Offensive

I think when President Obama called Romney’s remarks about Libya “offensive” he picked precisely the right word in that: (1) they were offensive in the sense of being an attack, (2) they resulted in painful or unpleasant sensations, and (3) they caused displeasure or resentment, the three meanings given in my online dictionary for the word “offensive.” And even though he picked the right word I don’t think he went quite far enough. One synonym for offensive is ”disgusting,” that would also imply, along with the many other synonyms that accompany that word. If pushed to an extreme this would result in a massive overkill so I think merely offensive and disgusting are in order.

I do not know how President Obama truly feels about Romney but I know how I feel about him and that can be summed up as “offensive” in virtually every way. His trying to score political points on the deaths in Libya is offensive. His chronic and almost non-stop lying I find offensive. His flip-flopping is offensive. His failure to come clean about his taxes is offensive. His refusal to tell us what loopholes and/or deductions he will eliminate is offensive. Also on the same order of offensiveness: cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, appointing a Supreme Court Justice who would overturn Roe vs Wade, doing away with regulations that would allow virtually unlimited damage to the environment, his stupid (and pretty thoughtless) boasting about what he would tell China on “Day one,” his apparent eagerness to go to war with Iran, Russia, or anyone else that resists American hegemony, and virtually any other position he has taken at one time or another on any other issue of importance.

In addition to finding his positions as above offensive, I also find his personal beliefs and behaviors offensive. He seems to have no appreciation whatsoever of the problems of ordinary citizens as his suggestion that children simply borrow money from their parents to start a business or whatever. His complete boorishness in interpersonal relations as when he insulted the English preparations for the Olympics or suggested to some individuals their cookies must have come from 7-ll, and his “binders full of women” are examples of this personal attribute he displays repeatedly. I find almost unbearable his cavalier attitude towards health care, suggesting that only those with previous exemptions for existing conditions should continue to have them, or if you don’t have health insurance you just need to go to the Emergency services. His suggestion that his son’s working to further his campaign or go as missionaries is somehow the equivalent of military service I think is offensive almost beyond belief.

Not only is he a boor and a liar, he is also a bully. We know this from what we know of his behavior as a schoolboy and it is perfectly obvious in his approach to debating when he attempts to bully his opponent and even the moderator.

Even worse, for me, is that he is an unregenerate capitalist that makes his fortune by exploiting the cheapest labor he can find, avoiding regulations whenever possible, making shady investments, taking equally questionable tax breaks and deductions, and so forth. Not only does he behave in this way, he boasts about it, how successful he is, how he has “made it” in the private sector, and by implication how he alone is responsible for his obscene fortune. The fact that such greedy, selfish, ruthless people could exist at all I find offensive, in fact, detestable.

Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over much too soon.

Woody Allen