A Dollar Fifty Patriot

A Dollar Fifty Patriot

 

(

or why I don’t celebrate memorial day)

 

Monday is officially Memorial Day. This weekend, however, our nation’s beaches will be full of laughing half-naked tourists looking to shake that pale, white tone of skin they earned through a winter full of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Superbowl dinners. The stores will be full of shoppers eager to make a penny on a buck savings on cheap, dime-store plastic items they really don’t need. Backyards will be spent grilling and barbecuing cholesterol laden foods which will inevitably cause a night’s worth of painful indigestion. Alcohol will be consumed by the gallons to be rewarded by a Monday or Tuesday morning hangover. All to remember our fallen dead.

Memorial Day is to be celebrated as a day of remembrance; to honor those who have fallen in the service of our country. Originally started to remember the dead of the Civil War, the holiday has grown to encompass all of the wars of the 19^th, 20^th ,and now 21^st century. Overall, including the Revolutionary War, some 1.2 to 1.3 million men and women have answered the call and have paid the ultimate price for their country.

On Memorial Day, everyone feels patriotic. Flags, not ordinarily seen during the year, will come out in droves. Kids will paint their faces in red,white and blue colors and people will pat a veteran, one whom they probably never would have talked to otherwise, on the back to say, ‘good job’. Everyone can be a patriot and for a ‘buck fifty’ you can buy those cheap yellow decals to put on your car that says, “I support the troops”. For one day, everyone can feel as if they’ve done their part.

But have they?

It’s nice that you take a day to honor our serviceman who’ve died for our nation, even when our nation was in the wrong, but what about the other 363 days?

Ask anyone on the street if they know what happened in Iraq today and you’ll get a “I don’t know” answer. Ask about Afghanistan and you’ll get a response of ‘where’s that’?

Ask a person on the street how many have died in the Iraq War and you’ll get a range of answers from about a hundred to ten thousand (4,069 as of last week). But while they cannot remember how many fell in battle this month they sure as hell can tell you who is still standing on American Idol or how many rebounds a NBA player made or homeruns their first baseman hit.

You see, I don’t think that America is feeling the sting of this war enough. Other than having to pay over $4 bucks for gas, they just aren’t feeling this war as our parents and grandparents did in Viet Nam or the Second World War. I don’t see rationing of any kind. I don’t see posters asking you to buy war bonds. I don’t see recruiters on the streets or a lottery being held to determine the draft. I do, however, see a lot of people at Starbucks and with heavy shopping bags at local malls.

Where’s the love?

“I support the troops” this funny, little decal, made in China, says but do you really? When is the last time you even visited a military base? When is the last time you ever visited a hospital to comfort the wounded? Do you even know that many returning veterans are still not receiving the care they deserve? How about our troops in the field? How are they?

While we come home to the safety of our homes, our soldiers live in the field, sleeping on the ground, in the cold, dusty, hard sands of Iraq and Afghanistan. Showering is a luxury and hot meals ever more while people back home are stopping off at McDonald’s on their way home or stuffing themselves at Red Lobster.

Patriotism is much more than waving a red, white and blue flag or having a yellow decal on your car. It’s much more than voting Republican or joining the American Legion. It’s much more than talking big at a bar, fueled by alcoholic liquid courage, about how many Iraqis you’d kill if you were there. If you belief in it that much, you should do something about it.

Talk, my friends, is cheap.

Patriotism, my dear, unforgiving countrymen, is about sacrifice which very few are willing to perform.

Sacrifice means giving up something freely for another. In America, I just don’t see much of that. You may call me bias, but as I walk through the Center City portion of Philadelphia, that famed City of Brotherly Love, I am still ashamed of the growing number of homeless people which many of us here pass on by without a second glance. By the way, the number of homeless veterans (Iraq and Afghanistan) is growing at an alarming rate. It stands currently at 1 in 4 but looks to go even higher.

So, I ask, where is your support?

Employers continue to look the other way at a returning vet. Why? Because they are afraid of having to pay the bill if our returning soldier should suffer effects of PTSD or incur a recurring health problem. It’s better just not to hire them than to have to get involved. So, our vet, our returning hero, comes home to no job, finding himself collecting unemployment and welfare. In an instant, he went from hero to bum.

