Who Is Barack Obama?
Briefing | By Irene Warren | October 19, 2008
The book entitled Obama: Why Black America Should Have Doubts examines the character and intentions of the first African-American ever nominated for presidency from a major political party. The author, William Owens, Jr., argues that voting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president can prove disastrous, if not a curse to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to the progress of Black Americans.
In his book, Owens raises critical questions as to why Black America should have serious doubts about Senator Obama becoming president of the United States, as his religious beliefs and his stance on public policy conflict with Judeo-Christian values and go against everything that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Civil Rights leaders ever believed.
Thus, Owens warns Black America not to vote for Senator Obama, based on his charisma, his handsome features, his eloquent speeches and his black skin, but rather, judge him by the content of his character, a sentiment spoken by the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.
Owens claims, as an African-American, he has developed doubts about Senator Obama becoming president based on what he has seen, read and heard. “I have come to view him as potentially dangerous—for our country and in particular for Black Americans,” Owens said. “We are often afraid to look deeper—beyond the obvious—because then we would have to be responsible for our choices and refute the belief that a person who looks like us will automatically take care of us.”
Over time, Owens has determined that Senator Obama has not been completely truthful about his place of origin, his religious beliefs or his heritage. “Obama’s life story is vastly different from the one he portrays,” Owens argued. “Barack Obama’s birth certificate, [of] which he fails to provide the original to the public, has raised questions regarding his own American citizenship and the ability to become President under the Constitution.”
“Barack Obama does not and cannot relate to our past as Black Americans because in reality he is not a Black American,” explained Owens, as he reiterated a passage from the book titled, Obama: The Man Behind the Mask, by author Andy Martin. “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion. Obama has a great opportunity to be forthright. Instead, he has treated his Muslim heritage as a dark secret.”
Further, Owens contends, “Obama Senior was part of one of the most corrupt and violent organizations in Africa: the Kenyatta regime.” “I believe Obama’s secret shame at his family history of rape, murder and arson is what actualizes him.”
In the end, Owens claimed, “it is the Black mindset that presses upon us to say, give the brother a chance.” “On one level, I confess I understand this tendency. Yet, we, as Black Americans must move beyond this.”
“The excitement of having a man on the presidential ballot whose skin is browner than any in recent American history is something to consider,” said Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Many Black Americans are convinced that justice for those of us once known as Negroes in America will be done by electing a brown-skinned, African-European as President. Obviously, America is hungry for change, but America is looking in the wrong place,” she said. “Barack cannot deliver America. The Senator’s politics are neither a blessing nor praiseworthy.”
Alveda King explained that Senator Obama’s approach to solving social ills is dead wrong and can prove counterproductive to the African-American progress. “Senator Obama’s answer to the ills of society, of higher government spending, weaker national defense, continued tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, and support of gay marriage are diametrically opposed to everything African-Americans truly believe and an anathema to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Alveda King argued, “every time Barack Obama supports abortion on demand, gay civil unions and higher government spending, he is sacrificing the lives of our children and releasing injustice into the heads and hearts of America.” In addition, she claimed, “There is no justice in the onslaught of oppressive anti-life measures, such as the racist practice of abortion on demand; anti-procreation legislation; unbalanced judicial tyranny leading to excess incarceration of our young; anti-choice in the education of our youth; and a negative graphic media leading to poverty of mind and spirit.”
Real change, Alveda argued, means ending the war on American streets, putting an end to the war that wrestles against the minds of our children, ending racism and put an end to the attack against traditional-marriage families.
Concluding, Alveda King says, “For those who suggest that Barack Obama advances the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I say look again. His politics are anathema to the dream!”
Irene Warren is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
32 Comments | Post a Comment
Should anyone take seriously a person who treats an anti-Semite like Andy Martin as an authority?
Terry asks an interesting question: “Should anyone take seriously a person who treats an anti-Semite like Andy Martin as an authority?” So is it legitimate to consider Obama’s many questionable associations when evaluating him? I think so.
Being as old as Mccain, don’t be surprised if I am a bit touchy about the age thing. What is it being said….the old 70 is now the old 60 as legions of 70’s continue to work or to play vigorously and inside that 73 years is a fortune in wisdom and experience. In recent years, I have noticed wisdom is no longer respected and so now we are left with a slick, cool, unknowable novice who thinks he knows everything and doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
What we do know about him and what hasn’t been answered as a “distraction” is why since a very young boy,(self admitted in his book) he was attracted to radicals,... Frank Davis, Wright, Farracahn, Ayres, Acorn, the corrupt Chicago machine, Axlerod his chairman who was the former spin doctor for Daly. etc etc etc. Have they had no influence on him or do they reflect him????
