by Ophelia Keith

Created on: January 25, 2009

During a recent television interview with the Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh expressed his desire to see President Obama fail. To say that the statement was offensive could be reasonably debated by intelligent people. To say that it was counter productive can be debated by few. Perhaps Mr Limbaugh is not aware of this, but Mr Obama is his President as well. It may be unpalatable to him but I supported George Bush, a man for whom I've never voted. While I wasn't taken completely off-guard when his black and white policies did not suit a many-shades-of-gray world, at no time did I actively wish for President Bush to fail.

President Obama is the leader of our country, our people. His failure translates directly into consequences for the nation he leads. It defies logic that a US citizen could be so dedicated to a particular political philosophy that he would wish for anyone employing a different ideology to fail at the task of leading the United States. After all, isn't the point of adhering to a political philosophy the well-being of one's own nation? If a different philosophy is used, successfully, to lead our nation to ever-greater heights, one might consider the reasons for holding to an opposing ideology null and void. In the case of Rush Limbaugh, he does not hold certain views because he believes they are in the best interest of the country; rather he would prefer to sacrifice the best interests of the country to lend credence to the views he already holds. This is the problem with extremism and why it is such an insidious problem in politics, religion and society. Extremist views quickly become the justification for their own existence and preclude new views being formed on the basis of new information.
There is simply no point in the citizens of the United States withholding support from our new President, unless and until we have been given some reason to do so. Given the monumental tasks ahead of him, President Obama needs more support, more patience and more perseverance from the American people than any President has needed in decades. Extremist partisanship has no place in the discussion of whether or not the President should be supported. All Presidents deserve the support of the people by virtue of having been democratically elected by these same people. This does not mean that dissent cannot, and should not, be tolerated. But can't we at least wait until the new President has had a chance to do something before we register that dissent?

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