[Op-Ed] In an Election Year, Everyone is President Obama’s Family

It is an election year and the bluster coming from our candidates has been at a fever pitch for a while now. I have also seen many pundits giving President Obama advice on his reelection campaign. I now want to add my voice to the punditry.

President Obama, we have all like your speeches. Hope, Change and Happiness and all makes us all feel good. But for the love of God, Please, every time something happens to a member of a group whose votes you need in the next election is wronged, stop relating to them as your children.

What has recently happened to Trayvon Martin in Florida is a national tragedy. Whether the security guard who shot him broke any laws is going to be one for the courts to decide. But when we are at a time where the country is so divided and racial tensions are high, don’t tell the media that Trayvon Martin would have looked like your son (if you had one). Trayvon Martin would look nothing like your son. If he were your son he would have a full secret service detail, and the last thing he would be doing is walking out in the middle of the night to get snacks, he would call down to the White House Chef. You are so fond of trashing those of the upper class for their wealth and privilege, please stop insulting us by pretending not to be one them your self.

Also, Trayvon Martin, just because he was black would not have looked like “your son”. He looked like his parent’s son, just like I look like my parent’s son. There is nothing more racist than the whole “All blacks look alike to me argument” so please stop pandering to racial stereotypes when it serves your purposes. Give this child’s family the respect of acknowledging that he isn’t your son, he was their son and they are going to miss him terribly.

Secondly, let’s get to my other favorite child of yours, Sandra Fluke. When the moron Rush Limbaugh called her a slut and a prostitute on the air we were all outraged at the stupidity of what he said. Of course none of use were as upset as you were, you even told the press that when your heard her getting attacked that you though of your own daughters and that they should stand up for what they believe in even if it unpopular.

Let’s be honest with each other Mr. President, your daughters are not Sandra Fluke either, and you would not want them getting up before Congress to make fools of themselves for political gain. You would have told Malia and Sasha to stay as far away from that hearing as they could. You would have known that that hearing had nothing to do with contraception or for standing up for beliefs. It had to do with scoring cheap political points and throwing out political chum to make the Republican Party look like the out of touch Beaver Cleaver incompetents that they are. You would never have been proud of your daughters for being political chum and you weren’t proud of anything Sandra Fluke did either, although I am sure you are pretty proud she may just have helped you solidify the women’s vote and make Rush Limbaugh look like an idiot (YAY Two for One).

Mr President, this is a serious time and we need serious leaders. If you feel that the Trayvon Martin situation is an outrage like most of us do, you should just say so. If people think you are pandering to blacks or being insensitive to whites, let me give you a little bit more political advice…they weren’t going to vote for you in the first place. If you think that Sandra Fluke was right that the government should pay for her birth control, stand for what she was fighting for, not use her to pander to women.

I am not sure you even need to take my advice, the Republican’s look about ready to run Rick Santorum or Mitt Romney against you so you may just have the election won before a vote is cast. So please seize this opportunity to stand for something and to help heal our country instead of dividing further down racial and gender lines. That is the least you can do for your family.