God bless you, Loco! Unfortunately, wisdom is tossed aside as it becomes more important to sound intelligent when reading a teleprompter and mouthing the words of radicals like Saul Alinsky and Lenin. Obama appeals to adoring audiences who lack the ability to research those whose ideology Obama wants to force on us all.
Even the once-revered Colin Powell spouts the Democrat talking points about Obama’s charm and intelligence, but says nothing about his dangerous policies and connections through his life.
We should be asking Obama if he has any long-term friends who actually love this country and seem to be honest, hard-working people. Surely there are others besides terrorists, bigots, crooks, Chicago gangsters and communists somewhere. Why are they not speaking up?
Eloquent speech and good looks do not a “good” politician make. I am considering another one who possessed such eloquent speech and persuasive talents that many of the angels in Heaven followed him. However, we all know what their final end will be. While I am deeply, deeply concerned about Obama and the fact that the “blacks” are following him like sheep to the slaughter, I know the Good Lord, will, in the end be the winner. He always is and always will be.
We need to pray for our people, especially the “blacks”, to have their eyes opened to the genuine destructive agenda that Obama is trying so dishonestly to cover-up. He will indeed destroy our country and the “blacks” will most assuredly suffer along with the rest of us if he is elected.
Listen, don’t just believe what I am telling you, if you have doubts about this man’s agenda, study, study, study! Read the books and the literature and listen to the non-biased representatives in our honest media. It will truly be an eye-opener for those of you who are objective! The rest of you are so biased and thus closed-minded that you would not believe even if the Lord Jesus Christ came to your door and exposed Obama!
God Bless America and Save Us!!!!!!!!!!!
A True American in The Great God-Loving State of Texas!
I’ll be very glad when this damned election is over and the blind partisanship, raging provocateurship and freaky propaganda recedes from the forefront.
In the end, a U.S. President is NOT a dictator, cannot generate a dictatotrship at will and, consequently, he can do very little significant damage to the country without the full cooperation of Congress, the judiciary and a host of other elements of the executive bureaucracy. Bin Laden could be elected President, for crissakes, and could do very little damage before he was contravened by the sheer weight of the bureaucracy and/or impeached by an unsupportive Congress and rejected by an uncooperative military.
This kind of stuff does nothing but feed extremist ideology and the-sky-is-falling paranoia.
wiz-
“We should be asking Obama if he has any long-term friends who actually love this country and seem to be honest, hard-working people.”
We should be asking important questions, not inane one. Yours is the latter.
Dotty-
You sure are!
TK-
“This kind of stuff does nothing but feed extremist ideology and the-sky-is-falling paranoia.”
Yeah, but that is apparently the coin of the realm on this site!
> The Senator’s politics are neither a blessing nor praiseworthy
And combined with Dem majority in Congress and upcoming Supreme Court appointments, they will be a road to a disaster. This is no longer about choosing between left and right
http://drslogan.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/nov-4-your-county-your-call/
this election is no longer about choosing between Republicans and Democrats. It’s about choosing between our democratic system as we know it and a totally different state. In that state — which Sen. Obama and people behind him have been working hard to create, free speech will be not so free. In that state, tolerance will not be so tolerant. And in that state many things you’ve been taking for granted will slowly but steadily cease to exist. Many — too many people – don’t realize this. They will vote for Sen. Obama, believing they vote for a bright shiny future. But it’s just a matter of time. In a year or two many of them will say “This is not Barack Obama I thought I knew”.
Jeff Tyler, Post 9;
In 1960, Dixiecrats were saying the same thing about the election of John Kennedy - and the GOPs were trying to convince everyone that if Kennedy was elected, this country would no longer be a democracy but would be ruled by the Vatican.
And, Republicans said the same things in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944!
This kind of pure speculation is either a case of routine paranoia or just most partisan claptrap.
What kind of “bright shiny future” did George W. Bush bring us to in 2000?
Jeff said: “this election is no longer about choosing between Republicans and Democrats. It’s about choosing between our democratic system as we know it and a totally different state. In that state — which Sen. Obama and people behind him have been working hard to create, free speech will be not so free. In that state, tolerance will not be so tolerant. And in that state many things you’ve been taking for granted will slowly but steadily cease to exist. Many — too many people – don’t realize this. They will vote for Sen. Obama, believing they vote for a bright shiny future. But it’s just a matter of time. In a year or two many of them will say “This is not Barack Obama I thought I knew”.
