August 29, 2008
PJB: And If Obama Loses?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
DENVER — After the phony roll call vote was taken here to formally nominate Barack Obama — a roll call that did not remotely reflect the true delegate strength of Hillary — the media exploded in an orgy of celebration about the historic character of the moment to which they had just been privileged to be witness.
“The first black presidential nominee ever of a major party in history!” was proclaimed. Coming on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Barack’s nomination is being hailed as the last great step forward in the long march to equality and justice in America.
The moral pressure to join the march of history is enormous.
Nor is it unfair to say that some journalists here are obsessed with the issue of race in this campaign. There may be wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising tensions with Russia, a falling regime in Pakistan, and reports of U.S. and NATO warships headed for the Persian Gulf, but here it is all about the first black ever nominated for president.
During the primaries, Bill Clinton was charged with racism by liberal Democrats for saying that Barack’s claim to being consistent on Iraq was a “fairy tale” and for implying that Barack’s victory in South Carolina was no big deal because Jesse Jackson had carried the state twice.
Here at the convention, the media watched Hillary and Bill’s speeches with a commissar’s care — to ensure they not only embraced Barack but “validated” his credentials to be president. Should they not go all out for Obama, we are told, the Clintons are dead in the party.
The psychic investment in Barack’s candidacy is immense.
So great is the moral pressure to conform that John Lewis, the young hero of Selma Bridge, buckled and recanted his endorsement of Hillary. And that act of disloyalty and betrayal, a capitulation to race solidarity, is regarded as praiseworthy.
Black radio has become a cheering section for Obama. Every GOP ad mocking Obama is inspected for racial motives. Campaign books that portray Obama as a radical or phony are denounced by people who have not even seen them. The thought police are out in force.
Michelle Obama’s speech about her upbringing and beliefs — crafted by Barack’s hires — is said to be the last word on what a mainstream patriotic woman she is. But why, then, would she have taken her two lovely daughters to be baptized by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and to listen on Sundays to his racist rants against America?
Abroad, we are told, Europe and the Third World are awaiting the moment when America turns her back on her racist past and elevates this black man to the presidency. The subtext is that this is not just a political contest, but a moral test for America.
Indeed, many have begun to see this election in solely racial terms, an issue of whether racism once again triumphs in America, or racism is buried one and for all.
Questions arise. With this immense moral and emotional investment in a Barack victory — by 94 to 1 in one poll black America is behind him — what happens if the nation decides he is too radical, too inexperienced, too callow, too risky to be president?
What happens if the American people reject their marching orders and say no to Barack and black America? What happens if all the hopes and dreams, hype and hoopla, end in disillusionment?
Would the defeat of Barack Obama be taken as an affront to black America? Could we be in for a time of deepening racial division rather than healing? Could we be in for a long, hot autumn like the long, hot summers some of us recall from 40 years ago?
One black preacher here suggested as much to me.
Should that happen, the people who have framed this election as a contest between morality and racial justice on one side, and the clammy hand of America’s racist past on the other, will bear the same moral responsibility as did the advocates of mass civil obedience for the racial riots of the 1960s that followed.
Barack has just shot 6 points ahead of McCain. But he has not yet closed the sale. And to prevent his closing of the sale, the GOP must raise doubts in the public mind as to whether he is really a man of Middle America or the closet radical of the Rev. Wright’s congregation who said of Pennsylvanians that they are bitter folks, who cling to their Bibles, bigotries and guns because the world has left them behind.
No candidate has ever been nominated by a major party with fewer credentials or a weaker claim to the presidency, or more doubts as to his core beliefs. If Obama wins, the country could be in real trouble. And if he loses, the country could be in real trouble.
What the media celebrate today, they may rue tomorrow.
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Racism
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Pat, if Obama wins I think you should volunteer to be his national security advisor or maybe Secy of State. He says he wants to embrace all folks under his umbrella, dems, republicans and independents. Lets see if he can put his money where his mouth is.
Unfortunately, the Democrat/Neocon wing of the War party will manipulate the process to get its own agents in those choice policy positions.
I don’t understand why people are allowed to call others racists. If you call me a racist for simply opposing someone politically isn’t that slander. Couldn’t someone be sued for calling others racist.
At the WSWS website they call Pat an anti-semite. Since this is considered to be such a bad thing why not sue and give them a chance to make their case in court. Obviously to OPPOSE Jews politically is not the same as anti semitism. They shouldn’t be allowed to take away our right to political opposition by calling us racist. Is it racist when WSWS opposes Christians in this very same article in which they call Pat an antisemite.
