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Cliff's Notes for Obama's Race Speech
March 18, 2008 2:04 PM
My the full dot-com write-up is HERE.
Or, if you prefer, here are some excerpts, organized as a narrative.
1. How we got here to this speech today
"On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wild and wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; and that rightly offend white and black alike."
2. Wright is Wrong (and I'm Not Anti-Israel)
"But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."
3. Yes, I've Heard Some Controversial Stuff in the Pews
"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."
4. But Disowning Him Would Be Like Disowning the Black Church Itself…or My Grandma
"The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and biases that make up the black experience in America. And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years. 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 her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
5. We Need to Talk About The "Racial Stalemate We’ve Been Stuck in for Years"
"Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality."
6. Why Wright and Blacks Are Angry
"For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings. And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition."
7. Why Whites Are Angry
"A similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. //when they hear an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition."
8. I = America
"I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. //I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. //it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one."
9. America Can Change
"The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress had been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black (APPLAUSE) Latino and Asian, rich, poor, young, old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."
10. What Blacks Can Do to Fix This Mess
"For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. 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 whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means also taking full responsibility for own lives
11. What Whites Can Do to Fix This Mess
"In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past – that these things are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds."
12. Stop Covering the Wright Controversy and Talk About Race and My Platform Instead
"We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. 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. We can do that.
"But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, 'Not this time.'...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."
- jpt
March 18, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (172)
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How many people close to Bill and Hillary went to jail?
Why is Sandy Berger Hillary's foreign policy adviser? He was caught stealing government papers.
Why is Maggie Smith running Hillary's campaign? She removed papers from Vince Fosters office...then lied.
Ask youself why the media want the Clintons back in the Whitehouse.
They can't wait for all the juicy stories.
We'll go thru one disgrace after another...just like before. Bill has not changed. Hillary is still an enabler.
A common President for a common American people.
Posted by: JB | Mar 19, 2008 9:51:35 AM
He could have made a difference. He could have stood up and been a leader and caused real change by standing up many years ago and saying what he said yesterday, but he chose to be silent and to not challenge an older man he clearly admires and loves as family even when that man was clearly wrong.
His speech was a good one to have been given many years ago. Instead, he sat and listened in this church and did nothing and let those words of his church and his pastor stand unchallenged until it was politically necessary for him to take action. Obama has been a member of this church for over 20 years; he contributed over $20,000 to the church; he was married in the church; the minister baptized his children and he has referred to the minister often as his inspiration. If he missed what was happening, what does that say about his perception, his awareness and his JUDGMENT!
He now eloquently “explains” with great understanding and compassion the basis of this hate speech that he originally said he didn’t hear. His conduct is characteristic with his absence from the senate during the “Iran Vote”; characteristic of his “missing in action” in the Illinois legislature; characteristic of voting present 130 times; characteristic of his “agreeing with Senator Clinton” after she has answered a complex question. How does Obama represent a strong leader when he failed to confront his own minister about his “hate language”; when he fails be present for the Iran vote; when under pressure he reveals bit by bit new information about his relationship with Rezko or his relationship with Rev. Wright? Following, not leading.
Should he be the President, he will always have the “first question” and he will have to stand up and be present and say what the country stands for. He didn’t have the right stuff in years past as he attended this church for 20 years and allowed these issues to brew and did not speak up. He doesn’t have the right stuff now to stand up and make difficult decisions on complex matters that may have devastating consequences and face those consequences, and yes, sometimes failures.
Posted by: AmazonTraveler | Mar 19, 2008 9:50:18 AM
Can't blame him for trying to gloss over his relationship with Rev. Wright but his speech didn't upgrade his credibility with me in the least. However, his lame excuses may have caused many to pause from other serious questions about who the man really is and I give him credit for that.
Obama is the least qualified of any candidate or prior president I can remember. (Hillary also fits into that measurement.) Obama has never held an executive position in either business or public service, never authored or succeeded in adopting significant legislation, never served in the military and has no record of significant achievements in his life.
