What's Wrong With Obama?

What's wrong with Obama? Why is it that I am so resistant to jumping on the Obama bandwagon?

As the Obama-Clinton campaign race developed, I kept finding myself gravitating towards Hillary Clinton. I really appreciated Obama's fine oratory, (that man can really stir up a crowd) however found little reason to prefer him over Hillary.

As the campaign got a little grittier, I actually started to dislike Obama. While Obama's and Clinton's proposals were so much alike, Barack promised he could deliver the change while insinuating that Hillary was somehow incapable. My own appraisal was that Hillary possessed, due to her experience, the ability to bring about the most change. Due to her experience, when dealing with Congress as President, she would know when to back down while continuing forward for the most change possible.

However Barack's campaign became "Vote for me and the changes I promise will happen. She can't do it." It was about then I started to really dislike the man.

Then it was revealed that the Barack campaign was just another empty run by a man wanting more power then he was ready for. It was revealed that while he promised to do something about NAFTA to the citizens of Ohio, leading officials in his campaign organization were secretly telling the Canadians he had no real intention of doing anything about it. Promises of change to the stupid voters, but wink wink, nudge nudge to the people in power.

Then the issue of the Reverend Wright came up. Turns out Reverend Wright holds many viewpoints that the average American might find offensive and the Reverend regularly preached his viewpoints from the pulpit. Barack Obama claims the Reverend Wright never preached anything offensive while he was sitting in the pew during his long term membership. (See here) where Real Clear Politics points to a YouTube clip where Barack denounces much of the preaching of the Reverend Wright.

My take? Evidently Barack Obama did not attend services at his church very often or he just was never caught on video sitting in the pew during the preaching. The Reverend's viewpoints disclosed in the videos I have seen exposes deep rooted thinking that would have been revealed even during attempts to preach the Gospel. It is absurd for Barack to claim ignorance on the viewpoints of his preacher, and his preacher was/is an America hating racist.

Forgiving Barack Obama for being the member of a racist congregation would be asking more of me then to forgive Trent Lott for saying a few words of praise towards Strom Thurmond during his (Trent's) infamous speech. Trent Lott was forced to resign as Senate Majority Leader due to that speech. I think the demand for resignation was just. However I am going to hold Barack Obama accountable to the same standards I did hold Trent Lott. I would find it extremely difficult to vote for Trent Lott for President. Just is difficult will I find it to vote for Barack Obama come November 2008 if Barack represents the Democratic Party.

There is NO EXCUSE for racism. There is reason to condemn any man (or woman) on things other then the color of one's skin. However I refuse to hold a black man less accountable then a white man. Racism is not OK just because your skin color is black.