Years ago at my high school alma mater, a black student popped in, unexpectedly during class one day to announce to our 90% black American class that, 'it's right to be white', and just as suddenly he departed. Based upon the Senator's behavior over the past year and a half, I suspect that Senator Obama knows that it is right to be white, better than this black student did at the time!
Senator Obama a Scotch-Irish African is both black and white. He began his campaign as a black man, he is finishing it as a white man - he has not moved to the center as some of us have been reporting, he has moved to the white! And guess what, it's working for him at least!
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Has anyone else kept been keeping track of Senator Obama’s weak negotiation skills, and as a consequence - all of his negotiation losses? Is anyone else keeping score?
So far all that Senator Obama has done over the course of his election campaign is to practice the politics of appeasement, recapitulation and moving to 'the White'. And sadly, it appears that his strategy is working for him to be sure, for by doing so he has become the presumptive Democratic choice to become the next President of the United States in 2008. The question is, but how did he arrive at 'his success'
The strategy among Democrats is to simply get a Democrat into office in order to halt the faltering agenda of the Republicans that all of us have witnessed over the past seven and a half years, and to replace it with their own agenda. If they are correct that it is all it will take, for a Democratically elected President will be working with a majority-democratically controlled Congress.
Yet and still, when I consider the strength of the man vis-à-vis his negotiation skills, I’m talking about Senator Obama, I cannot see for the life of me how this man will stand up and fight for any cause - for so far he has backed down every time that he has been confronted with dissent from 'the White'. What has he stood and fought for so far that resulted in victory?
Let’s consider his won and loss record and what he has accomplished during the current election cycle given his less than adroit negotiation skills. Senator Obama has been in the following fights and he has lost, backed down, recapitulated, vacillated or caved in each one of them.
• His wife’s comments with respect to finally being a proud American.
• His own comments with regards to the lives of the troops that were wasted in Iraq.
• His own perception of Pennsylvania’s religious gun-toting marginalized.
• His pastor and mentor of 20 years and his church (he quit the church and his pastor instead).
• NAFTA, he has reversed himself.
• Ministers Farrakhan v. AIPAC, he chose AIPAC and Israel’s Revolution.
• The immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
• His stance on guns.
• The Death Penalty.
• FISA.
• Meeting with world leaders in order to resolve stalemates.
• The military budget, he wants to expand it (to fight unjust wars I suspect)
• Even his decision to appear with his family on television, he subsequently decided that we will never do that again (they must have appeared to be too ethnic).
Why not Senator, why won't you appear with your family again on television? Did you read an unfavorable opinion poll the next morning with regard to the airing of your family, or did your white supporters tell you that you should abandon your darker-hued ethnic family just as you have been doing with everything else that is black?
To be fair Senator McCain has engaged in the artful craft of political flip-flopping as well. He flip-flopped on the following:
• The Bush Tax Cuts.
• His feelings about Evangelicals and the association of politics with religion.
• Oil Drilling.
• Healthcare
• Support of Corporations.
• Immigration
• Torture.
What does this tell me about these gentleman? It says to me that neither one of the two has a real plan, and like the Wright Reverend said, clearly Senator Obama and apparently Senator McCain as well will say whatever they have to in order to get elected. How do these gentleman develop policy, in short it depends on whatever way the winds are blowing because they shift with the sands of time and political opinion?
Is it a good thing on one hand to have leaders that are somewhat malleable and that will responsive to the will of the people that they serve, certainly the previous administration had zero interest in what the American people thought or felt vis-a-vis George Bush who cared only about 'his base'; Dick Cheney who flatly proclaimed, I don't care what the American people think', and Don Rumsfeld who ignored his generals, other Cabinet members like Dr. Rice and America's 'old European allies!
These were not the kind of leaders that one would expect to lead in a Representative Democracy, where the leaders are supposed to be there to serve the will of the people and to defend the Constitution.
On the other hand, one has to wonder what will either of these gentleman fight for or take a stand against in order to convince the people? In Senator Obama’s case, clearly he is not the man that the people voted for, he certainly does not represent the policies in other words that the ones who voted for him in the primaries believed in – he has already abandoned them and those principles already. How long will it take for him to abandon them altogether like Senator Joe Lieberman did? So far he has simply done what he had to in order to get himself elected, just as his Shepherd said that he would do.
And if you’re keeping score, Obama’s score is about a dozen losses and zero wins. Senator Obama hasn’t won a single battle yet except to become the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. And with that in mind, it’s not too late to draft Hillary. With respect to Senator McCain, his own Party cannot figure out who he is, and if you’re keeping score, his record is not much better than Senator McCain.
Can you imagine if either of these two gentlemen was negotiating with any of the world’s adept leaders, or on any important domestic issues? Neither of the two has a very impressive record when it comes to negotiating unless negotiating is synonymous with capitulation. So far all that either one has done is to win the partial support of their respective parties, and that may simply be not good enough, there is too much at stake both domestically and abroad.
Senator Obama can attribute his success so far to swerving not to the center, but to ‘the white’ (whereby leaving the black church, his pastor and his black values behind, and by taking the minority vote for granted. He hasn’t stood up for a single black or Third World issue yet. The most important institution in the black community is the church, and Senator Obama abandoned his black church of 20 years.
That tells me a lot about what he will do as President! Can you say, extended Cuban Embargo, or sorry Africa, Hamas and Hezbollah, for nothing is about to change where you are concerned?
I attended a Principled Negotiations workshop years ago in order to study the art of principled negotiations. When it comes to these two gentleman and negotiations, neither of the two so far has shown me that they have any principles!
Peace & Grace
Reverend C. Solomon
Addenda: And black Americans are under the impression that they have elected a champion that will fight for them, when so far all that he has done is to rebuke the black community, so far just as Reverend Jackson said, he has yet to use a phrase like 'white Americans ought to or need to...! If Senator Obama is elected President, he will preside as a white man's black man - I predict that he will not simply stand up and 'BE A MAN!
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