Seeing Bobby Kennedy in Barack Obama
Commentary: Forty years after RFK's assassination, Barack picks up where Bobby left off.
June 5, 2008
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It would be easy to make too much of the similarities between Robert F. Kennedy, who died on the night when the Democratic presidential nomination came within his grasp, 40 years ago today, and Barack Obama, who has just firmly taken hold of it. The times are different, and so are the men. But then again.
Hope, like greatness, is a thing some men have thrust upon them. They emerge as repositories for the finer yearnings of a confused and bitter nation, a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected not as the people we are, but as the people we would like to be—and may, because of them, inch slightly closer to becoming. Whether or not they are worthy of such faith is, in the end, less important than the fact that they inspire us to be more worthy ourselves.
This is why it's a mistake to dismiss Obama as being "only" inspirational. Despite the example set by our current president, competence is not all that difficult to come by in Washington, DC. (In fact, our permanent civil service could get most things done much more effectively without any political leadership at all.) But someone who can make us believe that this country of ours might actually pull itself together and become a little bit more compassionate or a little bit more just, someone who encourages us to dedicate ourselves to that goal rather than to just lowering our taxes or paying less for gasoline—that's something found far more rarely inside the Beltway.
For my generation, I suppose that someone was Bobby Kennedy, though I'm not sure I realized it at the time. On the war, there wasn't much difference between Kennedy and his rival on the left, Eugene McCarthy. They both wanted to get us out of Vietnam. VP Hubert Humphrey may have been the insider candidate, but he came out of the highly progressive Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (as did McCarthy, and late Senator Paul Wellstone), and hewed to a liberal platform that would seem radical by the standards of today's post-Democratic Leadership Council Democratic Party. By contrast, Bobby Kennedy, in many ways, had only recently evolved into a true progressive. And some saw Kennedy, who got into the race only after Lyndon Johnson's poor performance in the New Hampshire primary, as an opportunist who was strong on rhetoric but short on substance.
Even Kennedy's most visible virtue, his deep concern for the poor, had its problems. The Kennedy poverty program, run by Sargent Shriver and taken up by Lyndon Johnson after Jack Kennedy's assassination, quickly became a pork-barrel operation. In Chicago, for example, millions of federal dollars were pumped into Mayor Richard Daley's machine. None of the programs were conceived to threaten the status quo, which made them too tame for a lot of activists in the late 1960s. They were bootstrap projects, where the government would provide the poor with job training, education, and health care to help them elevate themselves to a point where they could jump off into the middle class. For the most part, this never happened.
Two parts of the poverty program—Head Start, the program for young children, and Neighborhood Legal Services, which provides free legal assistance to low-income residents—did prove lasting and truly valuable. And some funds managed to filter through to the likes of Saul Alinsky, the legendary community organizer on the South Side of Chicago who advocated confrontation with the Daley machine, and encouraged his groups to engage in civil disobedience if need be. (Alinsky himself, however, knew how to work the system when he needed to. He reminded me of an old-school labor organizer—talking tough but in the end always willing to cut a deal in the back room. And I can remember radicals attacking him for his lack of revolutionary fervor, in the same way, incidentally, they attacked Ralph Nader, who was seen as a patsy for the legal profession. "A guy has to be a political idiot," Alinsky scoffed at radicals back then, "to say all power comes out of the barrel of a gun when the other side has the guns."
Saul Alinsky believed that power flowed up from the streets and was there for the taking, if only people believed they could do so. By 1968, Bobby Kennedy had taken up the idea of "decentralization" (in part, as an alternative to welfare), championing a new Community Action Program (not unlike a more radical model advanced by Students for a Democratic Society), which would allow federal anti-poverty projects—and funds—to be run by the populations they served.
