Implication Post

After finishing my blog, I have come to the conclusion that there is not a definition to racism but there is a mindset. So with learning this, there is no solution to racism. Thus, meaning no solution to racism in Obama’s health care reform plan. However, the good thing is that this is not a big issue in the United States anymore, and with President Obama elected as president, it shows that the United States is trying to grow past racism. But, even though the United States may have a black president, does not mean racism is gone. In an article posted last month, the author feels as if race will become a bigger deal in Obama’s re-election in 2012, than in his election in 2008, which maybe true. Others believe that the United States is coming to a “post-racial” era, where even white supremacist are seeing past race. But, there are still some Americans who feel otherwise.

All in all, there are no “side effects” or consequences if this problem is not solved, because I feel like the United States will eventually come to a point to where color is not seen but character is, which are the famous words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But no one knows when that day will come, even though we are getting closer and closer to it.

Annotated Links

The following are some interesting links to look at which concern Obama, race and his health care plan.

http://cqresearcherblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/overview-of-this-weeks-report-race-and.html

This link is a blog site on race and politics, and has helped me a great deal with my own blog. On this website, race is looked at through the many parts of the political process and brings up facts on black politicians like Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. Also, it gives a better understanding of race in Obama's overall campaigning process and current issues in Obama's presidential term.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/07/obama_on_health.html

This is another link from a blog that gave me more insight with Obama, health care and race. One of the post on the blog talks about Obama's speech on health care, and shows his entire speech on the blog. With this link, the blogger looks at Obama's health care plan through the political view, and the blog is quite unbias.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106604&sectionid=3510203

This link talks about Obama's stuggles with race when Jimmy Carter's believes that there is racism towards the health care debate. Through the link, it shows that Obama is not trying to be caught up with race in his term, because he rejects Carter's charges.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1085572&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion

This link is a professor's opinion on socialism and race and how that plays into President Obama's current term in office. In this link, the professor brings up the term of socialism and how it was used to describe black leaders in the 60's and 70's. Also in the article, the author brings up if people use the word socialist to cover up being racist.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292792,obamas-historic-election-was-landmark-for-race-relations--feature.html

This link gives an African American viewpoint to President Obama and his health care plan. In the article, the author talks about how he feels that Obama's health care plan will help out African Americans more than any other race because most African Americans live without health insurance. Also, the author brings up the fact that President Obama's journey to the White House has changed race relations in the United States.

Self Analysis Post

Throughout my blogging experience, I learned tons of information about President Obama's journey to the White House and how race relations play into that.

With my first blog, I discussed President Obama's ups and downs on the campaigning trial, and how some blacks perceived him as not being black enough. With my first blog, I refreshed my memory on Obama's rough journey to becoming president and learned that some blacks (other than his ex pastor) did not believe in Obama until he was officially elected. Then my next post consist of the argument of how Jimmy Carter was suggesting that the negative comments towards Obama were indeed racist, and how Bill Clinton disagreed with that. During these few post, I was bias. But through the helpful comments from my classmates, I was able to sway from that. After my bias posts, I set the stage with what Obama's health care bill consisted of and how the bill was doing in the House and Senate. Through these background post, I gave myself and my readers a better understanding of the underline argument of the health care debate, which then paved the way for my bigger argument. In my next post, I discussed a racial comment towards Obama, which I feel was one of my better blog post. Then in my following post, I learned that many Republicans felt as if Obama was a socialist, since he wants to "spread the wealth" in a sense. After this post, I then decided to write about how African Americans viewed President Obama and his health care plan. Through this I learned that some African Americans feel as if race relations has gotten better in the US, but a great majority of African Americans still feel racism is quite rampant.

With all this new information, my viewpoint to my argument changed from agreeing to Jimmy Carter wholeheartedly to then not knowing what to believe anymore. This began to happen when I started looking at both sides of the argument. Once I started looking at both sides, I then found myself learning so much more than before. I guessed I learned more, because I finally grew into a mindset where I was not as narrow minded, since I finally looked at both sides of the argument instead of the side I favored. When I was able to do that, I found myself writing better post, which showed through the feedback from my classmates.

