Is Oprah Obama’s Kook Aid Vendor?
Granted, the radio sound bites that encouraged the writing of this post may be viewed as an invalid reason to express an observation or complaint against the left side of the political spectrum but all due respect will be afforded to soothe the hypersensitive nature of any liberal readers.
A brief report on the Obama/Oprah campaign event this past weekend featured Oprah speaking of Dr King dreaming the dream but Oprah’s chosen candidate being able to get it done now. In addition to that sound bite was the coment that the Washington ‘experience’ and more years of arguing and getting nothing done plus Obama’s statement that he does not want to represent red states or blue states but the United States raised some questions.
All three Democratic candidates strongly expressed their intentions to end the war in Iraq by withdrawing, also known as surrender, as fast as they could upon being elected. This sentiment does not support the troops and is also the position of every left-leaning, liberal and/or Democratic party individual or group expressing a position to date.
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s claimed ‘experience’ to which Mr Obama frequently defends himself and now calls the experience of Washington the way it has been over the years caused Clinton to revamp her surrender strategy when it was expressed by those who really do have experience that withdrawal at the speed suggested by those supporting surrender would pose a real threat to the troops during said withdrawal. Then Clinton as well as other surrender proponents revised their strategies to include a ’safe’ surrender and withdrawal carried out over time.
Most of the surrender talk comes from the left or ‘blue state’ voters while most of the support for the troops and the Iraqi people and victory in the war comes from the ‘red state’ or conservative voters in this country. So how does Barack Obama with his current companion Oprah Winfrey reconcile this division with the statement of representing not just red or blue states but the Untied States?
It might be unfair to suggest that Oprah’s use of a Dr King reference was using the race card. If she had omitted any mention of him or related matters she may have been criticized for that. There seems to be a dilemma between discussing matters of race and encouraging continued complaints about prejudice and not discussing matters of race and hoping any problems will fix themselves. That may seem strange on its face, but how much discussion about race only serves to focus on dramatic problems of the past while silence on the matter only serves to assume everything has been rectified? The matter of race may share a common affliction with other issues; too little progress over too much time.
Other reports posted here suggested that Obama was not attracting enough of the women’s vote and especially not enough of the black women’s vote. There were also opinions in the news suggesting the Oprah factor was nothing more than a publicity stunt and that some black voters indicated they would not vote for Obama just because he was black similar to women who said they would not vote for Clinton solely based on gender. There are likely many voters who will do just that even though reports of that are rare.
Just as likely the sound bites presented in the radio report are merely the result of campaign strategy from the Obama camp not unlike any other campaign. An attempt to widen voter appeal as much as possible before the first even in Iowa less than a month away.
But that does not erase the fact that the left side of politics is firmly entrenched in antiwar rhetoric and political agenda although the voices on this topic have fallen silent or limited or in some way less prominent with the success of operations in Iraq since the troop surge, denounced by Dems from the beginning, demonstrated the value of what can be accomplished if you truly seek victory as a nation.
Clinton, Obama and Edwards still favor surrender, more government spending and programs like health care and education with no accountability. Sure, the GOP was spending like Dems but there are conservative candidates dedicated to returning their party to sensible policies that have dominated conservative politics historically. And most favor strong national security, border control, immigration enforcement as well as fiscal restraint. The Obmaa/Oprah factor did not hing to sincerely address these issues, at least not yet.