Maybe that had something to do with what began to happen during Bobby Kennedy's brief presidential campaign, when he went out into the streets in the spring of 1968. Or maybe it was just something about the man. My friend Jack Newfield, the late Village Voice reporter, used to say that Kennedy was more priest than politician. Newfield often accompanied Kennedy during a campaign that took him to Indian reservations, into Appalachia, through Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant or East L.A., to small gatherings with family farmers, to classrooms where he sat down and talked with children as if they were actual human beings. Newfield recalled that on a trip through Watts a few days before RFK's death, "He said to me, 'I want you to see what I see. And I see this ecstasy in the eyes of blacks and Mexican Americans.'" The television cameras saw it, too, as they followed him to places they usually wouldn't dream of going, and millions of Americans in their living rooms saw it. You can still see it today, in the old footage—as he walks or rides through the urban streets, people reached out to touch him as they would a talisman, as if the touch alone would empower and dignify them.
Next page: "As he lay dying on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel kitchen pantry..."
Photo of Robert Francis Kennedy courtesy of the Library of Congress. Photo of Barack Obama by flickr user jvh33 used under a Creative Commons license.
The Kennedy's are not saints or icons of anything, history has passed judgement....Bobby Kennedy only acted because Martin Luther King made him act.
Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson are the heroes!!!!!
Bobby Kennedy was just another cheap politician, just like Obama
As to his credentials, Sen. Robert Kennedy might not have held office as a senator for very long, but he was the U.S. Attorney General and an advisor to Pres. Kennedy. Do you truly believe Sen. Obama has equal qualifications at the top level of government?
James Ridgeway is a lazy journalist. A quick search @ Wikipedia indicates that LBJ did not lose the 1968 New Hampshire Democratic primary.
"Bobby Kennedy was just another cheap politician, just like Obama." Well Cramos, some of us really do read and know history. We know and appreciate what Obama stands for, and that is why he won the Democratic nomination. That is also why he will be our next President.
Your Obama comment is really only a cheap shot isn't it? I suggest you read and get to know history.
"), maybe you would enlighten us more on the Bay of Pigs fiasco or Khrushchev pummeling Pres. Kennedy.(Google Kennedy Talked Krushchev Triumphed).
I still hold a lot of respect for Pres. Kennedy, but it wasn't Camelot.
Do you truly believe that is unbiased and fair reporting or agents of propaganda?
Speaking the way you are, I am sure GWB is your hero.
The media helped Obama big time even though he did his disgusting act in public, twice and on tape.
Gross.....
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2 008/04/17/obama-stands-accused -of-conduct-unbecoming-a-presidential-candidate/
http://mahalo.com/Obama_Flips_Off_Clinton
Obama will cower to the degree tha he'd make the "Peanut Farmer" look like Teddy Roosevelt.
870+ days and Obama still refuses to visit Iraq!
Chicken ..........
I hope you realize this great country is already more compassionate and just than almost any other in the world and certainly so for countries similar in size. Room to improve? Of course. But at least acknoweldge and appreciate that it is rather "together," "compassionate" and "just" even with Republicans inthe White house.
First this throwaway:
Despite the example set by our current president, competence is not all that difficult to come by in Washington, DC. (In fact, our permanent civil service could get most things done much more effectively without any political leadership at all.)
Then this:
The Kennedy poverty program, run by Sargent Shriver and taken up by Lyndon Johnson after Jack Kennedy's assassination, quickly became a pork-barrel operation. In Chicago, for example, millions of federal dollars were pumped into Mayor Richard Daley's machine. None of the programs were conceived to threaten the status quo, which made them too tame for a lot of activists in the late 1960s. They were bootstrap projects, where the government would provide the poor with job training, education, and health care to help them elevate themselves to a point where they could jump off into the middle class. For the most part, this never happened.
Big Government is the one thing possibly then big business -- and if you can't grok something that basic you are truly a lost cause.
Diversity in American media is all but gone because big corporations have been allowed to gobble up everything they can afford to buy. Rupert Murdock's Fox News is a shining example of their new strategy of bias in the news. It's not hard to see the line between honest reporting and political propaganda.
Remember the days when the right shouted protests about the so-called "Liberal news media?" You don't hear that term anymore because the right solved their media problem, they bought it.
Have you not noticed the heavy coverage of Reverend Wright and the lack of equal coverage on Pastor Hagee or Parsley? That's bias in my book. The right-wing media chooses where to shine the spotlight, and the rest of the news monkeys fall in line so as not to appear to miss the "breaking story" or the "Lead" story.
