To say that Barack Obama’s speech on race today fell short of expectations is truly an understatement. He started his speech by quoting a line in the preamble of the Constitution and then goes on to blame racism on the
United States and ultimately all white people.
“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. …
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the
United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
What a load of crap! It is as I expected—Barack Obama is as racist as his incendiary pastor. Slavery was a long time ago as was all of the other racist laws outlawed by the US Supreme Court. Those days are gone, so get over it. Obama says he began his road to the White House to end racism in
America. Talk about being self absorbed. And I thought Bill Clinton was a megalomaniac. Note to Barack, I do not care one whit what your skin color is. What I care about is where you intend to lead this great country. I care about your character. I care about your integrity. And I care about your judgment. All of these are needed to hold the highest office in the land and all of which I feel you are sorely lacking.As if we need any more evidence of his racism, here goes:
…I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters.
Oh, great. Obama’s kids are racist too. Then we hear how race was brought up in the run for the white House over and over again.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.”
Let’s not forget, it was the Democrats who brought up the issue of race. Bill Clinton, the first ‘black’ President, brought up Obama’s race a number of times. Black commentators in newspapers around the country have openly wondered if Obama was black enough.Finally Barack Obama brings up the statements spoken by his firebrand preacher at
Trinity
United
Church.
… [We all have heard] Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
Nagging? Nagging? As if I do not have the right to question him on his association with his fiery and bigoted pastor. I am sorry, but his association with a bigot as a pastor for twenty years leads me to question his integrity, his judgment, and his character. I have left churches because the pastor said offensive things. One was racist and another one spoke out against our troops. I left and left quickly. I would expect nothing less from someone who is running on the platform of character, judgment, and integrity.
On Friday, Barack Obama was interviewed by Major Garrett at Fox News and said he would have confronted his pastor if he had heard the remarks and left the church had he heard them mentioned again. Now I have cause to question his honesty, integrity, character, and judgment. Which statement is correct, Friday’s or today’s. He obviously heard his pastor make these comments and he stayed in spite of what he said earlier. He goes on:
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems…
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way.
So basically Barack Obama was not going to bring up the race issue, but he is running because he is black. Huh!? He did not like the comments brought up by the Reverend, but he decided to stay because…he liked the guy? Hmm…He goes on to tell what a great man Jeremiah Wright is and how he led a young Barack Obama to Christianity. What the church meant to him. How the pastor never said a derogatory word to a person of any color or even about a person of any color. (Riiiighhttt) What the pastor means to his family. Then he says these words.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.
Apparently he lied to Major Garrett when he stated that he would leave the church if he had heard racist comments repeated. Now we know where he stands. As a ‘politician’ Obama will say anything to anyone to get elected. Not much change there. Not much hope either.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about
America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
Then Barack Obama the victim retreats back to the ‘poor black me’ mantra and points out how his people were abused: slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregated schools (and still are?), legalized discrimination through loans and unions, the lack of economic opportunity among blacks, prisons, humiliation, welfare, and blah, blah, blah. Basically, Obama says blacks have a good reason to be angry. The fact that this tension came through Jeremiah’s sermons is to be expected.
Though he does face up to the fact that this anger inhibits blacks from facing their own ‘complicity’ in many of these problems. There he tells black parents they need to spend time with their children, help them with their homework, etc.
Obama goes on to tell about white anger—affirmative action, welfare, court ordered busing, quotas in college placement, quotas in jobs, and a belief that people of color receive a leg up at the expense of whites is all perception, that much of the claims of racism against white is bogus. If whites lose their job in which they are more qualified to fulfill a quota, or if our kids are bussed to other schools across town, or if whatever else we have a problem with, just understand, the problem is in our head. Huh!? And of course there is also corporate greed which is the knee-jerk liberal reaction to all problems.
Barack Obama concludes with his campaign trail rhetoric with all of his fixes which include raising taxes and with the government control of our lives.
Oh boy. Senator Obama’s prepared statement may be enough for blacks who refuse to see the truth and for those liberals who believe that the white man,
America, and big corporations are the root of all the world’s problems. But for the rest of us, blaming whites for all the problems of blacks is continuing to play the race card. Racial tentions will never end as long as there are people like the Reverend Jackson, Reverend Sharpton, Reverend Wright, and Senator Obama continue to use race relations to boost their own popularity and to further their own political ambitions. I did notice that the Senator has done well with his life in spite of his skin color. Living in the top 1% of wage earners as a black man must indeed be difficult. I feel for him.
Most Americans could care less what the color of skin is of the next President of the
United States. What the American people want is someone who will stick to the truth, who has integrity, who has good judgment and who has character. After hearing this speech, Barack Obama does not have any of these qualities. Like the emperor’s son in Gladiator, Obama may feel he has other qualities which may suit him just as well. Only I do not believe this country can afford to see if they are enough.
Barack Obama’s speech was not enough. Unlike Nixon’s ‘Checks’ speech, it fell flat. Pointing a finger at everyone else solves nothing which was much like his speech–nothing.
Tags: Politics by Chuck
No Comments »
Posts
