Don’t Believe the Hype! (A Sermon)

Gather 'round my brothers and sisters and hear me out!!!

There is a late '80's-early '90's rap song sung by Public Enemy who had both Chuck D and (ugh!) Flavor Flav called "Don't Believe the Hype". Public Enemy was a very popular rap group during the late 80's and early '90's. They mostly rapped about current political issues of the day that was affecting them. You would to realize in those days, the powers that be even those in the African American community decried rap and hip-hop calling it "noise." Black ministers such as Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY grandstand on this issue constantly. Rev. Butts had a stack of rap albums on the ground and using a steam roll over them to decry that rap was trashy music. (Although today's rap music is absolute garbage, they sing nothing but sex, money, drugs and BS. But that's another story for another day.) "Don't believe the Hype" had a message in it: It said that don't always believe what you hear and don't always believe what you see and read. You always have to check things out to see if it is true. Even then you still have to question it in order to get the real story.

 

So now my Liberal brethren are up in arms over White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs criticizing them for not having President Obama's back. In an interview in The Hill, Gibbs noted that Liberals constantly complain that Obama don't do enough for the issues that they care about. They don't like the fact that Obama is pragmatic on most issues where he should follow in lockstep (like conservatives) the ideological positions Liberals take. Gibbs' statement of "I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested, I mean it's crazy." I have to say I agree with his statements 100%. He said my sentiments exactly. Now, my Liberal brothers and sisters before you flip out at me and call an Obama "apologist" let me explain why I agree with Press Secretary Gibbs. I will also explain why you need to really listen and look at yourselves first of what you are doing when you are complaining about Obama not doing enough for you.

 

First off, Barack Obama is not George W. Bush! Let me say it one more time: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT GEORGE W. BUSH!! Let me say for a third time so y'all would understand it fully: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT GEORGE W. BUSH!!! There is no way, now how that you can compare Obama to Bush or anything like him. Obama did not have his rich daddy carry him for most of his life. He did not go to "Champaign Unit" of the Texas Air National Guard. Obama did not go to Yale University to become a C average student there. Obama did not have a business only to fail in those. When it came to the presidency, Obama did not have his conservative members of the Supreme Court help steal an election for him to "win." Obama did not start a war in Iraq for made up reasons. Obama did not mess up the economy. He did not give the tax cuts for the rich during two wars. He did not get people to lose their jobs in massive numbers. He did not allow corporations go offshore for cheap labor elsewhere. He did not government to warrantless wiretap your phone and sneak in your emails. Obama did not destroy government royally it has become broken and broken our military. Obama did not do all of this. Obama's life is completely different from Bush's life. He was born as a biracial child with his White mother and his grandparents raising him. Obama have pushed himself a lot to go to Columbia University. Went to law school at Harvard University and was the editor of the Harvard Law Journal. He was a Constitutional Law professor at Harvard. He became a community organizer helping the poor and powerless in Chicago's South Side, became an Illinois State Senator, then served in the U.S. Senate then became the first African American president in our history of the United States. What he inherited from Bush who totally screwed us over he had to fix. In that time he accomplished most of things that was said it couldn't be done. He is closing Guantanamo Bay, he ending the war in Iraq, he's got a healthcare bill (It's not perfect but it can be improved) Equal pay for equal work for women, Wall Street banking reform (That's not perfect too but that can be improved), getting rid of corruption in the Executive Branch, planning to get rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell for my Gay Brothers and Lesbian Sisters and a lot of other things that are coming up that will improve the lives of Americans. So when you guys say Obama is like Bush, are you saying that Obama is a failure, like Bush? Is a screw up, like Bush? Is an big idiot (unlike Sarah Palin), like Bush? Is known in history as the worst president in the America not less world, like Bush? When you put the achievements of Obama to Bush it is not the same. There is nothing of Bush that is in Obama and vice versa. Don't tell me when you compare their track records that Obama is like Bush you know better to compare Obama to a failure. You know better than that!

 

You are going to say: "But Brother Davinci, Obama said in his campaign 'Change We Can Believe In' and 'Yes we Can' I really wanted the change that we so desperately need in this country. Obama isn't like me, a liberal. He's a centrist and centrists are like Republicans he's not liberal enough. What I expected of him when he was doing healthcare reform he didn't get the public option that I wanted. When he was Wall Street reform he didn't put the lock on derivatives trading, the Volker rule, the tough reforms to prevent the bankers from stealing from us by bailing them out that I wanted that's not in those bills." "He's always wanted to work with the Republicans" "He's too weak" "He's not angry enough" ,"He should demand everything we wanted in Congress", "He too compromising", "He's not the kind of person that I voted for" "He's this and not that." And on and on and on it goes.