The White House may not have total control over the media but they certainly have it on the floor with their boot on its throat.
Please enlighten me. How do you see Bin Laden in Barack?
On Tuesday evening that all changed. I wept, not just for the joy of the moment, but mourning for the knowledge of how many years and lives have been lost before we could finally get back to that point 40 years ago. The point where one of our leaders could stand before us and talk about hope and being human again, about caring for families and (horrors) even people outside our borders.
Obama is not RFK he is the legacy that JFK, MLK, and RFK (and so many people of that era) left to MY generation. It took us a while to get here......but here we are.
Who can honestly know what will happen in November, but I pray everyday.
The Obama comparison is to be expected - Liberal Democrats are on the rise again... But the more accurate comparison is to Jimmy Carter. Remember gas rationing? Iran Hostages? 18% mortgages? 10% unemployment? 12 % inflation? Soviet invasion of Afganistan?
Those are the facts of Liberal rule.
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We don't have gas rationing (unless you consider not being able to afford it a form of rationing, right?) we have $4.00+ a gallon gas. Thank you Republicans.
We don't have 18% mortgages....hell, we don't have mortgages anymore, we have foreclosures. Thanks Republicans!
No hostages in Iran...thank god, just more than 4,000 dead soldiers and countless dead innocent women and children in Iraq. Thank you Republicans (oh, and Hillary too).
We don't have 10% unemployment, we have plenty of jobs, they just don't pay in real dollars anymore...
Median income for non-elderly households (those headed by someone under 65) fell again in 2006, declining by $275, or 0.5 percent. Median income for non-elderly households declined for the fifth consecutive year and was $2,000 (or 3.7 percent) lower in 2005 than in the recession year of 2001.
The poverty rate, at 12.6 percent, remained well above its 11.7 percent rate in 2001.
The median earnings of full-time year-round female workers fell for the third straight year, declining by $427, or 1.3 percent.
Invasion of Afghanistan by Soviets? No, we engineered one ourselves...and about as successfully as the Soviets. Thanks Repubs.
AND THESE ARE THE FACTS OF REPUB. RULE
Obama is just another Jimmy Carter.
Look up SEATO
(President Eisenhower's Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (1953-1959)was the primary force behind the creation of SEATO, which expanded the concept of anti-communist collective defense to Southeast Asia.)
Gas prices started shooting up AFTER the democrats took control of congress.
95% of all mortgage holders are making their payments. Boo Hoo for the idiots who signed up for an ARM.
3000 + dead on 911. Thank you Bill Clinton for feckless leadership. But most of all thank you Jimmy Carter for being the catalyst of the problems in the Middle East
We have a market based economy. You get paid what your worth. I’m hardly a rocket scientist but my income has risen on an average of 8% to 10% annually for the past 33 years. What am I doing right that you are not?
Poverty rates don’t reflect that more people considered “on poverty” today also have a home, own an automobile, have air conditioning, and cable TV.
Our “poor” have better lives than most of the worlds middle class.
Female workers and minorities won the lottery in corporate America. But then again you do need to have some higher education. Only 25% of adult Americans have any post high school education. Like I said, we have a market based economy. You get paid what you are worth. You can thank Clinton for NAFTA and the loss of manufacturing jobs for all the folks who didn’t make the effort to take some night classes and improve their employability. Speaking frankly, there are a lot of people who are not worth their salt. They are the ones who usually make the most noise as well.
Now the MEDIA has stepped WAY over the line. How in the world can anyone compare the Obama's to the Kennedy's... First JFK now Bobbie and then Michelle to Jackie..
The media ... has already won him the nomination... by not reporting facts in a timely manner. MSM Knew about Viper Wright... prior to the FIRST state primary...THEY DID NOT REPORT IT.
So you the American voter have been cheated again...
KING OBAMA will not be PRESIDENT, he will become the first AFRICAN AMERICAN to become KING OF THE UNITED STATES.
Well, I guess that would explain why Oprah is "worth" way more than George Bush!!! LOL
Clearly you are not part of the 25%
Yet, Mr. Obama wants to "talk" to them, even though they have grown bolder and more muderous and now recriut mentally retarded youngsters to blow themselves up.
