Things I'm guessing won't come up in Obama's speech on race tomorrow

[journalist3072]

These are just some of the things I'm guessing won't come up in Obama's speech on race tomorrow:

- His imploring Black audiences to bring Pookie and Ray-Ray to vote. I'm guessing he won't explain this quote of his: "I need you not only to vote, but I need you to get cousin Pookie to vote," Obama said. "I need Ray-Ray to vote."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5500250.html

- And then I have a hunch that he won't explain this quote:

"There's no doubt that if we consolidate the black vote, that would have a profound shift in the national polls."

http://www.zshare.net/audio/910934351dbaae/

- Call me crazy, but I'm guessing that he won't explain what his own wife meant when she said "Black America will wake up and get it."

http://www.zshare.net/audio/9109396b304a11/

- Oh, and then there's that pesky matter of Obama supporter Jesse Jackson Jr. going to Black superdelegates and telling them: "if it comes down to the last day and you're the only superdelegate? ... Do you want to go down in history as the one to prevent a black from winning the White House?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/15/black_lawmakers_rethink_clinton_support/?page=2


Just a hunch I have, but I'm betting Barack won't touch these comments in his speech tomorrow.

If he is truly interested in healing the ongoing racial divide in this country, it seems to me that he needs to start with the man in the mirror. And then he needs to get that memo to his supporters, including Michelle and Jesse Jackson Jr.

[Skittles]

1. mmmmm

don't confuse rallying black voters with racism

[Noirceuil]

2. He's playing the race card for votes

If Clinton explicitly "rallied" white voters, I doubt you would be so understanding.

[Skittles]

3. I don't buy that analogy

due to the extreme imbalance of power

[XemaSab]

10. Clinton rallies Latino vote in South Texas

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/022108dnpolclinton.38b7e78.html

Just one of 249,000 hits for "clinton rallies hispanic voters." :P

[Skittles]

12. nothing wrong with that either

it's politics

[XemaSab]

15. Nope, there's nothing wrong with it

and even if there was, it's something both sides have engaged in.

[Skittles]

24. the OP is confusing identity politics with racism

not good

[XemaSab]

31. I've been seeing a lot of confused people around here in the last couple months

:crazy:

[trynottogiveuphope]

17. What Was Her Quote At The End of The Last Debate?

Wasn't it: "Obviously, I am thrilled to be running to be the first woman prseident of the United States."

Sure sounds like she's rallying female voters.

And lest we forget, Repugs do this all the time, just the other way around. Think Willie Horton, DOMA, etc., etc. Be scared = vote white, straight, male.

[JimGinPA]

18. That's Exactly What The Clinton Camp Has Been Doing Since SC...

Trying to rally white voters by making Obama out to be "that scary black man", who took (maybe sold) drugs, maybe a Muslim (as far as she knows, look at this funny costume), a liar (shame on you Barack, you included one word in a flyer that someone else put in, even though the gist was spot on) and shiftless (didn't chair one senate sub-commitee meeting). Not to mention all of her surrogates that have pointed out that he's not electable because he's black (or that he wouldn't even have gotten to where he is now if he wasn't). But now we'd better condemn him for someone else's angry words (cause that old guy is waaaaaay too black!).

[jackson_dem]

29. Did his spouse or national co-chair say "vote for Barack because of his color"?

The Obama campaign made race an issue--starting in November of 2007 when it looked like he would lose the first three states and SC was shaky. The way to make SC a firewall? Play the race card and win on racial lines. Jesse Jackson was able to win with little white support in SC twice because he had unanimous black support and the lesson was not lost on the Obama campaign.

[JimGinPA]

38. Again, How Exactly Did Obama Trick Bill Into Conflating Obama With Jesse Jackson Over & Over?

:shrug:

[jackson_dem]

41. By adopting the Jesse Jackson gameplan to win SC and winning it the same way

See my above post. The Obama campaign knew playing the race card was the best way to build what at the time appeared a do or die firewall in South Carolina. He was expected to lose the first three states, even finish third in Iowa, at the time and winning South Carolina was vital. The way to build a firewall was to, for South Carolina only (not in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada), become the "black candidate" through playing the race card and relying on unanimous black support to win just like Jesse Jackson did twice. Everyone else who won SC, such as Edwards and Bill Clinton, did so by winning both large SC racial groups. Only two magically got almost unanmious support from one group and little from the other. Odd isn't it? Just coincidental? Or did racial voting occur?

