Obama, White Supremacy and FEAR

I know, I know....I haven't been blogging....I had a family wedding (congrats to my brother and his new bride currently chillin' on their honeymoon in Hawaii) and have been working a ridiculous amount this week. But rest assured I remain engaged in not only this election but our political process and there are so many things going on currently it is beginning to make my head spin. But I just have to speak about my recent experiences

First, I remain cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama will be our next president. while the polls (some of them anyway) have him ahead...I am not taking anything to chance. I have already voted, I urge everyone I see to make sure they get out and vote and I have been giving time in the battleground state of Indiana to get the message (and the people) out. I am cautious...because I never underestimate the powers that be to go against the force of justice. I am encouraged that many more people seem to be coming around to Barack's common sense positive message. And many people are realizing (like me) that while he is not perfect he is the right leader for this time to move our nation into the next generation. I am realistic...I am not expecting Obama to be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny rolled into one. He is inheriting a country in a complete MESS and I actually feel sorry for him (or anyone) who has to sort through this garbage. I pray for him and his family that they remain safe and that if he is blessed to win the election that above all else he is granted the gift of Godly wisdom (circa the book of Proverbs) to steer this country out of the nightmare of our present hate-filled, warmongering, economically troubled state.

I am friends with a wide variety of people including some very white, very male, very republican colleagues. Some support Obama, some support McCain, some don't like either candidate...mostly they have been respectful in their discussions with me and we have been able to agree to disagree and have quite a few lively debates. However, as the race has swung more towards Obama, I have noticed (particularly among the lukewarm Obama supporters and the McCain Supporters) a bit of a panic. This panic is echoed on the conservative blogs and on places like Fox News...it is the discomfort with someone like Obama being their leader. You can see that many of these white men, who are so accustomed to their place on the top of the heap are visibly shaken by the thought of someone they feel they have an inherent superiority to being their "leader". They don't verbalize that...but they do start coming up with the most flimsy, petty, and irrelevant (and disprovable by objective data which they ignore) reasons why they just can't support Obama. They don't have hard data or research...just random hearsay, rt wing propaganda (that they now believe is gospel truth), and the bitter rantings of other scared middle aged white men like themselves. I think the psychological ramifications of having someone who they so clearly feel is not their "equal" be this close to being the potential leader of the free world is simply too much for most of them to bear. Now I am not saying these people are racist. But I think it is time we call a spade a spade (so to speak) and deal with the facts.

The USA is my country...and I love it...but I love it with (as my Pastor would say) a GOOD understanding. We have to accept the facts, that for all this country's wonderful attributes...this country was founded upon and is rooted in white supremacy....now I am not talking KKK, lynching, and neo-Nazi's (although those are the far end of the foundation that was laid) no what I am talking about is the fact that the very foundation of this country was premised on a fact that one group was better and more deserving than another ("manifest destiny" anyone). This was what allowed the first settlers here to disregard the Native Americans and take away their land. This is what allowed the people who wrote our founding documents to declare that "All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and still themselves hold (black) people as property. This is what allowed the leaders of this country to fight a war with and annex a large portion of Mexico to expand our country in the Southwest but then get an attitude with Mexican "immigrants" and seriously consider the stupidity of erecting a border fence. White Supremacy is what allowed Native Americans to be herded onto reservations and have their land stolen, it is what allowed "separate but equal" with regard to African-Americans be the law of the land well into the mid to late 20th century, and what caused Japanese-Americans to be interred in camps as prisoners of war in their own country, and what makes today health care disparities, educational disparities and income disparities to flourish particularly with the mostly minority and urban populations. Barack Obama is the very antithesis of those ideas of inferiority and unamericaness of the "other". His candidacy has challenged many deeply and silently held beliefs about our country's "best and brightest" and what they should look like and now that it seems that he may be on the cusp of victory...white supremacy will not go quietly into that good night.



