Posted on 07/19/2004 5:04:30 PM PDT by flowerjoyfun
Hi marron and A-G! I have the same reaction as Alamo-Girl, marron: I just don't know what to make of Obama. For me, the Dem Convention has been like a trip through the hall of mirrors at the fun house. The fact that Obama is reciting GOP themes just doesn't "feel legit" some how. It seems something doesn't quite add up here.
For example, Obama holds himself forth as a devoutly committed Christian. Then the next thing he does is to assert the need for a total "wall of separation" between church and state. Coming from an African-American, this seems rather strange -- for political sermons are a staple of the black community church. Not to mention that Obama's soon-to-be congressional colleague -- the Reverend Congressman Meeks of Illinois, is -- like so many other black political figures, a man of the cloth (e.g., Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton).
If Obama's purpose the other night was to rally the African-American community, IMO he's picked a rather strange message to do it. Or so it seems to me.
Unless...the DNC leadership is putting up "an opportunity-oriented" black politician to counter President Bush's well-received message to the Urban League last week.... The president may have given NAACP a pass; but he definitely was "ready for prime time" at the Urban League's convention.
It would be easier for me to believe that Obama has shaped his message to conform with the "reinvention" of the Democrat Party, which seems to be what this convention is all about, rather than someone whose evocation of GOP policy themes can reform a political party that has gone hard left. I assume that Obama is himself a progressive, but is innoculating himself against being seen as such by uncommitted voters. But maybe I'm being too cynical here!
Certainly it is remarkable that the DNC seems to building a hagiography around this man. One wonders why....
FWIW....
I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. It is clear that his message is out of step with the DNC we all know and love, which is why whether he is sincere or not, you are right, this is part of the "reinvention" they are engaging in. Oh, hey, the DNC is pro-war this week, too.
Obama ought to become a Republican if he truly believes everything he said. If he didn't mean what he said, then he could be a very dangerous politician in years to come.
"Truth in labeling" is always preferred! Why some politicians think they gain advantage from deliberately misrepresenting themselves to prospective voters is beyond me. An elected official needs a mandate to govern effectively; but if his "mandate" is based on a fiction, what good could possibly come from it?
Somehow, I'm not holding my breath for the announcement that Mr. Obama is changing parties. I wonder what Zell Miller thinks of this guy.
I don't know if Obama is speaking the truth, mostly the truth, or what. He is still a newcomer to me. Like you, I welcome Zell Miller's "take" on him.
The next, the "discussion group," doesn't even qualify as a source for obvious reasons.
And the third isn't a direct quote from his diary but a third party reference to it where he made a comment on how a guy smelled, and it is entirely possible the guy did because he was wearing antique heavy hot clothing that would have been quite difficult to clean in any circumstances much less those circumstances. Lacking air conditioning and supplies, everyone probably reeked; saying so doesn't necessarily imply prejudice. Heck, we used to have a lot of European visitors to a museum where I worked... the French were unique in that they often stank, and a few were even quite proud of it, criticizing Americans' "primitive" paranoia about "natural" body odor rather loudly after seeing people trying unsuccessfully to suppress the olfactory reaction when they approached. And they stank whether they were otherwise likeable or not. Seems to me that if these are the sources they are far too thin to establish a consistent pattern upon which to cast judgement on the whole of a man's life - especially when the rest of his actions overwhelmingly counter mere words.
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