Where is your support?

Why are there no cries when our President refuses to grant a GI Bill to repay those who’ve served their country with benefits to go to college? Why are people not ringing the phones off the hooks of our Senators and Representatives? Why aren’t people holding our politicians responsible for how our vets and soldiers are being treated?

I just don’t think you are getting it people.

But, I guess people need to feel their comforts; to be a part of something even when they are not. They need to drown themselves in a 12 pack of Bud or a face full of hamburger. They need to walk around with blinders on. To continue living their lives as if nothing is wrong. To wrap themselves around their flag and bang their drums and talk their talk of devotion and duty from the safety of their home.

That dollar fifty patriot must sure feel good about themselves.

I can’t celebrate Memorial Day anymore. It’s a fake holiday with a fake sense of patriotism. I won’t celebrate it because I feel that we should be remembering our soldiers every day and not just once a year.

America, be proud!

Welcome home boys! Fire up the grill!

phillyblues@paforchange.com

Endgame?

An interesting note from the Democratic Party:

Democratic rule-makers meet at the end of this month to decide whether to count delegates from Florida and Michigan; the states were striped of their delegates as punishment for holding early primaries. Clinton won both states but Obama had his name kept off the Michigan ballot and neither candidate campaigned in those states.

What does this mean? There are some interesting possibilities in handling this:

1. Count the votes; but the election would be unfair for Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot.
2. Split the votes giving both the same number of delegates.
3. Give Clinton a 60-40 split in Florida for her ‘win’ there.
4. Either way, the State legislatures of MI and FL screwed up by going against the Democratic Party’s rules. It would put egg on the face of the Demcrats if they were to re-write their rulebook now.

For all of you who love to analyze statistics, here are some interesting statistics and analysis from the recent KY and OR primaries.

With 94 percent of the vote counted in Oregon, Obama was winning by a 59-41 percent margin. Clinton scored a 35-point win in Kentucky after trouncing him by 41 points in West Virginia last week.

Obama won Oregon with the support of men and young people, but also found plenty of votes from blue-collar workers who have the staple of Clinton victories in other states, according to surveys of voters. As a group, only those making less than $30,000 a year and those over 65 favored Clinton. Women were evenly divided between Obama and Clinton, but men voted for Obama 2-to-1.

Altogether, Obama scored a solid win in a heavily white state, a rare achievement in recent races in which blue-collar whites have powered his rival.

Analysis: Obama is beginning to win over blue collar workers; which will come to play in a standoff with McCain. Clinton’s ‘he can’t win the white vote’ is starting to grow old and is sounding, a bit, like either whining or veiled prejudice.

Which leads me to this stat:

In Kentucky, Clinton won two-thirds of women and nearly as many men — altogether, seven in 10 whites, who made up nearly 90 percent of the electorate, exit polls indicated. Clinton prevailed among all age, income and education categories, with particularly large margins among lower-earning and less educated voters.

Clinton can’t win with her policies so she focuses upon the fears of the less educated; a play taken directly from George W. Bush’s playbook. It makes you wonder if Clinton is a Republican in disguise?

So what do all of these numbers mean?

Obama has an overall total of 1,962 delegates, including endorsements from superdelegates. Clinton has 1,779, including superdelegates, according to the latest tally by the AP.

It means that even if Clinton were to overwhelmingly win the next three primaries, she still loses based upon the percentages shown since the PA primary.

So, even if you are as frustrated with this as I am, don’t worry. The end will come soon.

Hillary’s ‘foot in the mouth’ campaign

Senator Hillary Clinton left Pennsylvania feeling rejuvenated. We became a Fountain of Youth to her by energizing a campaign that had, til that point, sputtered, clanged and was on the verge of collapse. She moved onto the delegate rich states of Indiana and North Carolina hoping for a double win. Even in North Carolina, where Senator Barack Obama was heavily favored, her campaign felt that they could use the recent Rev. Wright controversy to not only to post a strong showing, if not win the state outright, but to woo the super-delegates into voting for her.

