Barack Obama gave a major speech today that directly responds to the controversial comments made by his church’s longtime pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr, but also highlighted the incredible challenge of race relations in our country today. Obama’s speech was very impressive.
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This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
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Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
Impressive to say the least. It's a speech only Obama could have made with his unique perspective as a black man raised by white people. Hillary tries to dismiss his powerful speeches but IMO all it is is a mere politician dismissing the strengths of a true statesman.
Last edited by whomod; 2008-03-184:08 PM. Reason: wrote "Hillary Lies" instead of "tries" freudian slip
He only made the speach because he's been playing the race card both ways. In church it's the angry black man he nods his head to & for the wider audience we get this show. Obama's unelectable Whomod, you might get him nominated but his connection to Wright & his lies about not knowing about Wright will keep him from getting elected.
He only made the speach because he's been playing the race card both ways. In church it's the angry black man he nods his head to & for the wider audience we get this show. Obama's unelectable Whomod, you might get him nominated but his connection to Wright & his lies about not knowing about Wright will keep him from getting elected.
Well, at least you got past the Hillary can win the nomination phase asit clearly is next to impossible unless they rewrite the rules in her favor as she keeps pushing for. As for Obama, he expanded his lead in delegates over rival Hillary on Saturday, picking up nine delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention.
More than half the 14 delegates allocated to John Edwards on the basis of caucus night projections switched Saturday to Obama. This despite the whole Wright controversy. As for that, Obama addressed that over the weekend and he re-adressed it today. How long do you and the beltway pundits plan on beating that old horse?
If that speech doesn't help Obama, I don't know what will. Intelligently written, movingly delivered. He engaged in a little bit of mixed messaging on affirmative action, welfare and crime, but that's typical for democrats, including Hillary.
A strong speech, better than Mitt Romney's Mormonism address, for example.
How long do you and the beltway pundits plan on beating that old horse?
Well he lied about it if you want to count that as addressing. Hillary has widened her lead in PA & Obama is dropping in the polls so it's probably a good thing he got those delegates now.
I'd pay attention if I were you, whomod. MEM is effectively laying out Hillary's strategy for stealing the nomination. You Obama supporters should be ready to deal with this.
There is no rule that the winner is the one with the most pledged delegates. It's always been who has recieved the popular vote that swing the superdelegates to them.
I'd pay attention if I were you, whomod. MEM is effectively laying out Hillary's strategy for stealing the nomination. You Obama supporters should be ready to deal with this.
Oh, it's pretty much common knowledge that she's trying to rewrite the rules to ones that favor her. Bill Clinton said as much yesterday or the day before.
There is no rule that the winner is the one with the most pledged delegates. It's always been who has recieved the popular vote that swing the superdelegates to them.
That's pretty much grasping at straws though.
Chuck Todd's got an interesting article up on MSNBC this morning. Titled "Can Clinton Win Over Superdelegates?" Todd's write points out some primary-related issues being primarily overlooked. For example, here he is on why the Clinton legacy may dredge up bad memories for the Democrats:
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Simply take a look at Bill Clinton's record from '92 to '00 and you’ll understand why they're having a harder time corralling party activists and elected officials to their side.
Remember, when his name was on the ballot ('92 and '96) the Democratic party lost Senate seats both times. Never mind the beating the party took in '94; a walloping often blamed on both Bill and Hillary. Even in '98, which was, perhaps, the most successful Congressional election of the Clinton era, the party netted zero Senate seats and gained less than a handful of House seats.
Here's Todd on why the media's got Clinton still in the game:
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A Clinton always finds a way to survive, so goes the myth.
Bill Clinton has escaped political death more times than any politician in history. And profiles of Hillary Clinton are rarely written without the word "resilient" being featured prominently.
Todd also spends some time explaining both the media bias towards keeping the campaign going and towards going with what history's taught:
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Many a reporter believes that someone with the last name of "Clinton" should never be counted out.
As expected, commentators are weighing on the powerful speech delivered by Barack Obama. He seems to have exceeded expectations. Taegan Godddard has a compilation of what some pundits are saying about Obama's speech today. I think what Taegan himself wrote is right on point:
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Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race this morning showed off exactly why he's become the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. He's absolutely willing to challenge the conventional way of how politicians approach controversy. In my opinion, it was the best speech so far in this campaign.
