Barack Obama – the flip-flopping gaffe machine – doesn’t seem to get much scrutiny from the mainstream media about his shifting political stances and his rhetorical blunders. Political expediency has rarely been more obvious, yet glaringly under- or un-reported. This may be partly due to the fact that he is looked upon as a modern-day Messiah by his Democrat supporters and as a transcendental figure by the ever so politically-correct mainstream media, academia, and multiculturalists. Any character flaw or minor slip-up will destroy the puritanical image he and his campaign have fought tooth-and-nail to preserve.

It is now up to alternative sources other than the mainstream media to do the job they aren’t willing to do. The following is an examination of Barack’s message to the American People with some explanations of what his message means. These are mostly quotes that demonstrate how Barack is less than perfect – or just like every other politician that has claimed to be “above politics.” So, let’s explore the Obama campaign in the words of the man himself…and also his closest associates. (**It should be noted that one of his former close associates has already been thrown under the bus…when it became a liability to keep him around.)

We’ll begin with some of his more humorous gaffes, then move on to the serious flaws.

“I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket, I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there’s some people who might be comfortable doing that, but I’m not one of those people.” – November 8, 2004

Oops! I guess we weren’t supposed to remember that statement. By January of 2007, Obama had already started his bid for the presidential nomination – just two years after becoming a United States Senator. I guess he is “one of those people.”

“In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died – an entire town destroyed.” – May 8, 2007, regarding Kansas tornado

The problem is there were not 10,000 dead from any tornado anywhere in the country and certainly not in Kansas. There were much less than even 1,000. In fact, only twelve people had died from said tornado. Obama attempted to exaggerate the tragedy – by explaining the lack of National Guard troops as a result of the Iraq War – and use the resulting deaths as a platform to criticize the Bush administration’s policies. Needless to say, the attempt failed.

“I’ve now been in 57 states; I think one left to go. One left to go…Alaska and Hawaii I was not allowed to go to, even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it.”

Barack thinks there are sixty states in our Union? The last time I heard, there were still only fifty. Perhaps I ought to double-check my knowledge of American history.

“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes – and I see many of them in the audience here today – our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.” – May 26, 2008 in Las Cruces, NM

It’s very difficult to see people in attendance who are in fact dead – unless, of course, Obama has that special clairvoyant ability to see ghosts. Considering his presumed Messianic qualities, it wouldn’t seem to be out of the ordinary for him.

“I had a uncle who was one of the, um…who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps.” – May 26, 2008 in Las Cruces, NM

Yes…in the very same speech, Barack claimed that his uncle helped liberate the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. But there’s one minor problem – it was the Soviet Red Army that liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. Unless Obama’s uncle was a Soviet, then he did not liberate that camp. Another minor problem: Stanley Ann Dunham (Barack’s mother) was an only child. So, which uncle was he referring to?

“Since the Bush Administration launched a misguided war in Iraq, its policy in the Americas has been negligent toward our friends, ineffective with our adversaries, disinterested in the challenges that matter in peoples’ lives, and incapable of advancing our interests in the region. No wonder, then, that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum.” – May 28, 2008 in Miami, FL

Once again, Obama’s history has failed him. Hugo Chavez was first elected president of Venezuela in 1998 – he was re-elected in 2000. Both of these elections were held before President Bush was in office. Hugo Chavez rose to power during President Clinton’s administration, so the blame is incorrectly attributed to George W. Bush…something that happens to be a recurring theme among Democrats, despite their claim that Republican voters are less than intellectual.

“When I asked Obama during the course of his U.S. Senate primary campaign to name his favorite author, he cited E. L. Doctorow, the critically acclaimed novelist and outspoken political liberal. The next day, during a phone conversation on a different matter, he made it a point to say that he wanted to change his answer—to William Shakespeare.” – Obama: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell

Why would Barack want to change his answer about his favorite author? Perhaps it is because E. L. Doctorow was a leftist at heart who demonized capitalism and was nearly booed off the stage during a college commencement speech at Hofstra University in 2004. A question as simple as asking Obama about his favorite author has to be answered in a carefully political way. I guess this is what is meant by “new politics.”

