This page was last updated on October 8, 2010.
History will prove Obama’s worth; Rebecca Deiter; Beaver County Times; October 8, 2010.
In previous letters, Mrs. Deiter claimed she was barraged by “negative untrue attacks about Barack Obama” via e-mail, defended ACORN, and lobbied for a severance tax on Marcellus shale natural gas. In another letter, Mrs. Deiter and her husband supported a charter school (“Charter school deserves a chance”, 1/6/10).
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Are you tired of the current political freak show? I am.”
[RWC] Two days ago Mrs. Deiter wrote “State must have a severance tax”.
“Talking-head media entertainers promote baseless, unfounded opinion, serving it up as their expert version of the truth. My inbox is flooded with unsolicited, unverified political propaganda and tasteless attempts at humor.”
[RWC] Mrs. Deiter appears to be bothered by “Talking-head media entertainers promote baseless, unfounded opinion, serving it up as their expert version of the truth” only when the opinions are counter to her economic, political, et cetera positions.
Mrs. Deiter made the same e-mail claim prior to the 2008 election.
“Trying to understand and reason with folks who are brainwashed by their own propensity to believe an unending barrage of destructive opinion and fear is frustrating and sad at the same time.”
[RWC] I don’t know Mrs. Deiter, but her letter-writing body of work leads me to believe she considers anyone with whom she disagrees to be “brainwashed by their own propensity to believe an unending barrage of destructive opinion and fear.”
“The reasons for continuing to vilify President Barack Obama escape me. Under his leadership, he has made much needed progress on health-care reform, regulation of the banking industry, assistance to small business and coercing BP to put up a $20 billion guarantee to the residents impacted by the Gulf oil spill.”
[RWC] Based on her letter-writing history going back to 2004, Mrs. Deiter didn’t have a problem with people “vilifying” President Bush.
You’ll note Mrs. Deiter’s idea of “much needed progress” is increased government control of our lives. Mrs. Deiter also believes it’s a good thing for government to “coerce” a business into doing what a president wants.
“Don’t like bailouts, the size of the debt and the state of the economy, all of which were well under way when he took office? You’d likely be more incensed had those actions not been taken.”
[RWC] Note how Mrs. Deiter tries to absolve Mr. Obama of any blame for what happened to the economy. Mrs. Deiter fails to note Mr. Obama supported all the policies that led to the recession. Indeed, in the recent banking regulation bill, the policies and government-sponsored entities (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) were not included and they were at the core of the problem.
As for Mrs. Deiter’s comment that we’d “likely be more incensed had those actions not been taken,” no I would not. Freedom for businesses to succeed means there also must be freedom to fail. When someone knows he will be bailed out, he’s more likely to take risks he would not otherwise take. That was at the core of the sub-prime mortgage mess that led to this recession.
“As Harry Truman said, ‘America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.’”
[RWC] Mrs. Deiter appears to miss the fact the America to which Mr. Truman referred to was built without all the leftist policies/programs she seems to believe are necessary.
“Americans elected a president with that unbeatable determination in 2008. History will prove his worth.”
[RWC] Contrary to Mrs. Deiter’s belief, based on what Mr. Obama has done so far, I suspect a truthful history will not be to her liking.
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