The Brother on the Right

In the wake of Barack Obama’s historic speech, people from all walks of life and undoubtedly from all over the world are applauding his remarkable insight into and articulation of race issues in America.

I still get goose bumps when I think about his remarks. Obama’s speech is reminiscent of the historical significance of MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech…” a speech that defined an American generation. Young people coming of age today will look back years from now with the same fondness and reverence for Obama’s Message For America.

Unfortunately, they will also look back at the critics of the speech who only criticized the message because of the messenger. Conservatives were tripping all over themselves to be the first to criticize the speech and label it “political expediency” and an attempt by Obama to revive his flagging campaign.

I would argue that if Barack Obama was a private citizen or perhaps still a Senator not running for the presidency that his speech would be have roundly applauded and embraced by conservatives and liberals alike. But since he is running for president, the conservatives had to dismiss his speech and distance themselves from it. They are allowing the liberals to take the moral high ground for embracing the speech for what it is: the most insightful look into contemporary black society in 40 years.

The narrow-minded remarks from conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and many others is, well quite frankly embarrassing as a conservative. They are so obsessed with blunting Obama’s impact that they had to regard his message with ill placed suspicion and cynicism.

Questions about Obama’s patriotism and these hosts gross dismissal of Obama’s Message makes us look like intolerant xenophobes. It’s almost as if they are the only appointed guardians of Freedoms Cause. I guess the founding fathers appeared to them in a vision one 4th of July and imbued them with special powers to determine who is a patriot and who is not. Only they are qualified to tell us who the real patriots are. And Mr. Obama’s naked left lapel is reason enough to regard him with derision and as a potential communist.

Consequently, the cause of conservatism will suffer because we are failing to take the opportunity and lead with Obama’s Message. When the legacy of Obama’s Message is examined by future generations, the conservatives will be found on the wrong side of history. As a long time conservative and true patriot who loves his country I am very concerned that conservatives will begin losing relevancy as the rest of the world embraces the genius in Barack’s words.

I’m not suggesting that everyone must embrace Obama the Candidate. Not at all. I’m not even suggesting that everyone must embrace his message. People do have the right to disagree. What I’m suggesting is that there is a lack of evidence that many conservative leaders made no attempt to hear Obama’s words with a sympathetic ear or even to apply deep thought to what he said. In fact, it appears that these conservatives were prepared to dismiss Obama’s remarks before he even opened his mouth last Tuesday. There was nothing he could have said that would have commanded their attention. Before the first words were spoken they were already writing their derisive reviews.

I am suggesting that they were not fair, made no attempt to understand and have come across as extremely intolerant and inflexible. Being flexible does not mean that we compromise our morality, value system, or principles. It means that we listen. I believe that Ronald Reagan would have listened. He would have had respect for the message even if he vehemently disagreed with the messenger.

Barack gave us a chance to understand. We don’t have to agree with everything he says. To suggest so is to suggest the ridiculous. I’m suggesting that there is healing in his words, if we’re willing to listen with an ear to understand.

Enjoy the video…History in the Making!

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I just received this article from my Mom. It is an excellent read by itself so I won’t embellish. Read on…

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In the following story our heroine refuses to face reality. Evidently, she is waiting for some miracle to happen. She must be thinking “don’t they know this is supposed to be MINE!”

In a week that started off poorly for Sen. Barack Obama, things shaped up nicely going into Easter with the endorsement of Gov. Richardson from New Mexico.

This is too fun to watch…don’t miss a beat!

See here…

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I sat next to a young man on a plane ride home this evening and instead of doing my usual reading a book for a few minutes and then sleeping for the rest of the ride, I did something very unusual for me;  I turned to this perfect stranger and bluntly asked him what he thought about the whole Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama thing.   What gave me the courage to ask this young white man who I did not know this audacious question?  I don’t know.  Perhaps “temporary insanity” is to blame. 

But whatever it was, I thank God I followed His leading because not only did this young man, (Dan from Alabama by way of Utah) listen to me very accomodatingly as I ranted and raved about the whole race thing in America, he reminded me why I am here.  Maybe he reminded me why we all are here.  To follow God’s purpose to be sure but in that purpose there is something more:  Dan reminded me that all of us really want the same things and that if we would all just take the time to listen with an understanding heart and an open soul we would find that the race issues would just sort of melt away.

