June 21, 2012
BH 421
The late Rodney King asked the question ‘can’t we all just get along’? It’s a great question, especially in this season of political unrest.
As the Romney and Obama campaigns advance, lies and defamatory material continue to spill from the Mitt Romney camp and infiltrate the campaign in order to gain attention of the electorate and discredit the president.
Mr. Obama recently opened his ‘African American’s For Obama’ campaign offices and released his operations first national radio spot targeting African Americans. The advertisement features the sung refrain, “We’ve got your back. Mr. President, we’ve got your back.” An Obama campaign official said that the campaign has gone up with ads on urban radio stations on matters such as Obama’s jobs plan, but that the new round of ads is the first specifically focused on African Americans, and within moments, the hate mongers and his enemies pounced on the president and his campaign.
Immediately the dirty tricks, the unethical, duplicitous and slanderous fabrications began oozing from the Fox Television Network and right wing radio and television talk show hosts. As you must know, in my opinion, the Republican Party, and Mitt Romney in particular, manufacture irrelevant, cruel and incorrect rumors or outright falsehoods designed to damage or destroy the president and his re-election efforts. The Republican parties’ negative ads used against Mr. Obama contribute to voter cynicism and apathy and are manipulative.
The Human Rights Education Association tells us “Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democratic rights and freedoms. In its very first session in 1946, before any human rights declarations or treaties had been adopted, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 59(I) stating "Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated."
Freedom of expression is essential in enabling democracy to work and public participation in decision-making. Citizens cannot exercise their right to vote effectively or take part in public decision-making if they do not have free access to information and ideas and are not able to express their views freely. Freedom of expression is thus not only important for individual dignity but also to participation, accountability and democracy. Violations of freedom of expression often go hand in hand with other violations, in particular the right to freedom of association and assembly.
And the ACLU declared “Freedom of speech, of the press, of association, of assembly and petition; this set of guarantees, protected by the First Amendment, comprises what we refer to as freedom of expression. The Supreme Court has written that this freedom is "the matrix, the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom." Without it, other fundamental rights like the right to vote, would wither and die.” But does this give Romney, the Republican Party and antagonists of the president license to deliberately lie?
And how can anyone justify repeatedly disrespecting the President of the United States?
The St. Louis American and other news outlets reported that President Obama was interrupted by a reporter shouting questions during his statement on immigration policy changes in the White House Rose Garden , and Barbara Espinosa, radio host of Arizona’s “Hair on Fire” called President Barack Obama the nation’s “first monkey president” live on the air.
It’s no secret that Mitt Romney’s campaign team has been making an effort to reach out to black voters but does Romney actually thinks he is able to turn African Americans against President Obama?
His latest attempt at reaching African American voters is the hiring of Tara Wall, a former newscaster, Republican National Committee senior adviser, George W. Bush appointee, and conservative columnist and deputy editorial page editor for the Washington Times. She was hired recently as a senior communications adviser to the Mitt Romney campaign to handle outreach to African Americans.
Romney also recently visited a poor black eighborhood to hear the concerns of local educators and community leaders in the streets of West Philadelphia but dozens of neighborhood residents shouted, “Get out, Romney, get out!”
The president’s radio ad emphasize “now, it’s time to move forward and finish what we started together. We have to show the president we have his back.”The spot also includes clips of Obama pledging to voters on the campaign trail not to cut back on health insurance for the poor or elderly or on programs such as Head Start to pay for upper-income tax cuts.
Do we have the president’s back?
Please listen the Bernie Hayes radio program Monday through Friday at 7am and 4 pm on WGNU-920 AM, or live on the Web at www.wgnu920am.com.
And please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday Night at 10pm and Friday Morning at 9 am and Sunday Evenings at 5:30 pm on KNLC-TV Ch. 24.
I can be reached by fax at (314) 837-3369 or e-mail at: HYPERLINK "mailto:berhay@swbell.net" berhay@swbell.net.
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