Barbara LeSavoy is the director of Women and Gender Studies at The College at Brockport, New York. She’s also an Obama supporter. In a big way. “I voted for Barack Obama. Twice,” she declares at democratsandchronicle.com. “During his 2008 presidential campaign, my two daughters, partner, and I ate every meal in our house on Obama placemats. We bought these at our local supermarket, plastic-coated, plate-sized paper rectangles with an image of his face framed by colors of the flag. While politically minded, I am not overly patriotic, so this mealtime ritual of American allegiance was odd for me. Still, we looked at the image of his face each day and we believed that he really could be the change in America.” On the gun control front, Dr. LeSavoy is slightly disenchanted with President Obama. In fact, the bleeding heart’s heart is bleeding, metaphorically speaking. Check it . . .
Today, I write this letter with a bleeding heart. I admire Obama. But he has let me down. I am disappointed because his presidency could have done more for our country, and sadly, the many taken lives who cannot read this essay. I still worry about urgent social tensions facing our nation, and I recognize their ongoing complexities in policy and legislative action. But gun violence can be averted. Can our country ever be free from senseless gun-crime?
Firearm possession should be banned in America; President Obama can orchestrate this directive. His presidency can be remembered as a remarkable turn in United States history where a progressive leader forever changed the landscape under which we live and work. This is his legacy. To establish gun control laws in America that will reduce high levels of male violence and usher in a culture of peace and civility.
Barack Obama is the president of the United States. He can change the country. He can do it today. I believe in him.
It’s a bit surprising that a university professor doesn’t know – or care about – the limitations to Presidential power as set forth by the United States Constitution, the Second Amendment of which protects Americans’ right to keep and bear arms from government infringement. Infringements like, say, banning their sale, possession or carry. But then what do I know? I’m a product of a patriarchal society whose sexist, dysfunctional culture perpetuates male dominance by mythologizing violence; raising firearms to totemic status while subverting female values and principles. Or something like that.
[h/t CW]