Respect This POTUS and FLOTUS Like You've Done The Other 43 White Ones

I was listening to a discussion yesterday morning on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio talk show about the disrespect aimed at the POTUS and FLOTUS, and the various callers chiming in with their thoughts about it.   

Now it's my turn.

Ever since Barack H. Obama won that historic 2008 election and was subsequently inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009, it has been a brand new day in this country in terms of for all Americans in terms of flipping on the television to see the image of a confident and competent Black man staring back at them intelligently expounding on the nation's problems.

They have also had to get adjusted to his summa cum laude Princeton educated statuesque wife who grew up on the south side of Chicago and not Chicago's burbs like the wife of William Jefferson Clinton did,.and this couple's two teenage daughters.

But ever since they moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the African American community has seethed as white supremacy reared its vanilla scented head and disrespect for the President and the First Lady has come at them in subtle and not so subtle ways..

We've been pissed as vanilla flavored people on the left and right who hate this president refuse to give him the respect of calling him 'President Obama' in their barely disguised borderline bigoted critiques of him or disrespect the First Lady by calling her Michelle.  

It angers us even more because those same right wingers through the last eight years of a reprehensible mispresidency repeated like a mantra 'you lost, get over it' and 'respect the office'.

What, now that an African American president his wife, mother in law and daughters occupy the house our ancestors built with their unpaid labor y'all wanna trip?

We expected the frothing at the mouth disrespect from the sheet wearing sore loser bigots on the right who peddled in racism during the 2008 campaign.   It wasn't a surprise based on what they did to the last Democratic president and the last Democratic First Lady and their daughter that they would initiate an ongoing campaign to disrespect, delegitimize, and denigrate President Obama.   We expected the Right Wing Lie Machine to be cranked up to maximum volume and some poor and middle class whites to fall for the GOP okey doke like they have for years.  We even expected the spike in death threats aimed at this African descended POTUS from their pathetic fringes and their 'birthers' with their crazy conspiracy theories.

But what has us taken aback is the vitriol the POTUS is getting that is coming from so called liberals and elements of the gay community couched in 'criticism' of him.   Much of it comes from the peeps who are still hatin' because Hillary Clinton, the girl from the Chicago 'burbs lost the 2008 Democratic primary, the lukewarm peeps who jumped on the bandwagon, or the people who peddle the misguided bull feces that both parties are the same and want to see a third party take root in this country.  

Really?  After eight years of a near neo-fascist corporate dictatorship that y'all stayed silent in and yet some of you have the nerve to sulk and claim he hasn't done anything.   This is the most TBLG friendly president ever ensconced in the Oval Office, but all we hear is that he is the 'worst president ever' on gay rights or should be primary challenged next year?  

Buy a vowel and get a fracking clue.   You wanna bitch at somebody, start with the bigoted peeps who worship the elephant.   The Republicans have opposed every policy that he's tried to come up with to fix the mess he inherited from Junior, interrupted his State of the Union speech to call him a liar, and had a long list of Fox Noise pundits, conservative writers and right wing radio hosts disrespect him.  In the same week he was forced to reveal his long form birth certificate to shut up the birthers, he gave the orders as commander in chief for the covert op that took out Osama bin Laden.   

How fracked up is that?   Did you demand the other 43 white presidents prove they were Americans?

Would you be showing the same level of disrespect to a President Hillary Rodham Clinton that you have aimed at this POTUS?      We both know the answer to that question.


But yeah, because we were hopeful and giddy on that November 4, 2008 night and that January 20, 2009 inauguration day, we seriously underestimated the fear of a Black America that still is ensconced deep in your hearts or just how many of you agree with the words a former Supreme Court justice uttered over 150 years ago.   We forgot for a moment just how much fear and disrespect of African Americans has been ingrained into your psyche.

The African American community has had enough of this bull feces from y'all.    We also ain't liking the racist disrespect aimed at the FLOTUS either.   

But let's get real for a moment.  This president from the moment he took the oath of office has faced nullification tactics and massive resistance not seen since the days of the civil rights movement.   He has to deal with people in the GOP who are willing to take the whole country down just so you low information fools will blame President Obama and damage his chances of getting reelected next year.


