Alright, listen up people. I know there's much wailing and gnashing of teeth over health care. I understand why people are upset about the administration's softened rhetoric over the public option, but I feel we need to regain some perspective here.
Barack Obama's election was a huge step forward for this country, public option or no public option. People marched, bled and died so that we could elect Obama.
Now there are reportsthat yet another armed man was casing the protests outside Obama's speech to the VFW today in Phoenix.
More below the jump.
From the Arizona Republic via the Huffington Post:
A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at 3rd and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip, and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault rifle) on a strap over his shoulder.
"Because I can do it," he said when asked why he was armed. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms."
Two police officers were staying very close to the man.
To those of you who are already throwing in the towel on this administration, I say your priorities are misplaced. People didn't march on Montgomery so that I could throw a temper tantrum and reinforce the message that the Democrats are weak while simultaneously accusing the President of lacking strength and message discipline.
I'm furious.
I'm furious about both this gunman and the fact that we on the left have forgotten what people sacrificed such that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today. How many of you writing Obama's political obituary today will be signing the same tune should his real obituary have to written because of an assassin's bullet?!?
We didn't get civil rights without a serious struggle, but we got it. We won't get real health care reform without a serious struggle, but we will get it.
So be vigilant. Let's constructively engage our representatives instead of being defeatist. We owe those who sacrificed before us at least that much.
UPDATE
I've decided to add this link to an image of the black gunman. The race of the gunman is irrelevant to the argument I'm making, but it does lend a fascinating angle to the story, and I wanted to report it honestly. So there you have it.