Civil Rights legend John Lewis slams Obama:"I knew Martin Luther King, He is no Martin Luther King"

[Herman Munster]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011402961.html?loc=interstitialskip

Rep. John Lewis (Ga.), a prominent Clinton supporter, raised criticism of Obama to a new level. In an extensive interview, Lewis, a King lieutenant and icon of the civil rights movement, called Obama "a friend" but added: "He is no Martin Luther King Jr. I knew Martin Luther King. I knew Bobby Kennedy. I knew President Kennedy. You need more than speech-making. You need someone who is prepared to provide bold leadership."

[Occam Bandage]

1. Huh. Looks like the Clinton camp isn't doing a very good job of moving past this race dust-up.

Please don't encourage this, Herman.

[TheDebbieDee]

9. I didn't read the article linked to, but is it possible

that the interview was conducted and completed before the truce?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. It seems likely that it was indeed pre-truce

[VotesForWomen]

35. what? did he accuse obama of racism or sexism? or was lewis' statement racist, is that what

you're saying. if lewis says he's not a good leader, that's not quite equivalent to obama's camp accusing hillary of racism.

[GalleryGod]

51. Neither is Herman-the-Disruptor

Well as we said in the 1st Air Cavalry (don't worry HM was univolved in service)

Herman is J.A.F.A.O.

[rinsd]

80. From the same article

Rep. William Lacy Clay (Mo.), an Obama campaign co-chairman, said yesterday that Clinton was "trying to score cheap political points on the back of Martin Luther King's legacy" when she said that "King's dream became a reality when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964" -- the statement that helped launch the debate over the role of race in the campaign.

[2rth2pwr]

2. David Axelrod is the reason Obama gives good speeches. With a teleprompter

and Axelrod's lines he sounds pretty good. Sit Obama down in a debate and he's a much different person.

Deval Patrick is also one of Axelrod's proteges.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Every candidate has speechwriters. The difference with Obama is that he can actually write his own.

Obama gave some pretty good speeches of his own in 2002. You may have heard of one of them.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech

(okay, DU keeps inserting a slash. Delete it yourself.)

[2rth2pwr]

16. Devals' campaign theme- "Together we can!"/Obamas' campaign theme- "Yes, we can!"

BOSTON (AP) - Barack Obama's Democratic presidential campaign playbook has some simple yet striking similarities to Governor Patrick's blueprint:
http://www.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=7613366&nav=menu20_3

Tell a compelling story about yourself and inspire people who feel left out to take back their government.

And stay on a message of hope and unity.

During the New Hampshire primary campaign, Obama told a New Hampshire audience he was borrowing a line from friend Deval Patrick, urging people to "vote your aspirations."

Patrick insists there's no "playbook," saying the two men believe in similar things, like a robust participatory democracy and grassroots campaigning and governing.

The governor, who plans to campaign for Obama in South Carolina, says he and Obama are "hungry for a change."

Deval Patrick, whom Axelrod served in his successful race to become the first African American governor of Massachusetts last year, Patrick's first campaign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/14/AR2007021401812.html

"We all said that we could have closed our eyes when Obama spoke it could have been Deval," Johnston said. "To us it was a similar kind of message. It's a message that transcends partisan politics."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/16/patrick_obama_campaigns_share_language_of_hope

CROWD: Yes we can! Yes we can!
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec04/obama_7-27.html

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The crowd in the Chicago hotel ballroom was fired up last March. Their candidate, Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, had pulled in a remarkable 53 percent of the vote in a seven-way race for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate.

Even Obama was amazed.

BARACK OBAMA: The conventional wisdom was we could not win. There was no way that a skinny guy from the south side with a funny name like Barack Obama could ever win a statewide race. Sixteen months later, we are here.

And Democrats from all across Illinois, suburbs, city, down state, up state, black, white, Hispanic, Asian have declared, yes, we can!

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: It was a heady night for the 42-year-old state senator. He and his wife Michelle and their two young children watched returns in an upstairs suite never far from a camera lens.

On the hurried trip down to the ballroom, Obama spied his campaign pollster.

BARACK OBAMA: Did you poll this?

POLLSTER: I told David 47 percent.

Barack ObamaBARACK OBAMA: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I really do.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The next morning, Obama thanked voters for what was an impressive victory. He pulled 93 percent of the African American vote, carried white suburban areas by wide margins, finished a surprisingly strong second in rural downstate and even did well in white ethnic areas in Chicago with a history of voting against minorities.

[Occam Bandage]

18. :eyes:

Nothin' like keepin' it on-topic.

[2rth2pwr]

21. Look at the speech you brought up that he wrote- 2002?

Axelrod has crafted the campaigns of Deval and Barack, the cadences, the words, the themes....

The speeches Barack gives now, like his speeches the evenings of the Iowa Caucus and the NH primary were both
done with teleprompters at either side of him. He was the only candidate Dem or R that did that.

[Tactical Progressive]

122. I brought that up at the time

Both speeches, winning and then losing. It surprised me, and ABC noticed it too.

Same speech for losing, btw, that was going to be for winning, in case nobody figured it out. He just added the Hillary congratulations onto the start.

I thought it was strange and said so. It made me realize he's not as good a speaker as the conventional wisdom has made him out to be. Not bad, just not as good.

[mojowork_n]

130. I heard Barack extemporize very effectively

Last spring, the day of the Virginia Tech shootings, he had a packed auditorium waiting to hear him at 7:00 pm.

He told us he'd tossed his prepared speech, considering the day's events, and he did weave together an off-the-cuff spellbinder.

He was very good, on that day, on a relatively small, completely bare stage.

[oasis]

45. Definitely bookmark material.

:thumbsup:

[Cameron27]

76. I saw that before

but I didn't save it, thanks for posting it again. :-)

[rox63]

90. We like our governor just fine here in MA n/t

[2rth2pwr]

115. Nice curtains you guys have there. nt

In Mass. don't they call him "Deville" Patrick?

Feb. 21--Governor Deval Patrick spent more than $10,000 on damask drapes for his State House office as part of a $27,387 makeover that also included a new desk, settee, and other furnishings paid for with taxpayer money.

Yesterday, after an inquiry from the Globe, Patrick abruptly announced that he would repay the state for the draperies and furnishings.

