A Predictably Pandering State of the Union from Barack Obama

January 24, 2012 | Comments (0)

The democrats in Congress certainly got a workout tonight.  It would seem their seats were wired to zap them with electric shocks whenever Barack Obama, in tonight’s State of the Campaign Address, offered an applause line he deemed worthy of a standing ovation.  For those dems in attendance, from former first lady Hillary to Warren Buffet’s secretary to Nancy “giant gavel” Pelosi to carefully selected military folk to, sadly, recuperating congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, this meant leaping up every two phrases or so.  Perhaps that was the intent: Distract Americans who might be watching so they won’t pay attention to what the president is saying – and more, importantly, what he’s not.  More likely, he was just trying to show Newt that “see, I can get standing ovations, too.”

But let’s look into the true meaning of those standing Os, shall we?  Painfully apparent almost from the get-go was the fact that we were witnessing democrats in panic.   As their leader presented even more taxpayer-funded bribes to an already crippling list, and blatantly avoided the many failures and unpopular policies of his administration, the dems felt the need to convince onlookers that their guy has the right stuff – and yes, that he can get standing ovations, too!  And there among them, almost repeatedly trampled, was John McCain, flanked, by choice, on all sides by democrats, reminding us once more that in 2008 we voters were essentially offered a choice between two democrats: one moderate, the other the most radical leftwing democrat ever to win the party’s nomination, let alone the election.

Pathetic was that party’s behavior tonight, as well as that of Obama, who once again displayed for all the world his complete disconnect with the American people and the way this country operates.  He tried to cover for this, apparently with the help of the Government Motors advertising team, reading from his prompter pithy ad-copy platitudes “an economy built to last,” “an America built to last” – mimicking, it would seem, what we’ll hear during commercial breaks when the Giants face the Patriots in Indianapolis on February 5th.

I won’t bother summarizing what Obama covered in his campaign speech tonight.  We’ve heard it all before: the meaningless catchphrases, the pandering promises, the glaring omissions, several play-by-play narratives of how he took out Osama bin Laden – though I did find disconcerting his intent to transform the United States Defense Department into a green-energy mill.  The upshot of it all is that he intends to continue to disregard the constraints of the U.S. Constitution and do whatever he wants to do, because, you see, he knows what’s best for us in all aspects of our American life.  Still not sure where he gained such expertise in all aspects of American life, but how dare I ask.  Instead I’ll just hope for change come November – and hope that this is the last Obama State of the Union we will ever have to see.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

So Tired of Feeling Like a Hostage in My Own Country

October 4, 2011 | Comments (2)

It’s getting old, this feeling. This feeling of imprisonment, disbelief and fatigue. For far too many months now, we have lived in a nation held hostage by a gaggle of individuals who have only a sketchy notion of what our country is and hold what little they do know in contempt.

A president travels the country delivering the same tired axioms read with identical cadence from a mechanical device, berating the nation, the people, I love.  Secretly, silently, he grins as rioting leftists demand our nation abandon liberty and capitalism. Meanwhile, the president’s wife travels that same country, pricey entourage in tow, dictating what and how we parents will feed our children  – and mandating what restaurants will and will not serve their customers.

A governor of a southern state suggests we nix elections in 2012 to quell the successful rightwing efforts of an angry electorate, her words simply mirroring ideas the president and his officials have floated themselves. As unemployment skyrockets at breakneck speed, a presidential advisor informs us it is the government’s job to take care of us and provide all we need to live according to what our superiors deem an acceptable level of existence.

The president orchestrates a steady stream of public displays (with military backdrop whenever possible) in his quest for useful campaign photo-ops. That same president orders his minions to intimidate those who oppose him and do whatever they must to make his transformational dreams our nightmare. Meanwhile, we the people hold our collective breath in hopes that the man’s law designed intentionally to gut our health-care system, our bank accounts, and our personal health will be repealed.

