"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."    

~ Barack Obama

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions."    

~ Karl Marx

When I saw the symbolism that was being used in the Obama campaign it send a shudder through me. There have been many radical men lifted to prominence using these techniques, and I wondered if we were looking at another one.

Obama claims to be leading a movement of hope and change, but after all these months we still really don't know what that means. The fawning over him by big media, latte liberals and young students have framed his campaign in terms of messianic inevitibility.

However, Obama "the mortal" has done very little to warrant this blind faith and adoration. Followers seem to be caught up in a cult of personality, enamored with Obama "the symbol". His mixed DNA, his rather exotic background, and his ability to give a good speech make him "on paper" an ideal person to prop up in the White House to prove to the world that America really is about inclusion of cultural and religious differences. I understand why folks would pin their dreams for a better and more loving world on someone like this.

Six-Shooter in a Duck Blind

From http://politwix.com

Well, it's official. Barack Obama really is out of touch with small-town America.

Today he launched into a tirade, scolding Hillary for questioning Obama's choice of words during the now famous Bittergate fundraiser at a United Steelworker's rally in Steelton, PA.

Obama expressed his disappointment with Hillary in this way:

"She's running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment, she's talking like she's Annie Oakley! Hillary Clinton's out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, she's packin' a six shooter! C'mon! She knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton. I want to see that picture of her out there in the duck blinds."

Well, as any duck hunter knows, you would never take a six-shooter into a duck blind. The NRA will have a field day with this one!

Apparently he also is unaware that Annie Oakley is true hero to women all over small town America. This is from PBS.org, the American Experience:

Annie Oakley may not have considered herself a feminist, but she showed the world what a strong woman could accomplish in an era when women were struggling to gain greater equality, including the right to vote.

Again, we see that Barack Obama doesn't know us. He wants to preside over this great country? He doesn't realize that some of us see Hillary Clinton as cut from the same cloth as "Little Sure Shot", Annie Oakley.

Hillary Clinton welcomes the comparison...in fact, she will probably send him a personal thank you note.

"In her life, Annie overcame poverty, mistreatment and physical injury with her determination and strength of character. She played a role in breaking barriers for women with her talent and accomplishments in her sport. She showed great compassion and generosity to orphans, widows and other young women."

It is also ironic that Oakley lived out several years of her life fighting a libel suit against 55 newspapers that printed a scandalous false story originated by the original "Big Media" guy, William Randolph Hearst in of all places, Chicago.

By all accounts Oakley was persuasive in the courtroom; she dressed conservatively, spoke courteously, and exuded respectability. Hearst tried to undermine her by having a detective go back to Darke County, Ohio, and try to dig up dirt, but he came up empty and was prevented by locals from staying overnight.  

She eventually won her battles, and the newspapers were required to file apologies and pay monetary damages.

Sorry Barack, you got your folk heroes mixed up. But you almost hit your mark.

Barack Obama is a stickler for the rules.

Except when it comes to parking citations. While a student at Harvard Law school, Barack Obama received a total of 17 parking violations between 1988 and 1991, 15 of which went unpaid until January of 2007.  Most of these tickets were for parking at a bus stop, not putting money in the meter and not having a parking permit on his vehicle. Why on earth did he wait 16 years to pay these citations?

Some people may say, so what? Personally, I think it is just an example arrogance in a man that has possessed an air of entitlement since the start of this election.  Parked his car in a bus stop? Are you kidding me?

Call me old fashioned, but paying one's debts is a sign of character and integrity. Not paying when one has the means to is just plain cheating. Character is of paramount importance in a president. Without it, you get someone like George W. Bush.

The fact that he only paid these tickets after the decision was made to run for the presidency demonstrates the action of political expediency, not conscience. That seems to be a reccuring theme with Obama.  

After examination of his associates, including Jeremiah Wright and Rezko, I'm beginning to wonder if he actually has a conscience at all.

This morning my mind turns Easter, and what it means to me. In this strange political climate, it turns out that resurrection is the goal and speciality of my chosen candidate.

Hillary Clinton has become somewhat of an icon for those that, wounded by the slings and arrows of life, need inspiration to keep battling. The personal and political beat-downs that Hillary Clinton has endured over decades would have destroyed all but the most dedicated public figures, and even her enemies seem to grudgingly acknowledge that fact.

Clinton has taken in the poisonous venom of her enemies and has become stronger.  Whenever she is on the ropes, when it seems there is no way out, Hillary rises from the ashes, stronger and more resolute.

I personally receive a lot of inspiration from this woman of steel. Life can be tough. Sometimes, when things begin spirally down in negative fashion, the tendency is to be taken down in the wash. But Hillary seldom appears to be shaken, and she always fights back. Like a lump of coal, forged in the fire and constantly under pressure, Hillary Clinton has emerged as a diamond.

Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be in her shoes. Her battles have been bloody, and yet I have come to believe she lives to fight another day because she is fighting the good fight. She feels a sense of responsibility to speak for those individuals pushed aside in this "democracy" we live in where only corporations have a voice. She has worked hard to understand the system as it currently exists, and with that knowledge appears to have devised a path to improve the lives of citizens in this dear country.    

How foolish it would be for the American people to dismiss this woman. An ability to overcome adversity is probably the single most important quality the next president will need to possess. It turns out that resurrection is Hillary Clinton's stock in trade.  

Senator Barack Obama has been welcomed by America's mainstream media with open arms, due in part to a sincere desire in the hearts of a majority of Americans to get beyond race and move this country into a new era of understanding.  Sadly, I believe they have anointed the wrong person to take us there.

Whatever conciliatory words were spoken in Obama's recent speech to bring us together, there is a lingering unease that somehow we are being hoodwinked. Bamboozled. You know, the old okie-doke.