By the time North Carolina’s primaries were over, however, Senator Clinton had lost to Senator Obama by 230,000 votes. That wasn’t just a defeat for her, it was a crushing blow.

Her hopes were pinned on Indiana but somewhere between Pennsylvania and Indiana, things changed. She won Indiana but by a slim, if not barely existent margin, of some 20,000 votes. Her margin of victory was not enough to even gain on Senator Obama’s delegate lead.

Adding insult to injury, 9 super-delegates openly came out the very next day to support Senator Obama. Her victory in Indiana was now a loss.

Senator Clinton’s ‘re-energized’ campaign suddenly had a black out.

How did this happen?

One, Senator Obama finally severed all ties with the irritable Rev. Wright. Two, he shed the ‘elitist’ perception Senator Clinton was using against him by holding several, very successful, townhall meetings which took away a good chunk of the working class and elderly supporters from Senator Clinton. Thirdly, people began to take a serious look at both candidates economic, health care and energy plans to find Senator Clinton’s a bit lacking (this should have been what happenned in Pennsylvania but it never did materialize. Instead we were given a hack of a debate which focused on the peripherary instead of on real issues).

Fourthly, Senator Clinton opened her mouth and torpedoed her own campaign.

Her ‘gas tax’ proposal was not only stolen, outright, from Republican Senator John McCain but it was also denounced, heavily, by economists everywhere. When it was analyzed, it was shown that her ‘gas tax’ relief was nothing more than a lot of hot air. When all was said and done, it would save the average motorist a grand total of 30 bucks or about enough to feed a family of 4 at Wendy’s or McDonalds.

Gee, thanks Hillary!

Lastly, she alienated herself from her very source of support when she openly claimed, in a very controversial and disparaging remark, in a USA Today article that ““There was just an A.P. article posted that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how the whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me,” she said. “ There’s a pattern emerging here.” Hillary threw out the race card only to find it backfiring on her.

Perhaps there was just too much Rev. Wright rhetoric for the country’s like or, perhaps, the inspirational and unlikely alliance of Southern whites and blacks in North Carolina showed the rest of the country that it could overcome it’s segregationist past and really could work together for common cause. Wait, isn’t that the theme Senator Obama’s entire campaign is being run on? Either way, the ‘white race’ card didn’t sit well with voters and it has been tossed back at her in disgrace.

In an article in The New Yorker, a magazine in Senator Clinton’s own backyard, it was written that, “Indeed there is, and it should be painted over as soon as possible. Hillary Clinton, as her record from high school onward proves, is the very opposite of a racist. This time, she seems to have well and truly misspoken. “

Open mouth, insert foot and hope for a good dose of Pepto Bismol.

 phillyblues@paforchange.com

Clinton/McCain Throw the Public a Bone

During the heydays of the old Soviet Union, to keep the people from complaining too loudly, the Soviet Politburo would raise the allowance on the amount of food the Russian people were allowed to buy. Instead of one loaf of bread; you could buy two. Instead of a can of soup; you could get three.

In the days before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, on being told that the French people were starving, was overheard as saying, “let them eat cake”.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John McCain, upon hearing that the gas crisis was putting a hurting on the wallets of the average American citizen and their ability to buy enough food for their household have decided to throw the public, that proverbial dog, a bone by proposing to suspend the gas tax over the summer months … or basically give us all 30 dollars; or a half a tank of gas.

A half of tank of gas … on which, Senator Clinton thinks we should drive to our nearest bar and drink our sorrows away while Republicans John McCain and George Bush want us to ‘just travel and spend money’.

Thanks for the bone; for all that it is worth … a half of tank of gas which many burn in one to two days of travel back and forth to work.

It’s time for an economic plan that makes sense for Clinton and McCain’s plan is so faulty that economists disagree with it and favor Senator Obama’s plan.

It’s time to stop talking turkey when it comes to looking for alternative fuel sources and to start weaning the United States off of foreign oil.

It’s time for change.

It’s time for Barack Obama. Please see his latest video ad and his opinion on Hillary and John’s “bone” to the public.