 

Brothers and sisters, I will tell you something about change that my little brother told me: "Don't always look for the big trees, look for seedlings and saplings in the forest."Brothers and sisters, of course you are not going to get the big sweeping change that you expect. That's the big tree that you want to find. You expect President Obama to magically change things overnight. I'm telling you that it does not happen. Don't expect that big, beautiful tree to just be there for you grow in awe. You gotta see the little trees, the saplings, the seedlings that will bear fruit. People, there is change happening already not that you noticed because y'all are looking for those big trees, the big changes. Everybody, turn to your neighbor and say, "Don't always look for the big trees." Change has happened in the Obama administration only little by little. That little small, minute change that you see in the government will lead up to great changes. Just as that small seedling will grow with all the efforts of everybody caring for the plant, watering the plant, making sure it has enough sunlight it will grow. It will grow to become that huge tree that you were looking for. However if you don't notice that seedling it will with and die leaving nothing. If you do not take an active part in making the change happen it will never happen. It's easy for y'all to complain about something Obama when not doing something right. Brothers and sisters, I say that it is fine to complain that Obama is doing wrong but don't whine when Obama is doing his best to do the right things for us. I say again, When Obama is trying to do right, praise him! When Obama is doing wrong, correct him!

You can't expect all the things that Obama do with Congress to pass out legislation to come out perfect every time. You cannot expect perfection all the time. Brothers and sisters you sometimes have compromise. To get what you want you sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't. You will eventually get what you want down the road. For now this is what you have to deal with until you can get to the point you want more. The healthcare legislation passed by Congress was perfect by all standards. It was not perfect enough for my liberal brethren. You guys wanted the public option or single payer system like Canada. You guys pouted and complained over and over because you didn't get what you wanted. You forgot that we won a major victory, we were able to get healthcare passed. It has more coverage for children, stops the "donut hole" for seniors, stopped preexisting condition discrimination by healthcare companies, and makes sure that 85% of the monies paid in your premiums goes to healthcare with a lot of other things that is great for us. It might not have the public option you may have wanted but that can be included if we press for it. Obama might not have done everything perfectly as you wanted but you have to take your victories where you have them. It will be a long time when we have won the big war but take your victories in the battles and celebrate it now while you have it.

I have to ask you, my liberal brethren about him being "liberal" enough. Do you expect him to be a strong revolutionary militant, vegan Superman that can dramatically lead an army and always delivers time after time for everything you ask for? No! Yes, he is a centrist, he as advocated a centrist approach in solving the problems that ails us. You seem to forget he has always been very centrist in his campaign. In the campaign he wanted to increase the fight in Afghanistan to capture Osama Bin Laden , Al Qaeda and the Taliban after being long ignored by Bush because his misadventure in Iraq. Once he did the surge you were shocked that he did it. Another thing of him supposedly ignoring issues affecting my Gay Brothers and Lesbian Sisters was the repeal of "Don't ask, Don't Tell" law in the military. Sister Rachel Maddow, every night time after time complained about how President Obama wasn't paying any attention on DADT despite him handling a lot of things on his plate. Every time I watch her talk about every night on her show at first I understood of what she meant because it affected her as a lesbian with her gay and lesbian brethren. Then on that last night on the same week she was bringing up the same issue once again I've got sick of it. I have to ask her, "Sister Rachel, what do you want Obama to do drop everything and get rid of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' right now to make you happy?" Despite the poor economy, massive unemployment, the right wing going crazy about him, Republicans undermining him you want him to dump everything so you will feel happy that DADT is gone? I know Sister Rachel means well for her position. I love Sister Rachel for her convictions. She is a smart woman and I love her for that too, she has to really think of the current situation has to be taken care of first then the next problem. That's not to say that we can't walk and chew gum at the same time but there are more pressing issues that Obama has to fix. However he will eventually, fix the issues my Gay Brothers and Lesbian Sisters are suffering now. Let me get an Amen to that!

On the issue of him being weak, you got it wrong, Brothers and Sisters, Obama is a strong man. The media will make you believe that is not so. In the two Medias on one hand, you have been bamboozled, snookered, duped and gyped by the right wing media telling lies to y'all. The right wing media tells you that Obama is a "Marxist", "communist", "socialist" and "fascist" all at the same time and all separately. They know that you can't be all four at the same time. They really want to call him the N-word. They know they can't say that to polite company on TV. They have to find another word to call him to substitute for that. The same right wing media has ginned up these poor, misguided folks that are not smart enough to know a lie from the truth. These poor folk could not tell make believe stories about Obama to the real truth about him. They protest, say some things about him, bring up more and more lies about him. They believe that he is the Devil, himself. Meanwhile, the perpetrators who started the lies are laughing at them behind their backs. They laugh to the fact these poor misguided souls who believed in their deception.

