Two questions for Obama

[emilyg]

More Reaction to Obama’s Speech: Two Questions for Senator Obama
by Pamela Leavey
March 19th, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
Lanny David, “a supporter of Senator Clinton” asks a couple of questions of Barack Obama regarding his speech yesterday. David says, “if Senator Obama ends up the party’s nominee — for sure Senator McCain will insist they be answered in the fall.”

These two questions are:

1. If a white minister preached sermons to his congregation and had used the “N” word and used rhetoric and words similar to members of the KKK, would you support a Democratic presidential candidate who decided to continue to be a member of that congregation?

2. Would you support that candidate if, after knowing of or hearing those sermons, he or she still appointed that minister to serve on his or her “Religious Advisory Committee” of his or her presidential campaign?

I hope my message gets to someone in the Obama campaign — or to a reporter traveling with the Senator — who can persuade Senator Obama to answer them directly. As I just wrote, he will have to do so — either now or perhaps in the fall.

Word has it that Clinton surrogates are staying mum on the Wright issue and for good reason, I think. However, I also think these are viable questions that will come up in the fall if not answered now. One speech isn’t going to make this issue go away.

Obama told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive one-on-one interview today, “In some ways this, this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than than some of the other conventional candidates.” There is more on the Anderson Cooper interview here.

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Filed under: John McCain '08, In The Blogosphere, Political Speeches, Racism, Bigotry, Religion & Spirituality, Republicans, Democrats, Barack Obama '08, Election '08, Pamela Leavey, In The News, Politics, Political News, Hillary Clinton '08 | Get Permalink or
more.... http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2008/03/19/more-reaction-to-obamas-speech-two-questions-for-senator-obama/

[woolldog]

1. Wright

was not using racist language against whites. He was not arguing that whites are bad people or that whites are inferior to any other race, and he was not calling for violence against anyone on racial lines....therefore that analogy of TUCC to the KKK fails. There are whites who attend TUCC for godssake.

TUCC is nothing like the KKK. Do people realize what the KKK has been about? The sheer ignorance contained in the comparison is astounding. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5167638&mesg_id=5167638


If you think that he made any racist speeches against whites, provide some evidence in the form of quotes.

[anigbrowl]

5. Right. I find this continual allegation of 'hate speech' untruthful and offensive

It's an insult to my intelligence and that of everyone else who reads it. I'd cheerfully go listen to wright preach if I had the opportunity, and I am not even Christian. I thought the essence of liberal politics was being unafraid to speak truth to power, unafraid to challenge institutions we find to be corrupt or otherwise lacking. Sometimes our challenges are misplaced, as some of Wright's were misplaced, but I fully support his right to issue them.

I find the OPs denigration wrapped in the thin veneer of concern, as with so many other posts on this subject, a particularly odious and insidious form of hypocrisy, one which should have no place in our public discourse or in the rhetorical toolbox of any self-respecting person.

[anigbrowl]

7. I might add...

that while I'm particularly addressing Lanny Davis' comments, reposting them and their ilk on DU with a straight face is just as obnoxious. I am sickened by the false propriety which types 'n*****' at the same time that it pushes the subtext of Wright being an 'uppity nigger'. If there's one thing I find more offensive than overt racism it's covert racism from people who are educated enough to know better.

[Cant trust em]

2. I don't think the analogy is appropriate

The Rev. Wright didn't make an statements that were similar to members of the KKK. He accurately pointed out that Europeans have a history of imperialism against people with dark skin. He accurately pointed out that Hilary Clinton has not been discriminated against in the same ways that Barack Obama has been discriminated against. He accurately pointed out that U.S. foreign policy is complicit in some of the anti-American sentiment that runs throughout the world. At no time did he ever advocate for the elimination of civil rights for whites, nor did he ever promote violence against whites. This comparison really doesn't hold water.

The second question is valid however. Having Wright as an official member of the campaign was a mistake. One that has since been rectified.

[GarbagemanLB]

3. Get back to me when you have evidence of whites being discriminated against for 200 years after the

founding of our country. Then your analogy would be accurate.

[taught_me_patience]

4. lame lame lame

you're comparing some words of a fiery pastor to the hateful, intimidating actions of the KKK? Laughable.

[Recursion]

6. Come up with an example of Wright attacking white people and you might have something

The fact that you compared Wright to a member of a terrorist organization is appalling.

[Forkboy]

8. How you doing tonight emily?

:hug:

[blogslut]

9. Hypotheticals are fun, Mr. Davis

Here's one:

If Hillary Clinton had bothered to read the NIE, would she still have voted for the IWR?

[ksquire]

10. For full context, read the transcript.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/19/obama-on-controversy/

"If I was just running the textbook campaign– doing the conventional thing, I probably wasn't going to win because Senator Clinton was going to be much more capable of doing that than I would be," he said. "We had tremendous success– and I think we were starting to get a little comfortable and conventional right before Texas and Ohio."

[ksquire]

11. on question #1

There's a big difference between the KKK and black power. Black power has been constructed to fight the institutionalized power structures that privilege whites. If you know anything about Chicago, you know that blacks have been systematically shut out of jobs - such as political patronage jobs. So you really can't compare them.

Second, most of what Rev. Wright was saying has been shown to be true -- with of course the exception of the AIDs thing (although Tuskegee is a similar example).

Finally, and maybe I'm incorrect for assuming this -- but if you've read his autobiography, you know that he spent a lot of time fighting racism within his own family -- from all sides, so I think it's really disingenuous to claim that he might hold those views.

[quakerboy]

12. So.. this must be "Frame it like the right" day here at DU

Obviously we should accept any framing of language that the RW cares to use. When they ask us "when did you stop beating your gay lovers" we should accept and answer that question as directly and quickly as possible.