Yakov Smirnov used to do a comedy routine where he compared life under Communism in the old Soviet Union with the blessings of living in the United States, always ending each comparison with “What a country!”
Republicans would be wise today to recognize and value the significance of a presidential primary battle between a woman and an African American. Sen. Hillary Clinton was the first female major contender for her party’s nomination, and her speech last night had to tug at the hearts of even conservative women.
Today, as Sen. Clinton urged the Democratic Convention to nominate Sen. Barack Obama by acclamation, journalist Juan Williams of Fox News — not an Obama supporter by any stretch — was choked up as he talked about the greatness of our country. A country where a member of a racial minority — only a century and a half removed from slavery — could be nominated in essence by the majority race to lead the country. As Williams said, “this is America.”
And yet, while all fair-minded Americans should celebrate the opportunities available to everyone in this country, the next step in our effort to move beyond race and gender in politics is the ability to support or reject candidates for reasons that have nothing to do with race or gender. And once we move past the history-making excitement of the nation’s first African-American presidential nominee, we begin to evaluate leadership experience, judgment and policy. And as this latest video ad from Sen. McCain makes clear — Sen. Obama’s naivety and dovishness on foreign policy would expose the world and America to grave danger.
I second your opinion Len.
We know we have truly moved from being a racist and sexist society when we select our leaders not on the basis of their gender or race, but when we select them, in the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, “on the content of their character”.
In my opinion, as regards Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, their views on legal abortion, diqualifies them as leaders with character.
To emphasize this, Mr. Obama, as a state senator, voted three times against the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA). This bill was designed to protect babies who survived a botched abortion attempt only to be left to die in the soiled utility room of a hospital.
And to add insult to injury, when he realized that doing this created a political liability for his presidential bid, lied about it.
The world must be put on notice that this is truly NOT a man of character, just simply a character, an empty suit, an image without substance.