Obama grills nominee on '87 racial remarks...

[carpe diem]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Thursday he was troubled by racially insensitive comments attributed more than a decade ago to a woman the Bush administration has tapped for a top State Department job, and he threatened to block her nomination until his concerns were addressed.

Henrietta Holsman Fore, who is the director of the U.S. Mint, was nominated to be the undersecretary of state for management. The position oversees human resources and the civil rights office for State Department employees around the world.

Questions arise at hearing

The comments were brought up Thursday during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Obama pressed Fore to explain remarks she gave during a question-and-answer session after a 1987 speech at Wellesley College outside Boston.

At the time, news accounts of the speech reported that Fore suggested blacks preferred pushing drugs to working in factory jobs and that Hispanic workers were lazy. The remarks were misunderstood, Fore said, but she resigned as a Wellesley trustee to quell the controversy at the college.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506100185jun10,1,6901930.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

[GCP]

1. No doubt the remarks were taken out of context

:sarcasm:

[wndycty]

2. I thought Obama was a sell out. . .

. . .unless Howard Dean moves to block the nominee this may fail. . .or I forget he does not have the responsibility of serving in the United States Senate.

[acmejack]

3. Just because he is a DLC guy doesn't mean he isn't still a black man.

New Dems have their moments...

[wndycty]

4. Oh thanks. . .

:kick:

[acmejack]

5. Which part of my post do you believe untrue?

Or specifically what do you take issue with in my statement? I believe it is correct.

[EarlG]

7. Obama isn't DLC

From 2003:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/48/48_cover.html

"I am not currently, nor have I ever been, a member of the DLC," said Obama, in a statement that substantially reflects a telephone conversation with Black Commentator Associate Editor Bruce Dixon, this weekend. "It does appear that, without my knowledge, the DLC ... listed me in their 'New Democrat' directory," Obama continued. "Because I agree that such a directory implies membership, I will be calling the DLC to have my name removed, and appreciate your having brought this fact to my attention."

Unless things have changed since then... just wanted to clear that up.

[Crankie Avalon]

6. Towards the end of the article:

"Sadly, none of them have stayed with the company but in their words wanted to go `back to the street' to earn more money," she wrote. "My comments referred only to these few individuals in my experience and not to the black community as a whole."

Well, there it is...she didn't mean the black community as a whole, just every black person in her "experience." :eyes: