Letters to the Editor
designated_knitter
Published Letters: 117 Editor's Choice: 3
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@lilybean
[Read the article: Barack Obama delivers make-or-break speech on race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You mean to tell me that you have *NEVER* had a close friend or family member say something that you found repugnant but you overlooked it because that view was not indicative of who they really were as a person? You are pretty lucky -- or you are just not being honest with yourself and the rest of us.
And the comparison with ferraro and wright isn't because of what they said or their relative "standing" with the candidate they supported -- the comparison (at least my own) has to do with how each candidate handled the brouhaha associated with their supporter.
Each supporter made racially devisive and incendiary comments -- so that part is relatively comparable. Each supporter was dismissed from their respective campaigns. However, clinton never really addressed the issue head on -- except for one very brief canned statement where she even turned it around to play the victim as well. Obama has gone on every channel imaginable (including the most reviled FAUX network) so that he could speak for himself and take ownership of his campaign, the actions of his supporters, and most importantly -- his own personal beliefs and opinions. He put himself out there in this speech even as he admitted that it might have been more politically expedient just to let the whole thing die down. He approached the whole uproar with candor, honesty, and poise.
When was the last time you saw ANY politician at ANY level do that. Can you not see how truly remarkable that is in this day and age? You may not agree with him. You may hate him but can you not see the difference in his approach to this issue over any "leader" in our time? If not, you really need to pay more attention to the actual actions of the politicians and not just their spin machines.
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@sobeguy and other folks accusing Obama of racism
[Read the article: Barack Obama delivers make-or-break speech on race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My last word on this subject...
It just boggles my mind that there are so many that are accusing Obama of racebating -- particuarly after this speech.
(have any of you actually read the full text? If not, please educate yourself rather than just watching the pundits glom on to snippets taken out of context to support their bias)
I think it is important to bring up the point -- just because a candidate actually talks about race directly does not mean that the candidate is "playing the race card" or being racist. Race has been an indirect issue throughout this entire campaign. It floats around the air like the feather floating through out the entire Forrest Gump movie and is the one common undercurrent.
What Obama has chosen to do is to acknowledge what nobody else has the courage to discuss openly and directly. He does this because he is a very intelligent individual who recognizes that the best way to deal with an issue is to run at it head on rather than avoid it and hope that it will go away.
Race is sort of like an ugly family secret. The more you try to ignore something or keep it a secret, the more control that issue has in your life. However, if you deal with an issue directly, it loses its power and ability to control and gives you more resources to apply in a more productive persuit -- like solving the issues with Healthcare (or lack thereof), schools, the economy and foreign policy.
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I found Clinton to be surprisingly and refreshingly circumspect
[Read the article: Clinton "very glad" Obama gave speech]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm an Obama supporter and at this point, have ZERO respect for either Clinton -- HRC disgusts me at this point at the same visceral level that Olbermann shared in his Personal Comment towards her.
So I found HRC's response surprisingly well-restrained. I was actually relieved that she didn't try to spoil the moment by taking snippets out of context (for example "throwing his own grandmother under bus by outing her as a racist").
I suspect that she read it or at least glanced over it. I also suspect that she knew it was being very well received and IF she did try to criticize Obama for what was said in the speech, she would have appeared petty and risked further alienating what few African-American supporters she has left. It is sort of like the support Bush enjoyed right after 911. No one DARED say anything negative about him in the immediate aftermath of the attacks because that would have been extremely poor taste and looked like they were politicizing the victims of the attack.
To attack Obama after this speech would have made her look like she was politicizing the very real issue of racism and in so doing... minimize the very real pain caused by racism.
I say it will take about 3 days for all the warm fuzzy feelings to wear off and THEN she'll start with the snark attacks.