Yesterday’s entry received quite a response over at the Huffington Post–which happened to pick it up. By and large the consensus seemed to be: “You have a point about Obama’s shortcomings, but now is not the time to bring them up.” Some thought I put too much emphasis on the little bit that was wrong with his speech, saying “He can’t be perfect.” Others thought discussing the Middle East was out of context in a speech that was largely about race in America. Nevertheless, Obama did make a statement that would no doubt anger most Palestinians. And wasn’t Obama’s speech largely about empathy? If his speech was great for that reason then it follows that we must extend that empathy beyond the domestic realm to all places where inequality dwells–particularly in a place like Palestine, which suffers under the occupation of a government funded by our tax dollars.

It may be easy for us to look the other way because we don’t truly know what occupation is like and praise an otherwise great speech, but eventually this and other topics (such as his talk of increasing the defense budget and not withdrawing troops before 2013) will come to the front. Perhaps it is better to push him on these issues now. It could actually help him gain more votes. A CBS News Poll from this week shows that 46 percent favor troop withdraw in less than a year. Only 6 percent think they should stay for more than five years. Also, a Gallop Poll from last month reported that 44 percent of Americans believe the government is spending too much on the military, while just 22 percent think it’s too little.

Blind praise is not helping Obama and it’s definitely not going to help us get off this devastating track that so many people are unhappy with at present moment. In a democracy, we owe it to ourselves, as well as those affected by our foreign policy, to voice our discontent with a candidate’s weaknesses.