Web Letters: From Fannie Lou Hamer to Barack Obama

Only once in these pages (after Obama's FISA vote) have I ever read any article evaluating Obama on the basis of his record and not his color. Well-intentioned white progressives are supporting Obama on the basis of his race alone. Votes that Obama has cast like the FISA reauthorization with Telecom immunity, despite his campaign pledge to "personally filibuster" the legislation; his "Yes" vote on the Patriot Act; and his virtually identical voting record on the Iraq War vis-à-vis Senator McCain demonstrate clearly that the differences between him and John McCain are measured in degrees only.

Obama's short yet enormously disturbing Senate voting record demonstrates that he is unfit for the office of President, whose primary job function is the preservation, protection and defense of the Constitution. When he votes against amendments 1, 4 and 5 of the Constitution as he did by voting for the Patriot Act; when he votes to give corporations "Super Citizen" rights--they should not, according to Obama, be held to account for something as trifling as violating citizens' constitutionally protected rights-- as he did with his FISA-reauthorization vote, how can anyone believe that he can be trusted to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"?

Michael Moffitt

Wolcottville, IN