He has only visited 4 foreign countries in his lifetime, including trips to Africa to see his black grandmother. He wants us to rely on this depth of foreign policy experience? He says he is as qualified to be president as was Abraham Lincoln. EXCUSE ME! I knew Abraham Lincoln and Mr. Obama, you are no Abe Lincoln! (At least I am old enough to FEEL like I knew Lincoln.)
Barack Obama is no more than an eloquent, charismatic paper-hanger and we should think beyond what he says and look into what he is. Kinda empty in there isn't it.
Posted by: doofus | Mar 19, 2008 7:18:00 AM
Another speech?
Obama's speech is happening because of one thing only - the truth about his pastor and his church, the truth that Obama has been trying to suppress since before the campaign started, has been exposed. Thankfully, some real reporting has started and his free pass days are over. His speech, just as his panicked rush of interviews last Friday, is a reaction to his attempt to keep the ugly racist and anti-American underbelly of people who he has been extremely close to for over 20 years (8,000 church members go a long way in a state senatorial district election) under wraps has failed.
It's the result of
Obama's own very poor judgment.
If the speech was so important, why did it take days of playing his pastor's hateful rants on TV to get him to give it? It's political desperation as he sees his image begin to crumble as he finds himself running against two strong candidates who never give up and are unwavering in their love for country and disdain for racism. His candidacy is based on transcending these race issues and on being different and transparent. Yet he has attempted to hide this from us and has (badly) attempted to brush it away as and then to talk his way out of it. He's failed us and himself at every turn.
He's just another highly ambitious politician who's quite good at reading a scripted speech. No doubt, some adoring admirers will be bamboozled by yet another speech from the speech candidate.
Let's see him answer questions.
Posted by: Alicia | Mar 19, 2008 6:34:15 AM
Let's compare what Obama has said in the past with what he said today. Several things do not match and others, taken together, cause even more questions than answers. Obama's statement today did not satisfactorily address his relationship to Wright. Whatever his grandmother might have said, I doubt it could rise to the level of "God damn America" or "We asked for 9/11" as shouted from the pulpit by Rev. Wright. Nor can Grand-Ma's racist statements to a few people compare to the hundreds, possibly thousands of people over the years in Wright's congregation who were subjected to his racist/hateful sermons. In the background of those recordings were the loud "amens" of his congregation; apparently in support of Wright's ideology. While a member of that congregation Obama must have stood-up and cheered "Amen!" along with the rest of the congregation every week. It is a statistical marvel that over 20 years Obama has managed to never be present when any hateful/racist statements were made by Wright. Would Wright, with his strong unabashed "public" statements, not mention nor discuss any of them with Obama at the "personal" level, one-on-one? Obama likened Wright to be as close as a "family member." He can't have it both ways: Either he was "close" and so, had to have known of Wright's ideology, or their friendship was so "distant" that he could not have recognized Wright's ideology? It's difficult to fathom how he could have made Wright the "religious compass" of his campaign without knowing of Wright's statements. Most people change churches when the Pastor preaches the opposite of what they believe. Obama had to at some level agreed with the Pastor's vile ideology, AND accepted it--otherwise, such a hateful/racist person as Wright would have repulsed any true "non-racist" person. We need a more complete understanding of Obama's "real" core beliefs before we make him our President.
Posted by: SolidSkeptic | Mar 19, 2008 3:46:19 AM
I am glad for Obama's Christian faith; will he now idenitfy the Islamic/Enlightenment sorcery of color and eliminate color racial references in the nations laws that continue to establish these toxic constructs in our society?
Posted by: Malulani | Mar 19, 2008 2:11:52 AM
I'm in my 70's now but in earlier times I spent 30+ years of my life as a contractor to the government living and working overseas, trying to promote America while at the same time working to thwart the designs of the USSR. I left when my daughter was 5, her mother was killed when she was 7 and I only found out about it long after she was buried and even then could not return home for almost 2 years. I only saw my daughter every year or two and sometimes 3 for the next 30 years. I spent 6 years in Southeast Asia and 25 in Africa, I retired and returned to the U.S. in 1998. I mention this so you have some idea of the commitment it took to do my job. I'm not looking for accolades, thank you's or pity. This is the work I chose of my own free will and I accept the many short comings and negatives that went with it.