 

Thank You Uncle Sam but No Thank You.

I have to tell you a little about myself. I served twenty years in the Armed Forces in service to my country. I joined the U.S. Navy during the last year of President Reagan’s administration and retired during President George W. Bush’s. During that time, I volunteered for the Gulf War (my orders to the USS Nassau were suspended when my own unit, USS Wasp, received orders to join the war effort. The war ended before my ship was to sail but I did participate in refugee operations), the Kosovo Campaign (where I was decorated with a Navy Marine Corps Achievement medal) and even volunteered for the Iraq War; which I was deployed to in support of twice. For my service in Iraq, I was given a promotion, a Navy Commendation Medal, and both the Global War on Terrorism Service and Expeditionary Medals.

I was a very dedicated sailor during my time. I gave 110% towards everything I was involved in even when I did not agree with the mission I was assigned to. I did this because I felt it was my duty to do so. I believed that this is what was expected of me when I rose my hand and said, “I do solemny swear …”

I have never been a fan of sick call. I thought that sick call was for the walking wounded, those who spent their weekends getting drunk only to face hangovers on Monday morning. If I got a sniffle, I took some Tylenol. A headache; some aspirin. An ache or pain; I sucked it up. Suffer from depression? I saw a counselor at Family Services on my own time. Again, this is what I thought I was supposed to do. As time wore on my service time began to take a toll on my body. My knees ached from walking upon steel decks and climbing ladders. I developed sleep apnea and Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) which, at times, can be so painful that walking becomes difficult. During the last two years of my service, I couldn’t postpone it anymore … I took a trip to sick call.

I was placed on Requip for my RLS and after several sleep exams, given a C-Pap to deal with my apnea.

I expected that the U.S. government, who I had supported so loyally, would take care of me when I retired (oh, by the way, thank you for the plaque which has my name misspelled on it.)

I was wrong.

I received a letter in the mail just the other day from the Veterans Administration. In the letter, I was told, in a overly worded 3 page document, that I had been denied my medical benefits upon review of my medical record. I was denied my benefits, not because they (my ailments) do not exist, but because my medical record wasn’t documented enough. In a nutshell, I didn’t complain loudly enough while I was on active duty.

So much for trying to live up to an image.

Since I left the service I have found employment hard to near impossible to come by. With all the talk about PTSD, it seems that no one wants to hire a veteran because they (HROs) fear that if we ’snap’ while working for them, they might have to pay for our medical bills. I have a meager retirement that is divided between paying my bills and an alimoney check. I’m left with less than 50 bucks in my bank account after all of this. That’s not enough to pay for health insurance.

So, after serving my country for twenty years I have a box full of medals, citations and awards and that is about it.

I don’t even hear from the ‘guys’ I worked with anymore. They don’t want to hear from me.

I have the thanks of a grateful nation who is so ungrateful that they won’t even give me a job and they consider me a liability.

They were happy to send me to war but won’t even look me in the eye during an interview to say “I’m not going to hire you”. They save that for the form letters and messages left on answering machines or no message at all.

I’m now nothing more than a ghost; a mere shadow of what I was which I am not even sure exactly what that was.

I feel a bit betrayed by all of this and, for all my loyalty, I don’t understand this betrayal. I had your back, why didn’t you have mine? 

I was a puppet; a marionette, taught to dance the dance my puppeteers made for me.

So, with no further ado, please allow this former Gulf War, Kosovo and Iraq War Veteran to tell the VA and my dear, dear Uncle Sam, Thank you for all that you have, and have not done for me, but also, No thank you.

If I had my dithers, I’d disown my uncle right here and now.

John McCain’s “Pastor Hagee” problem

While the Republicans are cheering over the issues created for Senator Barack Obama by his former Reverend, Jeremiah Wright, they won’t be smiling for very long. 

You see, the Republicans chosen one, Senator John McCain, has his own “reverend” problem in the form of Pastor,TV evangelist and author, John Hagee. 

