What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list.
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does.
It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899.
Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester. North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study. University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism. Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester. University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism.
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.
You make the call.
There has to be a reason that, in spite of the above, we are where we are today.
Of course, there is a generous dosage of country-wide stupidity, too.
8 comments:
I was wondering when the "racism" card was going to be pulled. It's a shame when someone stoops to that level.
This is a powerful and a very sad statement of our true reality in the US. Racism is alive and well and tainting our ability to select outstanding leaders.
If it just so happens that Obama does not win this election, I am not looking forward to the constant, "It's because he's black!" comments. It's 2008...can we look beyond the color of someones skin? Or does that always have to be an issue? Racism is alive. But why is it assumed that because of someones race, that's the only reason people won't be voting for them?
Obama will win the election because he is focusing on the issues that are most important to Americans and basically running a consistently more focused campaign. It will be in spite of his color.
To answer your question about whether or not "people" will vote for someone because of their skin color, maybe you should see today's headlines: "McCain Supporter Attacked, 'B' Carved Into Her Face."
The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.
Interesting. Well, it turns out that 20-year old McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd made up the story. Todd admitted to scratching the backward "B" onto her right cheek and making up a story about being attacked by a mugger outside an ATM.
Depressing.
He's focusing on issues that are important to SOME Americans, not all.
I did see that headline, thank you. Depressing that she obviously wasn't all there, considering she was thought to be mentally unstable and was taken in to be evaluated.
I thought it was interesting that this story appeared this morning...
"A new national survey suggests that race won't be a major factor in the outcome of the presidential election.
Seven out of 10 -- or 70 percent -- of Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Survey released Friday said the race of the candidates will not be a factor in their vote for president this year."
It's good to see that not everybody thinks that racism will "[taint] our ability to select outstanding leaders".
I don't think that anybody's race should be a factor. The reason why I already voted for Barack Obama is because he is the best candidate, in my opinion. And it is also my opinion that he is focusing on issues that are important to all Americans. Not some. But that's just my opinion.
Here's another poll: Obama well ahead nationally, tied in Ohio
By The Associated Press – (9am PST, 10/25/08)
NATIONAL
THE POLL: Newsweek poll, national presidential race among registered voters nationwide.
THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 53 percent, John McCain 40 percent.
OF INTEREST: Obama's lead is as strong among likely voters, 53-41. Obama appears to be consolidating his support across demographic groups, leading in every age group and among men as well as women. In a reversal from April, when McCain led Obama among working-class whites 53-35, the poll found Obama with 46 percent to McCain's 44 percent. The survey also found that 62 percent now say they have a favorable view of Obama, versus 32 percent who have an unfavorable view.
DETAILS: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from Oct. 22-23 by telephone with 1,204 adults and 1,092 registered voters. Sampling error margin plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for all adults and 3.6 percentage points for registered voters.
Thankfully, in this free country, we can all have different opinions and voice those opinions.
And I'm not concerned about the polls. I'll wait and see the results on November 5th.
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