It's official: Osama bin Barack has joined the...Follow

Given the choice between a shot at office and maintaining his integrity did you expect any other decision?

Edited: Spell check of failure.

Edited, Jun 5th 2007 10:33pm by Allegory

Truthfully, I, as a conservative, had given him, as a Democrat, the benefit of the doubt and was listening to him with an open mind. I had hoped he would throw over the traces and be a Democrat-- and a black one at that! --who didn't go true to form and stoop to the consistently craven victimization/handouts & subsidies routine.

He certainly talked up a good game-- for a while. But I guess his handlers told him the black voting block didn't identify with him and his previously thought provoking and hope inspiring rhetoric. So rather than change the entire scope of discussion, he caved in and returned to that most cherished and jealously guarded of Democratic fortes-- victimization.

Yay for us. Your choices for Democratic nominee are a woman who panders to the lazy and grabby and a black man who panders to the lazy and grabby. Niiiiiice.

Totem

Hopefully the trend of non-incumbent early frontrunners losing in the Democratic primaries holds true...

1988 - Gary Hart lost to Michael Dukakis
1992 - Paul Tsongas lost to Bill Clinton
1996 - Bill Clinton (incumbent)
2000 - Al Gore (incumbent sorta - VP during primaries)
2004 - Howard Dean lost to John Kerry
2008 - Hillary/Obama lose to ???

Seriously. Yes, I have taken pot shots at him-- I am, after all, on a message board where it is expected you contribute something to the conversation, but I was/is truly interested in his campaign. Contrary to what you might expect, I don't vote Republican because the are Republican. Show me a Democrat who embodies the values and beliefs I believe are important and I'd vote for him in an instant.

When I lived in Louisiana I supported Billy Tauzin, a blue dog Democrat. Good guy, solid performer in the political arena. He stood for those things which are my core issues: Fiscal responsibility and social justice.

As for me being cheesed? Nah. Fred is gonna enter the race and trounce any opposition.

Totem

Incidentally, where'd you yoink that story from? The Tribune version opens with...Which is a departure from "the Bush administration has done nothing..."

Edit: Apparently, Totem's line comes from the Associated Press copy of the story.

Edited, Jun 6th 2007 8:47am by Jophiel

Hence the AP link

So Totes, is the issue strictly that he's a canditate who's regressed into using victimization as a campaign tool or that he's a man of priveledge who's played that card? I mean, is this a problem just because he isn't from the ghetto? Why exactly can't a person from not-so-humble beginings advocate(or pander to, depending on your spin)for the poor, unwashed masses? Is it just a no-no to talk about the ghetto because of his roots? Because I imagine it's not too late for his mom to start crackwhoring.

I wouldn't exactly be upset if any canditate, regardless of their life-story, wanted to talk about domestic issues that actually effect folks. That said, I'm a whitebread farmboy in rural Oregon who's sort of lost touch with the Black Street, so I'm not sure if there really is a ground-swell of anger at their perceived opression, be it real or not, but I imagine if I were a black man selling rocks to put food stamps on the table because Whitey had his boot on my neck and I can't get a more professional job I might appreciate someone talking about my situation on the largest stage.

Maybe it's due to the lazy *** breeders like this one!

Now that's just crazy talk!!!


Obama was losing in the polls to Hillary among likely black voters. Hence the slight change in tactics. Not really surprising IMO.

what i find interesting, is this is a role reversal of the hyprocracy of someone using the "N" word.

when clinton, bush, kerry, dole, and every other up and comming politician tosses out a speach to "reach out" to the black community, it is viewed as politics. when that politican is black, it is slammed as "stooping" to some preconcieved notion of something like "a leopard cant change his spots" or "once black, always black" in plain english. and viwed as a negative.

i propose to you, it is not any more a negative than Bush speaking at west point and talking about war, or speaking at a college and talking about education.

it is you who have already prejudged him based on your own preconcieved notions that to be black, talk black, cater to black is.......bad.

prejudice. in its purest form.

obama did exactly what all politicians do. tell his voter block what they wanted to hear.

his sin? he is black. and he was talking to other blacks.

my, how far we have come. my, how far we still have to go.

They should really change the "war on terror" to "the war for equal opportunity for women." 1/2 of the dang U.S. would then be for it...lmfao.

BT, it comes down to this-- Barack had been focusing on loftier subject matter. Things like hope, equality, pulling together, whatnot. To date I can't recall where he previously had gone to a voting block and commiserated with them about a subject which automatically and immediately catagorizes him as a "black" candidate. And that has been his forte-- the fact that he wasn't a black presidential candidate, but rather a charismatic senator running for president who happened to be black. It was an afterthought. It added to his panache that he had risen above the very thing which defines those other so-called black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Rangel, etc. He was speaking to America as a whole, not to America comprised of African-Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans, ad nauseum.

While defining themselves in such a way may feel good to these various groups, to white America-- the majority race --it smacks of pandering when a candidate chooses to insert him or herself into their particular beef with society and talk as if this issue is the one which ties them emotionally, psychologically, or politically to the agrieved constituency.

Does that mean we as whites are insensitive or indifferent to these perceived grievences? Not really. We, on the whole, don't even recognise (as Flea said) the bigotry that our society has. But we do want the various races to just assimilate and become "white" in their outlook: no handouts, work hard, pay taxes, stop making excuses for whatever your particular segment of Americana has or does. Does your race have trouble with teenage pregnancy? Stop having kids. Is your race generally poor? Get to work. Clean up your yard. Clean up your neighborhood. Does your race have trouble speaking English? Stop speaking your native tongue and immerse yourself in English.

In other words, stop finding things that separate you from "mainstream" society and get with the program. Look at us whiteys-- it worked for us, make it work for yourselves.

That is the mindset of white America. Right or wrong is not the point. It just is.

Once that happens, we begin to stop seeing you as different, but unique, like what Obama has been up to this point. And from unique you become the new definition of what we see and expect when we look at someone of a different color, accent, or dress. This applies to blacks, Muslims, Koreans, Mexicans, Canadians, whatever.

Obama is in a singularly momentous point in our nation's history. He is being taken seriously as a potential candidate for our country's highest office. But oddly enough, he, like many blacks before him (Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, John Conyers, etc), aren't acdepted as "being black enough" for the black voting community. So what we get is Hillary (and before her, Bill, our country's first black President) and Obama stooping, yes, stooping to claim a heritage that they have never known or claimed before. It appears to be pandering, plain and simple.

Regardless of his politics, I have been watching him closely to see if he would do this very thing. If he did it because it is what is necessary to get elected-- as many of you have already said --then he is no different than any other run-of-the-mill politician and deserves no more attention than, say, Kucinich. But-- but --if he chooses to rise above the ordinary he could quite possibly have my vote just because he has shown himself brave enough to buck the tide and way things have always been done.

Is Obama unique? Up until now I have been willing to concede that he just may be that person who breaks the mold and becomes the Jackie Robinson of presidential politics. But this last week may portend that he is just another same-old-same-old who happens to be a black.

I ask you, how disappointing would that be?

Totem

Is that what you got out of that entire post? My goodness, you're obtuse. See the forest for the trees, much, Jophiel?

Totem