Racist or realist? Pointing out the emptiness of Barack Obama can lead to trouble

Last week I was condemned as a racist. A little surprising for me in that I'm often criticized for wanting to forgive almost all African debt, prosecute arms dealers who sell weapons to African nations and have North America and Europe launch a massive investment campaign into a continent we have raped for centuries.

But none of this matters because I dared to say in print and on radio and television that Barack Obama may well be an empty vessel and that his inauguration speech was shallow and jarringly rhetorical.

The bombardment of spiteful, threatening and misspelled e-mails hasn't stopped since.

I shouldn't be obliged to justify or prove that I am not a racist simply to expunge some vague accusation tossed by the irrational.

Indeed even defending oneself proves to the contemporary accuser that there is something to defend. About as unfair as the literacy test applied to potential black voters in the south in the 1950s: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"

Of course the protective firewall around the man is partly understandable. The iconic symbolism of an African American becoming president is not lost even on stupid white people. It's the culmination of the great journey from incarceration to triumph and -- important this -- it's seen as a collective achievement.

Now, however, a black politician is judged not more but less harshly because of his race, which surely is not only an attack on equality but patronizingly racist in itself. Race must not disqualify black people from office but cannot disqualify white people as critics.

On inauguration day Obama stood just yards away from George W. Bush and announced that for the first time the United States would come to the aid of the developing world.

It is acknowledged even by ideological liberals that Bush, one of those stupid white people, did more to help Africa and to fight malaria and AIDS than any other western leader has ever done.

MEANINGLESS HYPERBOLE

If irony and dishonesty were not enough, Obama completed his speech with meaningless hyperbole and dreamy gestures.

Here is the point. He played, has played and will play the part of the back pastor in the large gospel church. Volume, hope, rhymes and promises but often not much else. We know that when he first spoke to black audiences in Chicago the aspiring politician was told that he didn't sound "black enough," so he deliberately rehearsed the rhythms of black preachers.

There. Proves it. Coren is a racist. No, not at all. Pointing out differences is no more or less racist than not pointing them out. That there are such differences is not a fact that can be established or obscured by the character of the person who reveals them.

Obama's followers know this better than anyone, which is why they claim that race is now irrelevant while simultaneously playing the race card to trump any difficult hand offered by opponents.

Washington's foreign policy or economic stimulus package will not suddenly be inspiring merely because the president had a black father.

This will be a fascinating presidency. It may or may not be successful but only a fool or a coward would deny that it will be, well, colourful.

Obama learned that a long time ago and, even if some people pretend not to have heard it, has been saying it loud.

MICHAEL COREN - Toronto Sun

Comics... First Day Of School

Change For The Worse

His presidency isn't two weeks old, and already warning flags have gone up.

Obama is wallpapering his administration with lobbyists, installed a tax cheat to run the Treasury Department and is pushing Congress to pass a massive, wildly unaffordable "stimulus" bill loaded with pork and reckless spending that plunges Americans even deeper into debt.

Even worse, the bill every day looks more like 15 years of pent-up big-government liberalism than an economic "stimulus" plan.

Ever since his election, many Americans have wondered which Barack Obama would show up at the White House: the most liberal member of the Senate or the post-partisan bearer of change we could all believe in.

One thing is clear: His "stimulus" bill is not change we can believe in. It's a return to big-government welfare that we will choke on.

CHARLES HURT - NEW YORK POST

Obama: Heat as I say, Not as I Do

A piece in yesterday's New York Times featured a photo of an Oval Office meeting last week during which President Obama had removed his suit jacket. And while the Times was quick to point out how this break with centuries old tradition was a sign of a "more informal culture" under this new administration, they neglected to mention the glaring hypocrisy of the action.

You see, the reason the president --- and others -- were jacketless was simple: "Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat."

After all, it's freezing cold out there, and as White House senior advisor David Axelrod reminded us, "He's from Hawaii, O.K," adding that "He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there."

But the limousine liberal elitism didn't get past Steve Milloy at JunkScience.com, who wrote this morning:

Could this be the same Barack Obama who said last May that:

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say 'OK.' ... That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."

And could this be the same Barack Obama who is looking to sign a stimulus bill that would spend billions of dollars installing millions "smart meters" that would enable your power company to prevent you from being as comfortable as he is on hot and cold days?

While President Bambi is warm-and-toasty in the Oval Office, is he considering the plight of Michigan's Marvin Schur, a 93-year World War II veteran, who was recently found frozen to death courtesy of a malfunctioning electricity "limiter" device installed by his power company?


Granted, neither Obama's elitism nor the media's complicit actions are fresh concepts. Remember how hard they worked to dispel the image of a condescending elitist last April when then candidate Obama was caught on tape talking about bitter country folks and how "they cling to guns or religion?"

But now that he's joined the growing list of do as I say not as I do climate elitists, will they continue to provide cover as he signs energy legislation demanding the sacrifice of personal comfort by struggling Americans?

Particularly while seated in the luxurious tropical temperatures of the Oval Office?

Any guesses?

Marc Sheppard - American Thinker Blog

Obama Can't Find The Door?

Obama try's to enter the White House through a Window. The secret entrance to the White House, also known as a "Door", was located a few feet away.

Pledge of Allegiance Becomes Pledge to Obama

Published: January 27,2009

A parent in the Clark County School District of Las Vegas, Henderson area reported today that his son, who is in 1st grade, came home yesterday saying that he didn't want to go back to school anymore.

When asked why, the boy said that during the Pledge of Allegiance the teacher put up a large image of Obama next to the flag.

