California, a state that is simultaneously wonderful and yet so terrible at the same time. For every ridiculously attractive Asian woman that would talk to me, there are six gang members who would cut off my thumbs and put them in a jar.

According to CBS Sacramento, Lawmakers in the Golden State passed a bill on April 24 requiring schools to teach students what the election of our nation’s 44th president meant for racial equality and civil rights in this country, making this another example of individuals attempting to irrationally praise and glorify the man.

President Barack Obama’s election was historic. That’s obvious. Anytime a nation elects a visible minority to lead it deserves a place in the history books. However, what does not is the excessive praise that has been given to the president.

In December 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee said it was for his efforts to “strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The thing is he had not done anything like that at the time.

No notable war had been ended because of involvement of the president in negotiations, the Israelis and Palestinians were still fighting each other, and tensions with Iran were still at high levels. His award was probably due to the obsession of whoever nominated him for it. Shame we won’t know for 50 years.

It gets worse though, during Obama’s re-election bid in 2012, when Democratic officials in one county in Florida flew an American flag over their headquarters. The problem was the president’s face was inserted in place of the stars. Normally, I’m not one to take a lot of reporting from a cable news network seriously, but Fox News was in the right by criticizing this. This sort of imagery is ridiculous and is almost like something you’d see in a cult of personality. It must come to an end.

Outside of the political sphere, several shysters have been bilking people out of their hard earned money by hawking cheap Obama-themed junk. According to a report from the Consumerist, shortly after Obama was elected, a company put out commercials for commemorative coins that would mark the Obama presidency.

The problem was they turned out to just be regular coins with a sticker on them. Sadly, several people bought these pieces of junk. They believed the hype.

The bottom line is Obama was not the grand innovation that people thought he would be. In more ways than one, he is pretty much the African-American version of President Bush.

They are both very authoritarian and have taken the nation closer to economic ruin. Stop fawning over the man. Please, for me.

– Evan Pretzer is a junior communication major from from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.