Spengler in the Asia Times came to the same conclusion: Obama is an anthropologist. If you read his first autobiography you get a sense that Obama was searching for his "American" self because he grew up in a foreign world. What he really knows of the country is its exotic and urban experiences.

Unfortunately, his early mentors inculcated the broken vessel, "USA as villain" strain of politics, the lens through which he views the country. That explains the stupid "clinging" remarks.

Of course, if that's the channel you swim in, you can't for the life of you understand why someone chooses to live in a place like Sioux Falls or Wasilla. The only explaination must be not seeing the light of enlightened self-interest which he, the Prophet, brings. The job of a community organizer is to raise the alleged "hidden voices" of the "powerless". Normally, that means an angry voice at their newfound oppressors.

In the 19th century, it was important that a potential president's biography include the fact that he was born in a log cabin. Showing that meant you were an authentic "man of the people".
Obama's life story has no log cabin moments. Contrast him with Palin in that regard.

He is not one of us.

Obama is definitely one of that +30% who fervently want his as POTUS. Maybe because, like Ayers, they see a blank slate upon which to scrawl their nasty dreams.

But "my muslim faith" Obama really needs to stick close to the teleprompter so people who understand America can write his schtick.

CY, I disagree. A vote for Obama is a vote to destroy the foundations of this country which has already been under assault for many years. You posted a piece on Ayers as being one who wanted to do more to a larger extent than the terrorist acts his group succeeded in doing and his goal being to cause such damage as to allow others of his same darkened heart to join in the frey. This is Obama's buddy. Obama IS anti-American no different than Ahmadinejad. I think Americans are "asleep" and caught up in hedonism and are going to be rudely awakened if this radical enters into office. I think objective and pro American news sights and blogs are sounding the alarm and yet they too seemed reluctant to go full throttle to expose this guy beyond the realm of politics. Think about it. This is an election year and he is being viewed only as a canidate (bad or good) but the real story immensely surpasses that. This whole election is blatantly exposing the dangerous radical element entrenched within our borders, within our goverment, within our media, within our schools, within some of our neighborhoods. They're not giving up to bring this country down. Honestly, knowing how they (Ayers and Obama and co.) think do you suppose they were appalled at 9/11 or did people like Ayers have eyes fill with tears of joy as someone finally again is doing something like he wanted to do. What great disappointment they must of had that flight 93 didn't make it through to its final destination. This is Obama. He is not just "unfit" for the presidency but one who should be criminally investigated for all his past activities. How much do we know about this guy? He is not wanting to reveal his past but I think it can be found out and what we have found out IS alarming. He should not be on this ticket nor I believe should he be in this country if not in prison. This is a truth they stand against freedom and if they were in power we would be thrown in prison not for wrong doing but for speaking out against their criminal acts against God and humanity.

Just what this country needs as we head into a liberal-caused economic crisis and a world filled with jihadists bent on our destruction, a moron who wants to raise taxes (to be fair to everyone except the rich) and to negotiate with our enemies.

In that alternate communist universe, raising taxes brings unimaginable wealth to the poor and negotiating with enemies leads to world peace.

I can't wait.

Just FYI, I linked to your article from 13 Myths about Barack Obama

During the time Obama was at Columbia he was living in an apartment about 1/4 mile from the residence of Bill Ayres....nothing to see here.

Unfortunately this fraud has a better than 50-50 chance of being the next president. We'll survive....just like we did the Carter years but we'll be weaker for it. I sure hope there's another "Reagan" out there in 4 years to bring us out of our impending malaise.

>>That explains the stupid "clinging" remarks.>>

Actually not true. The stupid "clinging" remarks came directly from Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals".

Obama is an Alinsky disciple...it's the template he followed when he became a community organizer.

If you're not familiar with the work, you should be - it's a guide for many of the leftists out there. You can see his techniques used in blog comments everywhere.

Uh, John McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone, and his family didn't settle in Virginia until he was, um, fifteen years old.

So Obama, who lived in Hawaii, was what again? A Manchurian Candidate? An alien? An anti-American? Ill-informed?

Nope. That's you.