If you win the case then perhaps Jews, Hispanics and blacks could not play their Race Card all the time and silence the opposition and destroy peoples’ lives, careers and reputations. We need to take the White Guilt card away from them and reclaim our freedoms.
The following is from
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/sep2008/pali-s01.shtml
“A particularly noxious element in her background—so far little explored by the national media—is her role in the 2000 presidential contest, when she supported ultra-rightist and anti-Semite Patrick Buchanan over the two main Republican contenders that year, George W. Bush and McCain.”
unquote
SUE THEM PAT SUE THEM. That would be a good strategy to stop them from calling others racists when we are only exercising our rights to political opposition.
btw, I’m a Democrat who hates the LIberals who took over our party just as neocons are taking over the Republican party and destroying us and our government.
We are so diverse we can’t even come together long enough to fight Globalization and our own destruction. White people are shackled by the race card. We should stop them from playing it. Sue Pat sue.
Sue them. On behalf of us all.
Hey, there Mr. Buchanan, sir:
I have enjoyed the candor of your remarks about Sarah Palin over the past few days and am genuinely heartsick to see that the Dark Overlords have managed to slip your shock collar back on. It saddens me deeply to see you back on the GOP reservation because when you think and talk with your rational brain instead of your lizard brain, you really are very interesting. The last time you slipped your collar, you were quite fascinating on the conflict between Georgia and Russia, and the reactions of John McCain and the Bush administration to it.
I wish you the best of luck in making another escape soon. I look forward with great anticipation to your next foray into the world of rational expression.
With best wishes,
Helena
I recognize propaganda when I see it, Pat. I KNOW you are more intelligent that you pretend when you continue to say that Michelle Obama or Barack Obama listened to rants against America continually in Jeremiah Wright’s church!!!! I know you are smart enough to know the truth. Jeremiah Wright preached 3 sermons a Sunday for almost 30 years–that is more than 4000 sermons. Most of these were recorded! Yet, only 4 sermons were found that contained this angry diatribe against American domestic and foreign policy. I will not address the difference between hatred of America’s policies and hatred of America by a Marine who served his country. I will only return to the fact that you KNOW you have not heard any of the other 3996+ sermons. You choose to define a man and his parishioners by .001% of his sermons–sermons the Obama say they missed, and easily could have. There is no evidence to the contrary that they were there those 4 times in the many years they belonged to that church! You know the fallacy of this, but you choose to continue it, because you choose to engage in propaganda. I am not even a Jeremiah Wright fan, but I am a fan of truth. Listen to just a few of the 99.990% of Jeremiah Wright’s other sermons and then define him. Propaganda is scary, because so few seem to have any ability to THINK these days, and swallow whole anything they hear as long as it is said often enough. Of course, you know that.
The Obama ascendancy as a prime political force in America is a clear example of the liberal media’s power in this nation. If he is rejected it will be because he did not connect with the heartland of America. The Boswash isolated cable and print news outlets simply don’t get it. They just don’t get it ! When their out of touch tacit endorsement of Obama is rejected and the riots start, they will sit in front of the camera, mouth agape, searching for an answer, and finally blame the American people.
The utterly irrational discourse that has characterized this entire election process has driven me to seek out people who can at least see the disaster that might well follow an Obama election. As a teacher, I work every day among liberals who truly believe that Obama is a savior. Only one of these liberals is black. The rest are people who truly buy into the view of a guilty America that must purge itself to be clean. I am a long-time Democrat forced away from the party by these people and a myriad of other issues on which they have lost their way. At the same time, I can’t love the Republican party even though I certainly respect some things about McCain (and you do a fine job of pointing out his shortcomings as well). I have joined your website because I like to expose myself to some reasonable thought on political issues - you have become a voice in the wilderness, but I appreciate that voice.
I’m glad that someone else was upset at the DNC roll call. Aren’t pledged delegates pledged to vote for you on the first ballot? I mean, if they don’t want to put John “you and I together (in the Beverly Hilton). ” into nomination that is one thing, but HRC’s pledged delegates should have voted for her. Even as much as I tuned in to watch her lose it upset me she didn’t get what millions (wrongly) went to the polls for
flicka,
Here is a simple math exercise for you. 4/4000 is .001 not .001%. What you mean to say is that Rev. Wright’s hostile sermons make up .1% of his sermons. His other sermons do not make up 99.990% but 99.9%.
Obama is the black Cheney, not black JFK. He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
He will destroy the fabric of western civilization.
McCain is a madman, obama is a deceiver.
Wright said ‘G-D America’, he did not say ‘G-D America’s policies.’ Of course, who would care if Colin Powell had sat in the church? If Obama had the qualifications for President, Jeremiah Wright wouldn’t matter.