Supplemental Essay

(April 2010)

                The Essay “A Shovel Full of Dirt” was published May 28, 2009.  The essay theme presented a Washington D.C. Administration and Congressional leadership which were rolling over American value, U.S. Security, and Economic stability like a Runaway Train.  Our hope for the survival of America and the American way of life is for citizens to get their symbolic shovels and build a mountain in front of this train to slow it down and stop it. 

                This supplemental essay is written to point out quotes from President Obama showing his agendas.  Since he seems to be the “engineer” on the Runaway Train, we need to focus on him first.

                President Obama was largely elected due to his charisma, oratory skills, promises of “Transparency” and bipartisanship.  He also touted the popular “we can” and “change” themes.

                I think the election would not have been as decisive if more attention was paid to the content of the two books written by Obama.  Although the books do have some positive and solely historic parts, there are excerpts that give us a view of his thinking that is contrary to the way he was presented to the American people during campaigns and during pushes for political agendas.

                                          Our President – As presented by his own writings

                The books that I have taken excerpts from are:  “Dreams From My Father” – Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, NY, Copyright 1995 & 2004 by Barack Obama & “The Audacity of Hope” – Published by Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., Copyright 2006 by Barack Obama.

                I want to make it very clear to whoever reads this essay that I am NOT a racist.  If you want some insight as to whether or not your President is a racist, read the next few excerpts. 

                From “Dreams..”, page 85, Barack is mulling over his friend Ray’s words “…any distinction between good and bad whites held negligible meaning.”

                From “Dreams..”, page 81, “Our rage at the white world needed no object…..it could be switched on and off at our pleasure.”

Would Obama rather be called an American or an African-American?

                From “Dreams..”, page 101, “No, it remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.”  (Remember the incident with the Cambridge Police and “The Beer Summit”?)

                From “Dreams..”, page 220, “…..white men and brown men whose fate didn’t speak to my own.  It was into my father’s image, the black man, the son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela.”

                From “Dreams..”, page 311, (while Obama is in Kenya) “Here the world was black, and so you were just you; you could discover all those things that were unique to your life without living a lie or committing betrayal.”

Character Counts

                Continued quotes and excerpts:

                From “Dreams..”, page 93, “I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years.  Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it.”

                From “Dreams..”, page 94, “It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned:  People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves.”  [Works better than Transparency? – David Pond]

Would Obama rather be called a Christian or a Progressive?

                From “Audacity..”, page 242, “During the five years that we would live with my step-father in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school.” 

                From “Audacity..”, page 242, “Although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist,”

                From “Dreams..”, page 86, “I imagined myself following Malcolm’s discovery toward the end of his life, that some whites might live beside him as brothers in Islam”

                From “Audacity..”, page 241, “But I was made to understand that such religious samplings required no sustained commitment on my part – no introspective exertion or self-flagellation.” 

                From “Audacity..”, page 245 & 246, “in the black community, the lines between sinner and saved were more fluid;”

                From “Audacity..”, page 235, “I circulated to my staff and had the language changed to state in clear but simple terms my pro-choice position.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 255, “I am suggesting that we progressives…” page 253-256, the term “progressive” is used five times in four pages in Obama’s chapter on “faith”.

                From “Audacity..”, page 260, “To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.”

Power, Politics, Unions, Media

                From “Dreams..”, page 46, when talking about step-father Lolo’s influence on Obama as a child, his mother stated “power was taking her son”.

                From “Dreams..”, page 203, (Chicago politics) “Race-baiting could make up for a host of limitations.  ….black rage always found a ready market”. 

                From “Dreams..”, page 200, “If Nationalism could create a strong and effective insularity, deliver on its premise of self-respect, then the hurt it might cause well-meaning whites, or the inner turmoil it caused people like me, would be of little consequence.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 138, “The problems of ordinary people, the voices of the Rust Belt town or the dwindling heartland, became a distant echo rather than a palpable reality, abstractions to be managed rather than battles to be fought.” 

                From “Audacity..”, page 131, “As for most politicians, money isn’t about getting rich…it’s about status and power, it’s about scaring off challengers…without money, and the television ads that consume all the money, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 141, “…organized labor.  For seven years I had been their ally in the state legislature.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 142, “The leaders of several of the largest service workers unions – the Illinois Federation of Teachers, SEIU, AFSCME, and UNITE HERE…..chose to endorse me….so I owe these unions.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 143, “So you start voting as you would answer a questionnaire.  You don’t ponder your positions too deeply.  You check the yes box up and down the line.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 144, “Today that force is the media.”  (That shapes politics.)

                From “Audacity..”, page 145, “For the broad public at least, I am who the media says I am.  I say what they say I say.  I become who they say I have become.”

                From “Audacity..”, page 140, “Say one thing during the campaign and do another thing once in office, and you’re a typical, two-faced politician”.  [Wow, what a statement. – David Pond]

                From “Audacity..”, page 228, “I simply believe that those of us who have benefited most from this new economy can best afford to shoulder the obligation…”  [Socialism – David Pond]

                                                 Contradictions Between Statements & Policy

Debt

                From “Audacity..”, page 223, “So far we’ve been able to get away with this mountain of debt because foreign central banks – particularly China’s – want to keep us buying their exports.  But this easy credit won’t continue forever.  At some point, foreigners will stop lending us money, interest rates will go up, and we will spend most of our nation’s output paying them back.  [Conflicts with unprecedented spending and a tremendous increase of debt ceiling. – David Pond]

                From “Audacity..”, page 373, “No person in any culture, likes to be bullied.  …nobody likes to live under an economic system in which the fruits of his or her labor go perpetually unrewarded.”  [Conflicts with Obama’s “tax the rich” theme. – David Pond]

The Push Through of the Healthcare Bill

                From “Audacity..”, page 101, “For ten years before coming to Washington, I taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago.”   Page 96, “…every bill, resolution, or nomination – needs the support of sixty senators rather than a simple majority.”  [Has the “professor” found a way to lead Congress around the Constitutional Rulings? – David Pond]

Indonesian Politics, Chicago Politics, or Washington Politics?

                From “Audacity..”, page 325, “…corruption permeated every level of government – even the smallest interaction with a policeman or bureaucrat involved a bribe, and just about every commodity or product coming in and out of the country, from oil to wheat to automobiles, went through companies controlled by the president, his family, or members of the ruling junta…”

 

                To end this supplemental essay I want to show the quote that most alarms me out of Obama’s books. 

                From “Dreams..”, page 315, “A voice says to him yes, changes have come, the old ways lie broken, and you must find a way as fast as you can to feed your belly and stop the white man from laughing at you.  A voice says no, you will sooner burn the earth to the ground.”

 

               Click on this link to go to Page 3 - TAXES.

 

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