What do we look for in our elected leaders? Are political leaders role models? Are our children supposed to read about our Presidents, Senators, Congress-persons and other leaders with awe and aspiration?
I say you betcha (sic) our children not only look to these leaders with admiration and awe but they look to people less deserving, sports and rap stars, actors , their own peers ‚whatever, why would we expect that our elected political leaders are not viewed in the same light by our kids? Are we content with the air brushing of history? Is it honesty when we make history, his story, rather than the real story? Or are we prepared to heap praise on those who were less than decent because it suits the narrative we want to advance for posterity?
Which brings me to the upcoming elections, many people ‚Republicans and Democrats will tell you frankly that most if not all politicians stretches the truth. In fact politicians with the best character will evade rather than tell the truth and suffer the consequences. It is just not good politics to always be truthful in that line of work.
So electorates in democracies have baked that knowledge into how they view political aspirants, what that means is that they know that all politicians will stretch and or evade the truth, so they cut them some slack to a certain degree. Electorates will also cut political aspirants some slack when they do not outright condemn supporters who say and or do silly things, they understand how critical each and every supporter or group of supporters are, if the aspirant is to be elected.
Some Politicians have strategically denounced certain supporters when it serves their interest, they calculate it gives them broader appeal or legitimacy to a larger audience, or a larger pool of voters.
Bill Clinton had his Sister moment.
The term originated in the 1992 presidential candidacy of Bill Clinton. In a Washington Post interview published on May 13, 1992, the hip-hop MC, author, and political activist Sister Souljah was quoted as saying, “If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?”[3] The remark was part of a longer response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The quotation resulted in criticism. In June 1992, Clinton responded both to that quotation and to something Souljah had said in the music video of her song “The Final Solution: Slavery’s back in Effect” (“If there are any good white people, I haven’t met them”)[4] while giving a speech to Jesse Jackson Sr.‘s Rainbow Coalition, saying, “If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black,’ and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech.”(Wikipedia).
As a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush spoke before the conservative Manhattan Institute in October 1999 saying, “Too often, on social issues, my party has painted an image of America slouching toward Gomorrah,” quoting the title of a book by conservative jurist Robert Bork. Bush’s comments were seen as a repudiation of the religious right and an attempt to appeal to moderate voters; commentator Charles Krauthammer called it “an ever-so-subtle Sister Souljah on Robert Bork.”(Wikipedia).
Also in the 2000 campaign for the Republican nomination, Arizona Senator John McCain stated, “Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.” This was similarly seen as a repudiation of the religious right; columnist Jacob Weisberg called it “a pungent Sister Souljah moment.”
During the 2008 United States presidential campaign, Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama received much criticism for his association with his longtime Pastor Jeremiah Wright, and Wright’s pattern of provocative statements. On April 29, Senator Obama distanced himself, in a well-received speech on racism, calling some of Wright’s statements “outrageous” and “a bunch of rants that aren’t grounded in truth.”[6][7] South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn said of the speech, “This, I think, offers Barack Obama his Sister Souljah moment”;[7] the speech was also described as “more than a Sister Souljah moment” by columnist Maureen Dowd.[8]
On July 10, 2008, prior to a taping of Fox and Friends, civil-rights activist Jesse Jackson was unwittingly caught by an open microphone whispering to a fellow interviewee, saying that then-candidate Barack Obama was talking down to black people and that he, Jackson, wanted to cut Obama’s “nuts off”.[9] Jackson’s son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois — co-chair of Obama’s presidential campaign — publicly blasted his father’s comments. Dan Balz called the comments “accidental Sister Souljah moment” for Obama, since Jackson had distanced himself from the candidate, without Obama having to take a stand.[10](Wikipedia)
Romney/Ryan
Not only had John McCain spoken out against the most strident in both parties as he saw them, he also corrected a woman at one of his campaign events during the 2008 campaign who accused then candidate Barack Obama of being an Arab, a Muslim and God knows what else.http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llef8ZRTWQo&feature=related.
These are just some of the instances I referenced, political expediency or character, you be the judge. With all that I have said it brings us to the present Republican Candidate for President Mitt Romney . I have written a lot of blogs criticizing this guy, the truth is I don’t like him , that much is obvious.
I have a tremendous dislike for Romney not because he is Republican, I like Chuck Hagel, I like Colin Powell, I like Steve Schmidt. I don’t dislike Romney because of his race, many of our friends are white , and are tremendously decent and nice people. I do not dislike Romney because he is running against the first black President, Barack Obama.
I have a tremendous dislike for Mitt Romney because he is a pathological liar. I was raised to always tell the truth, I have suffered because of liars. That makes me very intolerant of liars.
How does the American public reconcile tolerating a potential president who lies the way Romney does, are the American people willing to trust this great experiment to a man who straight-faced lies about everything he does? Without the pathological mendacity, Mitt Romney is already and still is a dangerously flawed candidate, he has said he doesn’t care about the poor, most Americans are middle class or poor. He said 47% of the American people are moochers who refuses to take responsibility for their lives, these are the very people he is now asking to elect him so he can carry out the wishes of the 1%.