And you know deep down that none of those all white neo-Confederate candidates on the GOP side are going to support any of the liberal progressive policies that you espouse.

So chill with the disrespect of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.   Respect this POTUS and FLOTUS like you have the other 43 white ones and expected African American and other POC's to do when the occupants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue looked like y'all.

President Eisenhower Tells The Truth

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was next to President Gerald R. Ford, the last honest and honorable Republicans.   It's probably why the current crop of Republifools hate both of them with a foaming at the mouth passion or never mentions them.


Eisenhower represents the high water mark for African-American support of a Republican presidential candidate.   We liked Ike and he received 39% of the African American vote in the 1956 election that gave him his second term.  Nixon got 32% in the razor thin 1960 election vs John F. Kennedy, and then starting with the LBJ landslide of 1964 no Republican has gotten more than 15% of the African American vote since. .
But back to talking about Ike being one of the last honest Republican presidents.  During his January 17, 1961 farewell speech he warned us of the dangers of the military industrial complex.



He also said this

"Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.  There is a tiny splinter group, of course that believes that you can do these things, but their number is negligible and they are stupid."

Hmm, wonder who that resembles?

Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

July 7 was also a momentous date for President Jimmy and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.   They were married 65 years ago on this day in 1946 at the Plains Baptist Church in Plains, GA.. It is the second longest marriage in the history of US presidential couples.

Hmm.  What was that bull feces about Democratic family values again?   While you Republifools flap your gums about it, this man lived those values.   He also put us during his presidency on a course of emphasizing human rights in our international dealings with the world that you GOP fools ruined under the last mispresidency.  
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Y'all know I have much love for and respect for President Carter because until President Clinton came along, he was the champ in terms of appointing African-Americans and other POC's to his cabinet, federal judicial benches and his administration.

 He was trying to get the US on the road to energy independence and energy efficiency during his term.   He established the Strategic Petroleum reserve that we can tap into when needed, got a lasting peace treaty done between Egypt and Israel, and signed the treaty returning the Panama Canal to that nation  

He also started the tradition of acknowledging June as Black Music Month as well.

And the conservafools still hate on him and call him a 'failed president' for doing so.

But back to President Carter, the First Lady and their long time marriage.  

Congratulations on your long time marriage and your 65th wedding anniversary!   May you continue to have many happy years together.

White House 2011 LGBT Pride Reception

Had Marti and Ethan in attendance at this year's LGBT reception, and I'm interested in discovering whether the trans contingent was once again African American free for the third straight year.

I'll complain about that later if it was.   In the meantime here's what the POTUS had to say at the LGBT reception.



