Hoping for Change a Fruitless Exercise with This President

By Seth Daniel

I sat down Sunday to watch President Barack Obama’s Oval Office speech – a rarity in his seven years in office – with a mind towards hoping he would change.

After all, if the largest terror attack on American soil since 2001 hadn’t moved him, then nothing would. So, I figured his stubborn nature would finally be softened after San Bernardino and Paris.

No such luck.

Most of the speech – when one strips away the platitudes and slogans – devolved into a scolding of the American people for, presumably, being ready to attack Muslims in our midst. He spent a great deal of time telling us what we shouldn’t do and, how, most likely we would be at fault for our discriminatory actions that would inevitably materialize.

I was surprised we weren’t all sent to bed without any supper.

It’s as if he believes we’re all a bunch of unhinged, hate-filled masses waiting with 2×4’s and a sack of doorknobs for some event that will unleash a barrage of beatings upon those of the Muslim faith that live amongst us. It proved to me once and for all how little the president thinks of his countrymen; how much he believes that we have no restraint and are below him.

I also wonder which demographic of Americans he was tailoring his message towards – whether purposefully or merely within the workings of his own mind.

I only ask, where is the proof that we are these kinds of people?

What have we done to prove that we are these kinds of unmitigated haters?

In Everett, East Boston and Revere we have one of the largest Muslim American and Muslim immigrant populations of all Greater Boston. I scan and read the police logs daily from these areas – particularly in Revere.

I have not found any evidence in those police logs, or in conversations at the street level with some Muslim leaders, of widespread retaliation against innocent Muslim residents following the attacks on Paris, and more recently, the terror attack in San Bernardino, CA. I see neither 2×4 wielding mobs, nor any gangs of thugs ready to chase away these established groups of Muslims in the community. Naturally, police logs don’t reveal dirty looks or harsh words uttered on the street, but I have not heard of those things either.

So, why is it we had to sit through the accusations on Sunday night?

Instead of talking about what we are going to do about the radical, murdering fringe of those in these Muslim communities – whether in Everett, Revere, Eastie or San Bernardino – who have actually committed atrocities against the public, we had to stand accused of crimes we have yet to commit.

Why?

Because our president doesn’t believe in us.

This was further evidenced by the fact that his Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, espoused as much about prosecuting Americans who make anti-Muslim statements when she appeared late last week and made her first comments after San Bernardino.

Is that really the priority here? Is that the first thing our top law enforcement agent in America should say right now? Is that the thing our president should be saying right now as well?

No.

We should be making strong statements about the people who actually are doing harm in documented cases on American soil and abroad – and those people are those in this crazy wing of the Muslim religion and those who are the more peaceful Muslims who do not “out” this fringe element when confronted by it. The times have changed radically, and the president and his administration and supporters have failed to see that. There needs to be a radical shift in how we approach this problem to combat the radical shift in the war on a world view that hopes to bring about the end of the Earth through destroying those of us who hold peaceful values – most of which are tied to a faith rooted in Christianity or Judaism.

There is no hope for any change in our president’s mindset, and if you’re still drinking the Obama Kool-Aid, better check it for poison.

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