Obama – The Audacity of Hate

Listening to Obama on Mtv’s "Choose or Lose" is basically a microcosm of everything I have seen from this guys in the campaign. It sounds ok for the first little while, and then you realize he is making some really bad decisions.

For instance, Senator Obama sounds strong about Iran and Afghanistan. He speaks as if he grasps the situations and would act in a strong way to protect our interests. In fact, whenever he speaks about hypothetical foreign policy issues he sounds pretty good. Then the topic turns to the Iraq conflict we are already in and you realize his strategy is simple – cut and run. His reasons are telling too as they basically come down to "it is making us unpopular". I get the impression this is a pretty common theme with him. Worse, when the heat is really on Obama doesn’t so much rise to the occasion as fall back on platitudes and badly chosen distraction tactics.

When confronted with the racist and frankly ignorant rants of his Pastor and mentor Obama tried everything he could to fix the problem… everything apologizing and trying to convince us that he doesn’t buy into this bullshit. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want a president who has been the acolyte of someone who has been force feeding him this kind of bile. A man who on the Sunday immediately following 9/11 told us that it was only what the white folks had coming to them.

"In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01,” Wright wrote in a church-affiliated magazine. “White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns." – Jeremiah Wright

Obama tried to distance himself from Wright at first by claiming ignorance. I am not sure how reassuring it would be to believe that after countless hours in the church and the knowledge of Wrights activities Obama still managed to not know what this guy was all about.

When that didn’t work he tried what most politicians know as "the big speech". In an attempt to stem the tide of anger he did what anyone would do. He did what Jesus (his self avowed savior) would do. He stood tall, looked the nation right in the eyes and proudly threw his 85 year old grandmother under a bus to protect a man who proclaimed "God damn America"*.

"I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street…" – Obama in "the speech"

Sounds like a candid revelation doesn’t it? Like a good story that even good people sometimes go wrong. Except it is a distortion of reality – one that tells us again that Obama is either a fool molded by the racism of his mentor or a liar who will insult and attack his family to save his skin.

Obama’s grandmother (in the incident he is clearly referring to here) was not afraid of "black men". She expressed specific fear of a specific black panhandler who often accosted her. Instead of seeing to her safety or taking her concerns seriously in the name of what we would now call political correctness she received an attack in the Obama household. As described in Obama’s book "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" we see the incident in much more detail.

Madelyn (Obama’s grandmother) describes the incident with the man who upset her…

"Her lips pursed with irritation. ‘He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn’t come, I think he might have hit me over the head." – Madelyn quoted in "Dreams from My Father

Did she get any sympathy? Not at all. Obama’s grandfather (Stanely) attacked her and refused initially to get off his ass and drive her to work. Why?

"He turned around and I saw that he was shaking. ‘It is a big deal. It’s a big deal to me. She’s been bothered by men before. You know why she’s so scared this time. I’ll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black.’ He whispered the word. ‘That’s the real reason why she’s bothered. And I just don’t think that right." – Barry responds (again from "Dreams of My Father")

Obama reacted the way he had been trained since birth, the way all his mentors had taught him. He immediately swallowed the concept that his white grandmother (who had sacrificed hugely to feed and cloth him) was clearly a racist.

"The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure. In my steadiest voice, I told him that such an attitude bothered me, too" – Obama, from "Dreams of My Father"

Clearly after the horrible blow of finding out your grandmother is afraid of rude, agressive homeless men you might need help or guidance. You need to turn to someone who can provide perspective. For Obama that man was a man he only refers to in the book as "Frank"**. Frank was a communist and offered this…

"What I’m trying to tell you is, your grandma’s right to be scared. She’s at least as right as Stanley is. She understands that black people have a reason to hate. That’s just how it is. For your sake, I wish it were otherwise. But it’s not. So you might as well get used to it."- Obama, from "Dreams of My Father"

We see here the pattern that is repeated to this day. No matter how extreme or outlandish the behavior of someone any criticism from a white person is considered racially motivated to Obama. This is what his mentors believed, this is how they groomed him. This is, in addition, how his wife feels. Michelle Obama is pretty sure her savior / husband shouldn’t be sullying himself with the likes of us.

"Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics." – Michelle Obama speaking at a nursing home

But thank god he has, because now we have a chance to win her respect. I know it was keeping me up at night.

"For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country", she told a Milwaukee crowd today, "because it feels like hope is making a comeback." – Michelle Obama

This is a man mentored for his whole life by racists and a pastor who thinks the white man created the AIDS virus to kill blacks. This is a man with a single defense in his arsenal… to accuse anyone who disagrees as a racist.

"The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide agai
nst people of color. The government lied."  – Jeremiah Wright

Obama is a man raised in a atmosphere if racism and hatred. He is married to a woman who believes he is too good for all us poor idiots and he is not looking any better the more I see of him.

I want to be clear here, I think Barack Obama is a sincere and intelligent man. I think despite the influences of his mentors he loves this country and I don’t think he is a budding communist. I am pretty sure he doesn’t think AIDS is an attempt at genocide. I don’t think he is a racist.

What I do think is that Barack Obama has spent his whole life under the influence of men who were basically crazy with hatred and anger. I think this has left scars on him. I think that he has continued to associate with racists and communists tells us something about his naivete.

And this is a nation that cannot afford a naive president half blinded by these influences.

*note: "God damn America" and more of hatred’s greatest hits are available, of course, for sale on DVD. That’s capitalism helping to sell the condemnation of capitalism and that is what makes this (damn) country great.

**note: Almost certainly Frank Marshal Davis