Obama's Organizing America

I received an email this week from Obama that caught my attention. In it President Obama stated that “All this week, OFA (Organizing for America) members like you will be stopping by local congressional offices to show our support for insurance reform.” It goes on to say “As you've probably seen in the news, special interest attack groups are stirring up partisan mobs with lies about health reform, and it's getting ugly. Across the country, members of Congress who support reform are being shouted down, physically assaulted, hung in effigy, and receiving death threats. We can't let extremists hijack this debate, or confuse Congress about where the people stand.” And ends with “Earlier this week, the President wrote that "this is the moment our movement was built for" and asked us all to commit to join at least one event this month. This is the way to answer that call, and rise to the challenge of this moment together.”

This alarming language feeding the fear and anger of the far left is totally unbecoming of a President. Sure Obama should encourage his followers to stand up for what they believe in but he is only inflaming the situation by referring to the right as partisan mobs. And I don’t recall hearing that any congressman or woman was physically assaulted, have you?

I also find it ironic that the left accuses the conservative protesters as being part of an organized group and yet here is Obama referring to his group, Organizing for America, and stating that this situation is the reason for this group’s existence. Again, this shouldn’t be something a President does. He should be above the fray, not an integral part of it egging on his supporters and calling his detractors names. It is also a bit scary to think that Obama felt it necessary to start this group just to use when people protest against him. And they are organizing, no doubt about that. In fact some time check out Organizing for America on Facebook

Forty years ago, conservatives were known as "The Silent Majority" for a reason. So based on the historical silence from the right, today’s politicians are surprised to see these previously voiceless conservatives standing up and yelling back. I loved the line from Barbara Boxer (D-CA) who said the protesters had to be fake because they were “too well dressed”! A part of me is oh so tempted to go to one of the Obama Organizing for America events dressed in a formal gown. Better yet, how funny would it be if a whole group of men and women showed up in formal attire? Unfortunately, time has shown that the far left has absolutely no sense of humor when it comes to things like this.

The difference between the two groups of protesters is growing and not just in forms of attire. The right is there because they are truly concerned about the health care plan and what it would do to America and to them. To be fair, some liberals are passionate about universal health care. But many are now showing up because they are angry at the right for protesting against Obama. There have been numerous quotes from the left that a protest against the health care bill is really a protest against the President. Not true. Protesters are simply scared about this health care bill and how it might adversely affect their own personal health care and the ability to be treated properly and quickly when they need medical help.

Again, to be fair, I am sure that some conservatives are misinformed about some aspects of the health care bill, which by the way is actually a number of differing versions that have yet to be finalized. But for the most part the protesters are concerned about the extreme costs of universal health care, potentially intrusive and complete government takeover and how these changes will affect them. On the other hand, I doubt if one in ten from the left could intelligently discuss the 1000+ page bill (including the lawmakers, themselves) and explain why they are protesting in favor of it. In fact, reread that opening paragraph. Does the President give his supporters reasons and arguments to counter the protesters? No. He simply says they must stop them. So much for wanting a "debate" on the issue.

Additionally, the next time the media is showing the two opposing groups protesting on TV, turn off the sound and simply look at the two groups. First, they really aren’t dressed very differently, no matter what some might say. But more importantly, look at their signage. For the most part, those protesting against the health care bill are holding hand made signs. You can tell that most are signs the individual protester made as few are lettered via a graphics shop and they come in various sizes and shapes and with differing verbiage on each one. Then look at the signs of the left, particularly all those uniformed blue ones. The majority are professionally made with many of them having the exact same phrases. No there is nothing wrong with this but it goes back to the argument – which one of the two groups is spontaneous and which is organized?

I just hope that this call to the Organizing for America group to start protesting the protesters doesn’t scare off the citizens who are truly concerned about the health care bill. Or worse, escalate it into genuine physical assaults between the two groups. Remember, this is all lead by politicians versed in Chicago style politics. So I can’t help but worry as to just how far Obama will encourage the Organizing for America supporters to go if this is indeed “the moment it was built for”.