Posted on 07/20/2008 2:51:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
What will happen if, on election night in November, John McCain wins the presidency? Will it necessarily be determined that Obama’s defeat is the result of a conspiracy? A fraud? Or something worse?
Much has been said and written in recent months about the historical and cultural significance of the Obama nomination, and the would-be Obama presidency. Obama, himself, seems to place no limits on his own historical and cultural significance. At age 46, he has already authored two books - - both are about himself - - and the securing of his party’s nomination marked, according to him, the moment when our nation began to “heal..”
But what if Obama’s seemingly inevitable destiny - - that of “change agent President” - - was abruptly cut short? I’m not hinting here at the possibility of an assassin’s bullet (I’ll leave it to Hillary Clinton to suggest such things). I’m merely stating the obvious. The first Black American to secure the presidential nomination of a major political party could end up losing the election. If that were to happen, then what would the historical and cultural significance of that event be?
I first raised this question about five months ago, during some of the ugliest days of Obama’s primary election struggle with the race-baiting Clintons. In a private conversation over lunch in Washington, a friend and former Bush Administration staffer told me “Obama is a much more formidable candidate than many Republicans think. And while I disagree with him on policy issues, there is part of me that really believes that electing this guy President would go a long way towards healing the black-white rift in our country.”
“But does the inverse of that hold true?” I asked. “If he
makes it to the general election but then loses, are black-white relations made worse?”
“I don’t want to think about that” my friend replied after a long pause. “There could be trouble in the streets.”
That was in February. And since that conversation, I’ve repeatedly experienced people hinting at similar concerns in a variety of different contexts. I see it in email messages from readers of this column. I hear it from listeners to my own talk radio program at Washington, DC’s 630 WMAL, and the many other talk shows I guest host around the country
And this past week I heard it in the most explicit terms. While speaking with a friend who is a yacht broker in the affluent Santa Monica coastal region of Southern California, I asked “what do people in your circles have to say about the presidential election? Are they even talking about it? What do they say?”
“Yes, people are talking about it” my friend assured me. “It’s assumed that Obama will win. But if he doesn’t, there’s a fear that South-Central LA will erupt in riots, kind of like what happened after the trial of the cops that beat Rodney King in 1992.”
I’m not a conspiracy theorist or alarmist. But I do believe that current cultural and political conditions are such that a McCain “victory” in November could create, at the very least, some significant tension in our society, if not outright civil unrest. Much of my concern has to do with a rather skewed, subjective, and selfish view of the notion of “injustice” that Obama himself has propagated throughout his campaign.
Think about it. On both implicit and explicit levels, Obama’s rhetoric suggests that the annoyances, the risks, the hardships and insecurities of your existence are the result of various injustices done to you, and that he alone can correct those injustices.
If a business executive earns exponentially more money than you do, this is an injustice and he will correct it. If you bought a house and are now having difficulty making the payments, this is an injustice and he will correct it. If you do not have “free healthcare,” this is an injustice and he will correct it. The fact that nuclear weapons exist in the world is an injustice, and he will correct it. If you purchased toys imported from China that turned out to be defective, that is an injustice and he will correct it (yes, he actually delivered a speech entitled “Safer Toys For Our Children” in Iowa last December, two days after Christmas). And if you believe, as he apparently does, that “rich people” just simply “have too much already,” well that is most certainly an injustice and he will correct it.
Combine these dynamics of entitlement and “justice” with the reality that we live in an era of historical and constitutional illiteracy, and it’s not difficult to imagine how anything short of an Obama presidency could be viewed by some in America as yet another injustice. And if Obama’s inevitable destiny is disrupted by something so trivial as the American electorate, this could be deemed an injustice that trumps all others.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Blacks may be more violent but white folks are heavily armed. It would be suicide for 12% of the country to start a race war under these circumstances. The MSM may not want to cover the black on white violence in places like Tennessee or Whichita for these reasons but murder will out and we all know about it even if they won’t cover it.
I don't disagree with you, but...
( There's always a "but," isn't there? )
I hear a lot about "civil unrest" if The New, Improved Black Jesus loses, for whatever reason.
Maybe it's just talk, but there's a lot of it out there.
A Hussein loss would be a perfect opportunity for people like Jerky Jackson and the convicted liar to reassume their positions as fuehrers of the aggrieved africanhyphenamerican community. They are masters of inflaming that community and there would undoubtedly be significant unrest to capitalize upon. John Conyers would be angry because once again his plan to extort reparations money from the “europeans” would come to naught (as if piles of reparations money has not already been paid out via welfare, government financed abortions, government jobs and positions and the like, etc.). The country cannot allow the threat of these profound temper tantrums to extort it into electing Hussein. Hitler rose to power from relative insignificance partly on the promise to keep Reds and other unwanted elements from civil disobedience.
Barack Obama has already elevated America. He defeated Clinton Inc. We can be forever grateful to him for that and leave it at that. Thanks Barack.
No, it will have avoided a disaster 1000 times worse than Katrina and 100 911's combined.
America will rejoice, then start looking for someone to replace McCain.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
There is a lot of unrest out there. While this article focused on the ‘black element’ there are other concerns afoot as well. I don’t believe it will be only race riots. The militant left will be deeply involved.
They are already setting the stage.
Maybe it's just talk, but there's a lot of it out there.
Muslims say they will kill us if we don't convert to Islam as well.
So should we all convert to Islam and vote for Obama?
Or should we stand for our freedom and right to elect those we choose to govern as well tell them?
It would be a GRAVE error on their part if they rioted, I'll tell you thet.
I’ll take Hillary! over Obama any day.
[please notice the /sarcasm sign]
That is why I am NOT voting Democrat (D) or Democrat (R) this year.
And McCain is going to get absolutely CREAMED by Obama, you can already see it, so better go with the Conservatives this time, to send a message and send it as strong as possible. A vote for McCain, if coming from conservatives, is going to be a total waste.
It may sound absurd but if Obamma Lamma Ding Dong loses come November our pundits will determine it all a result of racism.
Has nothing to do with rejecting a liberal socialist transfer of wealth from those who earned it to those who want it.
Personally I am a racist.
I am a white anglo saxon Christian. So quite naturally I have to be a racist.
Obama’s presidency is as inevitable as was Dean’s presidency.
No matter what you say, that's what you are doing.
And you deserve what ever Obama does that impacts you.
All I hear coming from your post are complacent apologies to sooth your mind for enabling Obama. Because of “principled” defeatists like you we will all have to suffer 4 or 8 (minimum) years of socialism and humiliation.
I agree with the writer though.
Also.... the left have been unhinged even now.... they’ll go ballistic if they lose another election and I wouldn’t be surprise if another screwball with a Jody Foster fixation would be gunning for McCain.
It’s my strongest opinion that in this country it seems that the left has the good share of the crackpots and kooks and the rioting in this country have always been on the democrat side... They hear someone make a speech that they don;t like, they’ll try to shout down the speaker if not throw food or body fluids or even.. spit on who they disagree with.
If Obama loses..... it’ll get real ugly fast!
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