I can't tell you how offended I was to hear and see Obama's wife make the statement she made about being proud of America for the first time in her adult life. While this spoiled brat and her husband were enjoying the good life in the U.S. it was people like myself and thousands of others better than me that made it all possible.
It's hard for me to believe that some one like Obama, a man who as a boy, while living in Hawaii and who had a friendship with and was indoctrinated by a man known to be a member of the Communist Party, is now running for president of the U.S. I believe this is possible because America's youth have been conditioned to accept the Democrats and their preaching by the left, teaching in our schools that has taken place over the last 50 or so years. Obama refers to this association in his first book when he relates his intimate friendship with a man he identifies only as Frank, who in actuality was Frank Marshall Davis a journalist with far left tendencies. As I listened to Obama's speech today it was reminiscent of the speeches I heard made by any number of Socialist, Communist or Marxist despots around the world who were always read to blame any one except themselves or their cohorts for the troubles that the country was in. And who always promised to change every thing if only they were elected
Posted by: Fred | Mar 19, 2008 12:18:13 AM
Oh the irony is killing me!
Geraldine Ferraro was right all along.
If a white man would have been associated with an anti-American, racist, hate filled preacher for 20 YEARS, they would have been ousted IMMEDIATELY. No questions asked! Give an apology and see you in 4 to 8 years.
However, Senator Obama LIED (again) to the American people about what he knew and when he knew it. Back peddled for a minute and then is allowed to give a speech where he doesn't even disavow this man?!?
He admits to lying a couple of days before and throws his Grandmother under the bus to boot!
It's as if I'm in some bizarro world where everything Wright is right instead of wrong.
Mark my words, GOP 527 groups will destroy him if he takes the nomination. All you are going to see from convention to election are constant loops of
No, no, no, G*d D**m America! Among other things
P.S. If the Reverend gets a pass, why did he speak out against Don Imus?
Is reverse racism ok?
Posted by: Real_Talk | Mar 18, 2008 8:53:26 PM
VFJ I don't usually point the finger. But, I will at anyone who will have the position of making choices that effect my world. Everyone rip Bush apart (including me)when he made choices that we were not particularly in agreement about. The WORLD/OVERSEAS grouped us all as the cope rates. I had at that time and now have nothing to do with any of it. But, because Bush is the commander and chief when he makes those choices I then without any say became part of it. So, I will point the finger at Obama and anyone else that will have the job of making decisions on behalf of my life. This job isn't one to be taken lightly, it controls all of our fates. Whether we are black, brown, blue,or green. I want to make sure the person going in understands that so they can put their personal views and opinions in their pockets.
Posted by: Mgck59 | Mar 18, 2008 7:47:19 PM
For every finger you point at someone...three comes back at you! I'm for Obama!
Posted by: VFJ | Mar 18, 2008 7:29:48 PM
Don't really care who wins: I agree with you 100%. I could care less what color, gender, nationally you were just be for ALL the people. Don't talk out both sides of your mouth. Talk one way for black folks, and another way for white folks..... Talk to the PEOPLE what is the agenda that you can't be straight in the very beginning. Someone didn't do their homework if they had it would have been realized that Pastor Wright was going to be a liability. If they didn't that says a lot about whoever is running his campaign.
Posted by: Mgck59 | Mar 18, 2008 6:02:30 PM
How was this different from his other stump speeches? It addressed a new topic in the same way he's draped everything he discusses, in generalities and hyperbole. Nowhere did I hear a suggestion of taking responsibility for supporting and even exposing his children to the divisive beliefs of Rev. Wright for 20 years. In a campaign he himself has framed around judgement he refuses to acknowledge how bad a decision it has been for him to stand by those who propagate radical racial views.
Sen Obama can preach about ending divisiveness all he likes now but his failure to address it in his life and with the congregation he spent most of his adult life in speaks volumes about how deep his convictions are. If he refused to tackle the very issue he claims to hold paramount to all others in his community why would anyone believe his speech today?