My reply: I agree with you. We have an unqualified neophyte who has achieved nothing in his years of “organizing” in Chicago, and with no results for the millions of dollars he commanded from a conservative estate to use for his and his buddy Bill Ayers’ communist projects. They attempted to take over the schools and indoctrinate the children into their communistic Black Liberation Theology, and when tested, they failed totally in teaching those children the skills needed to survive in America.
Obama would do no better for our country than he did for Chicago or for Illinois. He is a snake-oil salesman who has duped millions of lower-class people into thinking he is their messiah who will deliver them from poverty and will punish the evil achievers at the upper end, both individuals and businesses. This is so sick. If Obama meant what he said, he would have cured the ills of Chicago and if he were so all-caring and generous, he would have helped his own dear aunt who lives in a Boston slum, as well as his half-brother in the hut in Kenya.
Fortunately, Americans are learning what a phony Obama is. The polls are shifting back to the proven American hero, who cannot be questioned on his dedication to this country. McCain will win this election. If Obama pulls it out with the help of ACORN cheating and illegal foreign donors, America loses big time.
TK, President Bush inherited a recession caused by the “dot com” bubble bursting. I lost half my retirement savings in 1999-2000, so don’t expect any praise from me for Clinton’s success in economic policy. GW Bush cut taxes to start the recovery, and before he even had all his cabinet approved by Congress, he was faced with the devastation of 9/11, which cost our economy a full trillion dollars. Those of you who choose to forget, go ahead, but we who lost most of our retirement accounts will never forget. Thanks to Bush’s second round of tax cuts, I recovered my savings, and I’m grateful that I followed his advice to stay in the market, go out shopping and support your local businesses. It worked. My retirement funds tripled under Bush, and I retired with enough to live on the rest of my life.
Everyone votes their pocketbook, and I know that voting Democrat is voting for higher taxes, a depressed economy, bigger government with less freedom for individuals. I refuse to buy into the victim mentality that thinks bigger government will provide for all my needs, and I don’t have to take any responsibility for my own life.
Obama is far more than a JFK neophyte who made his mistakes too. Obama is the friend of terrorists, anti-American bigots, anti-semites, communists, abortionists and virtually no true American patriotic working people. He is very dangerous to this country.
Wysiwyg, Post 12;
The two worst recessions in my lifetime were at the beginning and end of Reagan’s administration and, now, another chart-topper, under Bush II. The so-called “Dot Com Bust” between the Clinton and Bush II administrations does not compare in its breadth nor length to the other three severe recessions I mentioned. (Naturally, if someone was fully-invested in the big bucks and highly speculative dot com stocks of the late ‘90s - they might think that was the worst!
And, in reality, I believe Clinton’s economic policies were not much different than those of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II - although he operated with budget surpluses and pay-downs towards the national debt) My feeling is that we’ve had failing domestic economic policy for the last 28 years.
And, in my opinion, if you want to really focus or concentrate on a “neophyte”, “mistakes”, a “phoney”, a “snake oil saleman”, someone who “duped millions of the middle class” - - then I would suggest George W. Bush is your man!
The last eight years have exemplified, in living color and in full-action sequences, every ill thing you are speculatively assigning to Obama. George W. Bush is the most incompetent president in the history of this nation and, the only person on the national political scene that I could possibly think of as probably being even “worse” (originally, I didn’t think “worse” than G. W. Bush was possible) is Caribou Barbie!
No matter what the partisan naysayers may speculate about Obama, there’s no way that he could possibly be as bad or, especially, “worse” than George W. Bush.
I’m not particularly personally gung-ho about any of the original 18 presidential candidates, but I definitely feel certain than ANY one of them would be MUCH better than Bushleaguer.
No president is going to be a perfect economist. Look at the country’s favorite expert, Greenspan, now admitting that he was wrong. How much of Bush’s economic policy was shaped by the Democrat Greenspan? It’s all a guessing game. Sometimes they guess right for years, and then it goes sour.
I was never a Bush fan, but I respect his position on national defense that has protected us far better than Clinton’s did. If he was weak on economy, there is little reason to elect another (even weaker) economic weakling like Obama, who only sees the wealth of successful businesses as something to seize and distribute to his voting base, the Chicago slum-dwellers and their like across the country, whom he failed to help in his years of “organizing” there.
We do not want another failure, a crook-abetter and beneficiary, ACORN supporter, foreign-money recipient and terrorist-supported unknown empty suit trying to take over our great country and change it into something far less than great.