John Hagee is the founder of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. His style of preaching has been classified as a ‘hellfire and brimstone’ style; kind of like a car salesman with whose pants are on fire. Outside of normality, Hagee denounces Romans chapter 9 through 11 and believes that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation and that all Christians are ‘duty bound’ to support Israel no matter what it’s government does. Hagee has written in his book Jersualem Countdown that war in the Middle East will bring about the Second Coming of Christ. Hagee also has a history of being accused of being anti-Catholic, anti-Islamic and has been criticized by Jewish leader, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, as an ‘extremist’. 

Hagee has continuously denounced abortion and homosexuality which are common ‘cornerstones’, to borrow a word, of the conservative movement. He took this movement to new heights, however, when he claimed that Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the City of New Orleans in 2005, was brought upon because of “the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” “….New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God,” Hagee said, because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”

Apparently, San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas and several other major cities across the globe were spared God’s wrath.

Hagee endorsed McCain on February 27, 2008 whereupon McCain has been quoted as saying, “”I’m very proud to have Pastor Hagee’s support.”

Really, what else is there about Mr. Hagee we should know about?

Hagee on Hurricane Katrina

“All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on Islamic Beliefs

Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked if Hagee believed that “all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews,” to which Hagee replied, “Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on African-Americans

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to “meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a ’slave sale,’ an East Side minister said Wednesday.” The Express-News reported:

“Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a ’slave sale’ to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, ‘The Cluster.’

“The item was introduced with the sentence ‘Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone” and ended with “Make plans to come and go home with a slave.” [San Antonio Express-News 3/7/96]

Hagee on Catholicism

“Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.” [Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee]

Hagee on Women

“Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.” [God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, Sarah Posner]

“[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God’s pattern for the family.” ["Bible Positions on Political Issues," John Hagee]

Hagee on LGBT Americans

“The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on Iran

“The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty,” Hagee wrote [in 2006] in the Pentecostal magazine Charisma. “Israel and America must confront Iran’s nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. For Israel to wait is to risk committing national suicide.” [The Nation, 8/8/2006, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/new_christian_zionism]

It is pretty apparent that McCain will not be laughing at Senator Obama for very long as ‘guilt by association’ is the new guideline for choosing a candidate for President. If this keeps up, with Senator Clinton already having a closetful of skeletons, this type of rosetta stone for President will leave very few people able to accept the nomination come August.

Hillary in the Land of Oz

I, for one, do not understand those who voted for Hillary. They say that the 90s were wonderful times but I distinctly remember them quite differently. I remember my pay not meeting the rising cost of living (I was in service. The Clintons saw fit to not give us a decent raise) and robbing Peter to pay Paul in keeping my bills and creditors afloat. I believe that those who support the Clintons are living in the Land of Oz. They feel that if we just ‘turn back the clock’ all will be well again.
The difference is, however, is that we live in a very changed world than we had in the 90s. 

For most of the 90s, the world was at peace and America’s economy was strong. Our most fierce competitor was Japan. As time marched on, we now find ourselves embroiled in two wars in the Middle East with a third one threatening. Our economy is near collapse thanks to NAFTA. NAFTA? Oh yes, that would be the agreement passed by Bill “Bubba” Clinton which allowed corporations to take their businesses overseas where they now pay pennies on the dime for labor costs. Our biggest economic competitors now are China, India and Indonesia. 

Fuel is expensive, but food prices are abominable. I paid $3.56 for a gallon of gas yesterday but $4.75 for a gallon of milk and $8.75 for two pounds of meat that won’t last but two days. Bread is nearing $2.25 a loaf. I am, again, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Where was this ‘golden age’ of the 1990s? I must have missed it. 

Has anyone asked if Hillary has taken her meds yet? I think she is delusional and suffering from hallucinations.

Everyone close their eyes and click the heels of their ruby red slippers three times and repeat after me: “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”.

Let’s See Real Solutions

A nice article appeared in PhillyBurbs today about Barack Obama’s late remark about us Pennsylvanians being ‘bitter’. What is it, critics ask, do we have to be so ‘bitter’ about?

To quote a few paragraphs from the well-written article by Pamela Washington of Levittown, “People are losing their homes, their jobs, their self-respect, ambition, and the belief that the government is designed to support them. Instead, some people become most active and vocal in areas of their lives that they feel they have the most control — sometimes gun control or gay rights.

