Shouldn't the headline of your post read "McCain's Team Needs to Drop Phobia Towards Arab-Americans and Muslims". Here's a little advice from a freshmen English 101 class. An assertion found in a title or topic sentence needs to be supported in the body of the text. Nowhere in your post do you give any examples of Obama's alleged phobia towards Arab-Americans, instead you give examples of the McCain campaigns attempt to demonize Arabs. Change the the title or provide some examples of Obama's phobia.

With all due respect, Mr. Clemons, please hold off on these philippics until Nov. 5th. Nobody's won anything yet, so to say this admonishment is premature is an understatement.

Dan,
Obama has repeatedly moved "Arab-looking" people out of camera shot, has removed a liaison who had "questionable" ties to a "group" and so on. The real problem is that something like 22 or 23% of Texans STILL think Obama is a Muslim and that THEREFORE he should not be allowed to be president. Obama has little choice in his steering away from this issue for now, but one would hope that after the election, rationality settles in.

The deeper problem is one typical of Republican thinking -- they seem both in policy and in politics to be worried about short-term issues -- quarterly profits, THIS election, rabidizing the base.... They thus lose sight of the need to run a whole economy over the long term, to govern the WHOLE country, to moderate people's wilder swings of imagination. The result is that the government cannot govern when it most needs to govern.

What we all really need to do is ease up on the crazy rhetoric.

Steve,

While I agree that Obama has some work to do, this is a good
segue to touch again on your starry eyed support of Colin
Powell.

You reasonably praised Powell for having spoken out on this
general topic on Meet the Press. However, his recent silence is
entirely consistent with his historical unwillingness to stand up
forcefully when it counts. I say that because we haven't heard a
peep from him in the wake of the despicable attacks on Obama's
connection with Rashid Khalidi by John McCain and his
surrogates (e.g. Andrew McCarthy).

This is a truly disgusting, McCarthyesque smear job which is
quintessentially racist at its core. Where is your strong,
independent, courageous Powell now?

Steve,

I can't tell you how dismayed I am by this perpetuation of your blame the victim campaign in this area.

I know that you like to preserve an evenhanded position between your Republican friends and Democratic friends. But this is no mere "whisper campaign", but an organized multimedia campaign of lies, hatred and disinformation carried out against Obama. The campaign is driven from the right. And you have never done anything at all to investigate the roots of the campaign, or identify and call out the perpetrators. You appear to be afraid of them. And you respond in the way many people do when they are afraid, by misdirecting their anger at the victims.

You're like a guy who stands up during the height of the McCarthy era, ignores McCarthy completely, and says, "Democrats need to stop being afraid of associations with socialists!" Well, sure. Many people on the left should have stuck up more for their democratic socialist friends who were not communist Soviet agents. They should have showed more courage. Unfortuantely they were at the same time busy defending themselves against lies and persecution. So don't you think the McCarthyites themselves were just a *little bit* worse? What you are doing here is carrying water for McCarthyites by participating in the ganging up on their victims.

You are standing right next to a man with a bloody whip in his hands. Obama's back is flayed right in front of you. And you say "Obama needs to stop being afraid of whip marks." When are you going to focus some attention on the guy with the whip?!!!

Terrible headline, Steve. You're right about the new admin.
flinging the Arab/Muslimophobia out when the slanderous
campaign is over, and Powell's comment was deeply moving. But
the headline distorts the nature of the real problem, which Tom
Ridge typified.

Steve, Obama almost has to do this. The Republican's are running a hard campaign to say that Obama is a Muslim. See, for instance, this letter publish as 'Saginaw opinion' in the Saginaw News yesterday:
_________________________________________________
Editor, The News:

Barack Hussein Obama. Perhaps this name seems strange to many because it is Arabic.

Obama's father was 87.5 percent Arab, which would make Obama the first Arab-American president, not African-American. He was born a Muslim and practiced Islam daily at school in Indonesia and kept that faith for 31 years until his wife made him change (outwardly) as a strategic move to appear more acceptable for public office.