Accuracy in journalism??? This site is a joke…It is the most biased/slanted far sided crap I’ve ever hear heard from a place claiming to represent truth…Crap like calling a good Christian man a Muslim…Your just a bunch of deluded, greedy, racist liars…Descent people out there who really want the facts try this link: http://www.factcheck.org/just-the-facts/.html
And if you want to know more facts about Barack Obama, try BarackObama.com (after you “X” out of the donation page)there’s allot of Bio info, facts, and some real specific plans that actually sound pretty good; then go compare it to Mccain’s site-which has nothing much to say except mostly more negative mud slinging, rhetoric, and glorifying his Vietnam Vet experiences. You can also try looking up “WIKI”(Wikipedia.org) for basic information on both candidates; I also suggest while you’re there check out & compare info on Carol Mccain (also type her name & CNN, into U-tube’s site)and Michelle Obama. Good luck all in your “real” quest for the truth…cause you won’t find it here!!! (PS: I’m no liberal but a Christian-Independant who’s done the research & knows Barack Obama is by far the better man!!!) Go Bama!
TK Post 13
The two worst recessions in my lifetime were at the beginning and end of Reagan’s administration? You forget that Reagan inherited the recession from Carter with interest rates that soared in the late 1970s to 21%+. I am favorably impressed with none of the candidates; are an inexperienced, smooth-talking, ivy-league educated, empty suit such as Obama, and an old has been like McCain the best we can do??? They would not be worthy to stand in the presence of men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.
“... I’ll be very glad when this damned election is over and the blind partisanship, raging provocateurship and freaky propaganda recedes from the forefront. ...”
So says Terry Krepel, one of George Soros and Media Matters blind, partisan, raging, freaky propagandists.
Jacques,
Yes, ‘Is this the best we can do?’.
If so, no wonder we are in the mess we are.
Dotty,
A lot of Obama’s votes are simply because of his race. His race and the media is just about all he has going for him - let’s be honest.
Many black people just think it is the best chance they will ever have to see a black president. I can understand that - I really can. What I can’t understand are others who somehow think voting for him makes them ‘intellectual’ or ‘open minded’. Those are the ones who concern me.
I think, and always have, that he is a very dangerous man. Not him, but the very powerful entities backing him.
We are in for some very rough times and I’m thinking unless we get our act together - and turn our backs on partisan politics, we are going to loose this country.
The next four years may be the most important in this country’s history. I believe this election would have been the most important election - if we had been given a choice.
For those who think Pres. Bush protected us - I’m still waiting for someone to tell me how.
We were supposedly attacked by terrorists - my goodness there are terrorists all over the world who just hate us ‘for our freedoms’ and we must, simply must bomb Iraq into the dust. Of course, at the same time, we want to make it easy for those terrorists to get at our homeland and people - we leave the borders open for millions more to come here illegally.
To Ladytexan, Post 18;
A lot of people are also voting for Obama because of the high level of intelligence he has evidenced and for the political vision he has successfully communicated to those who are paying attention to him, have open minds, and are completely fed up with the last eight years of Bush and neocon Republicanism.
(I live in a GOP county (probably three GOPs to each DEM) which hasn’t voted for a DEM president since 1944 - and, yet, many longtime GOPs here are enthralled by Obama and evidence reasoning very similar to that explained by Colin Powell for endorsing Obama. Early voting is slightly favoring Obama! Note: Colin Powell has always been one of MY favorites for President!)
And, whether Obama wins the presidency or not, with a House with a 100-plus vote DEM majority (270 to 165) and a Senate with a filibuster-proof DEM majority (60-40), you can count on the fact that he will be almost as powerful as the top dog in the Senate as he would be as President (missing only appointment and veto power). And, if this situation occurs, McCain will have his hands completely tied.
Yes, many are fed up with the past administration - no doubt about that.
But high level of intelligence - I must have missed that.
Vision - what vision. The vision of ‘change’. Every politician runs on ‘change’.
Other than the media being his champion and whoever or whatever is backing him, his politics is nothing new.
It is the politics of division - pitting one group against another. It is the politics of envy and racism. He has opened a wound that we have all worked very hard to heal.
I haven’t seen this much racial ugliness in 40 years. It’s a bit more genteel - but it’s growing.
Colin Powell is probably a good man - I’ve always thought of him as an empty suit, but basically good. He sold his soul to the Bush Administration - now he is trying to regain some reputation.
This won’t do it for me.
Obama will win - he was chosen years ago. Why do you think the media destroyed Ron Paul? Why do you think McCain suddenly became the front runner - then they saddled him with Gov. Palin?
Obama will win - and God help us all.
To Ladytexan, Post 20;
I think anyone can grasp the fairly obvious fact that Obama has an extremely high level of intelligence.
