God bless you Barack Obama
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Frank Costanza
Published: March 24, 2008
I am a white, 62-year-old Marine Corps Vietnam veteran. As a teenager I passed out flyers supporting John F. Kennedy. I was in boot camp when he was assassinated. After four years of the Marine
Corps (two served in Danang, Vietnam) I started college at the University of Maryland in the fall of 1967. I was called a “baby killer” by a beautiful young lady who had no clue what I did in Vietnam.
On my off-duty time I worked with the orphanages and volunteered to fly shot gun with the Vietnamese Air Force on rescue missions pulling women, children and village elders out of the way of impending
Viet Cong attacks. I lived through the protests of the ‘60s and ‘70s, was one of the first veterans to oppose the war as a senseless waste of young Americans and held a poster reading “Nixon plus Spiro equals zero.” I supported Robert F. Kennedy for president in the late ‘60s, walking door to door through southeast Washington, D.C. passing out literature. My Kennedy button allowed this white male safe passage through an otherwise anti-white area. Through that era of great racial turbulence I watched our country struggle with its identity. The majority of Americans were caught up in a struggle that had come of age finally. But then we let that moment when we could have done so much to heal our deep wounds slip out of our grasp.
In the ‘70s I was a very active young Republican, supporting Gerald R. Ford in his bid for the presidency. I was a national youth co-coordinator on his campaign. My children still get a kick out of a picture of me from 1976 shaking hands with a much younger Dick Cheney with Karl Rove standing behind me. Today I can’t imagine myself as a friend and supporter of Dick Cheney. He changed over the years and today I don’t even recognize my old ally. His policies and those supported by our president have brought our country to a place of dishonor throughout the world and into another fruitless war to decimate our youth.
It is time once again to take up the gauntlet of truth and help America move forward instead of into the divisiveness of the past. I consider myself a middle of the road political thinker; both the far left and far right are dangerous when in control. We need a time of national introspection and healing. I have read and listened to Barack Obama’s books and listened to him intently as he spoke at the
Democratic National Convention. At that point I felt the same internal motivation that I did when Dr. Martin Luther King and John or Bobby Kennedy spoke. John (who sent us to the moon and back) and
Bobby (whose voice along with Dr. Martin Luther King’s was quieted way too soon) spoke of the America we could be, the America we should be. Now Barack Obama speaks the truth about our problems and people are listening once again to a voice of hope. His speech the other day finally brought to focus our nation’s most difficult problem, racial division and misunderstanding. Barack is turning the focus of American politics back to where it should be — peace and unity. What our country needs is a Department of PEACE.
God bless you Barack Obama and thank you for your honesty, a virtue that seems to have been lacking in politics of late.
FRANK COSTANZA
Manassas
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( phdee ) on March 31, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Barnum, you are correct that the President can’t do anything withoit the blessing of Congress. Prime example: the nBush admin and the Repubs in Congress. What a disaster!!!! And the Repubs in Congress killed off health care during Clinton’s admin. Is it better now because of Bush and Repubs in Congress? During the Clinton years, it is a fact that Congress spent most of its time investigating the Clintons, rather than focusing of Repub sex, corruption, lies, etc etc. No one disagress with Obama’s sl,ogan “a change is needed”. They are referr4ing to 8 years of Bush, the fascist.
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Posted by ( barnun ) on March 29, 2008 at 10:12 pm
clinton has a more corrupt questionable past than anyone in politics. white water was about her. Her attempt at health care was a disaster. she has little of her own experience. she is a Jr senator. If the ballot had a “no vote” option, it would change the dynamics of everything. if the no vote won, elections would have to start over with all new candidates. I think many americans feel like they get stuck with making the best of a bad choice. realistically, they are all going to keep troops in Iraq so you move to domestic issues. Do you want free market enterprise, or higher taxes and socialism ? Our current economy is failing because of the lending practices of the banks, and the effects of ethanol. The clinton era started the big push of outsourcing american industry. And always remember, the president of any party cannot just do what ever they want without the blessing of congress.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on March 28, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Seb21, I agree with you race in the US. Jackson appears when there are cameras, then is gone. Sharpton is a racist. Those who make statements on race are “leftovers” from the race - they have fossils and have to eat. Obama is lots of “fluff”. McCain is another Bush type. So Clinton is left as the best - like it or not.