Perhaps that's why he referred to the "57 states" he has visited around the United States (there are 57 Muslim countries). Perhaps that's why, during an interview with George Stephanopolis, he said, "I am comfortable with my Muslim religion." Stephanopolis very quickly covered for this gaffe.

The New York Times reported that he quoted the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting "Allah is supreme!" with a first-rate accent and described it as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."

His membership at Trinity United Church of Christ is a good fit for him. This denomination is not considered Christian by mainstream Christian churches. It does not declare Jesus as God's only son, the very basis of Christianity, but rather just a man and a prophet. This is a cult that is black separatist and sympathetic with those who declare war on Israel. Christian verbiage is liberally used in its publicity, yet lacks the substance that should unquestionably reflect Jesus as God.

Obama's favorite charity is Project Islamic Hope. He has the financial support of Muslims for Obama. Perhaps that is why he missed the Iran resolution vote on terrorism.

Muslims who left Islam reveal that they were taught to lie and deceive unknowing people for the purposes of Islam. Perhaps that's why Obama has established a long list of lies about his close friends, his voting record, his religion and political stands on moral issues among many others.

He has a funny name because he is Muslim.
_____________________

So this is why he is waiting until after November 4 to embrace Muslims!!!

I'm not an admirer of all of the contributions made by our endless campaign process to the public discussion ideas, but I think before we criticize what it is we need to be realistic about what it can be.

The fact is that terrorism by Arabs, especially 9/11 but not only that, has defined the Islamic faith for many Americans. That's what they have seen and what they know about Islam. Of course the picture is incomplete; of course it is grossly unfair to millions of Muslims who are good citizens of this country. To the extent it reinforces the already strong tendency within the foreign policy community to use "Muslim" as a synonym for "Arab," this picture is also unhelpful to American foreign relations.

The often negative view that many Americans have of Muslims, however, did not just happen, nor is it the product of spontaneous prejudice and bigotry -- any more than the far more virulent public reactions against people with German names or Japanese ancestry were in the last century. It isn't something momentarily gone wrong that any Presidential campaign -- Sen. Obama's or anyone else's -- can be expected to put right by "standing up" or "taking a stand." Time and patience are the only remedies for such a condition.

Khalilzad as President of Afghanistan? Striking parallel to Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union (1985-1990), becoming the President of "independent" Georgia. Such an appointment would be a blatant assertion of America's colonial ambitions in Afghanistan.

Why not parachute a top consultant from an oil company into the job instead? Oh, I forgot. They already did that.

I have thought for six years about how an adm can make sure America has policies and carries out actions that are fair to all and good for all and America.
Most of this thinking was spurred by watching how the Jewish element has screwed with US ME policy and the Cubans have screwed with Cuban policy and the various foreign/ethnic camps that have taken up residence in the US in order to promote their own personal foreign interest.

Do we appoint Muslims to undo or rollback the Muslim and Arab demonization that special interest have promoted?

I don't know the answer.

But I do know we have to rid ourselves and our government of any ethnics/religious in government office and even in congress that can't be objective about US policy and actions because of their own personal ethnic identity or religion or emotional attachment to a another country.

Maybe we need to make any appointed government official take the oath of Oath of Allegiance....

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state,.."

Hooked up to a lie detector while they recite that passage just to make sure.

America is a country, it's not the UN.

Dan K -- I'm disgusted by the slander and bigotry that have
been spun by many in the McCain/Palin camp. I have written
about this -- and I've spoken about it many, many times.

But I don't think that the Obama camp should yield an inch
when it comes to compromising in supporting the role and
valuable place that all Americans of various hyphenations play in
the country, particularly Muslims and Arab-Americans. You
should see the number of emails and even comments here and
at HuffPost that think "this is the wrong time" to raise these
issues....i.e. Obama has to win first. He will win -- and it is not
Obama himself I am worried about. I'm worried about the soft
bigotry and the acceptance among many on his team that it is
OK to let this embedded discrimination not receive the whack it
deserves while running for office. I spent too much time with
those rounded up and detained in Japanese-American camps
after WWII to have any tolerance for 'acceptable discrimination.'

