March 26, 2012
By Lauri B. Regan
As a mother, my capacity for empathy does not stop at only those who physically resemble my children.
Sadly, the president, who touts empathy as one of the most important qualifications for a Supreme Court justice, signals that his capacity for empathy does not extend to all American citizens, but is focused on those of African-American descent or Muslim heritage.
While there were all sorts of indications that Obama was entering office with personal biases, the first hint that these would play a role in his decisions as POTUS was when his Justice Department dropped the charges against the New Black Panthers charged with voter intimidation for swinging billy clubs at voting sites in 2008.
This was followed in 2009 by Obama jumping into the fray when, without any basis for doing so, he announced to the country that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" for arresting a black professor. Despite the faux pas and the need to smooth things over with a ridiculously staged "beer summit," Obama never conducted any soul-searching. How do we know this? Because he has once again, without any evidence whatsoever, thrown himself into the middle of the latest controversy stirred up by the mainstream media and infamous race-baiting rabble-rousers.
In the face of the horrible shooting of a black teenager in Florida, Obama chose to go off the teleprompter to share his empathy for the boy's family, stating, "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Once again, Obama has made race the issue in a controversy.
And while the White House originally indicated that Obama would not make a statement on this situation due to a fear that it would see a replay of the Gates fiasco, "staffers and Democratic operatives interviewed Wednesday said the shooting has been a hot topic inside the West Wing - and that Obama is monitoring the situation closely." If the White House believes that Americans will take comfort in the fact that among his perpetual campaigning, vacations, golf games, and rap concerts, the POTUS has time to closely monitor this situation while also presumably monitoring Iran's march to nuclear capability, Syria's revolution, the Arab Spring, rising oil prices, and the U.S. economic "recovery," it has confirmed its complete disconnect with reality.
For while the media enjoys a good racial controversy, Obama should have conducted some soul-searching back in 2009 and realized that his role should be one of peacemaker, not warmonger. With that one statement, Obama is stoking racial warfare in which the likes of Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson have all joined the hype to turn this into an ugly and inflammatory situation. And the New Black Panthers who were not worthy of prosecution for voter intimidation are now distributing posters at rallies calling for the shooter to be hauled in "Dead or Alive." But alas, the man who is hung up on the fact that he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills" would rather stoke racial tensions than call for calm. He would rather telephone Sandra Fluke in order to fuel a controversy that he views as politically expedient than call Farrakhan, Sharpton, and Jackson requesting civility and non-violence.
Without all of the facts to conclusively determine what transpired the night that Martin was shot, Obama went farther and told Americans that "[a]ll of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how something like this has happened." One would imagine that coming from the man who claims that "[w]e are God's partners in matters of life and death," soul-searching would not be necessary in order to determine that a tragedy occurs every time an innocent person dies, notwithstanding his skin color.
And therein lies the problem. Does Barack Obama view every single black person as an innocent victim while white people are guilty simply because of their skin color? And what other groups does Obama perhaps view as guilty simply due to ethnicity? The last time Obama dictated to an entire culture that it must engage in self-reflection was just over a year ago, when he told Israelis to "search your souls" over their seriousness to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Seriously. Obama chose to call out Israelis who have made repeated concessions and offers of peace, who have faced 12,000 rockets launched at them since unilaterally pulling their own people out of Gaza and relinquishing control to the Palestinians, and who continually search their souls to figure out how to end thousands of years of scapegoating and demonization.
Much has been written about Obama's background -- his upbringing, relationships, and advisors -- that may have led to his apparent hostility to white people, who "cling to guns or religions," as well as to the very existence of the State of Israel, which he seems to blame for all of the problems in the Mideast if not the entire world. I will not address that. However, there is a clear pattern in Obama's behavior and in his limiting his empathy to only those with black skin and reaching out only to those who practice the Muslim faith.