Sen Obama simply uses race and high ideals as tools to serve his political interests. This speech was just another creative use of playing the race card to meet the ends that benefit him.
Posted by: Bateman | Mar 18, 2008 5:44:18 PM
What We’ve Noticed About the Speech
By SusanUnPC
www.noquarterusa.net
Everything I wrote earlier today holds (here, here, and here) — a long speech notwithstanding. But there is more. Much more. (A NoQuarter regular sent me a terrific “rant” that I’ve added at the end — do not miss it!)
Obama LIED repeatedly in the weeks before today’s confession. Today, he said, “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 …”
Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times on March 15, 2008, “But the sermons I’ve always hear were no different than the sermons you hear in many African-American churches. I had not heard him make such, what I consider to be objectionable remarks from the pulpit. Had I heard them while I was in church, I would have objected. Had that been the tenor of the church generally, I probably wouldn’t be a member of the church.”
On March 14, when CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Obama if he ever heard from others about Rev. Wright’s controverisal remarks, Obama replied with a flat “No.”
Obama had the audacity to say this today: “….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. This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up.”
How dare he? With the hundreds of thousands of poor people (including thousands of black people) he ignored in Chicago — whose plight he claimed to be unaware of — while he cozied up with his pal Rezko? Read about The Forgotten People, whose stories will sicken you.
OBAMA LIED!
Posted by: USVet | Mar 18, 2008 5:35:39 PM
I persoannly would LOVE to elect a President that truly unifies the country and helps us meet the challenges of the future.
I don't care if Obama is Purple, Pink or Green (well I'm not sure about Green - experience does count).
As for UNITY: he is attacking groups to win votes (slicing and dicing). He is attacking old people (agism) and wealthier people (not really "populism")
As for CHANGE: he wants to move BACK to old policies. Ones that do not work.
Actually, I think it is rather sad who we have to selcted from (probably our own fault). What have any of the three really accomplished in the world: McCaim was a POW, H. Clinton was the wife of a Governor and President, and Obama was a community activist.
Posted by: Don't really care who wins | Mar 18, 2008 5:15:49 PM
Did he or did he not lie about him hearing those Pastor Wright's sermon for the first time?
Did I also understand that to achieve a perfect union, eventually eliminating racism, America will have to elect him as president?
Eloquent but wrong speech. The question is why did Obama tolerate his pastor's sermon and still does? Is it because Pastor Wright is bitter about America's attitude towards race? So this is understandable and acceptable behavior?
What did Obama say that we don't already know about race?
He is addressing the issue now because he was exposed. He is a politician after all.
Posted by: Sam1 | Mar 18, 2008 5:10:18 PM
I meant let's the blame rest on his minister.
Posted by: irma | Mar 18, 2008 5:01:13 PM
we all know the skeletons of McCain and Hillary.
You Obama lovers just can't accept that many people now wouldn't vote for him.
Posted by: Lexi | Mar 18, 2008 4:58:23 PM
Obama wrote about what is wrong with his minister. Excuse me, but we don't really care what and how the minister thinks. We care about the guy who wants to be President. For example; It bothers me that YOU OBAMA chose the church, YOU are behaving like it's all about the minister. YOUR CHOICES/JUDGEMENT AND YOUR DESIRE TO BE PRESIDENT. It really bothers me that you may have chosen this church for political reasons, I'm sure rubbing elbows with Oprah showed you possibilities there as well and now you are allowing anger to be aimed at your minister. You gave an entire speech where you blame your grandma and your minister. What about YOU?
Posted by: irma | Mar 18, 2008 4:52:16 PM
There seemed to be a lot of flags around Mr. Obama strange for a man who refuses to wear one on his lapel. It appears that since Rev Wrights sermons hit the airwaves he has found an elusive concept, patriotism! Yesterday he end his rally by saying God Bless You and God Bless America! Maybe his wife and Rev Wright will be his converts too!
Posted by: russell | Mar 18, 2008 4:47:17 PM
Unifying the country on race is Obama's day job. In the evenings and weekends he can let his hair down and hang with his separatist mentor and friends.
Posted by: no pasaran | Mar 18, 2008 4:40:40 PM
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