To many members of the mainstream media, the choice in the upcoming election is black or white — literally. The merits of Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama are immaterial in juxtaposition with the color of their respective skins. The mental meanderings of Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate.com, led him to interpret a future decision on the part of voters as being contingent on whether or not they harbor racist inclinations. Indeed, the specific message of Weisberg’s article, “If Obama Loses: Racism Is the Only Reason McCain Might Beat Him,” is anything but subtle:
But let’s be honest: If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn’t ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin. If Obama loses, our children will grow up thinking of equal opportunity as a myth. His defeat would say that when handed a perfect opportunity to put the worst part of our history behind us, we chose not to. In this event, the world’s judgment will be severe and inescapable: The United States had its day but, in the end, couldn’t put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race.
John Heilemann of New York Magazine seconded his view: “Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible, just possible, that Obama’s lead is being inhibited by the fact that he is, you know, black?” Both of these journalistic ventures into the world of conspiracy theory illustrate the fashion by which leftist advocacy now masquerades as political insight in our public square. The opinions of these pundits are also indicative of the political left’s stand on “diversity” — they do not believe in it. One either agrees with their views and their politicians or one is judged to be debilitated by a variety of anti-intellectual “isms.”
With Weisberg, the ism du jour is racism, but his column is logically fallacious.
If Obama loses it will prove merely that blacks are not privileged, as no person deserves to be president based on their skin pigmentation. Equal opportunity is a reality at this time, which is why a fellow who first entered the Senate in January 2005 is free to run for the nation’s highest office after just two years of work. Furthermore, the worst of our country’s history is behind us. Slavery met its end over a century ago, segregation was outlawed in the sixties, and the Japanese were freed from internment in 1945. The only “crazy irrationality” stems from those leftists who view their homeland in the worst possible light and disparage America whenever possible. Few Republican politicians question their patriotism, which, in my mind, is a missed opportunity.
Moreover, Weisberg’s propositions are manifestly dishonest and a classic representation of leftist orthodoxy. The American people should reject Barack Obama for a myriad of reasons — none of which have anything to do with his race, personal hygiene, style of dress, or any other superficial factor. I have made this point again and again, but the champion of pseudo-liberal elitists everywhere should be cashiered by the electorate due to his being a devout leftist. His established voting record defines him as such. The Democratic nominee’s documented behavior in the Senate is the only method citizens have to assess who he really is.
As David Freddoso posits in his new book, The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate:
America will not end under a President Obama, but it might be a very different place from the one we know now: a place ruled by a Supreme Court full of young judges enthralled by the notion of a “living Constitution” that says pretty much whatever they want it to say; a place burdened by the higher taxes Obama has promised; an America in which the car you own today becomes illegal to make, but even the slightest restriction on abortion would be wiped away in all fifty states.
In Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Mr. Obama crafted his own history and presented himself in a calculated manner that he thought would appeal to the general population. He put out a dense layer of smoke and fog that journalists have been reluctant to penetrate. Any attempt to question his narrative on the part of conservatives has resulted in their being character-assassinated. One is judged a “vile smear-peddler” or a “right-wing hatchet man” who disseminates “baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears.” Obama’s handlers even initiated a “campaign of intimidation and legal threats to convince television stations and the federal government to force off the air” a commercial from a 527 daring to link their candidate with a known and unapologetic former terrorist from the 1960s. Irrespective of the fact that he is a leftist ideologue, Obama’s totalitarian response to criticism and complete disrespect for the people’s First Amendment rights are an independent justification for shunning him in November.
Obama’s messianic outlook on his foes is disconcerting, but even if he had the countenance of George McGovern, the Democratic Party made a serious error by entrusting their future to a man whose voting record last year made him 2007’s “most liberal senator.” Some readers of Pajamas Media have responded to this accolade by condemning the system National Journal used to compile its rating. However, recently the editor of that publication defended the validity of its assessment criteria: “Obama’s No. 1 ranking is akin to being declared the major-league batting champion. The honor goes to the player with the highest batting average, regardless of whether he has the most hits. In Obama’s case, voting the liberal position 65 out of 66 times earned him the title, as opposed to a senator who might have voted the liberal position 80 times out of 90.” The Democrats further compounded their error by making the third most leftward member of the Senate his running mate. Obama’s and Biden’s lifetime rankings from the American Conservative Union are 7.6 and 13.0, respectively, which showcases the reliability of National Journal’s evaluation.
Before 2008, most of the general public only knew Barack Obama from the excellent and sensible speech he gave at the 2004 Democratic convention. Even conservatives like me were impressed by his rhetoric and hoped that he would be a moderate, à la Harold Ford Jr. Unfortunately, closer investigation of his record, life history, and personal associations point to his being something else entirely. No matter how he presented himself as mainstream on the last day of the 2008 Democratic convention, the policies and positions of the junior senator from Illinois render him a doctrinaire leftist at best — and an outright radical at worst.
Obama’s supporters have become cognizant of this eventuality. Whenever authors or pundits attempt to make his nature known, they lambaste them into the Bronze Age and make their foe the issue rather than the Democratic nominee’s rampant deficiencies. Apart from his endemic radicalism, there are a plethora of other rationales for quarantining my fellow Chicagoan to the Dirksen Office Building and preventing his brand of statism from further contaminating the polity. A few other factors to contemplate are his narcissism, elitism, notorious thin skin, and the vicious way his campaign disembowels all who dare to deconstruct their paladin’s biography. When political expediency calls, Obama will route his Greyhound over anyone — including his own grandmother.
In summation, Jacob Weisberg has it all wrong. Barack Obama’s mixed race background may be the only thing he ever had in his favor. Americans want nothing more than to see minorities succeed, but such a desire can never outweigh their need to elect a responsible commander-in-chief — a leader sympathetic to our cause who will defend our country from its enemies without qualm or apology. Such a man is not Barack Obama and no amount of media distortion can ever change this fact.
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