At the same time, Patrick said he would contribute $543 each month to the lease of the Cadillac DTS he uses for state business, bringing the cost to the public in line with the more modest Ford Crown Victoria used by Governor Mitt Romney.

Patrick, who just days ago defiantly defended his lease of the $46,000 luxury car, said he changed his mind after a weekend spent struggling with the state's dismal finances and the budget cuts he has asked his agency leaders to make to bridge...

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-29777270_ITM

[CoffeeCat]

15. How ironic and hypocritical...

The Hillary camp is SOOOO quick to accuse Obama supporters of
latching on to cult of personality and putting so much emphasis
on Obama's speeches and the way he inspires with his speech.

Then you turn around, and attempt to discredit and malign him for the
way he speaks in a debate and the way his speeches are crafted and
delivered.

How frickin hypocritical is that?

So...it's ok to judge a candidate on his manner of speech and what he says--if you
judge that his speeches are not up to standard? However, if you are inspired by
a candidate's speech and what he has to say---then you're some mindless dolt
who has lost their ability to reason????

[2rth2pwr]

17. Both or neither is fine as long as you know that Axelrod is the mastermind. nt

[aquart]

25. Not even slightly hypocritical.

The Obama followers do behave like a cult citing the speeches as their reasons for adoration.

The speeches are still carefully crafted by somebody else. So your icon isn't even real in that area.

[CoffeeCat]

74. How do you know that Obama doesn't write his...

...own speeches?

Are you sitting in a room, watching someone else write those speeches for him?

How do you know it's not a team effort?

I certainly don't support Hillary Clinton's policies, but I don't pretend to
know what goes on behind-the-scenes in her campaign. I'm certainly not there
when speeches are being crafted. How could I know?

So how is it that YOU know so much?

[Adelante]

105. Jon Favreau works with Obama on his speeches

Jon Favreau has the worst and the best job in political speechwriting. His boss is a best-selling author who doesn't really need his help, having written the 2004 speech that catapulted him onto the national stage. At the same time, the same boss also happens to be capable of delivering a speech in ways that can give his audience the goosebumps.

But Barack Obama is more than a little busy campaigning across Iowa and New Hampshire right now. So it was Favreau who led the team that wrote Obama's victory speech in Des Moines last week—a moment that prompted the TV pundits to drop months of skepticism about Obama's candidacy to make breathless comparisons with the Kennedy era.

For Favreau, a 26-year-old jean-clad staffer (who is no relation to the comedian of "Swingers" fame) who worked in Obama's senate office, the contrast with the 2004 election could not be starker.

-snip

The pitch worked. Favreau and Obama rapidly found a relatively direct way to work with each other. "What I do is to sit with him for half an hour," Favreau explains. "He talks and I type everything he says. I reshape it, I write. He writes, he reshapes it. That's how we get a
finished product.

"It's a great way to write speeches. A lot of times, you write something, you hand it in, it gets hacked by advisers, it gets to the candidate and then it gets sent back to you. This is a much more intimate way to work."

Some speeches are much more the product of the candidate himself. Obama e-mailed Favreau his draft of his announcement speech in Springfield, Ill., at 4 a.m. on the morning of the campaign launch last February.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/84756/page/1

[2rth2pwr]

120. LOL, they can't even keep their stories straight!

Of course Axelrod won't take credit for specific lines. Consultants are supposed to stay in the background. "One thing I came to realize early in the process of working with Barack was, he was always going to be the best writer in the room," Axelrod says. "If you appreciate words and the power of them, he's a wonderful person to work with. . . . I'd say 80 percent of what he did on that platform on Saturday was in that initial draft," which Obama had e-mailed to Axelrod at about 4 a.m. Thursday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/14/AR2007021401812.html

[elleng]

3. Damn.

Should not have said that.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. This was border-line pre-truce. These remarks are not from today

Looks like Monday.

What the heck... didn't Andrew Jackson capture New Orleans a week after the war of 1812 was over?

[babylonsister]

6. Yawn. He supports Hillary and makes no bones about it. And, for the fucking record,

Obama never said he was MLK. That line is getting tired.

[Tactical Progressive]

20. changed to respond to OP

[aquart]

29. Meaning you got caught, whupped, and don't want to hear about it anymore.

Sure, kid.

[GalleryGod]

53. Herman-the-Disruptor, along with The Old Heads in the Civil Rights

Movement, "the Moses Generation" if you will, don't want to cede their power and prestige to the "Joshua Generation".

[BeyondGeography]

7. Take a deep breath, John; Hillary is the one who implicitly compared him with MLK

Also, this is old news in terms of Internet time. You shouldn't be recycling it.

[unc70]

22. Obama's Moses-Joshua speeches certainly leave the impression

While I agree that Obama (or his campaign) does not explicitly claim comparison with MLK, various versions of this speech certainly promote such comparisons. A little like Bush saying 9/11 and Iraq in consecutive sentences.

The Obama campaign has been more direct when advancing comparisons with JFK, with Ted Sorenson introducing Obama at various events and describing Obama as the heir to Camelot.

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[unc70]

84. This is not a game, it is deadly serious. (also attack on me wrong target)

What in the Hell is wrong with you? You are terribly mistaken about who I am, I have not said anything to deserve an alert, and I am aghast that you are allowed to teach history at the college level.

I do not use other identities to post, prefer Edwards for various reasons, have tried to keep an open mind about all Dem candidates, see strengths and weaknesses in each one, and prefer that I be happy to support our nominee.

(FYI In the last couple of weeks, I have been re-examining Obama prompted by trying to understand why he did not resonate with me. Those posts are only tangentially related to this thread.)

It is disingenuous to pretend that Clinton doesn't use gender in her campaign or Obama race. I have commented on some of the these. After the Detroit debate, I noted that Clinton's "I'm your girl" is a clever trap for any male opponent since an internalized "I'm your boy" diminishes them, but it is more problematic for Obama.

My previous post attempted to say that by discussing a new generation of leaders, etc. he plants the seeds for a comparison, without ever needing to make anything explicit. Not a problem for me. I contrasted that to the explicit actions by his campaign to promote him wrt JFK.