What we see as the last vestiges of White Supremacy is the fear, and hate that has been oozing from the McCain\Palin Camp, the right wing blogsphere and Fox News. In this last week of the campaign, they have taken a "kitchen sink" approach to Obama. Every single questionable association (no matter how trivial the relationship) is put up as a disqualification for Obama. The Republican campaign has become solely about tearing the other guy down...not lifting this nation up. The Republican campaign has been consumed by ugliness, pettiness, sniping and has played to the basest level of every person's deepest fear. They have offered no plan, no vision and have stuck to name calling ("socialist", "redistributer", "muslim", "pal of terroist") and have convinced all the people at their rallies that Obama is something evil to be Feared and stopped before he destroys this country and consequently the True American ( read "white American", "red state american) way of life. "without a vision the people perish"

The campaign of the republicans is suffering because of tremendous negativity...to put it quite simply...God don't like ugly. At its very simplest, the politics of fear and division is losing to the politics of hope. And I for one am glad this appears to be the case and inspired about the direction my country is moving in. It is my hope that on next Tuesday when we elect Barack Obama as our 44th president we will place the nails in the coffin and finally bury our national sense of Fear and move from a country rooted in white supremacy towards a country that seeks equality of all its members and soars with the promise that this nation can rise to embrace the better angles of our nature.

That is my hope...that is what I believe...and that is what I am fighting for.

VP Debate Fallout...with a "wink" and a nod

I'm a little late with this post but I couldn't let things go any further without at least offering a few comments

As I expected Sarah Palin rose from the depths of her mediocrity to exceed the (knee high to a grasshopper's eye) expectations people had for her performance. That was a good (and basically necessary) thing. However I just have the following observations:
* Was it just me or did her insistence on NOT answering the questions drive you crazy. this was a DEBATE not a campaign commercial. For anyone who did Student Congress or Debate at my high school these answers simply would not have been tolerated by the Nuns...they would have exiled us from the room crying and told us not to come back until we were better prepared.
* I was PLEASANTLY surprised by Joe Biden...he was personable (bordering on charming), emotional, forceful, succinct and most importantly managed to keep his foot out of his mouth the whole time
* What was with the winking???....I almost felt slightly violated by her incessant flirting with the American Public and as a result me. For someone who is supposedly picking up the mantle of feminism through her campaign her shameless abuse of her "womanly wiles" has set women back at least 25 years. The winking and shameless flirting is cute when Tina Fey does her impersonation...but in an actual candidate it is just embarrassing
* The folksy phrases and stories (along with her nasally high pitched whine) have got to go...if I ever hear the words "hockey mom", "Joe six-pack" or "main street" one more time I thought I was gonna scream!!! I understand wanting to connect with the people but that cannot be your whole platform at some point you need to give some specific answers...after all you are running for the second highest office in the land...I expect you to demonstrate a wider range of knowledge and understanding on a variety of subjects...I'm not asking you to be a "Washington insider" or "east coast elite" but I do want you to demonstrate you can string coherent thoughts together and show some ability to think on your feet.

What I thought was interesting post debate was watching the GOP party faithful spin this draw at best into a win for Palin. They waxed poetic about her stunning performance, her "connection" to the American people, and how she exceeded their expectations all the while trying to avoid the VERY real truth that the American public didn't buy it. The polls (particularly among the undecided) were decidedly against her. The "wink" and nod Sarah Palin gave to the American people appears to have been poorly received by anyone not already firmly in her camp. but that's okay the tide is turning in this race and the GOP is starting to run scared (as evidenced by Palin bringing up Ayers and acts he did when Obama was 8 years old as a reason he is not fit to serve and trying to rehash the Rev Wright issues as if we didn't already discuss this ad nauseum) and I am proud of my America cause it looks like this time we won't be hoodwinked...there is still a ways to go and work to do but the winks and nods will not be answered this time.

Why Sarah Palin REALLY pisses me off

The blogs, mainstream media, and every single person I know seems to be talking about one thing.....Sarah Palin. On the eve of the VP debate it seems that people either can't get enough of her or have a new found hate for her.

Ever since her disastrous interview with Katie Couric, it has been interesting to listen to the myriad of opinions about her (I must admit I think Chris Rock on Larry King had my favorite comments about her) and to watch daily as she seems to prove that she may yet be an albatross around the neck of the GOP this election. They are sort of stuck...she is their girl...the handpicked (primarily for the most smarmy and cynical of political reasons) gun-toting, moose killing, lipstick wearing pit bull attack dog Annie Oakley from the west who was gonna come in and bring the win for the GOP on home. However she is turning into a bit of a one-trick pony. yes her speech at the RNC threw plenty of "red-meat" to the base, and she was able to effectively deliver a very personal (and unnecessarily snarky I might add) oration that was received well; but her interviews are quite frankly scary. The simple fact that she seems to have difficulty answering even basic questions (like what newspapers do you read) with a straight answer from a VERY gentle interviewer (Katie Couric is no Tim Russert...God I miss him!!) scares me. This woman wants to be a possible contended for the leader of the free world??? The fact that their campaign will cry foul and "sexism" when people are simply feeling out a candidate's position on the issues, and the fact that she had to be "chaperoned" by "daddy" McCain during an interview proves she is simply not ready for prime time. I think my thoughts were summed up quite well in the title of Fareed Zakaria's article in October 6 issue of Newsweek "Palin Is Ready? Please."

