The Blame game and Politics it’s all the same

Alfred Lockwood

Before I begin, I would like to start off with a story that my journalism professor told the class.

One day a thief noticed a guy leaving his house and so he decided to climb up a tree and enter the house through the second floor window. The thief ended up falling from the ledge and crashing down to the ground, breaking his legs.

A few days later the owner of the house received a letter stating that he was to appear in court so that he could be put on trial and lynched because of the injury to the thief.

The owner of the house appeared in court and told the judge that it wasn’t his fault that the thief broke his legs. He said that in fact he had called a window repair man to come to his house and fix the broken ledge but the repair man never showed up.

So the judge ordered for the repair man to show up in court and state his case. The repair man entered the courtroom and said that it wasn’t his fault. He isn’t to be blamed for what happened. He said that he was on his way to repair the window but then one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen walked by and he couldn’t help but sit on a bench and think about her, causing him to never show up to repair the window ledge. He said if anyone is to blame it should be the woman for being so beautiful. So of course the woman was ordered to appear in court.

The woman showed up and said that it wasn’t that she was beautiful but that she happened to be wearing the most lovely dress she had ever worn and that if anyone should be blamed it should be the tailor of the dress.

So the judge ordered the tailor to be brought in. The tailor was found guilty and was scheduled to be lynched. The judge asked the tailor if he had any last words and the tailor said, "I was just doing my job as a tailor to create the best outfit, using the best fabric available. any tailor would have done the same."

And so the judge ordered for him to be lynched, but the tailor happened to be to tall and wasn’t able to be lynched. So the judge said "Didn’t you say that any tailor would have done the same?" The tailor said yes, so the judge ordered them to find the shortest tailor available so that the short tailor could be lynched in place of the tailor who was tall.

Now what does this have to do with politics? This is similar to the media lynching that has been going on with senator Barack Obama. As most of us know by now, thanks to multi news stations, Obama has been connected to what some people consider to be the extremist and racist Pastor Jeremiah Wright.

Here is a sample of one of Pastor Wright’s Sermons.

After watching the video, you should be able to draw up your own conclusions, being that the media will have you believing only one part of the story and rival candidates of Obama will not encourage you to come up with your own conclusion or even want you to do the research on your own.

Now many people ask: Why should Obama be held accountable for what his former pastor believes? And the answers seem to be, because he should have known what type of pastor he had and what type of church he was in. Or, 'Well, clearly Obama believes in what Wright was preaching because he has even allowed him to baptize his children.' But only a few people are taking into account that because you are associated with someone doesn’t mean you follow the same beliefs or principles.

Taking a break from Barack Obama's situation, let's take a look at one of his opponents -- Senator Hillary Clinton. As that my article's title is in part“The Blame Game” and since the media, as well as everyone else who thinks we can hold someone responsible for others' actions, let's see how Clinton can be linked into this and exactly what she can be blamed for.

Let's go back a few years around 1998-1999 around the same time her husband President Bill Clinton was facing the possiblity of being impeached, what can we blame her for? Well, how about having our president at the time facing impeachment? I mean, couldn’t this have been avoided if she was there for Clinton? Clearly something was wrong with their marriage if he had to turn to an intern for --in nicer terms -- 'moral support.' Yes, that was low , but still, she should be held responsible, using the same analogy as holding Obama to blame for his Pastor's remarks.

And why not, because of her, the nation had to constantly be reminded that Clinton “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Senator Clinto made America look like a joke and at the same time made our president look like a liar.

Clearly that whole entire statement above is wrong. Senator Clinton in no way should be held responsible for her husband's actions. But neither should Obama be held responsible for the actions of his former pastor.

Recently, when Chelsey was on a campaign trail campaigning for her mother, she was asked twice about her feelings on why her mother stayed with Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Her response was “I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Now what reaction did she get from that? She received a standing ovation and was praised. For what? Nothing at all.

Here she is involved in politics and doesn’t answer a simple question. It may have been personal but in reality, if you are in politics, you should be prepared to answer tough questions. As the saying goes, if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen.

But when Barack Obama chose to address the issues head on about race and division in what could be looked at as a very memorable speech, the media looked at it as him going on the defensive. Not only did we find out that he doesn’t know how to swim but we also found out he sucked at bowling. In fact he bowled around a thirty two or thirty seven! Yes, very news worthy information!

How could we, as Americans, have a president who can’t bowl? Because we all know bowling is how our government plans on eliminating the debt we are in and bowling is how we are going to pull our troops out of Iraq.

Why do you think the pentagon is guarded so heavily? Because it’s really a secret bowling ally with the best aisles.

And why do you think the president has so much security?

Because they don’t want him to possibly injure the hand he bowls with.

People have gone on the Internet and posted blogs saying how Obama's wife is against America and isn’t patriotic because of a statement she made. If you have any questions about his patriotism, well, then just click the link that was provided and read for yourself what he thinks.

It’s important to see both sides to every story even if you don’t agree with it. It may change your opinion and it may even confirm what you already believed. Another thing to keep in mind is the headlines of what you are reading or watching. For instance, if you clicked on the link that was provided, right away the headline catches your attention and paints a picture of Obama.

More recently Obama has been labeled an elitist. But after I read the definition of elitism and then took a look at both of the candidates -- in fact all three of the candidates -- looking into their past and upbringing, which ones happened to fall into the category of being a true elitist? If you are undecided, then maybe seeing the two in a debate might help you determine who you feel is better suited for receiving your vote.

It just so happens that on Wednesday April 16th at eight o’clock on ABC a debate will take place between both Clinton and Obama.