I Despair

America has had both good and bad presidents. We have survived and prospered under both types because we are a blessed land of freedom and plenty. The election of Barack Obama is not something I wished to see happen but it is reality and all I can do is go on with my life and hope that the ideas I profess in opposition to his will resonate with others. I can only hope that those who believe in my ideas take action when Obama’s term is up and make wiser choices of leadership for America at that time. Until then, Obama is my president and I have respect for him and wish him the best.

I was not surprised or depressed to see the people that supported Obama celebrating in Chicago on election night. Their party was out of power for eight long years and they deserve to celebrate their return to political relevance. I was not unhappy at all to see black people in America celebrate Obama’s electoral accomplishment. I have believed for many years now that Dr. King’s dream of overcoming was a reality for all people in this country but if it took a man of color to ascend to our nation’s highest office to prove it to black people, I celebrate their happiness. If Obama’s election means an end to racial strife and an end to people longing for equality in our country, then I celebrate that too.

But I do despair.

I despair the reality that Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright have celebrated Obama’s victory. I despair that the foolish ideas of 1960’s radical agitating hippies were not vanquished twenty years ago. I despair that the foolish ideas these people espouse have infiltrated our educational system at all levels and our popular culture in a way that seems like these ideas will be with us in perpetuity.

I despair that Americans, concerned with the economy above all issues, chose socialist solutions to address their fiscal concerns.

I despair that a man who does not understand that a confrontational stance must be taken on foreign policy issues to show our enemies how strong we are will lead the free world during this time of war.

I despair because we have a wonderful life in America and if God forbid a nuclear device were to detonate in one of our cities, the human suffering would be immeasurable. I do not trust that a President Obama would confront an enemy that either threatens us with or undertakes such an act with appropriate military reprisal. Would such an enemy be dealt with as swiftly and as brutally as they would need to be? Major acts of terrorism are military attacks not law enforcement issues, and our retribution for such attacks must be merciless against those who perpetrate them. I worry that Mr. Obama has too much mercy for our enemies.

My deepest despair though, is not for us. We have lived lives savoring the sweet fruit of freedom. My deepest despair is for those peoples who have lived and continue to live under brutal oppression in horrible places in the world without hope for change.

I despair seeing Hugo Chavez celebrating Obama’s victory and believe that his socialist revolution is growing. I despair for all who are forced to live in abject poverty because of Chavez’s foolish ideas of wealth redistribution that now dominate Venezuela by his decree.

I despair for the people of Cuba who are still longing for economic and social freedom to end decades of starvation and oppression. Due to Obama’s victory, they will see the Castro brothers gloating over what they probably perceive as an American ratification of Cuba’s backward Marxist philosophies.

I despair for the people living in the Stalinist prison camp that is North Korea who can look forward to more misery, cold, hunger, torture and darkness because Obama may be willing to ‘sit down and talk’ to their ‘Dear Leader’ face to face.

I despair for the young people in Iran, longing for liberalization through government overthrow, who are going to see Ahmadinajad further legitimized by the West and will see the Islamic regime further tighten its vise-like grip on their country.

I despair for Israelis who are now going to be living in the shadow of a potentially nuclear armed Iran.

I despair for all the Iraqi’s, after having the courage to participate in fledgling democracy, being slaughtered by a new tyranny that may fill the vacuum left by a potentially precipitous American withdrawal.

But I despair most for Kenya, the land of Barack Obama’s father. Until recently Kenya has been one of the safest and most prosperous African nations. I despair for the worsening religious and tribal strife there. I shed tears thinking about the coming Islamic law that Barack Obama has not only failed to speak against in Kenya while visiting as a senator, but through his support for his tribal relative, the tyrannical prime minister Raila Odinga, is actually encouraging.

I despair for the women of Kenya who will soon learn the smothering discomfort and humiliation of the Burkha in the heat of the sub-Saharan African sun.

I despair for the young girls of Kenya who will be learning the painful agony and terror of being forcibly raped by the adult husbands they meet after family arranged marriages.

I despair for all the female human beings of Kenya who will suffer the tearing pain of genital mutilation, the asphyxiation of being buried alive and the searing agony of being burned alive all in the name of Islamic honor.

I despair for all of the men and women of Kenya who will feel the impact of being stoned to death or feel the cutting and hacking of having limbs amputated as punishment for petty crimes like theft and blasphemy. These are the punishments for such crimes in Islamic countries.

I despair for the tribal discord that the non-Islamic people of Kenya will suffer having to make the choice to die, convert to Islam or live in virtual slavery as second class citizens in their native land and pay the tax of Dhimmitude. I despair for the peaceful and loving Christians of Kenya seeing their churches razed and having to practice their devotion to their savior Christ in secret.

I celebrate the black people in America who are today filled with jubilation at the prospect of their bright future but for the future of the many black people of Kenya who are going to be suffering horribly soon, I despair.

I despair because of President Barack Obama’s potential future inaction to help the people of Kenya overcome the horrible oppression of Islamic law. The fact that Kenya is the land of Obama’s paternal ancestors is a tragic irony.

Barack Obama spoke in his Chicago victory speech of America as the beacon for all people of the world and that this beacon still shines brightly. Mr. President-elect Obama, if these tyrants that rule these lands are celebrating your victory because they feel safe with you in office, the beacon of hope that America is known for will not shine at all.

Mr. Obama, until you prove that you have the courage to stand up to evil by using American military might unilaterally with moral righteousness and moral indignation motivating your actions, I will despair.

Mr. Obama, I beg you to please prove the despair I feel unfounded by being a strong, responsible, just and reliable leader of the United States of America. The greatest nation the world will ever know because of our ability to confront tyranny, liberate the suffering people of the world and provide a safe haven for the downtrodden to live in freedom and pursue happiness, the rarest of worldly luxuries.