Posters elsewhere in this thread point out the real danger to everyone in the Party and to civil rights in general if this fight between Clinton and Obama continues. This is not a game of gotcha, or he/she hit me first, or an attempt for elders to hold onto power. And the blowback hits everyone -- look at the absurd Lawrence O'Donnell attack on Edwards being a racist just for continuing to be a candidate.

I have done my small part along this path since the early 1960's, have gone to far to turn back now.

[VotesForWomen]

36. no she didn't; she compared him to a president who couldn't get the job done; IMO

what she was saying that in order to get civil rights legislation enacted you need not only social leaders such as MLK, but you need governmental leaders with the ability to actually get the legislation through. agree with her or not, she was suggesting that she was the one who could get the job done, as opposed to obama.

[GalleryGod]

57. 'Splain,'Splain,'Splain-Away

Were you alive?

Well here's what I teach my college US History classes...

Simple: "IT WAS JFK's BLOOD THAT GOT THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL PASSED" LBJ played it cozy up until the end...sure he said "we shall overcome" in a major televised speech,but, any books on that time will tell you he was "playing it cozy and close to the vest...so it wasn't LBJ...it was exuberant Hubert H.Humphrey and GOP Leader Everette McKinley Dirksen who whipped the votes. I guess Hillary read the cliff notes.

[VotesForWomen]

134. like i said, you can disagree with her interpretation, but continuing to suggest that she dissed MLK

is not helping obama's campaign or the democrats in general.

[NJObamaWoman]

8. Can the HRC camp grow up and move on already.

[aquart]

32. But look at all the votes your tactics got you in Michigan!

Aren't you proud?

[RiverStone]

10. Just part of the old guard --- new blood shakes up the status quo

And thats what Obama's doing.

Nice way to steal Benson's words Mr. Lewis...

Get over it or move out of the way.

[madrchsod]

12. do you expect people not to read the article?

bold leadership! from hillary? to each his own

[aquart]

30. Bold leadership! From Obama? PRESENT!

[CoffeeCat]

13. We knew she would start up again!

Geez! When someone asked Candy Crowley, "When will the love fest end with these candidates?" she
said, "tomorrow" and everyone laughed because it was a bit hilarious.

I guess tomorrow is today!

Obama called off this nonsense. No one on his side is doing this because he had the courage and
the dignity to publicly denounce this stuff. I guess Hillary hasn't sent the same signal to her
camp. Figures.

I have to say...what a bunch of bunk! Obama never directly compared himself to MLK or Kennedy.

Obama FINALLY responded to Hillary, who was insinuating that Obama was nothing but speeches--that he
was some empty suit who happened to be a good orator.

After many days of this, Obama asks the question, "What is so wrong about giving a good speech?" and
he mentions that MLK and Kennedy gave nice speeches. Why is giving an eloquent speech such a bad thing?

Obama never said he was MLK. He never said he was like MLK or Kennedy. Hillary criticized Obama's
speeches and Obama pointed out that many people in history gave great speeches.

John Lewis is perpetuating the Hillary talking points.

I guess we're back to business as usual.

I hope Obama just ignores it--because Hillary is like a bully trying to drag a grown up into the sandbox.

If she doesn't publicly denounce this, she really is a manipulative hater.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

19. you seem more eager to sow discension than discovers the facts

"We knew she would start up again!"

It seems that what you mean is "We HOPED she would start up again!"

If you read the article you would know that this is not a brand new comment, and that "she" did not start up anything "again."

[CoffeeCat]

73. Ummm, no...

I didn't "hope" that she would start up again.

I was very disappointed at the thought of Hillary breaking the deal.

If she hasn't, that's good for everyone.

[aquart]

34. Arguing a false premise?

Your man was taken to the woodshed for blatant race baiting. Period. Veterans of our civil rights struggles stopped his ass cold.

Now you want to continue to argue what it was about?

SAY YOU'RE SORRY AND YOU WON'T DO IT AGAIN. But you've already begun blaming anybody but Obama and his supporters. YOU GOT CAUGHT. Everybody seems to know it but you.

[CoffeeCat]

75. Nice spin...

Race baiting?

I don't think so.

Hillary suggested that Obama's speeches were fluff. Obama responded by pointing out that
MLK and Kennedy gave great speeches too. Hillary responded--like a complete fool--by
reminding our entire nation that it was not only MLK's great speeches that moved forward
the civil rights movements--but also a seasoned politician like Johnson.

In effect, she diminished King's role in the civil rights movement, by propping up her
argument that "it takes more than speeches." Is she racist? No. Was she a complete
moron for trying to illustrate a political point by downplaying MLK's role in civil
rights as she heads into the SC primary? YES.

She did this to herself. Hillary said a really stupid thing, a debate ensued--due to
Hillary's incendiary comments--and you accuse Obama of "race baiting".

You are totally absurd.

The Michigan exit polls and Obama's widening lead among African Americans--clearly showcases
that the public knows what the score is---despite the ridiculous spinning and dirty tricks
by the Hillary campaign.

And by the way--Obama was the man of integrity who said "Enough is enough", not Hillary.
She would have continued to shoot herself in the foot for weeks, had Obama not taken the
high road.

Hillary should be thanking Obama for saving her from herself.

[rinsd]

81. Both candidates called it off now its the surrogates.

From the same article

Rep. William Lacy Clay (Mo.), an Obama campaign co-chairman, said yesterday that Clinton was "trying to score cheap political points on the back of Martin Luther King's legacy" when she said that "King's dream became a reality when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964" -- the statement that helped launch the debate over the role of race in the campaign.

Watch that fall from your high horse...

[redqueen]

83. The piece in the OP is from yesterday. (nt)

[Radical Activist]

14. Its dissapointing to see something like that from Lewis.

Especially considering the time Obama has spent registering african american voters when working for Project Vote. Lewis and Obama have done similar work over the years.

[aquart]

27. If he knew King and the Kennedys, there is no comparison.

When Lewis did it, you could die.

[Radical Activist]

77. They did similar work.

I didn't equate the two. You sound like Hillary.

And if you think people didn't run the risk of death, serious injury or other harm to their personal and financial health by registering thousands of black people to vote in Chicago in the 80's then you have a lot to learn about Chicago. Hell, I know people who worked for Project Vote in 2004 that got threats.

