Why is it that the rules are different for Barack Obama, the African-American candidate, than the rules for Hillary Clinton and John McCain, the white candidates? Does it come from an inherent unfairness due to generations of stereotyping, or does it possibly result from an xenophobic fear of those who are different from us? Is it simply media in a feeding frenzy or is it scorched earth politics from blind ambition that destroys innocent people’s reputations just to gain advantage?
What am I talking about? I’m talking about the elephant in the room that everyone ignores. The elephant is the different standards we have for a black candidate than we have for a white one. Is it true? Absolutely. Here are a few examples: Neither Hillary or McCain wear flag pins on their lapels. Obama gets blasted by the media and right wing hate sites for not wearing one. Why is that? Why is it that he gets the question about it in every debate, but it’s never been asked of the other candidates? Why do Hillary and McCain get a free pass? Obama is clearly a patriotic American who says the pledge of allegiance and loves his country, but is continually questioned in the media about that.
Hillary has been knowingly married to a lying, philandering skirt chaser for 33 years. She never gets her judgment or character questioned about that. McCain is on his second marriage to a woman he dated while still married to his first wife. He never gets questions about that. So, then, why is it that Obama, married for 16 years to Michelle, and father to 2 beautiful daughters, has his character, family values, and judgment continually called into question while the media COMPLETELY IGNORES Hillary’s and McCain’s dysfunctional family life and judgment?
John McCain actively sought the endorsement of John Hagee, a war mongering, racist, radical right wing preacher who’s known for his fiery rhetoric and has publicly called the Catholic church “the great whore”. The media gives him a pass, yet Obama is continually raked over the coals for his relationship with his pastor who has also made inflammatory statements. What is the difference? Where is the media outrage over John Hagee? Non-existent.
Hillary and Bill have earned over $100 million in the last 10 years, not counting 2007. McCain is married to a woman estimated to be worth over $100 million. Obama, who started with nothing, earned $4 million from book sales last year. Who’s the elitist in the media’s eyes? Obama. CNN even gave McCain a complete pass on Cindy not releasing her tax returns and actually listed him below Obama in family net worth. They’ve also completely ignored him using her private jet in apparent violation of his own campaign finance law.
McCain also admits he understands little about the economy, continually gaffs on foreign policy, yet the media paints Obama as the lightweight. Hillary has little more experience than Obama in government service or management, grossly inflates her participation in her husband's administration, yet she gets a pass on her lie that she has 35 years experience, and again, Obama gets painted as inexperienced.
Hillary and McCain are both well known for not being able to hold their tempers. In fact she's famous for her lamp incident with Bill, so what happens? Obama gets painted as "too nice". Come again?
What’s going on here? After watching this for over a year, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is just what I feared: Incipient racism, xenophobia; organic in form, subtle, yet plain as the nose on your face if you just look for it. To me, there is no other logical reason for the two sets of rules, the unfairness of coverage, the application of standards.
Food for thought.
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