But they want schools that are funded adequately to provide their children with a quality education, not just a law that imposes policies on local school districts without providing the funding to implement them.

They want to work for a company that will remain within U.S. borders, pay them a decent wage, provide them with health care and a means to prepare for their golden years.

They want a government that will legislate to bring jobs back to the United States, provide health care for all constituents, secure Social Security or a similar program for working people, secure our borders from illegal immigrants and terrorists, and provide academic and employment opportunities for our youth so they no longer see crime as a viable choice for employment.”

Those are good reasons to be ‘bitter’ to me.

Much has been made over the remark by conservative radio junkies, but little has been offered by either Hillary Clinton, or John McCain, to prove otherwise; that we are not bitter. Instead of offering solutions to our ‘bitterness’, both Clinton and McCain could only offer personal attacks upon Senator Obama. Hillary even went as far as stating that we should just ‘have a few drinks’; to drown out our sorrows. McCain, who is proving himself as inept to me as George Bush is, could only offer a solution of ’spend more money’.

I guess we could do this, of course, if we actually weren’t so ‘bitter” over the fact that we don’t have any money to spend!

Way to go John! 

Hillary, of course, is even worse for her ‘band-aid’ to solve our economic woes is to just get drunk and forget about it.

Nice.

Perhaps when Hillary and John can actually offer solutions to our problems instead of deflecting our concerns with personal attacks we may actually consider voting for them. 

In Pennsylvania, it seems, race does matter to some

I was born in Luzerne County where I lived among lower income whites. The high school I attended, Hanover Area Jr / Sr High School was 98% white. Although my recollection might be fuzzy, for it has been well over 20 years since I graduated, I seem to remember only 3 black people who attended my high school during my entire 6 years there. Despite my isolation from blacks, I was not immune to the ‘meant to be funny’ racial jokes told at their expense. Nor was I naive to the point where I did not know what the ‘N-word’ meant or how offensive it was to blacks. I know that members of my family worked with blacks and although they were genial to them at work, behind their backs, at the dinner table, I have heard, along with other derogatory remarks concerning work ethic, that dreaded, dirty, ‘N-word’.  But, in a region known for it’s Irish and Polish jokes, this type of behavior was considered ‘normal’. My mother, however, must have been abnormal for I was taught that this sort of behavior, no matter how accepted it was, was the wrong behavior. It was her influence I felt most growing up.

I did not fully associate or interact with blacks (African-Americans) until I joined the U.S. Navy in 1988.  My boot camp company was fairly mixed racially. I went to basic training with a Navajo (who became my best friend), a Chinaman, several Filipinos, and a good proportion of blacks. If I remember, I think white people were actually the minority in my company.  The Navy was quite an education for me. Assigned to the South, I learned, from first hand experience and from listening to my shipmates, just how vicious a thing prejudice and racism could be. These experiences only solidified the lesson my mother tried to instill in me: you treat everyone the same unless they give you a reason not to.

Twenty five years later, I returned to Pennsylvania, hopefully, a more learned and wisened man. My attitudes regarding my stationing in the South was rigid and bitter (sorry, we can’t use that word anymore, I mean disappointing). I could not understand why some people ‘down there’ despised blacks, politely (if there is such a thing) but also so very openly.

When I came home, I decided to join and help out with Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for President. I came home to PA with full expectation that, as a northern state, PA would be different from my tenure in the South.

I was both naive and wrong.

You see, in the South, if they don’t like you, they just tell you. They may be wise-cracking about it, or even on that rare occasion, polite, but they will at least admit, to your face, that your not liked for ’such and such’ a reason.

Here, in PA, they talk polite to your face, but dirty behind your back.

You see, I canvassed my neighborhoods in both Cheltenham and Abington Township and although both consider themselves to be ‘progressive’, not everyone here seems to meet the mark. What I found, in my journey across southern Montgomery County, was that there are some people who won’t vote for another because of color of their skin.