As the current administration stands accused of allegedly placing guns in to the hands of drug lords in a neighboring country, people from that and other countries stream across our borders without sanction (presidential relatives among them), knowing that despite such open defiance of our laws, they will be showered with social services and our tax dollars upon their arrival. Meanwhile the narcissism, panic and abandonment issues of the petulant leader of the free world become more evident – and more dangerous – every day.

In short, we find ourselves trapped in a lawless nation, the perpetrators of our confinement carrying out their tasks openly, brazenly and with unabashed arrogance. And I for one am tired of being their hostage. Until this day, I never believed we as a nation would live to see, let alone tolerate, what now occurs within our great nation almost daily. But, despite my own moments of fatigue, I know in my heart that I am not alone. This nation teems with others, my fellow hostages, who share my love for this country and the resolve to wrest her free from our captors.

Carve away that hard crusty shell of betrayal and tyranny that has encapsulated the Tree of Liberty over these three difficult years, and you will find a moist green pulp still living and breathing at the tree’s heart. Those of us who love this country will continue to nurture that tree, and, like the political prisoners who found their own salvation, their own inspiration, in the words of Ronald Reagan that were smuggled into the frozen Gulag of Siberia years ago, we will wait for that moment when we, too, will at last be liberated from this modern-day tyranny, free to be America once more.

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

A Union Wages War Against Americans, and the White House Swoons

September 8, 2011 | Comments (0)

 Think back, if you will, to that terrible day in January of this year when a gunman of questionable sanity left dead or injured more than a dozen people who had gathered for an event in Tucson, Arizona, headlined by their local congresswoman. Within minutes of the shooting, the nation’s democrats took ownership of the tragedy, blaming conservatives for the shooting and demanding that those on the right from now on conduct themselves with only the highest level of civility and obedience.

In keeping with this commandment, Obama, using the event himself to launch his 2012 reelection campaign, headlined the ensuing “memorial”/pep rally to lecture us once again, like a finger-wagging schoolmarm, that we the people (of the right, of course) were responsible for the tragedy in Tucson and we must “be better.”

So now let’s take stock, shall we, of how well this lopsided call for civility has fared since its inception.

While there are far too many examples to cite, we the people of the right continue to hear ourselves referred to as “Nazis,” an accusation the left might abandon if they cared to get their noses into a genuine history book or two.  They then might grasp an understanding of America (including our proper number of states), as well as the fact that the Nazis where the poster children for leftwing fascism.

On a related note, we continue to hear that familiar chestnut “racist” hurled at anyone who dares to criticize this president or any leftist cause, from global warming to tax reform to illegal immigration to gun restrictions, thus rendering it the most trite and meaningless word in the English language. Meanwhile, as congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) condemns the Tea Party “to hell,” vice president Joe Biden refers to those who comprise the Tea Party as “terrorists.” I question the wisdom of Biden’s accusation, coming as it does on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the day when genuine terrorists took more than 3,000 American lives in a well-orchestrated attack on American soil.

But the crowning glory of the left’s definition of civility occurred this last weekend, when a prominent union leader pledged his organization’s allegiance to the president. “President Obama,” declared the commander of the Teamster’s Union, “this is your army. We are ready to march….let’s take these son-of-a-bitches out!” (the SOBs in question being the right, the republicans, the Tea Party….you know the drill).

What has been most chilling about this diatribe is the failure of Obama, the President of the United States, to condemn this blatant lack of civility, let alone its outright call for violence against American citizens. This is not surprising, though, really, considering we have a president, who for decades listened to his family minister damn America, and who has himself called loyal thugs to do his bidding. “Bring a gun to a knife fight,” he has been known to command his minions. “Punish” our “enemies,” and “get in the faces” of those who oppose this administration. And now, with this most recent and deafening vow of silence, Obama brings once again new meaning to the word “unpresidential.”

So as this president and his followers continue to make clear that they are as exempt from an expectation of civility as they are exempt from the blue pills and life-threatening restraints of Obamacare, we the people will continue to work toward bringing someone back to the White House who not only understands the office of the Presidency, but who also understands the greatness of our nation.  Keep the faith, America.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

America Rendered Unrecognizable Once More

August 26, 2011 | Comments (1)

I have been gone from here for a while, and I want to thank those of you who have wondered why. I have spent the last weeks overseeing my clan’s move from the northeastern corner of the United States back to our original home turf in the west, and I apologize for offering no warning. But it’s done now, and here I am.

