You're going to get America to vote for you again, oh yes you can, Oh yes you can.

There are a litany of post-mortems written on President Barack Obama's first one hundred days in office.  Many of these pieces were written in opposition to the changes he initiated.

So what makes my critique of President Obama different from the rest?

Quite simply my critique will be done through poetry.

Since January 20^th, I have written nearly twenty poems inspired by President Obama or by the collective reaction of our nation to him.  Most of the poems are critical of Obama's policies while others are critical of ourselves for believing the things we wanted to hear.

I thought I would share three of these poems with you.

The first is titled, "Ten Page Footnote."  It is inspired by the Department of Homeland Security's recent report, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.  (http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf)

You know, the one that accused our returning veterans of being potential terrorists.

Ten Page Footnote

Who is the greatest threat to our national security?

Al Qaeda? Hezbollah?

No silly, we're not at war with Islam

Mexican drug lords?

You crack me up

They're just budding entrepreneurs

The greatest threat to our homeland

Is our returning military veterans, of course

Hide the children

There are angry white males

Coming to a neighborhood near you

Behind the face of every soldier

Is the heir apparent to Timothy McVeigh

Waiting to be recruited by right-wingers

Appalled by the election of an African-American President

And ready to take action

So if you see a corporal watching Fox News

Or a private first class with a "Don't Tread On Me" bumper sticker

Then do your patriotic duty and contact

Your local branch of the Department of Homeland Security at once

And we will have our crack team

Operation Red Herring on the case

Oh wait

You meant no offense

It wasn't intended for public consumption

Intended or not it was pretty hard to swallow

So you now regret that footnote

A ten page footnote

That cost millions of our tax money

To have wrote

Your only regret is that we now know

What you really think about

The men and women who volunteer

To serve our nation

Only for you to thank them with damnation

The next poem is titled, "Take a Bow."  I think it is fairly self-explanatory.

Take a Bow

Mr. President, for thee the children sing

As you kneel before the Saudi king

Mr. President, with your overture to Iran

An American journalist stands trial in Tehran

Mr. President, when a missile was launched by North Korea

You told Japan, "See ya."

Mr. President, your talk in Turkey

Turned America's shining beacon murky

Mr. President, three cheers, three cheers

Attacked by pirates for the first time in 200 years

Mr. President, when you are told to get on your knees

Do you ask, "Can I have another please?"

Mr. President, you're changing America and how

So on behalf of all of us take a bow

For all my cynicism I cannot deny that President Obama currently has an approval rating of 68%. That's two out of every three Americans. Then again when Obama is more likely to be asked questions about which dog he is going to pick for his children than about the consequences of his economic policies for our children, is it any wonder?  But we must take a certain amount of responsibility for this state of affairs.  Perhaps we have elected the President that we deserve.  With that I will leave you with this poem titled, "All Barack & No Bite." 

All Barack & No Bite

Here's our brand new dog

Look at all the tricks it can do

Sit, Barack, sit

Good dog

Barack, roll over for the Russians

Good dog

Barack, lie down for Iran

That's a good Obama

Barack, now shake hands with Mr. Chavez

Good dog

Barack, don't take the money and toss it out the window again

What did I say about digging a hole for yourself?

Bad dog

Now, tell the whole world that you're sorry

Good dog

Here's a treat

Barack, look at the mess you made on Wall Street

We constantly have to clean up after you

We might need to keep you on a shorter leash

But you look so cute with that shiny Teflon coat, oh yes you do

You're going to win that talent show again, oh yes you are

You're going to get America to vote for you again, oh yes you can

Oh yes you can

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