Opps I Did It Again

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/obama-administration-helps-pay-for-nypd-muslim-surveillance-215570/

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/02/white-house-money-used-for-ny-surveillance-program/1#.T5a7PnkmWuI



I am glad I am not the only one who has noticed the hypocritical moves in the past few weeks on the Obama Administration in dealing with the electronic surveillance of Syria and Iran.  We are putting more pressure on our so called enemies to treat their people well, than we are putting on ourselves to treat our own people well.  This seems a bit absurd that we have a President that will tell one country not to do something, yet do the very same thing here in the United States.

This is not new, and we should not be surprised.  Presidents have long been the mode for American hypocrisy, but for some reason this stings worse than others.Why is that?  Is it because the nations being slapped on the wrist are Syria and Iran?  Could it be that those countries are still feeling the swells of the Arab spring rapping on their shores, and we as Americans have done very little to help push those tides in the favor of Democracy? (that was a very long question)  I think it is both and then some.


Part of it is because Americans had higher hopes for President Obama.  Many folks, especially young people, thought for some reason that President Obama was going to rise above that.  Knowing what I know about the government, I understood that a tight rope was to be walked by whom ever was elected in 2008. (I don't feel sorry for people who drank the Obama cool aide and are now not liking the taste) That does not keep me though from being critical of something if need be.  This is why I find these actions so hypocritical.  Not because it is President Obama, but because it is simply so hypocritical.




We should not be surprised with President Obama's actions in regards to Syria and Iran.  We certainly should not be critical of them.  There is a thin line that must be toed.  What we should be critical of is the fact that rights that should be extended here in the United States are not, and are being force (at some peril) on other countries.  Hypocrisy is distinctly American, like it our lump it.  It's what makes the United States the United States.  Still it does not make it easy to tolerate when it is happening to you