The American Spectator

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Ivy League Scolds

4.28.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 3)

If we think back, the gaffes did not start with Pastor Wright. I recall Obama in some hard scrabble town, speaking to a crowd who looked like they were waiting for the Bingo game to start. Obama was lamenting the sky-rocketing cost of groceries. He said "I mean, has anyone checked the price of arugula lately?" He was speaking to a bewildered "Kraft Dressing on iceberg lettuce" crowd.

Nice that Obama does not have to buy his arugula with food stamps as his struggling mother did. I am still trying to figure out how she got food stamps in Indonesia. Unless that humiliation came later, with his grandparents in Hawaii. Golly, two generations of no-hopers.
-- Diane Smith

It did appear that the NAACP audience Wright was addressing Sunday was the kind of older yuppie self-satisfied, well-educated, wealthy, and "non-bitter" elite that Obama was addressing in San Francisco. They did not respond the way a "typical black" congregation would. There was little applause, little emotional response, little or no shouting, and virtually no participation when he tried to elicit it.
-- Richard L.A. Schaefer
Dubuque, Iowa

PAINTING OBAMA
Re: Lawrence Henry's This Race Business:

Excellent observations from Lawrence Henry. I believe he has hit the nail on the head. I don't think most Americans care what color a person's skin is in order to vote for him. It's a matter of trust. I didn't trust Senator Obama's messianic ways in the first place, there was something a little unnerving about people falling all over themselves around him. But, when you add to that those people he has around him with radical, un-American attitudes, many questions arise. Then when his true self comes out and it shows his "I know more than you do" condescending attitude toward the American people -- most folks don't care for that so much.

I think a portrait of a person is coming into view, and rather than a Rembrandt, it's more of a Picasso.
-- Deborah Durkee
Marietta, Georgia

Mr. Henry is sort of right. Most white people are not obsessing over race, i.e. they aren't normally thinking about it. But when it comes up, most think good things about themselves in regards to race relations. They think there are still evil whites to overcome, but that's somebody else. Sometimes, this is almost as caricatured as the old racists attitudes were. The media paradigm of uniting together against those evil skin headed Nazis or wicked hooded clansmen. But usually it is a contrast of the evils of those in the past, and how we in the present are better.

It seems to me that most who are not active politically follow the above pattern. But those who are active politically on the Democrat side intentionally lump their opponents with the evil clan types. Intentional on two fronts. It inflames those who think of themselves as victims into uniting behind the Dems. But on a broader scale, such smears fool the politically inactive into making bad snap judgments when it is time to look at politics. The Republicans on the other hand buy into the general attitude that things have improved and we are all much better than the past, and take great offense at being falsely slimed and smeared.

In reality, things are much better. But there is still racism all around. It is found in all races, and expressed against all other races. It may not ever be eliminated, but it is greatly reduced at present and properly so.

But the use of it in politics keeps it active and alive. And this is a great burden upon all. Victims stew in resentment, preventing them from rising above their injuries. The same is true of the falsely accused. And those making false accusation for political gain relish those results. Even those who keep away from such ugly politics are burdened, keeping up the proper attitude of flagellation by guilt, giving up special privileges to the victimized, especially those who play the victim card, and putting themselves to the back so that the legacy of their ancestors can be erased.

Why must it keep going? When will it ever end? How much self-flagellation is enough? Why do we have to keep giving special favors when most of those taking them are wealthier than most of those giving them? Those who are still left behind are trapped in the Ghettos of Johnson's Great Society, unable to use the current favors, but not because of racism. How long do we have to keep putting our innocent kids at a disadvantage? How long do we have to keep being guilty, bearing the guilt of our Ancestors.

This is what Obama had tapped into with the high sounding but vague words he was using to mask his extreme left wing liberalism. He sounded like it was time to complete the Journey started by Dr. King. To finally achieve the world the Reverend dreamed of, with the color of ones skin making no difference at all. We would demonstrate that we are worthy by voting for him, and he would lead us from the ugly past to the better future we all hoped for.

This was mass self-delusion. It is a shame that that is not what he meant with those well read and high sounding but vague words. He is not filled with hope over the future, but bitterness over a past that his ancestors never experienced. And like his old Reverend, mentor, family and personal friend, he wants to punish America to set things 'Wright'. And terrorism in the name of causes he favors doesn't seem to bother him at all.

Think about what Obama's life story really says about America. The son of a black immigrant can go to an elite college, marry a fellow black member of the country's elite, and rise to a level of wealth and power that most whites, the vast majority, will never ever see. We have over 300,000,000 citizens, but at any one time, there is only one President, one Vice President, there are no more than 9 Chief Justices, 50 Governors, 100 Senators and 435 Representatives. He is one of the Senators, and he has a really good chance to become one of only 2 people with a serious chance of becoming President. And look at his tax returns. While he surely isn't Bill Gates, most of our families will never earn as much as those two are worth. Yet they are both bitter about the Country in which they could achieve these things.

The mask has been removed, and we are greatly disappointed with what we see. It is a shame that his side is now resorting to the standard phony accusations of racism to try and salvage the Presidency.

Letter to the Editor

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