Obama tackles race anger in major speech

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

If you failed to read/hear any substance in his speech today, then maybe you're just too smug to comprehend anything you don't type yourself.

Do you ever make intelligent comments? Every response I have ever seen from you in a contentious political discussion is some one-liner that you obviously think makes you sound smart.

I was not addressing the speech specifically but the circumstances around it.

I heard the speech and it did sound great and it did have some substance to it- but it also had a lot of excuses and at the end of the day I do not think it will matter to many voters who supported Hillary or for swing voters who are undecided- the people he needs to win a general election.

I avoided getting into the specifics of the speech since I knew a handful of morons like you (and you are the king race baiter on this forum in case you didn't know it) would not be able to have a rational discussion about it.

Instead I focused on the practical realities of what has happened- and in the end that is what really matters if we are talking about who will win the Oval Office in November.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

Do you ever make intelligent comments?

Does your mother?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Does your mother?

all Hail the KING (race baiter)

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

all Hail the KING (race baiter)

LOL! Because ALL of my Race War threads were soooooooo successful!

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Does your mother?

LOL.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

I heard the speech and it did sound great and it did have some substance to it- but it also had a lot of excuses and at the end of the day I do not think it will matter to many voters who supported Hillary or for swing voters who are undecided- the people he needs to win a general election.

I avoided getting into the specifics of the speech since I knew a handful of morons like you (and you are the king race baiter on this forum in case you didn't know it) would not be able to have a rational discussion about it.

so,,,,,uuuhh...without the 'moron' portion...what did YOU get out of this speech today.....care to talk about that with out 3rd grade namecalling?

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

so,,,,,uuuhh...without the 'moron' portion...what did YOU get out of this speech today.....care to talk about that with out 3rd grade namecalling?

I think he did what he had to do, and he did it extraordinarily well. And that was to make it clear he does not agree with Wright's comments to create a separation to appease the majority of voters while also not abandoning his church and risking the support of many who at one time thought he was "not black enough".

On a personal level, I will admit it all rang a bit hollow for me however. I am just tired and weary of race being such an issue in this campaign- just as I am a bit weary of race being dragged out so often at every perceived injustice. I accept and understand racism against African-Americans is still very real, but I also understand that much of the leadership in that community has very self-oriented viewpoints and have no trouble using the race card in a very imbalanced way to promote goals that are largely politically and economically based.

In Obama's defense, it was the media that started the race business and not him. This nation is ready to elect a qualified President without taking race into account, and the media is where the guilt trip started whereby anyone who questioned him would be criticized on the grounds it was racially based. It is the same thing as when the media made a big scene about Joe Lieberman and whether the country was ready for a Jewish Vice President. And it is unfortunate since it puts such candidates at an automatic disadvantage when people of other races get automatically defensive about the assumption that their lack of support means they are potentially "racist".

This is not fair for Obama, but each candidate has things to overcome and they need- by expressing their own personal vision in a practical manner- to do that effectively.

Hillary has done a great job of establishing herself in her own right even though the media wants to play up the Bill Clinton factor.

John McCain has done a decent job of getting past the fact that early in the campaign he spoke at Bob Jones University- which is just as bad as what Obama is mired in right now and the reason I thought McCain was dead in the water early on.

Obama needs to get beyond this in a very clear break- and it is unfortunate that many of the allies he needs most will not let him do this. His speech today was a tremendous effort in that direction, but it was an impossible task to begin with.

I would not vote for Obama on lack of substance and on disagreement with him on his general stances which I think will lead to a more socialist form of government- but I do find him and his wife both to be very eloquent and intelligent people.

In fact his high level of intelligence makes me question all the more why he tied himself so closely to that church to begin with. Maybe the answer is that he had to get over the "not black enough" issue and this was how to do it.

Either way, my earlier posts were intended to be cold analysis of the facts as I see them- and not reflect any personal feeling about Obama as I have never met him and so don't have anything to offer.

As for the "moron" comment- that has been a long time in coming and it was well-earned. Someone talking about my Mom needs no reply- it speaks for itself.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

As for the "moron" comment- that has been a long time in coming and it was well-earned. Someone talking about my Mom needs no reply- it speaks for itself.

Haaaaaaaaa you so replied

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Haaaaaaaaa you so replied

I have to admit this made me laugh- now that I have calmed down a bit.

Somehow I get the feeling we would get along a lot better in person.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

I accept and understand racism against African-Americans is still very real, but I also understand that much of the leadership in that community has very self-oriented viewpoints and have no trouble using the race card in a very imbalanced way to promote goals that are largely politically and economically based.

