Disclosure: I am an eclectic Independent supporting Edwards.
Although race, religion, and age are a part of this diary, they are extraneous to the topic. The focus of this diary is unity and trust. If you run as a uniter, shouldn't you have to act like one?
I'm a uniter. Where have we heard this one before?
I know the South Carolina Oprah/Obama event is old news, but I recently ran into this CNN article, Fans criticize Oprah for Obama support, and it made me curious.
In a nut shell, the article is about her fans using her message board to ask that she (and Obama) please not turn his run for the Presidency into a race based campaign. Oprah reduces the allegations to "They are claiming that she is supporting Obama because he is black, and it isn't true." However, there is no response to the allegation that Oprah and Obama are subtly telling black people to support Obama because they are black. Oprah’s message board has been scrubbed, but here is the link to what remains.
Are We Unified Yet?
This story alone is lots of smoke and no fire so let's see what else there is. He used Social Security scare tactics to appeal to his youth base, and he used the homophobic black preacher to appeal to black religious homophobes. And now there is this article lending credence to the claim that Obama (and Oprah)are using race based politics to divide and conquer the Clinton southern black vote.
The article starts with a description of the Oprah and Obama South Carolina rally. It talks about the huge turn out, the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the record setting attendance and phone banking attempt. It also supplies quotes from Oprah and Obama that sound like pandering to me. (Any emphasis below is mine.)
*Media mogul Oprah Winfrey rallied the crowd of supporters — a primarily female and African-American audience — to get behind her friend, Obama, a new kind of leader who possesses "a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth," Winfrey said.
Oprah uses each of the following words and phrases listed below.
*"stepping out of my pew"
*"Dr. King dreamed the dream, but we don’t have to dream the dream anymore," Oprah told the crowd. "We get to vote that dream into office."
*Winfrey mentioning her Southern roots in Mississippi and Tennessee and growing up as a regular churchgoer.
Also included in this short article are observations on and quotes from Obama.
*Chicagoan’s liberal use of the word "y’all," .
*Obama even seemed to use a bit of a Southern accent. .
*Obama brushed through. his platform,
Didn’t Hillary get nailed for using a Southern accent? And if Obama brushed through his platform at a political rally, what does that mean? Is the hype, Oprah, and who they are more important that what he will or will not bring to the WH. Here is one attendees quoted effect of the revival rally on her.
Attendee Tressie McMillan of Columbia thought she heard soft Rs and other hints of Southern inflections from both Winfrey and Obama.. "It was like they were speaking to us like family," McMillan said. "It felt natural."
If Obama is preaching unity and dividing by race, religion, and age, shame on him. At the very least, this explodes his claim to fame as the unity candidate or does it?
So if I'm not a uniter, what am I?
When I look at Obama, I am struck by how slick, charming, and "preachy" he is. I see mega church like events full of devoted followers, which leads me to Elmer Gantry.
Elmer Gantry is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926and published by Harcourt in March 1927. It tells the story of a young, narcissistic, womanizing college athlete who, upon realizing the power, prestige, and easy money that being an evangelical preacher can bring, pursues his "religious" ambitions with relish, contributing to the downfall, even death, of key people around him as the years pass. Although he continues to womanize, is often exposed as a fraud, and frequently faces a complete downfall, Gantry is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and to reach ever greater heights of social status. The novel ends as the Rev. Gantry prays for the USA to be a "moral nation" and simultaneously admires the legs of a new choir singer.
When I look at Obama, all I can see is Elmer Gantry.
.... young, narcissistic, who, upon realizing the power, prestige, and easy money that being a politician can bring, pursues his "political" ambitions with relish, contributing to the downfall, even death (war), of key people (us) around him as the years pass. Although he continues to gratify his –lust- desire for power, is often exposed as a phony/fraud, he is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and to reach ever great heights of social and political status (Obama tied with Hillary in Iowa, NH, SC). The campaign ends as Obama prays for the USA to be a "moral" and "unified" nation while he simultaneously panders, y’all.
Can Oprah turn a hug into votes? I feel as if I've fallen through the looking glass and wandered into the High Church of Bling. While I wait for the collection plate, I am greatly concerned that we are flirting with another fool me twice moment in our political history. We have all heard the phrase "I’m a uniter", which should immediately be followed by the thought that "The lady doth protest too much...".