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This is a pastor's response:
When Conservatives Say Obama “Embarrassed” America, Show Them This Pastor’s Response BY PETER MELLADO
POLITICS PUBLISHED ON MAY 28, 2017 15.8k SHARESSHARE THIS STORY
The lengths to which President Trump’s supporters will go to convince themselves that his many gaffes and off-the-wall statements – almost always made with no basis in truth or reality – are all not only acceptable for the “Leader of the Free World,” but somehow constitute an improvement on past occupants of the Oval Office office, is truly astonishing.
Many Trump supporters even try to advance the notion that, despite the slow-motion-train-wreck before us now, President Obama was some how worse – not in his policies or political views, but in his style, demeanor and temperament. Their attacks on the former President – and even on the first family – were and are so far removed from what even his most ideologically opposed critics observe that many have long suspected that their opinions must be based in something other than mere political or even philosophical opposition.
A popular pastor decided enough was enough. In a blog post he titled “No, White Friend—You Weren’t ‘Embarrassed’ by Barack Obama,” Pastor John Pavlovitz demolishes any moral equivalency Trump’s mostly white, mainly Christian supporters try desperately to maintain when forced to face the painful juxtaposition of the current embarrassment in the White House and his articulate, measured, highly competent predecessor. And he exposes their not-so-thinly veiled racism in the process.
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I remember the day after the Election, a friend of mine who happens to be white, remarked on social media that he “finally wasn’t embarrassed of America and our President.”
I sprained my eyes rolling them and they have never fully recovered.
Since then I’ve heard this sentiment echoed by more white folks than I can count, especially in recent months; supposed relief at once again having a leader who instills pride.
Since I don’t have the time to ask each of the individually, I’ll ask here:
So, you were embarrassed for the past 8 years, huh?
Really?
What exactly were you embarrassed by?
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
Were you embarrassed by his Columbia University degree in Political Science or his graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School?
Maybe you were embarrassed by his white American and Black Kenyan parents, or the diversity he was raised in as normal?
Were you embarrassed by his eloquence, his quick wit, his easy humor, his seeming comfort meeting with both world leaders and street cleaners; by his bright smile or his sense of empathy or his steadiness—perhaps by his lack of personal scandals or verbal gaffes or impulsive tirades?
No. Of course you weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe you were ever embarrassed. That word implies an association that brings ridicule, one that makes you ashamed by association, and if that’s something you claim to have experienced over the past eight years by having Barack Obama representing you in the world—I’m going to suggest you rethink your word choice.
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him. You were offended by him. You were challenged by him. You were enraged by him.
But I don’t believe it had anything to do with his resume or his experience or his character or his conduct in office—because you seem fully proud right now to be associated with a three-time married, serial adulterer and confessed predator; a man whose election and business dealings and relationships are riddled with controversy and malfeasance. You’re perfectly fine being represented by a bullying, obnoxious, genitalia-grabbing, Tweet-ranting, Prime Minister-shoving charlatan who’s managed to offended all our allies in a few short months. And you’re okay with him putting on religious faith like a rented, dusty, ill-fitting tuxedo and immediately tossing it in the garbage when he’s finished with it.
None of that you’re embarrassed of? I wonder how that works.
Actually, I’m afraid I have an idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Listen, you’re perfectly within your rights to have disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies or to have taken issue with his tactics. No one’s claiming he was a flawless politician or a perfect human being. But somehow I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. I think the thing President Obama did that really upset you, white friend—was having a complexion that was far darker than you were ever comfortable with. I think the President we have now feels much better.
Because objectively speaking, if what’s happening in our country right now doesn’t cause you great shame and doesn’t induce the continual meeting of your palm to your face—I don’t believe embarrassment is ever something you struggle with.
No, if you claimed to be “embarrassed” by Barack Obama but you’re not embarrassed by Donald Trump—I’m going to strongly suggest it was largely a pigmentation issue.
And as an American and a Christian committed to diversity and equality and to the liberty at the heart of this nation—that, embarrasses me.
This was from The Washington Journal http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/05/28/conservatives-say-obama-embarrassed-america-show-pastors-response/
Steve
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