US Embassy Guard Suspended After Anti-Obama Comments

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An American working as a security guard at the US embassy in London has been fired following comments he made on his website about President-elect Obama. Those comments, according to the Guardian, included:

“… ideals that are the very cornerstone of American liberty and democracy could very well become an ephemeral memory of American history under the socialist leadership of the incumbent Barrack Obama.

“… The real question of concern, now that Obama is the president-elect, is what promises have Obama’s camp given in return to these socialist, communist, fascist and terrorist supporting nations and special interest groups? Such accolades and endorsements do not come easy in this nuclear age.”

The decision to let the guard go appears to have been made jointly by the American diplomats at the embassy and the Wales-based company that employed him. Not sure how I feel about this. Employees of the federal government don’t owe their fealty to the president, they just have to work their hardest for him. I understand how high-level civil servants and political appointees would be let go if they weren’t on the same page as the president. They exist to implement his vision. But low-level employees, in my opinion anyway, should be allowed to have a wide range of opinions on their leadership, just as everyday Americans do.

The difference here may be that the man works in security, and his comments call into question whether or not he can be trusted to keep the American embassy, which is functionally on extension of Barack Obama on foreign soil, safe.

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