Let's look at ALL the similarities and changes that have gone on in the last 40 years, not just the ones that fit our own personal, immediate agenda.
Hope this helps;
1) Stopped drilling in ANWAR.
2) Stopped drilling on the coasts.
3) Stopped the building of more refineries.
4) Stopped bulding nuke plants.
5) Want cap and trade.
6) Al Gore (nuff said!).
7) Support the terroists (by not stopping or allowing them to be stopped).
8) Support Chavez (and Castro and idolize Che).
9) Were against the war in Iraq and now want to surrender.
10) Believe that pig tail lights and solar and wind and conservation will be able to replace the 13% or oil that we use with these tactics.
Clear?
I worked with RFK. RFK had experience and he was Mr. tough guy when he needed to be. Obama may be a good guy but there are no Rezko's in Bobby's past. C'mon end the Bobby Obama BS. I was with him in California right to the end and there is no comparison. Stop It!
His efforts to kill Fidel Castro are one example. It may be just as well that he
was not elected president.
Whatever you want to say about Obama, he has inspired millions of us who have never paid attention to politics before to start paying attention now. Like many, I'm searching for hope somewhere, anywhere. And I can assure you, it's unlikely to be found on a thread like this. I may be young, and likely more ignorant than many of you when it comes to political and historical facts. But I'm smart enough to know that name calling and insults is not the way to conduct a discussion. Why not trying a civilized exchange? Instead of throwing out insults, why not offer your points with respect and integrity? Make me want to research what you're saying so I can make more educated decisions. Inspire me with your opinions. You are our patriarchs and matriarchs - lead by example.
Now before you get all defensive and slam what I'm saying - Stop….take a big breath…..think about if your young son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter were listening to you all. What would you like them to take away from this discussion? How can you inspire them to want to care about what's happening in our government and in our world? What can you say that will empower them to want to make changes? Working yourself up into a frenzy is not good for your blood pressure, and we need you around to help us figure out what to do with this mess. We want to hear what you have to say, we would just appreciate it if you could lower your voice a little...
Obama, hasn't told us the truth about
Who; he really is or what his plan is either! Obama, sounds like he's giving
a se rmon rather than a political speach, I guess sitting in that rasit
church for 20 years has wrapped his mind! We'll be voting for a republican this year, at least we know what; Mc Cain stands for instead of vudo Muslisum. Obama, Michelle, are both white haters, bigots.If you want your
money sent to Africa, and doled out for more black progams instead of to help
us all equally-vote for a liar with
connections to criminals Obama! IMHO Or look it up yourself, on the Internet its easy to find!Obama's father, wasn't any poor farmer, he was wealthy a womanizer who, spent his money working to promte the Muslim cause. Obama, has done zip other than some pro bono work for blacks, in his area after he got his law degree. This election was rigged! We all know it, by the democartic party big wigs! Kennedy, Nancy P, Edwards ( who wanted to be VP) an others. I hope they don't think the public, is stupid and didn't see through this outrageous bias fiasco. I'm educated so are the members of ,my family( we all have degrees) calling, Hillary C. voters un educated was the "wrong thing" to do. Obama has lost the vote of many many citzens forever in November!
What we have had in this country for too long is too much selfish self-interest and interest in money making. Not all self-interest is bad, and money in and of itself isn't bad, but to place oneself and one's own comfort above that of all the rest is what has been taking our country down over the past few decades. The Republicans don't get it. Our actions matter in the world.
What America does affects how other people live and die in other parts of the world. I wish more politicians would end not just by saying. God Bless America - but God Bless Our World and All of it's people.
Can you be specific?
There are many of us older folks for Barack as well. I believe in trying to be the change you want to see. There are lots of us out there. We just have to try to rise above the fray and continue to take the right action. Reading some of the posts reminds me of how folks behave when they're behind the wheel of a car. Lots of the stuff said on line wouldn't be said face to face - or at least I hope so. But the anonymity gives people the sense that they can get away with a virtual flipping off of others.
Try to keep the faith. I believe that most human beings actually want to do the right thing.
