Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Barack Obama: "The Great Uniter"


So we have all heard the constant rhetoric from Obama and his supporters, mainly concerning his supposed ability to unite the nation and bring us all together. In fact it was this rhetoric that first got him national attention at the democratic convention in 2004. He talked about how their is no red America, no Blue America, there is only the United States of America. He goes on regularly to explain how there is no Asian America, no Black America, no White America, no Hispanic America, there is only the United States of America. He talks about how he will reach across the aisle, and bring together people of all ideologies, all walks of life. He talks about how he will bring together people of all races and cultures and unite the country.

But what reason do we have to believe any of this? Barack Obama was the 16th most liberal in 2005, the 10th most liberal in 2006 and the most liberal senator in the entire senate in 2007. Most of 2008 he has spent campaigning. When called out for this by John McCain, Obama asserted that he was bipartisan because he had once worked with Tom Coburn. The problem with this statement is that they bill Obama worked on was so completely non-controversial it can hardly be considered reaching across the aisle. Obama also worked on Nuclear safety with various people from both parties, once again, not controversial at all. That can hardly be considered bipartisan. He spends all of his time on the stump, blaming every single problem in the country on the Republicans, and saying any Republican in office would be four more years of the same disaster; of course he conveniently leaves out the fact that the current congress has approval ratings worse than George W. Bush and is led by the democrats. At his convention his speakers, his running mate especially, spent most of their time blaming every single problem in the country on the Republicans and George W. Bush especially. This is the man whom we are supposed to believe will united the country and reach across the aisle to the other side.

Congressional approval ratings are by some estimate 10%, which is just plain pathetic. Most democrats don't even approve of the current congress, and they have majority control. Yet Obama and his supporters are blaming everything on the Republicans, and we are supposed to believe that Obama is going to unite the country. We are supposed to believe that a man who pals around with William Ayers of the Weather Underground, the radical black liberation theology pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright (who is known for saying "God damn America"), and Louis Farrakhan, a white hating man who the Jewish people once dubbed as "Black Hitler", is going to unite the country together as one and reach across the aisle to work with Republicans and people from all walks of life? Why in the world would we have any reason to believe such nonsense? Not only is there no evidence that Obama is a bipartisan uniter, there is evidence against him being a bipartisan uniter.

Don't get me wrong, it would be great if we could have a president who was truly a bipartisan uniter. Perhaps one who has a record of working with people on the other side. A record of looking for endorsements even of people he disagrees with knowing that they all share a common goal. A man who helped sponsor legislation that made his own party very angry with him because he thought it needed to be done and would not be a coward for the sake of political gain. A man who has worked on immigration reform that he caught a lot of flack for because he thought it was the right thing to do. Perhaps a man who has worked with some of the most liberal people on the other side of the aisle, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the "lion of the senate". A man who truly cares about this country and knows we are the greatest country on earth. A man who has fought and suffered for everyone in this country whether they be White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Republican, Democrat, male or female. A man who has always put his country first and partisanship last, who has done what is right for the country and not right for his political gain. If you, like me, would like to have a man like this in the White House, then you don't have far to look. I am speaking of course, of Senator John McCain.



Photo credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke.

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