One More Thought About Obama
I would also like to add to what April wrote yesterday, but that will wait a bit. First I wanted to write some thoughts (final thoughts for awhile) I had about President-Elect Obama.
The question on NPR on the day after the election was: does the election of Barack Obama signify a major step in race relations in America? I think the obvious answer is YES because there is no way he could get elected without the “white” vote, which signifies a change to a more positive attitude toward race equality in America. Does this end racism or racial discrimination? Well of course not, but I heard some opinions today that made this election appear more significant than I originally thought. Not immediately significant, but will be for later generations. Here are the points that I found interesting.
1) Who is the first president that you can remember; the one from your childhood? For me, I remember Ronald Reagan, and I remember thinking at the time that he was MY president and for some reason I just loved and trusted him. Even to this day, with facts about his presidency on hand, I still have a fondness for the man. I remember that in college I would debate with friends about what would occur first, an African-American president or a woman president (the answer is “A”). Now we’ll have many children that, when they grow up, will remember their first president being an African-American and will never debate “will there ever be a black president?”* They will never have that sort of doubt in their mind about the possibility of an African-American president. This can only help heal the wounds of racial discrimination.
2) Who was your role model growing up? For me, it was probably my father, but I had others that I looked up to, both real and fictional. I loved Reagan (as mentioned), Robin Hood, G.I. Joe (don’t ask why), I’m sure there are others but I don’t want to spend to much time thinking about it. Here is my point, in the past few years or more I’ve heard African-Americans like Bill Cosby speak critically of the African-American culture, especially in the inner city areas. One of their complaints is the idolization of gangsters and rappers and mimick
ing their selfish, violent and misogynist attitudes. Now we have President Obama and the possibility of a generation of children and teenagers (of all color) idolizing someone who espouses hope, unity, and public service. This has got to make Cosby feel better, and can only help society as a whole.
The more I thought about it, the more that I came to agree with a lot of the Obamamanics that this is an exciting time. I grew up hearing the stories of Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Robinson, George Washington Carver, and we will experience the man that our children and children’s children will hear and read about: President Barack Obama. Of course, what we hear and the reverence towards him will be determined by his presidency, but as I mentioned in a past post, I have some caution, but right now I’m filled with mostly hope.
* We’ll have to save the discussion of gender equality for a different post
Good thoughts Matt!
I am filled with mostly hope too!
Family values? The same guy who wants all abortions to be legal, because if, someday, one of his daughters makes a “mistake”, he doesn’t want her “to be punished with a baby”.
One out of every three black babies in America is aborted.
I believe that every baby is a blessing and a gift. Period.
I am unable to fathom the mindset of a politician who could refer to his future grandchildren as being “mistakes” and “punishments”.
Preborn babies are not “potential human beings”, they are human beings with potential.
Only if YOUR mother decided YOU should be allowed to be born, do you have the luxury of deciding to be “hopeful” about a man who never met an abortion he didn’t like. Over 50 million of your fellow Americans, conceived since 1973, haven’t been allowed that luxury.
Look, I don’t like abortion either, and I will never ever get one. This is my moral belief, but as I just mentioned that subject is a moral belief…not a legal one. Who is government to tell me when life begins? I’m not talking about the “does the heart beat” kind of life, but when there is a life to the point that it would be murder to end it. In other words, when does the body have a soul? That is purely a moral conundrum in which the government should not legislate on. He may not have the same moral standing when it comes to abortion as you or I, but he he has more family values when it comes to helping children (and people in general) after they are born.
On more thing, Obama opposes many abortion procedures. For example, a quote from Obama, “believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I’ve said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother…”
http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm
Read the Supreme Court’s Doe vs. Bolton (the companion case to Roe vs. Wade) & you will see what a smokescreen has been thrown up around “only to protect the health of the mother”, because as interpreted, “health” means virtually anything an abortionist wants it to. National Right to Life has a great website, you owe it to yourself to read up on it so you can come to your own conclusions, based on other verifiable facts.
The real question is; Which day could you have killed Jocelyn in utero, and had it NOT be Jocelyn you were killing? Which day?