September 18th / 20th, 2009
"’Cracker Nation’ Hates Obama"
Last week’s news was dominated by closet racists, most of whom, I’m
embarrassed to say, hailed from the South.
The first firestorm occurred when President Obama planned to webcast an
inspirational speech to America’s classrooms. But before Obama uttered a
word, right-wing politicians and mentally challenged parents protested what
they saw as an attempt by the White House to indoctrinate our children with
socialist propaganda.
Diplomatic school superintendants around the country developed strategies
for allowing crazed parents to opt their kids out of the webcast. But the
good old boy leader of the Arlington, Texas schools prohibited all children
from watching Mr. Obama’s speech. As it turned out, the speech contained
no political messages, and instead focused on the need for students to
stay in school and succeed. Clearly, those who had protested made fools of
themselves. Appearing on “Real Time With Bill Maher”, Paul Rieckhoff,
director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America commented, “the people who
took their kids out of school to avoid the President, they (the parents) need
to go back to school.
Unfortunately the protests weren’t borne out of sheer ignorance, rather
they were motivated by what I believe to be deep seeded racism, and a desire
to delegitimize the Presidency of a black man. Case in point, the
Arlington, Texas schools. The same superintendant who forbade his students from
watching Mr. Obama’s speech, later allowed them to be bused to Cowboys stadium
to hear a speech by former President Bush.
The closet racism escalated one day after Obama’s classroom speech when
South Carolina representative Joe Wilson interrupted the President’s address
to Congress, shouting out, “You lie!” in response to Obama’s claim that
illegal immigrants would not benefit from healthcare reform. It was the
first time in modern history that an American President had been heckled by a
member of Congress, and, of course, the heckler had to be a white
Southerner.
Wilson, whose real name is not Joe (does that make him a liar?), is a
member of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, and once served as an aide to
the king of racists, Senator Strom Thurmond. It’s no wonder, then, that Bill
Maher now refers to this new wave of angry Southerners as “Cracker Nation”.
By the way, Obama did not lie. Had Wilson taken the time to read the bill,
he would have found no provision for alien benefits. Just the contrary.
H.R. 3200 section 246 states, “…nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal
payments …on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the
United States”.
Critics of Obama like to cite section 152 as the basis for the immigrant
controversy, however, it too is clear, stating, “Except as otherwise
explicitly permitted by the Act …all healthcare and related services…covered by
this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics…”
The “otherwise” portion of that paragraph refers to the notation in
sec.246, those”not lawfully present”.
Yes, it’s true that illegal immigrants already here can continue to
purchase private insurance, but the healthcare reform bill would prohibit
government assistance in paying for that insurance.
The teachable moment from last week’s antics and ravings is that racists
don’t let facts get in the way of their anger. And if anyone should be
angry, it’s us little folks who live and die at the mercy of insurance
companies, the same industry that has contributed over $400,000 to Joe Wilson’s
campaigns. And so, like many of you, I too am an Angry White Southerner, but
our anger is directed at greedy insurance and pharmaceutical companies,
corrupted politicians, and lobbyists, not at our President, who just happens
to have darker skin than ours.
As far as I’m concerned, racists who spew angry words and generate
irrational protests, are guilty of hate speech, and should be dealt with
accordingly. Mr. Rieckhoff is right. Such people do need to go back to school, but
the appropriate place for them is detention. For their punishment, they
should be made to watch all of Mr. Obama’s speeches. It’s what I call
Indoctrination of the Cracker Nation.
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