See, it has always been my deepest fundamental belief that Americans are good, kind, and gentle people.  There is no inherent good or bad related to race.  To believe that any one race of people is either good or bad on the basis of their ethnicity is nonsense!  We want what is best for our families and for our country.  Surely, our methodology and ideas differ but that is what makes us great and makes us strong;  our diversity of thought and vigorous debates of opinion.  As I spoke to Dan and I saw little light bulbs go off in his head, little light bulbs went off in my head also and it was then that I understood at a deeper level that we must all make our best attempt everday to represent what is best about being an American; that we are all immigrants here and that we share a common purpose and a common national soul and that focusing on race only divides us and makes us weaker. 

That is what Barack’s message was earlier this week.  And I intend to do what I can to help further the essence of Obama’s Message; that the longer we ignore the problem of race, the longer it will continue.  My conservative friends and talk show hosts have sadly taken a very cynical view of Obama’s Message and it is too bad because they missed true beauty being created when he delivered it.  They assert that Obama’s Message was based upon a strictly political agenda to save his campaign and that was all.  I disagree.  Barack’s message was too pure, and resonated too deeply with myself and many others to be anything other than magnificently anointed and true.  Obama was sent here at this time and place to deliver that message.  None of this was coincidence.  We are witnessing destiny taking place. 

I don’t know if Obama will ever be elected president but I will say he is a man of destiny.  In my mind, that can not be denied. 

All Americans have a responsibility to open our hearts and minds and listen with an intend to learn and understand a different perspective.   Obama’s Message helped us to do just that. 

Getting back to Dan he explained to me that he was born and raised a Mormon in Utah and then moved to Alabama eight years ago.  His story was fascinating.   He has 13 brothers and sisters and I believe he said 8 of them were adopted from countries all over the world.  He was practically raised in the United Nations!  He learned about the value of diversity at a very young age and it showed in the depth of his understanding and the sophistication of his thought process.  He is a blessed young man and it was my privilege to speak with him and learn from him.  I was humbled to hear his story. 

He reminded me how blessed I am and how blessed we all are to live in the greatest country in the history of mankind.  I believe our best days are ahead of us especially when we remember that God is fundamental to who we are as a nation and that without Him we are nothing.   

We are special because we were founded in Godly principles and rested our faith in Him.  Let’s not forget our foundation and He won’t forget us. 

And I won’t forget a plane ride home sitting next to a man named Dan. 

Thanks Dan…for helping me remember.  Peace brother!

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Well, the dust is settling, the pundits are weighing in with their “learned” opinions and Barack Obama is still standing.  Like the lyrics of the great poem Invictus his “head is bloodied but unbowed”.  Obama’s refusal to genuflect and give in to critics who demanded that he disown his controversial pastor has increased the level of respect in many, including The Brother on the Right. 

It is also increasingly clear today that Republicans are showing their hand in how they will  come against Obama in the general election.  However, in doing so, I wonder if they are also showing fear?  Fear is something that you can smell.  And I smell fear in the air.  Acting from fear is NEVER a good thing…

I’ll let that settle in for now.  But suffice it to say, the Republican party is terrified of an Obama Presidency even more so than another Clinton disaster.  And speaking of Hillary, what does her own former friend and advisor have to say about her candidacy?  It may shock you to learn that Dick Morris says “It’s Over” for Hillary.  Read more… 

The attached article here goes even further…

Getting back to my republican buddies, I encourage them to spend more time bringing the republican party back together with a unified message and less time trying to figure out how to use “race” again in November.  Republicans primary failings over the past 8 years have been a failure to unify, communicate and execute against the conservative agenda.  These failures are why we took such a whipping in the last Congressional elections.  And yet we still have not learned.  We need conservative, republican leadership not republican acts of desperation.  Instead we will continue to portray ourselves as intolerant throwbacks who are trying to hold America back.  I know conservatives are better than that.  We need to demonstrate it. 

America has taken a painful look at race in the last couple of weeks.  Barack Obama has attempted to help us heal by providing an introspective view into contemporary black society. 

Now that we opened these wounds again, lets allow the nation to reflect, heal and respond.  If we use race again in November to attack Obama, I think it may backfire and then the republicans will find themselves reciting from the biblical Book of Job…”that which I have feared has come upon me.”

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If you read my earlier post Conservatives Have Got to Wake Up you will see how I broke it down for conservatives so that we can stay in the game.  I am concerned that we are going to lose our relevancy if we don’t understand the significance of Barack Obama’s speech. 

Right now, the republicans and conservatives are searching for strong, conservative leadership.  It is questionable that we’ll get it from John McCain, co-sponser of McCain/Kennedy and McCain/Feingold.   And it also questionable that we have received consistently comprehensive conservative leadership from President Bush.  Clearly we haven’t seen a fiscal conservative since President Reagan and I’m not convinced we’ll receive it from the next president either. 