When I went to UCLA grad school, I mixed for the first time in my life with African-Americans and found it awkward. One night at a party where pot was being consumed, I almost bumped into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a kitchen doorway and, due to my pontificating as to how pot led to heroin, was told in booming, certain voice, "YOU TALK TOO MUCH!"
I looked up at the man I thought I knew as Lew Alcindor and said, "Yes, sir!" And I kept my piehole shut from that moment until I left.
Not long after, I was in Bobby's Presidential Suite at the Ambassador the night a programmed assassin named Sirhan Sirhan put bullets into the body of the man I was beginning to think would have made the best president since Lincoln.
The Suite was about fifty percent African-American and mostly ladies at that. When the TV's in the room broke in on the story unfolding that very moment in the basement of the Hotel, everyone in the room began to sob violently in unison. My hand tightened around the cheap highball glass in my grasp and shattered it, cutting me.
As I do not believe in a Deity, I can only hope Obama is Our Hope. So far, he is the fulfillment of one of my life's dreams -- the same dream drempt by Abraham, Martin, John, and Bobby.
To draw a true comparison between Obama and Kennedy, one must imagine, not what Obama might have done THEN, but what Kennedy might do NOW. And I'm quite sure it wouldn't have been revolutionary either. America will not recognize the need for that until it is too late to stop it.
Wasn't it enough to make him God?
Was there some sort of blackout over at Fox & Friends? (*rolleyes*) Personally, I haven't decided if I'm going to vote for the man: but anyone who claims that
a. He'll censor the media, if elected;
b. He is a racist;
c. He has extensive ties to radical Leftists;
d. He's a MUSLIM (BIIG *Rolleyes*...as if THAT MATTERED);
e. The media have been doing ANYTHING but trivializing and looking at horserace analyses (the idea that the MSM is "protecting" Obama somehow, is speculative, at the least; conspiracy-inspired fantasy, at worst);
or even that
e. Obama will lead us out of Iraq.
All you ConservaTrolls reveal yourselves easily enough with your "Obama's-election-means-that-the-terrorists-win" nonsense.
And yes, IMO, it is reasonable to compare RFK & BHO...sure, they are different men; different times; but there are also similarities in their respective positions, and the correlation btw Vietnam and Iraq needs no edification.
How about this? Barack Obama is learned, politically astute, forward thinking, and an amalgam of local, national and global movements, beliefs and strategies. Giving honor to all who have gone before, Barack Obama is his own man. I do wish folks would find other points of reference - preferably among those still breathing.
Hey kids, has anybody done their homework? Obama has unequivocally and un-apologetically promised to violate the First Amendment (Separation of Church and State) for the nefarious purpose of denying a 'fundamental' civil (secular) right guaranteed under the 'due process' and 'equal protection' provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. That's not one Constitutional violation but two. This one is a no-brainer. See "Untangling Barack Obama's audacious mumbo jumbo," http://ebar.com/common/inc/article_print.php?sec=guest_op&article=73
Go ahead and march backwards in lockstep on two left feet demanding nothing but do not cry foul when Obama (just like Bill Clinton and his promise to end discrimination in the military) enacts prejudice into law in the name of religion.
I knew Bobby Kennedy.
I worked for Bobby Kennedy.
Bobby Kennedy inspired me as no political figure has before or since. And Barack Obama is NO Bobby Kennedy.
Seriously, MoJo - you used to commit admirable acts of real journalism. What has happened to you??
Let me see now, a rich patrician politician shakes a lowly bus boys hand and speeches written by a team of speech writers (a.k.a. ad men) tell us how much heart a politician has. I think that call this ‘authenticity’? And while Mr. "Humble beginnings" (gimmie a break!) Obama was enjoying the privileges of tony prep-schools and the finest private universities affirmative action could offer, gay men and lesbian women were spilling their warm blood on the cold streets of Alabama, Chicago, etc., so that he and his parents could enjoy their civil rights unmolested. But now that he has his rights he tells us America is "not ready" for this much equality. Nothing personal. Some of his best friends are gay, no, really.
