Happy birthday, President Obama

August 4th is the birthday of President Barack Obama. I thought long and hard what I could give the 44th president of the United States as a birthday president. If I had the option, I would give him a sincere apology for the hate I gave him when I was a conservative over the years during his presidency. Whether it was on Facebook or Twitter. I was foolish and close-minded to not question the demonizing of the President on Fox and other conservative outlets.

Since day one, when Barack Obama announced his presidency, there was a not so good feeling in my stomach of the thought of him “a black man” being the president of the United States. I began activism in politics shortly after 9/11, and Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly were the first talk show hosts I began to watch and listen too. I believed anything they had to say about him, without question because even back then media outside conservative outlets were considered fake news, and I assumed this was true. I even believed in the birther conspiracy that Trump helped spread thinking he was un-American and shouldn’t be the president. I believed that he wanted to take our rights away, including the right to bear arms, using every mass shooting as a way to make it happen. I’ve condemned him for any little thing he said and made it to something more. When he said, “conservatives cling to their bibles and guns.” I considered it to be hate speech towards us, and now I see he was disappointed that conservatives don’t want to look past their religion and guns, no matter who it hurts, and when I realized I was wrong about what liberal values are about, I was wrong about President Obama.

He’s done so much for the United States in so many ways. After all, what I’ve learned especially about white privilege, I see when he talked about conservatives, he was right and mainly wanted them to see what it’s like to put on the shoes of black people, Muslims, anyone who is not in the conservative close-minded bubble. He never was anti-Semitic or anti-Christian, or even Muslim himself. He was a decent president, a wonderful family man, and a good patriotic American. He helped many veterans and military and he was a good friend to Israel. Just because he didn’t kiss their butts like the way Trump is doing doesn’t mean he was not a friend. A friend holds you accountable when you are wrong too. Sometimes, the Israeli government makes mistakes too like any other government. He was honorable and diplomatic with Iran, and the money he gave them wasn’t even ours, as I used to believe; he was returning their own money and did his best trying to prevent a war.

By no means was he a perfect president, sure he made mistakes, but he did not deserve the hatred he received while he was in office and even now, by me and other conservatives. I will take this time and wish President Barack Obama a wonderful birthday, and I am truly sorry to believe any of that hateful propaganda about you, and I am sorry that I took out my frustrations on you. Lastly, it was an honor to serve in the United States military under your leadership.

Happy birthday, President Obama.

Sincerely, David Weissman