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Op-Ed by Nikki Haley - Barack Obama Is Wrong, America Isn’t Racist

June 21, 2023

Daily Mail by Nikki Haley

You'd think the first black President of the United States would have hope and pride in America.

Not just that: You'd think he'd say that my candidacy for president – as the first female minority governor in American history – is further proof of our national progress.

But Barack Obama didn't say that. Instead, he criticized me for saying America isn't racist.

In his words, I'm one of the 'minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate Americans saying, 'everything's great, we can make it.'

He further accused me of 'pretending as if everything's equal and fair.' He even tried to mimic me, claiming I say, 'I'm an Asian Indian American woman and my family came here and we worked hard.'

Talk about condescending. I'm proud of my parents, who moved from India to South Carolina to pursue the American Dream. Yes, they worked hard. And yes, they faced racism, but they overcame it. They taught me and my siblings that even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.

They were right. I was a brown girl in a black-and-white world, yet my state still elected me governor. And I want every little girl and boy – white, black, brown, you name it – to know they live in the best country in the world. In this country, they can grow up to be anything. Even the President of the United States.

Does Barack Obama think he's the only minority who could be elected president? It sure sounds like it. But he used to know better.

His 2008 presidential campaign was built around hope – hope in America's progress. He also used to have pride in our country.

Almost 20 years ago, in the most famous speech of his career, the then-Senator said, 'our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.' And the future president spoke at length about the 'opportunity' that drew his family here and enabled him to achieve so much.

This is America's promise – the pursuit of happiness and opportunity for all. We've spent almost exactly 250 years striving to make it real for everyone.

How far have we come? So far that Barack Obama was elected president. So far that I am now running for president.

If America was racist, none of this would have happened – full stop. The America of 2023 would be the same as the America of 1776. But things are night-and-day different. Why? Because every generation of American citizens has stood up and stepped forward to fight for the principles of the Declaration.

That promise sparked a fire in the hearts of Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the abolitionists who brought slavery to an end. It moved the minds of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, the suffragettes, and all who fought to put women on an equal footing with men. It filled the air when Martin Luther King, Jr. told us of his dream. It was made real with the end of segregation and the victory of civil rights.

And the promise of America has been the constant in my life, Barack Obama's life, and the lives of tens of millions of other people, of every color and creed.

Do we still have more work to do? We must fight racism, discrimination, and anti-Semitism everywhere they exist. For that matter, we must break all the barriers that block people from sharing in America's promise.

We have an education system that fails students – especially in the inner city.

We have a crime wave that destroys communities and claims lives – hurting minorities the most.

We have a welfare system that traps people of all races and backgrounds in government dependence.

We have drugs like fentanyl tearing families apart – from the biggest cities to the most rural towns.

We have too many broken families, too few role models for our children, and too much trust in government, instead of in ourselves and each other.

Democrats have made these problems so much worse. Yet instead of confronting their failed policies, which are hurting millions of people, liberals are blaming America itself.

They would rather tear down our country than admit their own errors and try a different way. Barack Obama had eight years to pull our country together, but he chose to further divide us by race and gender. Now he's doubling down by accusing America of being defined by racism.

Barack Obama speaks for the leadership of the Democratic Party. If they get their way, black and brown kids will think they're inferior and have no place in America. But I will make sure every child has the best shot at the best life.

That's why I'm fighting for universal school choice, law enforcement, a secure border, work over welfare, and an economy that lifts up everyone. All these things, and more, are necessary to help everyone find opportunity and participate in America's promise.

The next president will oversee the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence – July 4, 2026. On that day, we need a leader who can say, and who proves: America is not a racist country.

Nikki Haley, Op-Ed by Nikki Haley - Barack Obama Is Wrong, America Isn’t Racist Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/364328

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