Is President Obama a Buffoon?

I started this as an answer to a comment regarding people who had been laid off protesting the closure of a Kia dealership in Jacksonville. Like Topsy, this response grew – in my case, it grew into a HUB.

The responder called President Obama a “buffoon,” saying it was ridiculous for him to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. While he certainly meets the requirements to be president, President Obama doesn’t qualify as a buffoon (http://www.google.com/search?q=define+buffoon&btnG=Search).

He most certainly is well educated and the only way he meets even some of the qualifications of a buffoon is the same way any legislator or career politician might do so.

I don’t really understand what the Nobel Peace Prize has to do with the Kia dealership’s closing anyway but that’s neither here nor there.

I’m not going to argue with the people empowered to make those decisions. That’s not my job. Whether or not I think the President should have won makes little difference. Other presidents have won and, as stated in the speech from a member of the committee and an article I found concerning the award (http://nobelpeaceprize.org/), President Obama is being recognized for his efforts – not necessarily the results of those efforts.

I am tired of people showing disrespect for the President. I neither worked for him nor voted for him but, needing only 270 electoral votes to win, he received more than the 365 shown in this illustration from the New York Times, (http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html) and his popular vote margin was more than 10,000,000.

You can’t even blame one race or group for his election. Caucasian voters outnumber African-Americans or just about any combination of voters including African-Americans you can make up by such a margin that you have to understand that President Obama was elected by most of the people who voted. You don’t even have to respect the man – though, in my opinion, our President is worthy of respect because of his accomplishments, if nothing else.

(One of my many dislikes is people who are qualified to vote who don’t and then complain about the results. They don't realize that THEY are just as responsible for the result as they would have been had they voted for the winner or for or against the measure which passed or failed because they did not vote.)

Jackie Robinson, one of the first – if not the first African-American -- to break the color barrier in professional baseball, was an Army officer before he went into that sport. There’s a story told about him when he was an Army second lieutenant, which illustrates my point quite well.

In a movie based on his life, two Caucasian enlisted personnel pass him without saluting. He informed them (I’m paraphrasing): “You DON’T have to salute the man – you DO have to salute the rank.”

In my hasty research, I couldn’t find that quote, but here are some other facts about Robinson I found interesting. (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Jackie_Robinson#encyclopedia).

President Obama is president of what I believe to be the most powerful nation on Earth. To many people in foreign lands, he IS the United States. Our nation and our President are worthy of respect.

Are African-Americans worthy of respect? I think Lincoln, in his Gettysburg address (http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Gettysburg_Address_%5BFull_Text%5D), said: “All men are created equal.” He wasn’t just referring to Caucasians – he meant ALL men.

I apologize – I have a tendency to jump on soap boxes and I talk far too long. I do have two more references, however.

Read up on the USS Mason (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1416153/against_all_odds_review_of_dvd_proud.html?cat=19) and the Tuskegee Airmen. There are many references to the latter – GOOGLE it if you would like to learn about what the Airmen did during World War II.

Irish Blessings Upon You All. May Your Enemies Be Afflicted With Itching Without the Benefit of Scratching.