Mr. Cahill's Red Herrings

Fellow PoughkeepsieJournal.com blogger Richard T. Cahill, Jr., posted a blog yesterday titled "Barack Obama in his own words," and I absolutely have to take issue with it (you can read the entire post here). In this post, he picks three quotes from Senator Barack Obama's books and presents them as reasons to not vote for the senator from Illinois. It's pretty sad.

The first quote, from Dreams of My Father:
"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

I do not know Mr. Cahill personally, and I don't tend to agree with the points of view in his blog. But, I would like to ask him: why does he feel is it relevant to base his vote for president on one of the candidate's insecurities and identity issues during adolescence? I guess these problems are for lesser teenagers, not Mr. Cahill.

The second quote, also from Dreams of My Father:
"I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela."

Now, be careful, because Mr. Cahill is trying to outrage you with words like white, brown, black, and Africa. What is Mr. Obama saying in this passage? He's saying simply that he does not model himself after those that he does not relate to and whose path he does not want to follow, no matter what their racial background. How is that any different from any of us? Mr. Obama then writes that he seeks to embody the attributes that he sees in Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, and Nelson Mandela -- four men who were all instrumental in the civil rights movement. Mr. Cahill asks at the end of his post, "Is this really the kind of moral leadership we want in the White House?" Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Cahill: has the fight for civil rights over the past 58 years been an immoral one?

The last quote is from The Audacity of Hope, and is actually a quote of Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
"White folks' greed runs a world in need."

Mr. Cahill wants you to think that Senator Obama is a racist for using this quote. This is what magicians call misdirection. But the fact is, as troubling and upsetting as it may be to accept, any serious student of history will tell you that Rev. Wright's statement is the truth.

Finally, the most outrageous quote comes from Mr. Cahill himself. He writes, "There are worse quotes in Audacity of Hope which I do not feel comfortable posting on this blog." Now, I have read The Audacity of Hope, and I do not know quite how to respond to this, other than to say that Mr. Cahill obviously means to scare you, the reader, into thinking Senator Obama writes and condones sinister, seditious ideas -- ideas so vicious and despicable that their very repetition would corrupt your mind in a way that can never be repaired. Ideas like freedom of expression, for example. I read nothing in the book that I would not repeat or post on this blog. Mr. Cahill is simply trying to frighten and create controversy.

I would like to think that we can move past this kind of petty, pathetic fear mongering, and focus on issues, not red herrings. I guess old habits die hard for some people.

"Grandma - Friend or Foe?"

My 4th of July this year was more eventful than normal; not only did I attend a small family BBQ here in Poughkeepsie, but I also attended a gathering in Copiague, NY, down on Long Island. Technically the party in L.I. was a wedding rehearsal dinner, but it had the same effect: I was there for about 3 hours, the beer was plentiful, and the fireworks were continuously lighting up the sky from all directions.

This year's celebration got me thinking about patriotism. Specifically, I have been thinking about how recently the most pressing issue facing the citizens of this nation seems to be whether or not Sen. Barack Obama is a "patriot." Some people obviously believe that since he sometimes chooses to not wear an American flag pin and does not put his hand over his heart during the singing of the National Anthem, he does not love his country. This is a waste of brain cells.

I do not wear an American flag pin. Everyone that I know does not wear an American flag pin. I'm willing to bet that you do not wear an American flag pin, either. And when I go to a Met game, half the fans in attendance do not have their hands over their hearts during the singing of the National Anthem. Are all of us unpatriotic?

My point is this: the "issues" that will get the most attention in the upcoming election are the ones that matter the least. Boxers or briefs? PC or Mac? Wine or beer? Paper or plastic? Flag pins or no flag pins? "Next week: Grandma - Friend or Foe?"

And one additional note: any experienced concert goer will tell you that you do not wear the t-shirt of the band that you are doing to see. Therefore, if you are in the United States, why do you feel the need to wear the flag? You're already there!