2012 Presidential Elections

By Guy M. Guerrero

The GOP National Convention in Tampa, Florida was a gathering of white ultra-conservative America; of wealth and power. They came seething with hate to dislodge an African American president repugnant to their sensibilities. They came to give affirmation to a promise made by a red blooded son of Dixie.

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president” – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Kentucky, quoted in National Journal, November 4, 2010. Forget the economy, forget the national interest.

The highly paid ultra-right radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said he hoped that Obama would fail the day right after the 2008 presidential elections – It does not matter if the United States fails alongside the president.

This GOP National Convention is actually the climactic event that began during the president’s inauguration on January 20, 2009. That day marked the start for the GOP’S 2012 campaign theme: For Obama to be a one-term president.

Obama’s fatal mistake was refusing to believe they were serious. After all, these were American statesmen even if they belonged to another party. The Republicans had brought the country to the brink of an economic depression like the one that occurred before World War II. After all, in October 2008 before he was elected, did not President George W. Bush ask him to participate in a meeting along with his Republican opponent, John McCain, to help formulate policy in response to the financial calamity, equivalent to war, that confronted the nation?

On top of that, actually two wars, already raging in Afghanistan and Iraq, were started by the same Republican administration. Surely, they would do all they can to help anybody do the job in helping the United States dig out of the mess they had created.

Instead what followed the day after the election is the unceasing vilification, never before seen history, of a president of the United States by the opposition. He is a Muslim. He was not born in the United States. His birth certificate is a forgery. He is a socialist. He is an elitist. He is anti-American.

Some traditional and moderate Republicans objected to such tactics employed the “New Republicans” engendered by the Tea Party. As a result a large number of those moderate Republicans were voted out of office during the 2010 national election primaries.

As everyone remembers, the 2009 swearing in ceremonies for President Obama was marred by disruptions created by an unruly protest mobs scattered at various points in the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

They came by the hundreds from all corners of the country with the sole purpose of creating havoc to spoil the joyous occasion honoring the President of the United States. Several members of those mobs were seen on nationwide television roaming the streets, faces twisted by hate, randomly attacking black congressional representatives with picket signs as they entered or exited Federal buildings. An all-out war was declared against President Obama that day in January led by Sarah Palin. That day the Tea Party was born. The Tea Party soon spread fear among established, decent, old time Republicans.

The GOP 2012 National Convention hall resonated with manufactured fear, hate and lies financed by billions of undisclosed Super Pac money. Among the honored and most popular guests during that convention was the notorious racist Joe Arpaio, the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.

During a break for lunch, the Sheriff held court off-stage among scores of cheering listeners as he expounded on his credo. He promised to continue his crackdown on undocumented aliens in Arizona which had recently been invalidated by the United States Supreme Court. He continues to call for the arrest and deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants despite being sued for racial profiling.

Responding to comments coming from some among the crowd, that he was hurting the party, he asked, “why did all the people running for (GOP) president either visit my office or call me and why did they all want my endorsement?.”

Another entertaining sideshow was provided to the conventioneers by two female honored guests who hurled nuts at a black female camera operator for CNN, “This is how we feed animals”, they screamed.

Dirty Harry turned into a comedian for the final performance. Mitt delivered his acceptance speech; the delegates dispersed and went home to manufacture some more lies about the first African American president. Romney went home to continue work on his 2011 taxes promised for release by October to quiet political controversy over his personal finances.

Newt Gingrich said, “You’ll remember this is the day the seeds of 2012 were sown.”

As President Obama was celebrating his inauguration at various balls, top Republicans lawmakers were conjuring up ways to undermine his presidency at a private dinner at the Caucus Room, a high end Washington, D.C. establishment. They plotted out ways to not only just win back political power, but to sabotage Obama’s legislative platform.