Take for example, the case of Susan Brown, a volunteer who canvassed in the Dresher area. Susan, a 55-year old white woman, was originally drawn to Hillary Clinton but after hearing Barack Obama speak was quickly inspired and she joined his campaign. Well, to make a long story short, I’ll let Susan tell her own story, “As I spoke to my neighbors, my heart sank. Several people told me the country wasn’t ready for a black president. One person right out said he would never vote for a black person for president. (Stunned, I stammered that he was only half black.) One person said “the blacks get everything already.” Three of my Jewish neighbors (and friends) said that they believed Obama either was a Muslim or had Muslim ties.”

I don’t understand PA. We cheer for Eagle QB Donovan McNabb on the playing field, or when Jimmy Rollins makes a great play or when Andre Iguodala makes a basketball dunk but we seem to have an issue with Barack Obama.

But then, when I hear my 15 year old daughter tell me that her friend in Abington is selling their house because a black family is moving in down the block I begin to wonder if as long as black people are entertaining we keep them around. The moment they feel a need to show some leadership, we knock them down.

Even among my own family, I have a cousin who is shunned by my father’s family because she, ‘married a black man’.

I would mention Michael Nutter’s sell out here but he was too busy ‘paying back favors’ to even consider any form of honorable mention.

The excuses are many for not supporting Senator Obama but all in all they’re a crock all the same.

No experience? Twelve years teaching Constitutional law at Harvard, eight years in the Illinois state legislature and 3 in the U.S. Senate is not experience? I guess all those dinner functions and greeting guests in the White House counts for experience with Senator Clinton supporters?

The Rev. Wright issue? Give me a break. I go to a conservative church in Philadelphia where I have to listen to the ‘evils’ of being gay, liberal or unitarian. ‘God damn America’? How many times have I heard standing in the line at Shop Rite on Oxford and Levick, ‘God damn George Bush’? Isn’t that the same thing?

The ‘Muslim mole’ theory is an even bigger joke for it has no bearings in fact and zero evidence, even minor evidence, in it’s truthfulness. What if he was a Muslim? We seemed content with Jack Kennedy’s Catholicism and Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and Joe Leiberman’s Jewishness. Barack Obama is a Christian, ’nuff said. We took their religion at face value but won’t take Barack’s because he spent some time in Indonesia attending a Islamic school for children (which, by the way, he also attended a Catholic school but I’m not hearing complaints from the Pope). By the way, is anyone question the Sixers Iggy for his funny last name? Are we sure he ain’t a Muslim? Somebody call Jack Bauer!

The flag lapel pin theory? I served the U.S. Navy for just over 20 years. I never wore an American flag anywhere on my uniform at any time during my career. I don’t even have a lapel pin and, at this point, I won’t wear one either. I don’t always sing the national anthem and sometimes I hum the Pledge of Allegiance but I am very patriotic.  I volunteered for 3 wars (Gulf War, Kosovo, Iraq) and I dare some conservative nutjob to come to my house and tell me, to my face, I’m a coward and a traitor.

It can’t be health care that did it. His health care plan, while similar to Clinton’s, allows a choice for people of low income to choose from. Hillary’s is just forced upon you.

It can’t be a ‘commander in chief’ thing. Hillary not only voted for the Iraq War but she voted to authorize the use of force against Iran and even stated, openly, she’d use nuclear weapons against Iran if they attack Israel. She is a just a bit gun happy if you ask me and is not the person I want as a commander in chief. I know, I know, people say that Hillary wasn’t given all the facts about Iraq or even Iran but then she was far too busy dodging sniper fire at Tuzla Air Base in Bosnia to notice.  I don’t want a woman who fantasizes about being John Rambo answering the telephone at 3 am. I want someone who is going to be level-headed and intelligent with both feet planted on the floor. Someone who is willing to talk to our enemies before they push that nuclear red button. Patience is a virtue. That someone, with level headed coolness, would be, of course, Barack Obama. 

So, what’s the bottom line? If all the excuses about Barack Obama can be proven false just what gives for not voting for him?
The answer: Hillary Clinton is white; Barack Obama is black.

