Chapter 4... Manipulation Mr. Obamas... Mandela Moment... has come and gone and what did this president have to say to a fiercely divided nation? Trayvon Martin could have been me... and with those magic words Barack Obama proved to The World that he really is no... MANDELA. Nelson Mandela was famously imprisoned for 27 years. After that as President of South Africa, instead of seeking retribution for the injustice that he suffered at the hands of those that his majority now governed... by fueling the fire that raged within racial divides, Mr. Mandela brought UNITY to a deeply divided nation. Thats what made Mandela... MANDELA... a beloved international figure in the hearts, minds and souls of all mankind. As a candidate for The American Presidency... Mr. Obama had what many people called a Reverend Wright Problem. How did Mr. Obama respond? By giving one of the most eloquent, nuanced speeches on race that this generation has ever heard. Remember? It gave Chris Matthews a tingle up his leg. It also led many Americans to believe that maybe Americas Mandela had finally arrived. But once elected, Mr. Obama made it crystal clear that he didnt want to be remembered for being Americas first black president. Thats why he pushed so hard to make Obamacare his signature achievement at a time when the scope and scale of The Great Recession required a united, focused response from all Americans... on the economy. That selfish act spawned The Tea Party and the brief tenure of Republican Senator Scott Brown from The VERY Blue State of Massachusetts... and instead of Unity, America got tremendous political polarization and dysfunction. Mr. Obama was given another chance to have a nuanced conversation with America on race, when his friend Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates cried racism after an incident at his home in Cambridge... thats when Mr. Obama gave America Our Very First... White House Beer Summit. Whats the moral of this sad story? When it comes to having a conversation with America on race, as president... Mr. Obama is NO Mandela. Every action has a reaction. Need proof? An American in California makes an internet film insulting the Prophet Mohammad and a world away... The US Ambassador to Libya and 3 other Americans are killed in response... or at least thats the narrative The White House, The Terrorists and some of the media elite wanted the world to believe. On the same day... the 11 year anniversary of 9-11, news surfaced that The American President refused to meet with The Prime Minister of Israel in New York, ahead of a possible Israeli attack on Iran. Reportedly, because the presidents schedule is full. But not too full of course to appear on The David Letterman Show. After that news broke... The White House responded and called The Prime Minister of Israel. What comes next? Absolutely anything I guess. Whats clear... is that the world is spiraling out of control in too many places and in too many ways... and no one seems to know what to do next. And maybe thats the important point that needs to be made next... because maybe, we have finally reached the point of no return. When the winds of change decide to blow... they blow, and what will come will come and there may be nothing we can do to stop it. If true, then the best we can do is try to channel the energy of the coming storm. Easier said than done I suppose, but hope comes when we try against all odds... so we might as well try. It all began to go wrong for America when The Clinton Administration turned the idea of winning the 24 hour news cycle into an art form... and then The Bush Administration used the events on 9-11 to brand Democrats as weak on national defense. After that the idea of Endless War kicked in and it was only a matter of degrees of deceit and time before America lost her moral and economic authority, the power of our convictions and our Way in the world. So it wasnt a big surprise when on October 17, 2007... then President Bush warned a nuclear armed Iran could result in World War III... just after Russian President Putin laid his credibility on the line and warned US against a military attack on Iran and its clear Iran and Russia believe they can cross whatever line they want with todays oil price at $88 and because the label of Evil Empire is sticking better to America than to Russia... because of The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Bushs rumors of more and more war. All this just days after the United States House of Representatives decided to poke a finger in the eye of the Turkish People... by Committee... ruling the centurys old World War I Armenian massacre was genocide. By setting in motion a non-binding resolution Our Representatives set off the Turkish Parliaments Very Real binding resolution to send troops into Iraq to look for terrorists of their own. And all bets are off when the only Islamic NATO ally decides to send troops into the powder keg of Iraq... ignoring US and our line in the desert sand. All this just another indication it really is later than it seems. So the time to choose is now, because the battle line will be drawn One Way or the other. Oh, one more thing, the reason for that days skyrocketing oil prices? The Turkish unrest. So Russia and Iran laugh as we fuel Their Rise and The Fire of Our Own Demise! According to a recent survey, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Denzel Washington are the three most trusted people in America today... and now they are also symbols of an America that is in obvious decline. I dont know what is worse, large numbers of Americans picking actors and actresses as their most trusted Americans or that Americas elected officials dont show up on the list of Most Trusted Americans... until most people have lost interest in continuing to look at the list. To gain political power... Americas elected officials use focus groups and polls to determine their positions and words. And the speeches they give... are written by speechwriters. In every sense, our political leaders have become professional liars... and no more trustworthy than the actors and actresses that read the lines that are given to them in the movies or on TV. They all do it... and not a single person who gets their job that way, can actually do their jobs once they get it. The simple truth of the matter is... you cant just hand focus group tested words, policies and positions to an ambitious person who looks electable and expect that they will become a leader capable of leading US anywhere worthwhile. I wonder what George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln would think of our current peril. Surely they knew before US... if not for inspired thoughts, words and deeds a leader cant lead. When pollsters and spin masters became arbiters of truth, lost to the American people was the priceless wisdom, knowledge and direction found only among the inspired Purposes of Authentic Leadership. As Candidates polled their way to becoming a mere shell of their original selves... the American course was charted by a whole host of uninspired navigators who lost sight of who We really are and what We are capable of becoming... together. As Americas strong sense of purpose seems lost to the rest of the world, lets see how They spin this one... With WAR raging in Iraq and Afghanistan why was Congress (with the support of Nancy Pelosi) working on a World War I non-binding genocide resolution if not to satisfy the purpose of stroking egos and donors somewhere... all this with reckless disregard for our sons and daughters who have their bloody boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States of America with our Advanced Science and Technology is in a state of Endless War... Health Care and Education are in a state of crisis... Our National Debt soars wildly out of control... all while Social Security and Medicare track toward bankruptcy. If a Collective Leadership failure didnt batter and bruise these Red and Blue States... Who then stood tall and enabled our Better Angels or without compromise preserved the Righteous Essence of The American Spirit?
Posted on: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 10:40:08 +0000
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