Obama is The Man

Serious Thinker - Truth Teller

South Carolina brings out the worst in politicians. Perhaps it is the lasting residue of occasional confederate flags, and the locals' somewhat ironic references to "The War of Northern Agression" that cause otherwise semi-savvy pols to assume that this rebel trail blazer of a state will still respond to the "Southern Strategy" of none too subtle racist politics pioneed successfully by George Wallace and Richard Nixon. Well, yesterday is gone. South Carolina has earned kudos for it's recent performance of voting in force for John McCain and Barack Obama, and rejecting the racist taunts hurled their way.

South Carolina State Flag

Since 1776

(Surprise if you thought it was the Confederate Battle Flag)

Obama was repeatedly referred to by the Clintonites as African-American in the Palmetto State. You know, so us white folks would get "the message" that when push came to shove, this high toned black man would not really be on "our" team. The media seemed taken aback by how to characterize these remarks. The reporters clearly knew what was going on. Race was being injected into the race as an issue by the Clintons. If race did become an issue, well then a voter had to wonder what side he was really on, or if he even had a choice at that point.

Before the media could figure this out, the good people of South Carolina figured it out pretty speedy fast. And the majority slapped it down hard. Both Democrats and Republicans. They are sick and tired of being unfairly tagged as a racist state, and they showed it at the polls. After the fact, the media finally determined that the Clinton's plan was an attempt to "marginalize" Obama as a tolerated token candidate, but not a serious contender, much like Jesse Jackson of twenty some years ago. This has seriously stuck in the craw of many life-long Democrats, and has made us look with fresh eyes at the hypocrisy and nakedly selfish ambition of the Clintons. The Clinton after-taste is sour, and I suspect will be long lasting.

I for one am looking at Hillary, and Bill, with a newly critical eye. Hillary's self proclaimed 35 years of public service. Well, for 15 years she worked as a corporate lawyer at the Rose Law Firm. How does that constitute public service? She got herself on the board of Wal-Mart. How did that happen? It seems obvious that being a Governor's wife may been her biggest qualification.

And what has she accomplished in these 35 years? Beats me. Can you name anything? Supporters like to point out that she has visited 80 countries, and knows many world leaders. Who paid for that? And what did it get us? Any accomplishments?

But she promises to fight for us if she is President. She'll be ready Day One. Well, news flash: fighting is hard. What fights has she won? She rolled over like a good puppy for W in going to war in Iraq. But she says that she thought he would use more diplomacy first. That's like giving the car keys to a teenager and making him promise not to go too fast.

Now her Iraq rap is "if I had known then what I know now . . ." Well, she didn't even bother to read the 95 page National Intelligence Estimate that the CIA had prepared on the intelligence used as justification for going to war. Didn't bother to read it. Guess what, it was her job to read it. If she had done her job and read it, then she would have known then what she knows now.

Somehow, Obama did manage to know it then. Lot's of people knew it then. We were promised a "mountain of evidence" from Colin Powell at the UN. I watched that speech and I didn't see any real evidence. Just a series of hearsay and deep voiced, frowny faced pronouncements that this meant time was running out. Danger was imminent. This is called a "conclusory argument" because it has no factual or logical backup, just a stark and baseless conclusion. No critical thinker gives this type of nonsense any credibility. What is at least as shocking as hearing Powell make this type of empty argument with a straight face and without caveats (he knows better) is that the press ran with it uncritically. At least Powell has the decency to be ashamed of his role in this, this . . . whatever a fiasco of this scale is called. The press is mostly unrepentent.

The point of this now to the 2008 Presidential elelction is that Hillary got it wrong because she was derelict in her duty. She did not do her homework and followed the path of political expediency. Getting it right then is when it mattered. Knowing it now is too late.

Let's elect someone who can sniff out the truth before we step into the muck, not after.