'd joined the pandemonium, against the protestations of my one Republican friend: "He's up to something. I don't trust him."
I told her I wasn't quite sure if I did either, but I had to support his (wildly) liberal agenda.
However, ever since Benghazi or wait, maybe about the time all my friends started getting laid off, I began to question him again. Don't get me wrong: the alternative (Mitch Romney, as Letterman calls him) would have been national suicide. OK, that's dramatic.
But so many scandals, so much subterfuge, so much telling the American public he had nothing to do with it. What will it be this week? Hillary on the Hill asking, "What difference does it make?" was some convincing emotion. She had to have known darn well what difference it makes/made.
Shame on this president for all of these news items: Recession, Corexit in the Gulf of Mexico, Benghazi, IRS targeting Tea Partiers, the DOJ targeting the AP, drones killing civilians, even killing bin Laden before we knew, conclusively, whether he could be captured alive? I am not convinced.
And yet, I still support my president. This is like finding out the man you married may be cheating on you, but you just aren't sure. But as "facts" roll in -- female hairs on his collar, hang ups at 3 a.m., etc, one is forced to confront evidence. Despite knowing he's the one we fell in love with, in our hearts, we also know he's letting us down.
Good lord, this is making me pine for a Lewinsky scandal. How much more innocent was the blue dress in the Oval Office than targeting American taxpayers, snooping on hardworking journalists and worst of all, not telling the American people on Sept 12 of last year: "We have been attacked by terrorists in Benghazi, and I wholeheartedly condemn these attacks. We will hold them accountable."
Telling someone in the Rose Garden that it was an "act of terror" -- come on, don't insult our intelligence -- is not the same thing. Words matter. Especially for a president who was elected on his eloquence with them.
Which brings me to: the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
The night it played (yes, it was a show), I told my mother I hadn't watched.
I said I sort of agreed with Tom Brokaw for not wanting to be in the frame with the latest celebrity, or whatever it was he said. I have nothing against celebrities, though; my reason was more practical.
"Mom, what would happen if the president was found to have done something really wrong, like, like--"
"Watergate?"
"Yeah, Watergate. Then if that happened, all the journalists who were schmoozing with him that night would be forced to be completely objective. Is this really possible under such circumstances? So even if I were a White House reporter, if I could, I would stay home. If I had to go, I'd leave early."
Obama has been schmoozing the American people from Day One. He's charming. He's the guy we'd like to have for dinner. We want to see his wife's haircut and biceps, his tall daughter and his shorter daughter, the adorable black and white dog. Heck, I think I made that dog on the snowy White House lawn my screen saver.
What we don't want to see is what we are seeing now: scandal after scandal, and it's getting far more serious.
This president better not take our vote for granted.
I told her I wasn't quite sure if I did either, but I had to support his (wildly) liberal agenda.
However, ever since Benghazi or wait, maybe about the time all my friends started getting laid off, I began to question him again. Don't get me wrong: the alternative (Mitch Romney, as Letterman calls him) would have been national suicide. OK, that's dramatic.
But so many scandals, so much subterfuge, so much telling the American public he had nothing to do with it. What will it be this week? Hillary on the Hill asking, "What difference does it make?" was some convincing emotion. She had to have known darn well what difference it makes/made.
Shame on this president for all of these news items: Recession, Corexit in the Gulf of Mexico, Benghazi, IRS targeting Tea Partiers, the DOJ targeting the AP, drones killing civilians, even killing bin Laden before we knew, conclusively, whether he could be captured alive? I am not convinced.
And yet, I still support my president. This is like finding out the man you married may be cheating on you, but you just aren't sure. But as "facts" roll in -- female hairs on his collar, hang ups at 3 a.m., etc, one is forced to confront evidence. Despite knowing he's the one we fell in love with, in our hearts, we also know he's letting us down.
Good lord, this is making me pine for a Lewinsky scandal. How much more innocent was the blue dress in the Oval Office than targeting American taxpayers, snooping on hardworking journalists and worst of all, not telling the American people on Sept 12 of last year: "We have been attacked by terrorists in Benghazi, and I wholeheartedly condemn these attacks. We will hold them accountable."
Telling someone in the Rose Garden that it was an "act of terror" -- come on, don't insult our intelligence -- is not the same thing. Words matter. Especially for a president who was elected on his eloquence with them.
Which brings me to: the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
The night it played (yes, it was a show), I told my mother I hadn't watched.
I said I sort of agreed with Tom Brokaw for not wanting to be in the frame with the latest celebrity, or whatever it was he said. I have nothing against celebrities, though; my reason was more practical.
"Mom, what would happen if the president was found to have done something really wrong, like, like--"
"Watergate?"
"Yeah, Watergate. Then if that happened, all the journalists who were schmoozing with him that night would be forced to be completely objective. Is this really possible under such circumstances? So even if I were a White House reporter, if I could, I would stay home. If I had to go, I'd leave early."
Obama has been schmoozing the American people from Day One. He's charming. He's the guy we'd like to have for dinner. We want to see his wife's haircut and biceps, his tall daughter and his shorter daughter, the adorable black and white dog. Heck, I think I made that dog on the snowy White House lawn my screen saver.
What we don't want to see is what we are seeing now: scandal after scandal, and it's getting far more serious.
This president better not take our vote for granted.
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