Is Barack Obama a Political Fraud?

Is Barack Obama a Political Fraud? 

Some people keep bemoaning the idea that Barack Obama had to get “off message” and deliver a speech about race relations in the United States after he was exposed as having a relationship with a church and an ex-pastor thereof that is considered by many to be racist. They say that he is a natural racial unifier that can bring whites and blacks - along with all the other races and ethnicities - together for “change we can believe in.” They also say he has the “judgement to lead” our country, and also can reach out to Republicans to get things accomplished.

But, what exactly has Obama been doing to bring together Republicans and Democrats and blacks and whites for the last, say, 20 years? Well, he gave a speech (just words?) that launched his national career where he declaimed at the 2004 Democratic Convention: “there is not a black America and a white America…. There’s the United States of America.”

In his recent race speech he told us that he would be the candidate that would unify the country.

“Young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Latino and Asian — who are tired of a politics that divides us.” Hence “the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future.”

But beyond the rhetoric, what is it that he has actually done to further these two main goals of his candidacy?

In the Illinois State Senate, he did work across the aisle to bring “some ethics reform,” said Democratic Illinois State Senator Denny Jacobs. But “his record doesn’t provide a lot of basis for the claim that once he’s president he’s going to win over Republicans and sort of bring everyone together,” said David Epstein, a professor of political science at Columbia University.

How about political leadership in the U.S. Senate?

A January 31st finding by National Journal put Obama at the top of the list of most liberal senators in 2007. Republican Lindsey Graham (SC) said that “if you want to change things in Washington, you better be willing to look people in the eye who are normally your friends and say ‘I can’t help you here.’ There’s not much of that going on as far as I can tell with Senator Obama.”

Then how about Obama’s race reconciliation efforts for the last, say, twenty years?

For 20 years he has been an active member in an Afrocentric, black nationalist church in which his ex-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was a demagogue who went far past Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in his anti-American outrage and racist rhetoric (”God damn America”).

And what does his church, Trinity Unity Church of Christ, teach?

This is taken directly from Trinity United Church of Christ’s website in the “Talking Points section, and it written by Barack Obama’s mentor, Jeremiah Wright:

“…The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology.”

And what does Dr. Cone believe about Christianity?

“The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples. Either God is identified with the oppressed to the point that their experience becomes God’s experience, or God is a God of racism…The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God’s own condition. This is the essence of the Biblical revelation. By electing Israelite slaves as the people of God and by becoming the Oppressed One in Jesus Christ, the human race is made to understand that God is known where human beings experience humiliation and suffering…Liberation is not an afterthought, but the very essence of divine activity.”

Wait, there’s more:

“To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!” [Black Theology and Black Power, pp. 139-140].

There’s still more:

“It is important to make a further distinction here among black hatred, black racism, and Black Power. Black hatred is the black man’s strong aversion to white society. No black man living in white America can escape it…But the charge of black racism cannot be reconciled with the facts. While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism.” [Black Theology and Black Power, p. 14]

And still more:

“All white men are responsible for white oppression. It is much too easy to say, “Racism is not my fault,” or “I am not responsible for the country’s inhumanity to the black man…But insofar as white do-gooders tolerate and sponsor racism in their educational institutions, their political, economic and social structures, their churches, and in every other aspect of American life, they are directly responsible for racism…”

And don’t forget these juicy quotes:

“Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man ‘the devil.’ The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces.” [Black Theology and Black Power, pp. 39-41]

“Racism is a complete denial of the Incarnation and thus of Christianity…If there is any contemporary meaning of the Antichrist (or “the principalities and powers”), the white church seems to be a manifestation of it.” [Black Theology and Black Power, p. 73]

“Black theology cannot accept a view of God which does not represent God as being for oppressed blacks and thus against white oppressors. Living in a world of white oppressors, blacks have no time for a neutral God. The brutalities are too great and the pain too severe, and this means we must know where God is and what God is doing in the revolution. There is no use for a God who loves white oppressors the same as oppressed blacks. We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile.” [A Black Theology of Liberation, p. 70]

“Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community… . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.”

Now, please don’t tell me Barack Obama did not know about Dr. Cone’s writings. I’m not very smart, but not that stupid, either.

Go McCain-Romney 2008!

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