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Posted by ( edwinking ) on March 27, 2008 at 10:08 am
Senator Obama could be the true voice for change that we need-but he is such a new face on the block that we don’t know yet. As the facts come out we may get a much better indication. One fact stands out now with me and my Democrat friends in Florida, where I live,-he stands in the way of our having a vote on a candidate. Neither I,nor any of my friemds, had any part in the changing of our primary date. Now, because the results of the primary were clearly in favor of Clinton, Obama opposes counting our vote. His action is purely political and clearly undemocratic. Since we lost our vote in 2000 we are very concerned. It is very doubtful if any Democrat can win in 2008 without Florida’s vote. Obama cannot win Florida unless our primary vote counts. If our primary vote counts and he wins the nomination he can win in Florida. If our primary votes do not count there is less than one chance in five that he can win Florida. Simply put, his opposition to counting our primary vote will be a major factor in who wins the WH in 2008. Many thousands of votes, including mine, will be cast based on Obama’s position on the Florida primary votes.
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Posted by ( barnun ) on March 26, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Mr Costanza has my greatest admiration for his service in the past but I disagree with him about Barack. I think he is far to inexperienced to handle what he will inherit as president. To be fair, I dont think any one of the current 3 choices are the best choice that could have been made. I’ll catch a lot of flack for this, but I think the only way the country would unite politcally is if the vice president were of the opposite party of the president. this would keep both parties accountable at all times, even though they already are with congress, people somehow still think the president does whatever he wants at will.
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Posted by ( scorpio ) on March 26, 2008 at 10:22 am
“God bless Barak Obama”?!? Barak is trying to convince us he had no idea about his pastor’s ties with Farakhan and anti America ideas. A few sweet words mixed with some emotion and appeal and maybe a tear in the eye… Wait a minute - isn’t that what Hillary did recently too?
What an insult to our inteligence!
Shame on everyone who pretends they believe him in the name of politics!
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Posted by ( QuestionAuthority ) on March 25, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I’m with you, Mr. Costanza.
Obama is exactly what we need after 8 years of war, spying, torture, lying, ignorance, arrogance, incompetence and greed.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on March 25, 2008 at 12:30 pm
So now you know what the fall election will look like if Obama is the nominee. Just read the two comments posted first here. This is what it will look like when Obama is no longer selling himself to just Democrats, but has to face this kind of backwardsness. Good luck!
I too like and admire Barrack Obama, but I simply do not believe he will win in the face of the ugly attacks the GOP will undoubtedly unleash. And the country simply cannot afford four years of John McCain carrying on with the same policies of George Bush. Democrats are about to make a COLOSSAL mistake by nominating Obama.
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Posted by ( Godsaveus ) on March 25, 2008 at 9:04 am
Barak Obama, a candidate that come from nowhere and now we are discovering the real Obama, his Church, his ties and his racist comments. He said about his grandma, <she is like any other white woman that got scare when she sees a black person across the street >. There are too many things distance Senator Obama from J. F. Kennedy, the slogan of his campaign, “change” and “bring America together”. Bring the change having ties with donors who are under the scope of the justice and being a member of a church that proclaims hate to white men, among others.
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Posted by ( seb21 ) on March 25, 2008 at 6:53 am
How dare you compare Obama to Kennedy! The two are in no way similar. It is absolutely sickening to me to see that even after Obama’s racist remarks, there are still simpletons out there who blindly support this fool. Race is no longer an issue in this country, however much the black community would like you to believe otherwise. Blacks are not oppressed by anyone but themselves when they choose to spew empty rhetoric of racism that no longer exists anywhere but inside their own minds. Not a soul had mentioned race in the primaries until Obama played that card to try and suck up more votes. If racism was as terrible of a problem as he made it out to be, he would not be a presidential candidate today. The only racist in our midst is Barack. The Civil Rights movement is over, there is no segregation, get on with your lives!
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