(Written Wednesday morning after the election)
I am conflicted this morning. For six years, whenever I have criticized President Obama’s policies, some folks have suggested my problem was with his race. And not just me, but many who have taken issue with the president, particularly in the Tea Party, have been labeled as racists—simply for disagreeing. Many others have been fearful to say anything negative about the President’s policies for fear of being labeled a bigot.
But this morning when I heard that Mia Love, not just black, but a woman to boot, became the first black Republican congresswomen, I had this strange emotion. You would think that with the supposed war on women liberals keep talking about, that, as a white male, I would have been horrified at her success. On the contrary, my inner Archie Bunker was nowhere to be found. I was overjoyed with her success…as a woman, as a person of color, and, as a Republican.
So, maybe I am not a racist.
Maybe I am not at war against women. Maybe my issues with President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have nothing to do with race or sex, but ideas and policy! Maybe my beef centers around Obamacare, Fast and Furious, the IRS targeting conservatives, the wiretapping of reporters, and the Benghazi cover-up (and the cover-up of the cover-up!).
Maybe it is because the Fort Hood terror attack was labeled a workplace dispute. Maybe it is because the president has opened the borders to illegals, while not lifting one finger to get back our marine who was jailed in Mexico. Maybe my concerns had more to do with policy than pigment; facts rather than gender.
Could it be that my concern was far more connected to the fact that ISIS is growing at a rapid rate and our president did nothing to stop them until the pressure was too great to ignore? Or that his administration refers to Prime Minister Netanyahu as Chicken****, while Jews get run down on the streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv comes under rocket attacks? Or the fact he and Ms. Clinton have treated Netanyahu with disdain over and over again, when Israel is the USA’s only true and lasting ally in the Middle East.
Or just possibly it disturbed me that our President could condemn the beheading of a reporter and then exit stage left to go play golf and yuk it up with Alonzo Mourning. Could it be that I and millions of other Americans love the fact that America elected an African American, and yet are horrified at the lack of action that the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning president has taken as the leader of the free world?
Today my heart rejoiced to see Mia Love (great name!), the daughter of Haitian immigrants, be elected to congress. I was so happy to realize that I am not racist, or sexist, but simply someone, who, like so many Americans, is passionate about the direction America is going. Today I confirmed, once and for all, that my issue with President Obama has absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin, but the content of his character.
President Obama two years ago told my cousin, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, that elections have consequences and “I won.” I hope he uses the same logic moving forward after Tuesday’s election.
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