– Senator Barack Obama, accepting the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, August 28, 2008.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
Images like the one above make me sad. Sad not only because I do not share in the happiness, the revelry that she and so many other of my fellow Americans are feeling when they look upon and listen to Senator Obama speak of “change” and “hope”; but sad also because I believe the adulation they give him is so richly undeserved.
There’s a piece of my heart that aches when I look at this picture. I want to believe….I want my fellow citizens to feel healed and whole….I, as much as anyone, want this country to move beyond the divisiveness of race. I want my fellow citizens back; the ones who I can disagree with, but who haven’t fallen for the snake-oil rhetoric. I want to empathize with those who claim it’s impossible to understand what it means to be black in America; yet my head tells me other truths; and they will never know what it’s like to not be black and live under siege by those who carry a generational chip on their shoulder over the shame of slavery and civil rights issues that happened decades and centuries ago. Both slaves and slavemasters have been dead for well over a century; yet their ghosts live on because of those who refuse to “let it go”.
When they look at Senator Obama, what do they see? A black man, running for president? When will race cease to matter? It’s not the color of his skin that frightens me; it’s the content of his character. It’s his far from the center and way to the left political ideology.
What is it that Cleopatra Nelson, the American voter in the photo, see and hear when she looks upon Senator Obama? The Once and Future reincarnation and second coming of JFK and MLK, rolled into one? It is romanticism and wishful thinking, that Senator Obama will be what many of his supporters wish him to be. Nothing in his past history tells me that he can unite the country, that he actually will lead as a centrist, willing to cross party lines and hear out the other side, in earnest, with an open mind and an open heart.
Senator Obama has acknowledged in flippant, casual passing- almost under his breath and very quickly so as not to dwell on it or have the words sink into people’s consciousness- some of the positives that occurred under President Bush; but the tone and substance of his clarion call is to divide this country by tarnishing and slandering the legacy of President Bush, because it serves him politically.
“In words, Obama is a uniter instead of a divider. In deeds, he’s spent years promoting polarization”– Thomas Sowell
A history filled with radicals, black liberation theology, Marxist/communist ideology….where’s the balance? Where’s the voting record that indicates to me, he is willing and able to come to the center and unite people?
“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
~~~ “my treatment of the issues is often partial and incomplete.”
–From the pages of The Audacity of Hope
Senator Obama is what his supporters hope him to be by projecting upon him, their hopes and dreams. But he is not what they need him to be. He symbolizes for them, an optimistic future and a turning of the page; but as he admits in his book, he is a blank slate upon which people can project what it is they want to see and believe about him.
Living in the Los Angeles area, I am awash in a sea of open-Obama support. Obama constituents freely wear their buttons, their t-shirts, and their bumperstickers without fear of ridicule out here.
It’s strange to see so much- not simply support, but energized adulation! Messiah-worship. There are politicians that I like; but even if I strongly admired any of them, I just can’t see myself wanting to express it by wearing a likeness on my shirt. It reminds me of the cult-like phenomenon of Che Guevara t-shirts.
A short collage I put together of Messiah-Worship:
REUTERS/Carlos Barria (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
The sad thing is most people would fare terribly under Obama. Most would get a better deal under McCain.
When they look at Senator Obama, what do they see?
I don’t know. I really don’t get it — I’ve never understood the appeal of this guy at all. I’ve never thought his speeches were “inspirational” or any of that silly praise; it’s always sounded empty and completely plastic and packaged to me. Even Joe Biden, with his ridiculous gaffes, comes across as actually REAL and sincere with all his unguarded blurbs. Obama, when not in front of a teleprompter, *is* a blank slate. He has nothing to say but “uh uh uh,” apparently because he’s smart enough to not say what he really thinks while he’s running for President. He’s fake, fake, fake, fake, fake. (And no, I don’t think he’s a “secret Muslim” or any of those silly things. Just FAKE.)
I can’t believe this race is even close — not with this guy running. I’m with you, I really, really hope there will be a healing of the racial divide in this country, and if he can do that, good. But I don’t see it with him; I see the opposite. He’s not a uniter, despite all the campaign hype about him being one. At the risk of breaking Godwin’s Law, it’s classic Goebbels — keep repeating a lie until it becomes “truthy.” I guess the only good thing if he wins is, at least young black kids will have a real role model to follow (but really, why not Thomas Sowell or Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice or Colin Powell?!) rather than the usual rap and professional sports thugs (or worse). He can at least give kids some confidence and belief in the American Dream, I guess, but it’s not like he’s the only one who can do that. And really, that isn’t enough reason for me to want him to win, not in these times of a global war and a sagging economy, and not with his ridiculously left-wing ideology. It’s not even close.
What disgusts me more than anything is that this charlatan may win over a genuine American hero, someone who has dedicated his life to serving this country – not for himself, but for America. McCain may lose to a guy who sees America as fundamentally flawed and in need of major repairs (change!). There’s always room to improve things, but a major overhaul? NO THANKS.
An absolute empty suit, I was flabbergasted when he wonthe nomination and cannot believe that he is even within 20 points of John McCain.
