The coming presidential election has revealed omniscient pundits heating the airwaves with hot political rhetoric. We’ve watched political rallies with some pretty good political palaver--stump speeches. We’ve watched a mediating media meditate on the merits of this or that candidate, and you know what: John McCain is a scarred POW, but I warm to the laughter in Barack Obama’s eyes when he is composed, relaxed, and smiles his wide smile.
He’s intelligent and well educated, a really savvy guy, as fund raisers have discovered. Like the Apostle Paul, Obama can discuss issues with the smartest and talk the language of the most common of us. He makes a great speech! And yes, I kinda like the guy, especially since he cares about so many issues that I care about. But, you know what? Obama is one big throw of the dice - pretty risky.
Now, don’t take me wrong! I was raised in an integrated society. I have all kinds of ethnic friends: black, Hispanic, oriental. Wife and I have a very dear friend, a black widow. We consider Dot J an intimate part of our family, in spite of her black skin. However, we’re talking about the sacred honor of being President of the United States. I know, sooner or later we have to break the color barrier. But, these are sensitive times! Do we risk a name like Barack Hussein Obama in the Oval Office?
Some of my friends say he is a Muslin. He had a Muslim father that he didn’t meet until he was ten years old. That’s not much to brag about, child in a single-parent home, raised by his grandparents (what kind of family values is that?) Some call him a Socialist. Soooo many charges! Dare we risk that in the White House?
He went to Harvard, too, but you know how Affirmative Action works--denying opportunities to the deserving in order to allow lesser qualified people unwarranted opportunities. That might work some places, but is it right for the White House? Then, instead of going out and getting an honest job and chasing the American Dream, he took a job with a church organization as a Community Organizer (a political activist, in a place like South Chicago). That seems to have thrown him into some pretty notorious company--wacky preachers, criminals elements, terrorists …
If nothing else, people say he is guilty by association, although the law says we are innocent until proven guilty. Really, Barack Obama is a pretty dangerous character. After all, he came from nowhere--born in outside the 48 states, a poor kid that had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to prepare school lessons; he only went to college by scholarships and working his way.
Its true, he did spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, 8 years as a State Senator representing a district of over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees. What kind of leadership experience is that?
He is the only candidate who stayed faithful to his only wife. They have a 20-year marriage, 2 beautiful little girls, and they model enviable family values. But, here is where I find Barack Obama such a dangerous threat to our American status quo. You know why? If I am any judge of character at all, this man believes deeply in the things that made this country great, and he dares to believe that every person deserves an equal opportunity at obtaining a share of the American Dream, that under God every individual has a right to life, liberty, and equal justice for all.
That threatens some people, but I will be proud with that kind of President! He will face challenging forces, and some failures, but I am convinced he will disturb the status quo of partisan politics, corruption, and racism, for here is a man, I believe, who has the common good of our country and its values deep in his soul of souls --a man with a faith in God that calls for walking the walk as well as talking the talk.
At least, he got my Absentee Ballot!
He’s intelligent and well educated, a really savvy guy, as fund raisers have discovered. Like the Apostle Paul, Obama can discuss issues with the smartest and talk the language of the most common of us. He makes a great speech! And yes, I kinda like the guy, especially since he cares about so many issues that I care about. But, you know what? Obama is one big throw of the dice - pretty risky.
Now, don’t take me wrong! I was raised in an integrated society. I have all kinds of ethnic friends: black, Hispanic, oriental. Wife and I have a very dear friend, a black widow. We consider Dot J an intimate part of our family, in spite of her black skin. However, we’re talking about the sacred honor of being President of the United States. I know, sooner or later we have to break the color barrier. But, these are sensitive times! Do we risk a name like Barack Hussein Obama in the Oval Office?
Some of my friends say he is a Muslin. He had a Muslim father that he didn’t meet until he was ten years old. That’s not much to brag about, child in a single-parent home, raised by his grandparents (what kind of family values is that?) Some call him a Socialist. Soooo many charges! Dare we risk that in the White House?
He went to Harvard, too, but you know how Affirmative Action works--denying opportunities to the deserving in order to allow lesser qualified people unwarranted opportunities. That might work some places, but is it right for the White House? Then, instead of going out and getting an honest job and chasing the American Dream, he took a job with a church organization as a Community Organizer (a political activist, in a place like South Chicago). That seems to have thrown him into some pretty notorious company--wacky preachers, criminals elements, terrorists …
If nothing else, people say he is guilty by association, although the law says we are innocent until proven guilty. Really, Barack Obama is a pretty dangerous character. After all, he came from nowhere--born in outside the 48 states, a poor kid that had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to prepare school lessons; he only went to college by scholarships and working his way.
Its true, he did spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, 8 years as a State Senator representing a district of over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees. What kind of leadership experience is that?
He is the only candidate who stayed faithful to his only wife. They have a 20-year marriage, 2 beautiful little girls, and they model enviable family values. But, here is where I find Barack Obama such a dangerous threat to our American status quo. You know why? If I am any judge of character at all, this man believes deeply in the things that made this country great, and he dares to believe that every person deserves an equal opportunity at obtaining a share of the American Dream, that under God every individual has a right to life, liberty, and equal justice for all.
That threatens some people, but I will be proud with that kind of President! He will face challenging forces, and some failures, but I am convinced he will disturb the status quo of partisan politics, corruption, and racism, for here is a man, I believe, who has the common good of our country and its values deep in his soul of souls --a man with a faith in God that calls for walking the walk as well as talking the talk.
At least, he got my Absentee Ballot!
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