A Serious Matter

Another Award Winning Speech

Barack talks for 37 minutes: Normally I don’t take sides in this blog. I’m an equal opportunity jokester. I make fun of the president’s gaffes, of Hillary’s crying, McCain’s age, Obama’s turban photo (who does he think he is - a NY taxi driver?), and the rest of the plethora of candidates that began this race. But after listening to one of the most moving, eloquent, relevant speeches I’ve heard in decades, I am stunned to see pundits from the other side belittle and demean the words that are needed to heal a most divided country.

Rush and other nut cases: When Rush first came on the scene I got a huge chuckle out of his shtick. But then a funnier thing happened. People started to take that satire seriously and Rush’s ample head and body began to relish the attention to the point that I think he might actually believe his fawning ditto-heads. It is no sin to believe strongly in your side whether that side is your church, your country, or your political party. But to extend your belief to extreme in either direction, left or right, is to blind yourself to reason, fairness and objectivity.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, open your heart: Despite the fact that Barack Obama’s speech could have been given by few, if any other orators simply because of much of it was based on his experiences, had members of the opposition not known who was giving the speech and listened simply to the content, no rational person could have disagreed with most of what was said. Our country is divided. We are at a precipice in time, while publicly unspoken racial, class, religious, and other hatred eats like a cancer at the very fabric of our great nation, threatening to cast it further into the depths of despair. To attack simply for the sake of attack, simply because the speaker looks or speaks, or worships differently than we do is contrary to what our founding fathers and our soldiers in every war since fought for. Yet it has become chic to use the airwaves as bully pulpits of hot air, demagoguery, and to spread seeds of hatred.

Fair and balanced is neither: Media outlets have catchy phrases to tout their supposed positions – Fair and Balanced, Best political team on television, and other arrogant boasts which rather than being based in fact are so much puffery. In a two day period while admittedly watching only part of the time, I counted 35 showings of the hateful language by a pastor that the reporters attached to one candidate, yet I heard nary a word about the hate spewed by pastors on the other end of the political continuum who marginalize minorities and other groups with hate-filled rhetoric. So much for fair and balanced.

What this country desperately needs is a huge dose of kindness and understanding by its leaders and men and women of God. But even more so we as proud Americans need to show the world what makes us proud, what has made us the envy of the rest of the world, and what has made this country grow and prosper. Lose the hate, friends. Pay homage to the melting pot we once were and the tossed salad we have become. God bless America.

Dr. Forgot