Presidents’ Day was originally established to honor the nation’s first president, George Washington, on or near his birthday, but for some time it has been an occasion to honor all presidents. For many Americans it is a day off of work, and for many more it is a time, like every holiday in America, to be bombarded with special sales. Instead of looking back at former presidents and either marveling at their achievements, or decrying the devastation they wrought on this country, it is worth taking stock of the current President for two specific reasons. First, what Barack Obama accomplished that will cement his place in history as one of the country’s greatest Presidents, including his greatest accomplishment of all. And second, to challenge the President’s detractors on just a sampling of the mountain of lies they have spouted since before Obama was even inaugurated and continue unabated.

Conservatives, in their various iterations, have accused the President of committing all manner of slights against the American people and garnered support as well as legitimacy among their racist supporters because they are inherently ignorant and suspicious of people of color. They also depend on the preponderance of stupidity and willful suspension of disbelief at bizarre assertions among a certain segment of the population to perpetuate the mountain of lies about the President. Without the overwhelming stupidity and fear of “the other” rampant among conservatives, racists, and religious fundamentalists, any one of the lies about the President would be dead before they left a Republicans’ lying mouth.

For example, Republicans have spent over six years claiming that Barack Obama is coming for Americans’ guns, and yet there has been no gun safety legislation passed or absurd “gun confiscations” during the President’s tenure in the White House. In fact the last gun control legislation was a ban on assault weapons 20 years ago in spite of a rash of mass shootings using assault weapons. Still, one sees myriad polls on websites sponsored by conservative groups and the NRA asking if Republicans should fight against Obama’s gun seizure crusade. These claims have not been reserved to the NRA and gun fanatics; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent out a letter during his campaign last year warning Kentucky voters that they need a strong Republican Senate because Obama was coming for their guns. It has been a six year accusation and it is time for Republicans, the NRA, and seditious teabaggers to prove the assault on the 2nd Amendment or shut down the lies.

Another common charge is that the President has eviscerated the U.S. Constitution and yet, Republicans cannot produce one shred of evidence backing up their claim. Oh it is true that nearly everything Obama does brings the usual charge that he is violating the Constitution, particularly in issuing executive orders every one of his white Republican predecessors issued. As a matter of fact, right now Republicans are threatening to endanger American lives and shut down the Department of Homeland Security because John Boehner and Ted Cruz claim the President’s executive action on immigration enforcement is ‘unconstitutional.’ However, according to the Roberts conservative Supreme Court, the President’s actions are perfectly constitutional; and that ruling is without citing the precedent set by every Republican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.