The Bigger Issue of the Beer Summit...

The real issue with President Obama’s comments about the Crowley/Gates issue goes WAY beyond race. Over the last six months, conservatives (and probably many non-conservatives) have wondered just where our President is leading us. We’ve watched as an almost never-ending flood of new programs, ideas, bills, laws and concepts literally gushed from our television sets as the media struggled to find the time to tell us even a little bit about them. So much ‘change’ has come our way that many folks have actually stopped listening to the news because they feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to think about it all.

The bigger issue, finally, is beginning to emerge: Obama is way out of his depth. Many of us have known this since before he was elected, but it’s now very clear. If Obama can’t control his tongue in a pre-arranged press conference where he almost certainly knew the questions ahead of time, what will happen when he meets with leaders of other countries? We have suspected for a long time that he was a true neophyte at diplomacy, but since we, the little people, aren’t really allowed into the inner sanctum of the meetings between heads-of-state, we have only rumors of his… uh, um… performance problems. Now, I think we can say with certainty that our president is almost certainly unfit for the office of President. Here are the key things I think this entire episode has taught me:

1. Obama is not ‘world-class’. When you are a private citizen talking to your friends or family about things in the news, you can get away with saying just about anything. As private citizens, we have freedom of speech. If you’ve ever been in the military, you know that you give up some of those freedoms when you agree to wear the uniform. The President is no different: He MUST put the country (and whether the President agrees or not, that includes us white folks) before his personal feelings. And if his personal feelings are interfering, he should step aside and let others who can do so with a clear head do the job (although I shudder to think about Biden as President…).

2. Obama is a loose cannon. This also applies to our vice-President. These guys don’t know when to keep their mouths shut. Some will find it ironic that I’m talking about this since this is one of my own failings, but, as our president said, “This isn’t about me”. It is axiomatic in virtually every relationship, whether personal, professional or political, that it is far more important what you do NOT say, than what you DO say. The President injected himself into a local issue, putting his own biases and, dare I say it – prejudices – into the discussion. This tells both our allies and our enemies a tremendous amount about the man who occupies the White House. Unfortunately, what it tells them is not good. It shows a weakness that we must not portray. We live in interesting and dangerous times, and weakness, real or perceived, can lead to tragedy and loss of life for our citizens.

3. Obama wants to change society in a fundamentally racist way. What does this mean? It means that I believe that the evidence points to a strong desire to elevate blacks over whites at any cost. I have no problem having a black President or a black boss or black friends. I have never been bothered by people of any color (including white) in positions of power unless it became obvious that they were incompetent at their jobs. In those cases, I believe we all reserve the right to consider the unfit person to be a moron who shouldn’t be in the position. I have over the years strongly supported people like Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Ken Blackwell, Condoleezza Rice and Alan Keys (still my favorite presidential candidate of all time after President Ronald Regan). What I see happening today is a radical push to ultimately change our society in an effort to ‘right’ the wrongs of the past. Reparations are just not enough and never will be to those on the left who push racial division rather than racial healing. Rather than attaining power by earning it, it seems, once again, that liberalism is out to correct racism by flipping things over so that whites are oppressed in the same way that blacks were. However, in the words of my mother, “two wrongs don’t make a right” (ok, so she didn’t come up with it – you get my point, right?). Creating racism against whites can never make up for racism against blacks. The ONLY way to ultimately end racism and make our nation truly color blind is to accept each other as we are. If America freely elects Americans who are blacks, whites, Latinos or any other skin color to lead our great nation, then God bless us all – it’s freedom at its best! Destroying our society by generating NEW racial hatred against whites does no one any good.

4. Obama is a racist. This is a direct follow-on to the previous point. I’m certainly going to get into trouble over this one, but hear me out. We live in a society where a black man can wear a T-Shirt in the mall that says “Black Power” but a white man can’t wear a T-Shirt that says “White Power”. While on temporary duty in the Military at Andrews Air Force Base a few years ago, at the Base Exchange (like an on-base Wal-Mart for the military folks), I saw T-Shirts being sold that said, “It’s a black thing. You wouldn’t understand”. I was stunned. This seemed incredibly offensive, and I immediately wondered what would have happened to a white Airman who would dare to wear a shirt that said, “It’s a white thing. You wouldn’t understand”. I can tell you with almost perfect clarity: They would have been hauled into their commander’s office and by the time all was said and done, the poor guy would have likely lost a stripe or possibly been booted out with less than an honorable discharge. He would have been branded a racist (and rightly so). But why, if that Airman was black, would not a peep be said by anyone and why would he not be thought of as a racist? On a side note, I don’t think I know ANY white people who would WANT to wear that shirt, and I’d like to think that most of the black people I know would be sensitive enough of their white brothers to not wear one either. I think that the main reason for this is that most people of any race that I’ve met in my life want to actually get along with folks who aren’t the same color as them. We all are, mostly, wanting desperately to live in a color-blind society. The problem is that, whether it’s true or not, it certainly appears that people like Mr. Obama do NOT want this. They want racial division. Otherwise, why else would these folks work so hard to hurt racial relationships. Don’t believe me? Here’s the truth about what I just wrote: If a black person had written this paragraph, it would not bother anyone other than maybe a liberal black activist; but I can just about guarantee that someone out there will be offended by what I just said and label me a racist for saying it. I’m not. My intent is not to hurt because of race – it is to salve the wound and protect it until it heals.

By the way, I want to take a moment and whack the mole that is ‘Reverse Racism’. I’ve heard this idiotic meme for years. If racism can apply to more than one race (anyone remember hearing how we Americans act in a racist way toward Muslims, Indians (American or Eastern), Asians and just about everyone else in the world we meet?), how is it possible that this word can’t be applied to actions against whites? This is just rubbish. Racism is not based on actions of a single race (whites) against another (blacks); it ultimately is the negative action of any race against any OTHER race BASED on race! The idea that black people can’t be racist is as nonsensical saying that only whites can be racists. A racist is a racist. Period. If you are black and you hate whites BECAUSE they are white, you are a racist. If you are a white who hates blacks BECAUSE they are black, you are a racist. If you act WITH INTENT to harm someone because of their color, you are a racist, and that applies to anyone. As near as I can tell, if you are a ‘reverse racist’ this MUST mean that you are as far from a racist as you can be since the reverse of a racist is a non-racist, right?????

So, where does this leave us? If Mr. Gates had been white, and everything else were the same, would we be hearing about this episode? Maybe – because Mr. Gates is a personal friend of the president. So, if Mr. Gates were a white man, and every single other ‘fact’ of this case were the same, and the president had been asked about his friend being arrested, would he have been willing to comment? Of course not. Therefore, I can only conclude that it was important to our President to pour gasoline on the race fire. This is the normal mode of operation for the black radical left. When you want to heal something, you don’t rip off the scab! You let it heal. You apply salve and you cover and protect the wound.

In the context of race, this would mean looking for ways to defuse the situation, not to take a blow-torch to that fuse. It would mean finding ways to prove that it was NOT race related and to work very hard to show how honorable the intentions of the police were. Unfortunately, I don’t think that President Obama’s performance with people like the King of Saudi Arabia or the President of Russia or the Queen and Prime Minister of England have shown us any better ability to deal with the political aspects of international relations than he has with racial relations here in the U.S. We have, unfortunately, hired a lightweight to fight our heavy-weight bout. At this point in history, that may likely prove to be the absolute worst choice we could have made.