Obama's an American ... get over it

A friend of mine, an American living in Italy and a conservative, notes that we need to get over this notion that the President is somehow not an American because he was born on foreign soil. The reason this is true is that -- even if he had been born in Kenya, and no one's produced anything other than speculation that he was -- his mother was American, and the last time anyone checked, having an American citizen for a parent qualifies a person as an American. You would think these oh-so-smart individuals would know that.

Protestations to the contrary draws for me images of the sort of wild eyed ravings that I had to deal with during my 15 years or so in conservative politics. In that sort of situation, I would look at the person, nod, grunt a muffled "Uh huh," and furtively hunt the earliest opportunity to escape.

On the other hand, it's understandable: Your guy lost. It's hard to accept, especially when you've bought into the wholesale demonization of the winner throughout the campaign, drank it to the dregs like someone in the desert trying to get the very last drop out of their canteen. You want something, anything that will help this "evil" person (not misguided, not poorly formed, not benighted, but absolutely, certifiably, uncontrovertably EVIL!!!) to be banished to the furthest reaches of historical oblivion possible. You borrow today all of the calamities, material and spiritual, you think this person will visit upon our beloved nation tomorrow.

Nonetheless, we need to simply accept it and work for a better tomorrow. You want to avoid future Obamas? Good, then here's the equation: If you get God wrong, you will get man wrong. If you get man wrong, you will get the culture wrong. If you get culture wrong, you will get society wrong. And if you get wrong society -- and all that flows from it, e.g., government, etc. -- you will get leaders like Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. Ergo, the first task is evangelization. Change people's hearts. Look at the Reagan Democrats. Look at the proportion of Mass-going Catholics who vote for people that reflect their values. Look at the proportion of Evangelicals who do the same. Would a Nancy Pelosi or President Obama be even slightly conceivable with such people? I suppose possible, but not likely.

First things first, folks.