Regardless of Who Wins, Race Relations Will Suffer

Here we are on the final day of a race that literally began on January 21, 2005. Back then, it looked as though it was Hillary's race to lose with her competition being perhaps John Edwards or Al Gore.

As the race started heating up, before the Iowa Caucuses, we saw the advent of a new campaign strategy, one which had never been used and the playbook showed no defense against it: the Race Card. Many of us had toughened our skin for the expected incoming volley of "sexism!" hurled our way by the Hillary acolytes.We expected to be portrayed as the biggest misogynist's since Dabney Coleman in the movie 9 to 5.

Then something interesting happened, Obama started playing the race card against Hillary, at first subtly and always through proxies, but later in a more overt fashion. Hillary soon found out that the sexism card was a king but the racism card was an ace. They accused Bill Clinton of racism and then leveled their attacks at the rest of the campaign. Hill's campaign withered under the barrage and Hillary was cast aside like an old pair of sneakers. Not even a VP nod.

Then came the general election and the race card was not held in check for a crucial moment but was used daily against McCain. Question Obama about Rev. Wright? You were racist. Question him about Tony Rezko? You were a racist. William Ayers, Father Pflegel, ACORN? Racist, racist, racist! Those Obama associates you brought up concerns about need not be black, oh no, just the fact that you would question the ascension of The One was enough to brand you with the new scarlet letter--a huge "R". The racial dynamic so skillfully played by Obama to gain the votes and the way he played on our past racial history was brilliantly devious.

Now here we are on the cusp of electing the first black man as President. His supporters pledge that we will be unified because we have overcome our prejudices to vote him in. They fail to see that there is one half of this great nation that will not support Obama. They are sick of being called racist because they didn't agree with the policies of the man. The fact that they supported McCain had absolutely nothing to do with race didn't matter, the race card was a means to an end for the Obama people and they used it like a hammer.

We've seen several pieces written about what would happen if McCain were to win but we've seen none about the harm in an Obama win. The media has bought into the unity garbage when in reality we will be more partisan than ever before. I for one don't appreciate being labeled racist for every criticism and then be expected to exult when Obama wins, it just doesn't work that way. I'll wear that "R" with pride because I know I'm not racist and the only things I'm prejudiced against are horrible policies that will harm this nation. So, I guess you can say I am prejudiced against Obama in a way.

If Obama wins tonight, the media will undoubtedly follow the meme that we are all one again and America's standing in the world will be greater. They will fall in line and we'll see stories about seas stabilizing and Red Sox and Yankee fans in a new harmony, hugging and singing together. But the media, in their rush to portray the world as cured, will miss the big story: That half this country will not support Barack Obama regardless of what the Spanish, Venezuelans or Gazans say. We were maligned as bigots and worse for no other reason than political expediency.

Obama, by playing the race card, has set back race relations in this country by twenty years. By screaming racism constantly, he cheapened the definition and thereby lessened the impact when true racism raises its ugly head. Liberals have always said that we need to have a discussion about race in America and indeed, we just had it. It was one side screaming that the other was bigoted and the other cringing every time it was said to them. It was America getting a peak into the churches of hate and being horrified that a preacher would scream "God damn America!" or "AmeriKKKa!" from the pulpit. It's 95% of African-Americans voting for Obama and the media saying nothing whereby if 95% of whites were to do so for McCain they would be screaming that whites are racist.

If McCain wins, there will be chaos for certain. The calls of racism from within and without this country will be staggering. For certain, we will face the greatest racial divide since the 1940's with African-Americans opting out of the voting process for a decade.

Alas, regardless of the outcome,we will be more polarized after tonight than we will be unified and we have only Barack Obama and the media to blame for that. Not only polarized left vs. right but polarized by race, a sad period I believed was tossed in the dust bin of history.

2nd Debate Preview

Expect fireworks.

McCain has two more shots but this is the one to change the momentum. With the way things are trending, it's mucho important

How will the Maverick play it? If he goes with the talking points Maverick, probably not so good. Should he opt for the take no prisoners, get down and dirty Maverick, he could put The One on the defensive and turn him into a stuttering fool like he has a tendency to do sans teleprompter so it could be an enjoyable evening. I foresee a free-flowing debate in which the MSM will immediately declare The Messiah the winner but the public may see it differently. I also foresee McCain playing the Ayers/Wright/Fannie Mae card in which case I see the MSM calling it for Obama and saying McCain was mean, grumpy, surly or racist (or maybe a composite of all four).

Either way, The Maverick has to come out swinging and ready to take Obama down a few pegs. Take it to him from the opening bell and not let up for the duration. Yes, it could backfire, but as I noted earlier, these issues I mentioned above are new to those who have been living life and not reading blogs daily so if McCain hammers it home, it could be a game changer.

Palin Finally Takes the Gloves Off

Sarah Palin should have been unleashed weeks ago but the McCain campaign bigwigs held her under wraps. They've taken the high road for the majority of the campaign but now know that's just not working.

This weekend began the nasty part of the campaign and the 'Cuda went for the jugular:

Sarah Palin defended her claim that Barack Obama "pals around with terrorists," saying the Democratic presidential nominee's association with a 1960s radical is an issue that is "fair to talk about."

