President Obama on Letterman

[mercedes600]

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"Before touching on health care, Afghanistan and a number of other topics, the Commander-in-Chief was randomly given a potato by a member of the audience.

He was also asked by Dave if he believes racism was the reason for recent political attacks. His classic response: "I was actually Black before the election."

Comments

[rosie_posie_860]

"I was actually Black before the election."

Okay, I'm just not getting this. What does this response even mean?

[nshgrl]

he means if racism was so bad he wouldn't even have been elected (not that I agree, btw).

[rosie_posie_860]

Okay, I was thinking that, but I thought I was missing something considering there was racist shit happening during the election year.

[imjustice]

i took it more like, he was black before the election and racist shit was going on during his campaign so none of this bullshit is new so what's the big fuss about--duh ppl are racist.

[nshgrl]

so he was saying one thing and the subtext was another? cause what he actually went on to say was that it wasn't racism (which we all know is b.s.)

[imjustice]

i left a longer reply in response to dyvinesweetness above, but in short:

i view all his responses as some type of strategy rather than what he necessarily believes (or is) the truth.

i guess i don't think the way we currently engage in public dialogue re: race is particularly productive and would sidetrack the importance of healthcare

and thirdly, since he was elected by americans, however much race affects racists' willingness to collaborate/cooperate with him, race alone is not going to be the reason for his administration's impotence (this is what i think at present, i could certainly be convinced otherwise)...so it seems like he's focusing on other tactics...

again, this is just my pretty vague opinion

[roseofjuly]

i view all his responses as some type of strategy rather than what he necessarily believes (or is) the truth.

Exactly. Obama knows the business, he had a successful career in state politics and the Senate before he was elected president. Politicians often say one thing when they believe another - he's playing a strategy.

[random00b]

That's how I took it as well.