POTUS Thinks Kwanzaa More Important than Christmas

I actually had to think about how to classify this information.  It is obviously an EPIC FAIL moment, but I went with my initial "WTF" gut-check reaction.

It's been a while since I checked in on Twitter (blog update posts notwithstanding) so I went through the new timeline and found a gem from @gatewaypundit that was re-tweeted by @adamsbaldwin.


Now I consider myself relatively conservative, but that doesn't make me stupid.  If someone posts something that a) I'm likely to believe and b) is going to get me riled up, I'm at least going to dig a little deeper.  I know people....family even, who think that everything that comes out of the mouth of certain talking-heads is the God's-Honest Truth.  I don't get why you'd accept everything one person says and deny everything that another person says just because they are on the other side of the spectrum.  There are a lot of lying, self-serving ass-hats on both sides of the political aisle.  Don't even get me started on the Tea Party and Occupy morons.....


The tweet I read was this: "RT @gatewaypundit "Obama Skips Christmas Statement But Issues Statement for Fake Holiday Kwanzaa..." - http://t.co/MJrbPbOw"


Now I did click the link and was outraged at the information presented, but I went ahead and skipped to the source.  The White House has a special page just for Presidential Statements and Press Releases. Please, feel free to check it out on your own.

Cycling down through the recent releases there is not a single Presidential Statement regarding Christmas.  I guess that holiday isn't a big deal to Americans.  No religious or cultural significance for the majority of Americans....nope....nada...zilch.


Evidently Kwanzaa is a big deal though, because he made a Presidential Statement about that "holiday": "Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today marks the beginning of the week-long celebration honoring African American heritage and culture through the seven principles of Kwanzaa -- unity, self determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

We celebrate Kwanzaa at a time when many African Americans and all Americans reflect on our many blessings and memories over the past year and our aspirations for the year to come. And even as there is much to be thankful for, we know that there are still too many Americans going through enormous challenges and trying to make ends meet. But we also know that in the spirit of unity, or Umoja, we can overcome those challenges together.

As families across America and around the world light the red, black, and green candles of the Kinara this week, our family sends our well wishes and blessings for a happy and healthy new year."

To a certain extent I'm ok with Kwanzaa, except how it it a fabrication by a convicted felon.  Not just a run-of-the-mill felon either, but one who was convicted of torturing a couple women.  I get that people want to celebrate their heritage and it's cool that there is an additional outlet for that.


What isn't cool is support of the President of the United States when he clearly didn't seem to care about the cultural heritage of most of the rest of the US.  A heritage most likely shared by the majority of those that celebrate Kwanzaa in addition to Christmas. 


Well, the POTUS may have a bit of a cop-out.  If you look at his weekly address made on December 24th, some staffer made mention that the President and First Lady "came together to wish the American people a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thanked our troops, military families, and veterans for their service and sacrifice."  In reality they talked about the troops and at the very end of their address they said "So from our family to yours, Merry Christmas." and "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everybody."


I don't know about you guys, but the President and First Lady addressing Christmas in the same limited fashion as the check-out clerk when I ring up my groceries does not even come close to a) an appropriate Presidential Statement or b) The attention Kwanzaa got.


The President gets an EPIC FAIL from me.  I didn't realize his numbers were so strong going into an election year that he can slough off Christmas like that.