[Tactical Progressive]

23. John Lewis came out on Monday on PBS and just manhandled the situation

The AA leadership in Congress and South Carolina just came out and shut it down, which was probably the best thing they could do after what Barack had done. Clyburn joined in later in the evening. Lewis did everything he could to bring this thing to ground in as evenhanded a manner as he could muster. He passed little blame, but you could tell he wasn't too happy with Obama, as well he shouldn't be. Obama used Martin Luther King to racebate behind and it was just starting to blow up in his face and in black America's face by extension. That's one of the last things this country, the Democratic Party, the African-American community or any of us needs.

That was the start of this whole dustup, which btw I don't believe was ever resolved properly, properly being the recognition that Barack played the race card big-time against both Clintons and dishonestly both times. They ended up getting tarred based on lies, and just as the black leadership was starting to knock Obama down for his gall and his contempt of history and misuse of the legacy of the Civil Rights struggle, they decided to try to just get past it like it never happened after seeing what he had fomented. That left the Clintons holding the bag and the black community with a bunch of unjustified anger at them with things like 'go back to Arkansas you hillbilly racists' and the like being said even here on DU. Disgusting. I'm only satisfied in how it ended because a truce is probably better for everyone involved than even Barack being held to account, as toxic as prolonging that process would have been. If the Clintons could accept it, the rest of us can as well.

John Lewis in an extended debate pretty much just wiped the floor with some guy spewing the typical anti-Clinton conventional media wisdom on Monday's PBS Newshour. Later on Charlie Rose, James Clyburn went out in an about-face as if he had had a complete epiphany, to all appearances chastened at the realization of what a bunch of ugly crap had been foisted on the Clintons by the Obama camp. I don't think either one of those guys is going to be supporting Obama's Presidential aspirations this time around in the primaries. In between, Dan Abrams on MSNBC, probably the youngest-demo cable network, pretty much knocked a wide-eyed young Obama supporter spouting the same talking points, into the weeds with actual videotape, along with the media as a whole for promoting the garbage. Another really smart, young, South Carolina legislator I believe, just cleanly, calmly, emptied the rhetoric against the Clintons right out.

I was so proud of the African-American leadership on Monday. Obama is lucky they shut it down for him so he didn't have to take the heat for what he did, which I got the distinct feeling they were about ready to apply next. John Lewis's statement here pretty much points in that direction. Obama's play was cynical and it was craven and was starting to blow back on him and everyone else. He's lucky the elders came and saved his ass.

[aquart]

26. I keep trying to imagine the conference calls.

There is no doubt in my mind they took Obama to the woodshed over this.

[Tactical Progressive]

28. I think so too

and I've been trying to imagine those conversations as well.

I only hope Barack learned something from this, as it has been an expensive lesson. He needs alot of growing up over the next eight years if he's going to make an honest run at the Presidency.

[aquart]

38. And this is why we said he was green.

Hope Rangel's still alive by then.

Although I don't believe for a second that Obama will wait eight years. I think he's arrogant enough to go gunning for an incumbent.

But, since I WANT intense oversight of the next, way too powerful president (because we never challenged George's usurpations by impeaching his ass), that's actually fine by me. Let 'em watch each other like hawks.

[AtomicKitten]

40. Your arrogance matches hers in clinging to the notion of inevitability.

You should seriously consider community theater.

[AtomicKitten]

33. There's that "fairy tale" Bill Clinton was talking about.

This entire sordid episode was perpetrated and hatched by Hillary Clinton and her minions. Please continue the charade but just know people are on to it in a big way and that that displeasure will be felt by your candidate hard in South Carolina and then across this country. What goes around comes around. Bank on it.

[Tactical Progressive]

41. I think the AA community falling for Obama's racebaiting

was a big part of why Lewis and these others came out as strong as they did in support of the Clintons. The race-baiters that have swarmed around Obama are the greatest threat to the African-American community. Lewis and Clyburn and others of stature and honesty know that whatever transient appearance of advantage these types think they create with their contrived interpretations and cynical appeals to race hatred, will only blow back five times as hard.

They don't care how ugly they have to be, as long as they can wreak some havoc. Fortunately, they are mostly the hate-radio segment of the AA community, most of which is alot more even-tempered and thoughtful. I doubt Obama will be using their ilk again, for his own sake.

I have no problem with South Carolina supporting Barack. I look at it as a kind of racial pride thing. That's fine, but I've heard many, many African-American women unapologetically supporting Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Smart ladies know an inexperienced punk when they see one. This one needs alot more time in the real world before he's a man. The racially-divisive game he played for his own benefit on the Clintons probably shows himself up for what a nasty overgrown kid he is better than anything anyone could have done to explain it.

After this episode it's obvious that he needs AT LEAST eight years of grown-up supervision before he's ready to sit at the adult's table.

[AtomicKitten]

42. If you insist on using that language, it is the Clinton campaign doing the race-baiting.

The charade here must be exhausting for you.

Heads up: You might have your candidate prepare a defense for the backlash she is going to get for using litigation to disenfranchise her opponents' voters. Suppressing the vote is nothing short of vile.

http://www.alternet.org/story/73782

[Tactical Progressive]

44. With all of the dishonesty and pretending and distorting

and just plain refuting reality that you have to do, don't you ever wonder if what comes out of all of that is worth it, or if it even has any value at all? Or if you, in doing it, end up with any?

People like John Lewis and James Clyburn and Charlie Rangle have more understanding of racial tension and the struggle for Civil Rights, and the sacrifices made in those areas, than Obama and his supporters will ever understand in their entire lives. These men don't play games about this stuff, and they aren't fools. They've fought for all of this in the streets and dangerous towns and in combat and for their whole political lives. And you think your nasty little lies even scratch that? Why do you do this to yourself?

It is exhausting, watching liars and hate-filled partisans do these kinds of things. I mean, I've dealt with it from Publicans for decades, but it's so sad to see it on the left. Bill Clinton tries to get the media to look at Obama's thin anti-war credibility and suddenly he's a vile racist? Hillary Clinton credits LBJ's courage and political prowess in passing the major Civil Rights legislation of our time and suddenly she's a Martin Luther King smearer? This is evil stuff to do to anybody, let alone two of the most African-American friendly and supportive politicians of our lifetimes.