If not, I would suggest that his successfully negotiating undergraduate studies at Occidental College and Columbia University and, then, graduating law school at Harvard, would seem to substantiate the fact. Further, Obama was also a professor at another of America’s top law schools, the University of Chicago, teaching constitutional law. It’s generally accepted that all of these institutions maintain some of the highest standards of admission, intellectual development and academic achievement among all of America’s insitutions of higher learning. Additionally, I’ve read that Obama’s IQ is 163 and Biden’s is 154 - far above that of “the average American”, which is between 90 and 100. (McCain graduated fifth from the bottom in his class of some 1,000 at Annapolis and has never been known for his “intellect”.)
I think Obama has clearly expressed a “vision” of America which serves to refocus the priorities of the federal government from serving the interests of corporatism and Big Business to serving the more traditional interests of “the common man”, the working man, the middle-class man, the family man - and I believe it’s that “vision” which has resonated with the voters (90,000 at a late-night rally last night in Manassa, VA). Bush has been completely disconnected from that “everyman” tradition and has been nothing but a cheerleader for corporatism and Wall Street for eight, long and sorry years.
Obama’s politics aren’t “new” when considered over the history of American politics, but they are “new” when considering the politics and the style of government and leadership evident over the last eight years. And, in my lifetime, there’s NEVER been more “politics of division” than that initiated by Newt Gingrich in the mid-‘90s, nor greater “politics of personal destruction” as initiated by Karl Rove/Bush II campaign in 2000. Those are the politics that “pitted one group against another”.
And, yes, there are also still plenty of white people around who are prejudiced against blacks - as there are religious fundamentalists who are prejudiced against those who don’t believe exactly as they do. Bigotry is alive and well in a variety of forms.
Colin Powell is another highly intelligent, highly reasonable and self-directed leader, who was used and then abused by the Bush II administration simply because he was too intelligent, too reasonable, and too self-directed for them. He didn’t sufficiently kiss-up and buy into the “my way or the highway” mentality of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the purely partisan (and dangerous) neocons - and was pushed out and then trashed by them because of that. Had Powell been in the original 18-candidate-mix in this election cycle, he would have been MY favorite! (And, Powell is NOWHERE near being “the empty suit” that sonny-boy Bush is!)
God will need to help us all if Sarah Palin should ascend to the presidency! IF Obama wins, he’ll be a moderate or centrist Democratic president, much like Bill Clinton was and Hillary Clinton wanted to be. And he will be a favorite of foreign leaders, which will go a long way toward restoring America’s reputation abroad.
I would have liked to see Powell, or even Buchanan, as president - but there’s no, No, NO way I could EVER vote for that dingbat from the boondocks! I didn’t think ANYONE could ever be a worse president than George W. Bush, but Sarah Palin becoming president would absolutely make Bushleaguer look good! She’s the “danger” in this election!
However, as I’ve said all along, I do think, very unfortunately, that there’s more than enough racism among far too many American white citizens for a black man to be elected president at this time. (I also believe there’s equal resistance to be woman being elected presdient at this time.)
Who knows. I’m hoping for the best for ALL middle-class, working Americans and the end of extremist partisanship - the end of the extremist Lefty Loons minority in the Democratic party and the end of the extremist Righty Religious Rockheads in the Republican party - and a return to the “United” states and elimination of Gingrich’s, Bush II’s and Rove’s “divided” states.
No, racism will not keep Obama from being elected - it will get him elected.
Intelligent? I don’t see it. He hasn’t behaved as an intelligent man. He has behaved as a pandering politician. Now if he is intelligent, then he is being disingenous - or untruthful. If he actually believes what he is saying, then he certainly isn’t intelligent.
His rise in education and to a professorship could very well have been as orchestrated and ‘helped’ as his political rise. It was totally manufactured by the media and presented as a movie of the week, in serial form. That would lead me to at least doubt all his varied ‘abilities’.
This man doesn’t have real government experience. Not that that isn’t a bad thing, to my way of thinking - but he has been portrayed as such a wonderful, experienced legislator. Then, of course, his ‘community activism’. Now that’s a scary phrase, isn’t it? For those who lived through the Civil Rights era, we saw some very scary community activism.
If one is looking for racism, one can find it anywhere. That is, depending on one’s definition and to some it can be anything.
If you want to find bigotry and true racism, look no farther than black politicians. For the majority of them, it’s their stock in trade. It’s despicable, but it’s there, and contrary to what the Rev. Jesse says, black people can be racist.
One very intelligent attorney told me that yes, it was racist to NOT vote for Obama because he is black - but no, it wasn’t racist to vote for him because he IS black. Now that’s convoluted thinking.
Again, the media and his race is his biggest assets. It most of what he has going for him and regardless of what one may think of his intelligence, his accomplishments, his ‘vision’ to attempt to deny that is to deny one’s own intelligence.
