Barak Hussein Obama is something of a rock star in Democratic politics. His life story is something of an American Dream. Born of an American mother and a Kenyan father, he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, started college in Los Angeles and graduated Columbia University in New York. Moving to Chicago, he became a community organizer. In 1988, he went to Harvard Law School, becoming a civil rights lawyer.
In 1993, Barry, as he was known to his friends, entered politics, getting elected to the Illinois state legislature, a post he held until 2004, with one two-year absence beginning in 2000.
In 2004, Obama gave the keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. In it, he cemented his status as "the next big thing". His speech, while light on substance, hit all the right notes about how we should all come together and how government can help in many, but not all, problems.
In a year that showed Republican gains in Congress, Obama found himself elected to the United States Senate by a 70% margin. That may sound impressive, but there is a caveat. His opponent in the 2004 election was supposed to be Jack Ryan. But in June of that year, Ryan had to pull out, thanks to a local newspaper violating the sealed status of his divorce papers, wherein his ex-wife, actress Jerri Ryan, made allegations of sexual abuse. Alan Keyes, Ryan's Republican replacement, had to establish residency in Illinois with his nomination and fought a losing battle with time. Keyes had too little time to make a proper name for himself, and the carpetbagger issue did even more to hurt him.
It's been coming out lately, just what Barak Obama was up to in the Illinois legislature. He became known as an extremely Liberal representative, in a legislature know for its Liberal tendencies. In fact, as Alan Keyes pointed out, he even voted in such a way that it helped keep infanticide legal. The bill in question would have mandated that babies who survived abortion attempts had to receive due medical attention, rather than be "allowed to expire", as had been the case. For political considerations, Obama voted "present", rather than take an up or down stance. In the end, the bill failed and it is legal to allow babies to die of starvation, bleeding, exposure, etc. provided that they came into the world through an attempted abortion.
And what was Obama's reason for voting the way he did? Obviously, he didn't want to be seen actually voting in favor of infanticide. On the other hand, he, in his words, wanted to avoid the "slippery slope" the bill would have created, eventually limiting legal abortions out of existence.
So, let living babies die, so women can still get their unborn babies killed? Sounds like a plan to me!
Obama is to the Left of most Democrats on a whole host of issues: abortion, gun control, surrender in Iraq, taxes, government programs. But he's not a total dove when it comes to the War on Terror. He has spoken out forcefully for the invasion of Pakistan. Yup! He won't fight the terrorists in Iraq, but he'll invade one of our allies in the region. As if Pakistan doesn't have enough troubles without some bumbling amatuer!
Barak Obama represents many things to all sorts of Americans. He's young. He's a good orator. He's overcome adversity in his life. And, most importantly, his presence on the political scene shows the lie of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. For the Jackson's and the Sharpton's and all those dinosaur race hustlers and poverty pimps are now officially out of work. If racism still exists in America (and I would never suggest that it doesn't) it certainly doesn't have any of the power it once had. If racism isn't dead, it's certainly on life support.
But this fact becomes a problem for the Modern Liberal. How can they campaign on the premise of a racist America when their leading candidate is himself black? And what do those dinosaurs of the old Civil Rights guard do, now that this "youngster" shows up without their help?
It's stunning to watch the Old Guard line up behind Hillary, and ignoring the patently racist criticisms leveled at Obama by the Clintonistas. There are now schisms arising in the once monolithic Democratic fold. The divisions are between the older, whiter Liberals and their supporters among the Old Guard, supplemented by the feminist Left, which is itself of the Old Guard. On the other, we have young blacks, women who worship the ground Oprah walks on, and Liberals who are honest enough to admit that the Clintons wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the face.
In 1993, Barry, as he was known to his friends, entered politics, getting elected to the Illinois state legislature, a post he held until 2004, with one two-year absence beginning in 2000.
In 2004, Obama gave the keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. In it, he cemented his status as "the next big thing". His speech, while light on substance, hit all the right notes about how we should all come together and how government can help in many, but not all, problems.