I return now amid a national climate once again made unrecognizable by recent events from that of our nation four years ago, let alone two months ago when I last tended to these pages. Within these last weeks we have witnessed our nation’s economy downgraded for the first time in our history. We have witnessed a roller coaster in our stock market that back in 1929 would have sent investors flinging themselves from high-rise windows. We witnessed the devastating destruction of members of our beloved Seal Team 6, as well as the courage and conviction of their family members, who, in the grief-filled aftermath of their loss, made clear the family character that results in the rearing of true national heroes.

We have witnessed a president content, like a modern-day Nero, to attend campaign fundraisers and hip-hop birthday festivities as he continues to pursue the leftwing socialist agenda he promised when he campaigned for the highest office of our land back in 2008. We have witnessed this same president, announce between tee-offs, that he will suspend the deportation of illegal aliens and thus provide amnesty for said lawbreakers, despite the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose this policy. And we have witnessed the Tea Party, not only blamed for the ills of all the world, but also called “terrorists” by the left, as well as by increasingly hysterical mainstream media lapdogs and certain entrenched Beltway republicans who somehow believe they are immune from the anger of an enraged electorate.

But so have we also witnessed the rise of individuals who have led us to believe that there just might be true conservatives in our midst set to grapple the office of the American presidency away from the current holder of that office. Indeed I venture to say that we on the right just may be starting to see our own homegrown glimmer of hope and change on the horizon. We know from attempts by certain leftwing publications to smear these newly minted candidates with lies, incendiary headlines, namecalling, and uncomplimentary magazine cover shots that we are on the right track. So keep the faith. There is still time to make America right once more.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Let the Spin Begin

May 5, 2011 | Comments (1)

What a difference a day makes. One day, leftwingers who for almost a decade vilified George W., his “fictitious” war on terror, and his methods and policies are rejoicing that the spiritual leader at the root of that “fictitious” war is dead. America, they assume, will ignore that those vilified Bush-era methods and policies helped lead to said terrorist’s demise. We just won’t think about that, they say. And no one else will either, right?

Wrong.

Within hours of their beloved’s announcement that he pulled the trigger, an avalanche of information and conspiracy theories came tumbling down upon the heads of smirky leftists. They thought it would be so easy. Ding, dong, Bin Laden is dead. This president got Bin Laden. Yay, Obama! Let’s all fall in behind him. Happy days are here again.

They never expected the blowback….

….He’s not really dead! Yes he is! We saw the pictures, proclaim the senators. Trust us. Oops. Nope. Those were faked. But he’s still dead! Yes, says the CIA chief, still dead, and you will all see the pictures. Oh no you won’t, says the president. You can’t handle the truth. And we can’t spike the football. What would we think if they posted pictures of the Americans they kill. Oh. Daniel Pearl. And so many others….He used a woman as a human shield. Oh no he didn’t. He wouldn’t. But a woman was shot and killed. No, not killed. Shot, not killed. Whew!….He had a gun. No, he didn’t. But that’s okay, squeals the White House. Isn’t it? Still okay to shoot him, wasn’t it? The Han Solo moment. Han shot first, at least before the politically-corrected version of the film he did. It’s okay then, isn’t it? That we shot first? And without a warrant. Say it’s okay!….Without waterboarding we wouldn’t have gotten him. No! cry the dems. Say it ain’t so! I saw the intel myself, bleats the senator. None of it came from that. Did it? So, Madam Senator, you won’t act when and if the intel does come from that? When American lives are at stake? Now that will surely resonate with America….

Shame on you people! the left shouts now in panic as they scramble for a position in this unexpected aftermath. A man is dead and you are celebrating! They lash out. At us. For recognizing their hypocrisy. For defying the narrative and refusing their leader a big bump in the polls. And for continuing to demand an election in 2012.

