OBAMA, GOOSE BUMPS AND NIGERIA (2)

He threw in some statistics” …The number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since 2002 currently stands at 4,092. Yet a slightly smaller number of unborn babies, approximately 3,900, die every day in this country because of abortion. Currently we kill 1.4 million babies a year. Since abortion was legalized we’ve snuffed out more babies than the entire populations of Iraq, Israel and Jordan. That’s more than 40 million people. It’s a holocaust we deny ever happened”


We were saying that there is more to the popularity, in Nigeria, of Barack Obama, candidate of the Democratic Party in the fast approaching presidential election in the United States. We admitted that his rock star image, his youth, his meteoric rise from obscurity to the national stage, and his African heritage have all captured the imagination of many, if not most Nigerians. We noted that he has considerable animal attraction for many of the fair sex who swoon and serenade at the sight of his picture or the sound of his voice.

We also noted that some men also develop goose bumps about the prospects of an American president of African descent, not least of them, the internationally acknowledged African-American preacher, singer, author and entrepreneur, Thomas Dexter Jakes, better known as Bishop T. D. Jakes. To understand the bishop’s point of view, let me serve you a bit of his widely quoted statement:



“Last night, I, like most Americans of all stripes, watched with visible goose bumps as history was made. I sat with my 13-year-old son and looked from the screen to his eyes as Sen. Barack Obama became the first African American in history to lead a U.S. major-party ticket when he claimed the nomination for the Democratic Party for president of the United States.
“I congratulate Sen. Obama on this historic accomplishment. I thank him for accepting the torch that was lit by our forefathers and proudly carrying it through the darkness of our struggles, trials and tribulations, bringing light and hope to a new generation, and for facing all those who said "No" and "You can't win," or "It will never happen," and firmly, proudly, defiantly saying, "Yes I can! However, what I really hope people take away from that night is that this is not just a victory for African Americans, it is a victory for democracy that proves that our country provides possibilities for all people. It is also a sign that a metamorphosis is in progress. Today we saw that Americans respect experience, but are interested in change. I hope that we can somehow merge the best ideas of our differences and emerge with a president who epitomizes our highest and best ideals. While it remains unclear where we are going, last night proves that we as a people have moved beyond business as usual…”



So, for this man of God, this was about his heritage as a black man, the crashing of a seeming glass ceiling beyond which the man of colour is not expected to rise. It is about the American commonwealth redefining itself as a nation where the equal opportunity ideal is at last being extended to the highest office in the land. It is for, him, a thing to be misty-eyed about. This indeed is a position most Nigerians can and do identify with.



We said here last week, however, that beyond identification with colour and heritage and, the historicity of the Obama phenomenon is the appeal of his liberal platform to many. We homed in on the area of cultural liberalism, which according to Wikipediia focuses on “the rights of individuals pertaining to conscience and lifestyle, including such issues as sexual freedom, religious freedom, cognitive freedom, and protection from government intrusion into private life. …Cultural liberalism generally opposes government regulation of literature, art, academics, gambling, sex, prostitution, abortion, birth control, terminal illness, alcohol, and cannabis and other controlled substances. Most liberals oppose some or all government intervention in these areas…”



We then tried to show how this agrees with the world view of the Nigerian elite, the ones who mould opinions through their control or access to the media of mass communication.
A cursory look at how bills that seem to impinge on the unfettered exercise of human rights and fundamental liberties particularly in the areas sex, religion and other religion at the National Assembly indicate this. The anti-nudity bill is the most recent example. Given the vociferous opposition to it by the very vocal segment of society as reflected at the public hearing, that bill is as good as dead. And the reason for the opposition? There are more serious issues confronting our nation than the length of a a lady’s skirt or blouse or the depth of her neckline! The Obasanjo anti-gay marriages bill is another example. It’s dead. Dead, because the current administration is unlikely to re-present it. Were it to try, the avalanche of derisive remarks that will welcome it will most probably stop the Assembly from paying it any attention. Again the retort would be: we have more pressing issues. We have said all of these to say that our liberal tendencies tally with the Obama platform particularly in the cultural arena. He is, in the American socio-political lexicon, pro-choice. Which simply means: he supports abortion. He is also anti-homophobia, which is euphemism for support for gay rights.



But let’s take a closer look at the abortion issue, for example. Obama is not your borderliner on the issue of abortion. J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine in his “Fire in my Bones” column wrote: “Everyone on Capitol Hill knows Obama is a radical when it comes to abortion policy. He opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion (a clinical term for stabbing a baby in the neck when his arms, legs and torso are already outside the mother); then he criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold that ban. While an Illinois lawmaker, Obama opposed a bill that would have prevented the killing of an infant born alive during an abortion.To top that off, Obama said in April that if his young daughters got pregnant out of wedlock, he didn’t want them to be “punished with a baby.” In other words, he wants the abortion industry to thrive.”



Of course, there are many Americans who, like many of us, would say those two issues are unimportant. There are those who’ll say that Iraq and Afghanistan and the sub-prime mortgage crisis are much more important, and should carry greater weight in the choice of a presidential candidate. And that will be true, on the surface.



Grady’s take on this in his write-up which inspired the headline of this serial is very illuminating: “ I have dialogued with young Christian voters who say they are supporting Obama because they believe he will bring justice to poor people who’ve never achieved the American dream. Who are we fooling with this empty talk about justice? Hello? The God of justice abhors the slaughter of unborn babies!”

He threw in some statistics” …The number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since 2002 currently stands at 4,092. Yet a slightly smaller number of unborn babies, approximately 3,900, die every day in this country because of abortion. Currently we kill 1.4 million babies a year. Since abortion was legalized we’ve snuffed out more babies than the entire populations of Iraq, Israel and Jordan. That’s more than 40 million people. It’s a holocaust we deny ever happened”

Stephen Strang, publisher of Charisma also dwelt on this issue in his statement endorsing the candidacy of John McCain of the Republican Party. Giving Obama’s stance on the gay issue as the third of three reasons why he and the magazine group, Strang Communications, cannot support Obama, he said:

“The third reason we cannot support Obama is his sympathy toward those who are attempting to legitimize homosexuality. Since the beginning of recorded history, marriage has been defined as a union between one man and one woman, an institution designed by God for the primary purpose of bringing children into the world and raising them in a family. But radicals in our country now want to change the definition to include unions between two people of the same sex. Many of them are also pushing for the passage of legislation that would give homosexuals special legal rights and that would protect them from "hate speech," loosely defined as language that criticizes them in any way, even if it is based on biblical beliefs. We must not elect a leader who will support this legislation or aid the homosexual agenda in any way—because if same-sex marriage is ever legalized or protected on a national level, there will be no turning back.”

I cannot add much to all of that. But let me say in closing that I believe that Obama is not good for America, on the basis of his extreme liberalist tendencies in the socio-cultural area. By the same token, the extreme liberalism of the Nigerian elite is not good for Nigeria. When all those so-called more serious matters have been dealt with, the issues being currently touted as unimportant would have become intractable. We must avoid that. It is for this reason that I repeat what I have said here before: the Church must enter the arena of moulding opinion and influencing governmental policies. (Concluded)