A New America

The President identified a "new vision" for America that is the reason he is re-running for office. This as yet unrealized new America is a place where "you can make it here if you try" in spite of these supposed impediments:

• no matter who you are
• no matter what you look like
• no matter where you come from
• no matter what your last name is
• no matter who you love

Now, President Obama is a smart man. Does he really believe these conditions are roadblocks to 'making it' in America? He is a black man, who has made a point of publicizing his Kenyan roots, who's name is anything but John Smith, and who is, of all things, the President of the United States.

Then he goes the extra mile of setting up the straw man of love, that his opponents, who lack this 'new vision', are clearly against. Does any conservative care who you love? No. They may care about the definition of marriage, but nobody is interested in telling anybody who they should love. And besides, this is not impeding 'making it' for anybody. By all accounts, gay couples do quite well in America.

So one wonders, is admission to a college helped or hindered by, for example, an Hispanic surname? Did a Cherokee background - no matter how fractionalized - high cheekbones and fry bread recipes enhance or diminish Elizabeth Warren's credentials at Harvard? Did Harvard and Warren hide or exploit this information? Did Obama and his literary agent think that his Kenyan heritage tarnished or brought prestige to his book or his stint as the president of the Harvard Law Review?

One is a bit misinformed and a bit unaware if this vision is considered the 'new vision' for America. Should a black man with the name Barack Hussein Obama who is the President of the most powerful country on earth really be pretending that this is the most important issue he can think of to define his run for a second term? As he surveys the American scene, this is the problem that rises above all others?

Of course this is just more race card politicking, but more than one person in the crowd cheered this as though it were some new revelatory statement.

As is so often the case, Obama holds every position. In the speech referenced above Obama is encouraging everyone to try to make it. But on other occasions he is quite critical of those who have made it and believes that "I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money."