That is actually not my problem with Palin. ARROGANCE plain and simple is what makes me angry about this woman. What really pisses me off is that she thinks she IS READY. The level of arrogance and cluelessness you have to have to think that, despite objective facts to the contrary is simply mind blowing. She has decided she wants something that was offered to her and damn the facts, damn her lack of knowledge, damn her complete absence of curiosity about the world (she makes travel seem like it is a bad thing last time I checked if you want to potentially be the leader of the free world...maybe you should have begun to see it prior to last year...and no you do not need a trust fund or wealthy parents to find a way to travel. I too have consistently held at least one job and usually two or three since I was 15 and yet I was curious enough about the world to get a passport and find a way to go a few places without the monetary assistance of my parents) she is going to get it. she is arrogant because despite being put on the ticket SOLELY as a female "affirmative action" candidate (and here I thought the GOP was against affirmative action)...She acts as if the vice presidency is somehow owed to her. She is Arrogant because she chooses only to see her limited white, middle-class, anti-intellectual, small town, Alaskan worldview and not only declares it as being the only correct and valid one...but derides all other points of view or life experiences (this would be why she delivered such a disparaging speech at the RNC). She is arrogant because she has long history of basically eliminating people from her employ who don't share her ideas (she feels somehow above normal employment rules and common courtesy)...it is her way or the highway. This is particularly dangerous in times like these we need all heads at the table (even when they don't agree). We need to be able to say while I disagree with you on a,b and c...I think there might be some common ground on d, e and f. We need someone who is secure enough in their position and view to allow it to be challenged and if need be to have their view refined. But no, Sarah is the original "Mean Girl" (watch out Lindsay Lohan)...she must rule the roost, and have her flunkies follow her with complete submission and she is completely intent on destroying people in her way even if it takes some falsehood to do it. I would no more want this type of poison in the White house than I would want to continue the anti-intellectual, secretive, deceitful policies of the Bush Administration (but that is a post for another day)....my only solace is that as the old folks say "God don't like ugly" and one can only hope that the ugliness she has sown will come back to haunt her very soon.

Unlike a lot of people I actually think she will do well in the debate....after all she is the gregarious prom queen type and the bar is so ridiculously low for her right now as long as she breathes in and out and forms complete sentences her side will call it a win...and Joe Biden (the original "mr foot in mouth" disease) is much more likely to have a major gaffe which will be exploited ad nauseum. But no matter what she does later tonight...I truly think this woman is poison and she really gets me pissed off...so pissed off that I donated some more money to Obama's campaign so pissed off I will be working in IN getting out the vote for the Democrats this weekend! So pissed off that I am writing this blog

So never mind miss Sarah don't you worry your pretty (and mostly empty) head about it...keep being you...I will keep being pissed off...being pissed off is a very, very good thing!!

Sex, Race and random Baby mamas

I missed posting the last few days...probably because I have been spending so much time reading other blogs and keeping up with the ever changing information since the Palin VP pick and the start of the RNC. So I will try to offer my thoughts on the events of the past few days

First with regard to Palin's pick....okay that came outta nowhere. Props to Johnny Mac for the gangster move to steal Barack's thunder and convention bounce. That was a seriously strong political move...and now the compliments end.

