Obama on race and his pastor

my2hands

I just listened live to his speech in Philadelphia addressing race in america and this pastor issue.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

WOW... maybe the best speech i have ever heard in my life, no kidding. The guy nailed EVERY SINGLE ISSUE without missing a beat. This was the most open, and powerful, speech a politician may have ever given about race in america. After hearing him today i have no clue why everyone is not supporting this guy

Dont worry, all the news programs will be drooling over it tonight, so you didnt miss it

ledvedderman

I was pretty impressed from what I heard from the speech. Damn cnn.com kept buffering. What was the line though that got all the applause?

cornnifer

my2hands wrote:

I just listened live to his speech in Philadelphia addressing race in america and this pastor issue.

WOW... maybe the best speech i have ever heard in my life, no kidding. The guy nailed EVERY SINGLE ISSUE without missing a beat. This was the most open, and powerful, speech a politician may have ever given about race in america. After hearing him today i have no clue why everyone is not supporting this guy

Dont worry, all the news programs will be drooling over it tonight, so you didnt miss it

Awesome. Thanks for the report. i'm at work so havn't seen or heard it yet. i was bummed when i heard it was at 10:15. I had students at the time so couldn't watch the stream. Will be searching for it very shortly though.

blackredyellow

I heard most of it, and thought he did a great job. I was watching it at work and kept getting interrupted, but I'm trying to stay away from the clips on TV and am planning on sitting down and watching the whole thing tonight.

Character Zero

It was excellent. Very thoughtful, intelligent, accurate, and inpirational. I know it is going to get disected and picked apart by everyone, but there is little anybody can pull from that as a negative. I hope everyone realized the power that we each truly hold in deciding where this issue of race goes from here.

mca47

Wish I would have seen it. Sadly, all I (and most of the country) will probably see is the recap on CNN or the nightly news when I get off of work...

cornnifer

mca47 wrote:

Wish I would have seen it. Sadly, all I (and most of the country) will probably see is the recap on CNN or the nightly news when I get off of work...

And they will soundbyte it to death. Trust me. Do yourself a favor. Take a break from this forum (i know its tough ) and search instead for the FULL video or COMPLETE transcripts. Don't let the bullshit media distort it and decide what tey want you to hear.

sweetpotato

ledvedderman wrote:

I was pretty impressed from what I heard from the speech. Damn cnn.com kept buffering. What was the line though that got all the applause?

i'm pretty sure it was this:

"The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. "

I agree, the whole speech was powerful and provocative, and it made me respect him even more than before. He is showing some true grit here, i think. This was not the "safe" speech of a politician who's just trying to get elected. This took balls, and I think it will earn him more votes because of, not in spite of, the courage it required to make it.

sweetpotato

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/18/america/18obamaspeech.php?page=1

anotherclone

I was just talking to some co-workers about the speech, I got a little bit "misty" while I did it. He nailed it, hit it out of the park...whatever other analogy or cliche' you might use to say how fantastic and brilliant that speech was.

SilverSeed

sweetpotato wrote:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/18/america/18obamaspeech.php?page=1

Thanks for posting this, I can't wait to see it now.

Unfortunately a large group will still focus on the few clips going around youtube and such. In fact everyone in my office is absolutely sure Obama is done because of this pastor. Oh and his wife hating America, and his being a muslim.

Did I mention a large segment of Americans don't even want to be informed?

sweetpotato

The quote that got a loud applause was followed by this, which I think is amazingly accurate and powerful:

"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, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, 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's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that 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. 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.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union."

Thecure

i have to say that althought i have said things about Obama, this is one great speech. one of teh best that i have ever heard perhaps. great work Obama. i may not have voted for you but i do respect you.

Leatherman®

Awesome speech, and impeccable timing. He didn't wait for this to wash over, he met it head on, and nailed it.

Well done Barack.

my2hands

sweetpotato wrote:

I agree, the whole speech was powerful and provocative, and it made me respect him even more than before. He is showing some true grit here, i think. This was not the "safe" speech of a politician who's just trying to get elected. This took balls, and I think it will earn him more votes because of, not in spite of, the courage it required to make it.

i couldnt agree more

blackredyellow

I just watched/listened to the whole thing on MSNBC's website, and I have to say that it could have been the most refreshing and real speech that I have ever heard in a political campaign.

My only fear is that there were a handful of lines in there, that will be taken out of context and used against him.

inmytree

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

video and transcript...

cornnifer

blackredyellow wrote:

My only fear is that there were a handful of lines in there, that will be taken out of context and used against him.

Yeah. And those are the lines that will be soundbyted on cnn and, even worse, on dumbfux news.

After watching the entire thing i'll say this. Anyone who can listen to this speech in its entirety, pay attention, and still be unconvinced that this man is anything but sincere, is simply unconvinceable and had, unfortunately already made up their mind. Every word was spot on. i echo others here who have said this may be the best political speech i have heard, EVER. This man is amazing.
Please, can we get back to progressing the country instead of letting the powers that be further hold it back by driving a wedge between the people.

mca47

So I watched the speech on my lunch break and was very, very impressed. Wow!

down_ski

He's a fantastic speaker, and it was a good speech. I just couldnt understand how he could take a 20 year relationship with this nutty reverend, and sum it down to his "White Grandmother"

I thought it was wrong, and its sadly....going to hurt him in the end.

anotherclone

down_ski wrote:

He's a fantastic speaker, and it was a good speech. I just couldnt understand how he could take a 20 year relationship with this nutty reverend, and sum it down to his "White Grandmother"

I thought it was wrong, and its sadly....going to hurt him in the end.

That is pretty simply stated from one sentence.

You really don't get it? (I mean that as a sincere question:) )

It was all about showing how if you exclude people you don't agree with, you become small and divided.

We ought to be better than that.

If it does hurt him (which I doubt), at least he had the guts to talk about it. Its a whole lot more ballsy than sitting around and bitching about stupid non-issues which distract us all from the real issues.

Honestly, if you are not an Obama supporter, I can appreciate that. But, when was the last time any political candidate risked his entire campaign to address such an issue?