I've watched too many videos of people at Republican rallies decrying fake dangers Obama poses: he's a terrorist, he's a radical Muslim, etc, etc, etc.
Below is my letter to those who fear Obama.
To those who fear Obama:
I’ve been watching the McCain/Palin campaign and Fox try to stir doubts about Obama by calling to question some of his previous associations, identifying his politics with socialism, and acting as if there are suspicious unknowns in his background. The insinuation is that the fact that Obama has consorted with such questionable characters implies that there is some reason to believe that he may himself be a terrorist or anti-American Muslim-sympathizer or a black militant or a Stalin-esque demigod who will turn the US into the grey communist monster that was the USSR. These are absolutely ridiculous accusations and the fact that many people seem to believe some form of them is disheartening. It actually seems like the goal of the McCain campaign is to make people fear an Obama presidency, which will be wholly divisive and destructive to the country in the event that Obama does get elected.
It’s not just me –many other prominent conservatives and military commanders support Obama
Over the past few months many conservative and republican intellectuals and military elite have endorsed Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin; still many more have openly decried McCain’s fear tactics. Here is a link with a list of quite a few prominent Republicans who support Obama: http://www.republicansforobama.org/... . While most of these endorsers cite trouble with McCain himself such as his poor judgment in picking a vice presidential candidate, his overwhelmingly negative and ineffective campaign and his irresponsible impetuousness, as part of the reason they chose Obama, they also quite uniformly cite impressive qualities of Obama. Below is just a small sample of those party-jumpers and military officials. These are trusted (by other republicans), intelligent, thoughtful, well informed Americans, many life long republicans and conservatives who have shown that they themselves are not afraid of Obama; that they, in fact, think that Obama would be the better president.
General Colin Powell and other high ranking military officials: with some fanfare General Powell recently came out in support of Obama. The following link has the video of that endorsement: http://www.youtube.com/... . Powell says that McCain seems "unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems" and is "concerned with his selection of Governor Palin." But he also said Obama "displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, and a depth of knowledge" and that he "shows intellectual vigor." Perhaps most pertinent to this letter, in this video Powell disparages McCain’s attempt to try to paint Obama as a terrorist. I’ve read conservative bloggers who think he did this based on race alone, which is quite unfounded. General Powell has given a lifetime of service to his country and the Republican Party and has never indicated race bias in his decision-making. Further, he is not the only high ranking military official who has endorsed Obama. There are many prominent high ranking military officers, many Caucasian, who have endorsed Obama. Here is video of an announcement eight of them made in together: http://www.democraticunderground.com... . The military officials who spoke in that announcement are: General McPeak (who served on the joint chiefs of staff during operation Desert Storm), Admiral Nathman (former commander of US fleet forces), General Robertson (former deputy director of civil works), and General McGinnis (former Chief of Staff – National Guard Association). These generals laud Obama’s judgment, wisdom, ability to pick wise advisors, ability to understand the soldiers themselves, and his temperament. Former Whitehouse chief of staff under Reagan Ken Duperstien threw his support to Obama while noting "Colin Powell's decision is in fact the good housekeeping seal of approval on Barack Obama." (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/31/former-reagan-adviser-endorses-obama/ )
Interestingly, while researching links for American military support of Obama, I ran across http://www.pensitoreview.com/... , which documents Israeli military support of Obama, as well.
Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley and former conservative columnist for the National Review: The junior Buckley announced his support for Obama in the column: http://www.thedailybeast.com/... . In that column he laments the change he’s seen in McCain during this campaign; among other things noting that his "ninth inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless." He also lauds Obama’s "first class temperament and first class intellect" and goes on to say that he believes Obama understands that traditional left-wing politics will not be sufficient to fix what is broken.
C.C. Goldwater, granddaughter of Barry Goldwater and "all of her siblings and some of her cousins": C.C. announces her endorsement of Obama here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... . In the column she indicates she is "struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to [her]." She says that she, her siblings and many of her cousins "believe strongly in what [their] grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics."
William Ruckelshaus and Russell Train, former EPA administrators under three presidents: In their article "Life Long Republicans Make the Switch" http://www2.tbo.com/... , Ruckelshaus and Train indicate that although they have been lifelong republicans, they are supporting Obama because he "has compellingly stated his intent to re-engage the community of nations in support of policies that will begin the arduous task of realizing a clean and secure future for the planet." It is exactly this willingness to engage the world that McCain is disparaging by his guilt-by-association politicking.
Francis Fukuyama, former advisor to Ronald Reagan: In his column in the American Conservative (http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/nov/03/00020// ), Fukuyama writes his belief that our "American model" needs to change drastically to fix what is now broken and that "Obama is in a better position to reinvent [that] model."
David Broder, conservative columnist: Although his Washington Post column "Obama’s Admirable Journey" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/31/AR2008103103355.html?sub=AR ) is not quite an endorsement for Obama as president, it is a shining example of a conservative who does not fear Obama, but rather respects and honors him. In the column Broder recognizes Obama’s "calm good judgment and respect for others" and that he carries a "powerful, positive message to the world."