In a year that showed Republican gains in Congress, Obama found himself elected to the United States Senate by a 70% margin. That may sound impressive, but there is a caveat. His opponent in the 2004 election was supposed to be Jack Ryan. But in June of that year, Ryan had to pull out, thanks to a local newspaper violating the sealed status of his divorce papers, wherein his ex-wife, actress Jerri Ryan, made allegations of sexual abuse. Alan Keyes, Ryan's Republican replacement, had to establish residency in Illinois with his nomination and fought a losing battle with time. Keyes had too little time to make a proper name for himself, and the carpetbagger issue did even more to hurt him.
It's been coming out lately, just what Barak Obama was up to in the Illinois legislature. He became known as an extremely Liberal representative, in a legislature know for its Liberal tendencies. In fact, as Alan Keyes pointed out, he even voted in such a way that it helped keep infanticide legal. The bill in question would have mandated that babies who survived abortion attempts had to receive due medical attention, rather than be "allowed to expire", as had been the case. For political considerations, Obama voted "present", rather than take an up or down stance. In the end, the bill failed and it is legal to allow babies to die of starvation, bleeding, exposure, etc. provided that they came into the world through an attempted abortion.
And what was Obama's reason for voting the way he did? Obviously, he didn't want to be seen actually voting in favor of infanticide. On the other hand, he, in his words, wanted to avoid the "slippery slope" the bill would have created, eventually limiting legal abortions out of existence.
So, let living babies die, so women can still get their unborn babies killed? Sounds like a plan to me!
Obama is to the Left of most Democrats on a whole host of issues: abortion, gun control, surrender in Iraq, taxes, government programs. But he's not a total dove when it comes to the War on Terror. He has spoken out forcefully for the invasion of Pakistan. Yup! He won't fight the terrorists in Iraq, but he'll invade one of our allies in the region. As if Pakistan doesn't have enough troubles without some bumbling amatuer!
Barak Obama represents many things to all sorts of Americans. He's young. He's a good orator. He's overcome adversity in his life. And, most importantly, his presence on the political scene shows the lie of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. For the Jackson's and the Sharpton's and all those dinosaur race hustlers and poverty pimps are now officially out of work. If racism still exists in America (and I would never suggest that it doesn't) it certainly doesn't have any of the power it once had. If racism isn't dead, it's certainly on life support.
But this fact becomes a problem for the Modern Liberal. How can they campaign on the premise of a racist America when their leading candidate is himself black? And what do those dinosaurs of the old Civil Rights guard do, now that this "youngster" shows up without their help?
It's stunning to watch the Old Guard line up behind Hillary, and ignoring the patently racist criticisms leveled at Obama by the Clintonistas. There are now schisms arising in the once monolithic Democratic fold. The divisions are between the older, whiter Liberals and their supporters among the Old Guard, supplemented by the feminist Left, which is itself of the Old Guard. On the other, we have young blacks, women who worship the ground Oprah walks on, and Liberals who are honest enough to admit that the Clintons wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the face.
It happens all the time to the Left. They get all caught up in their identity politics -- racial quotas, gender inequities, etc. -- and then, all of a sudden, they have two candidates, from two of their protected minority groups, and they just don't seem to know what to do! Now we are faced with the unseemly prospect of the Clintonistas using, by their own admission, a "Southern Strategy" to save Hillary's nomination prospects, and Obama seems to be flailing, not wanting to give credence to any of the claims by "the vast right wing conspiracy". God! I love politics!
So! Here we are. On the one hand, we have Hillary Clinton, with all the baggage, all the lies, the cronyism, the sex scandals (you don't think Bill is going to behave himself if Hillary gets into the White House, do you?), the Chinese money, and the criminal contributors. On the other, we have the shiny, new (in Joe Biden's words, "articulate and clean") candidate who has little real world experience and hardly any more government experience.
We have the known liar and Bill apologist against a man who could actually be a break from the past. But is he?
Close examination of the two leading Democrats shows not a dime's worth of difference between their proposals for America. The both want to raise our taxes, they both want to nationalize health care, they are in a tight competition so see who can surrender first in Iraq... we have one radical socialist against another!
Were I to vote in the Democratic primary, which would I pick? Either way, folks, America loses. It's either the "smartest woman in the world" who couldn't figure out that her husband was staining dresses, or the honest radical Liberal (Who would have ever thought that I'd write a sentence with both "honest" and "Liberal" in it?) who just got started in politics and never held a private sector job. Either way, we'll end up like Venezuela or Sweden.
I think I'll stick with the Republicans!
Copyright Jan. 25th, 2008
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