Obama has denounced the radical views and actions of Bill Ayers, a founder of the violent Weather Underground group during the Vietnam era. On Sunday, Obama dismissed the criticism from the McCain campaign, leveled by Palin, as "smears" meant to distract voters from real problems such as the troubled economy.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, launched the attack Saturday and repeated it Sunday, signaling a new strategy by John McCain's presidential campaign to go after Obama's character.

That should be Obama's lack of character but I digress. Note the headline, Palin doesn't have to defend any comments, she made them, they're true, case closed. Charles has more here.

The door is now open, Obama has indicated that he will go after McCain on the Keating 5 scandal so he is now open for attacks that spotlight: Jeremiah Wright, Father Pfleger, Fannie Mae, Tony Rezko and the myriad other shady scandals The One has been associated with. It seems like McCain has a lot more to work with than does Obama. Keating 5 versus Rezko, Wright and Ayers? I like the Maverick's chances with that.

Using Palin for this is a good strategy, she can call out Obama for his association with Ayers but do it with a twinkle in her eye and without sounding shrill like Hillary, a nice talent. The media were forced to respond this weekend but in true MSM fashion wrote it off as no big deal. When the possible next President of the US has a known friendship with a man who bombed the Pentagon and police stations and is unrepentant, it's a big deal even if they don't think so.

The Wright story has been widely reported but that was during the primaries and most people were paying little attention. Bring it out and hammer it daily, especially Wright's "God damn America!" outburst. Make the Rezko story the subject of an entire speech explaining exactly what the issues are.

McCain is in trouble due to a poor campaign to this point. With twenty nine days left, it's crunch time and it's time for serious hardball. Get ready, the race card is about to be whipped out as often as possible as that is Obama's only defense, but it won't affect the 'Cuda. Palin has withstood a media beating that would rival Balboa in the first Rocky. Still she gets up and fights throwing haymakers and keeping Apollo Obama on the ropes.

I'm not sure McCain has the heart to hang but I know that Palin's spine is steely.

Update: The entire devastating Hannity show on Obama's oily associations aired last night on Fox News can be found at You Tube.

Update: Nothing to see here, move along...

Update: More of this please:

Rev. Wright: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

It's been awhile since we've checked in with the good Rev. Wright. Once Obama kicked him to the curb, he seems to have toned things down a bit.

Well, I guess his Obama-imposed timeout is over:

"This ordinary boy [Obama] just might be the first president in the history of the United States to have a black woman sleeping at 1600 Pennsylvania legally," Wright said, referring to Michelle Obama, in a sermon at the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston.

Nothing new here but it's good to have the Rev. Wright albatross back around Obama's neck. I'm sure the Man of God will receive a phone call from The One telling him to stow it and go back into exile because he's just not helping the situation. The same fiery racial rhetoric from our buddy continues unabated showing that all this post-racial talk is garbage.

Also, Wright explains that Obama is not such a hope and change guy after all, he's just another politically expedient politician:

Wright also accused Obama of posturing in his criticism of Wright's sermons, saying, "If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."

Thanks for so eloquently putting in to words what we on the right have been saying for months. Maybe the Obama supporters will see that he's no different than Bill Clinton with respect to his campaign strategy.

Obama's Brother and US Jobs

We have our latest candidate in the non-stop Getting Thrown Under the Bus By Obama game. Who is our latest candidate? Well, none other than Obama's half-brother:

Mark Ndesandjo is the son of Barack Obama’s late father and his third wife, an American woman named Ruth Nidesand who runs the up-market Maduri kindergarten in Nairobi.

Obama, however, refers to him simply as “my brother” and says he was the only uncontested heir after their father, a Kenyan, died in a car crash in 1982.

And what does this gentleman do for a living?

The company’s Chinese-language website promises “increased communication efficiency” to clients and lists Shenzhen exporters of electronics and machine parts among its contracts.

Mr. Ndesandjo says that he is not in business anymore but he must be doing something to live in one of the most opulent cities in China. China's number one source of currency is exports of products manufactured in government-subsidized sweatshops. Many of those exports go to the US where companies can't even hope to compete with the low labor costs and lack of safety standards. In other words, Obama's brother is part of the export business that costs Americans jobs and reduces the standard of living for many Americans.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for businesses prospering but not the way the Chinese have. They play by different rules than anywhere else in the world and have an unfair advantage because of it. Barack Obama has made it a cornerstone of his campaign to help the lower and middle classes of this nation while at the same time a family member is profiting from doing the exact opposite. Again, I'm a fan of capitalist enterprise but this seems like an inconvenient fact that should have been revealed but was not even researched apparently by an American media in the tank for the Senator from Illinois.

Look for Mr. Ndesandjo to join Senator Obama's grandmother, Reverend Wright, Father Pflegel, possibly John Edwards the numerous others who have become an inconvenience to him under the bus.

