Bringing Politics to the Streets: Would You Trust Obama?

November 1st, 2008 | By Sonnie Johnson

Barack Obama is a master politician. I will give him every bit of credit he rightfully deserves. He has managed to string together a campaign with no actual question on the man himself. I don’t know if any other politician in our history could have accomplished this, at least not after the invent of Radio, Television, and the Internet.

I watched Bill O’Reily last night before my Radio Show (Check it out if you haven’t). He made a really interesting comment. “I haven’t been able to find a single media person that knows Barack Obama.” O’Reily seems to think the only person who really knows Barack Obama is Michelle Obama. With that, I give Michelle Obama kudos.

But that leaves the rest of us to try and figure out the character of this man, possibly the next President of the United States of America.

I want to make a special request of my readers today. Today I want you to make sure you bring your street smarts with you. Don’t leave them at the door. Take the lessons you have learned in your lifetime and apply them to what I’m about to say. Oh Yeah, In this comparison, I’m only using examples.

You are on your block and a new guy shows up. No one knows who he is or where he came from. No one will personally vouch for him, even though they swoon over his clothes or his car. Would you invite him into your inner circle?

Then he sends out a text message and tells everyone in the neighborhood, I need you to make people believe I fit in. See, it’s hard for me to even continue with this because I know your block would start to talk. I know the red flag would start to go up and this man would not be accepted.

But let me continue. Your cousin from a different block comes and says, Hey I know that guy. He was friends with the guy that snitched on Big Tony. Would you allow him to stay in your inner circle? (I don’t believe in not snitching. If you see a child murdered in front of your eyes and you don’t speak up, you are just as culpable as the one that pulled the trigger)

If that wasn’t enough, your girl comes to you and says, Hey I know that guy. He protested with us about Hoopers. You know that store that was hiking up all the prices on eggs, milk and bread. Then he turned around and made a deal to get reduced prices for his friends store, while the neighborhood still had to deal with the high prices at Hoopers. Would he still be in your inner circle?

You and the new dude are riding around in his car. You get pulled over and the cop walks to the car, sees who it is and says he’s going to let you go. You sit and think to yourself, if it were me, I would be laying on the ground while my car was being searched. Would you start to question this guy?

So, now the new guy feels comfortable enough, he decides to move into the neighborhood. Your entire neighborhood is fighting against the owner because they refuse to fix any problems. Your heat doesn’t work, your water comes out black, and the roaches won’t quit. He goes to this man and all of a sudden he gets the best house on the block and then they condemn the land behind it, giving him more property. Are the questions about this man beginning to pile up?

One of this Guys’ closest friends moves into the neighborhood shortly after he does. His friend starts a campaign to shut down public housing and build new houses, no matter the cost. Everyone in the neighborhood says, wait, you are going to far. We don’t want our entire neighborhood destroyed, we just want some improvements to be made. But his friend will not budge. So, the new guys tells everyone, I no longer like this guy because he wants to tear down this neighborhood. If he was your friend before this, why are you so quick to cut him off and what does that say you will do to me if I have an unpopular opinion. Would you really trust a friend like that?

News Alert flash on Television, Radio, and word of mouth. A guy blows up the local radio station claiming they don’t play enough Jay Z songs on air. He had planned to set the fuse when the building was empty but there were still 5 people inside. No one was hurt. The guy that blows up the building is the same guy that helped the new guy move into his new house. So everyone wants to talk to the new guy to find out about the guy that blew up the radio station. The new guy says, he just helped me move, I don’t know him personally. Then comes the next new flash, an old commercial where the new guy was advertising for the bomber. On top of that, you find out the new guy also worked at the company with the bomber. They even worked together on moving certain houses. Would you call this guy a liar?

The new guy does make a new friend in the neighborhood. The only problem with that, it’s the guy that everyone in the neighborhood already calls a sell out. Nobody likes this guy because he doesn’t stick to the politics of the street. He goes out and supports the people who supposedly systematically destroys the image of what a black man should be. Does this man vouching for the new guy make you change your mind?

The new guy decides he’s going to get married. So all the women in the neighborhood rush to meet the new women. She tells all the females, you are all mean and give me no reason to be a proud black woman. You know that woman would get stumped out fast. I’ll show you how mean we are. And when she tried to restructure the sentence, she wouldn’t have a chance because no one would give a damn about what she had to say. Do you limit your time around certain dudes because their girlfriends are stuck up?

How much more do you need? One more, O.K. here it goes. There is a group of both white and black people who hate interracial people. If you are black, your fine. If you are white, your fine. But if you are a mixture of the two, you are a disgrace. The leader of this group is a personal friend of the new guy. He often praises his efforts, even allows him to baby sit his kids. When the mixed people stand up and say, wait, why would you support someone that blatantly points hate in our direction? The new guy says, there are more important issues at hand than how you feel. Would that be enough to break the camel’s back, so to speak.

The Point

If this were any other man, except Barack Obama, you would have serious reservations about him. F that. You would not give him the time of day. He would not be invited to your home because you wouldn’t trust why he wanted to be there. He would not be invited into your community because you know he doesn’t really care about that community, only what he can get out of it. You would not vouch for him with the people you know because you know that if something goes wrong, all eyes will point back at you.

Why would you forget everything you’ve learned to advance someone else? Instead, why not forget all the reasons they say you can’t make it and make some advances for yourself?

Now, let me fill in the blanks on some of the examples from above. I’ll try to stay in order, so you can get the reference.

The streets are always talking and when the New Guy, Barack Obama, shows up, it’s no exception. The only difference is you look at his color and placement and you want to cheer for him. When on the streets, you make a man prove his worth and when he fails to do so, he is ostracized. We all know that trust should not be easily given. Why forget that when going to the polls?

