So Who is deaf, dumb, and blind?

By Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light Ministries - Latino Faith Initiative

If you are not aware by now that the Obama Presidency has reached the milestone of the first 100 days as President, you have not been reading the newspaper, surfing the Internet, or watching any one of the thousand newscasts on cable or digital TV.

The news about the first 100 days is everywhere. While the milestone is largely symbolic and created by the news media, it does provide some idea how the President is doing.

The polls still show the President is very popular. In spite of the bleak news of the free falling economy, the auto industry breaking down, and now the threat of a world flu pandemic that surely is going to affect just about every facet of our daily lives, most people still feel Obama is living up to his campaign promises.

Now I say most people, because if you are a Republican, you are most likely not in that crowd. The Republicans are slowing showing they are the most irrelevant group on earth.

I have never heard so many politicians or conservative pundits whining just about everything the President does, says, or acts out.

Radio big mouth Rush Limbaugh and Fox Cable non-stop talker Sean Hannity are the new guru's of right-wing Republican content and strategy. They claim to be in charge, and are expecting every red bloodied right-winger to follow their lead.

Moreover, if you do not, you must be a simpleton of the other party.

Michelle Malkin, the princess of doom calls all of these moments, "Kodak moments." Like when she complains about the President "bowing down and scraping before Saudi King Abdullah." For all the complaining, Obama did not bow before the Lord of the Oil Rich Desert. For Malkin, it is the "100 days of reckless photo-op hubris," or lies of her imaginations.

First, the complainer made an issue that the President was using a teleprompter for his speeches and news conferences - the little mirrors, set up around the podium, used by the President whenever he stands at a podium. They complained that the teleprompter gave the President a professional edge when he spoke and that his delivery was being controlled by this new technology.

The right-wing guardians of the truth complained that the President was showing weakness when he went to Europe and "apologized on behalf of our country for being an arrogant nation."

The President said he was trying to let the people of Europe, and the world, know that too often America did not listen or respect the opinions of the other nations.

Obama went to Europe to tell the world that he recognized the need for a new beginning of mutual honest relationships. The GOP cheerleaders felt the President was not arrogant enough and gave the impression America was weak and rudderless.

The GOP bad news choir back home complained about the President's new budget. It was "full of ear marks and pork," and they felt President Obama was just plain irresponsible for proposing a budget of spend, spend and spend.

It is funny how soon the Republican vanguard forgot that when President Bush was in office, he overspent the budget for eight years, leaving this nation almost bankrupt when he left office. Well, okay...bankrupt!

The good news? No, the bad news is that our children and grandchild will pay the Bush bill of excess for years.

I guess it was okay for the Bush pork barrel accountants to spend taxpayer money... throwing away billions of tax dollars a month in Iraq alone. I do not remember hearing any complaints from the GOP guardians of speeding back then, did you?

Next, they complained about the people the President selecting for his cabinet.

Last time I remember, the President has the right to choose what people he wanted to serve in cabinet level positions.

Of course, I will say, that if you forget to pay your taxes, perhaps you should not be in a cabinet level position.

However, it just was not just the tax issues. It was the fact the GOP HR people just did not like the people the President was selecting because... well, you name the reason, it did not really matter.

The "Big Business Republicans" complained about Wall Street and the billions of dollars the President was forced to spend to keep our financial integrity from collapsing in a worldwide depression or bankruptcy.

Of course, these GOP hawkers were the same people who wined and dined the big corporate honchos. They legislated big tax breaks for the privileged under President Bush's watch, which in turn allowed these big money felons to rip off millions of investors.

The Republicans are now complaining about how the Democrats are within the magic 60 votes in the Senate after the defection of their very own Republican Arlen Specter joined the Obama Party.

They are now complaining having one party being in total control of Congress and the White House is just not the right way to govern our country. I guess they forgot when they were in control of Congress and the White House it was just fine. After all, the Republicans created the age-old Congressional felons committee.

Some of the GOP fanatics were ready to pounce right through their television sets when they saw the President at the summit greeting Latin American leaders. "Oh, no, God forbid, but did the President just shake hands with Venezuela President Chavez?"

"Oh my God, he was giving this heathen the credibility he coveted... the same man who called President Bush...the devil!"

You would have thought President Obama had broken one of the Ten Commandments with the way they cried about how Obama conducted himself.

Contrary to Fox News reports, Obama's hand did not fall off.

Complain, complain, that is all these members of the loyal opposition do. They have not been able to find one thing that the President has done in his first 100 days that they could count as worthwhile.

I find that the Party of No has lost its way. When the purveyors of hate radio and the comical bobble heads of cable news who manage to cry tears on cue cannot honestly report the news without bias, something is terribly wrong.

Then of course, the leaders of the loyal opposition in Congress, who cannot even find their way out of a house of mirrors, expect us to respect what they spew out of their mouths because after all, they are right - All Right, All the Time.

I think the spokespeople of the Grand Old Party do not understand how idiotic they look and how they are simply shooting themselves in the foot every time they open their mouths and complain about Obama.

I may not agree that the President has done every thing just the way I would have hoped, but gee whiz, to complain about everything is just plain stupid and short sided.

But then, what do you expect from people who cannot see the truth, much less report it.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light Ministries - Latino Faith Initiative
Denver, Colorado 80212
fmon@hotmail.com

(This article previously was posted at Latino Landscape -

http://www.latinolandscape.com/