As for Powell, again, I think he was a good man. I think he was used and abused by Bush I, and II. He went along, however, that doesn’t make him a saint. Perhaps he was the user, I don’t feel that way, but he didn’t resist too hard. He carried the water and lied to the UN. I do think that bothered him, but he did it. That doesn’t speak well. He is as responsible for the death and destruction in Iraq as anyone else.
He would have been better to have stayed out of the political fray this time. His endorsement smacks of racism. I think he is looking for a post in the new government, but he would have been better to have stayed quiet. For me, it takes away from my respect for him.
His politics have always been more conservative - not the ilk of this President - but real. To then come out and endorse a man whose rhetoric is so far out - just makes one think the only reason is race. That’s bad.
President Bush has been the most destructive President for this country - until now. I’m thinking we are going to see destruction, division, hatred, and envy like never before in history. I truly pray I am wrong, but I don’t think so.
Sen Obama has run on a platform of racism. That’s an evil genie that might not get jammed back into the bottle and could be our undoing.
Sen. Obama has had a better life, better education, better opportunity than 95% of the people in this country. I’d say that’s pretty good for such a racist country, wouldn’t you?
I felt the same way when Ms. Rice whined about how badly she was treated as a black child. Some clerk in a store followed her and her sister around and the only reason just had to be racism. It happened to me as a child, and probably to every child at some time.
I believe for people like Ms. Rice, and Sen. Obama, etc., to pretend to be victims of racism is such an insult to those people who have actually endured the real thing. It’s reprehensible.
Change? From what? Pres. Bush has been a very ‘share the wealth’ type person. Sure he gave a tax cut, but cut back monies to the states so states had to raise taxes, while encouraging more and more illegals to come here, giving them more and more benefits, and forcing taxpayers to pay for them. You know to realize just what a politician is doing, you have to follow the money, not just the rhetoric.
We cannot forget the ‘vision’ shared by Pres. Bush, Sen’s Obama and McCain to give citizenship to 20-50M (depending on whose reporting) illegals in this country. Change?
Pres. Bush lobbied for loans from FM & FM for 5.5 million low income minority families, even if their credit wasn’t good, and for the government to give taxpayer money for their down payment. That’s pretty ‘share the wealth’, I’d say.
Change? No, just another part of the agenda to bring this country totally to it’s knees and hand it over to the globalists. When they have us at each other’s throat, then the government, maybe UN, can step in and take care of the situation. That’s mean complete control.
No, McCain is a very bad choice, I’m just thinking he might give us some breathing room to try to get the people to realize what is actually going on in the country. I don’t think we will have that with Obama.
Why do you think McCain got tapped to be the candidate of the ‘other party’? Because he was such a bad choice and therefore people would vote for Obama. Then, as if he wasn’t bad enough himself, they brought out Gov. Palin. That way the media could take everyone’s focus off what Obama was really all about and discuss days on end, her family, her wardrobe, etc.
I’m thinking we are in for something akin to the witchhunts that were conducted during the Civil Rights era - when all one had to do was point a finger and spew out the word ‘racist’ and people lost their jobs, their businesses, and their rights.
Will we be able to critize Pres. Obama without being called racist? I doubt it.
I pray that Sen. Obama is nothing more than a ‘chicken in every pot and a Toyota in every garage’ Democrat. That is my most fervent prayer. My feelings, my intution, and yes, my intelligence, tells me otherwise.
To Ladytexan, Post 22;
At other times past, I’ve agreed with some, or even quite a bit, of what you’ve posted - but this time - you’re way, Way, WAY too far out for me! My thinking on most of what you wrote in this post is 180 degrees opposite of your perspective. (And, too much emotionalism, too little reality.)
Emotional? Well, yes, the prospect of setting this country back 40 years in race relations does cause me to get emotional. It would be devastating. I lived through the Civil Rights era and it was painful - for everyone. Suddenly, people who had lived as neighbors, worked together, shared things, helped each other, were suddenly wary of each other because of the hatred being spewed. We all knew we loved each other, trusted each other, but there was still that little bit of doubt.
Both have worked very hard to heal that wound and make sure it doesn’t happen again - until someone comes along and starts preaching ugliness again.
If my children and grandchildren and their friends are any indication of the coming generations, racism is not a problem. Why do we want to dredge it up again and make them walk over the same minefield past generations did?
I don’t ever want to see that in this country again, but I fear it will. It already is - from the talk on the internet.
I haven’t changed, that’s been my belief about Obama since I saw his speech at the Dem convention and heard and saw the absolute gushing of the media.