Front of the bus or back. Marriage or civil unions. Why dicker? Words don’t matter? Obama tells us this is mere “semantics.” As the Supreme Court said when it laid down the invidious doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ in the infamous case of Plessy v. Ferguson “one side of the street is as good as the other.” Nothing personal. It's religion you see. And that was the exact same rationale used to convict Obama’s parents as felons in over half the states the day they were married.
Robert Kennedy’s disingenuous compassion for the poor was a Madison Avenue fairy tail. A photo op in a Tobacco Road shack and then back to the safe harbor of the family compound. When you have money you can buy almost any image you want. And Barack Obama is an untested politician who has done virtually nothing but campaign for president, make fancy speeches (written of course by others) and purportedly write books. His support clearly demonstrates that consent can be manufactured. Enough money? No problem.
Now witness the gullible, the bamboozled, the hoodwinked, and the naive swallowing this a public relations snow job like Jonestown Kool-Aid! P. T. Barnum was right, "There's a sucker born every minute." If it this easy to pull the wool over The People's eyes then Winston Churchill was right when he cynically quipped that "the best argument against Democracy is a ten minute conversation with the average voter."
Except for trite Hallmark sentiment this writer has nothing to say and wastes too much time saying it. No wonder he was ‘laid off’ at the Village Voice.
Does my mystification arise from the fact that I don't live in the USA?
And when harm is done to others and their ‘fundamental’ rights denied as an exercise in virtue then one can well expect the invective to fly. Politics in America is a blood sport and if your ox was being gored I suspect (I’d hope) you’d defend your rights with zealous advocacy. Deny a persons equal legal dignity in the name of religion (as Obama clearly and un-apologetically does) and THAT is a deeply “personal abuse” for which opprobrium is an entirely appropriate defense as well a deserving response.
Barak Obama has rekindled that hope. We all hope for a better world, a better country, a better community, a better life for our children. Maybe, it still can become a reality. Maybe Obama is the man that will show us the way. All hail the new decade of hope.
In this vapid essay James Ridgeway talks about Chicago politics and Saul Alinsky who is Obama’s hero and organizational role model. Mr. Ridgeway might take the advice of one of the Biblical prophets who said, “it is best to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” In other words it’s best to not speak on matters of which one knows nothing.
Hillary Clinton was wise enough to disassociate herself from Alinsky many years ago when her husband took office and she went to great lengths to suppress her 1969 honors thesis on Alinsky and make it unavailable to the public. Though all such theses are freely available to scholars Hillary's alma mater, Wellsley College, was persuaded to enact a special rule to hide the document lest it be used as a "Swift Boat" attack against her. It is therefore rather ironic that Obama should boast of a role model that wiser politicians thought prudent to disassociate themselves from long ago. While Alinsky was actually Clinton's mentor (Obama never met him) she was wise enough to dissociate herself from so controversial a character who openly admitted to both Socialist, a Marxist and a Communist with mob affiliations! Great role model senator.
Obama resembles Alinsky by his ruthlessness pandering to whatever faction, no matter how sordid, could serve his agenda: namely to "rub to raw the sores of discontent" (as Alinsky said) in order to acquire power and this the very reason Hillary Clinton was wise enough to disassociate herself from Alinsky long ago. Alinsky often boasted of being "an honorary member of the mob," of being the "buddy" of Big Ed Stash who was a professional assassin and Al Capone's top executioner, and that he was taken under the wing of Frank Nitti known as Capone's Enforcer and "number two man" in actual defacto control of the mob after Capone's income-tax rap. Indeed, Alinsky called this nefarious character "Professor" and became his "student." Nitti's boys took Alinsky everywhere and showed him all the mob's operations. No wonder Hillary Clinton thought it wise to disassociate herself from Alinsky even though she respected his organizational abilities. This is the man who Obama claims to be his "best disciple" and role model. How telling! How chilling! Mr. Ridgeway, did the dog eat your homework?
No one can think that Barack Obama (who was raised in a purely secular household) suddenly 'found Jesus' and became a Christian because of some religious epiphany on the road to power. As Obama himself revealed in Dreams from My Father, during his organizing of the black churches on Chicago's South Side it became conspicuous that he didn't attend services and he was told that, if he wanted black Christians to have any faith in him, it would help his political mission if he had a church and it didn't matter where. Apparently Obama became a "Christian" purely for political purposes. A matter of pure pragmatism. So Obama hooked up with a crackpot preacher leader of faction of black Christian separatists. Very interesting. James Ridgeway, do your homework.
