Letter writer Ed Hickey asks when the left will stop attacking our “duly-elected” president and laments the Democrats’ “constant obstructionism” [“May Day: Ridiculous antics,” April 28, Northwest Voices, Opinion].
Former President Barack Obama was duly elected twice (winning both the popular and Electoral College votes, unlike President Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote), and faced constant Republican obstructionism. Former House Speaker John Boehner in 2010 stated, “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything — we can do to kill it (Obama’s agenda), stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The single most important thing … is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Obama was faced with repeated demonstrators saying “not my president” and was accused of being an anti-American Muslim. After Justice Antonin Scalia passed away 11 months before Obama’s second term ended, Republicans refused to consider any appointee, saying the new president should do it.
The American people had already given their voice by re-electing Obama. If Hickey and Republicans feel Democrats should stop obstructing and attacking Trump, perhaps they should have obstructed and attacked Obama less the past eight years.
Thomas N. Rivers, Seattle