All in all, I can truly say that my blog has bettered my writing and research style, and this is quite evident from my first blog post to my last blog post. I am now able to write about both sides of an argument and stay somewhat neutral in my writing. With my researching, I have learned a great deal about President Obama, race and his health care plan, and was able to get involved with my topic in a deep intellectual level. Lastly, I am glad that I had the opportunity to keep a blog on this topic because it has helped me change my mindset and made me optimistic towards the future.

Last Weekly Post

In an article that was published last month, the author looked at the issues of President Obama's current term and predicted that race maybe the playing factor of Obama's re-election in 2012.

At first, the author points out that through all the effort President Obama put towards "de-racializing" his campaign, the topic always came up again in his 2008 election. Examples of this are Jeremiah Wright, who was President Obama's pastor. Even though President Obama wanted to keep his race out of the election, which he did for the most part, he has not been able to do that during his current term. Examples of this are Jimmy Carter's comments about the negative comments to Obama, Cornell West's arrested and signs stating that Obama is a socialist. That maybe the reason why this author feels like race real will be a bigger issue in 2012 than it was in 2008.

Then in the article, the author then goes onto explain how Obama was elected. In 2008, there were many first time voters, which were many African Americans, who voted for Obama because he were black. Others voted for Obama not because of his race but for his issues, and others opposed him because his race or his issues. The author then points out that no one wanted to bring up the race issue, so everyone hid behind the delusion that race does not matter. In a poll in the general election, 90 percent of Americans said that race was not an important factor in their vote, which I agree with the author, race matter to more Americans than that was portrayed. But no one wants to bring up the race issue.

Race I feel can be a determining issue in some things, and one of those things is politics. Hopefully, the United States will eventually come to a point that they can vote for someone with the better issues, rather than by someone's color. But we will see how that works out.

Medicare is now apart of Socialism?

Currently in the news, President Obama is trying to get his health care reform bill passed and is having some trouble with that. Under this bill, 36 million uninsured Americans will have extended health coverage by expanding Medicaid, anyone without coverage will have the opportunity to purchase through a federally run program.

With the current health situation, many need any improvement to the United States' health care system, because health care is expensive. For African Americans, improving the health care system is a life-and-death situation since so many African Americans can not afford insurance right now. Currently, the NAACP is supporting the health care bill and has launched the 880 Campaign (that ensures every American has access to quality, affordable health care) that also supports the cause.

Other supporters of President Obama's health care bill are AARP and the American Medical Association, which both agree that the United States needs the passing of this bill. But, even though Obama was announcing his new support from AARP and AMA, there were still plenty of Republicans to put down his new found support. In the crowd there are signs of "No Socialistic Health Care," and "Sweeping Away Socialism One Democrat at a Time." In addition, the same people who had the signs were complaining that "Medicare does not provide sufficient coverage." With that statement, a blogger comments with "I've got news for those protesters: Once we hit 65, we all jump on the "socialized medicine" of Medicare. Without it, our senior citizens would be sick and impoverished.

With all this, I just feel like many Republicans are making a big deal about nothing, and that basically they are saying that they do not want Medicare when they get older. But why wouldn't someone want Medicare?

Race Relations and the African American Standpoint of the Situation

Ever since President Obama made history with becoming the first African American president, much of the African American community feels as if the United States has come a long way in race relations.

In a recent article, it states that Obama's journey to the White House has "changed the underlying dynamics between white and black Americans." In a USA Today survey that was taken earlier this month, 41 percent of Americans believed that race relations have improved since the election, while 22 percent feel like it has worsened. Also, a survey was done asking African Americans, and 53 percent said that race relations has improved since November. But, 72 percent have found racism is still rampant in the United States.

