For goodness sake!

A friend posted this image:

I don't know where it came from, so I have no way of providing "credit" to the one who deserves it. Those who responded to the post were of the general opinion that President Obama is the worst president ever and is literally destroying our nation. One of them went so far as to remark that she and her husband "cried when we saw this the first time." Well, I'm finding that attitude less and less acceptable and felt the need to respond to the image and the posts. Here's what I wrote:

And I cry because this is yet another image attempting to divide our nation. Yes, the Constitution is under attack, but many of those on both sides of the artificial ideological divide in that image have had their hands in the effort to tear it apart. The problems we face today did not spring fully formed from the presidency of Mr. Obama; they were born and have been nurtured over decades.

I vividly recall the Civil Rights conflicts of the 60s. That was a time when most of the nation believed it was wrong to extend Constitutional protections to others for no reason but the color of their skin and fought the president vehemently for insisting on equal rights. Later thoughtfulness prevailed, and we understood the Constitution is supposed to protect all citizens.

I recall the scandals of Nixon and Clinton and the less publicized scandals involving so many of those chosen to lead this nation. We survived all of them. President Obama is a human being and will and has made errors, but so has every other president who has ever held the office. There is no need to extoll President Obama beyond merit, but neither is there a need to vilify him unnecessarily.

Our nation faces so many difficult challenges. We need to work together to find long-term solutions for those problems.