Problems Heating Up for the Candidates

If you haven't seen the Tina Fey impersonation of Sarah Palin, you're missing a treat.



Now that Sarah Palin's been in the running for a couple of weeks, how is she looking?

Well, as the Charlie Gibson interview showed, there are still some questions left unanswered. Before I go any further, I say to all my Republican friends that I do believe that Gibson was very snide and patronizing when he was quizzing her about the Bush Doctrine, and yes - his interview was unfair when you compare it to the fluff piece he did for Barack Obama.

But that doesn't make it wrong.

Gibson should go back and apply these newfound journalistic standards to Obama once more, who deserves to be vetted the same way. Obama has plenty of flaws to be exposed.

However, as Mary Matalin pointed out, Gibson asked many good questions and I think he would have been remiss to omit them.

And some questions remain. Although Palin originally said she'd cooperate with the "Troopergate" investigation going on in her own state, she's apparently applying the brakes now. And I still am not satisfied with some of the answers she gave Gibson. On the other hand, she joins legions of politicians and is no worse than the Clintons or Obama in her ability to justify and backpedal.

As for Barack Obama, he still has the ugliness of Jeremiah Wright to contend with. In my humble opinion, he and his wife have shown themselves to have racist tendencies. Yes, it can be excused away by saying that many black people are naturally prejudiced because they've been subjected to it all their lives. I would disagree with that excuse, but even if it's a valid one, it's hardly acceptable for anyone at the helm to have such prejudice churning away in the back of their mind.

For instance, say this election was after WW2, and a Japanese American who had been imprisoned in an American internment camp was running for President. Suppose he had a natural anger against the government and the leaders who had placed his family there. Say it metamorphosed into outright prejudice against all white people. It would be understandable (more understandable than the current black culture's resentment) but would he be fit to govern our country?

The answer would be "no" then, as it is "no" right now.

I grant you that it is impossible to separate the human from the human experience. But unlike that Japanese American, modern black Americans have not been subject to the same treatment. Therefore, the modern anti-"other race" attitude that so many of them share is a puzzle to the modern non-black American.

I do not deny that prejudice against blacks still exists in the minds of some Americans. However, I do deny that it exists in the proportion that many black extremists claim. And among these black extremists resides Jeremiah Wright, close friend and mentor for Barack Obama.

I have a close friend who is black. Due to spreading cancer and her medications, she has declined from being a close friend to being a friend who is consumed with a growing belief that prejudice exists everywhere.

In the last year, she has reported a former employer for discrimination to the government. She has claimed that every past employer was either racist and/or sexist. In March, she claimed that a couple of white guys in a truck had pursued her, shouting racial slurs and she had an elaborate story of how the police pulled them over as she drove away. I checked with every police department in the county, and every one of them verified that the incident never happened.

In other words, she now sees racism peering out of every eye that looks her way.

Why has she regressed like this? Because it's the way she was raised. Throughout her life she has been surrounded by a black culture that primarily defines itself as merely the opposite of white. She used to decry this negative culture. But, despite common sense and a full life, she has fallen back into the comfort zone. And this will cause problems for her, as she's married to a white man. Her white friends are pulling away and she sits at home, stewing in hate.

I love my friend, but she is not fit to be President of the United States. Perhaps she never was.

And for that same reason, we need to start asking ourselves the tough questions about Barack Obama. Will his covert racism affect his decision making abilities?

And, is he experienced enough? The Democrats initially started screaming that Palin isn't experienced enough. They bit their tongues the moment that people began to point out that Obama is just as (or less) experienced.

Another problem for Obama is that the rest of the world wants him. Americans see themselves as being superior to the rest of the world, just as the rest of the world believes itself to be superior to Americans. National pride is natural. But this is working against Obama, as many Americans feel that he will favor other nations over our own, which will be greatly to our detriment.

I had high hopes for Hillary Clinton. And, before I knew him better, I had high hopes for Obama. But when I weigh out all the candidates, I find them all to be featherweights. And I remain unhappy with our choices.

Americans deserve quality politicians on both sides, so that any choice will be better than the current administration. Until we get some real answers, there is little hope for any of them.