The author also goes into more depth to say that African Americans are trying to find a president that meets their needs and their policies and Obama represents that. Sam Fulwood thinks otherwise; he feels as if Obama is not going to do anything special for African Americans and that it would be "unfair and unreasonable to think otherwise." But the author feels like President Obama is helping to "close the gap" between races. Like for example, with Obama's health care plan, black are most likely to lack health insurance than whites. So in a sense, Obama's health care plan is helping out African Americans little bit more than the white race in the United States.

Another opinion of Fulwood that the author brings up is with there being a African-American in office, a kind of "pride" as been instilled into the black race, which gives African Americans a stronger belief in their own potential.

By having President Obama elected as president, the United States can truly say anyone can become president, but with this article it just shows how the United States has gone a long way with race, but still has a long way to go with the issue. Hopefully there will come a time when people in general will stop thinking about race altogether, but the United States has not reach that point yet. But, it is getting there.

Obama's Respond to being called Socialist

Back in October of last year, President Obama meets with a crowd of Republicans, who feel like he is promoting socialism and tells them that his plan is to spread and promote opportunity for most Americans and he is not spreading socialism.

With this article, Obama puts down his attacks from John McCain as being called a socialist and says that McCain is desperate to win the election that is why McCain feels he has to say such things. Obama even says "By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten," which in turn made the entire crowd laugh. This just shows that Obama is laughing at the issue of being called a socialist, and is not making a big deal about it. Also in the article, it talks about how McCain is making "Joe the plumber" as a backer to his attack of Obama "spreading the wealth." McCain further goes on to say that Obama is "punishing success" and believes that his own tax policies will create wealth instead of spread the wealth around. To this Obama says that America "needs a president who stands up for hard-working Americans on Main Street, John McCain calls this socialism, apparently. I call it opportunity, and there's nothing more American than that."

With that article, it just shows to me how bad McCain wanted to be president that he would do and say anything for it. But also with this, it shows that Obama's policies are in question with America's public, especially with him saying that he wants to "raise taxes on the wealthy so there is tax relief on the middle class." Indeed this is great for the middle class, but bad for the wealthy, and those promote some socialist views.

All in all, why would Obama try to bring socialist views to a democratic society anyway? Does this socialist idea go back to my previous post about how black politicians were seen as "communist and socialist" because of their race or is it just solely about Obama's views?

Some Blogs to Look At

In reading blogs online, some I personally like are iGreen, Wartime Effects on Families and A World of Power. All three blogs are different than one other and help me to get a closer insight with going green, the war effects on families, and the United States as a world power.

In the iGreen blog, the blogger does a good job with portraying to reader of the different ways of going green each post, and also brings up different issues that environmentalist face when spreading the word about going green.

In the Wartime Effects on Families, the blogger talks about the different aspects of how war effects soldier's families in negative ways. Through this blog, my mind was opened up about how war can really effect the soldiers' families that participate in it, and has also gave me an another reason to why the war in Iraq right now is not good at all.

Lastly, in the blog A World of Power, the blogger brings up the different issues that the United States deals with around the world. One particular blog post that really interested me was the one about the United States trying to strengthen their relationship with Israel. With this blog post, I learned about that Israel is not to clear if they want this friendship with the United States, and without reading this blog I would not have known about this weird relationship among these two nations.

All in all, I suggest everyone take a look at these three blogs, because all three are uncommon blogs and may teach you something.

Theory Post

Since the beginning of Barack Obama's presidential campaign til now, there has always been those few who just did not like him, because of his views. And when President Obama was taking a little too long to start on his Health Care Reform, many suggested that he was not keeping his promises made in his campaigning. But in actuality, President Obama was trying to finalize other promises he made to the United States. And since President Obama was taking to long to meet the demands of the majority, some felt they had the right to express how they really felt about him being elected as president. Once President Obama started going full force with developing a Health Care plan, some started to feel like the new health care plan is a socialist's idea and has a secret agenda. While others felt like Obama's health care plan will benefit the country, and is what the United States needs at the moment.