Er Dan,

McCain was the son and grandson of US admirals, not Kenyan communists;

McCain was brought up by a married couple, the norm at the time;

McCain knew his father;

McCain's youth on a navy base in Panama doesn't exactly compare to a Muslim school in Indonesia;

McCain's mother wasn't named "Stanley"

Capiche?

Dan: If the Prophet had spent time in the military he would really know what America is like.

If you have been on an American base overseas that allows dependents, its a Little America. Baseball, apple pie and Chevrolets with artillery, jets or ships.

That is way different than living completely in the other culture and then being introduced to that of the country you aspire to govern. Not only that, but told that it is corrupt and wicked, and believing it.

Er, um, SoaPaaM--

What does that have to do with the post, and its suggestion that a youth spent outside of mainland America is cause to reject a candidate?

Oh yeah, a call for ad hominem attacks, that's what it suggests, and that's what it is.

Y-A-W-N.

Obviously, a post like this is all opinion. There are supporting facts but basically you are attempting to read Barry's mind. If you aren't correct in the broad strokes the assertion awaits counter-evidence and opinion. However there is another, I would say worse, charge well-leveled on this same evidence; Obama is a racist. That is no psychic projection but the overwhelming conclusion from the available evidence. Dan, if you are white ya gotta know, Barry HATES your cracker ass. He wants you to pay reparations for slavery. He wants you to give up your 401 and your car and your job and your home so others can have them. These are the repeated declarations of Jeremiah Wright, Barack's great spiritual mentor as described in "Audacity..."; which is a Wrightism itself, btw.

Last time I checked, Alaska wasn't part of US mainland either.

Who was the last president to "know" small town and suburbs values? Would those be the ones with multiple marriages or cheating on their wives? How many people from small towns and suburbs get to go to Ivy league schools? We've had millionaires (with the exception of Clinton maybe) for the past 30 years.

So somehow, growing up in Hawaii doesn't make you American, but growing up in Alaska does. Maybe we should add that to the requirements for being President, can't have grown up in Hawaii. How sad is that all "conservatives" are left with is criticizing his upbringing, his church, and his community service.

Dan - The bigots are getting nervous. They are going to have to put the sheets back on the bed...

CY, this whole angle is just code for racism. Like it hasn't dawned on you that in small towns and suburbs, whites are predominent? My ferverent hope is that your "cultural memories and experiences" are something that my kids can only read in books and never have to live much less feel.

Maybe, the rest of us don't want to be like you.

Unfortunately, matta, we know that you and Obama support racist beliefs -- as practiced by black people.

Obama, for instance, supported Kwame Kilpatrick, who berated a black police detective and told her she should be ashamed for riding in a car with a white man.

And if that isn't enough, Reverend Wright. 'Nuff said.

This whole, "if you don't vote for Obama, you're a racist" meme is horrifically racist in and of itself. It's saying that there is no valid reason for voting against Obama and that anyone who does so automatically discriminates against people based on their skin color.

That whole process depends on exactly what CY has been saying: the liberal left's indoctrination of Americans to be ashamed of themselves, ashamed of their country, and ashamed of their skin color. Obama is exactly what they need; a vapid puppet, easily molded and controlled to suit their leftist causes, and built to prey upon that guilt.

and elect McCain/Palin in a landslide

Well, I'm rooting against The One, but I don't see that happening. Even were Barry caught, on tape, buggering novices from the local nunnery, the MSM would simply provide more cover for him that they already do.

The MSM wants this guy in the White House real bad....I have been following presidential campaigns since 1956.....I have never seen anything close to this.

Even in 1960 when most of the media was pulling for JFK they made a concerted effort to appear neutral.....not so this time.

Be interesting to see the fallout after the election is over.

Racism is tossed around very casually, so is the -phobia suffix in a derogatory fasion. Here, an argument against the article would be better phrased as xenophobic rather than racist. This article is not racist, is it xenophobic?

The line between xenophobia and reasonable caution is wide and gray. However, by the preponderance of evidence to the strangeness or "un-American"ness of Mr. Obama, relative to the dearth of evidence to the contrary, the summary line, "He is not one of us." is a clarion call to the demographic majority of American citizens regardless of their geography.

