Nov 4, 2014

For the past six years, America has been atoning for its great sin of slavery. I use the word “sin” because the secular creed on which our country was founded informs us that all men are created equal. The stain of slavery violated that creed.

Slavery ended in this country a long time ago, of course. In 1863, to be exact, when Republican President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. For over 151 years, all Americans of all colors and races have been born free. Seven generations have come and gone.

Nevertheless, it is clear that many Americans voted for Barack Obama on the basis of the color of his skin and not, say, the color of his character. Blacks voted for him because he was black like them (even though, oddly enough, none of his ancestors, black or white, had ever experienced slavery). Other minorities voted for him because he was a “minority” like them. Still others voted for him because they believed that the only way to fully overcome America’s racist past was to elect a Black president.

Although I did not vote for Obama—despite being part Native American and married to a Hispanic—I too was proud of the fact that a half-white, half-black man had been elected president. His ancestors represented both sides of the racial divide, and yet had come together. I was not alone in thinking that he would bring America together in the same way, and heal the racial divisions that had plagued us for so long. Our nation would finally be one people, the first universal nation.

Sadly, instead of being the Great Uniter, Obama has instead proven himself to the Great Divider. In his policies, no less than in his speeches, he has repeatedly set black against white, poor against rich, woman against man, not to mention against their own unborn children. And he has done this for the pettiest of political reasons. He has, in my view, sacrificed the long-term interests of the country for short-term political gain.

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