CRITICISM MOUNTS OVER OBAMA FLY SWAT

June 19 2009

Washington, D.C. – The lowly common housefly has been a burden since time incarnate. Across the world flies have pestered and disturbed lives since humans began to congregate. Throughout the ages mankind has done his best to rid himself of houseflies but to largely no avail. The fly has survived and thrived as human
empires and civilizations have crumbled. Flies too make no distinction as to who they are pestering. Young and old, rich and poor houseflies make no distinction for who they pester, something the most powerful man on the planet found out a few days ago.

While in the midst of an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, President Obama took time to deal with a pest as it continuously interrupted the conversation. With a quick swat the fly was dead, a move that has brought a firestorm of chatter across the political spectrum. While some have praised the President for his quick and decisive action against the fly menace, others have
criticized his move as callous and arrogant, the embodiment of the Ugly American. Now with the fly dead and the fallout starting to mount, the President is finding himself in a now familiar position of defending his actions and what he will do in a similar situation in the future.

“He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act,” said a spokesperson for PETA. “What we can’t allow is for people to think that this kind of behaviour is acceptable especially for the President of the United States. We call on congress to officially condemn these actions to show the American public that this is unacceptable.”

Criticism has also come from Obama’s opponents on the Republican side, many concerned that his brazen actions could send the wrong message to the country’s enemies.

“Swatting a fly in the privacy of one’s own home is one thing but doing it on national television is something else entirely. We live in a world where this type of action simply cannot be contained and through things like the internet can be spread to people across the planet. The President was at best irresponsible in this action,” said Republican congressman John Boehner. “With the eyes of the world on this President and the United States he needs to be aware of his actions no matter how casual or innocent they may seem at the time. The United States is a leader in the world and we cannot be shown to be casually murdering animals because they become a bit of a nuisance.”

It’s not yet clear how the fly was able to access The White House which is one of the most securely guarded buildings in the world. Early speculation is focused on the animal sneaking in as someone entered the building or possibly a window cracked open in the washroom after a hot shower.

“There is a bit of a concern that the CNBC team may have brought the fly in with them. If that is the case it would likely have been accidental but that brings up even greater security concerns. If they can bring a fly into the White House accidentally then they could easily bring in a nuclear weapon in the same way,” said Scrape TV Political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “Of course that isn’t the core issue. The real issue is whether or not the President should have swatted the fly or just let it go on buzzing around. After all they could have moved the interview to another room and avoided this issue completely, but they chose not to do that.”

When questioned, President Obama admitted that he does not know how many flies he has killed in his life.

“That alone could become fodder for criticism. True there probably isn’t an adult
person in the United States that hasn’t killed a fly and they would be hard pressed to remember the actual numbers but this is the President and not some regular schmo,” continued Kinsey. “The criticism may or may not be valid but the issue here is giving critics the firepower to attack the President. Enough of these kinds of incidents and they will be able to completely pick apart his credibility and use that as a platform to take the Presidency in 2012.”

When asked how many flies she had killed, Republican presidential front runner Sarah Palin didn’t understand the question.    

Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent

NEWS >POLITICS > CRITICISM MOUNTS OVER OBAMA FLY SWAT