If you hate yourself, vote for Obama
Joseph McHugh
April 18, 2008
It´s time to unpack the Barack Obama candidacy.
First let´s do a little thought experiment. Imagine I were average white Joe and belonged to a church that preached that blacks cause epidemic diseases in this country, and were the downfall of decency. I preach white pride and urge my parishioners to shun "black culture." What would my chances be of becoming president of the United States? And, imagine if I were not only a member of this group, but also a close friend of the minister who preached these types of sermons. Indeed, I describe him as my "friend for 23 years" and taut the fact that he inspired the title of my book. Would I have a chance for the presidency?
And, if in my defense, I argued that it doesn´t matter because blacks are as racist as whites would anyone be persuaded?
Would anyone be persuaded by the fact that the members of the church experienced suffering in their lives, and by the argument that they are, therefore, justified in their irrational hatreds?
Would you be persuaded?
Many people have expressed surprise that Barack Obama would tolerate the company of Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. After all, Senator Obama is "the post racial candidate," "the healer." He believes in "unity."
But listen carefully to Obama´s wife Michelle, the closest we have to a person bearing a substantive message from that campaign. Mrs. Obama is the campaign´s resident philosopher. Listen to her and you´ll understand the true meaning of Obama´s tolerance for Wright, and you´ll understand the entire meaning of the Obama phenomenon.
Mrs. Obama preaches that we are a sinful nation desperately in need of redemption. "Our souls are broken" she preaches. She posits the notion that redemption can only come about with Obama´s election as president of the United States. "So I am here right now because I am married to the only person in this race who has a chance at healing this nation," she
tells us.
Talk about hubris.
The question for Democrats and more broadly the electorate this year is do we really believe we are evil? Is our self-esteem that low?
The Obamas´ philosophy, as much as we can tease it out, rests on the notion of collective guilt and collective redemption, the idea that sins and justice are collective in nature rather than individual. Racism is not the fault of the evasive boobs who believe it, but a societal disease. The evils of history are not the product of the men who lived at that time, but rather a stain that runs in our collective blood.
And redemption? Well that will take an act of collective will, namely the election of Senator Obama, who will be the lamb who will gladly sacrifice himself for the collective whole.
And they say the Republicans are religious zealots!
Senator Obama´s idea of the omnipresence of evil explains his tolerance of Reverend Wright. Of course Reverend Wright is evil Obama says. We all are, he avers, including his own white grandmother. Why would we expect anything different? Evil is everywhere. Thus, Obama refused to wear an American flag lapel after 911. Hey, come on. You don´t really believe that we´re anything good, do you?
The key, it seems, to our national resurrection is to accept our evil and come not to God, but to Senator Obama, our new savior.
The college students making up the bulk of his supporters lap it up. Taught by their teachers that they live in a mean, vicious nation they are hungry for savior Obama. Their social science professors have taught them for years that America is rotten to the core-consumerist and selfish; their literature professors have taught them that men are small and creepy. Their history professors have preached shame.
And these are the self-loathers that are flocking to Obama.
So what do decent, hardworking, self-confident men and women have to gain from the Obama candidacy? The answer is nothing and, they have everything to lose.
It was Ayn Rand who pointed out that when everyone is deemed equally evil, it is the men who have done nothing wrong who are the biggest victims of that idea.
The only proper response to Mrs. Obama´s charge that "our souls are broken" is to say "speak for yourself honey!"
"We are evil." "We need a political savior." I submit that such an attitude on the part of any electorate is fuel for a dictatorship.
When man believes he is small and rotten, he will ripe for the picking for any would be con man with a desire to rule.
Will Obama bring a dictatorship? No. Our good system of checks and balances will prevent that. But the Obama candidacy is a shot across the bow for those who do want to replace individualism in America with collectivism. The reaction to his candidacy will be a measurement of how far we are willing to go down the path that leads to a national strongman who will promise to solve all of our problems.
