WHERE IS OBAMA’S PRIDE?
by Thomas Pastore, ©2017
(Jan. 23, 2017) — Attention, America,….he has left the building. His name is Barack Obama. He is of African and English heritage with Irish, Swiss, Scottish, and Welsh included. He had a lot to be proud of. Such is the heritage of his birth, but how many Americans knew this? How much of Barack Obama, himself, actually wanted to acknowledge this “family tree?” In this lack of acceptance, we discover his free choice of a lost identity.
How noble, how honorable, how revealing would it have been, to the world and to America, had our 44th President embraced all that he was, all that he was given, through the history of his family, that reflected what America is all about? That is, if one wishes to be positive. He was and is a biracial, multi-ethnic American, a symbol of how far We the People have come with our attempts at overcoming our obstacles of racial conflict, a citizen born of an African man and an English/Swiss/Scottish/Welsh woman. A man who was able to reach the pinnacle of power and authority stretching across the globe, the President of the United States.
How significant is that accomplishment and would have been even more so had he chosen to be proud of his biracial, multi-ethnic heritage. An example to many would have been the foundation of his future legacy, but, sadly, not this time, not with this man, not this generation, not this moment in history.
**Actor Morgan Freeman said of Obama, “America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet. He’s not America’s first black president — he’s America’s first mixed-race president.” He continued, “[People] just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America.”
Barack Obama exercised free will to let the world know that he was a black African-American, and that was all. He chose long before any quest for elected representation that he would remain only that which suited him: a black African-American.
A “Lost-Identity” beginning allowed for the shaping of his “Lost Opportunity.” How sad that such a moment of declaration evaporated by his own hand, at an early age.
Consider the fact that Obama wrote, in his first book, “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of twelve or thirteen, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.” At 19 he decided to change his name from Barry to Barack.
Even when into maturity as our President he stated, “I identify as African-American,” he said, “That’s how I’m treated and that’s how I’m viewed. I’m proud of it.”
How many more Americans could he have enabled to relate to him and understood had he opened the “doors of his life” to America, showing his pride was equally extended to other biracial, multi-ethnic Americans from coast to coast. Accepting who he was could have allowed America to better relate to the man who was to represent them in the nation’s capital. Consider those Americans who were hesitant, uncertain, or lacked the “pride” to accept themselves for their multi-ethnicity? What a great example he could have posed. Perhaps he could have made it easier to understand what America’s “melting-pot” could achieve. Instead he shut that door of opportunity, understanding, and diversity.
Curiously, his political party affiliation still flies the Democratic flag which embraces “acceptance,” “diversity,” and “tolerance,” yet he chose to allow others to see that rhetoric for what it really was. Such rhetoric is meant for others, but not for those making the pronunciations of complicity.
I would suggest that there would be no objection to his denial of the gifts of nationality given him had he remained a private citizen. However, the reality of life and the path he chose as the so-called leader of the free world, as the President of these United States, should have set an unparalleled example. How can he speak to the American constituents, expect their respect, understanding, and acceptance when he cannot even define to himself who he really is? He chose to ignore who he is but expected everyone else to believe in his sincerity, in everything he did.
Sadly, this was compounded by America’s biased mainstream media. The Associated Press (June 3, 2008) was the first to declare that “America has their first African-American to lead a party ticket” as he sought to become “the nation’s first Black President.” That was a true misrepresentation of the facts surrounding this candidate’s life. Sadly, this denial of the full truth was also allowed to continue by the candidate himself. One has to ask, is reporting a half-truth any better then reporting an outright LIE?
The MSM, in its continuing (see “Operation Mockingbird“) propaganda mindset, propelled forth that being a black African-American was all that Obama was. A wall of “protective” segregation was built around the president by the “Mockingbird press agents.” Their reputation of being unable to be truthful, unbiased and fair had long abandoned the canon of ethics they once tried to embrace.
To disagree or criticize him was to be called a “racist,” without the need for proof. In 2008, Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said that “Mr. Obama calls himself Black to appeal to ‘White Guilt’ over slavery and the rampant racial discrimination that reigned in America, just 50 years ago.” The Obama campaign never answered why a biracial/multi-ethnic candidate calls himself black.
I leave that up to you, America, to reflect on the past eight years and decide where that truth may lie.
The hard reality is that an opportunity to connect, embrace and share with all of America was intentionally denied by the “wall” he created, along with the aid of “Main-street-Media Mockingbirds” and special-interest “leaders” with “revenge attitudes” hidden in their back pockets.
The result is an America tossed back into the racial strife of the 1960s with anger and distrust festering among all citizens. For constituents of any country to trust and accept their “leader,” that individual must reveal himself as he truly is so as to gain the trust of those he wishes to follow him. No such revelation of who Barack Obama really is ever made it to the American stage. He wanted us only to accept, while he, himself practiced denial.
Obama stated, July 13, during his campaign for a second term: “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.” Therein was the problem: Obama chose to do everything himself, without the support of the people or the negotiated support of the Congress, but strictly on his own initiative. Who can “build” a legacy on “Me, Myself, and I?” There are other terms for that type of “leadership,” and “President” isn’t one of them.
There was desperation in his eyes as he tried to complete and secure a legacy before the transition of power was made. No honest legacy can truly exist, as you exit the White House, look into the foyer mirror one last time, and you cannot recognize who that person is. That’s sad.
America is in disrepair, and one can only speculate if repairs can be made. Eight years of dismantling a Constitution that few in Washington, D.C. really respected any more is a task never attempted since the Civil War.
Martin Luther King had said he wished for the day that his children could be respected and valued for the “content of their character” and not for the “color of their skin.”
I wish Barry Soetoro, a.k.a. Barack Obama, had listened to him.
So let it be written.
Thomas Pastore/Vietnam Veteran/USMC, trying and hoping to help Uncle Sam get out of that “wheelchair.”