by Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Director
It is clear the dominant media is attempting to inject race into the discussion over President Barack Obama's political agenda. I find it interesting the mainstream media never applies the same standards to those who oppose African-Americans on the political right.
For example, during U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas' contentious confirmation process he was called everything from an unqualified jurist to a sexual predator. Yet the left faced no charges regarding racist motivations concerning their verbal assaults on Thomas. Other victims of vicious attacks from liberals include Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and current Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele. In Rice's case, political cartoons often portrayed her as an Aunt Jemima-type character. The depictions were clearly racist and over the top. Steele is called an Uncle Tom by those on the left and the media give his attackers a pass as well.
Many Americans celebrated the fact Obama was the first African-American president elected into office. Though Obama himself claimed America was a post-racial society, he played to the issue of race when it served him best. Imagine if George W. Bush was referred to as the 43rd white American president. Of course, this would have been inappropriate. Barack Obama is President of the United States and nothing more.
To say the critics of "President" Barack Obama's policies are racist would deny the results of the election. Millions of white Americans voted for Obama. In fact, more whites voted for Obama than John Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000. The far left uses the race card when things aren't going their way. Perhaps the laundry list of Obama's policies--which flirt with socialism--is the reason why the same people who voted for him now question his leadership.
Multi-billion dollar bail-outs of the banking industry, the government takeover of the auto industry, a government plan to take over one-sixth of the U.S. economy related to health care reform, card check, comprehensive immigration reform, homosexuals in the military and the assault on the innocent unborn are all parts of Obama's plan for America. If Obama were white and advancing this radical political agenda, he would be facing the same resistance from those in the conservative media and Americans themselves.
However, it is almost a natural progression to go from celebrating a president because of his skin color to defending him for the same reason. It is not only flawed thinking, it is dangerous. But Democrats don't care about race relations in the United States. They give the cause of racial harmony lip service, but use the issue of race to divide the country when it serves them best.
Barack Obama could stop this liberal strategy, if he wanted to. He could strongly state that anyone who tries to use race to gain political advantage in America is not a patriot.
I don't expect Obama to do any such thing in the future. There are racists in America of all colors. Yet Obama continually refers to his heritage which makes it impossible for anyone to forget he's a black president, not simply the president.
It is Obama's policies which are generating the heated rhetoric surrounding his presidency. Americans are hard-working, independent people. We celebrate a legacy handed down to us from our nation's Founders. Obama's "hope and change" turned out to be a direct assault on the principles which made this nation great. That is the reason for heated Town Hall meetings, exuberant Tea Parties and why millions gathered in Washington, D.C. a short time ago.
The left is trying to give cover to policies the American people are rejecting in greater numbers every day by injecting race into the issue. Sadly, they may achieve their goals and set America back twenty years or more regarding which seemed to be a fading remnant of the past.
Anyone wishing to receive RFFM.org e-mails should contact: Dan@rffm.org
NOTE: Comments to RFFM.org's blog which include ad hominems or personal attack will automatically be rejected. No hyperlinks allowed
Comments