Thursday, April 10, 2008

Barack or Hillary?

It seems like 50% of the news stories are about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Although I am sick of hearing about them, it is of course extremely important that a proper choice is made. The coming election is slated to be pivotal in many respects, one of which is how we will respond to radical Islam's threat to convert us to Islam or eliminate us.

After living through the Clinton presidency with its new scandals about every week, it was refreshing to have a black man (half black anyway) vie for the candidacy on the Democratic ticket. "Go Barack! Anyone but Hillary" summed up my attitude. Barack has a charisma about him that inspires people.

However, the more I learn about Barack Obama the more questions I have about the wisdom of choosing him to be the Democratic candidate. I didn't know his father was a Muslim. I didn't know his mother divorced the father only to marry another Muslim from Indonesia. I didn't know he belonged to a church that vilified whites and whose pastor, Rev. Wright, from the pulpit made racist and anti American statements. I was appalled when I visited the church's web site. I had never seen a more racist web site. It has apparently been taken down now that the Rev. Wright connection to Barack has been publicized.

Of course Barack has denied sharing the opinions of his pastor while not distancing himself from the man as a mentor and friend. He would not be where he is today while standing with Rev. Wright's Statement, "I say God Damn America!" What would you expect a politition to say? I hold that in all probability Barack Obama is a patriotic american, not a Muslim sympathizer (in spite of his mother's twice marrying a Muslim) or a racist black man. But when it comes to choosing man that could become president of the United States, should we even consider taking a chance on a man with so many items in his past that could influence his thinking in ways that could be harmful to our country? What about his wife's comment, "This is the first time in my life I have been proud of my country". Was it a gaffe or is it further evidence that we don't know their true feelings about America?

I have changed my mind. I would rather see Hillary get the nomination. If the super delegates end up making the choice of candidate, I hope they choose the "devil we know rather than the devil we don't know".

Vernon Sandel

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