STILL ON OBAMA, GOOSE PIMPLES…

The 'church' has blindly adopted the Republican Party as the party of the broad political grouping called the evangelicals and have consistently watched president after president of the republican party continue to enact policies that will cause Jesus to use weightier words than he did the Pharisee’s in his time. The truth is that the democrats who championed the civil rights and eventually ended slavery and is further pushing the rights of blacks and other minorities to achieve some equality, are stuck in that broad grouping - minorities, it is difficult to push one and not the other. My conclusion is that Christians should come out in their numbers and vote for Obama who has a true desire to bring about change. Thereafter they should constitute a pressure group in the party to review the party’s position on abortion and the whole discussion on the murder of innocent/helpless unborn babies.

I had these interesting exchanges with one of my most ardent readers during the week, which might interest others. I have combined Rev Mrs Uche Biosa’s two very brilliant and informed contributions into one, unabridged, while due to space constraints, I have abridged my two responses Happy reading.

Mrs Uche Biosa
I am one of those Obama supporters and i have more than goose bumps for his candidacy for several reasons. I have read with great interest the 'Church' position on his candidacy and the only thing they seem to have against him is his pro-choice stance. But really to me, the underlining reason is his colour.

I was devastated when John Hagee and Rod Parsley in my opinion carelessly 'endorsed' John McCain who is not a born-again Christian and his stance on abortion to me is mere public posturing for political gains. Take for example, Sara Palin and her Republican supporters have cancelled fornication as a sin, but abortion is because the party that owns 'GOD' has given that verdict, Shame!

The 'church' has blindly adopted the Republican Party as the party of the broad political grouping called the evangelicals and have consistently watched president after president of the republican party continue to enact policies that will cause Jesus to use weightier words than he did the Pharisee’s in his time.

The truth is that the democrats who championed the civil rights and eventually ended slavery and is further pushing the rights of blacks and other minorities to achieve some equality, are stuck in that broad grouping - minorities, it is difficult to push one and not the other.

My conclusion is that Christians should come out in their numbers and vote for Obama who has a true desire to bring about change. Thereafter they should constitute a pressure group in the party to review the party’s position on abortion and the whole discussion on the murder of innocent/helpless unborn babies.

Dick Cheney's daughter is a celebrated lesbian and he is a great favourite of the conservative right/the church. The question is, what do they really believe and what did they teach their children. These people get the ‘church’s' vote to win election and then spin the biggest lies to invade another nation in order to make tonnes of money for themselves. The only good that was achieved in Iraq was the removal of Saddam Hussein. Bush and his people bombed out a whole country and awarded contracts to themselves to rebuild the country at the expense of the people of Iraq who by the way had nothing against the USA. Immoral and shameful, if you ask me. They vote against social security that will give disadvantaged millions the slightest chance to get out of difficulty, the list is endless.

Mitt Romney is a Republican, who is a member of the church of mammon and was "pro-choice" before he became "pro-life". Or Huckabee an ordained Baptist priest who wanted Obama knocked off (killed), why? Is it because he is black - so not fit to be the president of America or what? Please tell me, and the church was as silent as a grave yard on that one. The anchor woman of a Foxnews (conservative Christian right news network) program put Obama on the same board she put Osama Bin Laden and wanted him dead.

The religious bigotry of the so called Christian/evangelical right SMELLS to high heavens and they truly do not speak for God but for themselves. Take a look at the Catholic Church that protects paedophile priests who introduce children to homosexualism and other vices at such tender ages.

I am totally against abortion, but that is not the only reason to disqualify a person for secular office, but I also understand that individuals have a responsibility to make the right choices, as the Bible clearly indicates that we must choose who we will serve. Every issue cannot be legislated by government or politicians. We will stand before God and give account of our works on this planet that is the bottom line…

Let me move my argument further a bit, so that I am not misunderstood. As I stated earlier, the democrats have found themselves in a tight corner having to fight for all sorts of interests and perhaps positions they may as individuals not accept as right. If you are fighting for minorities, then you have to take all of them, which I think is a very difficult situation to be in.

However, what I advocate is that if Christians have a strong enough vote to get Obama elected, then he/democrats will listen to us. If we continue to vote based on one or two issues, then we will not have the advantage of a critical mass which the 'evangelicals' seem to exert on the Republican Party. McCain knew that he was already sunk without the conservative right vote, so he went and did what is now history and suddenly the presidency is within his grasp. That precisely is my point. He does not believe in any of these things that he is now associated with by the church. As soon as he gets into office he will go ahead with his war mongering and his other agenda which I don't wish to go into here, rather than pay attention to the poverty that is ravaging America and the whole world.

For me personally, McCain/Palin are not the people that can turn around the battered US economy, I truly believe that Obama can. God has endowed him with the intellect and the exposure which will stand him in good stead. He also has the vision and the discipline to lay out a plan of action and follow it through - take a look at his campaign and his officers, very well chosen, competent people. I don't know these people from Adam, so initially I listened and wanted to be objective about the 2 candidates and what they can do. McCain himself confessed that the economy is not his strongest point and right now, the economy should be the most important issue in the US election, unfortunately it is not really. Perhaps if Americans go through a period of 'famine' they will really understand what the issues are, but right now they still think that their country is strong. You cannot be a strong nation without a strong economy - they should go ask the former Soviet Union.

..In conclusion, if we vote for him, we will influence policy. After all, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Winning election in the US, where people's votes count, is about having enough interest groups support and people vote for you. If the 'church' does vote for him, how can they expect to influence his stance on policy. Let the church fan out to the two parties and push their agenda and not allow the republican elite bourgeois class to monopolize the church vote. So that which ever party is in power, we will have enough influence on public governance. That will ensure that parties produce only 'qualified' candidates who will work for the people and listen to the people, not only during elections.

My Response
Thanks for your powerful points, not in favour of Obama, but against his opponents. You did not deny Obama's position on abortion, which statistics…show kills in the millions! You have not addressed his pro-gay position either, vis-a-vis its approval as public policy at the federal level!.. The points that individuals are one thing or the other (bigots, lesbians, paedophiles, fornication-endorsers etc) is noted, but what is the man seeking to hold the most powerful office in the world today committed to doing with the power?.

…Many mistakes have been made, labels manufactured or unearthed and frantic attempts made to glue them on the opponent. Obama as Hussein and a friend of terrorists and haters of America etc: but so are democrats playing the game. Even you seem to have bought into the name-and-damn game: Catholics not Christian enough and as paedophiles; Republicans as racists. No, we can't join them in order to beat them: at least, not on the basis of conjectures such as racism, hypocrisy, posturing to get the votes etc. This should not be just about what you said or did in the past: it should be about what you are committing yourself to do in power!..

..I still find myself unable to get into the conjecture game about what McCain might do or not do when he gets into office! I'll rather take his words for it and hold him accountable later. And I have no difficulty extending the same trust to Obama. Which is why I shall be surprised if Obama can be influenced to move away from positions he took during the campaign; positions which could be said gave him the votes!

The point about Obama's competence is another area where I can't join issues with you correctly since it's a matter of what you believe. But I wonder how one can be as sure as you are on his ability to turn the economy around, only on the basis of having run a reasonably efficient campaign; and nothing else, never having served in any executive capacity. But you believe and all I can say is 'so be it.'

You see, the economy does seem like the "real issue" in current American reality, but you cannot build something on nothing! No matter how competent, how efficient or how economically sound, an administration may be, it will achieve nothing in the Sodom & Gomorrah ambience that an Obama at peace with abortion and gay marriages is set on creating! That I believe!