Obama has lead a very stylized life, far removed from the norms of American society. The barbs above this comment do nothing to defend his history, they can only vainly attempt to muddy the waters.

Clearly written, this article encapsulates the reality of the democrat nominee without portfolio; and provides an honest case for doubt regarding his acceptability to the presidency.

By overusing the 'racism' insult, leftists are eroding one of their strongest weapons.

They have already totally exhausted the 'sexism' trap, with the ascent of Sarah Palin.

So the left thinks I'm racist for not supporting a half-white socialist? Big deal. It is MUCH worse to be a socialist/leftist than to be a racist (although most leftists are also racists).

Check out US ideological distribution for 2008. Obama is extremely far from the center relative to McCain or even Bush.

"Obama's life story has no log cabin moments. "

Well, the Madrasa in Indonesia may have been made of wood......

"...They are going to have to put the sheets back on the bed..."

er... it is a well-known fact that the KKK is wholly tied to the Democratic party for the last 100 years. The Democrats still have a senior KKK Kleagle as their Seniormost Senator.

Indeed, all the injustices done to blacks have been done by Democrats. From Slavery to George Wallace to Robert Byrd, the racism of Democrats is legendary, and well known to learned people.

Excellent post. However, in the interest of intellectual honesty only, the alleged Freudian slip Obama made about his "Muslim faith" was a misunderstanding that Stephanopoulos fell into; I believe that Obama was actually referring to that faith from the perspective ---or in the voice--- of his opponents.

Having said that, I must add that I despise Barack Obama and his cultists and am anxious to see this appalling insult to our civilization ended and healed ---one hippie loser at a time. These wretched idiots who support him have made a huge mistake and I am interested in grinding their faces in it at every opportunity.

Excellent, excellent, essay! I'll be sending this to everyone I know. This is the fundamental issue that makes his liberalism so dangerous. Obama is not guided by the same worldview that is shared by other Americans, even the liberal ones.

The funniest part about the white liberal racists thinking regarding Obama as being the Black Messiah is that he has about as much black blood as I do; which even as a forth generation Southerner ain't a whole lot.

"Black Messiah is that he has about as much black blood as I do; which even as a forth generation Southerner ain't a whole lot."

Even worse, Jeremiah Wright is only 30-40% black. Yet he talks about how blacks are mistreated in the US of KKK-A, by white people like him.

Wild that the "other" comments have suddenly become about race. Where did the author bring up race, and why did so many commenters stampede to point out the color of Barack Obama's skin?

It's an odd thing to reject and revile Barack Obama for his youth outside the physicall American mainstream/mainland, when *both* Republican candidates can be accused of the same rather meaningless background. It's not racism to accuse someone else of defects that you simultaneously possess. What is it?

Er, Dan, the first person to mention Obamas skin is...reviewing, reviewing...that would be YOU Dan.

The discussion is about racism. Not about race. Try to keep up. Yes you may have the blue crayon if it will help you type easier.

And it isn't at all an odd thing to reject Barack, based upon his childhood background, as not being suitable, because he was already tainted with Marxist, anti-American ideology before his 18th birthday. And lacking any useful first person experience to refute the 'Capitalism Sux' party line, well. . .

Heya, Wind Rider--

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you've got some form of blindness or narcolepsy. Let's review the comments:

KKK, black racists, 30-40% black, black values system, Black Messiah . . . .

Yeah, it was me.

As for racism, that apparently has nothing to do with otherness, exoticism, Islam, or "black values systems," though it does have something to do with a 70's car commercial.

Again: Y-A-W-N.

ND Thirty - I never said not voting for Obama is racist. However, claiming that Obama is "un-American" because he doesn't have the same experiences as those from "small townes and suburbs" is implicit attempt at bringing race into the election.

The right likes to believe that racism doesn't exist anymore or its blacks' problem with whites. I tend to think racism doesn't know a skin color but relies on ignorance and lots of stereotypes. Where is the discussion of the differences between Obama and McCain's plan to save the economy? No, its just easier to hate someone because they don't have the same "experiences" as people from "small townes"...

matt

I agree, racism is running rampant on the left. Oh and the difference between Obama and McCain on the economy? Obama wants the government (Socialism/Communism) to fix everything, McCain wants the people (markets) to fix the problem. There, not that difficult to understand

Aren't these the same folks who put down Tiger Woods for acknowledging his Filipino heritage?