6:00 P.M. EDT

      THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)  Welcome to the White House.  (Applause.) 
Nothing ruins a good party like a long speech from a politician.  (Laughter.)  So I'm going to make a short set of remarks here.  I appreciate all of you being here.  I have learned a lesson:  Don't follow Potomac Fever -- (laughter) -- because they sounded pretty good.
We’ve got community leaders here.  We've got grassroots organizers.  We've got some incredible young people who are just doing great work all across the country -– folks who are standing up against discrimination, and for the rights of parents and children and partners and students --
        AUDIENCE MEMBER:  And spouses.
        THE PRESIDENT:  -- and spouses.  (Applause.)  You’re fighting for the idea that everyone ought to be treated equally and everybody deserves to be able to live and love as they see fit.  (Applause.)
        Now, I don’t have to tell the people in this room we've got a ways to go in the struggle, how many people are still denied their basic rights as Americans, who are still in particular circumstances treated as second-class citizens, or still fearful when they walk down the street or down the hall at school. Many of you have devoted your lives to the cause of equality.  So you all know that we've got more work to do.
        But I think it's important for us to note the progress that's been made just in the last two and a half years.  I just want everybody to think about this.  (Applause.)  It was here, in the East Room, at our first Pride reception, on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a few months after I took office, that I made a pledge, I made a commitment.  I said that I would never counsel patience; it wasn’t right for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was right for folks to tell African Americans to be patient in terms of their freedoms.  I said it might take time to get everything we wanted done.  But I also expected to be judged not by the promises I made, but the promises I kept.
        Now, let's just think about it.  I met with Judy Shepard.  I promised her we'd pass an inclusive hate crimes law, named after her son, Matthew.  And with the help of Ted Kennedy and others, we got it done and I signed the bill.  (Applause.)
        I met Janice Lang-ben, who was barred from the bedside of the woman she loved as she lay dying, and I told her we were going to put a stop to that discrimination.  And I issued an order so that any hospital in America that accepts Medicare or Medicaid –- and that means just about every hospital in America  -– has to treat gay partners just as they have to treat straight partners.  Nobody in America should have to produce a legal contract.  (Applause.)
        I said we'd lift the HIV travel ban.  We got that done.  (Applause.)  We put in place the first national strategy to fight HIV/AIDS.  (Applause.)
        A lot of people said we weren’t going to be able to get "don't ask, don't tell" done, including a bunch of people in this room.  (Laughter.)  And I just met Sue Fulton, who was part of the first class of women at West Point, and is an outstanding advocate for gay service members.  It took two years through Congress -– working with Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates and the Pentagon.  We had to hold together a fragile coalition.  We had to keep up the pressure.  But the bottom line is we got it done.  And in a matter of weeks, not months, I expect to certify the change in policy –- and we will end "don't ask, don't tell" once and for all.  (Applause.)
        I told you I was against the Defense -- so-called Defense of Marriage Act.  I've long supported efforts to pass a repeal through Congress.  And until we reach that day, my administration is no longer defending DOMA in the courts.  The law is discriminatory.  It violates the Constitution.  It’s time for us to bring it to an end.  (Applause.)
        So bottom line is, I’ve met my commitments to the LGBT community.  I have delivered on what I promised.  Now, that doesn’t mean our work is done.  There are going to be times where you’re still frustrated with me.  (Laughter.)  I know there are going to be times where you’re still frustrated at the pace of change.  I understand that.  I know I can count on you to let me know.  (Laughter and applause.)  This is not a shy group.  (Laughter.)  
        But what I also know is that I will continue to fight alongside you.  And I don’t just mean as an advocate.  You are moms and dads who care about the schools that your children go to.  You’re students who are trying to figure out how to pay for going to college.  You’re folks who are looking for good jobs to pay the bills.  You’re Americans who want this country to prosper.  So those are your fights, too.  And the fact is these are hard days for America.  So we’ve got a lot of work to do to, not only on ending discrimination; we’ve got a lot of work to do to live up to the ideals on which we were founded, and to preserve the American Dream in our time -– for everybody, whether they're gay or straight or lesbian or transgender.
        But the bottom line is, I am hopeful.  I’m hopeful because of the changes we’ve achieved just in these past two years.  Think about it.  It’s astonishing.  Progress that just a few years ago people would have thought were impossible.  And more than that, what gives me hope is the deeper shift that we’re seeing that’s a transformation not just in our laws but in the hearts and minds of people -- the progress led not by Washington but by ordinary citizens.
        It’s propelled not by politics but by love and friendship and a sense of mutual regard and mutual respect.  It’s playing out in legislatures like New York.  (Applause.)  It’s playing out in courtrooms.  It’s playing out in the ballot box, as people argue and debate over how to bring about the changes where we are creating a more perfect union.  But it’s also happening around water coolers.  It’s happening at Thanksgiving tables.  It’s happening on Facebook and Twitter, and at PTA meetings and potluck dinners, and church halls and VFW Halls.
        It happens when a father realizes he doesn’t just love his daughter, but also her partner.  (Applause.)  It happens when a soldier tells his unit that he’s gay, and they say, well, yeah, we knew that –- (laughter) -- but, you know, you’re a good soldier. It happens when a video sparks a movement to let every single young person out there know that they’re not alone.  (Applause.) It happens when people look past their differences to understand our common humanity.
        And that’s not just the story of the gay rights movement.  It is the story of America, and the slow, inexorable march towards a more perfect union.
        I want thank you for your contribution to that story.  I’m confident we’re going to keep on writing more chapters.
        Thank you very much, everybody.  (Applause.)
END 6:10 P.M. EDT