Mrs. Dunham's (Tutu) been a big supporter of the non-profit I work for, so this news comes as a shock.

To UGAalum94 and others, she's a Hawaii banking pioneer: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...ING01/81020084 -- she was in the spotlight long before her grandson gave that amazing speech at the 2004 DNC.

I intentionally plucked this from a non-right wing site:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/20/141741/528

ETA: Huff Post seems to have an active audio link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0...-_n_92587.html

It's hard to find an active clip of the audio, but this myDD page links to another blogger covering it.

Jesus Christ, he didn't "call her out" for her "racism". Either you didn't read or hear the entire speech or you just can't or won't see beyond your own defined spectrum of views and what you want to hear/believe or you're just being obtuse.

I apologize for using this mention of her ill health to snark about the media.

I'm glad you found the other link because yeah, the blog from "bdog"... not exactly the news source you trust.

Hey, look, if you can listen to that entire clip (and yes, I'm sure that he in retrospect thought that if he'd had an edit button he'd have taken out the word "white" and either left it as "typical person" or even attribute it to her being from an older generation) and really only get out of it that he is therefore calling every white person "racist" and not getting what he's actually trying to address, then that's what you get to hear/believe. I get what he's saying. And I appreciate that he's not afraid to talk about these issues in a more frank manner than people are used to. But if you're not hearing that or getting that, then hey, that's your prism and your perspective and feel free to keep harping, then.

Nittany, do you not see saying that she was afraid of black men and used racial and ethnic stereotypes as identifying her racism? He did that in the speech.

In a later interview, he says, he's not really racist; she'd just a typical white person.

I'm not making that up or mishearing it. And I'm not the only one who looked at it that way. Clinton supporters regarded it the same way at the time.

I agree with your assessment of the speech overall, but the comments about his grandmother and his equating her with Wright on the other end of the spectrum don't really honor her as she might deserve to be honored.

ETA: I'm not trying to build a case bigger than he talked some crap about his grandmother's racial attitudes and I thought it was noteworthy that the OP mentioned the comments about her, but not what they were. I'm not trying to say that Obama hates white people or anything.


ETA: about bdog, I feel that way about a lot of MyDD, but I felt like you might accept the link to blogger who bills herself as the answer to right wing talk radio.

Considering that in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, Obama's grandmother would have been 33, I'd say it's fair to say that her attitudes were typical for her generation. I know, he didn't specifically say that. I also know that he grew up as a bi-racial kid during a time that it was extremely frowned upon. I'd like to believe that it's not typical now, but I've heard enough to believe that racism is still pretty active. I'm still shocked that the "n" word comes out of some people's mouths as easily as it does. I watched our school board, in 1983, harass a new kid in school for more and more proof of residency when he moved into our area until he finally gave up and went back to his old high school for his senior year because he was the first African American to ever come to our school district. I saw it rampant in the generation before me. I see it less in my generation. I see it even less in my daughter's generation, thank goodness. It's becoming less typical, it's taking generations and generations but it's still there. We have to look a little harder for it when we're white because we're not the target, but it's clear from threads on here, that our African American posters on GC see it a lot more.

Yes, he did, to make a LARGER point. Which was obviously lost on you.

No. I wasn't lost on me; it just didn't negate what he said about her.

I though his speech on race was generally fine, but some points, like this kind of I-have-to-love-both-Wright-and-my-grandmother-who-are-both-capable-of-racism less effective than you apparently did.

ETA: I suppose I should clarify that I do think we are better off accepting people and working with who they are, but I think it was bad to defend his relationship with Wright (an entirely elected one which he did in fact later sever and which prompted at least the timing of the speech if not the very fact that it was made) by drawing an analogy with his grandmother who while flawed, apparently showed him nothing but unconditional love.

Yes, apparently.

No doubt.

I don't read blogs, but thanks for knowing me well enough to assume what I will or won't "accept" or be able to understand unless it's written by someone who somehow miraculously holds every single view I do. (and because you seem to only read black or white, I'm adding the note that this should be read with dripping sarcasm, not sure you'll get the nuance)

Oh, I do. Perhaps it's a shame you don't recognize when other people are pulling your leg.

Maybe it will be slightly funnier if you google the results yourself and you see how many right wing blogs come up long before you get to anyone who would seem objective on the point. I think the first link returned is to Fox.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...earch&aq=f&oq=

Honestly, what would you have said if I posted a link on the topic from Fox news? You know you would have mentioned it, don't you?

No harder than it is to slam an opponent when he's off fixing the economy haha. ;)

In all seriousness, I hope his grandmother gets well and him having to take 2 days off costs him the election.