obama: March 2008 Archives

Finally the smoke has cleared from Barack Obama’s critically-acclaimed speech on racial healing and the verdict is clear: He blew it.
 

Obama had a a chance to wrap up the Democratic nomination, the general election, and give a speech that would have gone down in history as inspiring as Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” all in one fell swoop
 

He could have done is all so simply and so easily.  Instead of saying how terrible racism has been in the past against blacks, and instead of implying the racism of his white grandmother [for being scared of being mugged by blacks] was somehow the equivalent of the racism of Jeremiah Wright [which is ridiculous], all Obama had to do was to simply state thusly:
 

"Look, I jointed the Trinity United Church as a young man in my 20s because the church helped me find God.  And I've belonged to that church for 23 years because they

have done so much to help black folks empower themselves, and have done so much good work for the black community in Chicago.  However, in retrospect, since I am running for president as the candidate to bring people together and to bring the races together, it was wrong of me to belong to a church that was so racially divisive.  

 
“When Hillary Clinton criticized me for being a man of words and not a man of action, I correctly pointed out that words are sometimes just as important as actions, such when as Martin Luther King said "I Have a Dream" and when Lincoln said  "All Men Are Created Equal."  These were not merely “ words” by King and Lincoln, they were the visions by great  visionaries of the future of America; of how America should be, and in retrospect, would be.  And those words inspired Americans to become better people and inspired America to become a better country.  Because of those words’  inspiration, those visions became reality for America. 

 
Likewise, words can be destructive and be used to divide.  Which is why I was wrong to belong to the Trinity United Church.  I hereby disavow the church completely, and hope that all Americans, black and white, will strongly disavow and no longer accept any racism of bigotry against people of any color, black or white, nor accept any bigotry against America."

 

Trust me on this folks: Had Obama said that instead of his lame speech, not only would he have wrapped up the Democratic nomination and the general election in one fell swoop, but would have eventually crushed McCain 60-40.  
 

I still may happen, but win or lose, his inability to deal with this issue in an intellectually honest manner shows him to be  [in my never-humble opinion], an intellectual lightweight.  And even more importantly in this presidential campaign, a typical politician
 

White America craves electing a black man president o show that white people have changed and that America is truly a non-racist country.  This is why Barack Obama has been so successful this far, in addition to all his other political and personal attributes. This is also why Colin Powell would have won in a walk had he chosen to run for president in 1996 against Clinton.
 

And I too share that hope to see a black president in my lifetime But is Obama the right black man to take us there?  He may be.
 

But judging from his speech last week, I have my doubts.

Obama finally responds to the media pressure regarding Reverand Jeremiah Wright and gives the lamest speech imaginable.

Defends black racists.

And for the first time exposes himself as a liar.  Only a week after telling FOX News’  Major Garrett he had never heard Wright say any of these things, and if that he had heard them said repeatedly, he would have quit the church.  He now claimed in this lame speech that, yes, he heard it, but it was not big deal.  Just [as Ralph Kramden used to say] a “mere bag of shells”

And the media’s having orgasms over this speech.  I can’t believe it. 

Take a look at Obama’s speech on youtube, and then watch him with FOX’s Major Garrett.  Look at how unsure and uncertain he is in the FOX interview.  

Hillary finally weighs in on Wright, saying she would have quit such a church.

Obama finally answers some questions.  Tells FOX’s Major Garrett he had NO IDEA Wright was spewing this stuff.  Obama belonged to this church since 1991 and has known Wright for over 20 years, and had NO IDEA? 

Could be Obama’s first mistake in what has thus far been a mistake-free campaign.

“White America” created the AIDS virus to kill black folks?

MSNBC finally hitting Obama, but it still doesn’t seem to be sticking.  At least not among Democrats.

Obama is taking a beating on FOX News, but those viewers aren’t going to vote for him anyway..  The rest of the media seems to be giving Obama a pass thus far.

Natalee Holaway had it coming to her? 

This guy’s racism against whites is worse than Farakhan’s.  Even Calypso Louie would have enough respect for women not to say something so brazenly racist against a white woman.

“White America” is responsible for 9/11?

The very first policy position Hillary Clinton took as a US Senator was to propose the abolition of the Electoral College in the wake of Al Gore’s defeat despite winning the popular vote. In reality, if Hillary’s position ever became law, the voters of the smaller states would become largely disenfranchised, since presidential candidates would campaign only in the most populous states, since that’s where al the votes would be if the popular vote decided who was elected president.
 

Obama can score big points throughout America against Hillary on this issue, since there are far more small states than big ones.

Once the nomination is decided, there is plenty of material to use against John McCain that hasn’t been used yet. Most of his weaknesses concern his demeanor and personality, which has often been very un-presidential. This can hurt McCain at his biggest strength, his image as a strong leader.

Let me know if you want me to put that in a follow-up of this.

While in the Illinois Senate, Obama cast some very bad out-of-the-mainstream votes, including one where he was the only member of the Senate to vote against a bill to get tough against sexual predators. Thus far Obama has claimed that he cast these bad votes by “mistake”, hitting the wrong lever.
 

This could be damaging because up to this point, Obama scored much higher than Hillary in the honesty department. His excuse for casting these bad votes will not be believed by the voters and could be the first major crack in his “honesty and integrity” armor.