On Sunday Traudi and I went to see my grandmother who is 95 at her nursing home. When we came out someone had written over my Obama 08 sticker on my car "Stupid Nigger". This was quite a shock because even in Republican DuPage county where my Grandmother's facility is located Illinois is mostly for Obama. The vandalism and its intent to shock really effected me and it caused me to pause.
I have heard all kinds of vitriol about President Obama and not just from the Fox News crowd. The reality is that an entire segment of our population hates President Obama for what he stands for and his race is just added wood on that fire.
There is a whole social class of people who really believe that they have worked hard and that they dont owe anything to anyone. My cousin Gregory has this mindset as does my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Chuck. They believe that what Obama is doing is "socialism" because he wants a modicum of real equality in our society. What these people want to do is eat at the trough and fill their bellies while the nation declines.
Now, I have not been totally pleased with President Obama. The lack of investigations of the Bush administration really bothers me. George Bush and Dick Cheney should be in jail right now for their crimes. I am also not happy with his stance on torture and labor unions he needs to do more. But he is trying. He has put forth a moral argument that everyone in America deserves health care, something that is a right in most rich countries. The Right is frothing at the mouth and we his supporters are not out there for his plan enough. The truth is if you really want to reduce healthcare then it needs to be Single Payer but lets give him a chance.
In the end there is a whole population of White middle and upper middle class people who hate what President Obama stands for and calling him "Stupid Nigger" makes them feel good I guess? But to see such hatred played out on my car was a shock- but it has not changed my opinion.
2 comments:
Hi,
So what do you do when these "Self Made" delusional-lites spit their bile? All I want to do is reach across the aisle and choke them. I think we need to drag this folks into the 21st century where health care and the right to love who you will love is just apart of daily life.
They had their shot and brought on the 2nd Republican Great Depression! Now we have clean up their mess again. This need not be bi-partisan, they steamed rolled logic, science and honesty for eight years, lets now give them 40 years of progressive thought and maybe they will just fade away.
They have chosen not to accept an open hand, so now we need to slap them with it, repeatedly.
I don't know if we can say it was a racist or even an anti-Obama follower who wrote those words on the sticker. Perhaps it was just another "Bart Simpson" out there doing whatever brings them an evil grin for the moment...even if he has blacks he calls "good friends".
I think the problem we have is that most of the media is so twisted in their quest for ratings that they will slander and show whatever will twist the truth to make those ratings. We see Liberal Media say the anti-Obama supporters are racists and people working for the wealthy who want to maintain the status quo...never addressing the possibility that there are those who voted for Obama who may not believe he's going on the right path to fix the problems in the US.
Then we see the Conservative Media who will paint every Obama supporter as a mooch, leach, lazy, misguided, uneducated, unAmerican, etc...never once possibly fathoming the idea that perhaps many Americans didn't support the Iraqi war and are tired of uber-Conservative economic policies of "trickle down".
For every person out there on the net constantly pulling up articles and posting words on how much Conservatives should rise with guns and overthrow the government, I see the same amount of people who are tired of losing their jobs over and over and tired of seeing our tax dollars being spent on more "police actions" when prosperity is only going to those who donated the most to a campaign.
We're only 7 months into his term and already many believe the US will crumble by 2010 and we won't be able to get back any hope of prosperity by 2012. Give me a break. If we could survive the Great Depression we can survive this. Lord knows I don't see Hoover Homes in Millennium Park nor soup kitchens in the Loop.
I think people need to tune out the mass media and tune into the sources that are more trusted to get some actual truth. Don't be afraid to say "I don't think this will work", but also come up with a realistic solution that isn't all "fend for yourself" or "I got mine, find your own".
Post a Comment