Ironically Barack Obama is the kind of politician that Saul Alinsky ridiculed as a “Mr. But.” E.g. ‘No one should be discriminated against BUT marriage had religious connotations and is between a man and a woman.’
In "Reveille for Radicals" Alinsky asks all the "Mr. Butts" like Obama, "IS THE CHURCH SO VERY IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS A SPIRITUAL SANCTUARY OR BECAUSE IT'S A POLITICAL POWER FOR JOBS AND MATERIAL SUCCESS?"
I think Obama has demonstrated the answer to that question quite well for he does not hesitate to ostentatiously flaunt his religion for the purpose gaining power and denying civil rights. Alinsky would say to Obama, "You really don't like [gays'], you just tolerate them. You are a very tolerant, Mr. Butt." Instead of being lapdogs some so-called ‘journalists’ should go some homework.
Inclusiveness? Though American born I am a Buddhist and like those of several other religions we do not believe in any god. Surprise, surprise, there are millions of us born in America. Like Clarence Darrow “I don't believe in God, because I don't believe in Mother Goose.” So when we hear Barack Obama stand up and thank god, and shout god bless you, god bless American. God, god, god, god, god, our skin crawls.
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize [hu]mankind." (Thomas Paine, Age of Reason.)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." (James Madison, Memorial & Remonstrance)
"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." (Thomas Jefferson)
Steven Weinberg (Nobel Prize in physics) once said “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” As some here have astutely noted, Barack Obama is the only candidate who uses religion as his rationale to deny civil, secular, equality and a ‘fundamental’ civil right. As Bertrand Russell said, “the Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.”
Anyone not totally asleep realizes that this planet will have a nuclear theocracy within the next few years. Since Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34) we should all worry when Barack Obama praises god, god, god, god. “I'm offended by the kind of smarmy religiosity that's all around us, .... you know after a while you get tired of hearing clergymen giving the invocation at various public /celebrations and you feel, haven't we outgrown all this? Do we have to listen to this?” (Steven Weinberg)
There is a reason why Evangelicals despise McCain but love Obama and when Barack Obama flaunts his appalling religiosity in the public square, if we have but one prayer let it be, “Mr. Jefferson! Build up this wall!
Ridgeway and Obama both demonstrate George Orwell’s comment, in “Politics and the English Language,” that "Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and ... to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." And Mother Jones demonstrates that Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
Has Mother Jones ever dealt with this
issue?
Mr. Obama may talk hope. Some of his ideas are not revolutionary. If you want revolution, look to Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, Wesley Clark, and probably countless others who haven't been able to break into this Republican/Democrat corporate media circus.
Until Christ returns, we have to make the most of things, and things are just going to get worse worldwide before that happens. Worse...seemingly solved...then apocalyptic. *shrug* We shall see. I'm still considering what I need to do to make myself more marketable to Canada and other nations (as far as education and work experience).
ALL you've done by publishing such a poorly researched piece of rabble rousing is suggest to the White supremecists who might not have actually had the idea yet themselves that they need to take care of the "Obama problem" the same way their predecessors took care of the RFK problem.
I KNEW Bobby Kennedy, and Obama is NO Bobby Kennedy.
Not by a long shot.
Barak Obama gives beautiful speeches, but the courage, the flicker of passion I do not feel or see. His speeches are carbon like, day after day. I see no soul. We are hungry for leadership in this Nation. So hungry. I think we forgot that Bobby, JFK, Martin Luther King, were one in their own. Who is Barak Obama? Who is he? He is not Bobby Kennedy, nor Martin Luther King, or John F Kennedy. Who is he as a man? I pray that everything that we project on him is true. My fear is he never let us see who he really is, and the disappointment that we will realize as a Country.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
Learn more about the Green and Libertarian Party candidates today. Do yourself a favor and break the two-headed beast of American politics!
My opinion of JFK went way down as I read this