“I think we should spend some of that money right here in New Pennsylvania.” – September 3, 2008 in New Philadelphia, Ohio.

“Thank you, Sioux City.” – May 16, 2008 in Sioux Falls, ND

What a great way to show them you care. It’s almost like repeatedly calling the city you’re speaking in “Sunshine” (Florida) instead of Sunrise – which he had also done three times in one speech. However, all of these mistakes are nothing compared to telling a kid to put an ‘e’ on the end of potato…not at all. But let’s get to some serious matters.

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say, ‘OK.’” – Oregon campaign rally, May 17, 2008

“Now believe me, if I thought there was any evidence at all that drilling could save people money – who are struggling to fill up their gas tanks – by this summer, this year, or even the next few years, I would consider it…but it won’t.” – Jacksonville, FL, June 20, 2008

“I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing.” – Answer to question during June 2008 CNBC interview: “Could these high [gas] prices help us?”

Apparently Obama has a problem with the high living standards in this country and can’t comprehend basic economics. He also doesn’t seem to mind that gas prices have doubled over the last few years – he’s just disappointed that it happened so quickly. And perhaps Barack doesn’t know this, but our nation does not operate based on what other nations deem acceptable for us to do. Maybe he ought to look up the meaning of a sovereign state. While he’s at it, he needs to learn about supply and demand, as well as speculative commodity trading. If supplies are increased or if supplies will certainly be increased in the near future, prices will decrease.

What is Obama’s solution to high gas prices? Can we drill in the areas where we have known reserves of oil and natural gas? No, we can’t. Can we recover oil shale? No, we can’t. Can we build new refineries? No, we can’t. Can we increase our coal production? No, we can’t. Can we build nuclear power plants? No, we can’t. What is his solution? He wants to create new government programs and policies for “green” technologies and implement them. Never mind the fact that our economy runs on oil and until we have these new technologies, all of our prices will continue to increase. His plan for solving the rising costs of nearly everything is to have no plan at all – yet somehow that plan will cost each one of us more in federal taxes.

“I mean, think about it – Iran, Cuba, Venezuela – these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us…Iran, they spend one one-hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn’t stand a chance.” – May 18, 2008

“So, I've made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave…Iran is a grave threat. It has an illicit nuclear program. It supports terrorism across the region and militias in Iraq. It threatens Israel's existence. It denies the Holocaust.” – May 19, 2008

In consecutive days Iran was not a “serious” threat, and then it became a “grave” threat. It’s amazing what one night of media criticism will do. Now we’re not sure if Obama believes Iran is a threat or not. He has already said he will meet with leaders of terrorist-supporting nations without preconditions and here he has flip-flopped about the Iranian threat within a span of 24 hours. What should we believe?

“There's a lot of history that exists between those two people. Uh, that history is not going to vanish overnight. People's memories are long. There's been bloodshed, and disputes that date back generations. Uh, and so I think it's unrealistic to – to expect that a US president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region.” – Answer to question about Israel and Palestine, July 22, 2008 press conference in Jordan

Isn’t that his plan? Isn’t that what his change is all about? He will simply snap his fingers and make everyone love each other…through his superior diplomatic efforts and mesmerizing political rhetoric of “change we can believe in.”

This next one really hurts the credibility of Barack Obama and his claim to be a candidate that will clean up politics in Washington. Here’s an excerpt from a questionnaire by the Midwest Democracy Network:

“Question I-A: As President, would you support and work to enact legislation to strengthen, keep the same, or repeal the presidential public financing system?

Obama: Strengthen

Question I-B: If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?

Obama: Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. I introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois Senate, and am the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill to reform the presidential public financing system. In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” – Released November 27, 2007

So what is his position now that he has become the Democrat nominee? He has decided to reject public financing. Once again, the blame is attributed to Republicans.