You are right that I could vent at McCain and Palin more than I
do...but I am disgusted by these slurs, and they are going to lose
the election I feel.

I'm beyond that. I now want to see responsible behavior from
Obama's leading lights. They need to send a signal to the many
that will lead in his administration that this trend that they have
allowed to influence some of the optics and posture of the
campaign has to be stopped. That's my view...and I feel
strongly about it.

Bush and Cheney usurped authorities that they should never
have been able to get away with. I have written a great deal
about this -- but the real enablers were those in Congress who
refused to block their efforts. I feel similarly about Obama's
camp. They need to refuse to enable soft or even indirect, but
real, discrimination and bigotry against American Muslims and
Arab Americans.

I sense you feel the same on the discrimination issue -- but
your problem is my targeting Obama's team on this. I
understand some of your concern....but frankly, I'm no longer
willing to really play the game of pretending McCain might win. I
don't see any chance of that happening at this point -- so I've
moved on to issues that really do matter given what I am 99%
certain will happen next Tuesday.

As ever -- and thanks for wrestling on this. It's an important
discussion,

steve

This arab phobia issue is just one of many in which I see, and fear, that Obama will choose the "safe" side rather than the "right" side. How much he is affected in this tendency 1) to win the election 2) position himself in the middle, against right wing propaganda and expectations as a 'default position' going forward or 3) actually expressing his own thoughts and instincts?

It certainly sends a signal that we can't comfortably expect Obama to bravely and creatively address the Israli-Palestinian question or perhaps other questions that array powerful entrenced forces and fear-based prejudices against progressive change.

I'm less absorbed in the headline unfairness (since we all can see how rabid the republicans are in their bigotry), than in the soft bigoty of the entire political spectrum. But it is stupid of Obama and his campaign to think they can innoculate themselves against republican criticism on the "pro arab/muslim" issue; repubs spin it against Obama whatever he does, e.g., methinks the lady doth protest too much, etc.

Steve,

Your sentiments, particularly as expressed in this comments section, are well argued and compelling. But I do feel that your timing suggests you are more interested in criticizing the Obama campaign than in dealing with the problem you quite rightly raise.

First of all, you have argued in your blog and in these comment sections that the Obama campaign should not be taking victory laps before election day. Now you are arguing that they're going to win anyway, so go ahead and take a chance on this issue. Which is it?

Secondly, is the campaign taking on this topic 5 days before the election likely to be as compelling as say discussing it after the election, making a case without concern for electoral consequences, and reframing our view of 9/11 to explain why our foreign policy has been so wrong-headed and has contributed to people's views of Muslims?

Bigotry of any kind is wrong and intolerable. But dealing with its source, in my mind, is crucial to dissipating it. That's why discussing this topic in a similar manner (a holistic way) to discussing the race question (the way Obama did after the Wright controversy surfaced) will in my view be much more effective. While the bigotry has reared its ugly head during this campaign, in so many ways the issue has been out there since 9/11 whether or not it came up during this campaign.

The Congressional analogy you make in your comment is a mixed one. I agree that Congress should have been much more active in its oversight responsibilities. However, it is the explicit responsibility of the Congress to oversee the executive branch. It isn't the explicit responsibility of one campaign to decry the slanders of an opposing campaign (and I feel pity for a candidate who takes on that mantle since they will be letting their opponents set their campaign's agenda).

I do much prefer campaigns who take the high road and take their opponents to task for all the evil they spew. But I think arguing that taxes are unpatriotic and that redistribution is wrong are awful lies that do great harm to this country as well. Yet I don't hold the Obama campaign to account for not challenging the Republicans on these issues for if they tried especially hard to do so the White House might look dimmer from campaign headquarters.

"Bush and Cheney usurped authorities that they should never
have been able to get away with. I have written a great deal
about this -- but the real enablers were those in Congress who
refused to block their efforts."

