Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Obama's Speech on Race



What do YOU think?
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone who wants to find fault with Senator Obama's speech will, but it is their own heart that they need to examine. To say he threw his grandmother under the bus is disengenious to put it mildly. He simply expressed that the anger resentment and distrust is present in both races and those that would pretend it is not are not truthful. I also come from a very mixed heritage and my white relatives have made comments I question, just as my black relatives have. I believe the people saying they would have left their church are hypocrites, because I dont believe they have never heard their pastor, priest, or rabbi say something controversial, we all have but you dont throw out the baby with the bath water. I think the people who pretend they would have done so are the worse kind of deep seeded racist. They stand on their pedestal to attack Senator Obama on his former pastors words because they just dont want to admitt the real attack is because of his race. Hillary Clinton has had the same things said by her supporters and her shady dealings are legendary yet many whites want to pretend that fact dosent exist because the alternative is a African American. Senator Obama has made himself available to answer all questions asked of him yet for some it is never enough. I think they need to look into their own hearts and ask theselves why.

8:02 AM
Anonymous said...

Excellent speaker as usual and he didn't throw his pastor under the bus like most politicians would have someone causing them some angst. I detest what his preacher espoused in those clips, but I am sure his entire sermons were not full of the rage and venom that we witnessed from those DVDs. I personally wouldn't attend a sermon were the minister said such hatred things--it's a matter of choice and I would no longer listen to him than I would anyone in my family who believed such things. I don't need to use Obama's minister to attack some of his stands on the issues. Just because people disagree with Obama on some of his views and disagree with Hillary Clinton less doesn't make people closeted racists. It just makes them human.

9:20 AM
Anonymous said...

I watched the entire speech last night and thought it was wonderfully crafted. It address specific questions, issues without avoiding hard questions and concerns.

The unfortuante thing about it is that one really needs to listen to it from begininng to end, word for word to understand Obama's points, explanations and opinion. This is not a smiple issue. However most people that I talked to about it have only heard a bit or two on the news, or some loud mouth's commenting on it. Exactly one of the issues that Obama points out is a problem.

This is unfortunate, because I think watching this in its entirety gets at the crux of Obama's strength. He can see the problems and challenges, communicate them well and then inspire us to deal with them. That's what leadership is about. Not having the answer to everything, but to have the faith that we can do better and that as a group we can accomplish progress on complex issues like the racial divide.

-Bobby M.

11:42 AM
Joey P said...

I finally listened to the speech. And I think it was absolutely ... extraordinary.

7:29 PM
Christina Morland said...

Hi. I've been following your blog for a while. I've really enjoyed reading your posts.

Like others have said, Obama's speech is amazing. But I'm afraid it will only appeal to people who already support him. Someone else here said that you have to listen to the entire thing to understand his point. I think that's true. I get a little depressed when I think about how unlikely it is that Obama will win the presidency. Here's an intelligent, thoughtful, and inspiring leader - the exact opposite of Bush. But I don't know if the majority of Americans will agree with my assessment. My first thought was to write, I don't know if the majority of Americans are capable of electing such a president. But I realize that's incredibly patronizing of me to think. Anyway, I don't dislike Clinton, but I do think she represents the conventional politics. And I just don't know if we can go anywhere with that. One of the criticisms leveled at Obama is that he hasn't proven that he can transform words into action. I can only say that I've never volunteered for a campaign, but I'm now volunteering for Obama. If his words can get me to remember that democracy means individual citizens getting out there and MAKING their government work, then he has proven - to me, at least - than he can transform words into action.

6:48 AM

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