And today their candidate visits Ground Zero. Never has as president. Not in two-and-a-half years. Symbolic place, that Ground Zero. The perfect backdrop for this grand-daddy of all photo-ops now that the most-wanted is dead. Shanksville isn’t sexy. And the Pentagon….well, come on, it’s the Pentagon. But this…Ground Zero…yes! Especially now. So find a mirror and perfect that furrowed brow. And ask your predecessor to join the party. What’s that? He declines the invite. Smart move, President Bush. The right move. Ever the class act you are. And undeniably authentic, something we haven’t seen in a very long time.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Seeing Clearly Bin Laden’s End and Continued Threats to America

May 3, 2011 | Comments (0)

Yesterday morning, in the wake of Osama Bin Laden’s announced death, a gentleman called a local talk-radio host to express how grateful he is to know that his son, who has served several tours in Iraq, did not serve in vain. What I urge this man to remember, what I urge us all to remember, is that even if Bin Laden was never found, never killed by our Navy Seals, none of our service men and women protecting our nation over the past 10 years has served in vain. We have remained safe for the past 10 years because of their sacrifice, and because of the controversial foresight of our former President, who stayed the course in this mission, despite efforts led by the mainstream media, leftwing politicos and Hollywood types, and our current president to appease our enemies.

While we celebrated yesterday, so did we also witness those leftwing minions genuflecting at the alter of their messiah. Don’t even bother holding a 2012 presidential election, they shouted from the rooftops, virtually ignoring the fact that it was U.S. Navy Seals who actually carried out the mission (ignoring, as well, that many on the left have for almost a decade chalked 9/11 up to an evil plan perpetrated by George W.).

Yet certain tidbits of information nevertheless trickled out into the light of day, as tidbits always do. The intel, for one, that led to Bin Laden’s ultimate demise, apparently came from extreme interrogation methods carried out under the former administration’s watch — the same methods the left, including the current president, have fought valiantly to render obsolete. And apparently the Navy Seals who took out the world’s most wanted terrorist were members of an elite force referred to derisively by the left when they operated under a different administration, as Dick Cheney’s “Assassination Ring.”

The information I find most troubling, however, relates to the fact that Bin Laden was buried at sea almost instantly after he was killed. We can’t let his burial place become a shrine, we were told. That’s all well and good, but why was he dispatched so quickly? And, even more importantly, why was he given full Islamic funeral rites before the burial? No legitimate justification has been offered to answer this latter question, and, frankly, there is none.

What I have not heard floated is the idea that perhaps this administration mandated the sacred/speedy burial in an attempt to play both sides: “Sorry guys,” they may have been telling the Islamic world, “you know we had to take him out, but, hey, look, we are honoring him according to your rituals so you’ll like us!” Already we are hearing noisy grumbles over this from so-called “average” Americans (or “slugs,” as our president allegedly called us several days ago at one of his pricey campaign fundraisers). Expect those grumbles to become louder in the days, weeks, even months ahead.

While yesterday was a day of celebration, we must today remember that the war on terror continues, and it is just that: a war on terror, not a series of “manmade disasters” or “cultural misunderstandings” or whatever foolish euphemism this administration has mandated it be called. While we may thank this president for defying his own documented opposition to the war on terror and giving the order this last weekend, given what we have experienced over the last two-and-a-half years, I have come to regard with suspicion and skepticism anything that emanates from this White House. So much theater. So many photo-ops. So much trite and artificial symbolism. And always such “coincidental” timing. Indeed how provident that this president would announce that he took out Bin Laden on the anniversary of the day the American people learned Adolf Hitler was dead — and, lo and behold, eight years from the day that George W. made his much-vilified “mission accomplished” speech.

Providence? Coincidence? You be the judge. But amid the careful timing and the theatrics (lab-coated doctors in the Rose Garden, a fake Parthenon in Denver), let us not forget this Thursday, when Obama accepts his accolades at Ground Zero for “getting” Bin Laden, that if he had had his way, there would have been no critical intel gathered by methods this president and his ilk have vehemently opposed.  There would have been no Navy Seals in Pakistan to pull the trigger on the spiritual leader of Al Qaeda. And if he has way, the end of Bin Laden and his own golden words will blind the fawning masses, the slugs, to the crushing debt facing our country; to gas, and, thus, ultimately food, prices that threaten to grind our nation to a halt; and to unemployment rates skyrocketing as fast as our taxes into the stratosphere.

