ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style2 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style3 { height: 69px; } .MsoNormal {} .style4 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style2">Obama&#39;s Realignment</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright November 2, 2008<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">&nbsp;S</span>teaming toward Election Day, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) continues to build what looks like unstoppable momentum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His campaign unofficially began when he delivered July 17, 2004 a spellbinding keynote address for failed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama officially launched his campaign Jan. 17, 2007 in Springfield, Mo, relying heavily on his DNC speech, promising to mend a divided nation, sliced-and-diced into red and blue states, polarized by religious conservatives. He stands at the threshold on an historic win, the first African American to capture the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s race heightens the suspense before Election Day, until the networks call the election, one way or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>All signs point to a decisive victory but few are willing to go out on a limb making a bold but clearly conservative prediction.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, wrote Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776, a slap in the face to England s King George III and the  Divine Right of Kings. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Two-hundred and twenty-two years since the Amercia s offical birthday and 401 years since the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, an African American has a real chance of fulfilling Jefferson s promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Twenty years later, the first African slaves were brought to the New World.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It took a bloody civil war fought between 1861-1865 that the nation finally passed Dec. 5, 1865 the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Nov 4 promises to be an historic day in U.S. history, finally breaking the color barrier.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Obama s election should do much more than reparations for slavery to heal mistreatment of the black community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Civil rights leaders toiled and died to see Jefferson s immortal words redeemed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Obama has rightfully avoided race and stuck to the issues in campaign 2008, there s going to be a profound change in American culture should Barack win on Nov. 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ironically, campaign 2008 witnessed the most vicious discrimination inside the GOP against former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney for his Mormon faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Christian evangelicals, now controlling the Republican Party, attacked Sen. John McCain s (R-Ariz.) perhaps best-qualified VP choice, pushing him to pick Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the least qualified choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>After the election, the GOP will have to deal with the insidious forces that eviscerated the credibility and civil rights of a Mormon presidential candidate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>All eyes are focused on Election Day, when newly registered voters get to express their preference for change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Blacks, Latinos and youth voters promise to hand Barack a decisive victory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Traditional voting groups, e.g., single white mothers, blue collar workers, Catholics and Jews, also promise to vote their pocket book, worried about today s economic mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the GOP tried to paint Obama as a partisan Democrat or  tax-and-spend liberal [ the most liberal voting record in the Senate ], he s a post-partisan candidate, committed to bringing unprecedented numbers of Republicans and independents into the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling him  socialist plays well to  the base but doesn t match his promise to end partisan pettiness, causing Washington s inaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack wants to govern not from the left-or-right, blue-or-red, but what s best to grow the middle class.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>If Barack prevails by a sizable popular and Electoral College margins, a new post-partisan majority will emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Built on the promise of economic opportunity, the new governing majority pulls from every ethnic, racial and religious group, not concerned about promoting Party, ethnic, religious or racial agendas but about advancing the middle class to economic prosperity. Jefferson s immortal words ring in the compelling oratory of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., imploring a racially divided nation Aug. 28, 1963 in his  I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I have a dream that one day my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, said Dr. King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s election will go a long way in redeeming Jefferson and King s hopes for a diverse, colorblind America. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Nov. 4th promises to realign the nation around a new economic and social paradigm built on Jefferson s powerful words in the Declaration of Independence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama has done his best to keep race out of the campaign, preferring to focus on pressing economic and national security issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s victory should go a long way in healing lingering resentments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It will also force the GOP to deal with its current takeover by religious conservatives as represented by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If the GOP believes she represents the future, it could spell the end of the Republican Party, no longer tolerant within in own ranks of Mormons like Romney or other minorities entering the political mix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Record numbers of new voters seeking change and a new electoral alignment promise to propel Obama to victory on Nov. 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Those holding onto the past risk getting left behind.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;<bAbout the Author</u><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <i><a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> </i>and <i><a href="books.html"> Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>