If Obama does well, we are far down that path. If the American people soundly reject his candidacy it will be an assertion of self-esteem, and liberty.
First let´s do a little thought experiment. Imagine I were average white Joe and belonged to a church that preached that blacks cause epidemic diseases in this country, and were the downfall of decency. I preach white pride and urge my parishioners to shun "black culture." What would my chances be of becoming president of the United States? And, imagine if I were not only a member of this group, but also a close friend of the minister who preached these types of sermons. Indeed, I describe him as my "friend for 23 years" and taut the fact that he inspired the title of my book. Would I have a chance for the presidency?
And, if in my defense, I argued that it doesn´t matter because blacks are as racist as whites would anyone be persuaded?
Would anyone be persuaded by the fact that the members of the church experienced suffering in their lives, and by the argument that they are, therefore, justified in their irrational hatreds?
Would you be persuaded?
Many people have expressed surprise that Barack Obama would tolerate the company of Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. After all, Senator Obama is "the post racial candidate," "the healer." He believes in "unity."
But listen carefully to Obama´s wife Michelle, the closest we have to a person bearing a substantive message from that campaign. Mrs. Obama is the campaign´s resident philosopher. Listen to her and you´ll understand the true meaning of Obama´s tolerance for Wright, and you´ll understand the entire meaning of the Obama phenomenon.
Mrs. Obama preaches that we are a sinful nation desperately in need of redemption. "Our souls are broken" she preaches. She posits the notion that redemption can only come about with Obama´s election as president of the United States. "So I am here right now because I am married to the only person in this race who has a chance at healing this nation," she
tells us.
Talk about hubris.
The question for Democrats and more broadly the electorate this year is do we really believe we are evil? Is our self-esteem that low?
The Obamas´ philosophy, as much as we can tease it out, rests on the notion of collective guilt and collective redemption, the idea that sins and justice are collective in nature rather than individual. Racism is not the fault of the evasive boobs who believe it, but a societal disease. The evils of history are not the product of the men who lived at that time, but rather a stain that runs in our collective blood.
And redemption? Well that will take an act of collective will, namely the election of Senator Obama, who will be the lamb who will gladly sacrifice himself for the collective whole.
And they say the Republicans are religious zealots!
Senator Obama´s idea of the omnipresence of evil explains his tolerance of Reverend Wright. Of course Reverend Wright is evil Obama says. We all are, he avers, including his own white grandmother. Why would we expect anything different? Evil is everywhere. Thus, Obama refused to wear an American flag lapel after 911. Hey, come on. You don´t really believe that we´re anything good, do you?
The key, it seems, to our national resurrection is to accept our evil and come not to God, but to Senator Obama, our new savior.
The college students making up the bulk of his supporters lap it up. Taught by their teachers that they live in a mean, vicious nation they are hungry for savior Obama. Their social science professors have taught them for years that America is rotten to the core-consumerist and selfish; their literature professors have taught them that men are small and creepy. Their history professors have preached shame.
And these are the self-loathers that are flocking to Obama.
So what do decent, hardworking, self-confident men and women have to gain from the Obama candidacy? The answer is nothing and, they have everything to lose.
It was Ayn Rand who pointed out that when everyone is deemed equally evil, it is the men who have done nothing wrong who are the biggest victims of that idea.
The only proper response to Mrs. Obama´s charge that "our souls are broken" is to say "speak for yourself honey!"
"We are evil." "We need a political savior." I submit that such an attitude on the part of any electorate is fuel for a dictatorship.
When man believes he is small and rotten, he will ripe for the picking for any would be con man with a desire to rule.
Will Obama bring a dictatorship? No. Our good system of checks and balances will prevent that. But the Obama candidacy is a shot across the bow for those who do want to replace individualism in America with collectivism. The reaction to his candidacy will be a measurement of how far we are willing to go down the path that leads to a national strongman who will promise to solve all of our problems.
If Obama does well, we are far down that path. If the American people soundly reject his candidacy it will be an assertion of self-esteem, and liberty.
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