On the guilt-by-association attack
First and most importantly, in their attack the McCain/Palin campaign and Fox seem to be implying that interactions with people you disagree with is a bad thing; that respect for people you disagree with is a bad thing. This is a very dangerous line of attack. The only way we can grow intellectually is to listen to people whose opinions differ from ours, to open ourselves up to that. I am friends with all kinds of people whose opinions of the world differ from mine in all sorts of ways and occasionally I learn something from conversations with these people and my own understanding of the world deepens and grows. Much more dangerous than a president who has had a handful of questionable associations is president who thinks that (s)he should not listen to those who disagree with him/her at all. We had that in Bush Jr., and it would further compromise our already damaged relationship with the rest of the world to have that for another four years.
However, even beyond the fact guilt-by-association sets a dangerous precedent, these horrible people that Obama has associated with are not that horrible. Some of McCain’s friends and Fox’s opiners are just as questionable and the attack is simply hypocritical. From an unfortunate channel surf through Sean Hannity one Sunday evening it seems the following are what Hannity considers his "bad judgment associations": Educator William Ayers, Reverend Jeremiah White, Poet Frank Marshal Davis, ACORN, and Palestinian Scholar Rashid Khalidi.
On William Ayers: William Ayers admittedly was a member of the Weather underground and did support subversive behavior in the early 1970’s, over thirty years ago. Since then he has made a name for himself as an academic and is well-respected in his field of childhood education. Ayers and Obama served on the board of two Chicago charities together. As Greg Hinz writes in Chicago Business (http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=31370 ), the president of Northwestern University, the head of Chicago’s most powerful business group, officials from BP Amoco and banking giant UBS, and an ex-editor of the Chicago Tribune also served with Obama and Ayers. These were not radical charities. Michael Dobbs writes for the Washington Post’s Fact Checker that "Whatever his past, Ayers is now a respected member of the Chicago intelligentsia, and still a member of the Woods Fund Board. The president of the Woods Fund, Deborah Harrington, said he had been selected for the board because of his solid academic credentials and "passion for social justice." One of the projects was financed by billionaire Annenberg, ambassador to the U.K. under Richard Nixon, who would equally be associated to Ayers. According to a New York Times front page article, "Obama and 60’s Bomber: A look into crossed paths" (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04ayers.html?pagewanted=2 ), Ayers had no involvement with the appointment of Obama to the board. Both Ayers and Obama were prominent figures in Chicago and hence were associated with each other. Obama has said he finds Ayers acts in the early 70’s reprehensible and there is no indication that the two men were close at all. There is no indication that Obama has radical tendencies at all, from the NYT’s article above, "Bradford A. Berenson worked on the Harvard Law Review with Mr. Obama and served as associate White House counsel under President Bush. Mr. Berenson, who is backing Mr. McCain, described his fellow student as "a pragmatic liberal" whose moderation frustrated others at the law review whose views were much farther to the left."
Although this letter is not about what McCain has done wrong, other than that he uses fear tactics against Obama, it is worth noting for the sake of comparison that McCain himself has been associated with questionable radicals, and that closeness is better documented. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.GordonLiddy ): G. Gordon Liddy was the mastermind of the infamous Watergate break-in that resulted in Nixon’s impeachment and has subsequently become a conservative radio host. One of his notorious nuggets of advice to a listener after the Branch Dividian fiasco was "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches." In 1998 Liddy hosted a fundraiser for McCain in which guests got to have their pictures taken with Liddy and McCain. He donated a total of $5000 to McCain’s campaign (as opposed to the $200 Ayers donated to Obama) and describes McCain as an "old friend." On David Letterman, when asked about Liddy, McCain indicated that "he had paid his time." However, the radical views Liddy spews on the radio, like the quote above, came after serving his time. Liddy’s views are not necessarily McCain’s views, and his friendship with Liddy is not a reason to fear McCain or to not vote for McCain. But, McCain’s association with Liddy is much closer than Obama’s association with Ayers.
On Reverend Wright: Reverend Wright was Obama’s pastor in Chicago and is controversial because there are several videos catching Wright going off on the country. Obama has written that he "vehemently disagrees" with these controversial positions of Wright’s (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html ). The few instances that show up on youtube of Wright showing anger towards the country are special occasions. Wright did not preach that every Sunday. Wright preached about the bible. On this it is worth noting that even Huckabee has come out in support of Obama with regards to his relationship with Wright. Ben Smith of the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/19/huckabee-defends-rev-jer_n_92346.html ) gives video of Huckabee as saying, "[Y]ou can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do." He continues by defending Wright’s anger, even, "As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say 'That's a terrible statement!' ... I grew up in a very segregated South. And I think that you have to cut some slack -- and I'm gonna be probably the only conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you -- we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names..." Obama is an intelligent man. He is not led by people, he takes what is good from what they offer. I agree with Huckabee on this. Wright is not Obama, and even with that, Wright has is own reason for some anger.