You see, in PA, we don’t talk about racism in the open. We are more than quite a bit sneaky about it. You hear racism in conversations around the water cooler at the office, drinking cappucino or coffee at Starbucks in Abington, or at the predominately white bar in Jenkintown. What you don’t say publicly, you have no problem saying in private. If the depth of a man’s character is judged by what he does when no one is looking then Pennsylvania has some questionable character which the Hillary Clinton campaign preyed upon so tactically.

Funny that the ‘backward and prejudiced south’ was able to come together to nominate Barack Obama but the more ‘educated, liberal minded’ northern PA could not.

In Pennsylvania, it seems, that race matters more than we think.

Or, at least, it does to 55% of us.

The Audacity to Hope; The Urgency of Now

The Pennsylvania primary is over but the nomination process for the Democratic nomination for President has not yet run it’s course. I actively supported Senator Barack Obama for President. I volunteered six weeks of my life to help him win the state. Although I was not successful in helping him win Pennsylvania, I was part of the mass effort that made Sen. Hillary Clinton’s victory not as complete as she would have liked.

Some of the best memories of my life were formed over the past six weeks I spent as a volunteer. I met some of the most energetic and dedicated people I’ve ever met and I say this having spent the past 20 years in the US Navy. This is the first campaign I’ve ever been a part of and I say proudly that I have not been disappointed. Some of my most cherished memories have been incredibly inspiring:

• Being contacted by a 93 yr old woman who wanted desperately to help Sen. Obama’s campaign. While she could not go door to door, we found a ride for her and she sat pleasantly for 2 hours making well over 100 telephone calls in an attempt to sway voters. 
• Being thanked by a 74 year old African-American woman for helping her register to vote. She had not voted since John F. Kennedy was President. Why? Because she had lost all faith in government after his assassination. After we finished her registration, she reached over and touched both me and my wife’s arms and said, “thank you” for trying to help get a man elected who had re-energized the word hope into her vocabulary.
• The 72 year old Viet Nam veteran, and my next door neighbor, who fell and broke his leg in his bathroom. He is not only diabetic but also endures dialysis treatments. His leg required the insertion of two pins. Upon awaking after surgery, his first words were, “Damn, I’m not going to be able to vote!”
• The 72 year old woman, also one of my neighbors, who was one of the famous Freedom riders who speaks, and still does, so proudly of Senator Obama and the ills of racism which still exist in our country.
• The large number of 20 something college students I met who quit jobs and postponed their college educations to help the campaign.
• The ever growing number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are coming home and taking charge and responsibility for their government by demanding change in the way we do things. We don’t mind going to war but it should be for the right reasons. Our government also has a responsibility to us to take care of us when we return … which they have reneged upon.
• An African-American woman I met who was originally very hostile towards two white people campaigning in her neighborhood. They say that communication, really listening as well as speaking, can solve many problems. At the end of that conversation, not only were we welcomed in that neighborhood but we gained a new friend in the process.
• The energy level of my team leader in Cheltenham. When we all felt that we couldn’t give another inch, she inspired us to keep up the fight. I’ve seen many leaders in my time, she is truly one of them.
• Meeting Michelle Obama at Abington High School. I don’t care what the press says about her but this woman is a total class act. She knows, from first hand experience, what it is to struggle growing up. She is not, as Sen. Clinton calls the Obama’s, an elitist, but truly a woman who is in touch with the people.
• Being in attendance during Senator Obama’s “We the People” speech in Philadelphia. He truly has a way of inspiring people and rallying them behind a cause. You know, I grew up in a generation without heroes. My mom’s generation had all the Kennedy’s, the Kings and the Malcolm X’s and Mahatma Ghandis. All my generation had was Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. I finally found my generation’s hero.
• Meeting, in person, and shaking the hand of Senator Barack Obama at his Blue Bell Townhall meeting at Montgomery Community College. He is, without a doubt, going to be the next President of the United States. His vision of America is one that I entirely share and desire to see come to fruition.

The PA primary is over but the battle for change, the audacity to hope in the face of growing pessimissim, the urgency of ‘now’ has never been more demanding.

The fight has just begun.