Obama Supporters - Not Everyone Shares Your Enthusiasm

A restaurateur in Anaheim is learning the hard way that not every patron feels the same way about the new president:

ANAHEIM As the owner of a presidential-themed restaurant, Bruno Serato took advantage of the recent historic election to add a little more character to his Anaheim White House.

Little did he suspect when he put the small brass plaque above the doorway to the Barack Obama Room that he'd receive a backlash.

As with most events and promotions the restaurant holds, he sent an announcement of the small dedication of the Barack Obama Room to his e-mail list of several thousand customers.

At least a half-dozen or so volleyed harsh comments back at him via their own e-mails. A press representative of Serato's contacted the Register and showed a reporter copies of the emails from patrons who were offended by the Obama Room.

"I am not an Obama supporter," read one angry e-mail. "I could never be, and as much as having an African-American in the White House could be a good thing, having one with Marxist ideals is certainly not a good thing! I will not be patronizing your restaurant, much less the 'Obama Room.'"

Another plays off of the Anaheim White House's ad slogan, "Orange County's Hidden Treasure," by saying:

"Do not insult us with a Barack Obama room. … You have no idea whether he is a great leader or a hopeless Socialist. You may regret your hasty judgment of what he will do to this country. May you remain Orange County's hidden treasure, with the emphasis on HIDDEN!"

"You must be kidding?" reads yet another. "He didn't do anything yet other than weaken our internal security. Maybe you could house all the Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay) internees there instead."

Serato, who provides free meals to hundreds of children everyday and raises funds for charitable causes, said he was upset by the rancor – particularly because he has almost half a dozen other rooms named for presidents of all ideological stripes.

Here's where he made his mistake. If he had a room that was always named for the current president, this would have been no big deal. In other words, if the Bill Clinton room had become the George Bush room which became the Barack Obama room, nobody would have cared. However, he let his enthusiasm for Obama carry him away a bit and he not only named a room after him, but actively promoted it to his clients.

The big problem that a lot of Obama supporters have is they are of the misconception that everyone shares their love for The One. They voted for him, and quite possibly everyone they know voted for him, so therefore, everyone loves him. They forget that 47% of the voters chose somebody else. It was hardly a mandate.

Based on those numbers Bruno should have figured out that a substantial part of his mailing list would not be as enamored over The One as he is, and in fact might not appreciate the restaurateur's efforts to honor the new president. It was a mistake born from ignorance about what really happened in this election.

Bruno will learn and hopefully his business won't get hurt too badly. If it does, I guess he can always ask for a bailout.