I, for one, do not intend to ignore the current state of our nation. Today, and every day, I will pray that we the people will continue to maintain our vigilance, as our founders urged, toward all, both foreign and domestic, who seek to harm our nation and blind us to the threat.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

No Surprises in Obama’s Reelection Bid

April 6, 2011 | Comments (0)

On April 4th, Barack Obama announced his intention to seek reelection for 2012, after having done nothing but campaign since he took office back in January of 2010. Indeed traveling the world in high style making canned teleprompted speeches is all the man knows how to do – that and voting “present,” apologizing for America, fraternizing with radicals, dismantling America’s economy, punishing business and taxpayers, and golfing. Now he makes official his “hope” that America will keep him on the dole, ensuring that he and his wife continue to live in the style to which they have become accustomed while he carries out his mission to transform our country into the banana republic of his dreams.

And wouldn’t you know it, the very day he declares his reelection ambitions, the Obama Justice Department announces that it will prosecute accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed via military tribunal after all, scrapping the explosive plan to provide him a civil trial in New York City with all the rights and privileges of an American citizen. Ahh, the perfect plan to convince the masses that he, Obama, is a true warrior and patriot after all. We masses couldn’t possibly see through this shameless exploitation of 9/11, its victims and its victims’ families, the ideal tools for the furthering of a man’s political luxury-lifestyle agenda.

Hoping to fill his campaign coffers with upwards of $1 billion, Obama and his handlers knew they had to start early to get the network in place. His announcement sends the minions the message to get out there and start registering voters, ramp up the slobbering media coverage, and protect Obamacare at all costs.

Wasting not a moment himself, the president has planned a “town hall” at Facebook in the San Francisco Bay Area, his brain trust no doubt believing this will click with all the young whippersnappers who find Facebook so very cool.  The team probably figures, as well, that Facebook and a friendly relationship with its top tier (who may not have contemplated the potential consequences of this alliance to their brand), will play key roles in the Internet arm of the campaign.

What this American is hoping is that such tactics used so confidently the first time around will fall flat in a more somber, sadder, more jaded Obama America, an America that will not tolerate a so-called mainstream media that fails to investigate the origins and legality of campaign contributions, that ignores threatening behavior by administration-sanctioned thugs at town halls and polling places, and that vets only those candidates with the audacity to run against their immortal beloved. Meanwhile, said beloved, with his early campaign launch, will be spending a fair amount of time running against, oh, maybe George W. Certainly the Tea Party. Probably a plumber or two, a doctor, and the Chamber or Commerce. And perhaps. . .insert theme from Jaws. . . the real reason he launched early: Hillary.

Feeling nauseous in the wake of Obama’s announcement and the televised commentary that followed, I hit the channel button to escape and landed on HBO, which at that moment was airing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. At that very moment, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was uttering a favorite passage that I have noted here before, warning his school that “every day, every hour, this very minute perhaps, dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle’s walls.” Yes they do, Professor.  And we the people are left to decide. Will we resist those evil forces and their designs on our nation, or will we, as George Washington warned, instead “be led, like sheep, to the slaughter?” We’ll just have to see, won’t we?

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Why Aren’t Obama Voters Rejoicing Over Rising Gas Prices?

April 1, 2011 | Comments (0)

During the George W. presidency, the first question a liberal-leaning friend in another state would ask me whenever we spoke was always, “So how much are you guys paying for gas right now?”

But ever since Barack Obama, her guy, took office, she hasn’t asked me that question once.

