If Obama didn't drive a stake in the heart of racism with his speech

[BridgeTheGap]

he certainly took the legs out from under it.
I haven't been this inspired by a speech in a long, long time. I think one would have to be brain dead not to be inspired by it.
Did Obama write this speech? I assume he has speech writers working for him but there was clearly a personalized element to it that could only have come from him (i.e. excerpts from his books).
We've got to get this man in the White House!

[Deep13]

1. I expect the Klan will burn their robes in a mass love-in.

The Washington R******s will probably change their name too by the end of the week. Sadly, comedians at the Apollo Theater will no longer seem funny.:(

So how exactly does making even a historic speech make someone a competent manager? You know it is not the job of the president to be the moral leader of the country right? That's the job description of a king.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Yeah, don't worry, Hillary will never turn into a moral leader of any kind.

Or a leader at all, for that matter.

[Deep13]

5. I guess if you wear a blind-fold long enough it begins to seem normal.

I know that there are legitimate grounds to criticize HC, but nothing that justifies the absolute vilification or even dehumanization (one of you folks called her a "beast" at one point) that she has received by members of this board.

[greguganus]

18. She's a monster. McCain is a beast. n/t

[BridgeTheGap]

17. What "executive" experience does HRC have?

They are both inexperienced as executives. Anyone elected as President will only be as good as the people they have around them.
A friend of mine worked on a research project for a university where they looked at the inteligence of Presidents (as best they could gage) and the "success" of their administrations. The findings indicated that Presidents of mediocre inteligence presided over administrations that were viewed as succesful, where as inteligent Presidents quite often did not. Back to first assertion - they will only be as good as the people they have around them.

[flor de jasmim]

2. Word has it that he wrote it himself over 2 1/2 days

[Fredda Weinberg]

4. Actually, Obama managed to insult everyone here, but few notice

I'm afraid it's why liberals are mocked in conservative circles.

[ashrob123]

6. I agree with the OP

In what way did the speech insult everyone here? Please explain

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. Welcome to DU! Well, I read it from an unusual perspective, not

being either white nor black. But I was born and raised in an urban ghetto, so the hostility that Obama did not really disguise didn't shock me.

Still, the attitude he brings is toxic. When I worked w/the Reverend Thomas Masters in Riviera Beach (I outfitted his church kindergarten w/computers back in day) we could laugh about the stereotypes that would have kept a Jew away, or the true faith that protected me as I waited outside ... the man was always late after a long day serving his congregation.

Anyhoo ... Obama had to demonstrate even-handedness ... his presentation of both sides had to be perfectly honest. And he was when he described legitimate black anger, but here was the first problem: I grew up w/the same lack of services in East Flatbush as my African American and Caribbean neighbors ... this was urban blight and should have been addressed as such, not as "urban black neighborhoods". Second, note carefully how he reminds whites that they are unaware of their privileges: this is poison because, in fact, there are many ethnic groups competing for political spoils - the Brooklyn machine is notorious (remember, it's ultimately responsible for the squalid conditions) and only a few caucasians actually benefit from the WASP establishment. Even as he described the immigrant experience, if you take the first line, "Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race", it kinda put another spin on everything that follows.

How's that for a careful reading of his speech?

[ashrob123]

9. I disagree

I didn't find him toxic at all. He handled the situation as he does most with ease and carefulness.

Don't take offense but I don't think that NY can be taken as the experience of most Americans. I don't think that you can discount what he is saying in general about white privilege because in NY it's different. Every experience that NYers have is different than the rest of the country.

I think that you are taking "benefit" too literally. There are ways that you can benefit that aren't right there in your face and entail "The Man" literally making sure that you get certain things. For instance, a black manager who works in a corporate setting who is consistently mistaken for the administrative staff. Or shopping at a store and not being asked for identification to use your credit card but seeing that the black person in front of you did. These little things add up to the things that some whites take for granted and blacks (and some other minorities) rarely do.