What? You have consistently said you opposed impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Thus you, a well-placed Washington insider with a widely read media soapbox and not-inconsiderable influence made the choice to NOT support oversight and the actions that would be necessary for that oversight to mean anything.

Sorry Mr. Clemons, but you are one of the enablers.

chopper -- guess you caught me....i'm a secret supporter of the Bush/Cheney regime. Glad you got that out there. ;-) best, steve

Dear Steve,
This is one of the most balances articles on this topic I have ever read, thank you for highlighting the issue in such a professional and well analyzed way.
All the best

"Some of these Fox critics ought to dig into the founding entities of the Likud party in Israel and apply some historical objectivity." Steve Clemons

You must be joking.

arthurdecco wrote:

You must be joking.

If only it were a joke. Only two groups in America are judged viable targets for hatred; Zionists and Asian-Americans.

The NJDC has a fine video at:
http://www.njdc.org/resources/entry/video_grandchildren_of_justice_brandeis

"Only two groups in America are judged viable targets for hatred; Zionists and Asian-Americans"

HUH????

You must be joking.

Steve, thanks for printing that letter from the Saginaw Opinion.

I changed my voter registration from GOP to DEM, and yes, I voted today.

I am a black female. After hearing the hateful speech coming from the McCain-Palin rallies, and tv interviews, there's no way I can support this political party again. Ever.

Personally, I feel the GOP is going to lose a majority of the black supporters they have due to their actions.

Yes, they may feel, oh well, it politics. No it's not. I live in a beach community, with very few blacks, and now when I go places, I am given not so pleasant looks.

Then you had the incident in Rancho Cucamonga, California, the Republican Women's group (Chaffey College) with Obama's face on food stamp dollars.

When you put everything in perspective, this is not the time for the republicans to behave this way. You still have people angry, disheartened by the events of Katrina. There are states that would rather hire illegal immigrants than blacks under the pretext that blacks are lazy.

You can't say one thing, then do another. You know, please don't deny it, blacks have suffered the most under this administration.

You know this as fact also, that blacks can't get away with what a white person can. When blacks apply for jobs, they face more scrutiny than a white person. There is no such thing as affirmative action anymore. The thing is cheap labor. With this I will say, that recently, blacks aren't the only ones to suffer job losses, but it hit them first.

Another point I'd like to make, the U.S. prisons are seeing a surge in blacks joining the Muslim religions, so is the caribbean.

First, let me say, no, I am not muslim.

But, when people feel disenfranchised, facing racial discrimination, racial disparity, they are going to go where they are accepted. And the Muslims have been able to go in and do what the government fails to do - example the Middle East.

In essence, the Right should take note of this, that when they shun what they consider undesirables, someone else is waiting to take them under their wings. This goes for runaways - there are pimps & molesters waiting. Kids that feel lonely & bored - street gangs & drug dealers/users are waiting. People wanting to come to the U.S. illegally - human smugglers are waiting.

Most of all, the Right need to take note, the Imams in the Middle East said they were going to take over the west.

Maybe they feel it's rallying their base, but, others don't see it that way. I know, because I told some of my black friends that are supporters of the republican party, they now plan to either stay home election day or vote Obama.

haypops, you need to adjust your medication(s).

arthurdecco wrote:
haypops, you need to adjust your medication(s).
------------

Maybe so! Are you buying? :-)

Peace

annjell,

Totally agree.

You make a number of insightful points, especially:
" . . that blacks can't get away with what a white person can. When blacks apply for jobs, they face more scrutiny than a white person. There is no such thing as affirmative action anymore."

Affirmative action overwhelmingly benefited white women---America couldn't pass an equal opportunity bill for blacks without every other disadvantaged group jumping into the program for 'fairness'---and since corporations were much more comfortable hiring white women than black men, they did. Women flooding the workforce allowed ompanies to meet requirements without ever having to hire black men.

So I was angry with Geraldine Ferraro for uttering the lie that Barack Obama was getting a free pass: black men have to be twice as good, and are still accused of not being worth what they've clearly earned. She sided with Clarence Thomas, deployed a GOP wedge meme, and appealed to those old Archie Bunker/ Reagan resentments---consciously.

