Sandi Patty and Barack Obama

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

There is a singer from the 1980s, still performing, named Sandi Patty. If you are under 25, you may not know her story.

In the late 1980s, early 1990s, Sandi Patty was perhaps the hottest gospel singer in the country. I remember going to a concert of hers in Greensboro, N.C. around 1989. The people sitting next to us said this about her (rough quote, memory is old): "I don't know about the other gospel singers, but Sandi Patty is solid, I trust her."

Less than a year later, Sandi Patty's entourage dissolved when it came out she was having an affair with, if I remember correctly, her stage manager (and she was married, too).

What her followers had seen on the surface had turned out to be a lie.

I believe in forgiveness, and I am glad she has gotten her career back together. I hope she has learned a lesson.

In the early 2000s, a man came out of Chicago who told a good story. One of hope and love and change. His name was Barack Obama. He gave a great speech at the Democrat National Convention in 2004.

In 2008, the country bought his story and made him president.

What we see on the surface and what happens behind the scenes is probably, at least on an ethical level, equivalent to the Sandi Patty story. And while I can forgive him, just like I forgive her, I want nothing to do with him.

A few years ago, I was in a Christian bookstore and they happened to have an old Sandi Patty tape.

I remembered how much I loved her singing. I bought it, slipped it into the cassette slot in my car. It made me want to throw up. (Forgiveness, yes, but please take your hypocrisy somewhere else.)

Same goes for Mr. Obama. A portion of the electorate wants to continue to believe the front story he tells.

For some reason or another (denial?), they refuse to lift the curtain and look at what has transpired the last four years.

When a well-researched movie or book comes out on the man, they put their hands over their ears and yell "Na, na, na, ...."

I want to believe what he says, too, but the actions do not back up the words; just look at his behavior around the United Nations General Assembly meeting recently – and a trip to “The View” to be “eye candy” while the Middle East is going up in flames can be seen as nothing but megalomania.

About a year ago, some pundit remarked that President Obama was switching to "campaign mode" as he geared up for this year.

I was astounded by that statement. I have never heard President Obama give any speech that did not sound like a partisan campaign speech, starting with his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2009.

Have you ever heard him give a speech that unites all parts of the population, identifies us all as Americans he represents? I haven't, either.

Further, I would like to know when he has any time to do the job for which he was elected. Almost 24/7 he is on the television telling us some great thing he has done or is going to do.

When these things go wrong, he is again on TV telling us who to blame (not him, of course). When not speaking, he plays golf or he is on Air Force One.

Please tell me when he sits with his Cabinet, advisers, and congressional leaders to discuss the business of the country? There is simply no time left in the day.

Please, tell me who wrote Obamacare.

Tell me if President Obama has read it through once. I can't for the life of me figure out when he has had the time.

The scandals behind the curtain have been more legion than they were in the days of Richard Nixon.

With any luck on his part, President Obama and his entourage will keep them covered up until Nov. 7. Unfortunately, even if they were all exposed in the mainstream media, I still bet a large percentage of the population would ignore them.

So, I'll try to persuade you, one more time, to read some material shedding light on the current administration.

Of course, the author of this material of which I speak has been completely trashed by the liberal media, despite his own employment by liberal publications (The New York Times and Newsweek).

That author is Edward Klein and the book is "The Amateur."

The other one I suggest you read was done by the Washington Examiner a week or so ago. It is called, "The Obama You Don't Know." It is on their website at http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama#.UGl1nXY2Vdg

Some of you will go "Na, na, na..." and cover your ears – or bring up President Bush.

You are so predictable.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga., following decades of wandering the world, and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.