I began to write something that I thought might be moderately interesting and/or amusing. However, in short order, I realized that my heart was not in it.

I must confess that, for quite some time, I have been unsettled by the seething, rabid hatred of the President – a loathing so deep that, in my view, it strips otherwise reasonable people of their good sense and their ability to view him as “Our President.” There are not many people who disliked and disapproved of President Clinton more than I did, but, for better or worse, when he was in office, he was “My President,” and when it came to matters that affected all of us all as Americans, I was on his side.

That’s why the current clamor to blame the President, or to otherwise cast aspersions on his administration in the face of a catastrophe that is common to all of us as Americans saddens me so. Of course, this kind of criticism only begets an angry responses from the other side (in the interest of full-disclosure, my side), which leads us all into name calling, when our time could be much better spent dealing with the issue at hand, which was placed on our doorstep in the form of Hurricane Katrina.

Can’t we all just agree that, at least for now, as Americans, we have an immense problem on our hands, and that, as Americans, we should join our hands and hearts so that we can collectively get about making things right for other Americans?