Chutzpah

Remember the definition of chutzpah? It’s the kid who murders his parents and then asks for mercy from the court on the grounds that he’s an orphan.


There was what surely would have been considered a major scandal a couple of weeks ago, if only our President had been a Republican. Unfortunately it also occurred close to the Benghazi attack (which holds more potential damage so maybe I shouldn’t complain.) I am talking about the video that was recently “discovered” of Barack speechifying on June 5, 2007, to an audience comprised largely of African-American preachers. It was a shocking video because almost nobody had ever seen Obama speak with that dialect, which to be fair, was pretty much the style, cadence and inflection typical of (surprise) African-American preachers. He channeled Al Sharpton.

Unfortunately, that aspect only served to distract from the real scandal. Obama’s defenders came out and (what else) cried racism. They apparently saw right through the Republican plot to point out to American voters that our president is in fact, black. And they are being sneaky about it. Using “dog whistles” and code words, they are determined to let each and every American know that Barack Obama has more than his fair share of melanin.

In the actual speech that Obama is giving, he is pandering to his audience. That’s hardly surprising for a politician running for president, which he was at the time of the speech. He’s trying to provoke outrage in the audience, racial outrage. And he starts complaining about the Stafford Act. The Stafford Act is a requirement that an area receiving federal funds, chip in 10% themselves. Barack complained the federal government had suspended Stafford in the case of Florida for hurricane Andrew, and for New York City after 9/11, but not for New Orleans and Katrina. Then right out of Kanye West’s mouth, he said of New Orleans, “They don’t care about them as much.” People were supposed to be incensed. They had been denied help that others had received strictly because of their race.

So where’s the scandal? On May 24th of 2007, nine days prior to giving that speech, Barack Obama was present in the senate as they voted 80-14 to waive the Stafford Act requirements for New Orleans. The senate keeps records of who is there and how they vote. Barack Obama was there and he voted. He was one of the 14 who voted AGAINST relieving New Orleans of the Stafford Act reqirements. Now THAT’s chutzpah!