Beginning abroad, while Israelis must search their souls, Obama has never once told Syria's Assad that it is time for him to look within. In the face of Iran's Ahmadinejad killing his own people after the 2009 rigged elections and continually promising to wipe Israel off the face of the map, Obama has continued to reach out rather than suggest that a bit of soul-searching might be required. And while the SCOTUS justices must exhibit empathy in order to be worthy of their position, the Muslim Brotherhood, the grandfathers of Islamic terror, need not become peaceful leaders who respect the rights of the Egyptian people and the Jews next door. In response to the M.B. promising to never recognize Israel and the Egyptian Parliament declaring Israel its "number one enemy," Obama once again sidestepped the Constitution's separation of powers and awarded the terrorists with $1.5 billion of U.S. military aid.
Here at home, violence occurs regularly. Over Saint Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago, there were 49 victims of gunshots. Silence from Obama despite the fact that the violence occurred in his hometown and in the area that Michelle claims is the derivation of their family values. Could it be that the killing of a black person warrants Obama "monitoring the situation closely" only when the shooter is a half-or-more-white person?
And what about when the victims are members of the U.S. military and the shooter is a Muslim who yells "Allahu Akbar" during his murdering spree? While the murders at Fort Hood drew national attention due to their heinous and shocking nature, Obama refused to give the victims Purple Hearts, denying that the attack was an act of terrorism. So the president, who applies his own racial biases to infer that certain black victims are the subject of hate crimes, applies his religious biases to prevent victims of Islamic terror from receiving the recognition they so clearly deserve.
Obama's silence has also been deafening in the face of OWSers who hold anti-Semitic signs and call out hateful statements. He has never once condemned the hateful misogynist and violent lyrics of his favorite rappers who glorify drug use and murder. He has continually stoked class warfare, racial division, and hate in a desire to either win re-election or cause mass violence, leading to a transformed America.
But in light of his silence in the face of 20 years of Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America," this is not surprising. It is offensive. Obama has the audacity to lecture Americans and Israelis and is incapable of self-reflection. He is self-righteous and arrogant, displaying moral superiority as he exhibits clear antipathy for anyone who does not fit within his own notion of deserving empathy.
What this country needs is a leader who will sow the seeds of peaceful free speech rather than violence reminiscent of the 1960s, who will unify rather than divide, who is colorblind rather than color-obsessed, and who is willing to recognize the exceptional nature of the American people and its allies rather than continually admonish and chastise. What we don't need is Barack Obama.
By Lauri B. Regan
As a mother, my capacity for empathy does not stop at only those who physically resemble my children.
Sadly, the president, who touts empathy as one of the most important qualifications for a Supreme Court justice, signals that his capacity for empathy does not extend to all American citizens, but is focused on those of African-American descent or Muslim heritage.
While there were all sorts of indications that Obama was entering office with personal biases, the first hint that these would play a role in his decisions as POTUS was when his Justice Department dropped the charges against the New Black Panthers charged with voter intimidation for swinging billy clubs at voting sites in 2008.
This was followed in 2009 by Obama jumping into the fray when, without any basis for doing so, he announced to the country that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" for arresting a black professor. Despite the faux pas and the need to smooth things over with a ridiculously staged "beer summit," Obama never conducted any soul-searching. How do we know this? Because he has once again, without any evidence whatsoever, thrown himself into the middle of the latest controversy stirred up by the mainstream media and infamous race-baiting rabble-rousers.
In the face of the horrible shooting of a black teenager in Florida, Obama chose to go off the teleprompter to share his empathy for the boy's family, stating, "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Once again, Obama has made race the issue in a controversy.
And while the White House originally indicated that Obama would not make a statement on this situation due to a fear that it would see a replay of the Gates fiasco, "staffers and Democratic operatives interviewed Wednesday said the shooting has been a hot topic inside the West Wing - and that Obama is monitoring the situation closely." If the White House believes that Americans will take comfort in the fact that among his perpetual campaigning, vacations, golf games, and rap concerts, the POTUS has time to closely monitor this situation while also presumably monitoring Iran's march to nuclear capability, Syria's revolution, the Arab Spring, rising oil prices, and the U.S. economic "recovery," it has confirmed its complete disconnect with reality.
