Time for the other side to shout

President Barack Obama seems to get publicly dissed during formal proceedings in Washington a little too frequently for me. I blame much of the problem on the fact that too few people either understand the progress he has made over the past two years, or are so dead against him succeeding that they disregard the work he's put in.

Thursday's reading of the Constitution on the floor of the U.S. House, a show of support for all of the new Tea Party supported representatives, was interrupted. When Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) read the portion of the document mandating that only a "natural-born citizen" may be president, some woman -- who I assume to be one of those Birther bigots -- shouted "except Obama, except Obama," from the gallery. It reminded me of Joe Wilson shouting "you lie" to the president in 2009.

This time the offender was quickly removed. But damage done, message sent. That message coming from the right seems to be -- don't trust the president, he's different than the other presidents, he's a Socialist, probably not from here, and everything that can be done to ensure he fails must be done. At least that's what I hear on conservative radio. And incidents like Thursday's seem to confirm as much.

I thought about something I read after the November election. Obama said he and his party took a shellacking. What he should have said is, "whether or not you like me personally, because of the way I look or my funny name, myself and my party have been trying to fix what's wrong with America. You're welcome." Or, something like that.

The Economist said that “An apology is due Barack Obama.” The journal applauded him for saving the auto industry with the $86 billion bailout, and helping the government make a profit through GM's IPO. Record-low interest rates are available today, and corporations are back to making big profits. That's capitalism, not socialism. He also ushered in health care reform, covering millions of uninsured. Now he just needs to improve his offense -- start shouting.

I suspect that with election season being just around the corner, Team Obama will begin talking about some of the things he has gotten accomplished, and hopefully that will counter some of the negative rhetoric the right keeps spewing. Its time for the left to start shouting loud and frequently.