Why Is Obama Smiling?

by Meg Curtis


Pardon this column for being the Grinch who stole the party, but why is President Obama smiling in the photograph accompanying the following article on CNN this morning?  With tears and glee, Nicholas Benton offers his retake on American history in "White House is finally a welcoming place for gay people," Special to CNN, on June 18, 2012. 


Elderly citizens--those with a memory going back eleven years--will recall that Americans promised to be Americans first--and everything else second or nothing--following the attack on Manhattan on 9/11. Why are lobby groups now acting as if this commitment never hit the airwaves? No special category gives anyone the right to eclipse the emergencies now facing this nation.


The United States' ballooning debt has inspired no smiles for thoughtful citizens. White House leaks are now prompting senators to worry over Iranian retaliation. Recent episodes of cannibalism in Miami and Baltimore left at least one victim with no smile--and almost no face, either. The Sandusky trial in Happy Valley never shows participants grinning ear-to-ear--least of all boys facing manhood with grief and regret.


Europe, America's stalwart partner in finance and wars, isn't breaking into hilarity and guffaws. Greece seems to be satisfied it survived the past weekend. Germany has cause to wonder if its Pirate Party will upend the usual political assumptions. Spain and Italy teeter on the brink of economic catastrophe. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom celebrates, yes, that its queen has lasted sixty years.


So, is it too early to suggest that the American President needs to get with the program? While the bible may offer those famous words--for everything there is a time and season--a time to grieve, a time to be born--nevertheless, the time to party is NOT when a once great nation is backsliding into factions. Let the party wait until America pays its bills, and its citizens find jobs at home. Then, and only then, bring on the party!