Hail the successes of Obama

I’ve written how the election of President Barack Obama caused an uptick in gun ownership and open racism. Needless to say when those columns were published, outrage from gun rights advocates and folks who object to the president because of his “policies” erupted.

I thought the growing number of gun ownerships after Obama’s nomination and subsequent election was due to a false belief that somehow his election signaled an end to our American rights and liberties. I felt then and still do that many of the most recent purchasers thought they’d have to protect their property and lives from roving bands of young hoodlums and gangbangers of color.

A few gun enthusiasts countered my observation that gun ownership increased soon after his election because they feared Obama would initiate stricter gun control laws. They seem to have forgotten that Congress would have to reverse the Second Amendment of the Constitution and our court system would have to uphold the reversal. Recent reports indicate a decline in gun and ammunition purchases. It would be great if the reason was less fear of lawlessness but experts think that the overall economy has lowered sales of both. Food and mortgages have priority over weapons.

In the case of more overt instances of racism, I’m not alone in believing that many opponents of Obama blame his color and heritage for their dislike of him. Strangely enough they or I never figured in our wildest dreams an African American would be elected president of the United States in 2009.

Oh, we knew it would happen, but not in our lifetimes.

Other blacks and I knew deep down that there were many whites who weren’t ready for a black president. We also knew that even if he could quickly turn our economy around he would not receive credit for it.

I could guarantee that if Sen. John McCain had been elected president and offered the same remedies to the challenges Obama faced, health care town hall meetings wouldn’t have been as raucous and in-your-face. I’ll also bet that the “Tea Party Patriots” wouldn’t have demonstrated in Washington.

Finally, does anyone think an elected congressional Democrat would have called McCain a liar as the president before a joint session of Congress? No!

It took former President Jimmy Carter to call some of the unbridled hatred and opposition to Obama what it is: racism. Thankfully, this brought the subject of racism out in the open. Like me, Carter knew that accusations of Obama being a socialist, Nazi, Muslim and a noncitizen had nothing to do with his policies.
The most astounding thing is that conservatives, including many Republicans, stand back in silence. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned her Republican peers to preach and practice public restraint, they ignored her. Many even scoffed and ridiculed her for trying to squelch freedom of speech.

Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of the stock market collapse of 2008. The stock market has regained half its losses because of a number of Obama initiatives and he hasn’t been in office a year.

I can hardly wait to list more of his successes as his term(s) continues.

Nelson Graves, of Augusta County, is a columnist for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .