A Means to an End

June 1, 2008

Fraud - \’Frôd - n.-

a: Deceit, trickery; specifically: intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right. b: an act of deceiving or misrepresenting.
a: a person who is not what he or she pretends to be: Impostor; also: one who defrauds: cheat: b. one that is not what it seems or is represented to be. © 2008 Merriam-Webster Inc.

I’ve ridden 40 foot swells in the South China Sea for three days straight, skirting typhoons on a hangover and two hours of sleep, yet nothing nauseates me more than one who uses deception about anything related military service when they themselves didn’t have the pair between their legs, the sense of duty or the time to put on my country’s uniform.

It’s bad enough when veterans such as actor Brian Dennehy or Senator John Kerry embellish their combat credentials, inflate their medal counts or reminisce over US soldiers raping like Genghis Khan; padding their resume or trying buy respect; but outright lies about military service are much more foul and disgusting when uttered by someone who was too cowardly or indifferent to serve. This is particularly true when they pervert the truth in pursuit of the office that would command the very military veterans they’re defrauding.

The recent controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s Memorial Day comments highlights a burgeoning problem in our society and a long-festering sore on the body politic. In a speech to veterans, Obama’s said that an uncle of his was among the first to liberate doomed, emaciated Holocaust survivors and that a grandfather heroically marched into battle in W.W. II. But whether it be an uncle who liberated Auschwitz or Ohrdruf-Buchenwald, or a grandfather who served under the legendary George Patton, his subsequent handling of the flak that he received in response to those flights of fancy is insulting.

There were several problems with Obama’s recollections. First and foremost, the Russians liberated Auschwitz, yet here he was telling veterans on Memorial Day of all days that his uncle locked himself in the attic upon his return, presumably because there were no facilities to help with his PTSD. Shameful..

Secondly, when bloggers suggested that history contradicted Obama’s original claims about his uncle’s service, rather than admit the gaffe, he reversed course and said it was not Auschwitz, but Ohrdruf, one of Buchenwald’s sub-camps. If the story of Obama’s uncle was true, and if it was told within his family as Obama says, then I can tell you with certainty that he would not have erred when mentioning which camp his uncle liberated.

Thirdly, Obama’s recent claim that his grandfather enlisted immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor was contradicted by military records, which showed he enlisted roughly six months after the Japanese attack. He has also told this same story of his grandfather with a few small variations before, in his book “Dreams from My Father” and at a 2000 anti-war rally. In at least one of those two cases, he definitively indicated that his grandfather never saw combat.

These lies were told while Obama was trying to score political points in front of veterans. Having resumed donning his flag lapel pin, he was trying to argue for expanded benefits for vets. Let’s be perfectly honest. Obama did not misspeak or forget. He wasn’t too tired. He lied. What he said was no different than Hillary Clinton telling people she executed a corkscrew landing in Bosnia, scrambling to safety under sniper fire or that she knew a girl whose death was directly related to inadequate health coverage. It is a lie told to illustrate a problem that people are divided over, yet passionate about. It is designed to help the candidate make the case that they are uniquely qualified to fix it. And it is scandalous.

Add to this, the recent comments by Father Michael Pfleger a visiting Catholic Priest who derisively mocked Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Barack Obama’s very own Trinity United Church of Christ and you get yet a few more pixels in the big picture of Obama the candidate. Pfleger suggested that Hillary felt she was entitled to the presidency because she was white.

And the Catholic Church wonders why is is losing it’s flock….

Although he offered a half-hearted apology a few days later, screwballs like Michael Pfleger are the primary reason I haven’t set foot in a Catholic Church in 15 years and why I will continue to steer clear, holding my nose as I walk past. Until they begin imprisoning pedophile priests, end their support of the invasion of illegal aliens and muzzle their liberal priests, they have absolutely no standing to lecture me or any other Catholic on morality.

If Rev. Wright’s comments were made in a vacuum, one could argue that it was an anomaly, but now with Pfleger’s comments, one must ask exactly how many more bigots and race-baiters are tied to Obama? He has finally found the giblets to resign from the circus called Trinity United Church, but it is only out of sheer political expediency and far too little, too late. If he was really offended by what he has heard over the last 20 years, he would have called for dual Senate/I.R.S. investigations into the tax-exempt status of his former church for their advocacy of specific political candidates, but we all know that won’t happen.

As Americans, we must demand more from our politicians. Even more than the fraud Barack Obama can deliver. There is now a staggering mountain of evidence that proves how poor his judgment truly is.

For Obama, it seems that bald-faced lies told to audiences of veterans is becoming easier as time goes on. Defrauding them by stealing their valor and pinning it on the chests of his relatives is simply a means to an end for just another power-hungry politician who posseses the same narcissism, skeletons in his closet and forked tongue as all the rest.