It was a great speech. As I wrote right after watching Obama deliver the remarks one thing is true, no other candidate could give a speech like this.Mark Halperin, who for whatever reasons seems to set the tone for the punditry, made these points in a post titled, "Obama Rises to the Occasion on Race and the Race":
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Andrew Sullivan: "I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian."
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Charles Murray: "Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant -- rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols."
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Ben Smith: "A smart colleague notes that this speech is the polar opposite of this year's other big speech on faith, in which Mitt Romney went to Texas to talk about Mormonism, but made just one reference to his Mormon faith. Obama mentions Wright by name 14 times."
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First Read:"His tone throughout was quiet and thoughtful. The same speech could have been delivered in a fiery tone. But Obama chose one that was quiet and thoughtful. It did little to lessen the impact and may have added to the weight of his words."
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Marc Ambinder: "How it plays will determine how it plays. If the media focuses more on the Wright defense-by-renouncements and then juxtaposes them with clips of Wright's comments, then I think the trouble remains. The seeds of doubt about who this guy really is may be nourished. I know that Obama believes that a discussion about race plays to his benefit, no matter what people think about white working class voters and their latent feelings. Perhaps this is the beginning of his opportunity to lift the veil and get everyone -- not just himself and the media -- to talk openly."
Widespread praise from anchors/pundits/reporters for sweeping remarks drawing on American history and his own biracial upbringing.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
Obama rejected Wright's divisive statements but still embraced the man who brought him to Christianity, officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and inspired the title of his book "The Audacity of Hope."
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Obama said.
How can you not disown such a racist. McCain, Bush, or Hilary's pastor had said the same racist things except about black people, and she said he/she couldn't disown him anymore than she could disown the white community, youd be up in arms about it.
you'll never admit it here, but inside you know it. even if you didnt realize how biased you are, you have to now. but as i said you won't admit it, but you know, and all of us know....
He said the same thing about his white grandmother and her anti black views too. He said you accept people while not agreeing with heir negative views. And this pastor has been like family to Obama.
You'd have him throw Wright under the bus for mere political expediency and to sate some racial score. Obama chose to place Wrights comments in their proper social context while soundly rejecting them.
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Andrew Sullivan: "I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian."
He said the same thing about his white grandmother and her anti black views too. He said you accept people while not agreeing with heir negative views. And this pastor has been like family to Obama.
You'd have him throw Wright under the bus for mere political expediency and to sate some racial score. Obama chose to place Wrights comments in their proper social context while soundly rejecting them.
"Accepting people despite their views", and listening to them spew those poisonous views virtually every Sunday for 20 years, are two very separate things.
He said the same thing about his white grandmother and her anti black views too. He said you accept people while not agreeing with heir negative views. And this pastor has been like family to Obama.
I already said it was a well done speech. However, the crazy Reverend isn't family. You can't choose your relatives. You can choose your minister.
Furthermore, Obama was trying to accomplish something very specific by dragging his "white grandmother" into this political mess. He was trying to diminish Wright's hateful theology by implying that it too is a private matter. That's not really the case. His grandmother's comments were made in private, not in a sermon delivered to a congregation of thousands and recorded on DVD.
So here we have, on the one hand, an old prejudiced white woman who would be completely anonymous but for her grandson's political ambition. And, on the other, a leader in the black community who uses his pulpit to preach hate.
They really aren't comparable and, if there was one truly regretable aspect of his speech it was the way he threw his grandmother under a bus in order to excuse his association with a racist.
[Obama] only made the speech because he's been playing the race card both ways. In church it's the angry black man he nods his head to & for the wider audience we get this show. Obama's unelectable Whomod, you might get him nominated but his connection to Wright & his lies about not knowing about Wright will keep him from getting elected.
Exactly.
And that's not even getting into the other issues Obama has waffled on, such as his 17-year association with Tony Rezko (who brokered Obama a sweetheart below-market deal in his house $300,000 below market value, no less, in joint purchase with Rezko, in addition to thousands more in donations over 17 years), wife Michell Obama's anti-american remarks, waffling on making over 100 "present votes" (not yes or no) to avoid having a record later that would haunt him, and still voting the Democrat base on abortion and other hot-button liberal-Democrat-base issues. Plus evasiveness about the level of muslim belief in his family, to the point that he was named Barach Hussein Obama.
Obama doesn't have to bemoan "racism". It's simple enough to let his subordinate followers do that for him, and give him plausible deniability, as he exploits it.