As you rightly point out, the race card was overtly played---though David Brooks is frantically denying it---by McCain now, but also by Hillary Clinton's surrogates (regardless of what Bill meant or whether he was treated right). As a white male, I'll call Ferraro out on that til the day I die.

John McCain's legacy will never recover. The overt racism he's tolerated and deployed isn't something he can shake. On MTP last week he was saying "my friends, we face a historic choice and the difference between Barack Obama and myself is so stark . . (it's the difference between black and white...).

Your insight on building an inclusive and functional American nation is also instructive. When there is opportunity built into our economic and social structure, negative routes to survival or econonomic opportunity or just the chance to be heard are not attractive, nor are they necessary. Huge economic costs are avoided, obviously, by providing the education and the opportunity, whether or not the free market (that fictional term) is capable of doing the work it's been assigned.

annjell---post here more often.

"But, when people feel disenfranchised, facing racial discrimination, racial disparity, they are going to go where they are accepted."

"In essence, the Right should take note of this, that when they shun what they consider undesirables, someone else is waiting to take them under their wings. This goes for runaways - there are pimps & molesters waiting. Kids that feel lonely & bored - street gangs & drug dealers/users are waiting."

Bah, school kids are coming home and asking their parents - is it true that Obama will end Christmas? We see the Republicans smearing Rashid Khalidi. We see their questions to McCain - isn't Obama an Arab? A Muslim? - as reasons to oppose Obama.

Obama hasn't won anything yet; and will likely not win anything if he deviates even the tiniest bit from his script.

The fact is that the Democratic convention looked like a rainbow; the Republican one looked uniformly white. The fact is that the Republicans have been demonizing people whom it turns out McCain too had embraced, and turning them into issues in the election. The fact is that the Republicans have won what elections they have in the past few years always pushing fear and suspicion. 20% of the voters think that Obama is somehow not American, or even forged his birth certificate - all because of the Republican attack machine.

And our great The Washington Note says "Obama's Team Needs to Drop Phobia Towards Arab-Americans and Muslims".

What BS!!!!!

Here are current headlines from Media Matters (taken from Digby's blog).

* Cunningham alleged that "Obama wants to gas the Jews"

* In the days before the election, media figures have repeatedly compared Obama to Hitler

* Pressed by Juan Williams, Hannity again declined to express regret for hosting Andy Martin

* Foser: The Right's "bias" charade

* Savage: "If you're insane, hate the family ... hate your mother and father, hate the Bible, hate the church, and hate the synagogue," you oppose CA gay marriage ban

* Rose Tennent on Obama ad: "[D]on't put that jive out there in front of me, devil, and tell me that these people are hurting when they are not hurting"

* Liddy: Obama is relying, in part, on "the welfare class" to win Pennsylvania

--------

What, Steve, you want a welfare-loving, genocidal, insane, Hitler-like devil to embrace Arab-Americans and Muslims, when Americans can't be civil to Americans, let alone embrace them. Don't you see some cognitive dissonance in that?

Here's what you're doing - we know for a fact various people are poisoning the waters, but you are advocating drink unreservedly from those waters. Don't back away, drink!

Arun -- thanks for that roster of headlines....all of them pose to a disgusting posture by the Republican party at the moment in promoting intolerance.

However, I have made clear over and over and over again on this blog and in my speaking and writing that I don't support the discriminatory posture of the McCain/Palin camp....but in my mind, they don't matter to the same degree as the likely winners in this race do.

There has been subtle acceptance of discrimination against Muslims and Arab-Americans that I just can't support -- now and after the election as well. Those who think that this kind of discrimination and treatment is OK should be ashamed of themselves.

Barack Obama himself is not my concern -- though i was very disheartened by his failure to reach out to his advisor, Mazen Asbahi, who was wrongly pushed out of the campaign for a three week presence on a board of directors eight years ago with the Muslim equivalent in Chicago of Jeremiah Wright. Asbahi resigned eight years ago from that board -- but that didn't protect him on Obama's campaign during this period.