If a man went to the biggest drug dealers on the block and said, I want take your influence to let everyone know I fit in. The dealers would laugh at him. You don’t get to come up in here and ride my coat tails with out me benefitting. They might respect the fact that he was willing to lay all his cards on the table in the approach. But best believe, they won’t increase someone else’s popularity without knowing if that person intended on taking the dealers position. So the new guy ends up oweing the dealers for his success.

Barack Obama in a nutshell. He wrote in ‘Dreams of my Father’, to paraphrase, I picked my friends so I wouldn’t seem like a sell out. He picked Rev. Wright, Rev. Fleager, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, and Rashid Khalidi so you wouldn’t think he was a sell out. What does that say about what he thinks of you? He picked the most radical people he could associate himself with because he thought you would approve.

Do you approve? Would you still approve in the drug dealer scenario? If he thought to win your hearts and minds all he had to do was win over the drug dealers. Would you advise him to carry on? If that answer is yes, what are you saying about black people?

The Barack Obama campaign has done a wonderful job in telling you associations don’t matter. But you know better than to believe that. If you associate with drug dealers on the street, the police pay more attention to you. If you associate with gangs, rival gangs will target you. If you associate with the church, you are holier than thou, you know what I mean. Associations do matter. If you want to find the character of a man, seek out the people he surrounds himself with.

Campaign Finance- Barack Obama was on the side of public finance. Meaning, each candidate has the same amount of money, giving each an equal opportunity in the election. So while he complains about people having to much money, he decides he wants to be one of those people. Instead of a level playing field, he chose to out raise and out spend. Think about that when you praise how much money this man is making. McCain took public financing.

The Media- The media is supposed to be the force pushing fairness. It’s purpose is to inform the American people of everything that is going on, not just the news that supports a candidate they favor. So when that police officer pulls over the new guy but let’s him go with no question. How does that make you feel. Knowing damn well they would paste your face all over the news for something you have done. Are you questioning why Barack Obama is the only black man that goes unopposed by the media?

Tony Rezko- Barack Obama’s comrad in Chicago. He is now a convicted felon. So while Barack Obama is a community organizer, he is also getting benefiting from a slum lord. Rezko found Barack Obama land to purchase under market value and then bought the adjacent lot so it couldn’t be built on, thus increasing the property value of Obama’s home. Think about that. He’s benefiting from the same person that would refuse to fix your plumbing, heating, or insect problem. Where are the questions? I forgot to mention that Obama actually spoke up for Rezko.

Rev. Wright- O.K., you sit in a church for 20 years with a pastor that married you and baptized your two children. You tell the world he is your spiritual advisor and how he helped shape the man you have become. When the public catches wind of what that pastor may have actually taught you and cause an uproar, you act as though you just met the man. Come on people. Rev. Wright was a hero until the American people questioned him. Barack Obama cuts him off and the masses follow suit. When Rev. Wright openly says Barack Obama is doing nothing more than playing politics, everyone magically starts to blame Wright. What makes you think he wouldn’t throw you under the bus if it suits him? We want to blame white people for slavery, even though it was black people that sold us to the slave traders.

Bill Ayers- An unrepentant terrorist who still hates America. He didn’t bomb building abroad. He bombed the Pentagon, police stations in New York, and several members of his group killed themselves trying to make more bombs. Barack Obama writes a blurb in his book. Then he says, they are trying to scare you about me. Hell, yeah. I’m scared. Not because you associate with Ayers but because you continuously lie about it. “He was just a guy in my neighborhood.” Why not mention with your own mouth, I also sat on a board with him. Why make the public have to seek out the information, unless you have something to hide. If someone you just met forgets to tell you he’s friends with someone that he knows doesn’t like you, how long would that person be your friend?

Colin Powell- I have nothing but respect for Colin Powell. I’ve used him for years as example of what could happen to a black man that joins the military. Most black people called him a sellout. That was before he chose to support Obama. I can remember all the conversations where people totally bashed Powell. Now, he is the example. Now he is throw out every second by the Obama campaign. Why is Powell now a hero. If you didn’t like him before, why are you cheering for him now. Do you think he may have picked the candidate that would make him appear less of a sell out? (I really don’t want to question Powell’s endorsement. He has every right to make any decision he chooses. And I will continue to hold him in high esteem.)

Michelle Obama- I do love the attitude of this woman. As a black woman, she sets a wonderful example. Anyone that finds a man, love that man, and have that man love you back they way her and Obama do, it’s wonderful. I hope all the women reading this learn that lesson. Find that one that makes you complete. But I do have beef with her. “Americans are down right mean.” “This is the first time I’ve been proud of my country.” And you wonder why they pulled her off the campaign trail. If she would’ve continued to show her personality instead of becoming a talking point specialist, I would’ve added her to this list. Would you trust a dude’s girl you know doesn’t like you but pretends she does? Or could you respect her for telling you the truth because you at least know where she’s coming from? Because that’s me.

Rashid Khalidi- Former member of the PLO. There are even pictures of him throwing rocks into Israel. Now Hamas and Iran have endorsed Obama and he’s friends with Khalidi. I fear for Israel. I don’t understand why they don’t have the right to be a peaceful country. Every country won land in War. If we allow Israel to lose it’s sovereignty what right would we have to keep Texas or California. What’s even funnier, Obama is dominating the Jewish Vote. I just don’t understand.

I know I’m getting long winded, so I’m going to stop. I ljust really want people to take a look at the only source you have to judge the character of Barack Obama, his associations. Yes, he can give one hell of a speech but is that really enough for you?