{"id":158,"date":"2009-04-21T14:52:49","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T14:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/04\/ive-been-out-in-california.html"},"modified":"2009-04-21T14:52:49","modified_gmt":"2009-04-21T14:52:49","slug":"ive-been-out-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/04\/ive-been-out-in-california.html","title":{"rendered":"Carp, Carp, Carp: Must The Right Always Fish For Reasons To Attack Obama?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been out in California a few days and I’m constantly hearing people ask: “Why doesn’t the Right ever give President Obama a break?”  What they mean is that literally every day the hosts of Fox News, the Drudge Report, and bloggers on your side of the fence find some new nitpicking complaint to file.<\/p>\n

As I was leaving for an event last night, a debate was occurring on cable about whether the President should have accepted<\/a> a book from Hugo Chavez (that turned out to be about United States exploitation in Latin America) and then shaken his hand<\/a>?  What should he have done when a world leader hands him something, the contents of which are not even known?  Throw it on the floor?  Spit on the giver?  This would be laughable criticism if it wasn’t part of an incessantly repeating pattern.<\/p>\n

Last week, conservatives were upset<\/a> that the President “took too much credit” for ending the Somali hostage incident.  Too much credit would have been holding a press conference on a naval vessel with a parrot on your shoulder and a banner reading “Pirate Mission Accomplished” overhead.  The President merely explained what decisions he made and commended the bravery of all involved. <\/p>\n


\n
And the litany goes on: every health care initiative is “socialized medicine<\/a>;” every effort to raise a tax or a user fee is “socialism<\/a>” itself.  Picking a non-rescue<\/a> dog becomes a breach of faith with the country; Michelle Obamas’s make-up artist<\/a> was the cause of screeds on overspending. <\/p>\n

Here’s
\nmy question. It is a religious one as much as a political one. Everyone
\nexpects that on policy matters people will criticize the President when
\nhe does or doesn’t do what they want.  (I have done this myself,
\nincluding on this blog site.)  However, when the issue seems trivial or
\nit is just a matter of “style,” shouldn’t Christians at least hold
\ntheir tongue and show some modicum of respect for the office of the
\nPresidency and the man himself–at least when he has not even been in
\noffice for 100 days?  <\/p>\n

Please, Jay, tell your friends to take a breath occasionally before they send up the ICBMs.<\/p>\n

To subscribe to Lynn v. Sekulow, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been out in California a few days and I’m constantly hearing people ask: “Why doesn’t the Right ever give President Obama a break?”  What they mean is that literally every day the hosts of Fox News, the Drudge Report, and bloggers on your side of the fence find some new nitpicking complaint to file.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,10],"tags":[76,51,67,394],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-president-barack-obama","category-white-house","tag-barack-obama","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-religious-right"],"yoast_head":"\nCarp, Carp, Carp: Must The Right Always Fish For Reasons To Attack Obama? - Lynn v. 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Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. 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