Yesterday, TMV published a guest voice column by Michael Reagan roundly criticizing President Obama’s inaugural address. While I disagreed with his entire column (I thought Obama’s speech was “magnificent”), I took particular umbrage at the following comment:
The difference between the two men was that my dad believed everything he said all the way to the core of his being, while Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats use speeches to mask what they really believe.
One of the “two men” Mr. Reagan was referring to is, of course, President Ronald Reagan.
The reason I took offense was because I felt that, rightly or wrongly, Reagan was calling President Obama and all Democrats—“his fellow Democrats”—liars and hypocrites.
Of course, Reagan’s collective characterization of Democrats isn’t near as damning as the collective demonization of “liberals” so often and so expertly employed by Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and the like—but bad enough to catch my attention.
But then I started examining my own mental processes, my own biases, my own writings, and the adage “the pot calling the kettle black” suddenly stared me in the face.
I have myself been guilty, in my writings and in conversations, of criticizing, even disparaging Republicans and Conservatives en masse: “biased Conservatives,” “uncaring Republicans,” “biased, uncaring, hypocrite and lying Republicans and Conservatives,” etc. (these may not be the exact quotes, but you get the drift).
Well, this is not kosher either.
So, as a belated New Year’s resolution, and as a timely promise to support the spirit of “change,” bipartisanship and reconciliation that our new President brings and promises, I will do my best to limit any valid criticism to specific individuals or identifiable groups of individuals, or at the very least to make it clear than I am only referring to a subset of a group or party—such as in ” Some ideological Neoconservatives really bug me.”
I am not asking others to do likewise—although I have been pleased to notice that several TMV contributors are urging others to focus on the issues—but it would be nice.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.