Obama continued:: “What do you hear most about me? Is it complaints about what is called Obamacare?”
By this time I felt I had regained my composure and gathered my wits about me. “No, sir,” I replied, “I’d have to say it is about your foreign policy. You are perceived as being very weak and as letting others push America around.”
I paused. He said: “Go on., can you be more specific.”
I said:“I’m sure you heard them all — and it’s not that I agree with them but the people — some people — say it is obvious you do not want to get us into any type of military conflict. You would rather run than fight. You withdrew from Iraq, you left Libya a mess, the same with Syria when you did nothing about Assad, you only slightly sanctioned Russia for its invasion of Crimea and Ukraine, your response to China expanding its grasp of the South China Sea is to send a Navy ship near one of its islands, North Korea build itself into a nuclear power and doing the Iran deal.”
Obama said, “I have heard all that and it is true. You do remember I received the Nobel Peace prize. I had done little to deserve it but the Nobel Committee could discern from my speeches and writings that I would try to do all I possibly could to avoid entangling America in situations where our young volunteer service people die. That I have done.”
I nodded but said nothing. It seemed he had paused to mentally debate what he next wanted to say. then he went on: “Are you aware of the American history when it comes to wars?”
“Somewhat>”
“You do know I am an outlier in this position.”
I smiled and said: “Yes because you are black; no because you are a Protestant Christian.”
He said, “You are referring to Kennedy?”
“Yes, he too was an outlier. He was the only non-Protestant Christian to hold the office as a Catholic. His election like yours was not what is normal to America. We have always been a white Protestant nation ruled by those fellows.”
Obama said: “That’s true. Their ethic is what guided the decisions that came out of this office. That is what I am being judged against because I come from a very different background with other cultures part of my makeup — my Muslim dad, my upbringing away from the mainland and not always in America. Aside from my color that all makes me quite different from the usual American president.”
“True,” I said, “Even more than Kennedy who was raised in mainstream America. and had a silver-spoon upbringing through which he would have absorbed some of the Protestant ethic.”
He nodded. “How would you describe that ethic.”
I gave it a few seconds thoughts and replied: “Pro-business based upon the idea of white supremacy. Historically the business bosses who ran American industries and railroads were almost all white Protestant. There was a belief among some that they were put into that position by a God who looked down favorably upon them. They believed that their wealth was a sign of God’s approval.” “
Obama leaned back to consider that. “That implies two things: that the traditional American culture is that other people than them are not equal to them; and that those people do not stand at the same level as they do in the eyes of God.”
“Yes,” I said, “That’s true. It applies even to other people who believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior such as Catholics. The Know Nothing party and the Ku Klux Klan were very much based on that. Immigrants from Russia, Italy and Eastern Europe was opposed because it was feared the blood of those folks, Catholics, Orthodox and Jews, would taint the blood of the original stock.”
Obama smiled: “At least there were no miscegenation laws making intermarriage of those people with the original stock a crime like there were with us blacks.”
I nodded: “I’m not sure there was not thought given to it, though. It might have been too difficult to implement. If the prejudices of old controlled us today we might have to take DNA tests to prove our worthiness.”
He said: “That’s true. There was no way back then to determine race other than through physical appearance. There are many blacks who passed as whites and married and were never caught up in those laws. Had they had the DNA testing ability things would have been quite different. We may have had a completely different nation.”
Hmmmm…..the same Priest/Politician Drinan that was tight with the Bulger boys.
Small world, huh.
Rather:
Interesting you mention Drinan. He did try to be helpful to the Bulgers when Whitey was known as a bank robber and doing time for that. Billy was trying to help his brother out of jail. Don’t buy into the idea promulgated by the media that back in the late 1950s Whitey was some sort of top criminal and any priest that helped him out was doing something wrong. That is what Dick Lehr said about Drinan’s involvement in trying to help Whitey out. I always thought it was a priest’s job to visit or help those in jail without him being tainted with some sort of guilty by association.
One of my more embarrassing moments
in politikkkkking was handing out
Goldwater campaign literature in
front of the Park Street MBTA entrance.
Yep Goldwater vowed to nuke the
commies.
A couple of years later I stumped the
suburbs of Boston for Congressional
candidate Robert Drinan as a bipolar
politico looking for the answer to
the meaning of life.
in other news
obituaries
http://www.richmond.com/obituaries/article_c21b60bc-1153-5abd-b3c8-268cfd32eb57.html
NOLAND, MARY ANNE
May 17th, 2016
NOLAND, Mary Anne Alfriend. Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68. Born in Danville, Va., Mary Anne was a graduate of Douglas Freeman High School (1966) and the University of Virginia School of Nursing (1970). A faithful child of God, Mary Anne devoted her life to sharing the love she received from Christ with all whose lives she touched as a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend and nurse. Mary Anne was predeceased by her father, Kyle T. Alfriend Jr. and Esther G. Alfriend of Richmond. She is survived by her husband, Jim; sister, Esther; and brothers, Terry (Bonnie) and Mac (Carole). She was a mother to three
FBI Legislation Alert
I’d love it if you could circulate the following link. The FBI is trying to exempt itself from the Privacy Act, with respect to its biometric database. The public comment period ends June 6. There are only 6 comments so far so a push from likeminded people could really send a strong message.
https://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOJ_FRDOC_0001-0170
Privacy Act; Implementation
This Proposed Rule document was issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ)
For related information, Open Docket Folder
Action
Notice of proposed rulemaking.
Summary
Elsewhere in the Federal Register, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a component of the Department of Justice (Department or DOJ), has published a notice of a modified Privacy Act system of records, “The Next Generation Identification (NGI) System,” JUSTICE/FBI-009. In this notice of proposed rulemaking, the FBI proposes to exempt this system from certain provisions of the Privacy Act in order to prevent interference with the FBI’s mission to detect, deter, and prosecute crimes and to protect the national security, which includes the use of criminal history record information and biometric identifiers. For the reasons provided below, the Department proposes to amend its Privacy Act regulations by establishing an exemption for records in this system from certain provisions of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j) and (k). Public comment is invited.
Dates
Comments must be received by June 6, 2016.
Addresses
Address all comments to the Privacy Analyst, Privacy and Civil Liberties Office, National Place Building, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20530-0001 or facsimile 202-307-0693. To ensure proper handling, please reference the CPCLO Order No. on your correspondence. You may review an electronic version of the proposed
Hillary vs. Bernie update……….
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-defiant-sanders-threatens-democratic-unity-n576081
Matt,
With all due respect……where the hell are you going with this?
We realize that this is supposed to be humorous but the subject matter is nonetheless, gravely serious.
In a hypothetical dream (or a dream within a dream) you meet Obama and have his ear, as the ad hoc “vox populi.”
You correctly steer him towards foreign policy over Obama-care, something important to U.S. world standing and SECURITY. The number one issue today.
But then you digress…he asks about war and you play the religion and race cards, and Barry takes the bait and we end on a hazy note of racial lament.
Accomplishing nothing.
From Flip Wilson’s Church of “What’s Happenin’ Now”….
on CNN this morning……….
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/17/politics/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-north-korea/