The Audacity of a Dope

Here's what I have been able to assess about the political and economic climate in America today, from my 8,000 mile vantage point:

"Err-ybody has lost they damn mind." Including this poised, passionate, articulate woman who spoke at President Obama's recent Town Hall meeting. Now, I wanna go on the record here as saying I used to bristle when people called me poised and articulate, because I interpreted it as an expression of surprise that a black woman could complete a sentence without rolling her eyes, snapping her fingers, wiggling her hips and saying, "YOU 'bout to get on my last nerve!"

Thank goodness, I got over that. I AM poised and articulate because I'm very smart, I've gained a lot of experience in life, and I'm just a pretty cool person in general. Like the woman pictured in this posting probably is. She was at the recent Town Hall meeting, and she stood and made a powerful, forceful comment about the struggle she and her family are enduring in Post Global Economic Crisis America. While I admired her passion, reason, and heartfelt commentary, I'd like to fly back to DC tonight, stop by her workplace, roll my eyes while snapping my fingers and wiggling my hips, and hiss,

"Girlfriend, YOU bout to get on my last nerve!"

That's because this woman had what I've just now coined as "The Audacity of a Dope" to stand there and say she was exhausted by defending President Obama and his promise of change. She and her husband have two kids in private school, and they're working harder than ever for less money, and they're frightened and facing the harsh possibility of reverting to what she called "the Franks and Beans Years" of their early life together.

I get that. I honor that. I'm living a lifestyle over here in East Africa that would likely be impossible in the US right now, and I'm fully aware that unless I hit the Lottery the moment I set foot back on US soil for good, I could be looking at the dreaded "cardboard refrigerator box over the heating grate, daily diet of Fancy Feast on a Ritz cracker"scenario in 20 years, based on my lack of serious planning and foresight about retirement issues. So I ain't just hatin' on a sister because she expressed real fears about a scary financial climate

But to me, this woman embodies what I consider an ASTONISHING disingenuousness about what an apocalyptic mess Barack Obama inherited. As someone on a blog site characterized the situation, people like act like they voted for Barack Obama because they expected him to morph into a combination of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Underdog and instantaneously set America right and make everybody's pockets fatter. How someone as seemingly smart and sincere as this woman could stand there and publicly suggest that President Obama has "failed" them, or lied to them, or disappointed them because America is not yet morphed into "Who-ville" on Christmas morning....it just blows my mind.

It makes me wanna just stand on top of Mt. Crumpit and shout, in the Grinchiest growl I can muster, "Yo, Dah-hoo Dor-ay, Mutha-f-----s, wake up! When Barack Obama said he would bring about change, he was not promising to build a bloomin' time capsule and wipe out the past 13 years or so to transport us back to 1997 when there was a budget surplus and no policy that would eventually draw us into TWO billion dollar per week wars!! He said he would try and change the direction the country was headed in, and change some of the mindlessly punitive policies and practices."

I know I'm not being as articulate as I need to be in this screed because I'm NOT living in the US, and I haven't followed the President's policies as closely as I would need to in order to mount a truly effective defense. I also haven't had my job outsourced or been laid off, as many of my of my friends and acquaintances in the media realm have. We're all about the same age as "Ms. Town Hall Exhaustion," some with kids and/or grandkids, ALL of us with bills to pay and retirement to brace for. But here's what I CAN state: People like this woman need to stop looking for scapegoats for a tough situation which, if they need to blame somebody, they better start looking in the general direction of Texas. Or let me rephrase that, they need to stop making President Obama the scapegoat.

It makes me wonder if the so-called "Greatest Generation," the men and women who fought and lived during the World War II Era, and who gutted their way through the aftermath, sat around blaming Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman for how tough their lives were. I would bet they didn't. I'm not saying that every American back then loved Frank D. and Harry, but I'm guessing that the majority of them acknowledged just what a bloody frakkin' mess the ENTIRE WORLD was in after the war, and they got on with it. They didn't do it without fear, anxiety and yes "EXHAUSTION," but they got on with it.

I think I know why some Americans feel the need to blame President Obama for everything. He's a black man and they hate the fact that he's in charge. I know why other people hate him; he's poised, articulate and "uppity." And I know there are people who think he's too pragmatic, and needs to exhibit more "fire in the belly" about the problems our country is facing.

Oh, to hell with it. Just give ME a crack at making a comment at a Town Hall meeting, and I would go straight-up Madea setting "Err-ybody" straight! Because blaming Barack Obama because he hasn't magically solved every problem our country is facing is just appallingly dopey.