So, yes -- I say embrace Muslims like Colin Powell did; embrace Arab-Americans NOW because they are the ones in this post-9/11 environment who have been carrying the largest burden of discrimination against them. Racial profiling and more types of harrassment are a constant feature in the lives of fellow Americans. This is wrong.

Barack Obama himself is about inclusion -- and his team, all of his team, needs to move in that direction.

I have high hopes for them and am generally optimistic -- but yes, I have and will continue to heap scorn and criticism on those on the Republican side who have contributed to the discrimination in our country against Muslims and Arab-Americans -- but that DOES NOT MEAN any of us should acquiesce to it. Absolutely not.

Resolutely yours,

Steve Clemons

Rich, thanks for your thoughtful comments.

I hope I don't sound like an angry black woman on this blog. But, since racism is big issue and out in the open, hopefully, people will read what I have to say. Hear first hand from a black woman, instead of listening to people that are non-black lay experts of the black community.

Here, I'd like to talk about Palin's support of teenage pregnancy.

I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. I got pregnant at age 16 by a 22-year-old-man. I did not graduate from high school.

For the men who don't know. Pain during childbirth is a pain you can never describe accurately. I've never been stabbed or shot before, but, I'd have to say this type of pain is probably far worse. **women used to die during childbirth due to the pain.

I have experienced this pain, and don't recommend any child/teen go through this type of pain.

However, because I lived in the inner city, and during the 80's this was blamed on the social-ills of society, tax-payers blamed people like me for their taxes paying for my well-being. This would be subsidized childcare, WIC (women, infant, children, program that provide grocery store coupons for milk, cereal, cheese...)

Without the help of my family, there's no way I would have made it.

I did get my GED without the GED prep course, and later went to college. It was hard, working, taking care of a child, and going to college, carrying 12-19 units a semester, and to top it off paying a $1000 monthly mortgage. I received no child-support.

Are we going back in time as a country? I see everyone is concerned about taxes. Let's see, I could have had more children, received housing through the blessings of section 8, recieved AFDC (aid to families with dependent children) which consists of a small monthly monetary stipend & foodstamps.

Is this what we want, glamorizing teenage pregnancy? I don't advocate either, teenage pregnancy, nor abortion. But, how many newborn babies will we see in the trash cans? We will go back to having back alley, clothes hanger abortions? Ah, but then back to taxes, how many children will continue to be raised by the system - juvenile hall, foster homes? Didn't society as a whole agree that these children were the ones who grew up and became a menace to society?

For now, I will leave it at that.

Hey, Anngell--
Some of my best friends are angry black women! ;)

You sound like a hero to me. No, we're not going back: we're seeing the collapse of some ugly politics that've really damaged the economic productivity, social cohesion, and health of this country. In short, taking care of everybody---community, feds, families, churches, etc.---to include, build up and take care of every last citizen---won't just make us a stronger nation. It'll save us one helluva lot of money. As I think is clear from your comments. The cost of not investing in cities, f'rinstance, is enormous, and inflicted via exorbitant spending on gasoline, time lost to travel, health care from emissions, lost ag land, cities that don't function as economic engines; not to mention lost human productivity and the enormous expense of the services required to repair, support, adjudicate, jail, monitor and heal those lives. Funny---wouldn't it be smarter to invest up front, and reap the benefitis of healthy lives, American opportunity and the happy people it produces, an intact social fabric and a united body politic?

If corporations won't invest in America---I keep reading that the private sector is 'awash in cash'---then government will. This, of course, is why personal and community independence is not desirable but imperative.

Rich, I agree with you wholeheartedly.

It's sad that we have major issues in this country. The Republicans have no clue about what the American people are experiencing, nor do they care.

They rather talk about who's Muslim, Anti-American, and past associations.

As I posted earlier, blacks are scrutinized more than whites when applying for jobs. An example to complement my claim, Ralph Nader is Lebanese, so is Darrell Issa.