Thinking that the boy might be exaggerating, the man asked his son if he was sure, and suggested that by "large" he might mean an 8x10 photo of the president. The boy apparently said "No, it is a large picture of Obama and when we are done, the teacher turns off the image."

The same thing was not done for President Bush last year.

After investigating this morning, the other parent reported that what the boy said was true.

At least three of the five classrooms have an overhead projector and as the children stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the teacher turns on the classroom overhead and a full body image of Obama, with six U.S. flags behind him, comes up about 4 feet away from the flag that hangs on the wall. The screen is apparently around five feet by six feet.

In the image, President Obama appears to be staring straight out with no facial expression, just a serious look. All of the kids in each class faced the President, instead of the flag that hangs in the corner.

Local parents are up in arms over this situation. Teachers clearly do not realize the gravity of what they are doing.

By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze

Related:

Maybe this school should invest in some of these since apparently respect for America doesnt apply for Baroccoli supporters.

"The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature."

Suddenly Obama Has Muslim Roots

Politics | Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 8:40:33 am PST

In the National Post, Steven Edwards notes that suddenly it's fine for Barack Obama to mention his Muslim roots-when he talks to Al Arabiya.

During the U.S presidential campaign, Barack Obama's handlers vigourously pointed out his Christian faith whenever the misconception arose he may be Muslim (even though the politically correct response should have been his religion doesn't matter).

The handlers also roundly denounced any conservative commentator who might mention (mischievously, admittedly) his Arabic middle name, Hussein.

They charged that such usage was "fear mongering."

Once elected, however, he personally insisted on his middle name being spoken at his swearing-in ceremony.

And now - in a gesture to the Muslim world - he has not only granted the first sit-down interview of his presidency to a pan-Arab television network, but uses the occasion to gush about his Muslim ties.

"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries," Obama tells Hisham Melhem, the Washington bureau chief of Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, which is based in Dubai.

Indeed, Obama's Kenyan father, Barack Sr., was born into a Muslim family - though he became an atheist before arriving in Hawaii, where Obama Jr. was later born.

Obama also famously spent four years as a boy in Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim country.

All that's fine, except why was no one allowed to talk much about it before he snagged the Electoral College majority?

littlegreenfootballs.com

Comics

Obama hosting pricey party in a dicey economy

WASHINGTON – Unemployment is up. The stock market is down. Let's party.

The price tag for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration gala is expected to break records, with some estimates reaching as high as $150 million. Despite the bleak economy, however, Democrats who called on President George W. Bush to be frugal four years ago are issuing no such demands now that an inaugural weekend of rock concerts and star-studded parties has begun.

Obama's inaugural committee has raised more than $41 million to cover events ranging from a Philadelphia-to-Washington train ride to a megastar concert with Beyonce, U2 and Bruce Springsteen to 10 official inaugural balls. Add to that the massive costs of security and transportation — costs absorbed by U.S. taxpayers — and the historic inauguration will produce an equally historic bill.

In 2005, Reps. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Jim McDermott, D-Wash., asked Bush to show a little less pomp and be a little more circumspect at his party.

"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," the two lawmakers wrote in a letter. "During World War I, President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."

The thinking was that, with the nation at war, excessive celebration was inappropriate. Four years later, the nation is still at war. Unemployment has risen sharply. And Obama pressed Congress to release the second half of a $700 billion bailout package in hopes of rescuing a faltering banking industry.

Obama's inauguration committee says it is mindful of the times and is not worried people will see the four days of festivities as excessive.

"That is probably not the way the country is going to be looking at it," said committee spokeswoman Linda Douglass. "It is not a celebration of an election. It is a celebration of our common values."

Douglass said the campaign sought to keep costs down by having the same decorations at each of the 10 balls, eliminating floral arrangements and negotiating prices on food.

"Those at the Obama administration are trying to be reflective of the climate," McDermott's spokesman, Mike DeCeasar, said Saturday.

The festivities began Saturday with a speech at Philadelphia's historic 30th Street train as Obama's trip began.

Sunday's concert at the Lincoln Memorial includes performances by Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks and others. Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah will read historic passages. HBO paid $2.5 million for the exclusive rights to broadcast the concert.

Monday, the inaugural committee is hosting a national day of service, followed by three "bipartisan dinners" and a concert at the Verizon Center honoring military families. The Disney Channel will broadcast the concert, which includes performances by teen stars Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, as part of a $2 million deal that also gave ABC the exclusive rights to broadcast one inaugural ball.

The television deals allowed the committee to recoup about $5 million of the $15 million production costs for the televised events, Douglass said.

Security and transportation costs are being paid by taxpayers. And with millions of tourists expected to descend on Washington for Tuesday's inauguration ceremony, Bush declared a state of emergency, allowing the district to recover some costs for the event.

The inauguration committee is paying for 10 stadium-style screens to broadcast the inauguration ceremony on the National Mall. It is also hiring garbage and recycling services and renting thousands of portable toilets for what one supplier called "the largest temporary restroom event in the history of the United States."

Obama has pledged transparency in his inauguration fundraising. He has disclosed inaugural donors as the fundraising continued, though he is not required to do so until after the ceremony.

Many of the fundraisers are well-known moneymen and women in Democratic circles. Those leading the list raised at least $300,000. They include two of Obama's top campaign fundraisers: Louis Susman, who retired this month as vice chairman of banking giant and government bailout recipient Citigroup, and billionaire Hyatt hotel heiress Penny Pritzker.

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer