Marshall Frank

Senator Barack Obama has been accused of speaking in ethereal terms, promoting hope and justice, rarely engaging in specifics about his proposed policies. That’s not exactly true.

There is a 52 second video floating around the Internet circuit in which the senator looks directly in the eye of the camera and announces his intentions about global weaponry and war systems, and what the United States would do if he were in the top position. 

Click here: YouTube

This is good. Now we know. Americans should listen closely to those 52 seconds because — in a few words — it tells us much about what to expect if this man ascends to the Oval Office.

Evaluate for yourself:

* He will end the war and immediately start pulling troops out. He’s already told us this. Ending the war is a good thing. We all want to see an end to the war. The questions remain, however: In what manner, how rapidly, will there be chaos, mass murders and destruction in the path, what will happen to the 100,000 civilian workers in Iraq, how will this affect the current government in place, and how will our image play out to the world …

There is an old saying about watching out what you wish for. You might get it.

Very often, new presidents are elected, not because people vote for a candidate, rather, they vote against a candidate. I fear that’s what will happen in 2008.

Those of us over fifty will well remember. By the time 1976 came around, the national electorate had become so mired with negativity within the Nixon administration, we were ready for a change at any cost. Decent as he was, Gerald Ford’s two year stint did nothing to alleviate the image of the Republican party which had sunk to its lowest of depths following the Watergate scandal, the embarrassment of Spiro Agnew, the administration jailbirds and the whole Nixon enchilada. “Out with the Republicans, those dirty bastards.”

In 1976, we desperately sought honesty. We wanted morality. We wanted a new squeaky clean image. We wanted pacification, not aggression. We wanted compassion not intolerance. We wanted a uniter, not a divider. The nation was ready for a “change.” (Hmm…that word sounds familiar)

We got what we wanted. Jimmy Carter.

Whoops!

Now, 2008 is a mirror image of 1976. Americans are fed up with G.W. Bush and his lot, …

Enough, already.

“Racial divide.” “Racial harmony.” Racial prejudice.” “Racial this, racial that.”

Until this presidential season, I’ve never heard so much racial bantering since the civil rights movement of thirty and forty years ago. This is supposed to be a good thing?

The media walks on egg shells. Politicians carefully choke over their rhetoric. Whites dare not utter a word that can be remotely interpreted as… (Oh God no!) “Racist!” In today’s America, it is a worse stigma to be labeled a racist, than a serial killer.

Barack Obama is a brilliant man. He stands on his feet and dazzles people with oratory. Yet, his greatest defense weapon, is just being black. If someone utters a truism about him that is not favorable, watch out. You could be labeled a “racist!”

Geraldine Ferraro said, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position…He happens to be very lucky who he is, and the country is caught up in the concept.”

She’s a racist? Well, Mr. Obama thinks so, so does the media and much of the black community. They came out shooting with both barrels. Ms. Ferraro stepped down from the Hillary campaign as an instant …

“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Pretty scary, coming from a U.S. Senator running for President of the United States.

That quote from Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity Of Hope, is splattered all over the Internet, particularly on hundreds of blogging sites and e-mails, denigrating the senator and pleading with folks to prevent his ascension to the Oval Office, at all costs.

First, my position: I am opposed to the election of Mr. Obama, for a number of reasons. I feel an Obama presidency would be a major mistake. I am not among those who are aglow with oratory eloquence and charisma that so often electrifies people into a false sense of love and security. To my way of thinking, there are too many red flags about the man which causes great skepticism.

But, for the sake of blogger credibility and honest reporting, I must stand up for the senator in this one issue. The quotation is incorrect and totally out of context. Such spreading of false statements cause great damage to the credibility of those who try to impart valid information.

I obtained a copy of The Audacity Of …