Man, That Fella Can Talk

[silverscreenselect]

That speech was very carefully constructed, word by word, befitting a lawyer. It wasn't a speech from the heart and to compare it to Dr. King's Dream speech is a disservice to King.

He is careful not exactly to admit he heard Wright say the worst stuff, only that he heard things that "some people might find objectionable," giving him some wiggle room that his supporters are already trying to use.

And he mentions criticism of Ferraro without fessing up that it's his campaign that demanded her scalp, primarily in retaliation for having to boot his own foreign policy advisor for calling Hillary a monster a couple of days earlier.

A good bit of this speech was borrowed from the Million Man March speech in 1995 delivered by that despicable racist Bill Clinton, as well as cribbing from any other source he can find. And you will notice that he was surrounded on stage by American flags, in contrast to the usual scene at his major speeches at which the flags are few and far between.

This was a speech that was carefully constructed word-by-word to appeal to the demographic groups he needs to get back to win. It may work. But it wasn't a speech from the heart and I doubt it was the real Obama. Frankly, we don't really know anything about the real Obama since he never seems to commit to anything other than hope, change, and unity.

The speech was crafted to appeal to blacks and to pull the guilt strings of white liberals and intellectuals. I'm sure he does want to "move past" this moment because he doesn't want people asking more unseemly questions about his judgment and beliefs, you know, the sort of stuff voters are actually supposed to care about in a President.

The Obama on stage was speaking words that are at odds with the Obama who has spent the last two months using the race card to dissect the Clintons, at odds with the Obama who continued to embrace slumlord Tony Rezko who used Obama's influence to make a bunch of money by subjecting black tenants to abominable housing conditions, at odd with the Obama who never in twenty years expressed the slightest bit of objection, regret, rejection, or discomfort at his and his pre-teen daughters' continued presence at a church filled with bile.

It was an important speech, it was a speech that might help him politically, but it was no major step forward in our national civil rights discourse, just another case of a politician who steps into it trying to extricate himself by talking his way out of it.

[silverscreenselect]

The incident about Obama's white grandmother seems to have changed a bit over the years, as does much in Obama's life story. She was not a ditz, she was a bank manager who was taking the bus to work one day when she was accosted by a black beggar. Obma's grandmother incident then (as described in his book Dreams from My Father):

"Her lips pursed with irritation. 'He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

The grandmother incident now: "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"

[Rexer25]

The incident about Obama's white grandmother seems to have changed a bit over the years, as does much in Obama's life story. She was not a ditz, she was a bank manager who was taking the bus to work one day when she was accosted by a black beggar. Obma's grandmother incident then (as described in his book Dreams from My Father):

"Her lips pursed with irritation. 'He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

The grandmother incident now: "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"

Gee, do you think there is a possibility that maybe he's discussing two separate incidents?

No wonder good people don't get into politics. Power hungry people and their minions do everything they can to distort and lie about the records of their opponents.

[silverscreenselect]

Barack Obama on Don Imus, 2007:

http://tinyurl.com/24lsxt

I guess technically the Rev. Wright has never been on his staff....

[marrymeflyfree]

The incident about Obama's white grandmother seems to have changed a bit over the years, as does much in Obama's life story. She was not a ditz, she was a bank manager who was taking the bus to work one day when she was accosted by a black beggar. Obma's grandmother incident then (as described in his book Dreams from My Father):

"Her lips pursed with irritation. 'He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

The grandmother incident now: "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"

Perhaps I'm dense, but I'm not seeing a huge difference between the two stories. The image I got from the first one was one of fear.

[TheCalvinator24]

The first story portrays a woman with a reasonable fear based on a specific incident.

The second account portrays a woman who was beset with irrational fears based on prejudice.

[marrymeflyfree]

The first story portrays a woman with a reasonable fear based on a specific incident.

The second account portrays a woman who was beset with irrational fears based on prejudice.

I see. Still seems like a stretch to say that he's changing his story, based on the info at hand.

[Jeemie]

The first story portrays a woman with a reasonable fear based on a specific incident.

The second account portrays a woman who was beset with irrational fears based on prejudice.

I see. Still seems like a stretch to say that he's changing his story, based on the info at hand.

"Changing the story" might be a stretch.

Crafting it so that it paints an entirely different version for this speech is not.

If Obama had told the first version of the story in this speech, it wouldn't have jibed with the subtle picture he painted of people "being the product of their times" and thus he would not have been able to (not so subtly) equate his grandmother's statements with the rhetoric of Rev. Wright.

[marrymeflyfree]

"Changing the story" might be a stretch.

Crafting it so that it paints an entirely different version for this speech is not.

If Obama had told the first version of the story in this speech, it wouldn't have jibed with the subtle picture he painted of people "being the product of their times" and thus he would not have been able to (not so subtly) equate his grandmother's statements with the rhetoric of Rev. Wright.

That's true...but I bet his grandmother's views and experiences with race are pretty complex and cannot be summed up in a few sentences either way. I see those two comments more as different parts of the same story rather than convenient descriptions to fit the occasion. It's not like those two stories are on polar ends of the spectrum..

[silverscreenselect]

The first story portrays a woman with a reasonable fear based on a specific incident.

The second account portrays a woman who was beset with irrational fears based on prejudice.

I would add that the first version portrays a woman with a reasonable fear of one particular individual based on a specific incident.

The second story portrays a woman who was beset by irrational fears of black men in general based on prejudice.