Maya Angelou receives a medal from President Barack Obama.

In an interview with the Guardian, poet Maya Angelou recently discussed President Barack Obama:

“I think he has done a remarkable job, knowing how much he has been opposed,” she says. “Every suggestion he makes, the Republicans en masse fight against him or don’t vote at all.” It’s about him being a Democrat and being the first black president, she says.

Remarkable? Really? There are lots of adjectives I could use to describe Barack Obama’s performance, but “remarkable” isn’t one of them. This is a man who is challenging Jimmy Carter for the title of worst President in history.

As for the rest of her quote, it’s laughable. Ms. Angelou makes it seem as if Barack Obama is the only President who has been criticized or disliked by the opposing party. Look at the criticism endured by Bill Clinton, who was white, or the allegations and pejoratives hurled at George W. Bush by Democrats during his two terms. The criticism isn’t due to Barack Obama’s race, it’s due to his politics, which run counter to the foundation on which this country was built.

Message to Ms. Angelou: Not everything is about race. Barack Obama will surely be criticized during the 2012 Presidential Election, and he will surely level criticism toward the Republican nominee, who will be white. When Obama does, will he then be considered a racist? Is there a double standard at work?

Senator Levin is right about the opportunity that was missed. If Osama Bin Laden had been captured, we might have had most of our soldiers out of Afghanistan. What I find interesting is that Carl Levin and his colleagues in the Democratic party are seizing on this report, yet they seem to conveniently ignore some missed opportunities that were even more damaging.

The first attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the African Embassy bombings, the Battle of Mogadishu, and the Khobar Tower bombing all occurred during Bill Clinton’s Presidency. Clinton made a few half-hearted attempts to go after Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, but nothing substantial. How many more acts of terrorism was Bill Clinton waiting for before he launched a full-scale military operation?

In sum, Carl Levin is right. If Osama had been captured in Tora Bora back in December of 2001, our involvement in Afghanistan could have been finished long ago. Of course, this wouldn’t have been an issue if Bill Clinton had gone after Osama Bin Laden more aggressively. Not only would we probably not be in Afghanistan, but 9/11 might have never happened.

Didn’t Barack Obama say he was going to bring change? Renting the White House out for campaign donations isn’t a change, Bill Clinton did the same thing when he was President. What’s next, an intern named Monica?