Yet there are Obama's willful followers, with their snide and ugly little attempts to turn regular words into racist "codewords" and then apply them to things never said, to paint someone as a racist. Even after it has been shown to be wrong. All to satisfy their Obama love. You ought to be ashamed, as should Obama, for what you've been doing.

Lewis, Clyburn, Rangle and others on TV, and I'm sure many others not on TV, aren't playing any part of that game or letting anyone else play it. The struggle for Civil Rights wasn't, and isn't, some meaningless effort to be abused for a cheap political ploy to paint someone as a racist for a few votes. It was a huge, tough, dangerous and even deadly fight of national and ultimately human signifigance. I'm guessing these guys - are alot angrier than I'll ever be about Obama's abuse of America's Civil Rights heritage.

It sounds likely that Obama may have just been made to look at what he's done. Many of his supporters won't. That's fine. They help to show the kind of people that support Obama, and what that means about him as a candidate. Rhetoric often has little to do with reality, and in Obama's case, especially after this chapter, his high-sounding pretenses are looking in many important ways to have nothing to do with the person he tries to portray himself as. Obama's supporters, following his unethical lead, have been invaluable in conveying that very large discrepancy out to the people watching.

Lewis, Clyburn, Rangle and others have just made that crystal clear. Our appreciation goes out to them.

[AtomicKitten]

67. Here's KO calling BS on Clinton surrogate Rangel lying about Obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05jPTcWMUJs

Lewis and Rangel are Clinton surrogates (see above link). Clyburn already made very, very clear what he thinks of the Clintons, contrary to your spin.

Nice try.

[Tactical Progressive]

78. Sure, everyone that recoils from Obama's race-baiting is a 'Clinton surrogate'

Maybe that kind of distortion plays better on South Carolina hate radio than it does among decent people??

And oops, wrong about Clyburn. Charlie Rose just spent nearly half of his interview trying from every possible angle to get Clyburn to attack, demean, slight, vaguely insinuate or even just remotely question anything about the Clintons, and all he got was effusive praise in response.

It was almost as if James had fully realized what an ugly load of race-baiting he had been fed by Obamaroids and their uncivilized supporters.

Oh well, too bad for Obama. All that nasty and in the end, he only succeeded in outing his true self. Maybe he'll get South Carolina out of all the racial ugliness he fomented. What pride he can take in that! Gobama!

[AtomicKitten]

93. And you are everything an opponent could hope for.

Your spiel is spun entirely out of lies and innuendo. The only problem is Americans aren't the dumbasses you and your candidate are counting on.

Your spin is strong, grasshopper, but Obama's political jujitsu is stronger. All the nasty sh*t your candidate has been spewing is flying right back in her face.

But, please continue. I'm loving every minute of it. Your participation here is theater in the round. Bravo!

[Tactical Progressive]

96. The only problem is that I watched all these interviews

and you didn't. Making, by definition, whatever claims you concoct regarding innuendo and lies, as nothing more than, best possible case, well, innuendo and lies.

I don't have to spin. I don't have to spiel. I just tell it like it is as we all watch people pretend that it is racist to credit Lyndon Johnson with the courage and effort he expended on creating Civil Rights legislation. I watch them feign that it 'diminishes' or 'demeans' Martin Luther King to do so.

It doesn't get much uglier than that. No need for spin. I just say what happened. What Obama's camp did.

And Obama looks like the nasty, desperate race-baiter that he has chosen to be.

[AtomicKitten]

98. "I watched all those interviews ... and you didn't."

Did your Magic 8 Ball tell you that?

Your screed is devolving as we speak ...

[Tactical Progressive]

99. Well, you haven't mentioned it

or anything about any of them in many posts, so it seemed a reasonable inference to draw.

Or are you just now looking on youtube to catch up and pretend you did?

[AtomicKitten]

100. Thanks for the invitation to swap insults but you've been exposed.

My work is done.

:hi:

[Tactical Progressive]

101. Don't be so hard on yourself Kitten

Your work will never be done until you choose to pull yourself out of the cult-worshipper personna you've chosen to immerse yourself in, and take a more reasonable, more honest approach to your politics.

You may then see alot of faults with your candidate, especially if it's still Obama, and others, and yourself too, but the honest approach will end up in the long run being better for your politics, for you and even for them.

In the meantime, snuggle up with your little 'Obama' bear before you go to sleep and dream of the perfect little low-road candidate that will make all your dreams come true.

[AtomicKitten]

103. IWR, K-L, and suing to disenfranchise voters are all I need to know about Hillary Clinton.

The fact that that seems to be perfectly fine with you speaks volumes about your character, or lack thereof. You'll have to forgive those of us with the integrity and values to know that 'by any means necessary' isn't a good thing.

See you at the ballot box. :hi:

[Tactical Progressive]

108. Since I have to, I do forgive you.

But it's so much more important that you forgive yourself once you realize what a good woman and what a great President Hillary is going to make.

Till election day then, or at least until we cross paths again. :hi:

[AtomicKitten]

114. There is no forgiveness for her Yeah War!! votes cast with her political behind in mind.

She is the epitome of a craven professional politician, and Americans are catching on state by state, just as I have being a former Clinton sycophant myself. But I opened my eyes as are Americans across this country. What she considers the "fun" part of the campaign, particularly suing to disenfranchise voters a la the rightwing, is turning stomachs across this country. Don't believe me? Patience. The renaissance is just beginning in America. Anybody but Clinton is the new rallying call. Out with the stale, integrity-challenged dynasty; it's a new day in America.

[Tactical Progressive]

119. Damn, I thought you waved goodbye like four posts ago

Your 'work here was done' blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah.

I'm trying to get out of this thread Kitten, but you keep pulling me back, like bad Godfather dialog.

Americans happen to be catching on to what a good candidate and what a good politician Hillary Clinton is. And that will increase. You didn't open your eyes hon, you fell into a swoon over an inexperienced, as-yet-still mediocre candidate who likes to talk in high platitudes. One who isn't near ready to deal with the Presidency of this country, and has come to show us all how easily he resorts to the low road. Hillary is no saint, because politics is a tough game, but she doesn't come close to matching Obama in terms of political ugliness and dishonesty. He really is shaping up to be the exact opposite of the rhetoric he paints himself with. Like a 'uniter' who 'brings people together'. He has fractured his own party with his low-road tactics and character. And now his race-baiting, in particularly ugly form. Funny, isn't that the exact opposite of what he talks like he is? Why, yes it is the exact opposite!

