Florence Nightingale for president?

The more I hear people complain about Barack Obama, the more I like the guy.

Now to be clear, I didn’t vote for him the first time. I don’t think he’s done a particularly good job. And I probably won’t vote for him this time around. But I find myself defending him on a regular basis because of the unfounded claims made by people I can only refer to as loons.

For example, I’ve read repeatedly that the price of gasoline has doubled since Obama became president, noting that he’s the reason that prices have jumped the way they have.

GasBuddy.com tells us that in mid- to late-2008, the price of gasoline dropped significantly in Buffalo from $4.26 a gallon to $1.81. It has been on a steady incline ever since. Worth noting here, of course, is that it was $4.26 in the summer of 2008. But to hear the loons tell it, it was $1.81 until Obama took office.

They’ll tell you, of course, that the spike in gas prices from 2005 to 2008 had nothing to do with former President George W. Bush, but the spike from 2008 until 2012 is the sole fault of President Obama.

The loons seem to believe that their guy couldn’t possibly have been the problem (this goes with the left-wing loons who serve as Obama apologists, too). The fact of the matter is, the price of things go up and our foreign policy doesn’t help matters. It is, of course, the same foreign policy that has guided us over the course of the past dozen administrations or so.

The problem isn’t Obama. And it wasn’t Bush. The problem — as is so often the case — is us. But it’s easier to blame Obama.

I don’t hear the same people who are blaming Obama for gas prices also giving him credit for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around 8,000 points when Obama was inaugurated. It now stands at about 13,000. That’s quite a bump.

Likewise, unemployment spiked at the end of George W. Bush’s time in office, hitting 7.8 percent in January of 2009. It further jumped to 10 percent in October of that year, nine months into Obama’s first term. Since October of 2009, however, it has (very) slowly but steadily declined to where it stands now at just over 8 percent.

But I hear nary a word about that. All I hear these days is gas prices. And when I do hear about the stock market or unemployment, I’m told it would be better were it not for Obama and his horrible fiscal policies. Oh and he’s a Communist.

I’ve been called a Communist before. I know what a Communist is. Barack Obama is not a Communist. He may truly be inept, but he’s not a Communist.

For the record, I’ve been called a Fascist before, too. I’m not one of those either. I’m just a guy who gets irritated by other people’s B.S.

While I’m very unlikely to cast a vote for Barack Obama come November, I do sympathize for the guy. And if I end up feeling bad enough for him, I might just vote for him.

Dear loons, you’ve overplayed your hand. And the reasonable people of the world are going to sympathize for a guy they probably would never vote for otherwise. Get back to reality so we can find someone who can actually do the job.