To be honest, there is not a real clear way to end this argument because people will continually think what they want to think. But I feel like, the people who are carrying around the negative signs just need to rethink President Obama as the President of the United States rather than him being looked as as something else.

Not a Race Issue, but a Socialist Issue

When I was researching for my last blog post, an article about how some conservatives believe that Obama is socialist caught my eye. In this recent article, a Democratic organization found out that white, self identified conservatives believe Obama is harboring a "secret agenda." These conservatives feel like the "secret agenda" is going to get rid of the United States' founding principles and turn the United States into a socialist country. But is that really true?

During last year around this time, Obama said he wanted to "spread the wealth around" when he was responding to skeptical voter Joe the Plumber, when referring to his plan on corporate tax. After saying this, many news stations had stories on if Obama was actually a socialist. But, after a few weeks this blows over since Obama is elected as president.

In looking back into history, many prominent black leaders were also called socialists. Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, and Nelson Mandela were considered to be socialists because at that time socialism had bad connotations linked with it, since countries like Russia (previously named USSR), had negative effects because of socialism. Thus, making the words socialism or socialist as something or someone who was doing wrong. That is why many black prominent leaders were called socialist, since some felt whatever the black leader was up to was no good.

So is Obama classified with being a socialist because of what his health care plan stands for or is he just being called a socialist to cover the fact of some not liking him because of his race.

Negative Comment to Obama's Health Care

In Atlanta, Georgia's news earlier this month, a story was posted about how a restaurant owner put up a sign that reads "Obama's plan for healthcare: N*&%*r rig it." When asked why he put up the sign, the restaurant owner replied "I've been putting up signs for 22 years and I've put up all kinds of political signs." Then the news reporter asked him why he used the N word, and he replied that he has "used the word for most of his life and that there are different ways to put your opinion up and that was the words that he chose." Many would never think to see such a sign in the United States but the sign is real. Also, in the article the man declares that he is not racist and he was only exercising his First Amendment right.

In another article, the same restaurant owner is interviewed and says that many see the "n" word as a racial slur, but he feels the word is only labeled racist when a white person uses it. Also, he goes on to say that white people refer to themselves as "crackers" but they are not labeled as racists. His daughter goes on to comment " We're not at all racist [...] we have black people come here all the time." The restaurant owner also goes on to say that he joined the NAACP a few years ago, and has pictures of Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama hanging on the walls in his restaurant.

Well, is the restaurant owner racist towards Obama since he used the "N" word in his sign or he just using the word because it best fits what he is trying to say about Obama's health care plan.

Analysis of Obama's Health Care Plan and Race

In the late weeks of August and the early weeks of September, President Obama’s health care plan was beginning to show signs of difficulty to the public. At this time, President Obama was first starting to get to his long list of demands for the country, where the health care reform plan was at the top. So during the early days of September, he had to keep reassuring the public that he was getting to working on the health care plan. Many found this wait frustrating because they wanted President Obama's health care plan reform as soon as possible. That is why in a survey done in late August, President Obama’s overall approval rating was just a little above 50 percent. This number is totally different from the percentages during his earlier days in office. But during the first days of September, President Obama finally gave the people what they want, which was particulars for his health care plan. President Obama announced that the health care plan will consist of about $900 billion over 10 years and will reassure the elderly and Americans who already have insurance so, these people are not worse off. Basically with President Obama's health care plan he wants to provide the American people with insurance coverage and cut cost of medical bills. Links below provide more information on President Obama’s health care reform.

• · http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32752036/
• · http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/07/obama_on_health.html
• · http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-09/2009-09-02-voa50.cfm?CFID=301221914&CFTOKEN=69476936&jsessionid=6630d64dc7c79a7955f2732c3c4fafc3b4b6http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/obama.speech/
• http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/17/us/politics/AP-US-Health-Overhaul-Summary.html

After President Obama revealed his health care plan, more problems arise. These problems consist of people who are for or against Obama's proposal because of the issues, and people who are for or against Obama proposal because of his race.

