Twenty-five years ago, The Arsenio Hall Show was the hottest ticket in late-night television. It even spawned the career of a (then) almost unknown politician — one Bill Clinton, who made playing the sax look cool.

The show also spawned a catch-phrase for those indefatigable questions that haunt us, the “things that make you go, ‘hmmmm . . .'”

Fast forward twenty-five years, and a colleague of Mr. Clinton’s, one Barack Obama, has me asking questions . . . indefatigable questions. Questions that make me go ‘hmmm . . .’ Questions like:

• If you can’t keep track of emails or employ proper protocol to back up government servers, how can we trust you to run something as complex as a country?

• If we are $17 trillion in debt ($7T of which is attributable to your administration), and under your watch saw our credit downgraded for the first time in history, how are we supposed to trust you with the world’s largest economy?

• If you allow federal entities to spy on us without our knowledge, how do you reconcile that with your campaign promise stating your administration would be “the most transparent ever;” a statement reiterated time and again?

• If you allow a bureaucracy like the IRS to target a segment of our citizenry, how are we supposed to trust the impartiality of that entity with respect to our tax records, equitable auditing, and issuing of returns?

• If you can’t hire an efficient contractor to build a cost-efficient website that is rolled out on-time and without breaching confidentiality, how are we supposed to trust you with the first & last bastion of human dignity: our health?

• If there are delays to such a degree that our veterans are dying under government-run facilities such as VA hospitals, how are we to trust that the so-called “Affordable Care Act” won’t yield similar results?

• If you consistently circumvent Congress and the Constitution when you want something done, how are we supposed to trust you when you swore to uphold that very same Constitution (the one that has served our Republic without problems for over 200 years)?

• If you allow bus loads of children (and keep our borders so porous that we have adults as well) here illegally, and offer full benefits like tuition, health care, voting rights and the like to those here without the benefit of doing so legally, how can we believe that you have job creation at heart and want to get the unemployment numbers down when these individuals are taking our jobs?

• If you send money to groups that back those that would thwart the war on terror and have an active hatred for our country, and you trade terrorists for deserters, but leave the spouse of an American citizen in a stone cold prison awaiting execution, and leave military men in Mexican jails, how can we trust in your discernment, and truly believe you will keep us safe and “leave no one behind?”

• If you run guns in Mexico and Libya, (and cover up the resulting deaths, in fact, flat out lie and send talking heads on TV shows time and time again to perpetuate the lies), and then buy up stores of arms and ammo, how are we to understand what would appear to be a hypocritical desire to take constitutionally protected firearms away from our citizens?

• If you campaign on a promise to post bills for at least five days before voting on them, how do you then reconcile a member of your party, (then) Speaker of the House saying, “We have to pass it to see what’s in it?”

So, I ask those reading this: if, after perusing this list, you still have questions about things that make you go ‘hmmmm . . .’ keep asking! And, should you not receive satisfactory and truthful answers, make your displeasure known at the ballot box this coming November!

–M.

About Author

Marie Stroughter

Marie Stroughter’s foray into political activism began around the dinner table as she deconstructed the day’s news cycle with her husband and three homeschooled children. She is one of the founding members of African-American Conservatives (AACONS), and is the host of its critically acclaimed podcast. Marie has served as a communications and social media guru for a number of statewide and national campaigns ranging from senatorial to presidential. In 2019, Ms. Stroughter was appointed to be a National Advisory Board Member and surrogate for Black Voices for Trump. She currently serves on the America First National Engagement Council, an arm of the America First Policy Institute. She has been a part of Allen West’s digital team since 2017. The former Digital Comms Director for the Republican Party of Texas, she now serves a similar role for Texas Values, a nonprofit devoted to policies related to faith, family, and freedom. Marie also freelances and focuses on growing AACONS. To book Marie, use the “Contact Us” page.

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