Part Two: Attempting to Delegitimize Barack Obama’s Presidency
Holding the office of the President of the United States of America is a position that grants you the utmost respect in the world, quite literally. This doesn’t mean everybody loves you and this certainly doesn’t mean everybody agrees with you (including up to 49% of the country the day you take office). But what this does mean is you’re granted a series of titles, positions and formalities that are unique only to the President and his predecessors. For instance, although a President may have no military background, he is automatically the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Military. Even if the President has no experience in the Judicial branch of government, he automatically in granted the power on January 20th, to select nominees to serve on the Supreme Court for a lifetime term.
Another automatic aspect of the President of the United States is the instant amount of respect that is given to you, both in your own country and overseas. The President is quite literally the leader of the free world, a symbol for America and all that it represents around the world (which probably to the chagrin of many nay-sayers, still represents hope, opportunity and freedom to those impoverished and under privileged). He is greeted by Governments around the world with the most lavish of accommodations in the most traditional and respectful ways that particular country’s cultural history deems. This is the case regardless of the religious denomination, political affiliation, background and race of the President. If this is the case overseas, why is it not the case here in the United States?
What I’m going to attempt to show you is how the Presidency of Barack Obama has been a historic one; and not just because of the overwhelming support he received and all the ground he broke winning the Presidential election last year. More what I’m going to focus on are his opponents; those who not only reject Barack Obama on his political beliefs, but something more. I believe there is an underlying effort (whether it be a conscious effort, or one that is springing up from the subconscious of his detractors) to delegitimize the Presidency of Barack Obama for no other reason than his skin color. We’re going to exploring two different examples here which will hopefully show you where this theory comes from, and why I believe it to be true.
Example 1:
On September 8th, 2009 Barack Obama planned to address the nation’s school children on the importance of working hard, dedicating themselves to their education and taking responsibility for their learning. Nowhere in his plans, nor in the actual speech would President Obama even come close to mentioning anything about Democratic policy, liberal ideals or attempt to “indoctrinate students with Socialist ideology.” Although this was clear to the reasoning, common sense using folks here in America, it didn’t stop Republican opponents and critics of President Obama of claiming he would attempt to do those ridiculous things. These pointless and politically motivated accusations went as far as convincing school districts across the south of banning their students from hearing a positive and inspiring message from the most powerful and important person in our country.
To actually think that Mr. Obama would be using this speech to school children as a way to spread his political message is an insane prospect. It takes a mind who would actually think of doing something like that themselves to assume that the President of the United States would ever stoop to such a level. It’s a ludicrous notion and one that comes from an interesting twist of purpose. Most opponents of this speech protested that they didn’t want their children being indoctrinated with political rhetoric and wasting time that could be spent on normal school curriculum. In reality, they didn’t want Barack Obama’s liberal, Democratic ideals to be force fed down their children’s throats, which was never going to happen in the first place. So, what did they do? They banned their students from hearing the speech from the Presidents on the importance of education. By their actions alone, they showed their impressionable young students which political philosophies are okay, and which are not. By opposing Mr. Obama’s speech on the grounds that it might politically influence a young kid who has no business being politically influenced, they have successfully politically influenced their children into believing that what President Barack Obama stands for is wrong, easily dealt away with, and not deserving of respect. The words “stunningly hypocritical” come to mind.
What these superintendents and parents around the country have done is not only a detriment to their children, but also a detriment to America itself. Perhaps a young child watching this speech could have been inspired to work hard, and learn to love school and eventually become the President or a politician in his or her own right. Perhaps a young child in the south would have been inspired and surprised by the accessibility of the most powerful man in the world and impressed with his dedication to the children of this country and changed the way they thought of government. And most importantly, perhaps a child would have been able to see his leader, The President of the United States talking directly to him about education and self responsibility and learned a certain amount of respect for those who’ve worked hard before him, relied on themselves and worked hard to achieve success. But, alas, with the selfish acts of these “proponents of education” we will never know.
You might be asking, what does this have to do with the president’s Race? Simple. Both Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush gave similar speeches to school children, and though they may have been criticized publicly (no such evidence can be found for the Regan speech) they both went off to school children around the country without a hitch. The legitimacy of the message was never called into question to the point where banning the speech seemed like a logical choice. The educators and parents of the time felt like most rational minded independent thinking people did today, that the Presidents speech about education was simply that. Regardless of how you feel about the Presidents political opinions, they are still the President of the United States. They are still the most powerful man in the country and they deserve respect. Regardless of who is President, they’ve undoubtedly have had to make sacrifices to get where they are and that is a good role model for school children. regardless of their political affiliation, or yours for that matter.
It’s no surprise that a majority of the watch-bans on the Presidents speech happened in the southern part of the United States. The south has a well documented history of prejudice against all minorities, particularly African Americans. Although many forms of racism have been combated by groundbreaking acts such as The Civil Rights Movement and the eventual Civil Rights Act, there still exists many, underlying forms of prejudice woven deep within the bloodlines of the southern population. Racism has moved out from being socially acceptable in the mainstream, but perhaps more dangerously, it has moved under the rug and into the silence. Southern racism has gone from white only drinking fountains, to white-only ways of thinking. Harboring such anger and hatred toward a group of people with no outlet, is perhaps more dangerous than being able to outwardly display you’re bigotry and this is what is happening in the south. This isn’t to say all southern people are racist, far from it. But for those who hold such grudges against the President that they’d be willing to jeopardize the educational and patriotic well being of their children, their racist feeling (once again, whether it be a conscious or subconscious feeling) is clearly a motivating factor in this heinous decision making. I would be hard pressed to believe a video message from a white Republican President would be met with the same type of scrutiny and (false) “concern for the educational value of the speech.” If John McCain were the speaker instead of President Obama, no qualms would be raised about his political message or purpose. Kids would be encouraged to sit back and listen to the words of a self made, successful man. How sad that they missed out on this wonderful opportunity.
