The enemies within

As it appears that it's becoming more acceptable for conservatives to say that they hope President Obama and his efforts to repair our damaged nation fail (perhaps being surrounded by other morons at CPAC emboldened them to let their moron flag fly, who knows?), I thought it would be useful to point out that anyone who hopes Obama and/or his policies fail is an enemy of the United States of America.

If Obama fails, the country won't veer from the ruinous path on which it was set by George Bush and conservatism. If Obama fails, the destroyed economy won't be repaired, and families will suffer as a result. If Obama fails, we will continue running in place in Iraq, killing and dying for no apparent reason. If Obama fails, the environment will continue deteriorate. If Obama fails, the United States will not regain its former standing as a beacon of hope and justice in the world. If Obama fails, there will be no reform to a health care system that just. doesn't. work.

Many conservatives are hoping for these conditions and are stupid enough to say so out loud. And they are hoping for this because it's only under these conditions that they can hope for an American population that has rejected the GOP and conservatism in large numbers to vote for them once again. These people are hoping that the country deteriorates to the point that they can once again seize the reins of power. They are putting their personal interests, and the interests of their political party, ahead of the interests of the country.

The Bush administration made a lot of enemies during its eight failed years, myself included. But I didn't root against Bush, and I didn't hope that his policies failed. If Bush had managed to improve the state of the Union, I would have been thrilled. But the fact is that he did not. That failure was the basis of my opposition to him. I wasn't opposed to Bush because he was a Republican, I was opposed to Bush because he was a terrible president. I took no pleasure in his myriad failures because they damaged my country.

Thomas Paine famously said, "It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government." There's a difference between opposing a government and opposing the country. But to root against a president is to root against the country. To hope a president fails is to hope the country fails. And to do so for naked, obvious personal and partisan gain is unconscionable and indefensible.