[JimGinPA]

44. The Fact Is, Until The Clintons Played "Race Games" Obama Was Behind In The Polls With Black Voters

Nice try though.

[jackson_dem]

45. Yes, he was behind until he swiftboated the Clintons on race

Your post speaks volumes. Only one candidate had an incentive to play the race card heading into South Carolina: Obama. Why do you think the race card always shows up for the likes of SC and MS but never before Iowa, Wisconsin, or Ohio? If Clinton were playing the race card it would have shown up big time for Iowa and New Hampshire and definitely for Ohio and Texas. It didn't. It only mysteriously appears when auspicious for Obama...

[JimGinPA]

46. Funny, I Heard My Governor Play The Race Card Just Before Ohio...

Wolfson just before NH. Sorry, have to call bullshit.

:shrug:

[Window]

64. Exactly.

[MaraJade]

47. Exactly!

"Pookie" and "Ray-Ray" are code words for some inner city people of color who keep on insisting on
giving their children what they believe to be clever phonetic names.

(And before you all "pile-on," I am a black woman who spent her childhood living in the inner city.)

Typically, "Pookie" and "Ray-Ray" are too busy hip-hopping, jailing their pants and being a fly-girl
to pay any attention to the actual issues in the election. "Pookie's" main concern would be her hairdo,
her nails, her designer clothes (nothing but Baby Phat will do), and whether or not her "baby's daddy" brought enough money in to pay for Pampers. If not at his minimum wage job, "Ray-Ray" would be spending most of his time at the club, "chillin", knockin' back Hypnotique's with his friends and checking out women.

The phrase "bring Pookie and Ray-Ray," means that relatives should remind their younger, trendier and less educated family members to vote, all the while reminding them that Obama is "one of us" and needs our help to become President.

What a SORRY mess. Presidents should be chosen based on merits, but apparently not so here.

Sheesh.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Other things he won't say...

...he won't be askin' http://imdb.com/title/tt0071230/">where all the white women at! (wrong picture, but I don't care)

[Skittles]

6. OMG that Colbert clip was hysterical

:D

[Hoof Hearted]

5. “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by

“I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.” – Barack Obama

That one might not be on the list either.

[buff2]

7. Oops!

he said that?

[jackson_dem]

19. Yes, in his first book

The one he wrote before going into politics. He also said this in that book: “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."

[journalist3072]

9. Oh my gravy...Where is that quote from? eom

[Ka hrnt]

26. From his book, apparently.

http://www.examiner.com/a-536474%7E_Trapped_between_two_worlds_.html

[Hoof Hearted]

40. "Dreams from my Father," before he had a crack team of advisers to shape his words

into more marketable, palatable themes.

[angie_love]

8. you call that racism?

[jasmine621]

30. Well, if you call stating the fact that many blacks are voting for Obama

because he is black "racism" most anything said in this primary are racist or racism if said by Hillary supporters. Just what would have happened if Hillary had said, "I am sure Obama wants Ray-ray's vote and Pookie's vote and so do I."

[boppers]

11. He also won't be asking why...

He isn't running against a qualified candidate, instead of somebody who got "just lucky because they were a woman".

:evilgrin:

[2rth2pwr]

13. "I know some of y'all you got that cold Popeyes out for breakfast..."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/819177,CST-NWS-sweet29.article

[elixir]

14. Journalist3072, you're my hero. Thanks for saying this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5131064

[Ka hrnt]

16. Interesting, but remember....

"His imploring Black audiences to bring Pookie and Ray-Ray to vote. "

Clinton hacked his teleprompter and put that in there, you idiot!

"There's no doubt that if we consolidate the black vote, that would have a profound shift in the national polls."

OBVIOUSLY Ferraro's doing, c'mon!

"Black America will wake up and get it."

Define "it." I mean, seriously--this is totally out of context!

"Do you want to go down in history as the one to prevent a black from winning the White House?"

Obviously written by a freeping traitor-to-the-democratic-party troll.