You want to be all three monkeys at once, go ahead, no one can stop you from seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil about Obama. But everyone else that isn't totally head-over-heels invested in him is watching an entirely different movie play out.

Oh, and do you think that just maybe 'here comes the fun part' of the campaign was spoken in a sardonic context and not the ridiculousness that is the only way you've left yourself able to see things? As I would have registered it within one-tenth of a second had it been Obama saying it. I only bring this up in case you want to make one tiny little gesture for yourself to maybe just put one little finger in the real world to see what it's like.

Oh, who am I kidding. You only see your true love. The race-baiting, divisive, pompous low-roader with the big smile and the empty words. What a hero. Oh, I think I'm falling in love with him myself. No wait, I have self-respect.

[AtomicKitten]

121. "race-baiting, divisive, pompous low-roader with the big smile and the empty words"

Describes your candidate perfectly, and on that point we agree.

[Tactical Progressive]

123. Is that the best you can do, Kitten?

Of course it is.

But I don't want you to get down on yourself. If Obama was my candidate, 'thats what you are but what am I' is probably the best I could do too.

There's just not much to work with in the real world that supports Obama. It's not your fault.

[AtomicKitten]

124. Are you one of those Type A personality types that MUST have the last word?

Just know your candidate is turning off voters in droves and many, many Democrats will sit the election out if she is the nominee (and you and your ilk ensure that every single day here at DU). That combined with the fact that she unifies the Republican base because they despise the Clintons so much makes her dead in the water as the nominee.

VIVA ANYBODY BUT CLINTON!!!

You have nothing to offer except snotty personal attacks, so have at. The last word is yours.

[Tactical Progressive]

129. Kitten, you're the one who waved goodbye

Now it's my fault that you keep coming back?

I think, maybe, it's the sound of the truth, somehow appealing to you at a subliminal level. It's not something you get from Obama, and certainly not in the process of shilling for Obama. It keeps you returning, even if you don't know why. That's a good sign.

But I know you can leave if you really try. Maybe all you need is the mountaintop rhetoric that moves you. Let me help, and we'll do it together.

"We can leave this thread,"
"Yes we can!"
"Like our forefathers left their lands,"
"Yes we can!"
"To strike out for a new world,"
"Yes we can!"
"And to build a better life."
"Yes we can!"
"Yes we can!"
"Yes we can!"

Wow, that's inspiring. I can see the big deal about Obama now.

[anamandujano]

113. I love John Lewis.

Thanks for your incisive input Tactical Progressive. I'm getting a good history lesson.

It makes me ill to see people attacking the likes of Lewis. I didn't like it when John Conyers endorsed Obama but trying to discredit him would be the last thing in the world to consider.

Your comment above about South Carolina reminds me of a quote from the film "A Man For All Seasons" when Sir Thomas More is on trial. He said to one of his betrayers--

"Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?"

[Tactical Progressive]

116. Well, nothing is sacred to Obamamaniacs

except for their love of Obama himself.

Once John Lewis didn't come out in wild, mindless support of Obama, he became a traitorous piece of stale old garbage.
The rest of his life? Whatever who cares.

All you really need to know about Obama is his supporters. After you know that, his popularity becomes meaningless.


That's a funny quote. Thanks!

[GalleryGod]

58. Anybody that KEEPS Bill as an ICON after his Craven Conduct is

blinded by his light.
You're right up there with Boy George and A-Ha, Clinton.
An Old Man from Yesterday:puke:

[bcoylepa]

61. mishandled- not manhandled

2 people watch the same thing and see it two very different ways
all I could see was Lewis spinning and spinning and his take on the Bob Johnson's statements was ridiculous - also -
the some guy you mention was the Reverend Joseph Lowry Civil Rights activist extraordinare - as is Lewis
Lowery and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) together. History is important - so is the truth.

[Tactical Progressive]

87. Oh? You saw something different than Lewis not supporting Obama

in the least? Maybe that came through in hi-def, but it sure didn't on regular TV.

As to Bob Johnson, who cares about that? I sure don't, but if you think that bringing him up in some way makes what Obama did OK, well then, you've got a very strange notion of what's important in all of this. And just what did you think John was going to do with billionaire Bob's bleacher-seats bullshit anyway, but sidestep it as best he could? How hard is that to figure out why?

Thanks for the Reverend Joseph Lowry reference. I realize he was probably just called out there to help protect the black prince with the standard, and oh so wrong, conventional wisdom talking points. I don't blame him for that. But he got mowed down. Lewis just wasn't taking any of the crap like what flushes around here on DU. He knows what Obama did, and he knows how selfish and destructive it is.

Like I said, Barack is lucky that the experienced elders came and shut his ass down when they did on Monday. It was already starting to get out of his hands and the backlash was already beginning.

[beachmom]

66. Nice spin. Too bad it isn't true. A new guard of AA leaders

have arrived. Why the old guard is out protecting the Clintons is BEYOND ME.

And for the record, it is BARACK OBAMA who called the truce. HE was the leader.

[Tactical Progressive]

88. Oh, it's true. I watched it.

John Lewis understands. So does James Clyburn I think, and some others I saw.

Obama lead his primary campaign into the ugliest and most dishonest race-baiting play that I've ever seen.

I guess he could call that 'leadership', if he wants to put it on his resume.

It's not something I'd want out there, but then again I'm not one of the 'new guard of AA leaders'. Maybe that's what the next generation of AA leaders has in store for us.

[ellacott]

94. Oh my goodness

[AtomicKitten]

24. Thank you for doing your part for racial divisiveness.

[FrenchieCat]

31. You must be Oogly!

That's all I can think of that would make you act this way!

