For the first time in our nation's history, a biracial man is the presidential nominee for a major political party. He is leading John McCain in every national poll. You would think this is compelling evidence on how far we have come on race relations in America. Unfortunately, the Democrats seem to be stuck in Mississippi in 1955.
Obama has tried to present himself as a post-racial candidate. But the only people bringing race up in the selection are his Democratic supporters and the media. According to them, if you don't want to vote for Barack Obama, you are racist. If you question Obama's experience as a "community organizer," you are racist. If you have a problem with Obama's relationship with a white, American terrorist, you are racist. If you say Obama is looking a little bit skinny, you are racist. That last one isn't even a joke, although it sounds like one.
Many of these Democrats are so focused on race that they see racism in everything their opponents do. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., even sees racism in Gov. Palin's moose hunting. "If Sarah Palin isn't enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," Hastings said. "Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through," he added.
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The Obama supporters also see the charge of racism as an easy way to shut up the people they don't agree with. Rep. Barney Frank says that criticism of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the sub-prime lending meltdown is driven by racism. Did you know Fannie was black and Freddie was Hispanic? Neither did I.
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The Community Reinvestment Act ended up forcing banks to give sub-prime loans to people who really couldn't afford them. Many of those people were minorities. Therefore, Frank says criticism of that program, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's role in it, is just playing to the racist Republican base. "They get to take things out on poor people," Frank said. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people." I'm surprised lightning didn't strike when Frank said, "Let's be honest."
Let's be honest. Barney Frank's defense of the CRA and Fannie and Freddie deserves a lot of the blame for our current economic situation. But he doesn't want to talk about that. To stop that kind of talk he is saying that because the law that helped lead us to this financial meltdown involves minorities, any criticism of that law is racist. Gee, who can argue with that logic? Oh, right – everybody.
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Gov. Palin took the hockey gloves off (but left the lipstick on) and brought up Obama's connections to American terrorist William Ayers. "Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin said. "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."
Well, Palin tied Obama to a white terrorist. There can only be one reason. She is racist!
Douglas Daniel of the Associated Press said Palin's charges were "unsubstantiated and racially tinged." Of course they are substantiated and have nothing to do with race, but why should the AP start worrying about facts now?
The New York Observer pointed out Obama's Democratic supporters are piling on. "He's 'not one of us?' That's racial. That's fear," said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D- N.Y. "They know they can't win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear," he added. "They are trying to throw out these codes."
What is it with Democrats always looking for code words? Is there some special Democrat cereal with the super secret decoder ring that I missed? Do I need to save box tops to get mine?
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"Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and Palin are trying to appeal to that and it's unfortunate," said Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y.
Kevin Parker, a New York state senator from Brooklyn, said, "If you have to remind people that Barack Obama is African-American, you have reached the bottom."
When did Gov. Palin point out that Barack Obama is African-American?
This isn't about race. It's about Obama hanging around people who don't like America very much. Ayers helped bomb the Pentagon. He is unrepentant. Obama's campaign admitted that they were "certainly friendly." As recently as Sept. 11, 2001, Ayers refused to denounce the bombings and said his group didn't do enough. He stated that America still "makes him want to puke." His school "reform project" did nothing to increase the academic success of his students. Instead, it taught them to view America as a racist and oppressive society, which they needed to fight. Ayers is someone who blames America first, last and always. Obama launched his political career from Ayers' home. Even CNN had to admit that Obama was closer to Ayers than he was willing to acknowledge.
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Add in Obama's very close ties to the anti-American racist Rev. Jeremiah Wright, ACORN, his Saul Alinsky training, and his wife's recent admission that she is finally proud of America and you begin to understand why Palin questions whether he sees America the way most Americans do.
That may not be the best way to win this election, but it certainly isn't racist.
By the way, Obama's biracial, and I think it's racist of these black Democrats to ignore his white heritage. Since Obama is half white, I think we should start calling him a European-American. (That's a joke, Huffington Post and Air America.)
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