Worse than a hypocrite

Background: My letter on Obama's speech to school children generated a response in the Observer from Todd Noonan. Mr. Noonan takes exception with my position. Quite understandable given that Mr. Noonan works for the Royal Oak School District and was an MEA Delegate. When the Democrat majority leader in the Michigan State House recognizes that benefits for public employees are very lucrative and unsustainable, you know your monopoly hold on education is under fire. DC vouchers are a threat, therefore the letter.

As a supporter of limited government and personal liberty, I find myself opposing many policies promoted by our elected officials and I express that opposition in letters to local and national newspapers. In my experience, a handful of people dismiss my views as cynical. However, most people I meet profess general agreement because they just want to be left alone by the busybodies in government and the progressives that support them.

My jaded view of politics comes from listening and watching. Politicians from both major parties are notorious for saying one thing while doing another. As the old joke goes, "How can you tell a politician is lying? His lips are moving."

Still, some people choose to take President Obama at his word. However, recent history tells us to compare those words with his actions.

Not too long ago, Obama said he had no desire to run GM. A short time later he orchestrated GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s firing and appointed a czar to oversee the auto industry. During the campaign, Obama chastised Republicans for running up huge deficits and vowed to be fiscally responsible. Then he proceeded to triple the deficit.

As mentioned in my previous letter, Obama says he believes in improving academic achievement yet he shut down a program proven to benefit students in Washington DC. I claimed hypocrisy, but another letter writer, Todd Noonan, says I’m wrong. His argument: Obama doesn’t believe vouchers are the solution to public education’s failures so why should he support the DC program. I stand corrected. On this issue, Obama is not a hypocrite.

Given Mr. Noonan’s robust lexicon, perhaps he can come up with an appropriate adjective that describes a man who ignores clear positive evidence and the pleas of parents and children trapped in the worst public school system in the country. What would be a proper description for a politician who performs such a disservice to children because his union benefactors demanded it? Hypocrite seems rather tame.

If not taking a politician at his word is the sign of a cynic, I am guilty as charged. I find it curious, however, that before we voted for "change", criticizing the president was not cynical but patriotic.

[Letter to the Editor - Farmington Observer. Published 09/24/2009.]