Guest Columnist Jamala Rogers
I try not to be too metaphysical, but I do believe in a good dose of karma. GOP and religious fundamentalists started a campaign to pray for rain during Barack Obama’s highly anticipated closing speech at the Democratic Convention. One such person was Stuart Shepherd of Focus on the Family who asked Americans to pray for rain of “biblical proportions.”
Many people believed their prayers were answered when Hurricanes Gustav hit the Gulf Coast, and Hannah and Ike waited in line for their turns.
The phenomenon pretty much shut down the first day of the Republication National Convention. I guess the rain request didn’t include the date.
The political pundits, poised to bring the media hype in comparing the two conventions, had to make a detour. They ran smack dab into Bristol Palin, the teen daughter of Sara Palin, John McClain’s pick for vice president. It seems that Bristol was holding her 4-month-old brother in public venues to hide her five-month pregnancy.
No one in their right mind would wish a pregnancy on any teen. Obama took the high road and again emphasized his campaign view that candidates’ families are off-limits, especially their children – this, in a political season where everything seems to be up for disclosure and debate.
Others were not as generous.
The often holier-than-thou politics of the GOP can lead to getting knocked off the pedestal of sacred family values. The GOP claims that homosexuality is next to “bestiality,” but then a Republican gets busted for trying to make the hook up with young, male pages. They insist on abstinence-only when it comes to teen sexuality – that sex education only promotes promiscuity. The hypocrisy between their words and actions is what has put Bristol Palin in the crosshairs of public scrutiny.
So far, Sara Palin has not proved to be the squeaky-clean governor first presented to us. She has issues with honesty and power, two really important problems. Palin is at the center of an investigation which alleges she used her gubernatorial office to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. If she was truly open and above board, with her VP announcement should have come the motherly condition of her daughter, neutralizing speculation that the baby Bristol often held was not her own. Sixty days can seem like a lifetime when you and your family are suddenly catapulted into the public arena and zealous reporters are shaking the closet door marked “Skeletons.”
The corporate media did little reporting on the thousands of protesters in Denver and those now in St. Paul. Even Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman got maced and arrested. Most are anti-war demonstrators who want to make sure that their issues receive prominence above the convention pomp and circumstance. But they are also making the righteous connections with health care, jobs and affordable housing. We need to help them pump up the volume.
Green Party candidates, Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, are having a tough time getting media attention in their bid for the White House. Oh, you didn’t know the Green Party had their convention in July to choose their team? We must make sure they get included in the upcoming presidential debates. It will be one way to shake up the notion that there’s only room for two parties in this country (or one party, depending on your perspective).
Finally, the Gulf Coast needs must trump the GOP Convention. Republicans can’t politically afford to be seen once again as the racist, insensitive and uncaring party who ignored Hurricane Katrina victims and survivors. Since they often get confused about priorities, we are the ones who must not let the people of the Gulf Coast get lost in the political parades.