How cynical and contrived a ploy is it to basically pick someone SIMPLY because she is a conservative woman. Women are not all interchangeable. To think that Ms. Palin (with her HIGHLY conservative, lack of national experience self) could somehow be a good alternative for Hillary Clinton supporters is seriously off. Anyone who think that these two have ANYTHING in common besides breasts and a vajayjay needs to get off the crack pipe they must be smoking. And to hear the republicans tout her "executive experience" makes me vomit in my mouth just a little bit. I mean she was mayor of a town of under 7,000. I know people who have run social organizations and clubs bigger than that. And she is governor of a state with less than 750,000 people. I mean there are fewer people in Alaska than on the south side of Chicago. While I'm sure she has some skills...let's not try and put lipstick on a pig or make a mountain out of a molehill. How can you desire to be the VP (who I am still not sure she knows what the job description entails) and a heartbeat (a weak questionable, multiple cancer survivor, former POW, 72yr old heartbeat at that) away from being the leader of the free world and you just got a passport last year and have only been to two other countries!!!??? Not to mention you have a relationship with an organization that was seriously advocating for Alaska ceding from the union (BTW didn't we fight this battle long ago). I mean SERIOUSLY is this the best and brightest the Republican's have to offer. You mean to tell me you passed over all the other qualified women like Olympia Snowden, Liddy Dole, Kay Bailey Hutchenson for this amateur. If I was a Republican woman...especially one who had held offices and been working for the party for all this time I WOULD BE PISSED!!!

And then there is the drama...how is it that this woman was the VP pick for less than 48hrs before the scandals started to break fast and furious around her and her family. Questions of her personal ethics with so called "troopergate", questions about her youngest child and her pregnant 17yr old with "Babygate"...and God only knows what else is coming. Clearly the vetting process (nonexistent as it now seem to have been) went horribly awry. I will let the investigative types deal with trooper gate and I don't want to pick on an innocent 17yr old but I will say this. The fact that supposedly John McCain knew about the daughter's pregnancy and still offered the position and more importantly the fact that Sarah Palin accepted the position knowing how that was going to completely screw with her daughter's life and privacy during this difficult time tells me all I need to know about these disgusting excuses for human beings. Any mother especially who willingly puts her own child who she claims to love in this type of no-win situation is a monster. How blind with ambition do you have to be to throw your own daughter, future son-in-law and grandchild under the bus like that. Sometimes the best answer is a simple thanks (for the offer of the job) but no thanks (I have too much on me and my family's plate now).

I especially love the hypocrisy of the hard core republicans. The same people who deride inner-city (read Black and Latino) youth for their lack of morals, judgement and intelligence for having children out of wedlock are now rallying behind Bristol Palin as a good kid who made an honest mistake and needs to be supported for her wonderful choice for deciding to bring the baby in to the world. We all know if Malia Obama was 17 and pregnant that Barack and Michelle would be toast...people would declare them unfit parents and thus unfit to lead and they would secretly say that is what happens to "those people" and in general ascribe that individual failure to the entire black race. Racial politics aside, what I hate the most is that the RNC and its cronies have turned this baby mama drama into a kindling to reignite the culture wars. Sarah and Bristol Palin are the new champions and symbols of the "pro-Life" movement. Funny I don't ever see these same people championing the teen mother's in Harlem or on the South Side of Chicago the same way. I don't see them rushing to offer them care and support. Could it be that the only lives that matter in the supposed "Pro-Life" movement are ones that are white? And how about as a party having republicans support policies that support life on the other side of the birth canal and deal with issues that address poverty, crime, hunger, housing and continued discrimination. I am a christian. I am pro-choice. (yes we are out here) I personally believe that abortion is wrong. BUT I also believe that it would be a colossal mistake to make it illegal. You cant reduce, control or keep safe what is underground. I believe we should all work to have abortion be legal safe and EXTREMELY rare. Most importantly I believe that we need to put more energy not into changing the laws around abortion but rather in changing the attitudes and circumstances that cause people to be in positions where that is something they are ever considering in the first place.

In general these wedge issues really tick me off. I am much more concerned about our economy, the lack of a decent health care system, the millions of uninsured, the collapse of the housing market, gas that will be $5 soon, ending the war in Iraq, keeping this country safe, finding Osama Bin laden, stabilizing Afghanistan, renewing our standing in the world, climate change,...and the list goes on and on. Instead of trotting out the same stale issues every 4 years (Abortion, gay marriage, patriotism, et al) and claiming that one party (the Republicans) are on the "right" side of the issue and therefore deserve to win compared to those people who are on the "left" side of the issue who will destroy your family, country and faith....instead of demonizing the brown baby mama's and praising the white ones....instead of pandering to people's fear and love of a woman (any woman) in office: could we please just think and for once use our head and vote on the issues at stake...not just the things people want you to fear or blindly rally behind in an emotional frenzy