Reciprocity: Join Us In A Big Hug

Since the election of President Elect Obama I have seen many  comments, letters to editors and received personal missives, all with the similar aims. As they celebrate the election results they appeal to those who did not vote for Mr. Obama. Uniformly  they ask that we who were defeated join and work together with the new administration. “It’s time to reunite and rebuild” they say.” Please don’t be bitter, they implore, now is not the time for it. Join us, help us, put past  hard feelings aside.”

I find it difficult to absorb that message when it comes from the same people who, from the instant polls closed in 2000 screeched so shrilly that they election had ‘been stolen’ and President Elect Bush was ” NOT MY PRESIDENT”.

These are the people who are reflected in the comments from actor Ron Silver,  during Clinton’s first inaugural was comforted that the military jets overhead now were “our planes” and therefore safe now.

The spirit of cooperation is shown by Senate Majority Leager Harry Reid, who has been meeting with Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who dared dissent from Democrat orthodoxy and supported the war in Iraq. Now that  the evil republicans are out of power, he will be punished for his wayward thoughts. Nancy Pelosi, from the Speakers Podium cheers the possibility of a new “Fairness Doctrine” to impose uniformity of thought on broadcasters.

The warm, and embracing feel from the original letters gave way rapidly in my area. The day after the election several local papers immediately portrayed all republicans as crying and using (interestingly enough) the phrase used for the last eight years by the dems ” Not MY president”. Letters to the editor columns are filling rapidly with taunts and threats that republicans had better go along, or be labelled as obstructionists or worse.

Rumor has it that even Michael Moore has a letter circulating, requesting that conservatives join hands with the Obama crowd and unite our country once more. This is the same Moore who went to Cuba, praising the system of a man who tortures those who disagree with him.  Praising the leadership of a man who makes it a crime to attempt to leave his needlessly impoverished country for those seeking a better life. He toasts thugs like Hugo Chavez who openly boast of their desire to destroy America and it’s economy. Then Mr. Moore wonders why those who did not support Senator Obama’s campaign are reluctant to become loyal soldiers in the President Elect’s new army.

I have had conversations with many close friends, some who were quite vocal supporters of Mr. Obama. I have no problem with them, nor do I doubt their real sincerityof belief. That’s the way American politics SHOULD work. I will not however ‘join hands and unite in support’ with the likes of Moore, Pelose, Reid, Nadler and the others in government and outside it who seek fundamental change and irreversible destruction of the system of government our nation has built for more than two hundred years.

Barrack Obama has been elected president. That in itself belies the cries of ‘racist’ hurled by so many at our country. That in itself shows the openness to change of our nation.  I honor him, and salute his remarkable, and yes, historic achievement. I will support the President of The United States. I will, however oppose his policies and politics the moment they swerve into areas I know will bring our country to ruin. This is not personal. It is simply politics.

As Always

Keep the Faith

The Rev