All that being said, republicans have lost the right to command attention from the American people due to our squandering the opportunities we had to move our agenda forward.  When we had the majority in both houses of Congress, we didn’t do anything with it, we have failed to insist that the Bush tax cuts remain permanent and we have allowed liberals to hijack our nation.  So, why should Americans entrust us with leadership?  We have to re-earn it all over again. 

Certainly, there are many things we must do to regain the public trust but we can make a good, earnest start by reaching across to Barack Obama and embracing his message on race.  I did not say we had to embrace his policies but we can definitely make a difference by embracing his perspective and stop diminishing his message as slick gamesmanship. 

If we as conservatives continue to push his message away we will only reinforce liberals wrong opinion of us:  that we are backward, bigoted, knuckledraggers who don’t know a good thing when we see it.  Our failure to fairly evaluate this message on it’s merits will give liberals the moral high ground that they have always coveted. 

De-politicize the message and scrutinize it only on it’s merits alone and when viewed through this lens, it becomes a thing of beauty. 

Come on conservatives…this is our chance to get back in this game and take the lead again!

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As I listen to news from the left and the right this morning, all weighing in on Barack Obama’s speech yesterday, a couple things are readily apparent.

Liberals loved it…

Conservatives hated it…

Why did conservatives hate it? Because Barack Obama is a liberal democrat and is not republican. If he had been a republican making that speech or even just a private citizen not running for anything, conservatives would have loved it also.

Conservative friends, this is so wrong of us! Obama’s speech was historic in it’s significance regardless of whether he is running for president or not. And the more we conservatives bash his speech and diminish it, it makes us look silly and self-serving. Republicans and conservatives need to be bigger than this moment and embrace this speech for what it is: a first look inside the mind of black Americans from the inside out.

And Barack broke it down in easily digestible bites for you. Friends, if we are ever going to get past this race foolishness once and for all, shouldn’t we re-examine Obama’s words and use them as a starting point?

Obama spoke from the heart. What you may have missed was his other message: At the end of the day, he is going to still be Barack Obama. A black man from the south side of Chicago. If you elect him to be president fine. If not fine. But he is still going to be Barack Obama.

Hear the speech from the perspective of someone not running for president and you’ll see a different side.

Conservatives!

Hear that sound?

That’s opportunity knocking…wake up and listen.

By this time next week the historical significance of this speech will begin to resonate even more deeply with this nation and by then it will be too late to try to jump on the bandwagon and embrace it.

Peace…

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I think Hillary senses the greatness in Barack’s speech as well. Why…you ask? Well, she’s jetting back to Michigan to plead for her political future and beg the Michigan guys and gals to do a redux.

You remember Michigan. That fine state in the Midwest that all the candidates agreed to not campaign in and also agreed that their delegates should not be seated.

Well, now that Michigan and Florida have said “no” to ideas of doing a re-count. Ms. Hillary is flying back on Broomstick One to say “Oh no you didn’t!”

Fun to watch aint it? Hee….hee!

See here!

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It’s the morning after Barack Obama’s historic speech on race. I just read this clip on MSNBC and they have some interesting thoughts on it.

I think this speech may be even more profound than even I originally maintained.

Give it a read…

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Today America witnessed history in the making as we witnessed one of the finest, truest and most inspirational speeches of our generation.  Sen. Barack Obama delivered his speech on race in response to harsh criticism brought against him for his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. 

Having been to Trinity UCC several times and also having the opportunity to meet Rev. Wright I did not come away with the attitude that he was “Anti-American” or hated his country.  Rev. Wright is clearly anti-government and that is the basis of the comments that were used against him and Sen. Obama.  To be clear, Rev. Wright’s remarks were inexcusable and hostile under any circumstances and in any context.  However, they do not define Barack Obama or his beliefs about America.   In fact, this whole episode will be looked back upon as a defining moment when Barack Obama met a very serious challenge.  I feel that he did an excellent job of answering his critics. 

Obama did not use his soaring oratorical skills or rhetoric to get attention.  He did not attempt to get the audience emotional and whipped up into a frenzy to demonstrate how “un-racist” they were.  No.  He did none of that.  He spoke directly from the heart using a speech that he wrote himself.  This was no time for speech writers. 

In the past couple of days I contemplated how I would handle this situation and how I would respond to critics and attempt to explain the nature of communication in the black church and black community.  I continued to struggle with how I would articulate these feelings right up until the opening line of Barack’s speech.  He started off very slowly and referenced the historical significance of where the speech was being delivered from in Philadelphia.  He continued on recounting his personal history that we’ve all heard many times now and then slowly and almost inperceptibly began to explain to America the inside secrets of how black Americans share experiences and relate to one another…when we are the only ones in the room.