ND Thirty - I never said not voting for Obama is racist. However, claiming that Obama is "un-American" because he doesn't have the same experiences as those from "small townes and suburbs" is implicit attempt at bringing race into the election.

Yes, because, as you've made clear, there are no black people in small towns and suburbs.

Then again, it makes sense; Democrats and liberals deny that black people who vote Republican or are conservative are black. In the world of racist Democrats, black people who don't live in the urban ghetto and who don't do exactly what the Democrats order have ceased to be black and have become white -- hence the constant black Democrat calls of "race traitor" or "Uncle Tom" or "Oreo".

This piece is spot on in defining what Zogby pointed to indicating why there could be a landslide fro McCain.

Meanwhile, this by far is the biggest collection of scary links that I have seen in quite some time.

I for one am deeply comforted by the fact that we have people like you in this country to tell us who qualifies as American and who does not. It's good to know that true citizenship in this country is not defined by birth or by immigration status, but rather whether one comes from:

the heartland of America, the small towns and suburbs, the "baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet" that forms the core of our cultural experience.

Isn't it wonderful that we can all agree on what forms the core of "our" cultural experience? Oh, except for the millions of people who don't share that experience, or who perhaps don't cherish it exactly as much as you do. Gay people, soccer fans, Honda drivers, anybody who lives in a city larger than 200,000 people ... they all hate America, right? Or rather, they must hate your idea of America because you've so clearly demonstrated that they have no place in it. You, on the other hand, merely hate the millions of Americans who, according to you, just aren't "American" enough.

Obama's association with the mad bomber Ayers is astounding. One question though- On a moral scale is McCain not much worse. Ayers personally placed dozens of bombs, yet only targeted property and never harmed a single human being. McCain dropped bombs from a plane (not quite as brave)and by his own admission killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent people. Is it okay because he wore a uniform? Or because his victims had brown skin? Just curious how you red blooded patriots wriggle out of this one.

Thanks for telling us all what we really think and fell, Nadingo. We dopey conservatives would be lost without the benefit of your insights. A guy as smart as you, he ought to get two dozen votes. And if you live in Chicago, you probably do.

The fact is that Obama's adult life and pronouncements betray his lack of connection to "America." He is a citizen of the world - as he himself has stated. As admirable as that may be to some, in selecting a President of the US, many of us want somebody who considers himself American first. You confuse cause and effect (I suspect deliberately) in dismissing this discussion of Obama's upbringing. People are attempting to explain his apparent outlook, not deducing what it might be from early experiences. We don't have to conclude that he must place himself outside of the American experience because he lived in Hawaii - he's already told us, bitter clingers that we are, about his perspectives, and we'd like to understand from where he has derived them. Nobody here mentioned gays or soccer fans or Honda drivers as objects of hate - that is, nobody did until you introduced them as such.

In fact, I believe you were the first one to introduce hatred into this discussion - in much the same way as the only injections of "race" into the national political debate have been by Obama and his camp. And yet you folks with your hatred and racism profess to tell the rest of us what we really think? Thanks for the projection, but no thanks.

You kids are funny.

I've listened to Obama speak a few times, and most times he goes on and on about the moral grandeur of the American Revolution, Lincoln and the abolitionists, the world war against fascism and tyranny in the 40s, and the fight against racism and segregation (which some people in this comments section obviously feel nostalgic for; segregation, that is, not the civil rights struggle).

He celebrates American history and culture all the time. His speeches are conscious echoes (not always great ones, I'll submit) of speeches by Lincoln and Martin Luther King (or is he not "American" enough?).

So this "he hates America" meme doesn't really check out. Repeating it a million times doesn't make it true.

As for "citizen of the world," you kids talk like this is some sort of new concept hatched in the 60s with Woodstock and mainstream feminism and Jane Fonda. It's actually very old, and it was the animating principle of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Renaissance humanists, and the Enlightenment philosophes. All of those people who value and treasure (and want to reform) their own city-states, countries, and societies, but they didn't see a contradiction between that and feeling at home in the world at large. It's a noble idea.