“The decision not to participate in the public financing system wasn’t an easy one – especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. But the public financing of presidential elections, as it exists today, is broken – and the Republican Party apparatus has mastered the art of gaming this broken system…With this decision, this campaign is in the voters' hands in a way no other campaign has ever been before.” – June 19, 2008

In rejecting the public funding, he becomes the first major candidate to do so since 1976. Maybe this is what Obama has in mind when he talks about “change we can believe in.” Several times during the primary season, Barack told his advocates that he supported public financing in order to ensure that the candidates could not be controlled by private interests. Now that he has seen just how much money he can collect from private donors, his position changed and a pathetic excuse was given to try to justify that change. His opponent on the other hand, John McCain, has held true to Obama’s pledge concerning public funding.

OK, so you may not be too concerned about public financing, but what does Barack Obama think about Americans?

“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” – Private function in San Francisco, 2008

“Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English - they'll learn English – you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish…It's embarrassing, it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, ‘Merci beaucoup.’ Right?” – July 9, 2008 in Powder Springs, GA

It should be noted that Barack only speaks English. These comments also mesh nicely with those from his wife, Michelle.

“We don’t like being pushed outside of our comfort zones. You know it right here on this campus. You know people sitting at different tables, y’all living in different dorms. I was there. Y’all not talking to each another, taking advantage of the fact that you’re in this diverse community because sometimes it’s easier to hold onto your own stereotypes and misconceptions. It makes you feel justified in your ignorance. That’s America.” – Michelle Obama, January 23, 2008 in Columbia, SC

“For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” – February 18, 2008 in Milwaukee, WI

“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country…not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.” – February 18, 2008 in Madison WI

“Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is ‘just downright mean,’ we are ‘guided by fear,’ we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents.

‘You’re looking at a young couple that’s just a few years out of debt,’ Obama said. ‘See, because, we went to those good schools, and we didn’t have trust funds. I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund. Especially after I heard that Dick Cheney was s’posed to be a relative or something. Give us something here!’” – The New Yorker, March 10, 2008

It is apparent that neither Barack Obama nor his wife thinks much of the average United States citizen. What have they done to try to address the concerns of the voters regarding these types of comments? Well, they’ve decided to no longer let Michelle Obama speak for the campaign and have tried to re-invent her public image. They are trying to portray Michelle as something she is not. Aside from that, they do a lot of back-peddling, side-stepping, and tap-dancing until the issue goes away – which happens rather quickly in the mainstream media.

Mrs. Obama also happens to think that collectivism is acceptable:

“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”

So does Barack’s running-mate, Joe Biden:

“We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people.” (**It should be noted that the money in question was that which would come from the “wealthy” that would be taxed at higher rates under an Obama/Biden administration.)

Sorry, Michelle and Joe. It’s not up to you to take earned wealth and give it to anyone. If I didn’t know any better, I would have confused your statements with something that may have been said by Karl Marx, Josef Stalin, or Hugo Chavez.

Despite Barack’s attempts to distance himself from his former pastor and mentor, Jeremiah Wright, it is not at all irrelevant to point out the type of company he keeps or has kept. It’s also worth noting that denouncing his associations did not come until after they began affecting his public image.

“In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.” – Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor and spiritual advisor/mentor

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens…are coming home…to roost.” – Rev. Wright in his first sermon after September 11, 2001

“I don’t think MSNBC should be carrying the kinds of hateful remarks that Imus uttered the other day and he has a track record of making those kinds of remarks…He would not be working for me.” – Barack Obama’s thoughts during a 2007 interview about the Don Imus controversy

“We started the AIDS virus…We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty.” – Rev. Wright

“The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied.” – Rev. Wright

“I would not repudiate the man. This is somebody I have known for 17 years…” – Obama, MSNBC interview about Rev. Wright controversy

“Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body.” – Rev. Wright

“Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people!” – Rev. Wright

“He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. I can no more disown (Jeremiah Wright) than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.” – Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union, March 18, 2008

“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity – she doesn’t. But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction. That has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way.” – Obama, March 20, 2008

“No, no, no. Not God bless America – God damn America!” – Rev. Wright

“Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.” – Obama: A More Perfect Union, March 18, 2008

“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me. I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.” - Rev. Wright, quoted in the New York Times, April 30, 2007

“The person I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago.” – Obama after Rev. Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club (on April 28, 2008)

The sad truth is that Reverend Wright did not say anything at the National Press Club that had not previously been heard from his various sermons. Barack Obama knew this and he had known that Wright could eventually become a problem. That’s precisely why he had decided against putting Wright on the stage with him the day he announced his candidacy for president and why he had not directly taken part in the Obama campaign. Once the controversy became too much for Obama and his poll numbers began to slide, he threw Wright under the bus, he kicked him to the curb, and he has been trying to deny his close relationship with Wright ever since...just like they had planned from the beginning.

