TERRY MOSHER
BARACK OBAMA AND PUTIN
Two things are bothering me today and they are not in order of importance, although both are very important. One concerns what I perceive as a weakness in our president and the second is a growing concern I have about the foundation of life – love – and how that is being eroded it seems to me
As you may know, I voted for Barack Obama twice because I thought he was the best available candidate. I don’t consider myself Republican or a Democrat. I consider myself a centralist. I believe I am good at looking at issues and listening to all sides and make the correct, or best, decision based on that research. So this is not an attack from one part upon the other.
This really isn’t even an attack. But I have sensed for some time that Obama, while a good listener and offers a high IQ, he is a passive, naïve, and a pleaser personality. He breaks down the issues and makes a decision based on trust in others that might be flawed and based on conflictions that tend to lean him toward pleasing others who might not deserve it.
Then there is his passivity. He wants to negotiate rather than fight. If he is challenged he will demur.
Now this doesn’t make him bad. These attributes in a different person might work and make that person a well-loved individual. But if that person is the president of the United States these personality traits can be turned against him by unscrupulous individuals like, say, Putin.
I believe Putin, who is the very definition of evil with cunning thrown in for good measure, figured out these weaknesses in Obama a long time ago. He has correctly guessed that he can get away with bloody murder without being challenged by the greatest power on Earth. So he has annexed Crimea, stirred up trouble in the eastern part of Ukraine with his little green men and now has plopped down in the middle of a raging, multi-sided civil war in Syria much to the dismay and alarm of us and our Western allies.
Putin has guessed, correctly again, that Obama will do nothing. He will sent his top negotiators to Russia to see if Putin and his gang will please back off and not bomb our friends. The Russian dictator has put enough firepower in Syria not only to blow up al-Assad enemies (most of who are supported by us) but to blow up our planes if we dare intervene against him, which we won’t because of the traits I have already assigned to Obama.
But, really, we have few options. We will not confront the Russian military presence in Syria. That will cause a bigger war. So what will we do? Send Putin flowers? Make him promise to not kill too many of our friends? Place more sanctions on his friends?
I read somewhere that maybe Putin has overstepped his own self-importance and made a mistake to support Syria, which is ruled by Shia Muslims, the minority sect in the Middle East and that will cause him more trouble than give him positive promise. But that is yet to be seen because Iran, the most powerful Islamic country, is mostly Shia and supports Al-Assad.
Bottom line is this whole mess was created under the George W. Bush presidency when we invaded Iraq and killed off Saddam Hussein and opened a Pandora Box that let all the various sects and tribes free to grab whatever chunk of whatever chunk of the Middle East they could grab by killing force.
So now enters the cunning evil of Putin, slapping Obama on the back with that smug smile on his face that says happy to have you as an opponent. What I fear is we will get a far-right president in this next election and that person will not be so passive, so naïve, so eager to please. He, or she, will not step back when Putin steps forward as he has done in Syria and we may be in a war that nobody dares to even dream about.
The second point I want to address is what I perceive as a continual lack of love in this world. Our country is being divided like in no time in our history, and there is a lack of love in that divide.
It’s very clear to me that the South has risen again as it done once before over slavery. Politically, the South has drifted to the far right and is intent on slapping down the minority and the poor at the expense of liberties that were once guaranteed in this great nation.
The battle over gun rights is just one example of the battle over liberties. I don’t have an answer to this fight, but when solo individuals can load up on ammunition and automatic firearms that are meant for the military and walk into classrooms or movie theaters and unload on innocent people without the slightest remorse then there is something awfully wrong with our system.
I hear people say that such shooting tragedies are the very reason they have guns – to protect themselves. That’s fine, but what about all the millions of people who don’t care to carry guns? What happens to them when a stranger walks into the doorway nearest them and starts firing guns that can fire bullets so fast it can kill many before a tear drops?
There has to be some control over such weapons, and there has to be background checks before you can own a gun. But even that will not prevent a person that is determined to kill from killing.
And that brings me to the lack of love. The foundation of life is love. Without it you will have total chaos. It will indeed be a mad, mad, mad world. Again, I have no real answer for this. Love starts at birth and if a baby does not get it, it’s tough to obtain it.
All I can say is make sure you love yourself and those around you, no matter the color of skin, no matter the religion, no matter the nationality. Just do it.
That is it for today. I’ve got to head out to the Y for a workout.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.