You kids are funny.

I've listened to Obama speak a few times, and most times he goes on and on about the moral grandeur of the American Revolution, Lincoln and the abolitionists, the world war against fascism and tyranny in the 40s, and the fight against racism and segregation (which some people in this comments section obviously feel nostalgic for; segregation, that is, not the civil rights struggle).

Most of his speeches are conscious echoes (not always great ones, I'll submit) of Lincoln and MLK (or is he not "American" enough either?).

As for the "citizen of the world" thing-- You kids talk like cosmopolitanism is some kind of new-fangled hippie communist idea introduced in the 60s with Woodstock and Jane Fonda. It's actually very old: it was the animating principle of the ancient Greeks, of the Romans, of medieval Catholics, of Renaissance humanists, of Enlightenment philosophes. None of these people saw a contradiction between cherishing (and wanting to reform) their own lands, countries, city-states and thinking of themselves in a larger, world-wide context.

It has been very interesting to watch this comment thread so far, especially from dan and matta, the two obvious most obvious liberals.

The attempts to equate Obama's upbringing in foreign cultures to that of McCain or Palin is perhaps the most absurd things I've read in quite a while (well, other than the Glenn Greenwald piece that linked here, but then most of his screeds are hilarious to begin with).

Obama spent his childhood in two places, Indonesia, and Hawaii.

Indonesia is quite obviously a foreign country and culture halfway around the world, and where he draws his earliest memories and lived his formative elementary and middle school years.

He then moved to another (though radically different) Asian culture. But Dan can't quite seem to grasp that Hawaii, while a U.S. state, has a far different culture and history than the other 49. The Hawaiian culture is unique; isolated from the U.S. mainland by almost 2,000 miles and is demographically dominated by Asian cultures of Japanese, native or Polynesian descent, and Filipino, and with a history of far different that that of any mainland state, it is, in every way, quite distinct from mainland U.S. cultures. That isn't a bad thing, it just has a different cultural experience than any other state.

matta and dan try to claim that the communities on U.S. military bases and the state of Alaska are also different than mainland America culture, when what they are are concentrations of the American spirit—hyper-American is the term I think Mark Steyn specifically coined talking about Alaskans.

And just as predictably, matta does what all liberals do when they have nothing else to argue logically, and cries RACIST!, a point the ever-tedious Greenwald (and no doubt his disciples as I'm typing this) also would like to make, instead of addressing the obvious truth of what I wrote.

It isn't about race, or ethnicity, or the size of the city or wealth of the neighborhood or part of the country you live in. It is about our having a shared culture and heritage, and Barack Obama growing up outside of that culture, and then deciding to immerse himself with the most radical elements of American society when he did come to mainland America.

He simply doesn't have the shared cultural experiences that makes us unique as Americans, and attempting to argue that a boy raising in Indonesia has the same cultural roots and memories as a child raised in Greenville, or New York or Austin or Asheville is simply daft.

Well, we might agree on nothing else Mr. CF, but Glenn Greenwald is most definitely tedious, that is when he's not semi-hysterical. On the other hand I'm sure he's bringing you lots of new readers, albeit not of your ideological persuasion.

It is about our having a shared culture and heritage

Stop believing that your idiosyncratic culture is somehow the gold standard by which everyone else's is to be judged.

Obama understands the American ideal pretty much better than a lot of people. There was that line that America is all about "the hope of the skinny with the funny name that America has a place for him too."

I do, however, appreciate it that because of Barack Obama, certain people are willing to say what they really think of us Americans who don't come through the same routes they did.

You can claim that Obama is somehow unAmerican and foreign, but at the end of the day, looking at his life and background, it unfolded about the same as many other Americans did, albeit one that put him on a academic and career path of the professional upper middle class... but that's pretty much the American Dream, isn't it?

How you can live in a country as diverse as ours, with such regional variety (even on the mainland!), and then make the claim that somehow Hawaii is just too different is unbelievable to me. Seeing differences as dangerous is small-minded.

