It depends somewhat on who gets nominated, but I have already detected a subtle (and not so subtle by some) undercurrent of a message from the Republican party for the upcoming campaign to unseat President Obama. The subtext is that he is UNAMERICAN. Most wont come out and say that, because the ballancing act they will be trying to accomplish is to excite the base that belive it to be true, while not alenating the moderates who do not belive it to be true. (What Huckleberry did)
To John McCain's credit at least upon the outset he outlawed this type of rhetoric from his campaign. It was not until Sarah Palin was let loose on the voters that the "he is not one of us" undercurrent stragety was utilized. You will see a subtext of suggestions that President Obama has gone on an Apology Tour of the world to admit that America is bad, (something he did not do), that he does not belive in American Exceptionalism, that he did not grow up with baseball or the Boy Scouts, (He was a boyscout). There will be more sugestions that he is not "one of us" in ways I have not thought of yet. This stragety might work for the Republicans, but at what cost to America?
I will not say that this undercurrent message is racist, because it will not be limited to race, but I do say that it will be playing to those who are racist... It will also be playing to those who are narrow minded who belive the American President must be just like them to be any good, to those who belvie he should be corn fed and from Kansas or something like that. (Preisdnet Obama is as much from Kansas as he is from Africa, in fact more so as he was raised by a family from Kansas.)
Whats so wrong with this message?
1) Its not true about President Obama. Sure aprox. half of his genetic make up comes from Africa, but half comes from Kansas and what matters more than Genetics is that he was raised by an older generation of Kansans. President Obama was a boy scout, his grandmother was a member of the Rotary club, he played baseball in High School. He lost a mother way too young and he had to use student loans to go to collage. Id say his background is MUCH more typical American than George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan for example. Sure four years of Obama's childhood was spent in Indonesia, Maybe that gave him some great perspective on American culture and its virtues. I know when I travel abroad I am very happy to be home.
2) Perhaps the most harmfull reason the Republican message is wrong is that it promotes the idea that for something to be good, it must come from deep within our current culture, that nothing from the outside is good and that change is bad. So what if it were true that President Obama was not from our culture! Is America not a melting pot, one of the reasons for America's success and perdominance is that we are a mix of many cultures. We have taken the best of many types and made it our own. We escaped old traditions that no longer served us and moved forward from the old world.
Some new ideas and fresh perspective just might be what we could use right now. The English were appaled when America stood up and said we no longer need a king, that was VERY un-English, which at the time was the prevaling culture. The undercurrent of the Republican campaign echos the outrage of the English Parlament to the idea of American self rule.
Lets hope cooler heads prevail and the coming campaign is led by leaders who wont take advantage of ignorance and prejudice but will embrace knoledge and acceptance of new ideas that might be helpfull. Dont run on Fear of change, but on hope for a better tomorrow.
Thats what is best for The Unted States!
To John McCain's credit at least upon the outset he outlawed this type of rhetoric from his campaign. It was not until Sarah Palin was let loose on the voters that the "he is not one of us" undercurrent stragety was utilized. You will see a subtext of suggestions that President Obama has gone on an Apology Tour of the world to admit that America is bad, (something he did not do), that he does not belive in American Exceptionalism, that he did not grow up with baseball or the Boy Scouts, (He was a boyscout). There will be more sugestions that he is not "one of us" in ways I have not thought of yet. This stragety might work for the Republicans, but at what cost to America?
I will not say that this undercurrent message is racist, because it will not be limited to race, but I do say that it will be playing to those who are racist... It will also be playing to those who are narrow minded who belive the American President must be just like them to be any good, to those who belvie he should be corn fed and from Kansas or something like that. (Preisdnet Obama is as much from Kansas as he is from Africa, in fact more so as he was raised by a family from Kansas.)
Whats so wrong with this message?
1) Its not true about President Obama. Sure aprox. half of his genetic make up comes from Africa, but half comes from Kansas and what matters more than Genetics is that he was raised by an older generation of Kansans. President Obama was a boy scout, his grandmother was a member of the Rotary club, he played baseball in High School. He lost a mother way too young and he had to use student loans to go to collage. Id say his background is MUCH more typical American than George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan for example. Sure four years of Obama's childhood was spent in Indonesia, Maybe that gave him some great perspective on American culture and its virtues. I know when I travel abroad I am very happy to be home.
2) Perhaps the most harmfull reason the Republican message is wrong is that it promotes the idea that for something to be good, it must come from deep within our current culture, that nothing from the outside is good and that change is bad. So what if it were true that President Obama was not from our culture! Is America not a melting pot, one of the reasons for America's success and perdominance is that we are a mix of many cultures. We have taken the best of many types and made it our own. We escaped old traditions that no longer served us and moved forward from the old world.
Some new ideas and fresh perspective just might be what we could use right now. The English were appaled when America stood up and said we no longer need a king, that was VERY un-English, which at the time was the prevaling culture. The undercurrent of the Republican campaign echos the outrage of the English Parlament to the idea of American self rule.
Lets hope cooler heads prevail and the coming campaign is led by leaders who wont take advantage of ignorance and prejudice but will embrace knoledge and acceptance of new ideas that might be helpfull. Dont run on Fear of change, but on hope for a better tomorrow.
Thats what is best for The Unted States!
and here YOU are still talking about a subject you claim derailed the thread......fine jarod, you can have the last word on the spelling issue