On Frank Marshall Davis: Obama, in Dreams of my Father, indicates a poet who he referred to as Frank was a mentor to him. Although I wasn’t able to find anything mainstream that indicated this, many conservative sites claim that "Frank" was Frank Marshall Davis, a Hawaiian poet who was investigated by the House of Unamerican Activities as being a communist. Since I have found nothing to the contrary, let’s assume that this is correct. During the McCarthy era, it did not take much to get investigated for being a communist and most historical scholars (and those who pay attention to recent history) see the McCarthy era red-bating as a stain on the US history. This line of attack continues this form of red-bating. It is not healthy. During the McCarthy era, being liberal and pro-labor was enough to get an investigation. In his blog "Barack Obama and Frank Marshall Davis" (http://thelonggoodbye.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/barack-obama-and-frank-marshall-davis/ ), TheLongGoodbye quotes the book "The Voice of the World: The Early Career of Frank Marshall Davis" by Leonard Ray Teal (http://thelonggoodbye.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/barack-obama-and-frank-marshall-davis/ ), "Alliance with the Communist Party, even from a distance, was too radical for some black editors, among them Frank Marshall Davis." During the McCarthy era careers were ruined; lives were ruined simply for being seen as identifying with a political ideology. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Marshall_Davis ), Davis was a poet, American journalist and a political and labor organizer. This indicates that he was someone who cared about and worked to help his community in a way that he thought worthwhile. That is not evil regardless whether or not you agree with things like the labor movement. That is being a conscientious citizen. In fact, even if Davis were a communist, that fact alone would not make him evil. Communism has many admirable tenets as well; it is not equivalent to being a soviet spy. But more importantly, the fact that Davis was a mentor of Obama’s in Obama’s childhood does not imply they share political ideology. My father, for example, is a very strong libertarian. I, on the other hand, am quite liberal. I love my father and respect his point of view and I even agree with parts of it. Knowing, loving, respecting a libertarian does not make one a libertarian. Knowing, loving, respecting a communist does not make one a communist.
On ACORN: ACORN is a grass-roots community based organization that works on issues important to low-income families like ensuring affordable housing is available, regulating payday lenders, stopping predatory lending, etc. The nonpartisan fact checking site FactCheck.org has an entire article dedicated to ACORN: http://www.factcheck.org/... . In the article they state that McCain’s accusation that ACORN is involved in "massive voter fraud" is completely unfounded. They say "there is no evidence of any such democracy destroying fraud." Not only has neither ACORN nor its employees been found guilty of casting fraudulent votes, they are not even charged with casting or attempting to cast fraudulent votes. Some of ACORN’s employees have been accused of filling out bogus voter registration forms, but that is a fraud committed against ACORN, who was paying these employees for getting actual voter registrations. ACORN is by law required to submit all voter registrations even if they think the registrations are inaccurate. They have been flagging those registrations they believe to be inaccurate to alert the board of elections. According to FactCheck.org, "Dan Satterberg, the Republican prosecuting attorney in King County, Wash., where the largest ACORN case to date was prosecuted, said (http://www.metrokc.gov/proatty/news/2007/Voter%20Registration%20Statement.htm ) that the indicted ACORN employees were shirking responsibility, not plotting election fraud."
On Rashid Khalidi: For this I will refer to my friend and colleague Dan Varisco’s DailyKos diary (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/30/11315/599 ). Dan is himself a colleague and friend of Rashid Khalidi. As Dan writes, Khalidi is well recognized and respected as a scholar and his latest book, "The Iron Cage" (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Iron-Cage/Rashid-Khalidi/e/9780807003091/?itm=1#TABS ), is not only critical of the excesses of Zionism on the Palestinian quest for statehood, but is also critical of the violence endorsed by the PLO. Khalidi is simply not a radical anti-American terrorist. He has always believed that "nonviolent resistance was integral to Palestinian success."
Is Obama actually a socialist?
The word "socialism" has been thrown around as if it were an antonym to "freedom." There are many programs that most Americans rely on that could be considered socialistic: social security, Medicare, Medicaid, for example. Others are FEMA, public maintenance of roads and transportation, the postal service. The progressive income tax was instigated by Teddy Roosevelt, McCain’s hero. That could be considered "socialistic." Obama is more liberal than McCain, true. That is not necessarily bad. Do we need a better health care system? Do we need more regulation of banks? Do we need government money to fix our infrastructure and to help spur us into energy independence and to help people when natural disasters hit? Obama would answer "yes" to each of those questions, but that does not make him dangerous.
Please, if you believe that it is better to give more tax breaks to the super wealthy, if you believe it is better to throw health care to the free market, if you believe it is better to keep our military presence over-extended throughout the world and to not attempt diplomatic relations with our enemies, then vote for McCain. But fear of Obama is not a good reason to vote for McCain. That fear is unfounded.