I'd also like to say how much I love the way language works. I mean, we can sit here and talk about America's unique culture and how some people are part of that culture while other people are not part of it. We can even give a solid example of "non-American" culture that praises Malcolm X and teaches "black values," but because we don't use the word "race," it's painfully obvious that race doesn't enter into the discussion at all!

It's also great that we can ignore what Obama has actually said about his love for the country and conclude that he "despises" America (and is despised in turn by Tony Petzold, but I guess you missed that comment, Steve). We can talk about how "small-minded" Michelle Obama is, and we can define "the core of American experience" as the people who live in small towns and suburbs, and nobody else. But because we don't use the word, "hate," we obviously can't be talking about having bad feelings towards all of our non-American fellow citizens, right?

And for the record, my quip about soccer players, city dwellers, and Honda drivers was simply meant to illustrate the kind of people who fell outside of Yankee's definition of "core American culture." The part about gay people was my own addition, and I apologize for insinuating that people in this discussion were homophobic. Can I assume, therefore, that you do think that gay people are part of "core American culture"?

This is particularly weird, since the "alien" meme is simply a dog-whistle for racial differences, and a rather worn one. Sure, sure, the guy's black, and he grew up in Hawaii, but neither he nor I presume a monolithic "us," an American culture that is homogeneous or categorizable.

This very "us" *is* the dog whistle, in a nation whose population is *not* dominated by "small towns," and hasn't been for some time. It's a nation whose demographics are trending inevitably toward a diversity that will make Caucasians one minority among many, and pretty soon.

And it's a nation whose small town traditional values, at least w/r/t conventional wisdom, inarguably *include* the embrace of multiple cultures and multiple influences, multiple backgrounds and viewpoints without prejudice, a nation that calls its disparate blend of citizens its very strength.

Unless that strength comes from a state with too many people from the mud races. How sad.

The thing about being a "citizen of the world," is makes it easier for one to understand the perspectives of people from the rest of the world. Some might say that the president of the U.S.A. shouldn't be trying to think like anybody other than an American, but Sun Tzu would disagree:

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

We live in dangerous times, with plenty of enemies who want to destroy our way of life. In order to defeat these enemies, we truly need a "citizen of the world."

Stop believing that your idiosyncratic culture is somehow the gold standard by which everyone else's is to be judged.

Ah yes, in comes the liberal shaming, in which anyone who is proud of their culture and their beliefs is to be punished.

The fact that Obama and his supporters regularly try to shame and insist that anyone who disagrees with them is racist shows quite starkly the degree of hate and intolerance that Obama has for anyone who dares disagree with him, and how willing Obama supporters are to "judge" other people.

Such as how Obama claps and cheers for decades for pastors who scream "God damn America" from the pulpit, and himself says sneeringly that people who have guns and follow their religious beliefs are "bitter".

Obama grew up in a family who prized education. His grandmother and grandfather raised their daughter to obtain a college education and aided her son in his teens and looked after him and his schooling. From them he ought to have inculcated some true heartland values that these obviously dutiful people had and have. By heartland values, I mean independence, hard work, self-discipline, thrift, honor, and family above all else. I'll even submit that these values are part of what led to his success academically.

However, here's the puzzle to the Prophet: He rejected these values to accept radical values. Why is that? The reason: He drank the Leftist Kool-Aid rot in Olympic swimming pool quantities.

Why is it that he could cast off these same folks as "typical white people" but welcome the warm embrace of nuts like Wright, Pfleger and Bill Ayers? He chose the far left which sees those heartland values as oppressive and something to be scorned and laughed at.

Obama may talk in grandiose terms about his love of country and how great he believes America is, but it is rote. He does not believe it but he mouths it in order for you to believe it. I'll submit that Dan and Nandingo here also subscribe to that same mindset because they are as "enlightened" as him.

BTW Democrats, please stop lecturing Republicans on racism. Yours is the party of Jim Crow and KKK SOB's. Yours is the party with the shameful and disgusting legacy of lynching, racism and racial oppression. Bourbon Democrat: look it up.

BTW Democrats, please stop lecturing Republicans on racism. Yours is the party of Jim Crow and KKK SOB's. Yours is the party with the shameful and disgusting legacy of lynching, racism and racial oppression. Bourbon Democrat: look it up.