AP Head Calls Osama Obama, Obama Whines

There's is nothing more pathetic than listening to a guy who has had the most fawning press coverage of any candidate in living memory bitch and moan about bad press coverage:

...Dean Singleton, board chair of the Associated Press and a longtime newspaper executive, asked Obama about the possibility of shifting troops into Afghanistan to fight against the al Qaeda leader.

"Can you imagine shifting a substantial number of Afghanistan -- a substantial number to Afghanistan where the Taliban has been gaining strength and Obama Bin Laden is still at large?" Singleton asked

Obama, clearly a bit agitated, quickly interrupted him, “I think that was Osama bin Laden,” the Democratic candidate said, and then took a big gulp of water from the glass next to the podium.

Singleton quickly apologized.

"If I did that I'm so sorry," he said.

“No, no, no, this is part of the -– part of the exercises that I’ve been going though over the last fifteen months,” Obama said, “Which is why it’s pretty impressive that I’m standing here.”

The only reason Obama is standing where he is is because the media has been incredibly soft with him. Has they actually done their jobs and delved into the Jeremiah (God damn America) Wright story a year ago or done an expose on his relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers--a man who blew up numerous buildings and said he'd do it again--he would not be in the place he is today.

If whining about every single bad item written about himself is a new tactic, maybe he ought to just skip it and go right for the Hillary sob, it'll make him seem like more of a man than theincessant moaning he's currently doing.

As an aside, when the board chair of the biased Associated Press makes that mistake in front of the candidate and the media give him a pass, I expect the next time a Republican does it, he'll get a pass as well. That was a joke.

Update: Yeah, I would say this about sums it up.

More Proof Hillary Campaign Poorly Run

Hillary planned on using the Jeremiah Wright scandal for political benefit. So much for that as a picture says a thousands words:

Photo courtesy of Politico who is all over this campaign.

How could the Shrillary camp not know this photo existed and if they did, how could they continue on with their strategy?

Hillary has some momentum going into PA and NC and should she win both would be in a position to execute her proposed coup of the nomination. Pathetic screw-ups like this will rob us Republicans of seeing a convention where they'll be fist fights, tear gas and general mayhem.

Please Hillary, get you act together and make the Superdelegates decide this (preferably in your favor) and let's get on with the summertime anarchy in Denver. Please shape up so we can ensure the demise of the Democratic party for years to come.

Note the smug look on Slick Willy's face in the pic.

Obama Scores on Speech

I tend to be in the minority (well, at least for people not named Andrew Sullivan) and to be honest, I haven't watched the entire speech but I've read it and it's pure genius. I don't know who wrote it but it may just have won Obama the nomination and maybe even the Oval Office. Note: The video of the speech is at the bottom of the Drudge link.

He needed a homer and hit--maybe not quite a grand slam--but a two run shot to take the lead. He turned the tables and was conciliatory--his hallmarks. He didn't take the politically expedient route of throwing Rev. Wright under the bus but did say he didn't agree with the man's more bigoted and divisive statements. The Wright issue will remain but Obama took most of the sting out.

We'll wait and see just how many people watched it and how many people had their minds changed or at least put at ease. The polling numbers should be interesting.

To conclude, the speech was pure theater and the Obama camp deserves kudos for the spectacle. While he didn't adequately address his continued affiliation with the church, he did gloss it over enough to retain the votes of those who were wavering.

Update: For the record, I'm not saying Obama said or did anything extraordinary. He didn't nearly anwer the important questions. I am saying that he did indeed do enough to win over those who were second-guessing themselves. That was the target audience and he probably made them feel good enough listening to this drivel that they feel OK supporting him.

Philly Pastor: "Wright...Prophetic"

Pathetic is more like it but it seems that hate speech is essentially standard for black preachers:

"I look at Rev. White (sic) as controversial but prophetic," the Rev. G. Daniel Jones said. "He is informed and he informs. He is a religious analyst coming out of the biblical tradition who denounces social ills and warns people on how to become more just and more humane."

Jones is pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Germantown, Wright's spiritual home when he was growing up in Philadelphia.

Wright's father served as pastor there from 1938 to 1980. His portrait hangs in the entryway, above a plaque commemorating the church's centennial in 1992. The family was beloved by many in the congregation, and Wright Jr. returns annually to give a guest sermon.

..."We have been a very oppressive society since the writing of the Constitution," said Jones, now in his 26th year as pastor. Rather than take Wright's words literally, he believes the public should explore their deeper meaning.

"I think he's saying we're not the ideal society," Jones said. "There are some social ills that can be connected with white America. The facts are the facts."

Obama describes himself as a uniter but the church he frequents and one his former preacher guests at are dividers.

Let's look at the deeper meaning as Rev, Jones recommends. According to what I've read he surmises and preaches the following:

• White people are responsible for all black ills;
• White Presidents introduced HIV and crack into black neighborhoods;
• We deserved to watch 3,000 die on Sept. 11;
• The nation is still polarized extensively;
• Israel is a terrorist state;

Does that about sum it up for the deeper meaning, Rev?

Obama has his hands full today and he'll need to hit a homer to regain the traction he had a couple of weeks ago. Note he's speaking at the National Constitution Center and not a church and note that it will be covered by more media than the Super Bowl (TM).