No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The old cynical maxim that no good deed goes unpunished has certainly been illustrated quite vividly recently. Take for example:

President Obama's attempt to use the prestige of the presidency to urge schoolchildren to stay in school and get a quality education, listen to teachers and parents, avoid predators by being cautious on social networking sites like Facebook, etc. sounds like a no-brainer good deed. Oh, but of course he was pilloried everywhere by the usual cadre of right-wing yahoos (sorely in need of more education but obviously beyond hope) complaining that he was going to inject politics in his talk (perhaps some Fundamentalist religion would have been OK). Thus, many timid school districts din't carry the speech. Good deed gets punished equaling at least a PR victory for the ignorant.

Even worse, the President's noble attempt to reform health care and (horrors!) provide all Americans with an opportunity to avail themselves of at least minimum coverage has been met with an apparently successful roadblock by the uninformed, self-centered and just downright nasty. Many (including acquaintances of TNB) have taken to calling Obama a Communist (!) for his efforts. Memo to my fellow seniors--do you consider Medicare a Communist program? Oh, but that's different because if we're all eligible it must be OK. We now have the spectacle of yet another Republican moron, one Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) shouting from the floor of Congress to Obama "you lie" (of course, the President didn't). Lost in the vitriol is another potential good deed.

Although not as altruistic a good deed, because of the commercial promotion involved, Oprah Winfrey's "street fair" taping of her season opening which required closing down a few blocks of Chicago's Michigan Avenue for one business day was received with yet another round of catcalls. One would have thought that the city was brought to its knees. Rather, Mayor Daley and surrounding businesses heartily endorsed Oprah's efforts (she footed the entire bill, including police costs) as casting a very positive light on Chicago.

Is it just TNB's deep cynicism or is there another subtext at work here, besides the "O" heading their names and the fact that both Obama and Oprah are Chicagoans? Couldn't be a tinge of racism, could it?

BLOGGER'S NOTE: If you haven't seen the comment added to last week's post Fear for Your Safety, check it out. A sitting family court judge, who faces sexual predators on a daily basis, includes her chilling perspective.