Yes, but what have we done for you lately?

Look, you're not educating anybody here when you talk about racism among democrats 50 or 100 years ago. Anybody who knows anything about U.S. history is aware of the fact that the South was full of "Dixiecrats" who voted Democrat for decades because they never forgave Lincoln for granting black people the right to be human in this country. Except wait, why isn't the South uniformly Democratic any more? Oh right, it's because Democrats completely lost the South when they decided to pursue that silly little thing called the Civil Rights Movement.

So please stop lecturing about racism in the Democratic party a century ago. Forty years ago, the most racist people in the country switched their party allegiance because of the Civil Rights movement, and they haven't switched back. Does this mean that Republicanism is always associated with racism? Of course not! But at the same time, you didn't see Al Gore pandering to South Carolinians about the Confederate Flag eight years ago.

EXACTLY WHAT POLICIES OF BHO'S DO YOU GUYS DISAGREE WITH...?

real ones too please

Forty years ago, the most racist people in the country switched their party allegiance because of the Civil Rights movement, and they haven't switched back.

Yup; all the black racists turned Democrat, and they've stayed that way.

Such as black racist Kwame Kilpatrick, endorsed and supported by Barack Obama, who berated a black female police detective and said she should be "ashamed" for riding in a car and working with a white man named White.

Or Obama's political mentor, Emil Jones, who called black people who voted for Hillary Clinton "Uncle Toms".

Or Obama himself, who fully supports and endorses the notion that anyone who votes against him does so because they're racist.

And as to your question, cb, the last is the answer; I refuse to vote for a racist Presidential candidate, and Obama is one. He seems to believe that he should get my vote based solely on his skin color, which goes against everything in which I believe.

You know, I have been a "mainland American" all my life. I grew up in Detroit, and I can spot racial BS when I see it.

Barack Obama reminds me of a whole bunch of people I grew up with, people who have prospered and become leaders to be admired despite the racism that is implicit in the arguments you advance.

Anybody who can come from a broken home, work his way through school and become editor of the Harvard Law Review demands respect whether he is running for president or not.

He sure has accomplished more than I ever have, and I suspect more than the Captain or his many commentors.

Are you all feeling just a little inadequate?

Nandingo: The South today is not the South of Jim Crow. Your Dixiecrat SOB's remained Democrats but dropped their segregationist claptrap.

The Republican gains in the South started in the outer Southern states of Virginia and Texas. As the South became less racist, the Republican gains accelerated. That was not due to the Dixiecrats shifting alliances, but in the shift of population from the North to the South. Why did all these Northerners shift? Because they were racists with dreams of a new White Man's world? No. Because of entrepreneurship, economic opportunities, and a culture that encourages faith and family. A culture very much eroded in the North. In these rough economic times, the vast majority of growth in the country is in those areas.

Democrats have much to hang their head in shame about. That ledger is only in the last 40 years being rebalanced.

As a conservative I will not vote for Obama. That being said, I like to make my selection on real issues and facts. I cannot agree with some of my fellow conservatives on this blog who say Obama is unAmerican because of his life experience. His story is the quintessential american dream. His father was a foreigner of humble beginnings who worked hard. His mother, a single parent from Kansas. His grandparents helped raise him and taught him the value of hard work and dedication. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and made something of himself.

Now he believes that government's place is to equalize inequality and give people hands-up. I disagree with him. The world is a tough place and government can solve these inequalities effectively.

My grandparents were Americans too. They came over from Italy. They worked hard to learn English and my grandfather failed in a number of business before finally becoming successful. He understood what it was to be an American a lot better than people born here because he had to work for it. He understood how blessed our county is because he lived places that didn't have the same freedoms and opportunities. In life experience Obama share a lot with him. Sadly, Obama doesn't understand the roll of government.

Well said Jennifer. I couldn't agree more.

it's because Democrats completely lost the South when they decided to pursue that silly little thing called the Civil Rights Movement.

uhh, no. Republicans made the civil rights happen, not Democrats. Furthermore, when the Democrats swung wildly to the anti-American left in the late '60s and early '70s they alienated much of the more mainstream Americans living in the south and west.

