A presidential election is
coming up. For the first time in American
history, we have an African-American incumbent.
We have a Black President. And he’s
losing in the polls.
The American public is about half-Democrat,
half-Republican with just enough Independents to make it interesting. In 2008, Senator Barack Obama became
President by a healthy margin, and started to fulfill an agenda that most
political pundits would call compromising and moderate. And he is looking at the very real
possibility that he will not serve for a second term.
Why? Why is President Obama in danger of
losing? I am not saying this merely as a
self-proclaimed liberal, but on his record as President of the United
States. Here are some of the highlights
from his presidency.
Passed a stimulus bill that
helped save big banks, impeded the rise of unemployment, and placed money in
the hands of the populace.
Nominated and confirmed Supreme
Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman to the highest court in
this country.
Signed the most comprehensive
Health Care Reform bill in thirty years.
This started the beginnings of a government option for health care,
extending the life of Medicare, and requiring private insurance companies to not
deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition.
Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”,
allowing gays to serve in the military and can be open about their sexual
orientation. Also, the President has
gone on record as being for gay marriage.
Ended the war in Iraq, has a
solid deadline for pulling out of the war in Afghanistan, and has ordered the
death of Osama Bin Laden.
He’s done all of this, while
supporting two daughters who have not reached high school, and even quit
smoking whilst in office. He has not
been involved in a personal scandal, and has produced every document that the
American public has asked for. So again I
ask, what has the President done that has been so terrible that he does not
deserve a second term?
There is something not many
people want to recognize about this election, something inherent in it. Many if not all will deny this is a factor in
the election, but I believe that it is so.
That factor is racism. A big
word, a harsh word, something that we hoped had been banished from our
hearts. But it is still here, and I believe
it is working to stop the President from serving a second term.
I don’t want this to be true, but
there are too many inconsistencies. No white
man would have been asked to show his birth certificate to the American
people. No white man would ever be considered
Muslim unless he shouted it from the rooftops.
And no white man in the history of this government would be unilaterally
denied his entire agenda by the opposition under the banner of preventing him
from having a second term. These are
facts that cannot be ignored or described as Republicans and the American
people just don’t agree with the President.
Racism is real, it is
here. We have measures to stop it in the
law, but we cannot banish it from our hearts.
Every single person has to consider why they are voting. If you believe in Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan,
vote for them. If you do not believe in
President Obama’s policies, don’t vote for him.
But if you are voting against President
Obama because he is a Muslim, he is not.
If you are voting against President Obama because he is not a citizen of
the United States, he is from Hawaii. And
if you are voting against President Obama because he is an African-American,
then banish that thought from your mind.
We are a nation where all men are created equal. Let us prove that today and forever after.
I have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal."
-Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
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