AN OPEN LETTER TO MS. OPRAH WINFREY

November 27, 2013

Dear Ms. Winfrey:

Although we have never met, I have followed your career, owing to the fact that I was attending graduate school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville at about the same time as you were enrolled at Tennessee State. On at least two occasions during that time-frame, I took part in civil rights demonstrations with your fellow students at Tennessee State.

Last week, I became aware of remarks that you made while being interviewed in the United Kingdom.  In those remarks, you emphatically stated that that you were of the opinion that there was, at present, so much disrespect for the office of the president, because the White House was occupied by a black American.  As much as I admire you and your accomplishments, I must beg to differ.

Please know, too, that I am married to a person of another race, although my wife and I had never given much thought to that until the excessive raising of race-consciousness during the past four years.  She is, by the way, of the same approximate skin coloring as yourself.

As one who has lived long enough to merit senior status and as a Caucasian, I was taken aback by your allusion to the necessity of  old white people needing to pass from the scene before there could be resolution of the race problem in the U.S.  As the old saying goes, "It takes two to tango." So it might be beneficial to look at the situation from both sides of the fence. As one of your admirers, I would certainly hope that you would agree with me on this.

You should be aware, too, that I actually voted for President Obama in 2008.  It was not, however, too long after he took office that I discovered that I had made a horrible mistake.  

Therefore, Ms. Winfrey, I do hope that you will not say of me that I am simply a racist who, by opposing the policies of Barack Hussein Obama, is showing disrespect for the office of the presidency.  Indeed, I believe that we make a terrible mistake if we confuse opposition to the policies of an occupant of the presidential office with disrespect for the office in general.

Please be advised that I am opposed to President Obama for a number of reasons, and will set out my opposition in the following points:

1.  Our president was not vetted sufficiently to reveal his inadequacies for the office.  For example, early in 2009, I was aware that President Obama was confusing the cultures and languages of the Middle East with those of Central Asia.  What followed were several speeches in which the president laid bare his ignorance of basic knowledge of history, culture and foreign languages.  As one who had spent time in those regions, I found this deficiency to be particularly glaring.

2.  Our foreign policy has been a complete disaster. We have allowed the likes of President Putin of Russia to outshine us in the Middle East.  With fiascos in Egypt and Syria - and don't forget the infamous red line - our traditional allies are clearly wondering whatever happened to American resolve.  Then, too, our closest friend in the region, Israel, has been diplomatically and politically isolated.

3.  Living as I do on the border with Mexico, I am rightly concerned about porous borders and the increasing numbers of illegal aliens, who have continued, despite the party line from Homeland Security, to breach our frontiers.  There has been entirely too much foot-dragging by the Obama administration in dealing with this problem.

3.  I cannot recall in any other administration the outright prevarications that we have been subjected to.  A case in point is Benghazi, where we were told to believe that a misbegotten film had started it all.  Surely, there is more than meets the eye to this cover-up; and, hopefully, Congressional hearings will get to the bottom of it.

4.  Again, living along the border, I want the truth about the ill-conceived program called "Fast and Furious." Why, were Americans, including Hispanic-Americans, allowed to die when the Obama government smuggled American weapons to Mexican drug cartels?

5.  As a child, I recall that my family cherished the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America.  And, certainly, this included the freedoms laid out in the 1st Amendment.  Therefore, it is difficult for me to believe that the partisan activity demonstrated by the IRS was not known about in the White House.

6.  Fortunately, the American economy was saved from Cap and Trade, Card-Check and any other number of schemes that would result in economic chaos.  However, the travesty of Obamacare is still with us.  Rammed through Congress without widespread support in the country, this program has demonstrated, as no other, the incompetence, lies and disregard that have characterized the administration.  Not only can we not afford this disaster, it is disrupting lives and foisting more expense and pain on the great American middle class, the backbone of American society.

7.  I have had a high regard throughout my life for a president named Harry S Truman, who once said, "The buck stops here!"  Try as I might, I have found no similar sentiment of stepping up to the plate in any quarter of the Obama administration.  Indeed, the tendency is to lie and to obfuscate. America deserves better.

8. And, finally, I can recall no other presidency in my lifetime which has done so much to sow racial discord.  Supporters of President Obama are quick on the draw when it comes to playing the proverbial race-card, but, sadly, their concern for racial matters is all too often one-sided.

Again, Ms. Winfrey, I do hope that you will discern that I am a member of the "loyal opposition" and not one who is inspired by racial enmity.  I am unalterably opposed to this president, while respecting the office.  At this point, as a concerned American, I can do none other than to oppose this president by all the means afforded me by the Constitution of the United States of American.

With best wishes for your continued success and kindest regards, I am

Sincerely,

John W. Barham