So now the Democrats pander to black, hispanic, and anyone else with racism, just not white racists. Same game, just different groups.

I know you will keep repeating your lie--gotta stay on the narrative--but your entire party now is a lie and needs the support of complete mistruths like the one you spouted above in order to remain in power. And not be run out of office on a rail and covered in tar and feathers as 90% of elected Democrats so richly deserve.

Boy, that "implicit racism" meme is sure getting a workout from the Obamabots. I have lived in Detroit too and I know how Coleman Young played this game...

Criticize Obama because he will say anything, anytime, to anyone in order to get their vote? Implicit racist.

Criticize Obama because he personally and repeatedly blocked a bill to prevent infanticide? Implicit racist.

Criticize Obama because he spouts insanely dumb statements on how to solve the energy crisis with pressure gauges? Implicit racist.

Ask to see Obama's school records and why he hides them? Implicit racist.

Ask about why Obama has not released his medical records? Implicit racist.

Ask about how he justifies a decades-long relationship with a unrepentant terrorist and marxist? Implicit racist.

Ask how he could sit in a pew for 20 years, donate large sums of cash--much more than he ever gave his half-brother--to a racist and America hating demagogue? Implicit racist.

Ask why he accepted so much money from the two institutions responsible for this recent crash in our credit markets, use their discredited CEO's as campaign advisors, and be part of blocking any real reform? Implicit racist.

Ask others how someone who spent most of his early years in an Indonesian muslim school with an Indonesian stepfather can really understand this country? Implicit racist.

Yes, there is definitely institutional racism in these questions. If I could just feel the hopey/changeyness and rise above details like these (and many, many, others) I could expunge that implicit racism in my soul.

A vote for Obama is a vote to purify yourself. Obama is a high-colonic for the country...oops, that probably was racist....

The Obama folks have a VERY large organization, part of their Truth Squad. that is exclusively dedicated to watching for blog entries that appear anywhere that are about Sarah Palin. Once spotted, they leave nasty comments and IM others in the group to come "pile on". It's going to get worse - they attack and attempt to silence freedom of speech on a daily basis.

It's shocking to watch the Democrats morph into an organization that copies, almost verbatim, tactics straight from the National Socialism playbook. Sadly, I suspect that most people have no idea of what is going on here - most people do not recognize the signs of what is happening right here in America today. Students of history should be able to recognize these signs - they are observing a new incarnation of the NSDAP taking shape right before their eyes.

Our educational system and our national media, both print and television networks, are under their control. They now control what someone learns, how they learn it, what gets presented as "truth" in the media, and how it is presented. They've started manufacturing outright lies and propaganda pieces and then present them as objective news reporting. Is there no one left to "watch the watchers"? Is there no recourse?

These Democratic National Socialists will do "anything necessary to save humanity from the evil Sarah Palin, and to that end, anything and everything they do towards that end is justified." To the people in this new incarnation of the NSDAP, well, to Democrats, Sarah Palin represents their own personal version of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and they'd prefer to hurry up and get the hanging over with.

The Democrats have truly morphed into National Socalists, in every sense of what that means:

* Deviating from social norms - their actions against Sarah Palin, for example.
* Playing purely Ideological politics - check
* Doing anything necessary to "Save Humanity" from Sarah Palin, and anything justifies doing it.
* Contradictory promises - (95% of you will see a tax cut)
* Being governing "elites", that pomise to represent "the middle working class"
* Playing social, religious, and racial "games" for their own advantage.
* Controlling what you think, by influencing what you can say, read, and see in the media
* "Fixing" America so it can be "competitive in world markets"

I could easily go on and on, but I'm certain you know enough examples of all of these behaviors on the part of the Democrats without me needing to point out examples.

God Help us all - the National Socialist Party, reincarnated as the New Democratic "Hope and Change" party, lives and breathes right here in America. Once again connsumate evil has begun walking the earth, and no one is even noticing it as it happens...

Iconoclast,

Get something straight. I was an adult during the civil rights movement and can tell you one thing with pride: Republicans did not "make the civil rights movement happen" as you say. We fought that damn Bobby Kennedy, and we fought him hard! We were for States RIghts and we still should be today. If we had are way it never would have happened.