In 2004, then Senator Barack H. Obama made a speech before the Democratic National Convention. In that speech, he defined who he was and what he is all about. He said that his politics transcend race, partisanship, and every other ism or ship. He said there is no red state or blue state, but the United States of America. As Candidate Barack H. Obama, he vowed to "reach across the table" and work with the Republicans as well as Democrats, the liberals as well as conservatives, Blacks as well as Whites. He is keeping his vow.
Unfortunately, even though he rejected those labels, the "labelers" are still trying to put him in their own individual boxes and define him in that way.
The Progressives are saying he isn't progressive when he does anything that doesn't fit into their way of thinking.
The conservatives are saying he's too liberal. The liberals are saying he's too conservative. But looking at what he has done, he is all of the above and therefore, none of the above.
He is neither White nor Black - he is both - having had a white mother, a Black African father, and raised by his white grandparents and came to maturity on the Black southside of Chicago where he learned the Bible from a Black Baptist Preacher.
He pleased conservatives as well as liberals by giving the order to kill Osama Bin Laden; yet some conservatives don't believe Bin Laden is dead, and some liberals thought he should have had a trial - which only goes to show, you can't please everyone.
Every President since Truman has upheld the U.S. alliance with Israel, while still pushing for peace and fairness toward the Palestinians. He is not the first President to hold this opinion. He is the first President to have the courage to articulate what every other administration has advocated. Now, the conservatives who applauded his actions against Bin Laden, are decrying his speech as "siding with the Muslims." Could it be that President Obama is siding with what is right and fair and just?
Perhaps this President is too "grown-up" for America, and instead of criticizing every move he makes, perhaps we should just let go of the labels and follow his example and make decisions based, not on what is Progressive or what is Conservative, not what is Republican and what is Democrat, not what is Black and what is White, but what is just and right and fair.
