Judy Pamer – 3/23/08

This page was last updated on March 24, 2008.

A changed America; Judy Pamer; Beaver County Times; March 23, 2008.

A couple of previous letters from Ms. Pamer are here and here.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Author Garry Wills (‘Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Words That Remade America’) describes the scene following that famous speech as such:

“‘The crowd departed with a new thing in its ideological luggage, that new constitution Lincoln had substituted for the one they brought there with them. They walked off, from those curving graves on the hillside, under a changed sky, into a different America.’

“Monday afternoon as I was walking out of the Golden Dome at the Community College of Beaver County after hearing U.S. Sen. Barack Obama speak, Wills’ words ran through my head.

“Tuesday morning, I listened to Obama’s speech on race, and once again those words entered my mind.”

[RWC] As I wrote in another critique, the speech was no more about race than it was about growing corn. The sole reason for the speech was political necessity. Other than Obama disciples, no one was buying Mr. Obama’s various spins on the Jeremiah Wright issue. If you recall, Mr. Obama initially said he never personally heard Mr. Wright make his hate-filled comments or anything similar. Most people recognized the careful wording and didn’t buy for one minute that Mr. Obama didn’t know what was being preached in his own church of 20 years by his mentor, spiritual adviser, and friend. Eventually, even Mr. Obama realized his comment strained credulity and in his speech conceded he heard Mr. Wright “make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church.”

What is with the effort to link Mr. Obama and Abraham Lincoln? It appears to have started with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on the day of the speech and now has spread to this letter and a Times editorial.

“When Obama speaks, I hear the possibility of a new America. I hear the change this country so obviously, so desperately needs.”

[RWC] Just as most Obama disciples I’ve heard, Ms. Pamer never provides the details of “the change this country so obviously, so desperately needs.”

“Just words, some people say. I would remind them that Lincoln’s words brought new freedom to many, ended a war and united a torn nation.”

[RWC] I believe the Gettysburg Address may be the greatest speech of all time, but as great as the Gettysburg Address was, it didn’t bring freedom, end a war, or unite a torn nation. What ended the Civil War about 17 months after the Address was the North’s military defeat of the South. As far as uniting “a torn nation,” Ms. Pamer does know it was a Confederate spy (as part of a larger conspiracy to also assassinate the VP and the Secretaries of State and War) who assassinated President Lincoln just days after the Civil War ended, right?

“Words do matter when a person of conviction speaks them. I feel that Obama has that conviction. His words take us above the divisiveness of politics as usual and remind us that we are a better people. We have the power to make change. No one should settle for politics as usual.”

[RWC] What exactly is Mr. Obama doing that’s not “politics as usual?”

Ms. Pamer writes of “the divisiveness of politics as usual,” yet apparently can ignore the hate-filled words of Mr. Obama’s mentor, pastor, spiritual adviser, and friend of 20 years. As Ms. Pamer wrote, “Words do matter when a person of conviction speaks them,” and Mr. Obama’s mentor, Jeremiah Wright, is certainly “a person of conviction.” What did Mr. Obama do when he had to deal with this issue? Why he lied, of course, just as far too many other politicians. Later Mr. Obama “threw his grandma under the bus” in an attempt to justify his treatment of Mr. Wright. In other words, it was just “politics as usual.” For more details on this, please read my critique of “Our true genius.”

To place Mr. Obama’s treatment of Mr. Wright into context, let’s look at how Mr. Obama treated Don Imus last year after Mr. Imus’ “nappy-headed hos” comment. FYI, I’m not a Don Imus fan and haven’t listened to him since I worked in the NYC area about 25 years ago. For Mr. Imus’ three offensive words, Mr. Obama called for his firing saying, “I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus, but I would also say that there’s nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude.” In another interview, when asked if he would ever appear again on the Imus show, Mr. Obama said, “No, I would not. I was on there once, actually, after Democratic National Convention, spoke about my book briefly, that’s been my only experience on the show, and he was fine when I was on that show. But I don't want to be an enabler or be encouraging in any way of the kind of programming that results in the unbelievably offensive statements that were made.” Mr. Obama doesn’t “want to be an enabler” for Mr. Imus because of three words, but has no problem being “an enabler” for a person who has preached venom from a church pulpit for decades. Sounds like “politics as usual” to me.

“Obama’s words do not come from some campaign adviser’s play book; rather, he speaks from the heart. And I for one am glad to listen.”

[RWC] Ms. Pamer hasn’t been paying attention, or doesn’t want us to. Earlier in the year, Mr. Obama was accused of plagiarizing the words of fellow Democrats John Edwards and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. As it turned out, they all shared the same speechwriter at one time or another.