Say What, Barrack?

By Paul R. Hollrah

Tuning in to C-Span recently, I found myself listening to a speech by Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. He was standing in the pulpit of a black church in Selma, Alabama, and as I studied the body language of the dozen or so black ministers standing behind the senator, I couldn”t help but be reminded of the little head-bobbing dolls that people used to place in the rear windows of their 1957 Chevrolets. If their reactions are any indication, the new “Schlickmeister” of the Democrat Party is actually a pretty accomplished public speaker.

However, as he spoke, I found my b.s. a larm going off, repeatedly. But I couldn”t quite figure out why until I actually read excerpt s of his speech several days later. Here’’s part of what he said:

“…something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else’’s laundry, looking after somebody else’’s children.

“When (black) men who had PhD’’s decided ”that’’s enough” and ”we”re going to stand up for our dignity,” that sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.

“So the Kennedy’’s decided we”re going to do an airlift. We”re going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.

“This young man named Barack Obama g ot one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose grea t great-great-great- grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in) the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabam a , because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. Was born. So don”t tell me I don”t have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don”t tell me I”m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.”

Okay, so what’’s wrong wit h that? It all sounds good. But is it?

Partner with the Watchman to help Spread the Word!

Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to “march across a bridge” in Selma, Alabama, his mother, a white woman from Kansas, and his father, a black Muslim from Africa, took heart. It gave them the courage to get married and have a child. The problem with that characterization is that Barrack Obama, Jr., was born on August 4, 1961, while the first of three marches across that bridge in Selma didn”t occur until March 7, 1965, at least five years after O ba ma ‘’s parents met.

Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about America. His grandfather heard that call and sent his son, Barrack Obama, Sr., to America.

The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So if this African grandfather heard words that ”’’sent a shout across oceans,”” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America, it was not a Democrat Jack Kennedy he heard, nor his brother Bob by, it was a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Obama’’s speech is reminiscent of Al Gore’’s claim of having invented the Internet, Hillary Clinton’’s claim of having been named after the first man to climb Mt. Everest, even though she was born five years and seven months before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry’’s imaginary trip to Cambodia.

As one of my black friends, Eddie Huff, has said, “We need to ask some very serious q uestions of the senator from Illinois. It’’s not enough to be black, it’’s not enough to be articulate, and it’’s not enough to be eloquent and a media darling. The only question will be how deaf an ear, or how blind an eye, will people turn in order to turn a frog into a prince.”

””Life’’s tough…..it’’s even tougher if you”re stupid.””
~ John Wayne

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ”fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ”fair use”, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.