I picked up a copy of Time magazine yesterday, in which a columnist declared that issues of "character" were a "distraction" in the Presidential race. Obama actually said the same thing in his North Carolina press conference, that the Reverend Wright affair has been a "distraction."
Isn't this what liberals usually say when their own characters come under public scrutiny?
What a heap of pure poppycock! Character is the primary issue in every Presidential election. Period. And we, the voters, have an inalienable right to know the specifics, as much as can be discerned, of a candidate's character. But don't take my word for that. Take John Adams' words on the matter:
The people "have a right, an indisputable, inalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge -- I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers."
With Obama's Philadelphia-speech, hedging and squirming around specifics, and now with his final, "unequivocal," outright disowning of Jeremiah Wright this week, I have more evidence than I need to conclude that Barack Obama is either one of two things:
Behind Door #1: He is a reprehensible liar, who privately still believes, and has always believed, in the philosophy espoused by his long-time pastor, spiritual mentor and "uncle" figure, Jeremiah Wright, but for opportunistic motives, now publicly disavows his own true beliefs; or
Behind Door #2: He is a man of no integrity whatsoever, who has partaken of another man's friendship and political help for nearly 20 years, who has now publicly dumped and disgraced this benefactor for personal gain. Jeremiah Wright is not some flunky that Obama hired last week out of a far-left think tank or fresh from the halls of Harvard. The two men were close, like family, by the candidate's own pronouncements.
Whether the real Obama is behind Door #1 or Door #2, only Barack Obama now knows for certain. But either way, he has disgraced himself in the eyes of many Americans, and if he offered his hand, some of us older-timers would decline to shake it.
If he truly believes the philosophy of his chosen church, and now denies it because he sees that it is a small-minority view, he defines himself as a wimpy scoundrel, unworthy of being Commander in Chief.
Shiver goes on to talk about how it is ridiculous to think that any responsible parent would subject their children to the teachings of a man he so vehemently disagrees with, and that there are plenty of other churches out there that do a lot of good community service. She then explains how fancy words don't define a person's character. An excerpt from Obama's own book, Audacity of Hope:
We know how high-flying words can be deployed in the service of cynical aims, and how the noblest sentiments can be subverted in the name of power, expedience, greed or intolerance. (page 8)
Shiver then uses Obama's own words against him:
In his book, Obama asks readers to believe that he is a politician of a different sort, one who would not stoop to deception in any malevolent thirst for power. This is what he asks American voters to believe now.
He asks us to believe that he is not an unprincipled phony.
At 47 years old, Barack Obama had no substantive experience to bring to the table in his bid for the Presidency. He has staked his entire campaign, with his utter lack of experience, on his judgment and the content of his own character. His words to that effect, really, since there is nothing of record to back up his audacious claims.
Obama tells us that he has keen judgment, that he knows the ways of the world.
Obama tells us that he has a strong "moral compass," that he knows right from wrong.
Obama tells us, the American people, that we should give him the keys to the White House and all the power that goes with them on the strength of his word alone that he knows what he's doing and can change America, presumably for the better.
Obama's actions over 20 years at Trinity, and in the frequent, close company of Jeremiah Wright, and now his day-late-dollar-short denials, belie all his own high-flying words.
She quotes a man of unquestionable character, Abraham Lincoln, who said that "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."
And just as no tree can avoid casting a shadow in the noonday sun, so can no man avoid the scrutiny of his character, especially when he is seeking the highest office in the land.
Character is what the Presidency boils down to, and in this regard, Mr. Obama is most ashamedly lacking.
Shiver is right - character is everything. We elect our leaders to make decisions on our behalf that affect every facet of our lives. If we do not trust the character of those leaders, the foundation for how our country works erodes. It is one thing to disagree with policy positions of someone whose character you respect; it is completely another to distrust the very core of an individual: his character.
Americans are beginning to realize that Obama's fundamental flaw is his character, and he is in serious trouble because of it.
There's my two cents.
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