For while the media enjoys a good racial controversy, Obama should have conducted some soul-searching back in 2009 and realized that his role should be one of peacemaker, not warmonger. With that one statement, Obama is stoking racial warfare in which the likes of Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson have all joined the hype to turn this into an ugly and inflammatory situation. And the New Black Panthers who were not worthy of prosecution for voter intimidation are now distributing posters at rallies calling for the shooter to be hauled in "Dead or Alive." But alas, the man who is hung up on the fact that he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills" would rather stoke racial tensions than call for calm. He would rather telephone Sandra Fluke in order to fuel a controversy that he views as politically expedient than call Farrakhan, Sharpton, and Jackson requesting civility and non-violence.
Without all of the facts to conclusively determine what transpired the night that Martin was shot, Obama went farther and told Americans that "[a]ll of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how something like this has happened." One would imagine that coming from the man who claims that "[w]e are God's partners in matters of life and death," soul-searching would not be necessary in order to determine that a tragedy occurs every time an innocent person dies, notwithstanding his skin color.
And therein lies the problem. Does Barack Obama view every single black person as an innocent victim while white people are guilty simply because of their skin color? And what other groups does Obama perhaps view as guilty simply due to ethnicity? The last time Obama dictated to an entire culture that it must engage in self-reflection was just over a year ago, when he told Israelis to "search your souls" over their seriousness to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Seriously. Obama chose to call out Israelis who have made repeated concessions and offers of peace, who have faced 12,000 rockets launched at them since unilaterally pulling their own people out of Gaza and relinquishing control to the Palestinians, and who continually search their souls to figure out how to end thousands of years of scapegoating and demonization.
Much has been written about Obama's background -- his upbringing, relationships, and advisors -- that may have led to his apparent hostility to white people, who "cling to guns or religions," as well as to the very existence of the State of Israel, which he seems to blame for all of the problems in the Mideast if not the entire world. I will not address that. However, there is a clear pattern in Obama's behavior and in his limiting his empathy to only those with black skin and reaching out only to those who practice the Muslim faith.
Beginning abroad, while Israelis must search their souls, Obama has never once told Syria's Assad that it is time for him to look within. In the face of Iran's Ahmadinejad killing his own people after the 2009 rigged elections and continually promising to wipe Israel off the face of the map, Obama has continued to reach out rather than suggest that a bit of soul-searching might be required. And while the SCOTUS justices must exhibit empathy in order to be worthy of their position, the Muslim Brotherhood, the grandfathers of Islamic terror, need not become peaceful leaders who respect the rights of the Egyptian people and the Jews next door. In response to the M.B. promising to never recognize Israel and the Egyptian Parliament declaring Israel its "number one enemy," Obama once again sidestepped the Constitution's separation of powers and awarded the terrorists with $1.5 billion of U.S. military aid.
Here at home, violence occurs regularly. Over Saint Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago, there were 49 victims of gunshots. Silence from Obama despite the fact that the violence occurred in his hometown and in the area that Michelle claims is the derivation of their family values. Could it be that the killing of a black person warrants Obama "monitoring the situation closely" only when the shooter is a half-or-more-white person?
And what about when the victims are members of the U.S. military and the shooter is a Muslim who yells "Allahu Akbar" during his murdering spree? While the murders at Fort Hood drew national attention due to their heinous and shocking nature, Obama refused to give the victims Purple Hearts, denying that the attack was an act of terrorism. So the president, who applies his own racial biases to infer that certain black victims are the subject of hate crimes, applies his religious biases to prevent victims of Islamic terror from receiving the recognition they so clearly deserve.
Obama's silence has also been deafening in the face of OWSers who hold anti-Semitic signs and call out hateful statements. He has never once condemned the hateful misogynist and violent lyrics of his favorite rappers who glorify drug use and murder. He has continually stoked class warfare, racial division, and hate in a desire to either win re-election or cause mass violence, leading to a transformed America.
But in light of his silence in the face of 20 years of Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America," this is not surprising. It is offensive. Obama has the audacity to lecture Americans and Israelis and is incapable of self-reflection. He is self-righteous and arrogant, displaying moral superiority as he exhibits clear antipathy for anyone who does not fit within his own notion of deserving empathy.
What this country needs is a leader who will sow the seeds of peaceful free speech rather than violence reminiscent of the 1960s, who will unify rather than divide, who is colorblind rather than color-obsessed, and who is willing to recognize the exceptional nature of the American people and its allies rather than continually admonish and chastise. What we don't need is Barack Obama.
American Thinker