[cali]

37. When it comes to RFK or JFK, who knows more, Lewis?

Or Sorenson? Gee, that should be obvious. I'd say Sorenson knew the Kennedy Brothers about a 100x better than Lewis- at least. And it's Sorenson who came out of a long retirement to join the Obama campaign because Obama reminds him of JFK. And Obama has NEVER compared himself to MLK. Shame to see Lewis doing hit work for ol' hill

[aquart]

39. Now that's genuine shamelessness.

[cali]

43. No. that's both factual and an observation.

It's a fact that Sorenson has compared Obama to JFK and RFK. It's a fact that he knew them far better than Lewis; he was part of their inner circle. It's a fact that Sorenson came out of retirement to work for Obama. It's a fact that Lewis supports Hillary. It's an observation that Lewis was hitting out at Obama because he's acting as a surrogate for Hillary.

Nothing shameless about it.

[wyldwolf]

46. but is isn't a fact Obama has NEVER compared himself to MLK

[Tactical Progressive]

47. That's the first thing he did

to kick-start his race-baiting game here.

[cali]

48. Put up

or prove that you're making it up. Links to any statement where he has compared himself to MLK. And even if he had, how the fuck would that be race baiting. Love that you're so happily embracing right wing memes. Just like your beloved leader's oh so charming campaign. THEY are the ones that seem to find it necessary to point out race and Obama's "shady" history. Clinton surrogates have been doing it for over a month now.

Kerrey
Shaheen
emails in Iowa
Johnson
Rangel
Cuomo
aide who compared Obama to "hip black friend".

[GalleryGod]

59. Forget it,Cali. Typical DU Keyboard Kommando Bullshiite

SEE MY SIG LINE, CALI!!!

[FrenchieCat]

52. Don't forget RFK's widow......

Under Microscope, Obama Still Has Many Admirers
Bobby Kennedy's Widow Would Support Obama Presidential Bid

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Bobby Kennedy, told CBS 2 she would support Obama in a presidential run. Many people often compare Obama with Kennedy.

Kennedy said she thinks Obama should run for president. When asked why, she said, while walking next to Obama, "He's so adorable. Because he's got it all."
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/barack.obama.hillary.2.334391.html

-----------------

Ethel Kennedy - widow of Senator Bobby Kennedy, on Obama:
"I think he feels it. He feels it just like Bobby did," Ethel Kennedy said, comparing her late husband's quest for social justice to Obama's. "He has the passion in his heart. He's not selling you. It's just him." Ethel Kennedy invited Obama to deliver the keynote address at a ceremony commemorating the 80th birthday of Robert F. Kennedy. She said she had carefully followed the career of the Illinois senator, whom she referred to as "our next president." Chicago Tribune

[GalleryGod]

56. Yeah, the Moses Generation doesn't want to cede power to the Joshuas

simple as that...John's been at "the power table" so lonnnng. I met him; he spoke three years ago at our college during Black History month...he was "Pumping/pimping for Hillary" back then in 2005.

John attacks Obama AT HIS PERIL...he may begin to look like a "House Man" to the Young Black Turks.

[jackson_dem]

104. Joshua Obama was not a presidential prospect in 2005

Lewis is a legend, icon, and great man. I don't question his sincerity.

[Warren Stupidity]

49. pssst: your supposed to stop this bullshit now.

[Avalux]

50. So that's how Hillary's going to play it?

She publicly states she wants everyone to get along, but then her attack dogs keep stirring the pot. Rove crap. :eyes:

[bcoylepa]

55. this was just sad

I adore John Lewis but watching him try to spin Bob Johnson's words about Obama and the "neighborhood" was just too sad. If you just read those words you might be able to accept his explanation but if you watched him say them - no way. And I believe Mr. Lewis knows that Obama did not compare himself to King = it was all so beneath him and I for one was very sorry to see him do it.

[zulchzulu]

60. Now that's what I like....a Clinton promise. About as valuable as a rat's tooth in my salad

Lewis stepped in it again.

[ClericJohnPreston]

63. Tsk, tsk

Cognitive Dissonance.....ouch.

[karynnj]

62. This hits a phony strawman

Obama never claimed he was like JFK or MLKjr, they are both his heroes. I assume that he thinks the Clintons are not MLKjr or JFK as well.

[beachmom]

64. And Atlanta's mayor endorsed Obama. Mayor Franklin represents

the future. John Lewis and Rangel represent the Black Establishment, who are part of the Clinton machine. They need to get out of the way for leaders like Mayor Shirley Franklin and Governor Deval Patrick.

[Vinca]

65. Are these people hearing speeches in their heads?

Obama never gave a speech saying he was MLK or like MLK. If Senator Clinton intends to make nice now, it would be a good move to tell her minions to STFU.

[EffieBlack]

68. He did NOT slam Obama

He said that Obama "is no Martin Luther King." He's not. He never claimed to be. No one else in the race has claimed to be. So where's the slam?

The Post story said this was an "extensive interview." I'd like to see the whole interview, rather than a couple of sentences that have been spun to sound as if Lewis has "slammed" Obama.

[desi]

69. K&R...and hoping that nobody in this thread

is flaming Congressman and CIVIL RIGHTS HERO John Lewis (or the OP.) They may want to actually read the piece before any knee-jerk reaction.

[ruggerson]

70. Reading people in here slamming John Lewis

turns my stomach.

Let's stomp on the graves of Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan while we're at it.

John Lewis has more civil and human rights credibility in his little finger than any of us have in our collective bodies.

This is partisan politics at its worst.

[RoadRage]

71. Key Words: "a prominent Clinton supporter" NT

[Bonobo]

72. *Boo hiss Boo hiss*

[PresidentObama]

79. Really? He's not trying to be like MLK, so that's ok.

[mrdemocrat78]

82. Of course he's not... MLK is dead.

And Obama isn't pretending to be MLK Jr.
Obama is his own man... Is Hillary her own woman?

[Freddie Stubbs]

85. I don't beleive that Obama ever said he was a "Martin Luther King"

[Cha]

86. How fucking mean...

Obama never claimed to be MLK so that's just being an asshole.

[rox63]

89. Obama never claimed to like MLK

There must be some strong hallucinogens in the Clinton Kool-Aid. :crazy:

[Bonobo]

91. *Boo hiss Boo hiss*

[goodhue]

92. Yes, I saw John Lewis on TV absolutely tearing into Obama

I guess the Clinton campaign feels John Lewis can get away with smears that others cannot. Certainly he is more credible than Bob Johnson, but it still strikes as less than classy.