;)

Ah, GDP....you can't buy entertainment like this.

(In all seriousness...these quotes are a little unnerving.)

[goldcanyonaz]

21. You're a keeper!

[jackson_dem]

20. “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."

Nope, Axlerod won't approve that.

[rodeodance]

62. um. goodness.

[izzybeans]

22. Yeah Barack is clearly the problem here.

:sarcasm:

[jackson_dem]

23. Notice who is missing from the list? No "transcending" race back then for Obama

“It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names. To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists.”

[anonymous171]

28. Back then. Can you read his mind now?

Hillary was a Goldwater girl. Does that mean she is one now?

[jackson_dem]

33. Did Hillary attend rethug meetings for 20 years like Obama has done with racist Wright?

[anonymous171]

35. I'm talking about your use of select quotes to smear Obama.

Not about Wright or the two candidates religious preferences. Or do you want to talk about "The Fellowship"?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

25. What is this, Ian Smith's Rhodesia? Paranoia about Black conspiracies everywhere?

[Life Long Dem]

27. Well Clinton already said Obama gives good speeches so it can't be a bad speech!!

Woo hoo!!:woohoo: :woohoo:

[jackson_dem]

32. Michelle Obama: vote for Obama because he is black

Notice the date. Apparently in Obamanation calenders are the stuff of fairy tales. This was the same month she made her "black America will wake up" ( 1. What happened to happy talk about "There is not a white America, a black America, a Latino America, and an Asian America. There is the United States of America!" 2. This was at a time when Obama was losing blacks by only 46-37 when Clinton was at her zenith and in an 8 candidate field. That wasn't enough? Edwards was at 1-3%--and he was in THIRD among black voters at the time!), and Obama surrogate Charles Barron said blacks should vote for Obama because he is black. All of this happened long before Clinton said anything about Obama's Iraq record.

In the end she did include an obligatory statement that Obama should be judged on merit, not based on his color but you can't make a racial appeal one minute and then claim to be color-blind the next. This is exactly what the rethugs do when they wink and nod at racists one moment and then profess color-blindess the next.

It is also no coincidence she said this in South Carolina, not Iowa or New Hampshire. Over there it was all about "post-racial" politics...

-snip-

"Michelle Obama says America will be viewed differently with a black president"

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina (CNN) – Michelle Obama told an audience Tuesday that electing an African-American president will challenge America to "look at itself differently.”

"Imagine our family on that inaugural platform," she said. "America will look at itself differently. The world will look at America differently. There is no other candidate who is going to do that for our country. You know that."

Obama was campaigning on behalf of her husband, Sen. Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama told the audience at the historically black South Carolina State University that she and her husband realize there are doubts among black Americans about whether an African-American can win a presidential election. But she called those fears "the bitter legacy of racism and discrimination and oppression in this country."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/20/michell...

[merh]

34. That quote of Michelle's is easy to explain and you post it as if it

is racist and/or some mystery just shows your lack of intellectual honesty.

"Black America will wake up and get it." Go check the black population numbers and compare it to the numbers of blacks that get out to vote.

If they don't get out to vote, they can't bring about change, their voices won't be heard and their needs considered.

That same thing can be said about the democratic party, women, hispanic americans, any segment of the voting population that is distinquisable and that doesn't adequately vote.

Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

[jackson_dem]

37. You haven't seen the video. The question was why Obama was losing blacks 45-36 (THIRD was at 1-3%)

That was her response...Now we know how the Obama campaign planned to "wake up" and "consolidate" the black vote...They didn't think 36% in an eight candidate field when the third place candidate with blacks was barely registering was enough. They expected and devised a plan to get the current 85-90%.

[merh]

48. And OMG - the focus of white politicans on the black vote and how

to get it has never happened before, has it.

White politicians know they will get the white vote, they don't have to focus on it, they just have to focus on getting those whites to like them more than the other guy.

You truly cannot be that naive.

[jackson_dem]

55. Just like everyone else. You make folks like you better, they usually vote for you

Obama made a special race based strategy and used the race card and swiftboating on race to execute it.

[merh]

56. WTH?

Your post makes no sense.

