US president's tears ... sincere or staged?

[Jambalaya]

Matata wrote: I wish Obama would leave the US at the end of this term giving us all a 2-handed middle finger salute and never look back. I cannot believe the hatred and condemnation he has faced during his term of service.

Gypsy wrote: And yes, I think there are a lot of people on the right, and on this board who, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that if he were white they wouldn't be "in the middle" of the road and they wouldn't have doubted his tears.

Completely agree with both.

DF asked to name one thing Obama has done.

OK.

He removed the pre-existing-condition clause from health insurance which previously allowed companies to deny desperately-needed medical care to millions. If that's the only thing his presidency did, and he spent the rest of the time on the beach drinking pina coladas, his two terms would have been worth that alone. But then, I'm all for healthcare reform and I agree with the poster who said it didn't go far enough. I love the way we scoff at "socialized medicine." As if commercialized medicine is better.

His election - and his current gun action - also help pierce negative stereotypes of America in the rest of the world - that we are racist, gun-happy, far-right crazies who deny women the basic rights that females in Europe take for granted. (Like paid maternity leave.)

And you have to remember the mess that Obama inherited - trillions in debt, the Middle East a pit of despair after Bush's wars - plus the fact that he's dealt with terrorist threats that have become more dangerous and brutal than anyone could have imagined (ISIS).

And for the record, I absolutely think his tears were real.

Someone upthread wrote that they cry when they think of Mathew Shepherd. Me too.

 

[AdaBeta27]

Lots of things can cause real tears, including weariness and stress. When I had clinical depression before finally deciding to call it quits on my sham of a marriage, I could be reading happy birthday cards in the Hallmark store and tears would start. And there was absolutely nothing sad about the cards, nor did they make me sad. Just saying.

I think that part of what must frustrate Obama is that he's the first black man elected, but that monumental event didn't manage to suddenly inspire hood rats into becoming productive and law-abiding citizens. Kids and teens will continue be be used as foot soldiers for gangs and will continue to be shot in Chicago and Youngstown and Detroit and wherever, until blacks themselves decide to battle black-on-black crime.

 

[telephone89]

Lots of things can cause real tears, including weariness and stress. When I had clinical depression before finally deciding to call it quits on my sham of a marriage, I could be reading happy birthday cards in the Hallmark store and tears would start. And there was absolutely nothing sad about the cards, nor did they make me sad. Just saying.

I think that part of what must frustrate Obama is that he's the first black man elected, but that monumental event didn't manage to suddenly inspire hood rats into becoming productive and law-abiding citizens. Kids and teens will continue be be used as foot soldiers for gangs and will continue to be shot in Chicago and Youngstown and Detroit and wherever, until blacks themselves decide to battle black-on-black crime.

How exactly is Obama responsible for the 'hood rats'? Have you met all of the 'hood rats' to know that they aren't becoming productive citizens? Do you even know what 'hood rat' is slang for? It's incredibly offensive, and I don't think it means what you think it does.

 

[AGBF]

Lots of things can cause real tears, including weariness and stress. When I had clinical depression before finally deciding to call it quits on my sham of a marriage, I could be reading happy birthday cards in the Hallmark store and tears would start. And there was absolutely nothing sad about the cards, nor did they make me sad. Just saying.

No one responded to me (not that responses to me are required), but on the previous page of this thread I said something similar to what AdaBeta just said above:

"My take on crying (as a Freudian) is that people always cry for reasons that are highly personal. At every funeral, where every person cries for the deceased, he is actually crying for far more complicated reasons. If you were to ask him (after the service) and he was open to discussing his feelings, he might tell you what buried feeling had welled up in him during the service and about whom he had thought (besides the deceased). Chances are that he would have relived some of his own, earlier, losses.

It is far more complex than that, but I think I have made my point. No one cries for one reason alone."

Two of us are saying that people cry for reasons that are internal, and may not have the direct correlation to the cause at hand that one might think.

I will go a step further. I do not believe that the strong men who weep when they see the American flag (read the article ksinger linked) are actually weeping simply about the sacrifices of patriots. I have been a psychotherapist for far too long. I know that every person has hidden wounds of his own that are touched by times of national tragedy or loss (like funerals). One is usually weeping for one's own losses at those times.

Deb/AGBF

 

[LLJsmom]

Maccers, good point that big change in a culture takes time, generations even.

Look at equal rights for women, racism, gay equality.

Even though laws are passed many still resist the spirit behind laws.
The Emancipation Proclamation was 153 years ago, yet some Americans still do not embrace equality and equal rights.

True, but more do than did back then. And it's better that the Emancipation Proclamation passed than not.

 

[LLJsmom]

Lots of things can cause real tears, including weariness and stress. When I had clinical depression before finally deciding to call it quits on my sham of a marriage, I could be reading happy birthday cards in the Hallmark store and tears would start. And there was absolutely nothing sad about the cards, nor did they make me sad. Just saying.

I think that part of what must frustrate Obama is that he's the first black man elected, but that monumental event didn't manage to suddenly inspire hood rats into becoming productive and law-abiding citizens. Kids and teens will continue be be used as foot soldiers for gangs and will continue to be shot in Chicago and Youngstown and Detroit and wherever, until blacks themselves decide to battle black-on-black crime.

You think that there aren't many community groups in the African American community trying exactly that?

These comments make me so sad.

 

[HollyS]

I don't for one second believe they were real, actual, tears, and certainly not real, actual, tears brought on by any sincere feelings.

Ditto.

Reminded me of Bill Clinton's lip biting or his infamous walk on the beach in Normandy.


They were tears of convenience, perfectly timed. They were real, but was the emotion?

 

[Gypsy]

I thought it was sincere. And am appalled at the backlash about it.

Seriously some people are haters. And haters gonna hate.

And yes, I think there are a lot of people on the right, and on this board who, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that if he were white they wouldn't be "in the middle" of the road and they wouldn't have doubted his tears.

Because I thought his tears were phony I'm a racist??? What a load of liberal codswallop. I voted for him and am quite disillusioned.

I am saying the issue would never have been raised on these boards or in the news if he were were white.

Of course the emotion was real Holly. Or do you think that dead children can't evoke sadness and despair?

 

[chrono]

I am saying the issue would never have been raised on these boards or in the news if he were were white.

Although we have an elected Black president, there is still a lot of unspoken/unaware racial discrimination by the general public and media.