Convention. It read as follows:
“ONCE YOU VOTE BLACK, YOU NEVER GO BACK”
Can you imagine the Republicans allowing anything like this? Not a chance. The GOP would instantly remove anyone selling or wearing such offensive messaging, regardless of what race it preferred.
But then, our candidate—Mitt Romney—doesn’t endorse racism. Does Obama? Ummm….well….truth be told….”endorse” is TOO WEAK A TERM. “Embrace” would be more appropriate. In word and deed, President Obama has pushed bigotry on a scale not seen in the White House for generations.
To understand how racist buttons could be openly displayed at Obama’s latest coronation, I’ll review and comment on some items from his past and present. I’ve mentioned these before:
1. After terrible statements by his pastor, Barack Obama said, “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
Really? Suppose Mitt Romney’s pastor said terrible things. If Mitt said, “I can no more disown him than I can disown the white community,” how would that sound?
2. Referring to rural voters, Barack Obama said,“They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.”
Really? They’re gun-toting, Bible-thumping bigots? Who is stereotyping—them, or Obama?
3. After admitting he didn’t know the facts of the case, President Obama still assumed the Cambridge police “acted stupidly”in arresting a black professor, and he then decided this was a good time to discuss police officers
stopping people of color “disproportionately.”
Really? Are these helpful things to say—especially in light of how the story changed afterward?
4. President Obama gave us a Supreme Court Justice who actually said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Seriously? Notice, she didn’t just praise wise Latina women. She singled out white males—and Barack Obama chose her to judge over us.
5. President Obama also gave us Attorney General Eric Holder, who, after inexplicably failing to prosecute an open and shut case of voter intimidation by the Black Panthers, actually referred to African-Americans as “my people.”
Seriously? Should the head of American law enforcement see people of one race as “his people”? Should he look away when “his people” commit blatant federal crimes?
6. And finally, after the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, President Obama felt it necessary to say, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
Again, seriously? What if Mitt Romney were to say this of a white boy who had just died at the hands of a person of color? Can anyone fail to see how divisive this is?
Earth to President Obama: ALL people are precious, and ALL children are miracles. No exceptions. Pushing one form of racism is no better than pushing another, since doing so only fosters division, bitterness, and mistrust for future generations. It teaches hate. Elevating the war, ANY picking of favorites—especially when done by our leader—lays a terrible foundation for America’s children.
In his statements and appointments, President Obama divides people based on race, and empowers others to do the same. Do I think this makes him a bad person? Hard to say; but he’s a terribly unenlightened one. He’s
the kind of person who allows racist buttons at his Convention.
In closing, as I’ve often said, ALL bigotry is liberal, since ALL bigotry requires evaluating people as members of groups—not as individuals. Thus, Collectivism is the very lifeblood of bigotry. Obsessing over groups and quotas, Collectivist Liberals measure society by what groups get what, while Conservatives stress individual merit and responsibility. Liberals focus on group warfare—be it class, race, gender, age—while Conservatives focus on personal character and competence.
The two are worlds apart.
And now, deciding which world America becomes after this election is simple: Just look at a button. Look at one candidate who feels no inner conflict when empowering such a button, versus another who would demand the removal of anyone wearing it—or anything like it.
Just look at that button, and choose which vision will lead our nation; and our children. If it helps, consider this final thought:
Would you want your children to wear that button?