The loud voices of Tea Party sideshow stars and
carnival barkers, have dominated headlines with anti-Obama rhetoric for far too long.
These days, strategically-laced racism and ambiguously xenophobic innuendo is fodder for the field in the forum of American politics. Even the outrageous antics of
newly ascendant Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, has become the de facto talking point in political punditry.
Since these sentiments began to take root in 2008, a vast majority of the conservative establishment sought to frame the duly-elected
U.S. president with
terrorist, radical Islamic connections, and anti-American, foreign ties. Obama was even forced to
publicly release his long-form, U.S. birth certificate last week, in an effort to put to rest growing challenges -- mostly from far-right conservatives -- that his American citizenship was somehow questionable....
Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, who led the American economy into the depths of a vast recession, Obama has been
misrepresented and attacked for making Americans "less safe". These attacks began with former Vice President Dick Cheney, and parroted by the likes of
Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and countless Fox News correspondents.
The result: many voters believed the hype -- that somehow, the president was soft on terrorism -- if not a
secret Muslim operative himself. The lie grew more dangerous for both Obama and the millions of patriotic Muslim-Americans, as it equated extremist terrorism, Islamic faith, and Afro-Arab Muslim identity in the same, falsely construed paradigm.
Now the tide has turned.
Early in his presidential campaign, Barack Obama noted his personal opposition to the war in Iraq. He expressed concern that there was no plausible evidence of any involvement by Saddam Hussein in the attacks against the United States in 2001, and questioned America's justification for a declaration of war.
In contrast, Obama stood by his belief that military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan were credible, because of clear links to Al-Qaida's founder and leader, Osama bin Laden. To that end, President Obama fulfilled his campaign promise to bring an end to combat forces in Iraq, but expanded the war in Afghanistan with the express aim of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, and dismantling Al-Qaida. That decision, however, did not come without its critics and risked alienating members of his most loyal, Democratic and liberal base.
Obama was accused by members of his own party of being too easily persuaded by conservatives, or changeable: following in the footsteps of his war-mongering predecessor.
The president stayed the course, justified by conviction. Following up on intelligence reports of Osama bin Laden's exact location, the president directed Leon Panetta, head of the
CIA, to make capturing bin Laden the top priority. Last week the President unilaterally instructed covert military forces to capture and kill him.
Obama, widely accused of being incapable of leadership, weak on foreign policy and inconsistent in his diplomatic aims -- may have now written his own ticket to
victory in the 2012 presidential campaign.
The field of Republican candidates remains weak and wanting: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But Obama presides over an improving economy and declining unemployment rates. He has already delivered notable victories in socially progressive legislation and a landmark health care reform bill.