Example 2:
Congressman Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) was made infamous by his inappropriate outburst during President Barack Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress on healthcare. Mr. Wilson yelled out “You Lie” when President Obama made a point about Illegal immigrants receiving healthcare in America. I want to make something clear. This event didn’t take place during a debate or panel on a specific issue. Mr. Wilson chose to interrupt the President of the United States while he was giving a State of the Union type speech to the joint session of Congress. This simply is not done. The level of inappropriateness of this action is so far out of scope a word to describe it simply eludes me. There is a certain level of respect, a certain level of sanctity about the way our government does things. No matter what else happens, things are run on a platform of respect and tradition because that is simply just the way things are done. Never would anyone have the right or let alone the reason to interrupt the President in a situation like this. Joe Wilson has embarrassed himself, the people of South Carolina (the state he represents) and the entire American population both at home and around the world.
The problem isn’t only the fact that Mr. Wilson embarrassed himself and acted completely inappropriately by interrupting the President of the United States, it’s what he interrupted him by saying. In a time where the perception of America around the world is perhaps at it’s most unsure, Mr. Wilson took it upon himself to disrespectfully call out the most internationally popular President we’ve had in recent history. What Mr. Wilson failed to realize is that not only is he offending every person in America by acting so inappropriately, but he’s also tarnishing the opinions of the millions of people around the world who supported Barack Obama and stepping on their beliefs as well. In the eyes of the world, Mr. Wilson took it upon himself to attempt to delegitimize the power, knowledge and intentions of America’s leader by calling him a liar. No word choices could have undermined President Obama more and been more damaging. His choice was clear and purposeful. His choice to act so inappropriately was motivated (whether conscious or not) by his prejudice against African Americans.
You don’t have to search hard to find incidents and involvements in Mr. Wilson’s past that would lead you to these same conclusions. Mr. Wilson openly and purposefully defended the flying of the Confederate Flag (a clear symbol of racism and treason) above the South Carolina state house building, and even went as far as to defend the Confederate heritage as being “very honorable”. He was one of 7 members of the 43 in the South Carolina senate to actually publicly vote to keep the Confederate flag flying. It has also been reported that Mr. Wilson is a current and active member of the group “Sons of Confederate Veterans” which has been linked to a neo-confederate mindset, as well as being supporters of secession and dismissing the horrifying instituation of slavery as “benign”. Going even deeper, Mr. Wilson was mentored by and served under notoriously racist and long serving senator Strom Thurmond (who performed the longest filibuster in history, attempting to halt the passing of the civil rights act) who was later found out to have fathered a bi-racial daughter. When Mr. Thurmond’s daughter finally came forward with the information of who her father was, Mr. Wilson described her and the situation as “a smear on the image” of Mr. Thurmond. Mr. Wilson later apologized (something he’s been doing quite a bit of recently).
I will be the first to admit that I do not think that Mr. Wilson sat listening to President Obama’s speech on healthcare and was consciously thinking about how he could purposefully delegitimize Mr. Obama’s Presidency. In truth, I think it goes deeper than that. Based on his actions and associations, it’s quite clear that Mr. Wilson has a lack of respect for African American’s as a whole. He may not outright hate people for the color of their skin, but because of his lack of respect and ill will toward that specific group of people, he deemed it acceptable to interrupt Barack Obama as he spoke to the joint session of Congress, something that is simply not done. Mr. Wilson thinks that Mr. Obama’s Presidency is illegitimate. He does not think that (whether it be consciously or subconsciously) that Barack Obama deserves the same respect that a white President would or he simply would have never made such an outburst. Something deep within the mind of Joe Wilson has lead him to believe that a black man, a black President should not be taken seriously. Mr. Wilson, for whatever reason, sees President Obama as an inferior, even though he has risen to the level of ultimate superior in this country. Mr. Wilson’s complete lack of respect for American tradition, politics and the processes we’ve adopted is downright embarrassing and is worthy of an in-depth look into his purpose and ethics.
You might be wondering how President Barack Obama responded to all of this. He responded just as you would think an intelligent man of any race would. He simply called it a “mistake’ and accepted Joe Wilson’s half hearted, sincere-less apology. Would Barack Obama ever come forward and say that this outburst was motivated by race, even though it clearly has the markings of something that could be? No. Would Barack Obama ever come forward like former President Jimmy Carter came forward and declare Mr. Wilson’s actions racial motivated and completely inappropriate? No. Barack Obama did exactly what you expected him to do. He shrugged his shoulders, turned the other cheek and simply went back to work on what he believes will help make America better for Americans, whether they live in South Dakota or South Carolina. He showed patience, forgiveness and ability to move past pointless acts of childishness and bigotry, which, I don’t know about you, but to me sounds like an awfully good lesson for our school children.
There is the first photo that sparked the world’s interest in the existence of real fairies. That is Frances posing with the “fairies” although if you look closely you can see the waterfall in the background is blurred due to slow shutter speed on a moving object. However, the “fairies” though jumping, appear crystal clear with no blurring, an obvious check in the fabricated column.