This perplexes me, because Obama was crystal clear during his campaign for the presidency, that a dream he held for this nation was to see gas prices rise to well above $4.00 a gallon. His current secretary of energy stated before he claimed that title – and probably in an attempt to snag the position – that he wanted to see those prices rise to European levels (which means somewhere around $10 a gallon). Now we hear that gas prices may actually reach $5 or more – well on the way to that $10 goal — so all you Obama voters out there, let the rejoicing begin. Your man is keeping his promise, a promise he made long before you entered the polling booth, and I thus presume one of the many reasons you cast your precious vote for him.

The same should be applying to the lapdog media, shouldn’t it? They practically ran perpetual counters on the TV screen, ticking off gas and oil prices under President Bush, but I have yet to hear a peep out of them in celebration of this kept campaign promise of their guy, Obama. They have excused mightily their man for failing to keep his promise to close Guantanamo and to let loose those poor mistreated, misunderstood Gitmo inmates who simply sought to exercise their religious freedoms.  And they have done all they can to promote their man’s support of the hardworking labor folks and unemployed 60s throwbacks in Wisconsin simply trying to exercise their right to receive free health insurance and Viagra. Indeed the follow and promote blindly virtually anything and everything their man says or does.

But come to think of it, my non-lapdog-media friend so intent on monitoring gas prices under President Bush hasn’t mentioned any of these other issues, either. No talk of Obamacare and blue pills, no talk of widespread unemployment, and no mention of the First Family living in luxury as the matriarch of that family lecturers the peasants, urging them to embrace hunger and cold. Yet my friend voted for all of this, gleefully casting her precious vote for the “redistribution of wealth” and the socialization of America promised by then-candidate Obama.

Of course, to be honest, I don’t want to hear anything about this from her, nor do I care to hear mention of regret. As I have made crystal clear again and again, I have no patience for those who now regret casting a vote for an inexperienced, socialist-minded candidate who stated clearly his intent to transform America; to ensure our houses remain colder, our refrigerators emptier, our bank accounts skimpier; to ration medical care for Americans and gut the promise of a career in medicine; to appease those who wish to kill us; and to see gas prices soar. Let the silence of those I wish to see remain silent speak for itself.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

No Training, No Inclination: Dr. Strangelove Exposes Obama

March 30, 2011 | Comments (0)

Sometimes life’s moments dovetail in an unexpected coincidence that you couldn’t script even if you tried. I experienced such a moment the other night in the wake of the president’s brief words on Libya, designed to double as a lead-in to Dancing with the Stars.

As expected, said Libya-words/Dancing-intro made little impact on the universe, apart from, I would imagine, inspiring the slobbering lapdog media minions who consistently herald anything this president says as the greatest speech ever made by the greatest human in the history of humans…blah, blah, blah. (This would include, I will presume, the lapdogs this administration locks in closets to prevent objective reporting, which has allegedly happened more than once, the incarcerated lapdogs in question claiming it was a-okay with them).

Well, immediately following Obama’s latest attempt to appear hawkish to those anxiously awaiting a dance competition show, my son popped 1964’s Dr. Strangelove in the DVD player for an essay he was writing for school.  For those unfamiliar, with the talents of, among others, George C. Scott and Peter Sellars, this satirical treatise on the Cold War paints both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. as foolish countries narcissistically bent on destroying each other, and, in the process, the world.

I wasn’t paying much attention to the film until I was called to it by a rant from American General Jack D. Ripper (such a clever, subtle name for the man who ultimately drops the bomb on the Soviets). “…today, war is too important to be left to politicians,” says the General.  “They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought.”

Brilliant, I’d say, especially from a film meant as a satirical indictment of the United States military — the same United States military, mind you, that less than 20 years before this movie was made brought an end to Hitler’s final solution, as well as to Hitler himself, but Hollywood has never been known for a firm grasp of history, or morality.

No longer relevant is what General Ripper’s rant meant back in the 60s. His words find new meaning today in a post-9/11 America, a meaning far more dangerous, far more damaging than anything some avant garde film makers may have fancied back in 1964.  Coming as this rant did for me personally on the heels of a speech made by an inexperienced, incompetent, anti-military career politician perfectly embodying General Ripper’s description of such a player, it is downright frightening to watch this politician using our military like little toy soldiers for his own narcissistic ambitions.  Like I said, we couldn’t script this material or its timing better if we tried.

