A Day to be Proud Of

Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 11:38 PM
Category: Allgov Blogs
One evening in 1964, when I was in high school, a man telephoned our home and warned that he was coming to our house to kill my father. What had my father, Irving Wallace, done to provoke someone to want to murder him? He had written a novel, The Man, about a black man who becomes President of the United States.
 
Forty-four years after that night, we really will have a black president, not in a work of fiction, but in real life. In The Man, the hero becomes president through the law of succession. Real life has turned out even better because the majority of American voters chose Barack Obama to be their president.
 
Who are the big winners in this event? Obama, of course, because he will now wield an enormous amount of power. The Democrats, too, because a lot of money that has been filling Republican pockets the last few years will now migrate into Democratic pockets.
 
But I think the real winners are the American people. We Americans like to think of ours as a special nation, one that inspires and sets an example for other nations. In this case, this is exactly what is happening. 
 
No matter what kind of president Obama turns out to be, the American people have demonstrated that, despite a long history of racial discrimination, they could choose as their leader a member of a racial minority. Not only does this raise enormously the prestige of the United States around the world, but it serves as a true inspiration for other nations. The United States is hardly the only country in the world that faces problems of racial and ethnic conflict. Around the world, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people are thinking that if the American people can overcome their differences and elect a member of a minority, maybe we can overcome similar differences in our country.
 
The nature of an Obama presidency remains a mystery, and the United States is still, by no means, a racial and ethnic utopia; but to progress, in the space of one lifetime, from death threats about a fictional black president to electing a real one…that’s something we Americans can be proud of.
 

Latest News

Americans are Unhappy with the Direction of the Country…What’s New?

It has been more than 20 years since a majority of Americans said they were satisfied with the direction of their country, a period that covers the presidencies of two Republicans and two Democrats. The last time a majority of Americans had a favorable view of the Democratic Party was in August 2009. The Republicans? Except for one poll in January 2020, no majority favorable since April 2005.   read more

Can Biden Murder Trump and Get Away With it?

Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

Electoral Advice for the Democratic and Republican Parties

The Republicans have a surefire secret weapon. It’s called the Democratic Party. Given the chance to be in charge, the Democrats, because of corruption and incompetence, will eventually screw up. Since there is only one other major party, if the Republicans can just shut up, disgusted swing voters will turn to them to get rid of the Democrats.   read more

U.S. Ambassador to Greece: Who is George Tsunis?

The first time George Tsunis was nominated to be a U.S ambassador, it did not go well. But Tsunis had learned his lesson. He waited until another Democrat occupied the White House, and he tried again. Playing it safe, Tsunis, in addition to donating to Democratic candidates, chipped in to help Republicans as well, including Rand Paul, John Barrasso and Jim Risch, all of them members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.   read more

Henry Kissinger: A Pre-Obituary

Henry Kissinger turned 100, I don’t wish death on anyone, but I know that all the major media have already written his obituary in advance. As soon as he dies, they will add a line about his death, push a button and these obituaries, gushing with praise from Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Ted Koppel, Xi Jinping and other famous people, will appear online. But Kissinger doesn’t deserve such praise. Here’s why.   read more
see more...