On the other hand, you have the Progressive commentators who feel strongly about their positions and have to defend and deflect the lies from the right wing and have to criticize Obama of him being too "weak", too "soft" and a "wimp". I understand their frustrations about him. They forget Obama is dealing with a Congress that in the House everything goes well and we get what we want. In the U.S. Senate we have a major problem in getting the good bills we want. We have only 59 Democrats plus Bernie Sanders an Independent from Vermont. Then you have Joe Lieberman that will only go anywhere when the wind would take him. We also have two sellout Democrats among us, Senator Blanche Lincoln representing the people of Wal-Mart and not the people of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska who should come out the closet to be a Republican anyway. He keeps voting with the Republicans all the time I mean he should just come out, admit it and get it over with. Stop denying it Senator Nelson you know who you are and so do we. You ain't fooling anyone. So we have only 57 good senators plus Sanders on the Democratic side, subtracting Lieberman, Lincoln and Ben Nelson. For the Republicans, in both houses they all want to see him fail. Once they got their marching orders from "Lord" Rush Limbaugh, that's when they started undermining him by the ridiculous filibustering in the Senate and delay tactics in the House. With all those shenanigans Obama has to deal with, my liberal brethren in the media attacking him for not being "strong" enough. Again, what do you expect you expect a revolutionary, militant and vegan Superman from Obama? You fall into the trap taking what the right wing says about him and being overly defensive towards them but critical at Obama for the wrong reasons when our liberal commentators mentions it. You have to believe that every day gives his 110% for you 24/7/365. He is up front with you major issues unlike Republicans that lie in your face all the time on major problems. Obama got results after his quiet leadership despite not responding fast enough after the BP Oil spill in the Gulf States, getting $20 Billion dollars for the victims and Unemployment benefits for rig workers from that god awful company British Petroleum. This silly notion that Obama should have been more forceful in his speech by Brother Keith Olbermann and others with Sister Rachel doing the mock Oval Office speech was absurd. Obama is very strong but he doesn't in the flashy way you want it to.

On a side note, with the strength or/and or weakness of Obama's power. I saw on the internet a video with Brother Cenk Ugyur from The Young Turks guest hosting on MSNBC that can be seen here. He was pondering whether the country was much better if Hillary Clinton was the president because Obama wasn't up to par. What I have to tell to Brother Cenk that if Hillary was the president, it would be the 1990's all over again. Republicans will be tickled pink and pissing their pants that they would have another Clinton to bash. The Right Wing media will make all sorts of comparisons to Bill. They will bring back all the witch hunting investigations The Right Wing have something political on Hillary. Forget healthcare passing. That would be the "Hillarycare" fiasco part 2. There will never be a Wall Street bill to control the Wild, Wild Wall Street. In the end it wouldn't matter anyway the Republican Party would have hated a Democrat in the White House. They hate a president that is for the people and not for the corporations. Right now the Right Wing is going bonkers about having Obama in office. They are trying so hard to stick him with something that it is blowing up in their faces. It's really sad they are doing that.

 

I want to leave you today with these messages. Support Obama all the way. Granted he is not perfect as you want him to be but back him up 110%. He is trying hard to make things better. He does have an uphill battle to climb and he needs all of our help. He cannot do it all on his own. We, my liberal brethren, all of us must stick together or we will all fall apart. All this pelting of criticism about him not doing enough is unwarranted. Because of that it is making him unpopular with most of us who feels that he is not "liberal" enough or "strong" enough for your liking. The more and more we distrust ourselves and dislike Obama for the silly reasons, the right wing and the Republicans win. They are scared of us when we are together. That's why they did a political hit job on ACORN a good organization helping all of us out of business. It is OK to criticize Obama when he is messing up but don't criticize when he is doing the right things. Don't get your knickers in a bunch of what Robert Gibbs is saying about you. I imagine that all the things Obama is trying to do is a must feel like a double whammy to him. It's bad enough the right is calling him all sorts of names except the child of God but our liberal brethren should support him for doing the right thing. Two, get that silly notion that Obama is like Bush. You are talking a guy that is the epitome of failure against a man who is a beacon of success. You know better to compare Obama to losers like Bush and Cheney. Lastly, don't believe all the hype from the right wing and the left wing about Obama. Look for yourself and not the TV the pundits, the talk radio shows and blogs about what was said. Most of that is hearsay. All of them for ratings want to place a though in your head to form an opinion you know nothing about. Research for yourself of what truth is then form your opinion but until then take what they are saying with a grain of salt and DON'T FALL FOR THE HYPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Think before you react!

 

You have a blessed day!