Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 06:18 pm
There is a German term, Schadenfruede, that describes the pleasure one takes in the misfortune of others, and conversely, there are people who are irritated at another person’s fortune and they usually are mean-spirited and driven by jealousy and contempt. However, one would think that those sentiments would never apply to a nation’s success or failures, unless of course, it is a hated enemy anxious for a country’s demise. It is unfortunate that in America, there is a segment of the population that hopes America fails and it is a fairly new phenomenon unique to the Republican Party. Throughout President Obama’s term, the GOP has deliberately sought to thwart economic recovery and kill jobs, so it was little surprise that they reacted negatively to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report yesterday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% for the first time in well over three-and-a-half years.
It is questionable that, except for the Civil War, there has ever been a time in history that some Americans were angry at good news for other Americans, or celebrated their setbacks regardless if it was under a Democratic or Republican administration. But this is an era in which Republicans have proven time and again that they have such contempt for Americans that they have worked tirelessly to punish the people they were elected to serve, and they have done it because they hate one man; President Obama.
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The President reacted to the unemployment numbers by saying there were still Americans the government had to help by creating jobs, and that there was still much work to do, but Republicans went in a different direction and decried the President’s policies as a failure. Willard Romney said, “This is not what a real recovery looks like, we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office,” and perennial cretin Eric Cantor said, “It simply isn’t good enough!” It was typical Republican naysaying and pathetic, especially since congressional Republicans have thwarted every job creation measure the President has proposed in the past three-and-a-half years. Romney especially has no room to decry the loss of manufacturing jobs since his company, Bain Capital, has been at the forefront of outsourcing entire manufacturing companies to boost employment opportunities in China. However, this is not the first time Republicans have decried success under President Obama or celebrated setbacks that affected the people.
When the Olympic committee responsible for selecting a host country for the 2016 Olympics was considering Chicago as the host city, Republicans cheered wildly when Chicago lost its bid to host the games. Last year when Republicans nearly caused a government shutdown over a budget deal, influential Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) repeatedly said in public that “nobody wants a government shutdown,” but when he was speaking at a Tea Party rally, he cried out, “Shut ‘er down!” In fact, Republicans were rallying their Tea Party base with calls for a shutdown for weeks, despite public pronouncements to the contrary, and it typified the contempt the GOP has for this government and its people.
Republicans showed the same hate-inspired resolve during the healthcare reform debate that has not let up despite 30-million Americans having the opportunity to have healthcare insurance, or that the ACA reduces the deficit they are so “concerned” about, and they have the same contempt for Wall Street and banking reforms that protect consumers and investors alike. There is no reasonable explanation for the Republican contempt for good news for the American people that is not founded in their hatred of an African American man working for all Americans. To some degree, the slogan, Republicans hate Obama more than they love America is true, but they hate Americans every bit as much as they hate the president or they would not decry the people’s good fortune or reduction in unemployment.
It is difficult to come to any other conclusion than Republicans have gone out of their way to deny President Obama credit for his successes. They still decry the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) as a failed policy despite it created 3.3 – 3.8 million jobs, or that the American automobile industry is thriving because the President did not follow the advice of renowned business impresario Willard Romney who said, “let Detroit go bankrupt.” Americans are well-aware of Romney’s Bain Capital creative destruction model that bankrupts and shutters companies to ship manufacturing jobs overseas while employees lose their jobs, healthcare, and pensions.
Republicans even went to great lengths to heap praise on convicted war criminal George W. Bush’s illegal torture techniques when the President fulfilled his campaign promise of finding and killing Osama bin Laden, even if he had to go into Pakistan to accomplish the feat. There are Republicans in Ohio who have bought into the Republican myth that the President was insignificant in killing bin Laden, and 65% of them are either not convinced the President was involved or credit Willard Romney with his death.
Why do Republicans hate this President? It cannot be his Christian faith, or that he saved the economy, or presided over the lowest tax rates and government spending in 60 years. Simply put, it is the President’s race and to show their hatred, they have taken it out on the American people by taking pleasure and perpetuating their misfortune at being unemployed, or condemning their good fortune of finding jobs as a Bureau of Labor Statistics fabrication.
There is a name for people in foreign nations that condemn America’s success and celebrate our misfortune, and most people would agree they are this country’s enemies, but when they are American citizens serving in Congress and running for the presidency, they are Republicans.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
