Quote:

THE Bastard said:
I've read this thread periodically....having read all of the posts over time; some significantly later after they've originally been posted.

I know most of the personalities that post here.

I respect many of the opinions of said personalities even if I don't always agree...especially when they come from the ultimate left of left.

The deal is...I can't really tell if the dislike of Obama comes from his politics or his race.

I admit to being biased. My life experience has been such that I see a certain amount of racism in many things that involve minorities. Much of it is justified, a very small portion is not.

I see many people on this thread and others that appear to be against Obama just because his skin is a different tone than their own...even the swarthy Greek participants on this thread; who are naturally darker that the subject, by the way.

Does his race make him any less qualified than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania...? The same gentleman that has presided over the worst mismanagement of the most violent conflict this country has seen since Vietnam...? That has been the head of what will probably be the most indited administraion since the Watergate years...?

Is he really any worse than any of the candidates on the RIGHT side of the issues...? Those with issues of character as strong as any of the previous administration...? Those that have turned on their own party's rhetoric to gain favor with a country sick of war...? Those who've lost ground with the general public for being willing to stand by their (current) hawkish convictions regardless of the the overwhelming attitude against the conflict and the administration who started it and exaggerated the truth to win support of it?

Is he really that worse an alternative than the honorable Dem. senator from Illi-York...? The carpet-bagger that has more pratical experience (thru observation and advising) governing a nation than any other candidate of either political persuasion...? The candidate whose only apparent major flaws are that she has a pussy and stayed with a man who has admitted to infidelities...?

Perhaps (as most white people will always say) I'm reading too much into the situation. Maybe you Republicans folk really like us black folk...as long as we stay in our place and don't get too uppity...like running for president. You like us just fine as nannies, gardeners, postal workers and drug dealers. But when we try to get edu-ma-cated and better ourselves...well, y'all just don't cotton to that idea at all.

Perhaps I'm wrong. I'm sure several of you will definitely chime in to tell me exactly that...and why I'm a racist for even suggesting that you could possibly be the same.

That's cool. I hope I am wrong. For your sakes.

In a year or so, there is a real possibility that the could be a finally be a black memaber of the executive office of this country...possibly even a Woman AND a Black Guy.

I'd hate to see all of you have to move back to the old country to protest.

Peace and hair grease, y'all.




My primary objections to Obama have absolutely nothing to do with his race.

My reasons:
    1) He's not experienced enough. He was elected in 2004, and hasn't even completed a single term as senator. I don't see that he's distinguished himself as a senator with any great leadership or legislation reform.
    If Colin Powell ran for president (and polls since 1992 have shown every 4 years that this black man in an allegedly racist America would get more votes than anyone else, black, white or otherwise) I would certainly say he has enough experience and proven leadership.
    Alan Keyes (a less well-known black candidate) a few years ago ran for president and didn't make it past the primaries. But I respected him because he's been in Washington in various positions for several decades, and is a qualified candidate. (likewise Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader, two white candidates who similarly have been in Washington for decades, and are not just two country bumpkins suddenly seeking high office.)
    If Obama were a Republican running with that little experience, the media would mock him endlessly. ( Dan Quayle, anyone? ) And Obama isn't just a vice president on someone else's ticket.

    2) He doesn't have a clear set of issues, and talks in naive-sounding high plattitudes without really saying anything specific.
    And based on that, I think he's running just to run, rather than with a heartfelt set of principles and vision for the country (as compared to, say, Ronald Reagan).
    When I listen to him talk, I see a guy who's trendy and hip and cool and a media darling, but he's talking out his ass without any specifics to define or justify his position.

    3) He talks about raising the level of political discussion, while conversely/hypocritically getting in his partisan digs
    In this respect, I agree with what G-man and PJP have already pointed out.
    And it's been a pleasure to see him expose himself and behave with similar hypocrisy in his verbal exchanges with Hillary Clinton.



The only way it's become a race issue for me is where the liberal media, the Democrats, and Obama himself have made an issue of his being black.
They constantly raise his skin-color as an issue, and say "Heyyy, the first serious black candidate...", the same way they make an issue of Hillary being the first serious woman candidate (ignoring, of course, Elizabeth Dole, because, of course, she was a Republican candidate).

And I've suspected all along that if Obama loses, it will be blamed --of course!-- on America being a racist nation that's intolerant of black candidates.

Ignoring Colin Powell.
Ignoring Clarence Thomas.
Ignoring Thurgood Marshall.
Ignoring Alcee Hastings, Charles Rangell, Maxine Waters, J.C. Watts, and so many other successful black candidates and other high office-holders, both Democrat and Republican.

Let's not divide the nation over false phantoms of alleged racism against blacks.

Although that's what liberals and Democrats always, inevitably, do.

That's one of my greatest aversions to Democrats, their divisive tactics over the last 40 years, that constantly rift this nation over random, and often manufactured, racial incidents.
Let's limit criticism of our nation to the real and quantifiable incidents of racism.

And as I've said in past discussions, whites are not immune to racist treatment either. I suspect this will become increasingly visible as whites continue to decrease as a percentage of the U.S. population. All races on this planet, and in every nation, engage in racist behavior, but somehow only whites/Europeans are held accountable for it.



I'll grant you this, though, Obama would be hard pressed to do worse than Bush as president.