Some Republicans feel like the health care plan will do no good with the current health situation, and are currently trying to amend some of parts of the Democrats reform proposal and the Congressional Democrats are most likely not going to allow these changes but we will see in the long run. Whereas the Democrats are backing President Obama's health care plan for the most part. The links below provide more information on the debate of passing the view.

• · http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/21/bill.clinton.larry.king/index.html
• · http://www.reuters.com/article/Washington09/idUSTRE59I4Y720091019
• http://www.studentprintz.com/senate-committee-backs-health-bill-1.793370
• http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090808/D99UJ4B00.html

On the other side of the spectrum, there is the view of how some people feel like President Obama's health care plan is a socialist idea. Also, there is the idea of some being against President Obama’s health care plan, just because of his race. In the middle of September, former President Jimmy Carter was claiming that recent attacks on President Obama were racist and that most of the negative comments and ads to the health care plan are racist. Later that day, Robert Gibbs, who is the White House's spokesman, responded to Carter’s response, and stated that President Obama felt the comments were not "based on the color of his skin."

• · http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez21-2009sep21,0,1722453.column
• · http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/16/carter-racism-claim-draws-widespread-criticism/
• · http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/15/carter.obama/index.html

· http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32920370/ns/politics-white_house/
· http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/health/policy/19obama.html?_r=1
· http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106604&sectionid=3510203
· http://www.examiner.com/a-2225123~Obama__Health_care_anger_not_motivated_by_his_race.html
· http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Barack-Obama-Says-Racism-Not-To-Blame-For-Criticism-Of-US-Healthcare-Reform-Plans/Article/200909315384506?f=rss
· http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/21245741/detail.html

Right now, race and President Obama's health care plan is not shown much in the media, since most people are trying to get away from the race aspect, but in my future post I will discuss some more ways of why some people are against the health care plan and also discuss what is currently happening in the news with the passing of the bill. Below are some links of sites that are extra sites that I used.

• · http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,379521,00.html
• · http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/01/16/Barack-Obamas-historic/1232161472.html
• · http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article=f111708_President
• · http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/10/obama.president/index.html
• · http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/race-based-protests-direc_n_271129.html
• · http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32957739/ns/entertainment-television/
• · //www.racismreview.com/blog/feed/
• · http://cqresearcherblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/overview-of-this-weeks-report-race-and.html

President Obama's Proposal for Health Care

In early September news, President Obama had a speech about how the health care plan is necessary and that he is asking from the support of Republicans who support the health care plan. Basically, President Obama repeats over and over in his speech that he will not waste anymore time with the ones that oppose him, but he will “leave the door open” for the Republican who are with his policy. President Obama’s speech was done so he could try to regains his “political footing” on his health care plan, since that is his number one priority right now. The president also said that the health care plan will be about $900 billion over 10 years and he brings up the fact that the health care plan will reassure the elderly and the American who already have insurance so, these people are not worse off. With this whole entire health care plan situation, President Obama is having so much grief with many Republicans being against it. The Republicans feel like the health care plan will do no good with the current health situation. Also, many Americans are feeling like the health care plan may still be no use when dealing with their medical bills. I just feel like President Obama needs to get some support and some money for this health care plan, because right now he does not have much of both. I do not know where he is getting the $900 billion from to spread over 10 years, because right now the United States and the world economy is not in the best shape.

Some Political Background

Well before I get to deep into my own opinions about if some negative comments about Obama's Health plan are racist or not, let me first go back to the political aspect of the Obama's Health Care.