If you have followed the media coverage about this man, you have to admit the media has been very friendly. They dug more into Plummer Joe’s background than they did Obama’s.
Seeing that, why is it so out of line to wonder if others haven’t ‘helped’ him with all his ‘accomplishments’.
Emotional? Maybe - terrified is more like it.
I truly hope I am totally wrong - but I don’t think I am. I just wish the people would wake up and see that our strength lies as a country working together - not marching behind a corrupt politician or political party. We need each other for this country to make a comeback - we don’t need to be divided, frightened, envious of each other.
Actually, we probably agree more than you think.
But Obama will be President, and we will all have to live with whatever comes.
I hope with all my heart and soul and I am truly praying that I am totallly wrong, and you are right. We’ll see and I will absolutely admit my mistakes and let you guffaw if I am. If I’m wrong, I’m thinking I’ll be happier about it than you.
To Ladytexan, Post 24;
I believe race relations between whites and blacks in general are incredibly better than they were 40 years ago.
And, now, with Obama being elected president, “race” should no longer be an issue to blacks or whites (except, maybe, to the truly committed white racists).
“Division” in this country is based primarily on cultural differences and, in recent years, ‘94 until now, on ironheaded political partisanship that generated an “us vs. them” mentality and a hatred that developed between the extreme lefty loons and the extreme (and often religious) righty rockheads.
That chapter, I believe, has been forcibly closed by this election, at least for the forseeable future. The Republican party is going to have to re-invent itself and divest itself of religion-based extremists. And, hopefully, Obama will, as I believe, govern as a centrist and will minimize the leftist extremism of Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
(I would have to say that I object to Nancy Pelosi to the same degree as I’ve objected to Sarah Palin. Both are dangerous extremists. I believe Obama and some 70 Blue Dog Democrats in the House will muzzle Pelosi and her San Francisco values.)
At the very least, for the first time in eight years, the political air seems fresher and clearer!
(And, as of this morning, I’ve alredy noticed a change in the tone and demeanor of the Fox News crew - even last night by Hume and Wallace.)
TK,
<<<<<<I believe race relations between whites and blacks in general are incredibly better than they were 40 years ago.>>>>>..
I KNOW they are, in general and any other way - I hope nothing happens to change that any more than it already has.
<<<<<<<<And, now, with Obama being elected president, “race” should no longer be an issue to blacks or whites >>>>>>>>>
From your lips to God’s ear -
<<<<<<(except, maybe, to the truly committed white racists).>>>>>>>>>
A real question, I’m not baiting. Why did you say ‘truly committed white racists’? We both know there are many ‘truly committed black racists’. That’s the kind of talk that will only cause division, hatred, resentment. It is the kind of thing I fear the most.
The people running the Republican party are not the religious people. They may have supported him with money and votes, but they didn’t get what they wanted - not by any means.
Those running the Democratic party are not lefty loonies, either.
The corporations have been running the parties - both parties for many, many years. Only the rhetoric is different - nothing else. This election is no different.
Obama may have run on his whatever platform, but there is no way the corporations are going to allow anyone to get elected that is going to make a meaningful change in the march to globalism.
I haven’t heard any numbers, I already knew the outcome - have been almost positive about it for 8 years, but this election was the first that wasn’t totally about party. It was party - but the big factor was race - and we can’t deny that.
<<<<<<At the very least, for the first time in eight years, the political air seems fresher and clearer!>>>>>>>>>
Not to me. But I do hope it does for you. Again, I hope you are right - and I will eat crow, sans salt and pepper and be ever so happy to do it - if I’m wrong.
There is a line in a movie where this young man, early 20th century, was talking to his uncle about how the future was going to be. He talked about machines to do things and factories and how it would be a ‘whole new world’.
His uncle said, ‘Well, son, I hope you like it when you get it.’
To Ladytexan, Post 26;
Your comment:
“Why did you say ‘truly committed white racists’? We both know there are many ‘truly committed black racists’. That’s the kind of talk that will only cause division, hatred, resentment. It is the kind of thing I fear the most.”
First of all, only 12% of the population is black so, statistically, one might assume there could be many, many more “white” racists than “black” racists.
Second, without going through a long list of details, from the race riots of the ‘60s through to today, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of black people in a lot of different capacities (even in the capacity of doing media reporting on rioting and racism in the ‘60s - and going into ‘ghetto’ areas with a lot of social unrest to recruit blacks for job training and other educational programs in conjunction with various civil rights programs of the mid- and late-‘60s and early ‘70s). Additionally, I grew up in the north in urban areas with large black populations and have spent as many years living in the south in an area where many of the ‘OLD southern values’ (and many OLD southerners) reside - and I’ve attended churches (and schools) up north in the ‘50s that always welcomed blacks - and churches down here that still discourage blacks.
