Criticisms of Barack Obama are often misplaced

Barack Obama billboard in Denver, Colorado

I recently read about the billboard pictured above. There’s no doubt the ad is controversial and is looking to stir emotions. I’m glad to see more people questioning the President, but I’m not happy about the direction the inquiries are taking.

Barack Obama has a lot of questionable views and associations, but many of his critics are pursuing dead ends. The biggest one is the birth certificate issue pursued by the birthers. I find it rather arrogant that the President never disclosed the long version of his birth certificate, but I believe he is a naturally born U.S. citizen. Besides the short form certificate that has been made public, there were birth announcements in both local papers. Why would his mother have gone to these extremes if he were not born in the U.S.? He would have received citizenship through her if he were a foreign born citizen. Of course, if you’re a real conspiracy theorist, you could make the assumption that she predicted that he would run for President one day. If you believe that, I have a bridge I’ll sell you.

As for the comparison between Barack Obama and Jihadists, this is more nonsense. Barack Obama actually strikes me as a rather nonreligious person. Sure, he attended a Christian church for 20+ years, but lots of politicians and future politicians do this as a means of networking and posing as a religious person when presenting themselves to voters. Like the birth certificate argument, the idea that Barack Obama is a closet Muslim secretly trying to harm the United States is nonsense.

Even though two of the major criticisms of Barack Obama appear to be nonsense, that doesn’t mean there aren’t areas where he can be rightfully criticized. For example, I believe he is too sympathetic to Muslim countries, and is too quick to apologize for essentially being American. Sorry, but we don’t owe apologies. Of course, part of this might be due to his upbringing. He lived in Indonesia for a time, was exposed to Muslim culture from a young age, and probably also had a great deal of exposure to anti-American sentiment that could have framed his views. Is he a Muslim? No. Is he sympathetic to some of their criticism of the United States? I wouldn’t be surprised.

My biggest criticism of Barack Obama is his view on the role of government. It’s fairly obvious that he believes government is the answer to all of our problems. Just take a look at the stimulus bill, cap-and-trade, health care, and the growing deficit. He likes to spend, and he likes to rob citizens of their liberty by giving the government more control over their lives. This is especially true when his ideas on economics are examined. Do you remember Barack Obama’s conversation with Joe the Plumber? He said he wanted to spread the wealth around so other people could become successful. These people could and should attempt to become successful on their own, but according to Barack Obama’s warped world view, these people are likely being held back by “society” and need to have government intervene on their behalf.

Some may say this is socialism, but this isn’t technically true. Barack Obama’s politics don’t perfectly conform to socialism, but his views certainly have enough in common with this ideology to warrant the accusation. Think about it: He loves big government, wants to “spread the wealth around,” and is an enemy of personal responsibility and self-reliance. There’s a lot of common ground that can’t be ignored.

My other big criticism of Barack Obama relates to his associations. Here is a man who associated with William Ayers, who carried out several terrorist attacks. We also have the case of his minister, Jeremiah Wright, who is about as anti-American as one can be. Finally, we have Barack Obama talking about his desire to seek out Marxists professors while in college. These associations should raise eyebrows, but of course, anyone bringing up these points was shouted down. Even the McCain campaign barely touched on topics that were germane and should have been further explored.

To sum it up, I don’t believe that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, or is a closet Muslim. However, I do believe he lacks a certain respect for capitalism, and at times displays more shame than pride in being an American. Big government, questionable associations, apology tours, and a lack of faith in the individual are just a few reasons why I’m skeptical about the success of Barack Obama’s Presidency and look forward to a new administration in 2012.