GARYTALK.COM (09/02/2016) – It’s amazing that something I wrote years ago is just as true today as it was then, and, perhaps much more so. However, when you add the inevitable Donald Trump to the picture, the hateful rhetoric rises to fever proportions. Let’s spend a few moments reminiscing about my take on “Obamanos”, Republican obstruction, media misinformation and how it all has created the frenzy known as Trump’s Army of Supporters in this presidential election year.
Back in August, 2011, I was noting that reading bumper stickers while waiting for traffic lights to change, or, when stuck in slow traffic, is sometimes more than just “passing the time of day”. It can be very educational. Sometimes you see something that makes a person want to learn more, because after all, bumper stickers don’t have enough room to fill in the whole story. One such piece of interesting wording found on a bumper sticker that I observed was “OBAMANOS”, which got me curious enough to use an internet search to see what I could learn about the word.
To my surprise, back in 2011, a BUNCH of results came up in my computer’s Firefox browser. There was a website (shop.cafepress.com) where you could buy stickers and T-Shirts and other materials with Obamanos on them (the search results indicated the designs were unique and they offered fast shipping); there was another website result (obamanossong.com) that talked about a song parady called “Obamanos” (to the tune of “Oh Donna” by Richie Valens); another site called zazzle.com offered bumper stickers; obamanos.us suggested you contact them about their Voting Rights Committee, etc.
I was starting to get the idea that my original assumption, or suspicion, was correct: It might have something to do with President Obama and support by the hispanic community. But, what, exactly did the word mean? Another search result on the same page in my browser led me to an explanation (sort of) indicating what Obamanos means. You can probably guess, although I’m intrigued by the language, I haven’t been fortunate enough to have learned Spanish, try as I might.
I learned from following a link to a 2008 Jeannie Ralston’s piece at HuffingtonPost.com, that “Obamanos” is a bit of political Spanglish, sometimes seen on bumper stickers in states with large Hispanic populations. The term translates, in essence, not literally, to “let’s go Obama.” Kind of what I had thought it might, and, it’s nice to again know my inclinations are more often correct than not.
The piece by Jeannie Ralston and the other results and accompanying information and websites indicated that it was a pretty big deal in the 2008 election, and I should have become aware of it, but, I apologize, I just wasn’t (that I can recall).
Let’s Go Obama: Something that President Barack Obama might heed, now that he’s into campaign mode again (in 2011) for re-election for a second term as President of the United States of America. The first three years has been disappointing to some people who voted for him in 2008, I wrote in 2011. Some promises have not been kept, but, many of them have depended on a Congress that was cooperative, or, in other words, it turns out, is not Republican.
President Obama was re-elected, but, things didn’t work out in Obama’s favor in Congress, and, perhaps, to the Country’s detriment. When voting took place for Congressional representation, it switched the balance of power to Republicans, who vowed early to “make Obama a one-term president”. Their tactic has been to not cooperate in anything that would cause President Obama to look like a winner (apparently, even though, sometimes, it might have been the best thing for the country).
Maybe things will “Change” to a situation that will create more of an air of cooperation in Congress in the next election cycle, I wrote. It’s time to get the Country back on track, to a sense of people elected to Congress actually understanding that they are there for the betterment of the United States, AS A WHOLE, not just for the benefit of supporters of one party or the other! Let’s hope the picture in Washington, D.C. changes for the better.
U.S. Senator McConnell and United States House Speaker Boehner, or, Somebody, must not have learned Spanish, or looked at the situation, mistakenly: “Obamanos” does NOT mean “No to Obama”, I wrote in an opinion article titled “Bumper Stickers Get You Thinking” back on August 12, 2011.
Returning from the above writings of the past to the now: We have learned the so-called Party On The Right (those sitting on the right side of the aisle in the United States Congress) have, apparently, still not educated themselves on the true meaning of “Obamanos”. Republicans have continued going through nearly eight years of the Obama Administration vowing to say “No” to anything Obama.
Drearily, it has been so sad to see the obstruction to progress, continually, from the G.O.P. elected officials, and, for that matter, the “talking heads” and pundits on television and in print media. I am of the firm belief that, the current state of unrest, which has brought the Republican Party to the point of confirming the candidacy of a clown named Donald Trump, is directly the result of the negativity publicly shown by Republican leaders and many members of the media.
Popular Fox News hosts, and, so-called “Conservative” Talk Radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Hannity and others, have repeated, time after time, negative attitudes and disrespectful things about President Barack Obama from the beginning. Is it any wonder that people out there, who regularly view Fox News programs and listen to the so-called Conservative Talk Radio shows, have such a slanted impression of Obama’s presidency?
Viewers and Listeners are told to think that way: Regardless of whether it’s true or not, if you say it often enough, people will believe it is “truth”. Have you noticed, Donald Trump implements that same lesson. He repeats his negative thoughts and utterances in every one of his live rally appearances, and on television, and radio. The crowds at his rallies pick up on the not so subtle brainwashing efforts, whether consciously, or unconsciously offered, and cheer and chant the negativity back to Trump, who eats it up.
Trump feeds the crowd hateful rhetoric to absorb, and they feed his ego, encouraging him to believe his assumptions and utterances are “like it is”, but, of course, they, crowd and speech maker, are not as close to real sanity as they all seem to think they are.
Hopefully, the aftermath of voting on November 8, 2016, will find some sense of normalcy returning to the United States of America. Electing Donald Trump and returning Congressional Republicans to power is not the answer, nor is electing a Democrat to the White House and hampering progress by keeping the balance of power in Congress as it is now composed.
GARYWORDS by GabbyGary at Garytalk.com