In the news earlier in the month of September, it was talking about how President Obama’s health care plan seems to be facing some difficulty. President Obama says that the health care reform is at the top of the list of demands for the country but he still has not done anything major about it. So, he has to keep reassuring the public that he is getting to working on the health care plan. Many find it frustrating because they want the reform plan now. That is why in a recent survey (which was taken in September), President Obama’s overall approval rating is just a little above 50 percent. This number is totally different form the percentages during his earlier days in office. Also, through all the turmoil about the health care plan the Democrats in the Senate and in the House of Representatives have a risk of losing their seat, since they are not giving the people what they want. In addition, Bill Clinton says that a bill needs to be passed, so the people can be pleased. And Clinton is right. If nothing is done to improve the economy and health care, people will eventually lose faith in their government and political leaders, which includes President Obama. When people lose faith in the government than it is hard to gain that trust back, even when the economy starts to improve.

Basically through this information, it shows that even before Obama's Health Care Plan was underway, the public was already having problems with it, because many thought Obama would not keep his promise.

In the news, former President Bill Clinton tells the press that health care reform battle is not over race, but just over the issues of reform. Clinton feels if President Obama was white, everyone who was opposing him now, would still be opposing him. Even though Clinton is trying to cover up the fact that President Obama being elected is not a race issue, he just does not want to admit it. With the many signs that go against the health care reform, some show President Obama on the head of an African who is in their traditional clothing. Through signs like these, it makes me feel like many people are taking the health care reform thing little out of hand. Basically some people who are against President Obama’s health plan are against it because of race, and not against it for the real issues. With this, it just shows how even though it may seem like the United States have gone a long way from racism and prejudices, the United States still has occurring accounts of racism. And since President Obama is black he has to deal with the headache of the racial wars with his health care reform.

As of now, President Obama is being the bigger person and is ignoring the negative comments of his health care reform. Hopefully, there comes a day when people stop looking at race and start looking at the real issues at stake, because race is not everything. But as of now it is.

President Obama's Journey Through Race to Reach The White House

Ever since Barack Obama's first appearances as a presidential candidate, he has always been faced with racial prejudices. Many Americans were in awe that a half white, half African would be running for president, let alone having a female running too. With this, President Obama has always had to deal with the negative comments to his campaign, in and out of office.

In the first days of Obama announcing to Springfield, Illinois that he will seek the 2008 Democratic nomination for president; many were already speculating if a black candidate would really make it as president. Before Barack Obama, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes and Reverend Al Sharpson, all ran for president, but none of these black candidates were taken seriously. So many were asking the question of "Why take Barack Obama seriously as a black presidential candidate?" Even though Obama knew he would have to deal with the negatives that came with being a black candidate, he still proclaimed early on in his campaign that he would not let the color of his skin hinder his career. And he has not let that happen.

However, during Obama's early days of campaigning, he did face much hardship with race as well as if he would be a suitable presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. At first, Barack Obama had a bitter battle between Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, which turned out as a victory in his favor. Also, throughout Obama's battle with receiving the Democratic nomination, his longtime pastor, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. begin making controversial remarks that ended up maybe hurting Obama's chances for the Democratic nomination. Thus, in the end causing Obama to leave his pastor and church. At this point in Obama's campaign, many Americans thought that this was the beginning of the end for him, but Obama turned that around in a speech addressing his ex pastor's controversial remarks. With this speech, Barack Obama's showed all of the United States that he was ready for the challenge of becoming the United States' first black president.

Once Barack Obama was successfully nominated as the Democratic Presidential candidate, he and John McCain began their battle for the presidency. At this time, many African Americans like Reverend Jesse Jackson began to say that Barack Obama was not "black enough" to become the first black president of the United States. In July of the election year, Reverend Jesse Jackson was heard saying, "Barack's been, um, talking down to black people on this faith-based… I want to cut his (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off. Barack, he's talking down to black people." With that statement, it showed how many African Americans like Reverend Jesse Jackson felt that since Obama did not grow up in a "black" household, he can not truly be the first black president if he won the election. Even with this comment, Obama was still able to overcome racial prejudices and was still able to receive most of votes. Thus, making him the first black president of the United States, which shows that Obama did not let race prevent him from becoming president.