The Hard Truth From Orlando

I like this current brouhaha about Democrat Harry Reid’s

reported racist remarks. He apparently made the statement
some time ago that because presidential candidate Obama
was a light-skinned African-American and spoke grammatically
good English with good enunciation (“didn’t sound Negro”) that
he had a good chance in the presidential campaign. Apparently,
some Republicans want Harry Reid to resign for his “racist”
remarks. Since when do people resign for telling the truth?
And which part was racist; that Obama’s light-skinned,
speaks Standard American English -- or is the word Negro
just no longer politically correct?

I didn’t vote for Obama because he was “African-American”
and we need to put an “African-American” in the White
House. And I didn’t just vote for the Democratic ticket
because I was so sick of the Bush-boys and their
hard-headed, let’s-go-back-to-the-fifties policies that
any Democrat would do. I supported Hillary first because
I thought she was the best choice of all those running for
office at the time. I still support Hillary, but Obama
wasn’t a bad second choice of the candidates available.

But I have to say right up front, if Obama had been
named something illiterate and idiotic like Anfernee
(instead of Anthony) or Dontravious (which has no
meaning in any language) and flashed gang signs during
his speech and sprinkled his oration with unintelligible
inner-city street slang and constant hip-hop references,
I would have voted for a cardboard cut-out of anybody
else. I don’t want to flinch when my president opens
his mouth in front of the world.

Does that make me racist? Possibly, but statistics are
in my favor. We needed a president who communicates
effectively with the heads of other nations, who reflects
the American ideal of equality before the law and personal
achievement. Obama does that – whether you agree that
he represents mainstream American values or not. Harry
Reid was dead on when he said Obama had a good chance
of being elected because he didn’t fit the stereotypical
African-American. And if African-Americans don’t like
the stereotype, they need to work on their image, just
like everyone else.

Frankly, though, I haven’t heard African-Americans
quibbling about Reid’s remarks, only some Republicans.
I guess nothing is too trivial to squabble about when your
party can’t come to the table with any realistic means of
tackling the big issues of recession, unemployment,
poverty, illegal immigration, spiraling international debt,
financial corruption at the top levels of our monetary
institutions, wars in multiple countries, terrorism and
illegal drug trafficking. Political correctness –
always a priority when you’re teetering on the brink of
national disaster. Uh-huh.



Florida Cracker