What Obama didn't say . . .

[LuckyLib]

Interesting thoughts in an editorial by Syl Jones: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/16912501.html


<snip> Somewhere in the middle of Barack Obama's speech about race in America, one can imagine him thinking, "I'm tiptoeing through a minefield and my feet haven't been blown off." Yet, that is. There's still time.

<snip>From a political point of view, Obama hit the ball out of the park with a sweeping, personal indictment of racial politics in what will be remembered in the black community as The Speech. He sought to communicate his unique perspective as an interracial American and to do so honestly, hoping that his listeners and his critics would engage as adults.

<snip> But here's what Obama couldn't and didn't say, because his political viability hung in the balance. Think of these as the redacted remarks from the junior senator from Illinois:

<snip> "Why am I being asked to justify the comments of a man who is free, as is any American, to say what he wishes, to express his unique point of view?
"How many of you have relatives -- not pastors but members of your immediate family -- who use the N word, who disparage blacks, Hispanics and Asians with regularity?

continued . . .

[babylonsister]

1. That first question is certainly valid and a good point; that second one,

luckily I don't know anyone who does that, at least not in my presence.

[LVjinx]

4. The criticism of the speech already is that he tried to change the subject instead of addressing it

These comments would have verified that.

[babylonsister]

9. He DID address the subject. Rev. Wright is his friend and

Obama isn't willing to sever that tie. I don't blame him and like him even more for it. The easy solution would have been to divorce himself from his friend.

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. I don't know anyone who opines that the US govt is deliberately

inflicting HIV or crack. And this comes from someone who, like American blacks, knows that her people were subject to medical experiments.

[TomBall Democrat]

3. I do, Fredda and I know people who truly believe that

the US govt brought down the Twin Towers.

I can't understand fully why they believe it, but they do. My sense is that they feel disenfranchised, and the US govt makes a great focal point for their rage.

The first time someone told me they believed these things, I laughed. Wrong thing to do, I learned quickly.

[Karenina]

6. The U.S. gubmint and *MIC

SHOULD be the focus of your rage. If it isn't, you're simply NOT paying attention and/or have chosen to remain lethally ignorant.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Karenina]

10. I feel for you, Fredda.

More deeply than you will ever know...

[Fredda Weinberg]

7. But keeping silent isn't an option either. They say they're on our side

but I don't believe it.

When I worked w/Reverend Thomas Masters in Riviera Beach, he had to get over *his* prejudices. Honestly, it wasn't easy for him, although I was arranging free computers for his church's day care center.

[Karenina]

5. More snippets..

"Why is Jeremiah Wright being condemned for essentially repeating the beliefs that millions around the world have expressed: that America is fundamentally racist? What is it about 'fundamentally racist' that you do not understand? A nation that has consistently denied people of color equal opportunity, that uses antiquated laws to enforce unequal justice between offenders based on race, that incarcerates a huge percentage of black men, that even puts them to death in far greater proportions than white men --- a nation such as this is indeed fundamentally racist, and the fact that so many of you refuse to understand this shows how ignorant you really are.

<snip>

But Obama didn't say this. To rise to high office in America, a black candidate must always ensure that whites in, say, Allentown, are comfortable with him. He must never ask the electorate to understand, accept and even embrace the pain of black America. For in doing so, he would be invoking a national period of mourning -- the laying of a wreath on the tomb of untold multitudes who died because of racial injustice -- as a prerequisite for engaging in national racial reconciliation.

Until this occurs, not even the election of a Barack Obama as president will end our national obsession with race -- another golden opportunity squandered because too many Americans are unable to admit that the past is too persistently present to be forgotten.

[anonymeme]

11. Why Does Anyone Who Is Not a Black Have to Defend Legitimate Concerns Against Charges Of Racism?

Why Does Anyone Who Is Not a Black Have to Defend Legitimate Concerns Against Charges Of Racism?

If we say, hey Obama got money from a corrupt political money-nan (Rezko), somehow it gets twisted into a supposed racially motivated question.

If we say, Obama's preacher espoused some highly radical ideas -- which he did and does among and within his repertoire of more standard homilies -- we're somehow branded racist for saying that or -- God forbid questioning anything the demigod-demagogue Barack Obama says.

He needs to address it because of the potential influence of radical and fanatical ideas.

[anonymeme]

12. Obama Needed to Address Wright's Comments Because of the Potential Influence of Fanatic Ideas On Him

Obama Needed to Address Wright's Comments Because of the Potential Influence of Fanatic Ideas On Him.

And there is nothing wrong with anyone asking him to explain his positions with regard to radical and fanatic ideas propounded by his spiritual mentor -- Jeremiah Wright -- a man who didn't just eat breakfast with him once, but who married him and his wife and baptized their children, and preached sermons to him over 20 years.