Sour Grapes

Last night I wrote about the Air Force One fly-over fiasco. It's hard to believe that whoever was responsible for this stunt hadn't considered the terror it would cause the people of New York and New Jersey over whom these planes would be flying. I should say that again so you won't miss that I am making a point.
Point One...
It is hard to imagine that the people in charge of the Air Force One fleet didn't anticipate that flying a 747 trailed by an F-16 low-level over New York City on a business day wouldn't terrorize the people on the ground.
It is HARD TO IMAGINE!!! That's my point.
In fact it is SO HARD TO IMAGINE that it seems a reasonable conclusion that the terror of the people was somewhere along the way factored into the decision to carry out this stunt. They either factored in the terror element or else the whole bunch of them were number than a bunch of pounded thumbs. It's either one or the other. There's no room in between for logical explanations.
Yet...
In the comments section of an article in nj.com concerning this fly-over, several people made the suggestion that there was absolutely no need for concern, that people who felt the terror were just over-reacting to a harmless situation, even that the presence of the military F-16 escort should have clued observers in to the fact that the military had the situation under control. People just over-reacted. Some comments even reminded people that they were just complaining because they don't like the fact that Obama won the election! In other words, it's just sour grapes. Anyone with an ounce of good sense wouldn't have felt any fear.
In other words, Obama won the election. The means he can do whatever he wants and the people shouldn't be complaining.
That's my second point, by the way.
Point Two...
Obama won so now any red-blooded American should stand 100% in support of him. HE CAN DO NO WRONG!
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's now the Obama standard. I am saying that's the tone of a lot of comments I'm coming across now on liberal blogs especially but also comments to online news articles.
We saw a lot of this on the Republican side while they were in power. Republicans could do no wrong. Tom DeLay, Ted Stevens, Jack Abramoff, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, lies, torture, wire taps, corruption, lying to Congress, you name it... the Republicans held the power and they could do no wrong and anyone who criticized was just plain un-American.
The liberals didn't like being treated that way and for good reason. We want our freedom. So for liberals to now be reacting to criticism of Obama in the same way that conservatives reacted to criticism of Bush/Cheney is just wrong. Obama isn't God, nor did we elect him to be our sovereign Lord. He is just the elected leader of America's executive branch. It is entirely right that we subject him and all of his policies to critical scrutiny. It is entirely wrong to try to squelch that criticism.
So that is my last point.
Point Three...
It is wrong to attempt to squelch criticism of the Obama administration.
As liberals, let's show some respect for freedom, liberty, and the US Constitution. Let's not be carbon copies of the narrow-minded Right.