Brain Lemon

Like most people, I try to give others the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.  In the realm of politics and public policy, this means assuming that everyone, even your opponents, in their hearts wishes the best for the country, and wishes to find solutions to our problems.  While this may be true of many, if not most, I'm finding that things become a lot simpler and clearer when I accept that this is NOT the case for some.

Take the energy crisis for example.  It is a complex problem, but anyone with a few brain cells left understands that if we wish to bring down oil prices and reduce dependence on foreign supplies, that the logical thing to do is to increase the amount we produce domestically.  We have vast amounts of oil we cannot currently explore, and we could be considered the Saudi Arabia of coal.  We can produce vast amounts of electricity right now using nuclear power, instead of waiting for some miraculous "alternative" source that could be decades away.  But yet instead of taking this obvious steps, our leaders not only don't do them – they do things that are going to make it far worse.  They propose windfall profits taxes, list the polar bear as endangered, threaten to sue OPEC, and stop any efforts to increase our own production or refining capacity.

It is clear, then, that one can no longer look at this behavior and honestly say that these are simply good-natured fools making poor decisions.  The solutions are too obvious, the pitfalls too plain, the will of the people so manifest that our leaders cannot possibly be that stupid (and they can be pretty darn stupid).  They simply do not want to solve the problem, and in fact many wish it to get worse.  Why this is the case is not totally clear sometimes, but I feel it is the only logical explanation.  I will expand on this theme further, as it applies to liberals and politicians in general, in future writings.

The Reverend Wright scandal continues to reveal crucial things about Barack Obama.  These are evident not only in his choice to attend Wright’s church for 20 years, but also in his present actions and responses to the issue.

One cannot be blamed for asking why Obama went to this church.  I believe most people are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  We don’t think he really agrees with what Wright stands for, because we are willing to assume the Obama is not a vicious racist.  I still believe he is not, but that the truth about Obama’s church attendance is not exactly praiseworthy.

I believe that Obama originally attended the church for primarily political reasons.  He wanted to rise in politics, and being a half-white, Harvard-educated Hawaii native, he needed to establish "street cred" with the people of Chicago and blacks in general.  He saw Wright’s church as a large, influential part of the community and joined it thinking it would help him politically.  The fact that the pastor of the church was the most vile type of racist wasn’t really a concern to Obama.

If that were just it, it would be bad enough that Obama chose a radical church for political reasons.  But going to the church for 20 years and becoming friends with Rev. Wright shows just how far he was willing to go to "relate" to the community.  I’ll give him a break since he was not raised in a typical black household, so perhaps he believed that the ideas preached at Trinity UCC were typical.  Perhaps he agreed with them on some level – we know very well his wife does.   I for one am bothered by Obama’s closeness to Wright.  Obama considered
him a spiritual advisor and even prayed with him before his candidacy
announcement.  But in any case, Obama’s willingness to associate with Wright show at the very least incredibly poor judgment and great political ambition.

Obama’s case has been further hurt by his actions after Rev. Wright’s hate came to light.  At first, Obama refused to denounce Wright, comparing him to a "crazy uncle" and claiming that his ideas were understandable in the black church context.  Obama made it clear he did not agree with Wright’s most egregious claims and I tend to believe him.  But he demonstrated clearly he did not truly understand how offensive the rhetoric was to people.  He showed a disturbing willingness to condone and forgive racism.

But even more disturbing is Obama’s reaction after Wright’s performance at the NAACP rally and the National Press Club.  Obama acted as if it was the first time he heard the racist claims, as if we are to believe he went to the church for 20 years and had no idea who Wright was.  If this is true it demonstrates an incredible level of poor judgment and ignorance.

The truth is that Obama was not really surprised by what Wright said.  The only difference was that now, Wright started to go after Obama.  He claimed that Barack’s previous speech was "political posturing."  This, apparently, made Obama finally understand Wright’s racism.  In fact, it demonstrates Obama to be nothing more than a typical, selfish politician who is willing to excuse almost anything until he or his campaign come under fire.  The most offensive part of Wright’s performance, according to Obama, was that "he didn’t care about me or my campaign."  That’s what it comes down too, really – Wright suddenly became a political enemy.

Obama then is revealed to be a most unimpressive, typical politician.  He’s willing to associate with bad people (Wright, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko) for political reasons.  He’s willing to condone the most vile racism until it becomes politically untenable.  He has repeatedly lied about his relationships, or at the very least made some pretty unbelievable claims (ie, being at Wright’s church and having no clue of his beliefs).  Obama is nothing more than the latest far-left, angry grievance candidate who brings nothing new to the political scene except for a very checkered past and some very poor choices.