That bold statement is the headline atop an opinion piece in this week's Oklahoma City Gazette, the state's largest weekly newspaper. The writer, Robin Meyers, takes Oklahoma's conservative voters to task for sleeping through the last 25 years or so.
Here's a portion of Meyers' editorial blast:
The world wept for joy; Oklahoma spat defiantly. The glory train of history pulled out of the station; Oklahoma waved goodbye and said “good riddance.” Dr. King’s dream came true; Oklahoma slumbered on, curled up on the hearth of racism and addicted to the mind-numbing power of the word “conservative.”
Whatever the rest of the country is up to, it must be wrong. If the American voter wants to send five new Democratic senators and 19 representatives to Washington, Oklahomans will respond by not electing a single Democrat running in a statewide election. If Obama wants to redraw the electoral map, turning red states blue, we will hunker down and become the reddest of all red states — the only state in which not a single county went for Obama.
The candidate that Gen. Colin Powell called “transformational” did not transform the Sooners — he made us even more recalcitrant. The opportunity to break down old walls instead of propping them up again passed us by. The chance to prove that race has nothing to do with it passed us by. The chance to support the next generation of young people, born again to a passion for politics, passed us by.
While almost everyone in the world celebrated this stunning about-face in the image of our tarnished nation, the majority of Okies proved once again that nothing has to make sense to make us proud, and God must find something endearing about ignorance....
6 comments:
Is this Robin Meyers a minister? If so, I know his work and find it provocative and even a bit prophetic.
Too bad. It must be awful for this poor person to live in a state wherein he (she? I've known "Robins" of both genders) apparently despises the majority of the people around her. Not that the majority of the people around her would ever notice her attitude, being clueless and all.
The chance to prove that race has nothing to do with it passed us by.
It has been very amusing to note that an enormous number of people who insist that race had nothing to do with their choice have very persistently insinuated, implied, or stated outright that those who didn't vote for Senator Obama made their choice on a racial basis. I can't help but note that that is a rather bigoted position to take. It is also quite enough to convince me that race was one of the principal reasons many people voted for the man; they can now spend the rest of their lives assuring themselves that they're beyond race.
I doubt racism was decisive for Oklahoma's choice. Any Republican would have won. Only the point spread is in question.
Recall the days in Oklahoma when candidates registered under names like "Will Rogers" and won regularly on the basis of name recognition?
In 30 years, maybe an Oklahoma candidate will get his name legally changed to B.H. "Bark" Obama and build a political career on it.
I know what you are saying 1st hand. I lived in Tulsa Oklahoma for 12 years and finally could not take it anymore. I had to get out. I couldnt stand being around the iggnorance one second longer. I moved myself to Chicago and it was like black and white. People here actually have political views that make sense. People don't vote based on hate. THanks for this acrticle.
Amazing 2008 election fact about Oklahoma from dKos.
"McCain lost a grand total of 47 votes from Bush's total four years prior."
OK, some folks must have gotten into the corn likker and fallen down before they got to the polls.
Hello, you site is very funny he told me to cheer up .. Merry Christmas.
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