So..you accept and understand...but what are you doing about it?

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

So..you accept and understand...but what are you doing about it?

All I can do it live it- in my hiring decisions and in who I do business with.

I learned very early in life that results matter. And I hire and promote people based on results, period. I am very comfortable stating that and standing by it.

In a broader sense, it is harder because there is so much vitriol out there to contend with when one goes public.

When I meet someone, they have the same "chance" with me as everyone else in the context of the developing relationship- be it personal or professional.

But as much as I despise the "Bob Jones" mentality, I also despise the "Reverend Wright" mentality because I see them as one in the same.

Yet it is hard to be up front about that since you never know if someone will be the same or let personal biases influence their relative views. And maybe to an extent I have my own biases I don't even recognize.

I have worked with people who told me to my face they hate blacks, Mexicans, Asians etc. But I have also worked with minorities who I have seen use their racial status and legal favor of their status to force themselves into being treated specially beyond what they deserved.

And this is where people get defensive and scared. And whether you get defensive or scared depends on what your views are, the views of the other person and where the power is in that relationship (ie who works for who etc.)

On a national scale- the answer is that the media needs to stop promoting racial tension to achieve TV ratings. There is a fine line between exposing hidden injustice and talking up non-issues, but I think that line has been crossed.

How you do that is hard to say. The media does this to make money- and in a capitalist society, any society really, the goal is to make a good living for one's self.

So all you can do is your part to keep your little piece of the earth as it should be.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

All I can do it live it- in my hiring decisions and in who I do business with.

I learned very early in life that results matter. And I hire and promote people based on results, period. I am very comfortable stating that and standing by it.

In a broader sense, it is harder because there is so much vitriol out there to contend with when one goes public.

When I meet someone, they have the same "chance" with me as everyone else in the context of the developing relationship- be it personal or professional.

But as much as I despise the "Bob Jones" mentality, I also despise the "Reverend Wright" mentality because I see them as one in the same.

Yet it is hard to be up front about that since you never know if someone will be the same or let personal biases influence their relative views. And maybe to an extent I have my own biases I don't even recognize.

I have worked with people who told me to my face they hate blacks, Mexicans, Asians etc. But I have also worked with minorities who I have seen use their racial status and legal favor of their status to force themselves into being treated specially beyond what they deserved.

And this is where people get defensive and scared. And whether you get defensive or scared depends on what your views are, the views of the other person and where the power is in that relationship (ie who works for who etc.)

On a national scale- the answer is that the media needs to stop promoting racial tension to achieve TV ratings. There is a fine line between exposing hidden injustice and talking up non-issues, but I think that line has been crossed.

How you do that is hard to say. The media does this to make money- and in a capitalist society, any society really, the goal is to make a good living for one's self.

So all you can do is your part to keep your little piece of the earth as it should be.

that reminds me....how often this year as opposed to other election years has it been emphasized as to the breakdown of what race is voting for who?

That sickens me...and it insults my intelligence....

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

that reminds me....how often this year as opposed to other election years has it been emphasized as to the breakdown of what race is voting for who?

That sickens me...and it insults my intelligence....

It is a new thing in the general media with this election. Ann Coulter likes to bring up race and voting blocks all the time, but in the past this has not been a staple of general media reporting, or even among many advocates/pundits.

I share your sense of being sick and feeling my intelligence has been insulted.

At the end of the day, this is how I see the Obama situation with regards to Reverend Wright,

1. Obama made a strategic decision early in the race to focus on a very high level approach to campaigning. This avoided specifics and a degree of substance, but also kept him free to avoid getting mired in details over specific comments that in the modern media can come back to bite you. A good example is McCain and the 100 years in Iraq comment.

2. This strategy served him very well early on- and still is really. However, he came into this situation with Wright as the candidate a lot of people did not really have a good handle on. This is in part due to the fact that he deliberately took a very high level message approach in his speeches, and also due to the fact the other 2 major candidates have very long and well known public records.

3. At a certain point, he made it very clear that his church and his pastor were a major force in his life.

4. Then the Wright stuff comes out- a perfect media story full of hate and sensationalism. And then a LOT of people who don't personally identify with Obama or understand where he is coming from are going to automatically, and unfairly, associate him negatively with Rev. Wright.

I think that is the bottom line here. Race pervades this in a sense, but it is not the fundamental issue. The media making it an issue- and bringing out pundits who defend Wright in part- just makes it harder on Obama.