He only made the speach because he's been playing the race card both ways. In church it's the angry black man he nods his head to & for the wider audience we get this show. Obama's unelectable Whomod, you might get him nominated but his connection to Wright & his lies about not knowing about Wright will keep him from getting elected.
Exactly.
I gotta admit. It's sort of fun watching the democrat party close to imploding due to what is coming close to an "affirmative action" nomination process: the sexism card vs the racism card.
As I said before: it would be nice if they just figured out who was the best candidate and nominated that person.
i myself attend a very conservative white majority church where some views i consider anti- democratic (small d) and anti- women (and even oddly enough, anti-rhythm) are espoused. It doesn't make me reject the Pastor completely. I just chalk up some of his views as cultural things.
I gotta admit. It's sort of fun watching the democrat party close to imploding due to what is coming close to an "affirmative action" nomination process: the sexism card vs the racism card.
As I said before: it would be nice if they just figured out who was the best candidate and nominated that person.
It's all the more entertaining, because both Hillary and Obama's oh-so-enlightened liberal campaigns have exploited sexist and race-baiting tactics, even as Democrats as a whole consistently label Republicans as the racist party.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
But I don't think you'd ask him to be your official "spiritual advisor" if you ran for office...would you?
In NBC's morning news program today, they mentioned that Obama took the title of his book The Audacity of Hope from Wright's sermons and ideological influence.
Mark Finkelstein notices that Barack Hussein Obama's anecdote about his white grandmother sounds suspiciously like a story that Jesse Jackson told in 1996.
Obama rejected Wright's divisive statements but still embraced the man who brought him to Christianity, officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and inspired the title of his book "The Audacity of Hope."
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Obama said.
How can you not disown such a racist. McCain, Bush, or Hilary's pastor had said the same racist things except about black people, and she said he/she couldn't disown him anymore than she could disown the white community, youd be up in arms about it.
you'll never admit it here, but inside you know it. even if you didnt realize how biased you are, you have to now. but as i said you won't admit it, but you know, and all of us know....
Originally Posted By: whomod
He said the same thing about his white grandmother and her anti black views too. He said you accept people while not agreeing with heir negative views. And this pastor has been like family to Obama.
You'd have him throw Wright under the bus for mere political expediency and to sate some racial score. Obama chose to place Wrights comments in their proper social context while soundly rejecting them.
so you wouldnt be upset if the situation was reversed with hilary, bush or mccain? you would find it acceptable for them to say they couldnt disown their pastor anymore than they could disown the white community? you would find that political dodging?
strange i remeber you wanting a stronger rebuke of Geraldine Ferrara, oh yes she is a white republican woman....
Last edited by britneyspearsatemyshorts; 2008-03-1810:40 PM.
i just figured since hilary is considered a republican by rev wright, obama and whomod, might as well poor her in. she was after all born into wealth as a white woman...
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's quest to become the first African-American president is being run without the financial support of much of the black corporate elite.
Less than one-third of the 191 black members of the boards of the largest 250 U.S. companies have contributed to the Illinois senator's campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. The list of board members was compiled by Black Enterprise magazine.
Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who is backing Obama, said the relative lack of support reflects a systemic problem: black corporate leaders haven't yet developed the habit of opening their wallets for candidates. Kirk said he encountered a similar reticence in his failed bid as the Democratic nominee for a Texas U.S. Senate seat in 2002.
``Political giving in the African-American and Hispanic communities is very much in its infancy,'' said Kirk, 53, a partner in the law firm of Vinson & Elkins LLP and board member of Dallas-based Brinker International Inc., Phoenix-based Petsmart Inc. and Dallas-based Dean Foods Co.
Maximum Givers
Kirk contributed the maximum $2,300 to Obama in March 2007. Other $2,300 givers include Cleve Killingsworth, chairman of Boston-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and Linda Johnson Rice, president of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Co., the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.
Many others, though, are sitting out the race. Of the corporate board members on the list, 62 contributed to Obama and 30 to his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. Some gave to both candidates.
Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics and director of the African American Leadership Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, said many corporate board members aren't willing to give to a ``change'' candidate such as Obama, 46.
``To the extent they're not Republican, they have been part of the establishment wing of the Democratic Party, not so much a part of the change wing,'' said Walters, a deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential run.