Barack admitted to knowing that Wright said some controversial things, but when he renounced his relationship with him, he claimed that Wright was a different person from what Barack knew. And all of it coincided with his falling “favorable” poll ratings and his closing in on the Democrat nomination. Sorry, Barack…not all of us are as dumb as you believe us to be.

Obama’s long-time associate and political contributor/fundraiser, Tony Rezko, was recently convicted on multiple counts of corruption. This was Barack’s comment on the verdict:

“I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform.”

When asked in an ABC News primary debate about his relationship with domestic terrorist, William Ayers, Obama tried to pretend he knew nothing of Ayers’ past or that his past is now irrelevant.

“This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from.” – April 16, 2008

“Not the person I met 20 years ago…isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew…a guy who lives in my neighborhood…” – this is how Barack Obama explains his connections to racists, corrupt developers, and domestic terrorists. The truly sad part is that most of his supporters buy it. And worse than that, most of the media doesn’t care to get any real answers.

It may be somewhat understandable to see Obama wiggle around these topics. It seems that he and his wife live in constant fear (something Michelle Obama thinks is quite common in America)…and especially in fear of citizens exercising their constitutional rights.

“I am not in favor of concealed weapons. I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could get shot during altercations.” – Barack Obama

It doesn’t matter if you’re not “in favor” of it, Barack. We have the constitutional right to bear arms.

“…the realities are that, you know, as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, you know.” – CBS’s 60 Minutes, Feb. 11, 2007

We know, Michelle. We know that only as a black man can one get shot going to the gas station.

Let’s recap:

Barack Obama thinks there are 60 states. He thought that 10,000 people died from a tornado when only twelve had – a reasonable mistake. He sees dead people and his “uncle” was in the Red Army. He usually doesn’t know what city he’s in. He doesn’t understand economics or contemporary history. He can’t seem to grasp the concept of national sovereignty. He contradicts himself from one day to the next and makes pledges he does not keep…then blames it on his opponents. He denounces his long-time friends and associates by claiming they aren’t the people he used to know, even though they do exactly what they have always done before, during, and after Barack knew them.

Yet this is the man that millions of people believe is smart, different, and above politics. His wife certainly agrees with that:

“Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics.” – December 31, 2008 in Grinnell, IA (deign = condescend, stoop)

Barack’s intelligence is questionable, but she at least admits that she believes he is too good for politics. Barack “deigns” to enter this “messy” arena – something that is pretty much in line with their apparent elitist attitude.

What does Joe Biden think about Obama?

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” – Biden, from the New York Observer, February 7, 2007

Articulate and “clean”? Well, that depends on what you mean by “clean.”

“Look, I – you know I, uh, when I was a kid…I – I, uh…inhaled, uh, frequently. That was, uh, that was – that was the point.” – Obama on his marijuana use (from video on The Chris Matthew’s Show)

Forget about clean – that doesn’t sound the least bit articulate. But at least Obama has the experience needed for the job, right?

“I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” – Biden on Obama’s experience

“I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.” – Hillary Clinton

I couldn’t agree more, Senators. The fact that Obama has made it this far without much experience – besides tons of “present” votes in the Illinois Senate and many failed attempts to end the Iraq War – speaks volumes to the flawed voting system and the level of uneducated and uninformed citizens in this country. Lofty rhetoric, false hope, and soon-to-be unfulfilled promises seem to hold more sway over voters than reality does. It’s amazing what will happen when demagogues have such a large audience that bases most of its decisions on emotion.

As Denzel Washington (playing Malcolm X) said in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X:

“Ya’ been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amuck!”

We sure have!

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