ObamaNotes

Reports today suggest that Barack Obama may be on the verge of a big breakout in New Hampshire. I'm not a Democrat and who they nominate is their business. Here are some random thoughts, though.

First, after Obama's big victory in lily-white Iowa some people got all misty-eyed about how far we've come in race relations, that finally a black man is a legitimate candidate, etc etc. Please, pull yourselves together. It is precisely because he is black that Senator Obama has been so successful as a candidate.

As Daniel Larison says, would a white first-term Midwestern Senator with little prior experience and a ho-hum liberal voting record be getting the adulation that Obama does? Even if he gave a stemwinder of a speech? I think not. Obama is good, but his race is the main reason people give him a second look. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but spare me the talk about America finally turning color-blind. We're not there yet.

Second, we should not forget that Obama is arguably the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever. That's what Terry Jeffrey of Human Events said on EWTN last week. Obama opposed the ban on partial-birth abortions, and even worked to kill a law in Illinois that would have mandated babies born alive after botched abortions be given medical care. For all his soaring rhetoric about change and responsibility, Obama might be better described as the candidate of infanticide.

Third, there is an outrageous e-mail floating around about Obama and his alleged Muslim heritage. Click here if you haven't seen it. The origin of the message is unknown but it appears Hillary Clinton supporters have taken particular glee in forwarding it to everyone they know. Among the charges is that Obama is some kind of closet radical Muslim and that he insisted on taking his oath of office on the Koran rather than the Bible.

The message invites readers to check Snopes.com for verification. I did so, and Snopes actually debunks most everything the letter says. Click here and here to see for yourself. There are a few grains of truth and things that can't be proven, but for the most part the e-mail is a political hit job of the lowest kind. There are plenty of reasons to oppose Senator Obama's presidential aspirations; his history on abortion alone guarantees he will never get my vote. There's no need to spread lies about his background.

The message about Obama and Islam reminds me of another one that asked "Can a good Muslim be a good American?" I dealt with it here.