Clinton Ties
Some prominent black corporate directors have long ties to Clinton, 60. These include Vernon Jordan, senior managing director at New York-based Lazard Capital Markets Ltd., and Rodney Slater, a former transportation secretary who is now a partner in the Washington law-lobbying firm Patton Boggs LLP.
Some have supported Republican presidential candidates. Herman Cain, president of T.H.E. New Voice Inc. in Stockbridge, Georgia, gave $2,300 to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in January. Giving to Arizona Senator John McCain was former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, the son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Michael Powell is senior adviser to Providence-based Providence Equity Partners and member of board of San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems Inc.
Many others haven't made any donations at all.
Some black executives gave to Clinton's and Obama's congressional races, though not their presidential campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington- based research group.
Michele Hooper, managing partner of the Chicago-based Directors Council, which helps find minorities to serve on corporate boards, gave to Obama's 2004 Senate race. Kenneth Chenault, chief executive officer of New York-based American Express Co., gave $2,000 to Obama's Senate campaign and $4,000 to Clinton's 2006 re-election bid.
Not Giving
Other chief executives, including Samuel Scott III, chairman of Westchester, Illinois-based Corn Products International Inc., and W. Roy Dunbar, president of Herndon, Virginia-based Network Solutions Inc., have stayed on the sidelines.
Chenault and Dunbar declined comment. Scott, along with most other executives, didn't respond to requests for comment.
In response to the lack of black corporate support, Jen Psaki, a campaign spokeswoman, said Obama has ``a group of donors'' that ``will continue to grow.''
Harvey Gantt, who ran against ran against Jesse Helms for a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina in a contest that aroused racial animosities, said he planned to give to Obama.
``It's time to pass the torch,'' said Gantt, 65, now on the board of directors of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp.
Younger Donors
Walters said there may be generational differences, with the younger executives more likely to give to Obama.
The more senior corporate leaders ``have to look out for the interests of their firms and their associations,'' Walters said.
Obama's business support may be coming from owners of small companies, said Robert Smith, a political science professor at San Francisco State University and author of the Encyclopedia of African American Politics.
``An independent businessman might feel a bit freer to contribute than one connected to a major corporation,'' Smith said. There is now way to estimate such giving as the FEC doesn't disclose the race of donors.
The support of the black corporate elite would be more symbolic than financial for Obama, who has built an unprecedented fundraising machine that has brought in close to $200 million from more than 1 million donors. More than a third of that has been raised in contributions of $200 or less.
Obama ``hasn't been doing the traditional dinners and events because he has such a powerful on-line fundraising base,'' said Anthony Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net .
this kinda proves that Obama is all style and no substance. these black men have become successful, much more successful than many white people i know. they realize hard work and education got them where they are, not relying on a crutch or the need to blame others for their station in life, but by going out and doing.
people like that dont arent easily swayed by the obamas and rev wrights of the world
Perhaps Obama would make more of a difference in an Al Gore type of capacity? I mean just think how more effective that speach would have been if you didn't know it was just Obama being self serving & trying to get away from yet another friend he chose to associate with.
this kinda proves that Obama is all style and no substance. these black men have become successful, much more successful than many white people i know. they realize hard work and education got them where they are, not relying on a crutch or the need to blame others for their station in life, but by going out and doing.
people like that dont arent easily swayed by the obamas and rev wrights of the world
um.. bsams..
Originally Posted By: Barak Obama's A More Perfect Union Speech
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for our own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
I know your reaction is the usual knee jerk putting your back up to the black Democratic man who you think is demanding something from you. All this half black man would want I imagine would be for you to pay attention.
so you wouldnt be upset if the situation was reversed with hilary, bush or mccain? you would find it acceptable for them to say they couldnt disown their pastor anymore than they could disown the white community? you would find that political dodging?
strange i remeber you wanting a stronger rebuke of Geraldine Ferrara, oh yes she is a white republican woman....
Geraldine Ferraro said very direct things about Obama personally in order to sway support towards Clinton (as did Bill Clinton). This Wright fellow would fall more along the lines of say Falwell saying 9/11 was on account of the gays.
McCain actually did call Falwell an agent of intolerance once and then proceeded to flip-flop and speak at Liberty university when it became politically advantageous to him later on. So I have to admire Obama's honesty on this one and not just making the expected disingenuous calculated political move. It would have been easier to just throw him under the bus publicly for everyones benefit. Instead he chose a gutsier move and made a historic move in the process.
