Pondering Obama's Views of his Opponents

President Obama, speaking at a fundraiser in Boston, said:

 "People out there are still hurting very badly, and they are still scared. And so part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared. And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be."

Mona Charen, in her October 19, 2010, points out that if the people of the United States are losing confidence in President Obama, he wants it clearly understood that he is losing confidence in them as well. If they are considering voting for candidates Obama disapproves, it is because fear has paralyzed their capacity for reasoned judgment.

The reasoning of the President, as always, is that one could not possibly disagree with him and still be rational. One must be afraid, or, in another context, angry. If philosopher Merleau-ponty is correct in saying that feelings are thoughts that do not yet have words, then even the feelings of anger and fear come from a thinking place of the mind. As Charen points out, voters gave Mr. Obama a chance and are now holding him accountable for his failures. Doing so is a rational, even if fearful and angry, response to what Obama has actually has done: sponsor government take over of health care industry, punish producers, expand national debt and deficit, and increase unemployment. 

My own hope is that my fellow citizens will deepen their respect for the founding of this nation and its fundamental principles, but that is for another time.