“No, I did not hear Barack Obama’s speech because I was not watching the Democratic Convention,” I said to the third person of the morning who asked me that question.
What in the world did he say that was so important? I decided to read the much-hailed speech of the U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois to find out what all the hype is about. If Jack Ryan hadn’t been so freaky, no one would even know who Barack Obama was.
After reading some background on Obama’s “American story” as the son of an interracial couple, a fatherless childhood, his implication that “Bush lied” and his praise of John Kerry, I don’t get it. USAToday gushes:
Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois, spoke of how “my story is part of the larger American story” and how his parents gave him a first name that means ” ‘blessed,’ believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success….”
Obama drew roars of approval from the convention floor, declaring that people don’t expect government to solve all their problems but sometimes do need help: “They sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all.”
So what’s new?
We all want our kids to have a decent shot in life. The question is who is responsible for giving it to them? As I continued reading the speech, I found myself agreeing with some of it. Sounding as though he were reading a speech written by a conservative, Obama said:
The people I meet in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks, they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the Pentagon.
Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. No, people don’t expect government to solve all their problems.
Can you hear a “but…” coming? The “but” is that we sometimes need help. That’s also true, but again, who is responsible for helping? Obama has the answer! With keen insight and a fresh approach, he says:
Our party has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. That man is John Kerry….John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded. So instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he’ll offer them to companies creating jobs here at home. John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves.
*Yawn*
John Kerry, the same guy who pits one class and race against another and runs his whole campaign on “tax cuts for the rich” and “corporate greed” wants to give companies a tax break? That’s new. At the same time, he wants to adopt a socialist medicine scheme, so that no matter what kind of job we have or how much money we make, or whether we even have a job, we get paid-for-by-someone-else health care. That’s old. What else did Obama speechify about?
John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren’t held hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage of foreign oil fields. John Kerry believes in the constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties nor use faith as a wedge to divide us. And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world, war must be an option, but it should never be the first option.
Kerry the tax-and-spend elitist believes in hard work? OK, I have to agree. Kerry does believe in hard work. Yours. It’s called redistribution of wealth.
Kerry believes in constitutional freedoms, too? The Second Amendment? The Fourteenth? He believes that the Constitution permits race discrimination, which it forbids, and that it confers a right of privacy on women to kill their babies, which it does not. I wish Obama had been more specific as to which “freedoms” his boss…er…his friend Kerry supports. Let’s see if he’ll enlighten us:
Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America-there’s the United States of America.
There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.
Nope, I guess he won’t. While I share in Obama’s lament about diviseness among us, it’s inevitable. There are Christ followers and pagans; there are those who believe it’s still 1963, Birmingham, Alabama-style, and others who know they can go wherever they want to go and do whatever they want to do if they work hard enough. And on and on.
Our beliefs divide us, and that’s the way it should be. I have nothing in common with those who hate God, and they have nothing in common with me, who loves God.
My conclusion won’t surprise you. Obama is a liberal who doesn’t want to be called a liberal, just like all liberals. There’s nothing new here to see, people. Relative youth and freshness don’t change the fact that socialism and racial divisiveness by any other names are still socialism and racial divisiveness. I predict the Democrats will use the “articulate” Barack Obama for all he’s worth, then push him to the back of the room as they did with Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.
While Obama’s “riding the wave” to political office, I wish him well.