[ecstatic]

95. I wish the older "leaders" would stop this

Some of them are displaying a venom that is... well, shocking. I don't see how it helps anybody for them to tear Obama apart in this way.

[Catherine Vincent]

97. I thought everyone decided to move on from this? nt

[rch35]

102. with "friends" like that.... nt

[butterfly77]

106. He is not suppose to be...

he is suppose to be the best Obama. This reminds me of the wingnuts who are trying to be portray themselves as another reagan.

[AngryAmish]

107. Will Clinton cronies call him uppity next?

[Tactical Progressive]

111. No, but I'm sure Obama's race-baiting squadrons

will come up with a "codeword" that suddenly always meant the same thing but in a clearly racist way.

Maybe 'ambitious'.

Or 'determined'.

Or 'chair'.

[VotesForWomen]

118. will obama supporters call lewis uppity? quite possibly. nt

[Imagevision]

109. Another Bill Clnton 'original' (?) "I knew Martin Luther King" gag me with a pitch fork would ya!?!

[Imagevision]

110. Hillary claimed a truce with Obama... --> not Bill...!

[arthritisR_US]

112. People may not like what he says but he is entitled to his opinion

and the Clinton camp, as well as the other candidates entourage, can only stop their people from saying that they speak for the candidate when they render an opinion. I dare say, that if anyone had proffered a comparison between HRC and any one of MLK, JFK or Bobby Kennedy, Mr Lewis would probably have stated the same except with HRC's name in the quote. I think this entire episode initially was manufactured by the right and it has been unwittingly fed by a group hysteria mentality, bolstered by the whorish corporate media.

[BenDavid]

117. This was the man, John Lewis that I wanted to hear from. If he

thought what HRC and Bill said were racist or insensitive towards Dr King then it would be true, but when Charlie Rangel said what he did and now Mr. John Lewis spoke then I hope he receives as much air as jesse and his son did hollering at the top of their lungs this was wrong, this was wrong what Hillarty said....

The problem I see Obama having is both jesse's use it for political purposes, whereas John Lewis tells the truth.....

[sb5697]

125. Hillary appointed him to some national postion on her campaign.

I live in GA it was in the local paper maybe 1-2 mos ago. I was disappointed he joined her then (don't see a darn thing he does in Congress to be honest with you) and I'm not surprised he would put is half-cents worth in now. In the scheme of things it means nothing. Do what Obama does and ignore these nuts--it really get to them because they have to create negative stories. Hillary's campaign is in trouble, as it should be, and they are seriously panicking. GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mzmolly]

126. Did he claim to be?

I haven't seen it...

[MasonJar]

127. As was clearly quantified of DU a few days ago, Obama is no RFK,

as many claim (neither are the other candidates, but no one has compared them to Bobby.) Those who have seen the recent movie Bobby will know the boldness and strength of his goals; RFK was a man of vision and on a distinct mission for his fellow man. I had forgotten the incredible power of the Kennedy message until I saw that movie which included direct segments of RFK speeches...the magnificence was electrifying. No one has come close to that eloquence since. Al Gore, on a totally different course, has the same committment to sanity and the same breadth of inspiration. Thank God that there is another voice of wonderment in today's world. The general pol pales when placed against these great statesmen. And our illustrious White House parasite is not even cognizant enough to realize that he is and will continue to be the laughing stock of history,

[MasonJar]

128. As was clearly quantified of DU a few days ago, Obama is no RFK,

as many claim (neither are the other candidates, but no one has compared them to Bobby.) Those who have seen the recent movie Bobby will know the boldness and strength of his goals; RFK was a man of vision and on a distinct mission for his fellow man. I had forgotten the incredible power of the Kennedy message until I saw that movie which included direct segments of RFK speeches...the magnificence was electrifying. No one has come close to that eloquence since. Al Gore, on a totally different course, has the same committment to sanity and the same breadth of inspiration. Thank God that there is another voice of wonderment in today's world. The general pol pales when placed against these great statesmen. And our illustrious White House parasite is not even cognizant enough to realize that he is and will continue to be the laughing stock of history,

[mojowork_n]

131. Perspective, please, this firestorm isn't about HRC, or Obama, but by raising

the comparison, I think Hillary (unwittingly, perhaps unintentionally) bit into a bigger hunk of archetypal, suppressed historical memory than she (or maybe anyone) has understood. So people can't stop talking about it.

On the “Daily Show”, tonight, January 15th, a week and a day since HRC drew her King/LBJ comparison, Jon Stewart aired the full clip, and said, in effect (I’m making a leap to paraphrase it this way):

‘Huh? What’s the big deal, seems reasonable to render unto The President, what is The President’s.’

That Biblical echo seems apt to me, at the moment, because no matter how willing LBJ was to sacrifice the ‘future of the party, for a generation’, a dark mist of suspicion, fear and loathing still obscures LBJ’s ghost.

It’s some sort of Mother of All Battles of the Unconscious. The top of the mountain, The Dream, is shrouded by an unresolved controversy.

Barr McClellan (the former press secretary’s father, attorney and Texas pol) wrote a book called “BLOOD, MONEY, & POWER: How LBJ Killed JFK.”

http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0963784625&mode=direct

What *did* LBJ know about the MLK, JFK, and RFK assasinations?

I haven’t read the book, not that I expect that it would Reveal All, but I know I don’t fully believe the Official Stories, either. That's the ghost of the elephant, in the tent.

[girl_interrupted]

132. I have more confidence in John Lewis than I do Oprah

who also raved about Dr Phil & James Frey, author of "A Million Little Pieces" which turned out to be a Million Little Lies.

[mojowork_n]

135. Did you mean to respond to anything I said, I wasn't talking

about Oprah, Lewis, Obama or Hillary.

[grantcart]

133. i need help with this

I think everyone including Obama is not MLK or Bobby Kennedy. Is the poster trying to say that Hillary is like MLK or Robert Kennedy, has the same passion and self sacrifice?

I am for Edwards and I know Obama is no MLK or Bobby Kennedy, but I like him just the way he is. And someday he will be President of these United States. More importantly I think Obama doesn't want to be MLK or RFK he seems to be content on just being the best Obama he can which is pretty healthy for the president.

I just can't figure out who Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to be or even what name she prefers to call herself.