I would guess that General Ripper’s speechwriter back in 1964, who further “satirized” military commanders with the General telling his men that “…in conclusion, I would like to say that in the two years it has been my privilege to be your commanding officer, I have always expected the best from you, and you have never given me anything less than that…”never dreamed that his words could possibly reflect a clear and unexpected truth beyond the confines of a “revolutionary” film of the 1960s. Indeed who would have guessed that on March 28, 2011, in a dramatic coincidence, those words would serve to illuminate and expose a so-called commander-in-chief commanding the U.S. military without benefit of time, training, strategic thought or fundamental respect for our men and women in uniform in a genuinely, and increasingly, dangerous world. Dangerous times indeed. God help us all.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

A Letter to Mrs. Obama from an American Parent

February 21, 2011 | Comments (0)

Dear Mrs. Obama:

A friend was kind enough to send me a copy of a letter you wrote to America’s parents, written, it appears, when you were busy hosting visitors from China as your husband celebrated “China’s rise,” and in the aftermath of the terrible shootings in Tucson.  Your letter, as you may recall, was written to instruct us parents to be tolerant and to teach tolerance to our children, suggesting that if we had done this, we might have prevented the Tucson shooting.

I know the past few months have been very busy for you, what with entertaining foreign dignitaries, hosting the White House Super Bowl party, taking vacations, traveling across the country for the Tucson memorial/Obama-campaign-launch event, teaching parents to prevent mass murders with tolerance, and gaining access as part of a large group of politicians to the ICU to visit Tucson-shooting victim Congresswoman Giffords.  I’m still wondering how a large group of non-family-member politicians gained that access; most hospitals are pretty stringent about ICU patient visitations.  I also don’t remember you and your husband being quite so passionate and involved when more than 40 people were shot, 13 murdered, at Fort Hood by a radical religiously-motivated shooter back in November, 2009.  But I do remember talk of tolerance; guess we parents didn’t do our job to prevent the tragedy in Tucson.

You, however, do not rest.  In your tireless efforts to make us, as your husband described, “better,” you have now taken it upon yourself to help influence and control the portion sizes served by America’s restaurants.  I believe I speak for many other American parents, who, like me, eat quite frequently in America’s restaurants and love nothing more than receiving enormous portions of food and bringing enormous boxes of leftovers home afterwards to satisfy the enormous appetites of growing active kids.  With all due respect, you need not suggest that we offer them something more in keeping with your list of preferred foods, because what and how we feed our kids is our decision, not yours.

Also our decision, and one of the most personal as a parent, is the decision to breastfeed – another issue you have taken upon yourself to promote.  I know it has been years since you were faced with that decision, and I don’t care to know what you decided, but I would imagine you know of women, who, for whatever reason, either could not or would not engage in this activity.  What is never addressed in regard to this topic is that it can be far more difficult and far greater a commitment than many women realize.  In answer to your related claim that breastfeeding prevents obesity, while plenty of scientific evidence confirms the benefs of breastfeeding on brain development, I have seen nothing linking it to long-term obesity prevention (and I have a feeling you haven’t either). 

So with all due respect, Mrs. Obama, as one of the millions of American parents you are addressing en masse with your letters, your speeches and your alleged scientific conclusions, I have done just fine on my own feeding my kids; monitoring their portions of restaurant food; and, as is my right as an American (an American who has always been proud of my country), teaching them the core values of my choice.  Indeed I know I speak for myself and millions of other American parents, when I say that we were doing just fine in this mission, long before we ever even heard of you and your husband.

I thus think your time might be better spent, not lecturing American parents on what we must do to ensure our progeny and their beliefs meet your and your husband’s particular expectations, but to concentrate instead on your own daughters.  I know nothing about your children (apart from the private information you shared about their BMI scores), and that is how it should be.  Your children and their BMI scores are, and should be, no concern of mine, and you, a self-appointed representative of the government, need not bother yourself with concerns about my children, either.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)