I know that it is late in the game, but I signed up late last night on the McCain web site to call voters today, I am going to call people in PA and OH (even though I reside in GA) in an attempt to sway at least a couple of voters into voting for John McCain or prod potential supporters into going to the polls. I have never done anything like this before but I cannot sit idly by while a charlatan wins this election, hidden behind the smokescreen of the compliant media. Mr Obama complained that without FoxNews slamming him all the time he would be up 3 or 4 more points, but the reality is that without the elite media filtering out every news story that is bad for Obama he would be 15 points behind Senator McCain.
One day, people, one more day. I believe that the polls are nonsense and skewed by the flawed ideas that 1) All registered Democrats will vote for Obama, and 2) that the GOP is not fired up to go vote for McCain.
Sign up at
then join then start making some phone calls, they give you numbers and a script (from which I am sure that I will deviate, but this comes from my brain and my heart and I know that I can convince). Chose PA or OH or another close state of your choice, but please help out today. If I run out of cell phone minutes and have to pay a boatload in inflated overage costs it will be more than worth it just to do my part.
Remember what John McCain has done for you and our country, come through for him.
Rob
If after this election, the MSM has any credibility left, than we don’t deserve a free and democratic country. The MSM has lied and hid all the facts . A pox on them.
Do you think the MSM will even wait for the polls to open before they call the election for BHO?
Sarge
My Union Army ancestor died for Cleopatra Nelson’s ancestors.
But don’t you dare suggest that race has anything to do with Messiah voters. Unless of course it’s those voting against him!
Tomorrow night, half of America will be upset. If Sen Obama loses, those people you see weeping will be further alienated, ostracized, disappointed, and lost. If Sen McCain loses, his supporters will be disappointed, but probably most won’t be as disappointed as Cleopatra.
In any event, I hope and pray that the winners and losers, the supporters of each can find it within themselves to comfort each other and remind each other that we are all Americans. You vote matters, mine matters, and the result matters, but we are all Americans. I hope we can hold each other up rather than put each other down.
I do have my doubts about being able to do that, and so I feel for Cleopatra, and I am concerned.
@Scott Malensek: Well said.
@AF Sarge (Ret):
Was listening to WLS, Chicago. All three men on the program were saying Obama is going to win tomorrow.
But, as I was cutting through a neighborhood where there are five houses in a row that had Obama signs for weeks, they were all gone. All the the signs of down ticket dems were still there, but, no Obama signs. I almost stopped the car. As of today, there were a few other houses on the block with McCain/Palin signs that were not there previously. It’s not an area where people would be stealing signs either, hopefully, they changed their mind. Being Illinois, our votes won’t really matter, Illinois will remain blue because of Chicago, I vote anyway.
When will race cease to matter?
———–
Never.
Without the race card and white guilt, they have nothing. Their poverty pimps like Wright, Jackson, Sharpton, Meeks, et al NEED to have race matter. Structually, it is more important for them to keep their people unassimilated, poor, drunk, doped-up, and killing each other than going to work, going to school, raising a family and actually succeeding. Obama is more of the former, not the later.
Even if every White person voted for Obama, then tatooed that on their bodies, race would still not stop mattering.
Being a denizen of Los Angeles, and hanging with the “arts” crowd, it’s almost like trying to quell a mob to listen to reason. But, they want more “empathy” from government, not logic about hurting corporations, which they view as “selling out”
It does get frustrating that find conservatism here is akin to the Underground Railroad.
Does it matter if the left-wing illuminati make history if it cost us our country? Making history doesn’t mean he’s qualified.
They see themselves doing something, but they are doing it for someone else and not themselves. These are the same people that will probably end up giving Obama $1 billion since his first run as a state senator and they don’t even know him. Obama is running a new style platation where he inspires the millions of workers that get nothing back. Obviously they have the money, but it’s not obvious they know how to spend it. His aunt in the slums gave him over $200. That’s about a month worth of food for one person and probably enough money to cover her heating bills for the winter. Will Obama really be able to help them? No. But he says the things that the other leaders have promised and failed to give them and yet they still want to believe in hope and change. What they really need is a help up and it’s in Palin’s story and that’s something McCain’s camp failed to push.
What I feel sorry for is the people that idolize any politician and make them the only person that can do anything for them . Like the woman that said i will not have to worry about my mortgages if Obama gets elected. Is he actually going to pay for her mortgages??? I highly doubt it. He will only give her higher energyt bills and more taxes.
Making a messiah out of a politician in not only wrong, it is harmful to the country. It is an abomination to what our country was founded on. We want regular people in the White House, a real person not some demagogue. The president is not God and is only human, but placing so much on a candidate is scary. It reminds me of what people have done for tyrants of the past. And they will be able to get away with much more shananigans than if not.
This is one of the biggest differences I see between Conservatives and Liberals. Liberals put so much into the candidate, and Conservatives look at candidates as someone that can help with out cause, not be the whole cause themselves.
It is very scary that Chicago Style Politics is also on the move across the country. The Pay For Play , worshiping of candidates and the thuggery that goes along with it is really scary.
And as everyone else I do empathize with people that want a African American in the White House. It will be a healing point in America, but just not this African American. He will take our country into a totally different direction than any of his followers think. He has been taught by the Liberation Theologists that plague Chicago. My mom did a good post on what the Community Organizer is in Chicago today at my blog. It is well worth taking a look and read look at the books she has found on Amazon about the Liberation theology and the relationship between ACORN and the Liberation Theology Churches.