politics of race

i am weary of hearing obama say things like this:

"the latino vote is crucial, and obviously when you look at stuff that's been going on during this election campaign that has tried to fan anti-immigrant sentiment, i know that a lot of latinos feel under assault." (i left out all of his "uuhhhs" and "ya knows.")

this statement actually outrages me -- forget weariness -- on so many levels. first and foremost, how dare liberals accuse conservatives of racial politics when that is their modus operandi on a regular basis. it is infuriating to be constantly labeled a racist by the liberal media and liberal politicians when they are the ones who so often exacerbate this problem. i am not saying there are no conservative racists -- of course there are. and there are as many liberal ones. why is it ok for obama to play racial politics?

secondly, i may be completely wrong, and correct me if i am, but i personally have not heard one iota of anti-immigrant sentiment. i have heard a great deal of anti-illegal sentiment, and there's a huge difference between those two concepts. for obama to say something like that is morally wrong, in my opinion -- it is another attempt to manipulate minorities into "finding refuge" with the democrat party and to paint conservatives as racists. it's heinous.

and finally, and perhaps most importantly, what i can't stand about his statement is this -- every single vote of every single american citizen is crucial. the latino vote is no more important than the black vote or the white vote or the asian vote or whatever else, and i think it's repugnant for obama to be drawing distinctions among the level of importance of the votes of different races of people in the United States. it is truly reprehensible.

p.s. not long ago, again speaking to a latino audience, BO said that they should reward their friends and punish their enemies. enemies of course referring to those of us who support crazy ideas like legal immigration and the pesky rule of law. how appropriate is that, for the president of the United States to refer to those people in his own country who disagree with his ideology as enemies? un-freaking-believable.