Oh and you want hate, here ya go - hate from a hillary supporter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU&NR=1

[merh]

57. And the blacks against Obama had their own plans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU&NR=1

[2rth2pwr]

36. "we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics,

we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents.
Michelle Obama

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/the_beat/?p=331

[Drachasor]

51. She has a very good point -- it is time to take America back

[2rth2pwr]

61. ...

[Drachasor]

66. Let me explain myself further.

Look at our penal systems. We are putting people in jail for longer and longer amounts of time for less significant offenses, and caring less about rehabilitating criminals. We, as a whole, tend not to care about how our government treats other countries around the world (propping up dictators and the like). There's even a significant number of us who don't care about our own poor and disadvantaged. There is a streak of apathy/meanness to this, and it is very disturbing. Something needs to be done about it.

Can you honestly disagree?

[pointsoflight]

39. So what is your take on Ferraro?

And Hillary's failure to denounce her in the clear terms that Obama denounced Wright?

Just curious.

[ecstatic]

42. Why would he touch on that? It's irrelevant to the controversy

and frankly, you're probably the only person in America who happens to be concerned about those things.

[pointsoflight]

43. What do you think of Hillary saying...

...that states with a high percentage of black voters don't count? Of her saying that Obama hasn't proven he can draw the white vote (despite Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska, etc.).

Just curious about that, too.

[smothtalker]

49. Wingnuts will criticize his speech no matter what

There is nothing you can do well in the eyes of these monsters.

[donheld]

54. The prize winner for this thread

The sooner people realize what you say is right the better.

Welcome to DU Smothtalker :hi:

[meow mix]

50. oh good another racist to ignore. bye.

fu

[DURHAM D]

63. The OP is AA you fool. eom

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

68. Yeah, right.

I take him at his word.

[zulchzulu]

52. So keep pimpin' for the Warmonger Momma and her Cheating Husband

Whatever... don't listen to the speech until Tavis Smiley and Juan Williams parse it out for you...

:boring:

[malik flavors]

53. Haha, I loved the Pookie and Ray Ray bit. That always made me laugh.

[Two Americas]

58. reverse racism

Your examples are based on the assumption that the concept of reverse racism is valid. It is not. It is a creation of the racist and reactionary right wing propaganda mills, and is intended to promote and legitimatize racism.

You can not take power and economics out of politics, and you cannot take injustice out of the concept of racism without aiding and abetting the right wing.

"I don't care whether or not someone likes me, so long as they do not have the power to harm me."

Ignore the power imbalance, ignore the white male power structure, ignore the millions of victims of the white male power structure, and there would never be a need to talk about racism and sexism - there would be no such thing. The right wingers created "reverse racism" in an effort to convince us that there is no such thing as racism.

There is no moral equivalence between the brutality of those in power, and attempts at self defense by those who are powerless and targeted for persecution and oppression. The two are not equal, ergo, there is no such thing as "reverse racism."

We would not call a slave insurrection “reverse slavery.” We don't call democracy "reverse tyranny." We don't call justice "reverse torture."

[kdpeters]

59. I should certainly hope that he won't address such petty nonsense.

In fact, I expect it to be of profoundly greater substance.

[Forkboy]

60. Something I'm guessing journalist3072 won't be doing soon.

Celebrating.

[Bonobo]

67. Here here.

Sad thing is that her mind is closed.

I pray she never actually becomes a journalist when she grows up.

[Jamastiene]

65. That Pookie and Ray-Ray comment sounded

so disingenuous coming from him. God, I wish someone really would come along and do something about the racism and separatism in this country (and the world), but Obama's methods are clearly not the way to do it.

There is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing something. I wish he would read up on the peaceful, inclusive acts of unity and camaraderie by leaders during the civil rights era that he obviously missed. The way he is doing it as of right now isn't the way to heal the wounds. That much is certain.

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, but the racism will still be there. We need healing and unity not militancy and controversy.

On edit: made it easier to read.

[EFerrari]

69. Healing isn't the same as ignoring or abandoning.

Maybe you should consider a change of vocation. Words don't seem to be your thing.

[SoxFan]

70. Things I'm guessing won't come up in journalist3072's post

Facts
Common sense
Basic decency
Class
Coherence
Truth
Dignity