Some have called him too willing to veer to the left, and thereby scaring voters. Some have called him too timid, thereby disheartening his base.
I personally am in the corner of those in the black community, who for some reason, haven't been talked to by the media throughout the majority of Obama's first two years. In other words, you really didn't think there wouldn't be some type of backlash to the election to the first black man to the office of the Presidency did you?
Granted, I'm not basing all of Obama's problems on this but I have a problem with the tendency of the pundits to downplay this. One cannot ignore the influence of Fox News with their Iagoistic implying and inferring that Obama is a "socialist" or that "he wants to destroy the United States" or that he is the "dangerous other." That, combined with their unbelievable promotion of the tea party (I have never seen a true grassroots movement get such intense network promotion), aiding Breitbart in undermining Obama, the constant showcasing of phony racial issues (New Black Panther Party, anyone), unabashed promotion of Republican candidates, not to mention that awful Supreme Court ruling which led to an assload of money infused in this campaign (which in turn pumped up the tea party movement as well as many hidden anti-Obama efforts) all added up to an advantage that Superman himself couldn't overcome.
To those who claim that I am playing the race card, I like to cite that fable of the lion and man walking down the road and arguing whether men or lions are more superior. They came upon a statue of a man strangling a lion, causing the man to say ,"See this proves my point. Men are stronger than lions."
The lion simply looked at him and said "That doesn't prove anything except for the fact that lions don't make statues."
It's all about perception folks and who controls that perception. To the majority of white commentators, when they hear things said about Obama such as "he wants to give money away to people who don't work." or when Rush Limbaugh consistently calls him a "man-child," which is the same to me as using the racial slur of "boy" only in more esoteric terms, they don't get what the African-American community gets. We have heard all of it before, not about Obama, but about ourselves. But of course no one is going to talk to us about how we see this situation. And if by chance our comments are gauged, they will be dismissed as us "playing the race card."
I think that in spite of it all, Obama has done a lot of good things and it's unfortunate that should this election turn out as a sort of referendum on him, it would be something that he doesn't deserve. Seems to me that in spite of all the criticisms of Obama, if he had all of these folks working hard against him from day one, he is obviously doing something right, or for the lack of a better phrase, scaring the right people.
Oh well, time passes on. Like the gospel song says, this too will pass. The ending of this story has already been written. The challenge is to see what happens next.
But enough harping. On to news briefs:
Ugandan Tabloid Resumes Anti-Gay Vigilante Campaign - Well this isn't good. It's been a stinky day all around and it's not even 1 p.m. yet.
NC: Local safe schools advocates push for anti-gay incumbent ouster - But not a totally bad day.
St. George school board race targets gay-straight clubs - Oh sure. Pick on lgbt children.
Assistant AG Shirvell's anti-gay rants could cost him license - Too bad. So sad.
My views on sex ed aren't anti-gay - Oh no. You just think that only gays have anal sex and all the sex gays have is anal. Of course that's not anti-gay (eyes rolling.)
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