Are the American voters willing to elect Mitt Romney and allow him to destroy the country then seek to resuscitate his image for posterity? I am dumbstruck at the mentality of voters, what does it say about the moral compass of a people who from poll to poll intimate through their support for Romney, that they are willing to cast their vote for a man whose campaign mantra is “We will not allow fact-checkers to decide the direction of our campaign”.
If Mitt Romney is elected what kind of president does the American people expect him to be? Does anyone expect him to be a leader who govern with truth, integrity, honor,or dignity, or will he simply be another Richard Nixon? Why would electors who cast their votes for a pathological liar expect a president who will honor their sacred trust? Doesn’t truth matter? I say it does, we get the Government we deserve, we get the Government that represents who we are.
If we are bigoted ignorant racists we will pretend that Barack Obama is a bad President, we will pretend that the deficit and partisanship is his fault. We will act as though the ills that plague America are of his making, after all he’s black how could it not be his fault? You see the election of Obama did not show America to have graduated from hundreds of years of racial animus, an animus that has eaten away at the inner core of American society throughout her history.
The elevation of Obama instead, revealed the deep ignorant hatred, which exist in people generations removed, from their ancestral purveyors of the most vile type of racial bigotry, but who themselves still harbor the same unintelligent stereotypical bigoted animosity.
In many counties in many States despite the outpouring of love and admiration for Obama in 2008 , he barely received above single digits of the white vote, remembering of course that he should at least have won the white vote in his own party. Those single digit votes in those parts of this country , means that Democrats voted for John Mc Cain or elected not to vote at all, rather than vote for a black candidate.
Many would rather see their country fail rather than be saved by a black man, they have said so. Many would rather see Osama Bin Laden alive that know he was taken out by Barack Obama, the very president they label a Muslim an Arab and a terrorist sympathizer.
Led of course by the genius(sic) former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the most ignorant of ignoramuses.
On the question of Muslim or Arab, labels they use to deride Barack Obama, neither of which he is, it is instructive that the very Constitution they claim to love, the Bible of their very American existence, lays out two simple steps for someone to be President of this beautiful land.
(1) The person must be native-born American.
(2) The person must have reached the age of thirty-five years old (35).
If the Constitution is as important to them as they say it is, if the words are sacrosanct as they claim they are, how then can they deny a Muslim or Arab the Presidency, which the very same Constitution clearly does not?
And if they are willing to label an honest decent and upright man, Arabic and Muslim , which he clearly isn’t, does it not make sense that they will elect a soul-less liar who has categorically lied without fear, of consequence? Where there is no vision the people perish, in their blind hatred the people demanded that Pontius Pilate release the murdering thief Barabas to them and crucify the just and decent Jesus Christ, Barack Obama is not Jesus Christ , neither is he Barabas,but as it was then, so is it today. Hatred is palpable, it is contagious, it is dangerous, they killed Jesus based on a campaign of lies , false accusations and defamation, they could not kill him without building a case of lies, he was sinless. Both Herod king of the Jews and Pilate the Roman Governor wanted no part of the charade, but the hateful throng would not have it any other way, they would not allow truth to change their mendacious blood-lust.
Barack Obama is a decent man, one does not have to agree with his politics, it’s ok to disagree, his record is there for all to see, it is one of service, always looking to change the lives of his fellow-man for the better, they cannot justifiably vote him out of office based on his record, so they have to change his record, and that’s what Mitt Romney set out to do.
Mitt Romney did not stop running for president in 2008 after he endorsed John Mc Cain, he wrote a book titled “no apology ‚the case for American greatness” , he went around the country trying to get republican candidates elected to office, in effect it was just a continuation of his failed run and a pre cursor to his present run. That run began with lies and distortions, on Tuesday November 6th we hope it will end in ashes , a footnote in the annals of history, a testament that in the end mendacity will never be rewarded with ultimate power.
Mitt Romney decided he would run a campaign of lies, he knew he would have to build a case against Obama, he realized he could not do so against Obama the man, he would have to prove that. He calculated that for the racists and the truth deniers and there are many, he could turn positives into negatives, that is what he has done , on the Auto bailout, on the stimulus, on Obama-care, on the killing of Osama Bin Laden. On issue after issue Romney has twisted the facts, supported and helped by a huge cadre of neo conservative hate mongers. Pair that with illiterate, hateful, and uninformed people and it’s clear to comprehend why this election is close.
There is still time for voters to take another look at Romney and not be fooled , voters have a chance yet , not to fall for the sales pitch of a slick snake oil salesman who will do anything for power under the guise of family and religion, while wrapped in the flag.
On Wednesday November 7th, the entire world will see what America did on the 6th, the decision of voters will tell them whether America is serious about turning the corner , or whether she had voted for a black man once, simply to ease her burdened conscience.
Go out and exercise your right to vote , Republicans want to take it away from you, because it is the single most powerful tool you and you and you and you have to determine your destiny, it is yours not theirs.
When you do not vote you empower them to further abuse you, take advantage of your right, many in the republican party, particularly white men believe your right to vote is a privilege, it isn’t , it becomes a privilege if you make it so.
Excercise your right, boot them all from office.