Have you witnessed any such attacks on these two men?

A question that no one will answer for me since we're into asking who is muslim. Why does Ralph Nader end up on every presidential election ballot? Why not senate or congress?

Also, as I said in the earlier post, about being given not so pleasant looks. It just happen last month that I was driving in a neighboring city of Orange County, California. I was pulled over by the police, a young blonde. The first question she asked me was, "Are you on probation or parole?" I told her no. The officer had a smirk on her face and asked, "Are you sure?"

Now this could be taken in one or two ways. For one, just because I'm black doesn't mean I have a police record.
Next, yes, some people on probation or parole will lie and hope the police don't run a check on them.

This incident was troubling because, for one, I didn't run a red light. My tags are not expired. I wasn't talking on a cell phone.

An incident at John Wayne Airport in 2004. I was traveling to the Cayman Islands for a vacation. I was alone. Just before it was time to board the plane, six male deputies surrounded me, questioning me why was I going to the Cayman Islands, was I smuggling drugs?

First of all, I am a woman. Did it take six male offers for little ol' me? After I was allowed to board the plane, everyone in first class (I went first class), was staring at me. This was very uncomfortable.

So I have had some pretty unfortunate situations happen to me. However, I don't walk around with a chip on my shoulder. I just feel that the McCain-Palin hateful speech should stop. It's not good for this country. It's a step, no, it's a jump back.

Hey Rich,

It was nice talking with you. I am going to go back to looking a property in the caribbean. I've tried to voice my opinion on this post. However, I guess it just doesn't matter. I can tell by some of the posters on the above thread - post election violence.

I'm used to it now, no matter how much you try to explain or show that all blacks are not lazy, violent. Some people tend to have a closed mind and discount what happens to be fact.

By the way, one of the guys mentioned Michelle. As I said all along, they listen to people who don't have a clue about the black community. Michelle was born in Jamaica. And, Amy Holmes, she was born in Africa. Ward Connolly was born in Portugal. In fact, Colin Powell was born in the caribbean, I can't recall if it was Antigua or Barbados. But, anyway, these people were not born in the U.S. And just because they are black does not mean they have lived in any U.S. ghettos, or inner cities.

So, as far as I am concerned, I will just sit back and let some of these posters that are afraid of blacks continued to be scared. All I can do is laugh to myself, and say, wow, this is America.

annjell...there's a time and place for righteous indignation, so feel free to express your feelings...we all benefit from knowing how people feel...while I agree that blacks suffered under Dopey and Darth, Native Americans took it in the chops, too under Gale Norton, with Jack Abramoff spreading dough around to prevent some tribes from being Federally recognized...sadly Native Americans suffer under both parties....

The Republicans have made an atmosphere where Barack Obama cannot embrace his middle name; and Steve Clemons chides the Obama campaign!!!

Arun your anger seems a bit childish...

Clemons is saying that discrimination against an entire group is wrong and your saying "so what," slander against someone running for President is even worse.

You are the type of individual that if you faced even 25% of the abuse Muslims, Blacks, Poor and Jews face you would hate all Americans with a deep seated passion. You are completely irrational.

Don't you comprehend how American polictics work? Slander is part of the game. Obama has damage control experts. What does a 6 yr old Muslim kid in an all White all Christian school have.

This is about kids, famillies everyday people.

When I was drafted and sent to kill "Godless people," I was called Injun Joe because I'm Native American, when it was found out my grandmother was Black I became an anomaly.

Obviously you haven't experienced that.

What Muslim kids are experiencing I have as well. I remember seeing a Jewish kid getting a beating just because he was Jewish. I can recall my father tearing me a new one cause I did not step in and help. I didn't help because it was better him than me.

This country stands for "give us your poor, your weak," not give us your elites wanting to erect mansions in gated communities.

I'm with Clemons on this one.

Sgt. Jack Harris US Army (Ret.)

You are the type of individual that if you faced even 25% of the abuse Muslims, Blacks, Poor and Jews face you would hate all Americans with a deep seated passion. You are completely irrational.