Over these many years and in these varied situations, I have encountered (to me) unbelievable numbers of white people who, to varying degrees, maintained a very definite (“committed”) anti-black bias, prejudice, bigotry or racism (this even includes white people I was associated with during seven years of residence on a college campus). And, even today, living in the south for a long time, I’ve had friends, neighbors, business customers, and other associates I know who have recently stated something liek, “Well, no matter what, I sure can’t vote for no black man to be president!” (Even on the way out of church!)
On the other hand, in all my years of rubbing shoulders with black people, and in many instances where they probably had reason to be prejudiced, I really have not come across what I would call hard-core, pure racism by blacks against whites. I’ve certainly heard them complain and become very angry about what they perceived as inequalities or injustices or discrimination or prejudice, and usually understandably so. But, over the years, in my own personal life, I really don’t believe I’ve ever seen the same level of hard-core racism by blacks against whites as I’ve seen by whites against blacks.
Otherwise, there were undoubtedly some anti-white black racists in the days of Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers and the Black Power and Black Muslim movements in the ‘60s, and maybe in the worlds of Malcolm X and, today, Louis Farrakhan. But, even way back when, I believe the message of Martin Luther King prevailed and the depth and breadth and numbers-involved of any racist black power movement was FAR less than the racist white power movement of the KKK and even the more contemporary white power militia movements.
In the end here, I’ve certainly personally heard and seen the expression of both nuanced and not-so-nuanced garden-variety prejudice (WAY beyond what I would have ever expected) against Obama in this election cycle - just because he’s a black/bi-racial guy with an odd name and an atypical personal background.
Personally, throughout this election, I didn’t think the time had yet come where 110 to 120 million of Americans who would normally be expected to vote in this election - especially those in rural, southern and many Red state areas - would vote in a black guy - or a woman!
Happily, I was wrong and, hopefully, this election will go a long way towards, once-and-for-all, eliminating race as a divisive issue AMONG US. I find Obama to have the inspiring public speaking ability of JFK, the hard-nosed persona and temperament of RFK, and probably the highest degree of native intelligence and intellectual development of ANY past president. He’s also confronted by the biggest set of complex problems that any newly-elected president has ever been forced to deal with, even FDR!
Amor patriae.
To be really honest, I don’t know where to begin to try to answer a post like that.
If you say you have never seen or heard a black racist - then you either haven’t been listening or looking, or choose not to recognize it. It happens. Just being black doesn’t make one a saint. They have human failings just like anyone else. They are people, no better, no worse. Those that would say they are worse are wrong and destructive. Those who say they are all good are just as wrong and destructive. They are people, just people -
So the church person who said they couldn’t vote for a black person is wrong and a racist?
How about the black church person who says they are voting for a black man because he is black?
You can’t have it both ways, although I realize some would like to try.
We have to be honest in this country or we are going to go nowhere. A racial divide is destructive to everyone. It is beyond me why anyone would want to promote that. But talk of ‘white racists’ and there being no black racists will only serve to widen the divide.
It will create resentment in white people, because it is totally and absolutely untrue.
There will be some black people who will actually swallow it, even though they know it is untrue, because they are looking for someone to blame.
Both of these feelings will be even more touchy if the economy gets worse.
Again, I stress, why would anyone want to put forward such dangerous and harmful things? Why would anyone want to create division and resentment? Why would anyone want to start this ugliness again and make my grandchildren’s generation have to go through it. Believe me, they have this thing all figured out . If they like someone, they like someone, they don’t care if they are black, white, brown, or pea green with purple spots.
What’s in it for those who would attempt to ruin that? I just don’t see it.
Remember, that kind of talk and the problems it can cause, may make the speaker feel good, but it causes harm for everyone - black and white. Everyone is hurt by this kind of talk - even those who speak it.
I truly beg you to consider the ramifications of such talk - the hurt it can cause. It doesn’t help anyone - not anyone.
To Ladytexas, Post 28;
I give up! I’m writing in English and you’re reading in Greek. Fugeddaboudit awreddy!
On the contrary, I’m speaking truths.
I see your posting as the same old line of political correctness, and baseless spin that has caused this country, black and white, so much pain and grief.
I’m just trying to point out the harm and danger in that kind of talk.
It isn’t innocent political talk anymore - this is not the right time in this country to be repeating the ugliness - it just isn’t.
October 19 at 11:13 pm | #1 | Link
Obama doesn’t support gay marriage. He’s said so time and again. I think Ms. King should go back and take another look at the Senator’s politics. She might find other things to like in there.