From Barack Obama's Speech on Race:
"We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. "
Yes, we did. We saw Jesse Jackson Jr, Barack's National Co-Chair, go on television after NH and bring race into the primary when he said Hillary Clinton didn't cry over black victims of Hurricane Katrina.
We also saw Michelle Obama twist Bill Clinton saying Barack's waffling on the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" into it being about race.
"To dismiss this moment as an illusion -- a "fairy tale," we're going to have to dig deep into our souls and confront our own self-doubt and recognize that our destiny is our hands."
Then there was the memo Barack's South Carolina press secretary sent out twisting the words of Hillary and Bill Clinton into being something racist. Then there was the way Barack helped distort the comment Hillary Clinton made about Lyndon Johnson:
"Senator Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill-advised remark, about King and Lyndon Johnson. I didn't make the statement," Obama said in a conference call with reporters. "I haven't remarked on it. And she, I think, offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act. She is free to explain that. But the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."
Again, the Obama campaign twisted what was said to bring racial politics into the primary. Yes, we did see racial tensions bubble to the surface leading to South Carolina and those of us who have not swallowed the kool-aid saw how the Obama campaign fueled it. Then there is the little discussed radio ad his supporters ran in Nevada to drive a wedge between Hillary Clinton and Latino voters. John Edwards even jumped into the fray and denounced the radio ad.
But Barack Obama refused to step in and tell his supporters to end the racist radio ad even though it was widely criticized in several places. Here is the text of the radio ad run by his supporters, first in Spanish:
"Hillary Clinton no respeta a nuestra gente los partidarios de Hillary Clinton fueron a corte para evitar que la gente que trabaja pueda votar este sábado, eso es vergonzoso. Los partidarios de Hillary Clinton quieren evitar que la gente que trabaja el sábado pueda votar en sus lugares de empleo. ¡Imperdonable! Hillary Clinton no tiene vergüenza. Hillary Clinton no debería permitir que sus amigos ataquen el derecho de nuestra gente de votar este sábado. Es imperdonable! No hay respeto el senador Barack Obama esta defendiendo nuestro derecho de votar. El senador Barack Obama quiere nuestros votos, el respeta nuestros votos, nuestra comunidad y a nuestra gente. El lema de la campaña de Barrack Obama es “sí se puede, si se puede”. Vote por un presidente que nos respeta y respeta nuestro derecho de votar. Obama para presidente. Si se puede. Pagada por UNITE HERE."
Then in English;
"Hillary Clinton does not respect our people. Hillary Clinton supporters went to court to prevent working people to vote this Saturday — that is an embarrassment. Hillary Clinton supporters want to prevent people from voting in their workplace on Saturday. This is unforgivable. Hillary Clinton is shameless. Hillary Clinton should not allow her friends to attack our people’s right to vote this Saturday. This is unforgivable; there’s no respect Sen. Obama is defending our right to vote. Sen. Obama wants our votes. He respects our votes, our community, and our people. Sen. Obama’s campaign slogan is ”Yes We Can”. Vote for a president that respects us, and that respects our right to vote. Obama for president, ”Yes We Can”. Paid for by UNITE HERE Campaign Committee."
Where was the Barack Obama that today delivered a speech on the state of race relations in America? He was silent because it was benefiting him and is now speaking out because like his pastor says; "the chickens are coming home to roost" and his identity politics campaign is blowing up in his face.
"I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed."
Here Barack does something very clever and admits that he has indeed heard of the kind of things we've seen on television and YouTube. This goes against what Barack was saying last week and in the same passage tries to guilt us for what he sat there and listened to. Many of us have probably heard remarks by our religious leaders that we don't agree with but this isn't about us. This is about Barack sitting there for 20 years and forming a friendship with Rev. Wright and not distancing himself from the rhetoric of his pastor.
Once again Barack is quick to put himself on the cross and blame us. Nobody is asking him to disown the black community and it is absurd for him to liken him choosing to be associated with the controversial pastor to a blood relative. He can't choose his grandmother but he certainly has chosen his pastor. Not content with nailing himself to a cross he dons a crown of thorns to complete the tableau. He tells us that the white grandmother that sent him to the best schools and gave him a good life is a racist. If the thoughts of little black Barack being raised by a racist doesn't make you cry and feel bad for him then there must be something wrong with you."I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
"Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias."
Yes, we will. He knows that those of us who have not swallowed the kool-aid are calling BS but he again makes it about someone else. He reminds us that Geraldine Ferraro dissed him and hides Reverend Wright and the offensive things he said about America behind Geraldine Ferraro and ultimately Hillary Clinton. To Barack it is ok that his pastor is a demagogue because Geraldine Ferraro raised money for Hillary Clinton and raising money for Hillary is just as bad as sitting in Wright's church for 20 years and listening to him rant.
"A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us."
Barack tries to hitch his wagon to the plight of the black community while failing to inform us that his friend Tony Rezko created such living conditions in Obama's district in Chicago. The very same group of people and problems that Obama mentions can be found in his district and the blight and neglect was compounded by his friend and political patron of 20 years.
What did Barack do to stop his friend from adding to the blight and neglect that plagues black neighborhoods? Nothing, he remained silent and to this day asserts that Tony Rezko is a friend of his until he finds the need to throw him under the bus.
"Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism."So now Reagan's Coalition is something bad to Barack? After dog whistling to Republicans by calling Reagan a "transformative" figure and calling the Republican Party "the party of ideas" now he wants to discuss how that transformation and those ideas were poisonous to America? Give me a break.
"But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man who's been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny."
If Barack feels for the white woman trying to break the glass ceiling does this mean he will drop out of the race and let Hillary Clinton become the Democratic nominee for President? Surely someone so in tune with the struggles of white women trying to break the glass ceiling wouldn't have his campaign try to paint the white woman in the race as racist and try to keep her from breaking this one particular ceiling once and for all.
"We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.Yes, we can. Yes, you did. His campaign has pounced on all kinds of "gaffes" by Hillary supporters are evidence that she's playing the race card. Most recentlty;We can do that."
Axelrod: Clinton campaign has "insidious pattern" on race, other attacks
"All this is part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed," he said.
Axelrod asked "whether she's trying to send a signal to her supporters that anything goes."
Axelrod called on Clinton to drop Ferraro from her finance committee.
"He has assumed a kind of junkyard dog role in this campaign," he said.
Obviously Barack doesn't have his own campaign and his wife in mind when he says we shouldn't pounce and label Hillary Clinton a racist. The problem lies with us and I guess to a larger extend the media who repeats his whispers of racism and asks them to amplify it to us. The race card being played is not Obama's problem, or fault, but ours.
"This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit."
Just like him being in tune with those white women who are trying to break the glass ceiling Barack is also in tune with the every man who is losing his job. Where was the Barack of today's speech when his contributors were closing down plants in Illinois?
"Obama had a special connection to Maytag: Lester Crown, one of the company's directors and biggest investors whose family, records show, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaigns since 2003. But Crown says Obama never raised the fate of the Galesburg plant with him, and the billionaire industrialist insists any jawboning would have been futile."
Today's speech on race is being touted as the best speech ever given since Barack's last speech. It is nothing more than empty rhetoric served up with a side of passing the buck and obfuscation. Instead of owning his mistakes he pawns it off on America, the voters and Hillary Clinton. He nails himself to a cross and put the crown of thorns on himself and asks us feel for what we have made him do.
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