"A view the 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" --Barak Obama

That is a musty and manipulative tactic if I ever heard one, and I am sure, given his evolution on this issue from being pro-Palestinian to viewing Israel as our "stalwart ally" and Palestinians as perverted and hateful, this obviously came from a political strategist.-- omooex

This was an awkward and - in the context - unnecessary construct, however in fairness to Obama, he did not say Palestinian; he said "radical Islam." Can you cite an instance in which he ever called Palestinians "perverted and hateful?" I ask sincerely, because I don't think there is any factual basis upon which to assume he was referencing Palestinians (though the juxtaposition of Israel and radical Islam understandably aroused your sensitivities).

It wasn't even a discussion. He was going to do it. I know this sounds perhaps corny, but he actually believes in the fairness and good sense of the American people, and the importance of this issue.

I've been on the fence. "Any Democrat better than any Republican", I've believed (and still believe), but beyond that I didn't have a favorite.

Now I'm an Obama supporter. Make it clear -- if Hilary wins the nomination I'll support her fully, and I will not tolerate any bullcrap from other Obama supporters about her. But there is something special about this man. I'm extremely cynical about all politicians. But, hell, this guy actually believes in something other than himself. Yes, he has charisma, intelligence, wisdom, and is phenomenally articulate. But he has some personal principles. That is extremely rare in a politician, and is worth supporting.

In my town of Iowa City there is currently much discussion in the local paper’s comment section about crime and the population of black residents who have moved into town from Chicago. Iowa City has a reputation as the most liberal city in Iowa but many of these comments are not exactly tolerant in nature. Today in the Press-Citizen there was an opinion column titled “City's often-ugly underbelly” from a college instructor who was “appalled” by the nature of these comments and she uses them “to educate my students on have-a-nice-day racism, white privilege and the toxic racism demonstrated by some of the forum users.”

She ends her column with this; “I'm happy to have my comments be published and thus become fodder for the online mill. I can only imagine what the forum posters will have to say. Just make sure my name is printed. I'm not a big fan of this anonymity thing when it comes to such life-threatening ideas.”

Of course many comments of many varieties ensued. I had just watched Obama’s speech and I was reminded of the three-paragraph section in the middle about the nature of white anger. I copied those three paragraphs and posted them in the comments with just a brief intro saying, “These issues were addressed by someone who gave a speech today. Here is what he had to say;”. Then at the end I gave a link to the full speech. The comments stopped for over an hour.

What struck me was how those paragraphs validated the concerns of the comments which the instructor might call “toxic racism” while putting them in a broader context. And those paragraphs also implicitly criticized the instructor’s reaction while again putting it in a broader context. If they had not heard the speech at that point both perspectives may have been very surprised when they discovered who the author was.

That only begins to measure the power of that speech.

The column and comments can be seen here;

http://www.presscitizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/OPINION02/803180307/1018

About the double post. Not sure what happened there.

@Elephantman

"... the boisterous, screeching, simple-minded, ugly, vapid attack-based freak show found on the World Wide Web in the form of MoveOn, Kos, Salon and FireDogLake."

Speak for yourself. Yours is the first post in this thread that fits the description.

-- Alkaline

Puh-lease! This Letters thread is like just about all message threads at all of those sites. It isn't possible to go more than three or four entries without encountering an attack on the "criminal" Bush administration, etc. The left isn't about policy disagreements anymore. It is about the criminalization of its opponents. The Salon readers don't just disagree with conservatives and Republicans; they seek to villainize them. Salon readers don't want a 'unifying' figure any more than they want a 'moderate.' If Salon wanted a moderate, it would have supported people like Joe Lieberman and John McCain. Instead, those two moderates are now the special hate objects of the Salon readership. Because they are among the greatest threats to hold back any real movement to the left. Obama isn't a 'unifying' figure in any sense other than that he deftly bridges two faithfully liberal demographics; white academic elites and urban blacks. What unites them? Their liberalism. And I wasn't the first to say that; Glenn Greenwald pretty much said it for me.

You said: "but I don't take the reference to be directed specifically at Palestinians. I know the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is at the root of much of the problem in the ME, but it is not the only problem."

I agree that it wasn't said in so many words. I assume he was referencing Al Q'aeda to a certain extent, but its hard not to conflate Palestinians into that, given the subject matter. Surely, he knew that. To be honest, I do think that its necessary to keep bringing it up. But do I expect a democratic to ever stray from this spineless position when running for high office? Please.

Hunter S. Thompson once said that it is a "rare and elegant feeling" to be proud of the way you vote on Election Day, and that he still judges people by which way they voted in 1960. Well, I had that rare and elegant feeling a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity to vote for Barack Obama in a meaningful state primary.

I know what you mean. I'm not an Obama supporter yet, but I fully expect to not vote for the lesser of two evils this fall.