Peggy McIntosh talks about other instances in which white privilege is unrecognized but very much exists (White Privilege:Unpacking the Invisible Backpack).

[Fredda Weinberg]

15. And as a female, I face crap like that every day. You think it's fun

being the only woman in the lab? It would only be worse if I were black.

But the experience in NY is also that of LA, Chicago, Philadelphia ... and urban violence harms us all. Ignore the circumstances I describe at your peril ... I don't want to live through another race riot because demagogues have to frame everything in black and white. I ain't white ... get it? Worse yet, Jews are the scapegoats for "the Man", so liberal guilt is just a dangerous.

See it differently. We'll hold opposing views and address each other respectfully. That's what I missed in Obama's speech.

[dionysus]

10. you are so full of shit it is dribbling out of your ears...

[K Gardner]

11. LOL.. I see IGNORED is at it again. :-) Save your BP and use the red X !!

[Texas Hill Country]

12. do you ever add anything constructive... i only see you on here talking shit...

just curious.

[dionysus]

13. i respond to posts like these with the respect and depth they deserve...

just think of the old saying... "you can't argue with stupid"

[AX10]

16. Also, one speech is not going to end racism.

This is why the Obamites are delusional.

[still_one]

19. Your comment that "only a few caucasians benefit from the WASP establishment", is total bullshit

especially when compared to the black experience in this country

Were YOU brought over to this country as a SLAVE?

Do you remember when there was LEGAL discrimination against citizens of African descent in the U.S.?

DO you remember poll taxes, or acts of terror used against blacks by groups such as the KKK along with discriminatory laws with clauses that disenfranchised you?

Have you been refused service because of the color of your skin, or told to use a different rest room, or sit in the back of the bus?

Do you remember the lynchings and the burning crosses, because you "didn't know your place", or the Church burnings or bombings? It occurred in the 20th century in our country.

I experienced prejudice growing up as a Jew in the U.S., but it was nothing in comparison to the black experience. There was NO doubt if you were black, they couldn't always be so sure if you were a Jew. In fact there was a very real reason that Jews were so prominent in the civil rights movement, because they understood the experience better than most whites

There was a very real reason for the Civil Rights Act of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, employment, and invalidated the Jim Crow laws.

It became illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, and hiring.

The Civil Rights Act covered all people, regardless of race, gender, or religion, but when it became reality, it was the African American who was bearing the worst of it at the time

[Benhurst]

7. If only Obama would deliver speeches on global warming,

famine and psoriasis, he could rid the world of those scourges as well.

[usrbs]

14. I thought most of the speech was very good, but speeches are just speeches

I'm not trying to dismiss anybody, but speeches are important only if they lead to action and racism is so pernicious that we need many years of sustained actions to make it diminish almost to 0. (It will never go away completely).

That's why we need progressives to get elected. We have none, so we'll have to make do with either BO or HRC.

[BridgeTheGap]

20. Obama had to make that speech or let the "Rev. Wright" videos

dominate and alter the trajectory of his campaign.
MOST speeches are just speeches but then there are those like the Gettysburg Address, MLK's "I have a dream", etc. I rank Obama's right up there with those because it struck at the core of racism in this country but in a way that provides an opening for progressing away from racism. This wasn't just your typical politician trying to get elected speech, though politics dictated that he respond to the attacks. This speech demonstrated his "statesman" qualities.

[AngryAmish]

21. We are born with racism

Racism is the default position of mankind. Everyone says these wonderful things how children need to be taught racism: bullshit. As complex apes racism is a species of the group identification impulse which very clearly served a survival mechanism. Children definitely know when another child is different and exclude accordingly. Maybe not when infants but as they get older and can make those sort of judgments.

As complex apes we have the obligation to fight against this and other forms of faulty thinking. One speech won't stop what we are hard wired to believe. But every little bit helps, no?