Many thanks for your response to questions Mr. Plouffe was apparently unable to answer. But your response breeds a few more questions which I believe get to the heart of the matter. Please allow me to ask them with a reasonable expectation of a relevant response from you or your surrogate.
You mentioned the civil rights work Senator Obama has engaged in since leaving law school, an admirable thing indeed. As it happens, I have professional acquaintance with another Bull Goose civil rights attorney of many years standing; in my work as a local broadcast and print journalist, I have interviewed Virginia Governor Tim Kaine of a number of occasions, including the annual gathering of the Virginia Unit of the SCLC, and I find that not all committed civil rights lawyers are members of churches with former pastors like Rev. Wright.
I believe if you held up Senator Obama's record of civil rights victories against Governor Kain's, it would be spotty indeed. Yet, for all his commitment to civil liberties for all, he does not listen weekly to Ebola-quality virulence expended against our nation. Neither does his wife, Judge Holton, who has a similar record.
Also, you make mention of Senator Obama's desire to end "the divisive and petty tactics that have dominated our politics for far too long." Agreed, barring all ad hominem attacks on fellow candidates would be a good thing, but I see some pretty pointy knives aimed at your fellow Democrat, one with a much longer history of service to her party and all it stands for than Senator Obama, so how do we square that promise with what actually gets delivered on the hustings?
So, let's try one more time to get my questions answered in a direct, non-form letter fashion. If you still wanna request campaign cash every paragraph or so, that's fine, but could we leaven those requests with some specific responses to specific questions? They are, quoting here from earlier emails:
1. Why would Senator Obama attend for so many years the church of a man who, in the face of all the internally-generated pathologies which afflict poor communities, chooses to blame America and, more importantly, ask his Creator to damn an entire nation? Why would the history of race relations in America justify such a virulent response? Is hatred the right way to put paid to hatred? Especially for a man of the cloth? Excuse me, but this particular Rev. sounds more like a Grand Klaxon of the KKK than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. Why are native-born Americans of color incapable of finding the workforce opportunities so readily located by my foreign-born Americans of color? Is America really to blame, or are there other factors extant in communities of color which kill dreams and mire persons in poverty? My Ethiopian friends don't damn America, and they've all got two jobs, are back in school, take excellent care of their families and are starting their own businesses. Why can a 20-something legal immigrant do what a 20-something native-born person cannot? If it has to do with America's treatment of persons of color, it would seem the immigrants, who are just as black and also have funny accents, different religions and different cultural backgrounds would suffer at least as much discrimination.
These paradoxes - poor American-born citizens supposedly incapable of following the same road to material success readily used by legal immigrants of color, plus a preacher's frankly anti-Christian rage at Amerikkka seem odd to say the least. Do Ethiopians possess bigger brains or more determination to succeed in Amerikkka than native-born persons of color? That seems an odd way to account for my buddies and buddettes, but hey, what do I know?
The thing is, they do want to know. Now. And since most are naturalized and intend to vote this year, it would seem to be in your candidate's best interests to give them some answers they can take to the polls. Eagerly awaiting your response, I remain,
Your obedient servant,
Mark Dorroh,
Richmond, VA
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