I have now heard from multiple people, and invariably and even understandably these folks are rabid supporters of President Obama, that Lieutenant Colonel Larkin is a racist because he is what they derogatorily refer to as a "birther". That is to say that LTC Larkin is one that does not believe that Barrack Hussein Obama was born as an American citizen on American soil.
Colonel Larkin has served eighteen years in the United States Army and has already served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He is refusing orders, including those to deploy again to Afghanistan until he is sufficiently convinced that President Obama is Constitutionally qualified to serve as President of the United States. Colonel Larkin wishes to see an original birth certificate signed by the delivering doctor for Mr. Obama as proof of this qualification. If such is presented, he claims he will fulfill his duties and follow his orders, including those to deploy.
He is in the process of being court-martialed because of his stand on this and his resulting refusal to follow what he feels may be illegal orders.
Colonel Larkin's argument is that if President Obama is not Constitutionally qualified to be President then he as commander in chief of the armed forces is also not legal. This makes all orders, especially those regarding the war in Afghanistan as illegal and illegitimate.
Now I am not one that put much stock in this argument that President Obama is not legally qualified to be President. I tend to think that he has been vetted legally to hold the office, regardless of the fact that President Obama routinely has violated multiple other tenets of the Constitution since having taken office.
That being said, I understand Colonel Larkin's argument and see no signs of racism attributable to this man. He is simply following his conscience, in my opinion.
Further, a man of immense intellect that has served our nation with honor also agrees. This man is also a man of color. He has gone so far as to write a posting in support of Colonel Larkin on his own blog. He is definitely someone that would not be supporting Colonel Larkin if there was even the semblance of racism in Larkin's motives behind his disobeying what he considers are illegal orders. The name of this man of color that is in vehement support of the Colonel is Ambassador Alan Keyes.
Those that claim racism on behalf of LTC Larkin are absolutely mistaken. They have a right to disagree with Colonel Larkin's stance on the issue, but that does not give them the right to assume motives of racism as the cause when there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
I am frankly tired of being called a racist myself when I exercise my Constitutional right to free speech in criticism of President Obama in many of his un-Constitutional and Marxist policies. It is not President Obama's color that abhors me. It is these policies. Further, I voted for a man of color for president long before I ever even knew the name of Barrack Hussein Obama. That man is the very same Alan Keyes.
3 comments:
What lesson is Obama teaching children, young adults, servicemembers, citizens and immigrants in our country and across the globe about personal responsibility, citizenship and honesty?
Politicians can become president, only leaders can effectively serve as commander-in-chief. Leaders set an example so others can follow their footsteps.
Young military officers and recruits display more integrity than Obama as Commander in Chief. The Military’s Moral Dilemma
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=117857%3C/font%3E%3C/blockquote%3E%3C/font%3E%3C/blockquote%3E%3C/b%3 E%3C/i%3E%3C/u%3E
You know that I have never ascribed racism to you and your dislike of President Obama, nor have I done that to most criticism of the president. Having said that, you seem to deny the possibility/probability that anyone out there on the right could even harbor a single racist thought, too. There is one extreme - saying all criticism of Obama is racist - and there is the other: that it is simply impossible to find any racism at all from anyone in their attacks on this president.
I think it important to understand this when assessing the nature of the attacks against the president and the images used in those attacks. It simply is not possible to deny racism exists in the hearts and minds of those carrying signs depicting Obama as a witchdoctor with a bone through his nose, or calling him a Halfrican-American, or calling him Barack the Magic Negro. To argue that racism is not a factor in those is to be just as ridiculous as those who see all criticism as racist.
I laid out my case why I believe Larkin is, in fact, doing this because of race on my blog. You saw that already.
But why can you not even criticize Larkin for this blatantly illegal posture he is taking? You say, "Now I am not one that put much stock in this argument that President Obama is not legally qualified to be President. I tend to think that he has been vetted legally to hold the office..." Yet in the next paragraph, you say, "I understand Colonel Larkin's argument..."
How are those statements not a contradiction? Obama is the president and just because Larkin has some crazy belief that he is not, does not allow him to avoid deployment. If this is tolerated or endorsed, how long before others try similar excuses to get out of deployment. How can the military function if soldiers can remove themselves from their deployment because their "conscience" tells them something that is 100% batshit crazy?
And Alan Keyes? Really? Obama spanked him by 40% in the IL Senate race in 2004 after Keyes said he was the anti-Christ. I think Keyes has other motives for his taking up this cause, and he may not be 100% mentally stable.
Dave, I acknowledge the fact that there are racists on the right AND on the left. If you have a sufficiently large enough group of people, you are bound to have someone outside the mainstream with racist attitudes that does not reflect the group as a whole.
I also know for a fact that there are indeed people out there that hate Obama simply because of his race. I do acknowledge that.
My complaint regarding LTC Larkin is that this charge is being leveled at him without any evidence whatsoever to substantiate it.
As far as criticizing Larkin for "this blatantly illegal posture he is taking", well actually if you and I are wrong regarding the validity of President Obama's citizenship, then Obama is not legally Commander in Chief and therefore Colonel Larkin is correct that he doesn't have to follow illegal orders that originate with Obama, such as deployment to a combat zone.
I don't have sufficient reason to doubt the validity of Obama's citizenship. Evidently Larkin does. As such he is exercising his judgement to force Obama to prove incontrovertibly his legitimacy as our president.
Now I don't know all of the specifics of why some folks don't buy the validity of the birth certificate given.
I simply wish that the issue could be resolved so that there is absolutely no question and we can move forward on this matter.
My main point was not to argue whether Larkin was right or wrong about Obama's legitimacy, but rather that he should not be accused of having racist motives behind this when there is no evidence to support such charges.
I tend to be a little sensitive on this issue because I have been accused of being racist by people on the left simply for being critical of Obama's actions and policies. I abhor the stupidity of racism and find the use of this demagoguing tactic to be very offensive when there was never any racist intent behind my criticisms.
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