Letters to the Editor
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Moreover, david sugarman, look to your own post in this thread,
in which you said to MICKI: "you support Hillary. (transparent menopausal)"
You think sexist remarks will win over Hillary supporters?
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Racial considerations
Racial considerations are not going away for Obama. The Rev. Wright connection continues to haunt his candidacy. Rasmussen today shows a further decline in his favorable ratings: 46% favorable to 51% unfavorable. Fifty-six percent remain concerned about his association with Rev. Wright though they commend Obama's speech on the subject. Actually, there has been a decline for Obama going on for some time now beginning in late February, according to Rasmussen polls.
Being from the South, I know better than to discount the factor of race...it is always under the table, if not on it. Obama's reference to his grandmother is a heartfelt example of the racial divide even in Obama's own family. I do not object to his reference to her feelings. In fact, I think Obama gave a great speech on the subject; however, I do not believe he is the most electable of the Democratic candidates. Hillary who has greater and longer experience, who has put in her time gaining this exceptional experience is the more electable despite her gender. Obama should have served at least one term before jumping into presidential arena...he is absolutely too inexperienced, and along with the racial baggage, he will not do well against McCain.
If Obama does become the nominee, get ready to hear the same media which has shown partiality for his candidacy in the race thus far, to begin talking about his lack of experience in relation to McCain. Added to that, the press will use the word, liberal, about forty times a day to describe his politics. Older Democrats may vote for McCain believing him to be the more qualified and wise.
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Typical
Typical can have a critical connotation, or it can mean what one would expect. Obama meant the latter not the former. Joan, I hope you would never want your career to be judged on an unfair interpretation of such a turn of phrase.
However, you are willing to use such an interpretation to damage the apparent Democratic nominee, without ever setting forth your own motives.
After posting here in January praising Obama's talk at Ebenezer on MLK day, I took the extra step of e-mailing you personally to ask if you had seen his performance then. You responded via e-mail to me that you loved it, but never posted your thoughts on it on Salon as far as I know.
If you were willing on Tuesday to accuse Obama of throwing his own loved grandma under the bus, I'm willing to accuse you of intellectual dishonesty in pursuit of a Hillary Clinton outcome.
P.S. You hoped, earlier this week, that Hillary would give a speech as equally eloquent as Obama's. Any luck?
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re:Shaken
I thought he was a little on the depressed side. And he was just plain tired.
Does anyone realize what he did last week? Friday he courageously went to the media in Chicago and offered himself up first at the Trib to 36 reporters for 92 minutes and told them to ask anything they wanted, then on to the Sun for another 80 minutes, answer any and all questions about Rezko, Wright, whatever.
Then on to interviews on at least 3 networks that I saw that evening, all to deal with the Wright videos, then on to activities on Saturday, up writing that speech until 2 or 3 am the Monday night, etc. etc. All while dealing with the most serious challenge in his campaign to date.
I'd have had a complete collapse. I think it is amazing how well he has held up with the intense pace and pressure.
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you don't think so? AKA?
it seemed (on balance) so to me, but perhaps it's just my perception. do you think we hate each other and each other's candidate equally? (by the way, i hope you noticed that, for me, i've been on tip top behavior). P.S. your baptist upbringing at least gave you some good stories. i can ASSURE you, synagogues are just INFINITELY boring (imagine a four hour foreign language talking head) it brings TEDIOUS to a whole new level.
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Moving beyond Hillary Clinton
The nomination train is finally leaving the station and Walsh is obviously, and rather pathetically, starting to jog down the platform after it. Her search for a white female victim in Obama's words is of course an absurd retelling of the story of racism with white women as victims. But for someone as self-deluding as Walsh, that story will be her ticket on the Obama Express to Denver.
"But Hillary try to understand, Obama needs white feminists like me to close the racial divide."
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@ RC
Yeah, I saw that.
I think he was referring to the fact that the campaign had lapsed into cruise control before Ohio and TX, trying to appear "presidential" and trying to drive home his front-runner status by simply running out the clock.
With this new controversy he had a chance to deviate from the tired stump speech while reminding his supporters why we were so enthusiastic about him in the first place while taking the opportunity to demonstrate to the country how he'd respond to a "crisis."
His complacency was challenged, which was helpful because it allowed him to shine on his terms, responding in a truly original and even (if I may say) noble way.
That's my analysis, anyway.
How 'bout you?
What did you make of it?
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Equality, hate, and love
When I read the near hatred expressed toward Ms. Walsh from Obama supporters it confirms my deepest fear, which is that we as humans are condemned by our own lack of humanity and our overwheming stupidity. Ms. Walsh's post is a marshmallow critique of Mr. Obama's discourse on race, and if the resulting anger I read expressed is what is to be expected in the near future--as more and more of the true Mr. Obama is exposed--we need to all take cover now.
For all those apologists and victims, slavery in America is over. No living Americans participated in it. Both people of color and women have been slaves in America, and neither are now. This cannot be said for African countries, where slavery began and slavery continues today.
The results and lasting impressions of slavery will always be present, the same way we will always remember the Civil War, as they all help form our collective being. America is today the flower and all that came before her the seeds, and the good and bad have intertwined such that we are all simply part of the whole.
That being said, we have laws and programs to address inequities that have resulted from unfairnesses of the past. Affirmative action, welfare, Section 8, and thousands of other programs give assistance to those who need it. No other country has done more than America to help her citizens share the dream.
However, you cannot simply give equality as each citizen must step up and seize it. Job training must then lead to a job search and then retention of the job. Apartment assistance must be matched with job training and job retention. Children must come after economic stability, or the latter will never be achieved. Self respect must be earned as in the end if it does not come from inside it is merely a facade. Hard work has always been part and parcel of the American Dream, and as flawed as our founding fathers may have been regarding the true and rightful position of all humans--women and people of color--they knew that they would achieve nothing without sacrifice and hard work. That work ethic, which made America the greatest country in the world, is lost on many, and thus they are lost too.
Women and people of color may never "get over" what happened in the past, but if we do not seek equality through good acts, hard work, and fair treatment of others we become worse than the enemy because in addition to allowing hate to guide us we become hypocritical. There is nothing worse than a hate-driven hypocrite. Nothing.
And that is why Mr. Obama, Reverend Wright, Louis Farrakhan, and any formerly oppressed person waging war on the enemy using the same weapons as their named enemy and at the same time claiming moral highground and thus the right to do it are more dangerous than the original wrongdoers. This level of hypocrisy knows no bounds, and this level of hatred knows no limits. The victim seeks ultimate payback, and if you listen to these men speak they want death and destruction to come to the enemy. All non-blacks should heed this as a warning, because you are the enemy according to these men and no punishment is severe enough.
I challenge Americans to confront racism and sexism head on, to look in the mirror and accept your failings, and then judge Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. One has worked hard to help America, loves America and Americans, and while may not be perfect is constantly trying to improve, and the other one does not love America, does not love most Americans, and feels that they are without fault. What America needs now, almost more than even before she came into existence, is love, not hate. And while some Obama supporters claim inability to love Mrs. Clinton, please note that she is not on record as hating approximately 50% of living Americans. This fact is the only one of import in the upcoming election, because if we rationalize hatred and excuse it we become our own worst enemy. Words matter, but actions matter even more. Mr. Obama listened to hatred for twenty years, and did nothing. Because of those words and his non-action, he has become the hypocritical enemy. For this I do not hate him, but rather I pity him because hate is never the answer. And because of this Mr. Obama can never be President of My America. Never. Never. Never.