blame Obama 2

I still can’t bring myself to write about the outrage, despair, and anger I feel about the election outcomes. But that doesn’t mean I won’t stop fighting for what’s right, what’s just, and what’s liberal and progressive and good for the US of A. It only means that I won’t subject myself to the stress that comes with ranting about the injustices and utter idiocy that we face, now that we have a Republican Congress.

Instead, how about some facts? I’m no “Obama apologist,” but credit where credit is due. Lately he’s been executing some well-placed kicks in the ass. And below is a screen grab of a page from my Los Angeles Times Business section accompanied by two splendid Letters to the Editor. Check out all three headlines. Then continue to watch as the GOP Smear Machine blames President Obama for everything in the whole wide world, except, of course, his successes:

LA Times good news blame obama

Bonus points go to the New York Times: Health Exchange Users Find a Smoother Experience.

Here are the letters:

Stevens Weller III of Encinitas blames right-wing media for the Ebola panic:

The Ebola panic mysteriously subsided the day after the election, but The Times can’t fathom why. Perhaps it should consider the question from the other direction: Why, despite constant assurances from leading medical professionals, did the panic grow to such proportions in the first place?

It is obvious to everyone I know that the talking heads of the right-wing media whipped up the panic — blaming President Obama, of course — using it as just another scary story to energize their easily panicked base going into the midterm election. Mission accomplished.

Here’s a headline we’ll never see: “Cool-headed President Obama prevents American Ebola epidemic without a surgeon general.” The story would go on to explain how the Republicans have held up the president’s surgeon general appointment and other ways they have weakened our government’s ability to respond to epidemics and other health emergencies.

It won’t change the disastrous results of the recent elections, but it would add some practical perspective to what has been happening in Washington since the Republicans decided to shut down the government.

…

Jim Conway of Woodland Hills says Obama deserves more credit:

Does Obama get any recognition for an Ebola-free United States? How about giving credit to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his brilliant idea to “reward” healthcare workers with a quarantine?

Obama’s credit goes into the same bucket as a 5.8% unemployment rate, a Dow Jones mark of more than 17,000, and 8 million more Americans with health insurance. The price of gas in my neighborhood is $3.09 per gallon. This week, Obama took steps to keep “our” Internet free.

Republicans have given us words — mostly false words.

I think the late Samuel Johnson put it best: “I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of Earth, and that things are the sons of heaven.”