Taking the bait

Earlier today, I received a forwarded email from my dad. You probably know that I love my dad more than I love almost everyone on the planet. That said, our politics, if we allowed ourselves to talk about them anymore, could maim and even kill the love we share.

We’re not as different politically as we could be. For instance, I am liberal in just about every sense, but I don’t lean as far to the left as some of my friends do. My dad, though, he couldn't get any more conservative. And he apologizes to no one for any of it.

So today one of THOSE emails arrived. Sometimes I think he forwards them to me and about a dozen other people without reading them. Of course, that’s probably wishful thinking.

This one listed a bunch of things President Obama has done since he took office, and asked “IF George W. Bush had done blah, blah, blah, would you approve?”

Some examples:

“If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

... If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?

... If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

... If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

... If George W. Bush had been “addicted” to using a TelePrompTer, and was afraid to give a speech without having one, would you have approved? Would you think he was intellegent?

... If George W. Bush had proposed doubling the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

... If George W. Bush had pre-approved/pre-picked the list of reporters allowed to ask questions at his press conferences and refused to call on the correspondent from MSNBC (FOX with Obama), would you have approved? Is that a Fair and Balanced news conference?”

Another mentioned Obama's association with ACORN.

A couple more mentioned missteps like the low flight over Manhattan and his reference to the “Austrian language.”

The email ended with this:

“All of this HAS been done in the last 14 weeks — so we still have three years and eight-and-a-half months full of surprises.”

For some reason, this email — one of hundreds I've received over the years — hit me just right. Rather than deleting it, I hit “reply all” and answered it.

And damn it felt good.

Here’s what I said:

"And yet, so many of us approve of Barack Obama. Perhaps it’s because we trust his motives, his expectations and his friends. You can put up with a lot from someone when you trust that their best interests are YOUR best interests ... rather than those of their friends.

We forgive his mistakes because we know they are honest mistakes.

We trust his judgment because he tells us what he’s doing and why every time.

We allow him to honor those who deserve his respect in whatever way is customary — even if it means bowing — without assuming it lessens our position in the world. In fact, we think it strengthens our position because we believe it’s critically important to have friends who'll help us get out of this jam.

It’s easier for us to forgive income tax problems than it is for us to forgive wars started over false pretenses.

We allow him some latitude to hire and fire as he sees fit when our tax dollars — which were required to help us out of a mess eight years in the making — are at stake.

We're OK with racking up debt if it will bring the country we love long-term stability. We’re not OK with debt that simply enriches the friends of our president.

We’re OK with our president ensuring that one person who wouldn’t normally have a chance to ask a question at a press conference gets to do so, especially when that person polled regular people like us to come up with the question.

We know there are crooks and thieves surrounding every leader of every part of our country. We also know that just because people you know and have trusted make bad choices doesn't mean you're tainted with those choices. If that were true, in order to be considered an honest and just person, every Catholic would have to leave the church and every member of the military would have to resign.

We also know that some will consider this response to be defensive, partisan and unpatriotic. They’ll call us liberals, as if that explains why we can’t seem to think straight. It’s OK. We're used to it.

And right now, there’s too much to be done fixing the mess we’ve inherited to do anything but roll up our sleeves and get to it. Remember, we’ve only had 14 weeks.

Thank God we have three years and eight-and-a-half months to go.”

I hope your 4th was splendid, dear reader. And that your inner patriot is feeling good.

Peace.