For white folks who always wondered “I wonder what those negroes are talking about over there together…” Now you know.  We wonder how long it will take until we are finally completely accepted as full fledged Americans with the same rights and privileges as everybody else.  We wonder when we will stop being treated and viewed as second class citizens only fit to serve as a white person’s Vice-President.  We wonder how much harder we have to work to show that we don’t want hand outs, welfare, government cheese, a free ride, you name it before our white counterparts believe that we have the same desires and ambitions as they do and NO we don’t all want to chase white women around all the time! 

Now you know what we stop talking about as soon as you walk up.  Now you know.  The You Tube videos of Rev. Wright at his worst represent a small slice of black Americana.  No, we don’t all walk around with a chip on our shoulder thinking that white folks are out to get us.  Because it simply isn’t true.  But yes, the pain and struggle and scars of racism run deep and in fact are in our very DNA.   We worked just as hard to build this country as anyone else and we feel that we have earned the right to be called ‘Black Americans’ because our blood and sweat is in this soil too. 

Barack Obama skillfully led America down a dark and painful path that represents just how much race is very much a part of America today.  Racial tension exists just below the surface of our daily interactions.  And the explosion over Rev. Wright demonstrates the fear, ignorance and lack of understanding by both blacks and whites. 

How can we remain so hung up on the issue of race when so many Americans have different races and ethnicities in their blood?   I personally have so many different nationalities in me I’d be a hypocrite to call anybody anything other than Mr. or Mrs.  We’re all of the same blood….Americans.  And that is what Barack Obama said in so many words today. 

My pride in Obama swelled when he told everyone that he would not throw Rev. Wright under the bus by disowning him.  He essentially was saying…”I don’t care what you all think.  You are going to think what you want to anyway so I’m not disowning my mentor and friend.”  Barack understands that Jeremiah Wright was there for him before he was “Barack Obama” the up and coming politician.  He knew Barack back when and Barack showed his true character by refusing to drop Wright for political expediency.  While I personally disagree with many of Obama’s political ideologies I do agree with him in the ideology that matters most…he is a man of integrity who will not deny his friends for his own ends.  Barack took the risk of losing the presidency because he refused to rollover and genuflect for the people who claim to be scared of Rev. Wright.  Right On Barack! 

Obama explained in detail the inner workings of the contemporary black mind.  He broke it down for America like you would to a seven year old.  Some people will never be able to relate to what he is saying but they have a better understanding of it now than they ever had.  This is where the learning and growth begins. 

To be fair however, black Americans have to give whites a chance.  We need to lose this inherent distrust that we don’t even understand where it comes from.  We need to act responsibly when a white person slips and says something politically incorrect.  Just because they say something out of line, we don’t need to jump all over them, demand resignations and firings and then trot out Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to begin the boycotts. 

This is one of the reasons why we can’t move this dialogue forward.  As long as blacks are so hyper-sensitive and see racism in every corner, whites will never feel comfortable engaging in a productive dialogue about race with us.  We have to accept as fact that the overwhelmingly significant majority of whites are not racists!  If they were we would still be on a plantation.  We behave as if we don’t trust them and then our distrust becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  In turn, many of them don’t trust us and begin the internal dialogue “I wonder what they’re talking about over there…”  As long as we react so violently when they say something even slightly wrong, we will continue to push this issue below the surface where it continues to simmer and fester and is never, ever addressed. 

Let’s assume good intent when a white person slips and says something that is deemed to be politically incorrect.  Political Correctness is a divisive and corrosive by-product of a society that refuses to deal with issues head on.   Since we won’t call an issue what it really is, we never treat the issue and it just continues.  That is exactly what Obama was speaking about today. 

I know Obama has critics….as he should.   My observation of him is that criticism is making him stronger and more resilient.  Many of my conservative buddies think I’m crazy but I think we are witnessing something truly special in Barack Obama.   No he doesn’t have much of a track record.  That much is true.   But I sense something special that cannot be quantified with facts or data.   Time will only tell if he is our next or future president. 

Whether he ever becomes president or not…I have to wonder aloud…what would it mean?

If he has already accomplished his mission….

Getting America to look race directly in the face…

And stop hiding from it…

Pretending it doesn’t exists…

Either way…I thank God that he has come to deliver this message today.  We needed to hear it. 

Watch history in the making here….

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