Tom Toles in The Washington Post:
Eugene Robinson, himself black,
puts it into words.
I'm old enough to remember when Americans with skin the color of mine and Obama's had to fight -- and die -- for the right to participate as equals in the life of the nation we helped build. Watching Obama give his speech Tuesday night marking the end of the primary season and the beginning of the general election campaign, I thought back to a time when brave men and women, both black and white, put their lives on the line to ensure that African Americans had the right to vote, let alone run for office.
Eugene Robinson, himself black, puts it into words.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteOh, don't get your hopes up.
Lots of Americans are just ignoring the party line cat fights. And, they've made up their minds on who they're willing to vote for.
I'd bet the same is true in Israel. Where the press peppers you with the "latest" on Mofaz. And/or Livni. Or something entirely different. It doesn't matter IF it gets ignored.
Personally? I think Hillary had a better shot. In other words? Parties don't elect people. People choose. And, of the two parties, here; where both made mistakes in choosing their nominees; the democraps just make them more often.
Will Obama give good entertainment, ahead? YES. But will it matter? There are two wonderful pieces to the US Constitution. And, to America's FOUNDING FATHERS. First off, your ballots are SECRET.
And, then? There's a wall separating church from state.
The GOP absolutely knows that its religious nutters konked out in DC. On the legislative side? Definitely, there will be losses.
And, just like in 1860 ... When the newcomer Lincoln was selected from a field of 4. To run for the presidency. What you would have seen, if you understood politics, is that "favorite sons" haven't got national clout. So, going into the convention, in 1860, Lincoln was in 4th place.
But by then Lincoln had a national reputation! (Because those Lincoln-Douglas debates put in front of the American people, the issues of the day.) And, here, too, you can notice the south didn't prevail. (Though they screamed louder. And, used senate procedures, in trying to bring Lincoln's government to a halt.)
It's worth mentioning. Because it's been said about the power the People have in America, when they collect themselves, every four years, to vote.
Sure, sometimes a candidate wins, that I didn't vote for. (Like Reagan, for instance.) And, yet, most people rally round. And, the PEOPLE protect the president.
If you don't believe me? Look at Bill Clinton, who stood with his pants around his ankles. And, he did not "engage" with the media, either. He just waited for the PEOPLE. And, most of them are not religious nutters. Or even blue noses. (Or even racists.) By surviving the terrible way the GOP, through Ken Starr, and the press, ganged up on him, Clinton left office when his second term ended. And, he still carries with him "good fame." Not a bad flame-out.
And, right now? Olmert is going through this mishigas in Israell, where your religious nutters, coupled to the stinker, Morris Talansky, was sure that Olmert would fall like a leaf. And, it would also kill Kadima.
My point? NOT SO FAST.
By the way, in America people who have been voting since 1988 ... meaning that they are fully adult; preferred McCain to the Elder Bush.
But the GOP was manipulated. So you got the stinking 12 years, as bookends, for a time when the religious right grew itself up on Reagan's coat-tails. Now? Doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
This Bush has flopped. He's just a Saudi "pretender." And, Olmert, by some miracle, has still worked well inside this relationship. Where he didn't "follow instructions," in the summer of 2006, to decapitate Assad. And, where in gazoo, IF there's a "big theater" ... I'd get to be very surprised. Since such a move would only help Abbas to stand there. And, "inherit" that piece of landscape. The Jews won't be allowed to settle there ever again.
And, I'd bet there are plenty of Israelis who, to this day, are happy with Arik Sharon. And, Disengagement.
Of course, politics seems like madness. Why should Israel go this route, alone? So until November 4th, it's "our turn." If McCain makes it? It's something he deserved to earn in '88.
As to the democraps? I remember LBJ's exit in 1968. And, JFK's murder. I remember how Chicago, the mob's main address, couldn't be contained at the democrap's convention. And, all hell broke loose on the streets. Hey! wanna read something good? Norman Mailer's "ARMY IN THE NIGHT" is a fabulous read. Yes. Politics can make for some sublime books. But those books need to be honest.
Unlike the Winograd Report. Which was designed to take Olmert down. And, then didn't. (Because it missed the finer points of how Olmert, still friends with this White House, stepped away from going into Damascus.)
Oh, yeah. Now you have Abbas waiting for the Jews to do the dirty work. So he can prance into gazoo.
Trust me, gazoo will never learn how to accentuate it's "beach front property."
And, you know I've already discussed what happened to the American Indians, don't cha? Well, by 1905 the only buffalo you'd see was on the back of a nickel.
A few Jewish men also "owned" hollywood. Because they knew how to reap profits. While movies were just silent black and white affairs, showing up on someone's bedsheet. Where you could see a film for a nickel. (That buffalo sure got around.)
When I was a kid? I remember seeing Wooden Indians. Nicely carved, too. They stood outside of cigar stores. Perhaps? Chased away by smoking too many "cheroots." Where Cancer killed the market.
You just never know how things play out over long periods of time. That's why history provides ya at least a backward glance. Lot's wife wasn't the only one.