08:43:38 am on
Monday 07 Oct 2024

What Might have Been
AJ Robinson

We’re now well into the political season and the pundits are making all kinds of speeches. A recent one caught my attention. I felt compelled to write. I heard it said that some voters were disappointed in President Obama (POTUS) for not accomplishing more of his agenda. I was incredulous.


You find him disappointing.

I guess it’s time to have a little chat with all of you and not pull any punches. I hate to be brutally honest and severe; it’s necessary. In a word, who do you think you are?

You are disappointed in him. I, and everyone that has fought tooth and nail for POTUS, are disgusted in you! You read that right. In the 2014 midterm election, voter turnout was just about the lowest in decades. What, you couldn’t be troubled to take a little time from your busy schedule of texting and online game play to get off your fat ass and vote?

Obama is not an imperial President of the United States (POTUS), no matter what the right wing nut jobs, especially when they’re also drooling over Putin. Wow, talk about a touch of irony. Obama needed a Congress he could work with and you did not get out and vote to give POTUS what he needed.

Oh, and I’m not merely angry with my fellow Democrats. No, I’m also furious with my former friends in the good old GOP. You ever hear of voting for the right person, not merely the candidate from your party, I know, hard to do.


My Dad used to say some people voted party lines, with little or no consideration to the candidate.

My dad used to tell me there were some party loyalists who would vote for the beagle owned by the governor, if it was as a candidate. All they cared about was that D or R next to the name on the ballot.

Those days are over. You’re supposed to vote for people who will actually do something and who actually represent your best interests! Putting the Tea Baggers in control has given us a Congress that has done the following: nothing.

I’m not being facetious, either. Please, feel from to list for me their accomplishments. What have they done?

Now, think about this. Think about what might have been had we given Obama a Democratic Congress. Here are just a few things they would have taken care of:

We would have had action on Climate Change. The Minimum Wage would increase, giving millions a raise. There would be equal pay for women, which would mean yet another raise for millions of households. The rights of women would receive protected instead, of infringed on. A repair or re-establishment of the Voting Rights Act would take place. We would have investment in education and our crumbling infrastructure. In terms of education, we would have dealt with the issue of college tuition and the crushing debt graduates are dealing with. We might have even gotten something as simple as universal background checks on the purchase of firearms and maybe a little fine-tuning of the ACA to improve it.

The next time you whine and complain about Obama not doing enough, do something for me. Go stand in front of the mirror. Then say, “I didn’t do enough for Obama.”


In the up-coming elections, vote and vote in each election.

Please remember, we have another election coming up. Be sure to get out there and vote; vote in every election. Recall the words of Tip O’Neill; He once was a most powerful leader of the House, “All politics is local.”

Those idiot Tea Baggers didn’t earn their undemanding districts by themselves. No, the state legislatures drew the boundaries to ensure they’d win. Once again, that is your fault. Don’t like it? Deal with it! You do that by voting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combining the gimlet-eye of Philip Roth with the precisive mind of Lionel Trilling, AJ Robinson writes about what goes bump in the mind, of 21st century adults. Raised in Boston, with summers on Martha's Vineyard, AJ now lives in Florida. Working, again, as an engineeer, after years out of the field due to 2009 recession and slow recovery, Robinson finds time to write. His liberal, note the small "l," sensibilities often lead to bouts of righteous indignation, well focused and true. His teen vampire adventure novel, "Vampire Vendetta," will publish in 2020. Robinson continues to write books, screenplays and teleplays and keeps hoping for that big break.

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