I just realized why I'm so adamant about not cutting Obama any slack for preachergate. I think it stems from the fact that I grew up in D.C. My High School was 95% African American. All my friends, except one, growing up as a kid in D.C. were black. I've even attended a few inner city churches while growing up, mostly because a girl I liked was going and it was the only way to see her.
Anyway. I digress. The point I'm clumsily making is I don't suffer from white man's guilt the way many liberals do. We all had basically the same opportunities to succeed or fail in life. Some of my friends got away from the city and did pretty well. I remember one in particular who landed a job building the Bay Bridge for big bucks. Another focused on school, went to Dematha High and on to Ganzaga (he was also great at B-ball). Others did very poorly. Some landed in jail, because drugs were a real lure for kids in those days, and dealing could put you in touch with some pretty nasty characters.
I feel fortunate to have joined the military and left, never to seriously look back. Anyone stuck in the inner city can do this today, provided they play by the rules and are willing to work hard.
I also remember things from my youth like the long lines at the end of the month in front of the liquor stores, where healthy men in their mid-twenties would cash welfare checks, or use food stamps in those days to buy Malt Liquor. (I wonder if they still sell those big cans of beer?) I also remember working as a painter in my teens and my boss having a hard time finding workers willing to simply show up on time.
Times have changed. Sure, I was lucky. But I was lucky primarily because America is a land filled with opportunity if one is willing to take risk, work hard and keep learning with an optimistic outlook.
Preachers of hate don't engender that kind of spirit. Just the opposite in fact. It's not an uplifting message of hope he preached. It's a message of victimhood, dread and fear.
For Obama to be driven toward such a preacher tells me something about him as a person. And it's not the character traits we need to be President. |
