I LOVE THIS MAN (and his views)
At 11 a.m. on March 27, hours after an indictment against Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá of Puerto Rico was unsealed, his allies met members of the rival party in San Juan. The discussion was not about the charges. It was about Senator Barack Obama’s campaign.
One of the most important items on today’s agenda was the passage of the DNC’s Delegate Selection Rules. The major portion of the Selection Rules was the revision to the Presidential Nominating Calendar. After almost two years of hearings, reports,and debates, the Democratic National Committee voted today to add another caucus and primary to the pre-window period. What this effectively means is that Iowa will be the first-in-the-nation caucus with their event on January 14, 2008. Next is where the big change falls. Instead of being immediately followed by New Hampshire, Iowa will be followed by Nevada. Nevada will hold their caucus on January 19, 2008 with New Hampshire holding the first-in-the-nation primary on January 22. South Carolina will follow with a primary on January 29. The "window" for other states to hold their nominating events will begin on February 5, 2008.
So why did we bother to add Nevada and South Carolina early? The reason is quite simple, I believe. We needed to make the nominating process more reflective of the population of the United States. While I greatly respect the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire, I do not believe that those two states are representative of the demographics of the rest of the country. By having two very diverse states, one in the west and one in the south, we will be able to select a nominee that will appeal to a true cross-section of America. I was proud to vote for this change to the nominating calendar. Despite the objection of several elected officials and DNC members, the change passed overwhelmingly.
Until the racist remarks of Jeremiah Wright came to light, I’d not really given much thought to Obama the man, caring only about Obama the politician. I had my reservations about both him and Hillary Clinton based on my own political views and issues, number one in that list being Nuclear Energy. Living three miles from the failing Indian Point Nuclear reactors owned by Entergy which are leaking strontium 90, tritium and celsium 137 into the environment and the Hudson River. Contrary to some of their public comments, both are pro nuclear, advocates of building 200 new reactors here in America, both have ties and have received large campaign donations from the industry, from the two largest nuclear companies in America.
Living in Clinton’s district, have not been impressed with her time in Washington, do not see where she has done all that much to help the people in our community.
I also almost a year ago became aware of, and was concerned with Obama’s ties to Rezco, and the real estate deal he’d made with the man. Couple that with the convenient $200K raise his wife received when he became Senator, and I was as skeptical of one as I was the other, knowing I would vote in the fall election for whichever one was the Democratic nomination rather than put any Republican in the White House, and especially John McCain.
Like most Americans, I was shocked at the language, the bigoted, prejudiced hate speech used by Jeremiah Wright, even more shocked that A) Obama refused to rebuke the man, and B) refused to label the speech as or the man as bigotted. Obama has been very careful, especially on Larry King last night not to denegrade the man, not to label his words as being bigoted or prejudice, choosing words that would avoid labeling the man for what he is, a RACIST. I had already begun studying his speech he gave on racism, found some of the carefully crafted phrases and sentences troubling, such as the passage:
That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.
But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.
In this passage, the final sentence, Obama seems to be placing all oppression on White People, on the White Race, seemingly encouraging poor Whites to join the Black Community in their hatred, asking us defacto to hate a portion of our race, encouraging us to accept a basic tenet that it is our own race who has oppressed us. Other’s have disagreed with my own interpretation and reading of the passage. Then yesterday when Obama was answering a radio DJ, explaining his callous attack on his Grandmother in defending his close intimate friend and mentor Jeremiah Wright. He said as a part of his answers, “she is like all white people...” then inferred that her reactions, our reactions have been bred into us.
At the same time news was breaking of this statement from Obama came the fact that a Super Delegate, a black politician who is fully backing Obama has also been using unsavory language that could be called race baiting, would be labeled such if uttered by a White person.
I grew up, moved into adulthood during the heady days of Equal Rights marches, with the words of Martin Luther King. I embraced the movement, supported the cause of equality for all races, even supported Affirmative Action thought it would negative affect me. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, was in fact that right thing to do. However; it was not a concept that I or anything else thought would become permanent, be carried forward now for two full generations. Affirmative Action was seen as a temporary advantage that would be given to those of color to bring parity to a system that had been tipped in a fashion that advantaged White people, and Affirmative Action would correct that inequitity…problem is, once implemented, once in place, perpetuated over 4 decades, it tilted the scales to a point where now it is White People that are disadvantaged. That reality, our calls for an end to it, our own anger and resentments at a system that now disadvantaging us, the Black community’s labeling us as racist for wanting the system deconstructed has seen the topic of racism thrown front and center in the 2008 election, has caused me to more closely examine Senator Obama, and his words as found in two books he has written.
Based on some of the quotes I have taken from his writings, I am left now to ask the question, is Barack Obama himself a closeted Black Racist? Some will find this question disturbing, others will be enraged at my audacity, but if we are to work through these issues, have the talk Obama is calling for, then the question must be asked, the Black Community as a whole must admit their own prejudice against the White Race, must be prepared to set aside their own hatred. Double standards do not work, and demanding one race let go of their own resentments and hatreds while you hold onto your own is a recipe for disaster. Equality cannot have an Affirmative Action plan that gives someone an advantage based on the color of their skin, based on their ethinic origins.
Quote from Barack Obama's book, Dreams Of My Father:
"The person who made me proudest of all, though, was [half brother] Roy .. He converted to Islam."
From 'Dreams of my Father':
"In Indonesia, I had spent two years at a Muslim school" "I studied the Koran.."
From 'Audacity of Hope:
"Lolo (Obama's step father) followed a brand of Islam ...."I looked to Lolo for guidance".
From 'The Audacity Of Hope:
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
From The Audacity Of Hope:
"We are no longer just a Christian nation," "We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."
From Dreams of My Father:
" I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER'S RACE".
From 'Dreams of my Father:
"The emotion between the races could never be pure..... the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."
From 'Dreams of My Father:
"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites"
From Dreams Of My Father:
"never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself..".
From Dreams Of My Father:
"That hate hadn't gone away," he wrote, blaming "white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives."
From Dreams Of My Father:
"There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs," he wrote. "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on,to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names"
From Dreams Of My Father:
"I had grown accustomed, everywhere, to suspicions between the races."
That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.
But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.
As a news junkie, I watch a lot of news, and have had my suspicions for some time now that CNN is deliberately skewing the Democratic Coverage to steer the nomination to Senator Obama. Watching their coverage after Obama's pathetic speech yesterday, I am now convinced that CNN and Anderson Cooper are strongly in the Obama Camp, perhaps placing such a bet to curry favor in the White House should he win. Instead of pitching Obama softballs, instead of passing over the hard questions...such as questioning/grilling Obama on his wife's $200,000 a year raise almost the second her husband became a Senator...lets have a real vetting of Obama. Instead of bringing in a bunch of Obama FRIENDLY supporters to review his speech, lets discuss it honestly...not one of the CNN shows brought up the fact that Obama yesterday admitted he lied to us without actually saying it, but DID NOT APOLOGIZE for lying. By the way Jack Cafferty, I include you in this accusation. For the record, Jeffrey Toobin is a pompous ass.
