PRESIDENT OBAMA HITS THE GROUND RUNNING
By Allan Wall
January 30, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
I love to watch presidential inaugurations. It’s an impressive ceremony, marking a transition of power and girded with a number of traditions, some of them two hundred years old.
The inauguration of Barack Obama was a great show to behold. Once again, the president of one party turned over power to that of another, in a peaceful transition of power.
Not only was this inauguration interesting for all the usual reasons, but it was also the most expensive one in history.
And, as we were reminded again and again by the media, this inauguration was “historic” because it was the inauguration of the first African-American president.
Again and again we were reminded.
But wait a minute. Is it really true that race doesn’t matter? If race really doesn’t matter, then why does there have to be an African-American president? Especially when you consider that Blacks comprise only 13% of the nation’s population.
Does that mean that Blacks and other minorities cannot identify with a White president?
Does this mean that during future inaugurations, we will be reminded again and again of the historic nature of whomever is being inaugurated?
The first Woman president. The first Hispanic president. The first Asian-American president. The first Native American president. The first Eskimo president. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Or how about these potential historic inaugurations: The first Gay president. The first Lesbian president. The first polygamous president. The first president who’s had a sex change operation. Etc.
Will the constitutional significance of inaugurations be completely ignored in favor of identity politics?
Getting back to racial politics, is the fact that every previous president has been White really an injustice? After all, this nation was founded by White people, and is still a majority White nation.
Besides, Barack Obama himself is half white. In fact, his maternal ancestors, the Dunham family, have been living in this country since the 1600s. Why don’t we hear more about his White heritage? Does Obama not want to identify with our Colonial heritage?
It’s ironic too, that Obama is not even descended from American Blacks, but from a Kenyan.
We were constantly reminded that Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for Black civil rights, and that he wanted Blacks to be judged by the content of their character and not the color of the skin.
Did Blacks struggle all these years so that the first Black president could be the son of a foreigner and not of American Blacks! Do they themselves fail to see the irony?
Besides, how was Obama’s election the result of being judged by his character, and not skin color? Would a white politician who had accomplished as little as Obama been elected?
These are all questions that ought to be asked. Not that, in the midst of Obamamania, many will ponder them.
Anyway, our new president moved quickly to enact his agenda.
Obama’s former rival Hillary Clinton is our new Secretary of State. She was quickly confirmed despite the fact that her confirmation was unconstitutional.
According to Article 1, Section 6 of our oft-ignored Constitution,
" No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time…"
This means that you can’t be in Congress, vote for a pay raise for the Secretary of State, and before your term is over be named to that very same position. But that’s exactly what Hillary did, or more accurately, that’s exactly what Obama and the Senate did for Hillary. Apparently nobody in the Senate, including any Republican, spoke out against it. Well, so much for the Constitution.
Then we had Timothy Geithner, a confessed tax evader, named as Secretary of the Treasury. So do you suppose you or I can evade taxes this year and use Secretary Geithner as an excuse? No, I didn’t think so.
And now we have an enormous trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill that is being cooked up by Obama and the Congress. Well, what can we say? It’s mostly pork, we’re in debt already, and there’s not much evidence it’s going to help the economy. But, no matter, it’s on the way to becoming a reality.
After all, is the real goal to help the economy, or further socialize it?
© 2009 Allan Wall - All Rights Reserved
By Allan Wall
January 30, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
I love to watch presidential inaugurations. It’s an impressive ceremony, marking a transition of power and girded with a number of traditions, some of them two hundred years old.
The inauguration of Barack Obama was a great show to behold. Once again, the president of one party turned over power to that of another, in a peaceful transition of power.
Not only was this inauguration interesting for all the usual reasons, but it was also the most expensive one in history.
And, as we were reminded again and again by the media, this inauguration was “historic” because it was the inauguration of the first African-American president.
Again and again we were reminded.
But wait a minute. Is it really true that race doesn’t matter? If race really doesn’t matter, then why does there have to be an African-American president? Especially when you consider that Blacks comprise only 13% of the nation’s population.
Does that mean that Blacks and other minorities cannot identify with a White president?
Does this mean that during future inaugurations, we will be reminded again and again of the historic nature of whomever is being inaugurated?
The first Woman president. The first Hispanic president. The first Asian-American president. The first Native American president. The first Eskimo president. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Or how about these potential historic inaugurations: The first Gay president. The first Lesbian president. The first polygamous president. The first president who’s had a sex change operation. Etc.
Will the constitutional significance of inaugurations be completely ignored in favor of identity politics?
Getting back to racial politics, is the fact that every previous president has been White really an injustice? After all, this nation was founded by White people, and is still a majority White nation.
Besides, Barack Obama himself is half white. In fact, his maternal ancestors, the Dunham family, have been living in this country since the 1600s. Why don’t we hear more about his White heritage? Does Obama not want to identify with our Colonial heritage?
It’s ironic too, that Obama is not even descended from American Blacks, but from a Kenyan.
We were constantly reminded that Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for Black civil rights, and that he wanted Blacks to be judged by the content of their character and not the color of the skin.
Did Blacks struggle all these years so that the first Black president could be the son of a foreigner and not of American Blacks! Do they themselves fail to see the irony?
Besides, how was Obama’s election the result of being judged by his character, and not skin color? Would a white politician who had accomplished as little as Obama been elected?
These are all questions that ought to be asked. Not that, in the midst of Obamamania, many will ponder them.
Anyway, our new president moved quickly to enact his agenda.
Obama’s former rival Hillary Clinton is our new Secretary of State. She was quickly confirmed despite the fact that her confirmation was unconstitutional.
According to Article 1, Section 6 of our oft-ignored Constitution,
" No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time…"
This means that you can’t be in Congress, vote for a pay raise for the Secretary of State, and before your term is over be named to that very same position. But that’s exactly what Hillary did, or more accurately, that’s exactly what Obama and the Senate did for Hillary. Apparently nobody in the Senate, including any Republican, spoke out against it. Well, so much for the Constitution.
Then we had Timothy Geithner, a confessed tax evader, named as Secretary of the Treasury. So do you suppose you or I can evade taxes this year and use Secretary Geithner as an excuse? No, I didn’t think so.
And now we have an enormous trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill that is being cooked up by Obama and the Congress. Well, what can we say? It’s mostly pork, we’re in debt already, and there’s not much evidence it’s going to help the economy. But, no matter, it’s on the way to becoming a reality.
After all, is the real goal to help the economy, or further socialize it?
© 2009 Allan Wall - All Rights Reserved
posted by shummer60 at Sunday, February 01, 2009
1 Comments:
why are you viewing obama as an "african american" president? clearly he did not run his campaign on this premise. he is the president of the united states, who happens to be black, not the other way around. part of the problem here is how you are viewing this in context.
and by the way, i am an american, who happens to be of african descent.
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