This weekend I spent some time campaigning and canvassing for Barack Obama in VA, a proposed battleground state fr the POTUS. I was partnered with 4 black women to solicit support for Barack Obama in a nearly all-white enclave of surburbia withing the DC Metro area and Northern Virginia. Besides encountering an extreme level of pervasive ignorance that I typically attribute to many white people, I was taken aback by an incident that occurred during our adventure in Northern, VA. This moment in white folks' ignorance has been brought to you by Mr. Andy Martin, and anti-Obama rumorist and middle-aged, washed-up, psychotic, male "Gossip Girl".
One of the young women that was a part of our team was encountered by a McCain/Palin supporter and began to ask a series of questions about information the Obama campaign has been dealing with since beggining the journey to take the White House. I won't bore you with all of the incredibly stupid questions that this 55+ plus white woman asked, but for entertainment purposes, I'll provide a few of the more idiodic questions she asked.
Over-indulged, but incredibly stupid and entitled white woman who happens to be a McCain/Palin acolyte: *Southern drawl exaggerated for racial epithet effect* Whut arh yew dewin' heah? Ain't he gunna take the oath with Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrican awhn thuh Koo'-rahn?
Fellow Obama canvasser's response: That's completely untrue because Obama is a Christian. You are thinking of Keith Ellison. Although you may think that every black person in politics bears a striking resemblance to one another and that all black people are indistinguisable from each other, they are two different people and hold two different offices. Even so, Keith Ellison was sworn in using Thomas Jefferson's Qu'ran AND the Bible.
Over-indulged, but incredibly stupid and entitled white woman who is a mind-numbignly stupid supporter of McCain/Palin: Whut, yew mean Obama, I mean, Osama ain't no muslim? !
Obama canvasser: Of course Obama is no Muslim and there is no one named Osama running for president. Have a good day, if you want more information about the next POTUS, please visit the website, www.barackobama.com.
What's wierd about this whole exchange is that it's been nearly 2 years and not one iota of evidence has been presented to corroborate any of the information retrieved from rumor mills. What's even worse is that the information has been presented in such a waythat actually seems factual. Unfortunately, given the ingorance of the American electorate coupled with the last 8 years of fear-mongering as a political strategy, canvassers are still combatting ignorance about Obama.
Albert Einstein once stated that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. I'll augment that quote by stating that sometimes people can vacillate between the two. Andy Martin could have been a venerated campiagn strategist, but that little bit of crazy got in the way. Read the NYT article. here.
OBAMA/BIDEN '08
