Barack Obama, Rev. Wright, Proper Context, & Taking Things Way Too Personally

[jesus_h_biscuit]

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'
Full text here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUUI've become a party to taking things a lot more seriously and personally than could ever be good for me to do. I believe that Barack Obama would be better for our country as

Comments

[pulsecub]

Jeff, I feel compelled to respond to this; I hope you don't mind.

I respect your position here; I think you're spot on when you stand in support of those who prefer Clinton to Obama, and I agree with you on that. I've outline a lot of the reasons I personally prefer her to him in my own journal, so you're welcome to catch up with that there rather than have me run down the list here.

Having said that, however, I am particularly disturbed by his comments today, not necessarily because of the specifics of his message, but rather the broader strokes it paints in light of his own documented homophobia (whether a function of political expediency or otherwise

[jesus_h_biscuit]

My name is not Jeff, by the way - it's Brad. My nickname is Jude, but neither of those are Jeff, lol...

I take into consideration what you're saying here and while I understand your concerns (and in part share the same ones), I don't think my choice in supporting him over her is limited to just that one thing. If it were that easy or cut and dry, that would be one thing - but it's not. There are much bigger issues at stake that for me overshadow such things as photo ops with city officials. I've not heard his explanation for it, so I'm not going to judge him on that particular thing. I do admit that I wonder myself why he made that choice, but still - that's petty to me personally in the grand scheme of all of this.

I appreciate your respect and offer you mine, and take your question in the honest spirit in which it was asked of me. I hope that was a sufficient answer, if not, I'll try again!

[pulsecub]

My name is not Jeff, by the way

Major apologies. I have no idea why or where I got that...

And I appreciate your answer. Thank you.

[hickbear]

I've tried asking this of a couple of other Clinton supporters, and never could get a direct answer beyond the style of "OBAMANIAC! OBAMANIAC! YOU'RE AN OBAMANIAC!", and it appears that you can give a non-snarky answer.

I don't understand the near-obsession I've seen about Obama not getting a picture taken with Newsome, and then making the rhetorical leap that this means that Obama is so incredibly anti-GLBT.

It was just a simple picture. How can that then generate your question to Brad of "And lastly, I have to ask how you can reconcile this, and be in support of Obama as a result?"

To me - and perhaps, to me alone - that just seems to be such an over-the-top non-sequitor that I've never been able to get my brain wrapped around it. "Obama didn't have his picture taken with Newsome. How can you DARE think of supporting him?". To me - and, again, perhaps to me alone - I just don't see the question flowing from the statement. I just don't.

[salenelle]

This was quite a moment. You know when you are in a decisive moment. You know when history is carving out a memorable moment. This was one of those times, and Obama made me proud to be on this piece of land, where we can formulate and debate and disagree and still come out hopeful and positive. No matter how the detractors chop this up, no matter what the cynics and those not quite ready to rise above may say about this man or his speech, this was one of the best speeches I have ever heard in my lifetime. This was a piece of history, rising above the shams and the snarlings of politics, and centering on humanism, and what we should all be moving toward - a more perfect union between Americans, not black against white, brown against black, yellow against red, but a unifying stance on making this a better country because we have differences, and moving forward together, making it better for all involved, for the betterment of all our lives. We are in this together, people...

He scares me; he gives me hope. He stirs in me the audacity

[merlinwon]

"We understand the gravity of the upcoming election and that we're living in an extremely dangerous and uncertain time. Between the occupation in Iraq (because that's what it is, goddamnit - stop calling it a fucking war, IT'S NOT, and even those key people involved know it's a sham), the economy, health care, gas prices, the environment, and the blatant abuse of civil rights, we're all scared and concerned." -- I don't vote. never had, never will! Yet i fear it's a republican win again. To comment on the other part you mentioned .. environment, etc.. is beyond repair and no president or even the people can FIX! I've sd before i WISH that you had a ticket in for the president or somewhere in office! Your intellect in this area is highly admired by many! I, as well, felt a tad of renewal today. Yet I'm not at looking at politics.. but the big picture..that's what i'm afraid of. Love n Hugs, ALWAYS!!

[hickbear]

I don't vote. never had, never will! Yet i fear it's a republican win again.

A self-fulling prophecy, if ever I read one. If we all don't vote, then a Repub win again is guaranteed. QED.

[jaybear]

Unfortunately, it seems as though one of my own stated predictions (specifically, that continued divisiveness in the Democratic primary process after the Republicans solidified serves the purposes of McCain more than anyone else) seems to be coming to pass:

Per Gallup, McCain's approval rating is currently at its highest point since 2000.

[bear_left]

The infighting is very disturbing, although I think we all need to accept that debate & disagreement & negotiation are as intrinsic to democracy as is consensus. (That said, screaming "Obamaniac!" or "Hillary is evil!" doesn't qualify as useful debate & negotiation)

That all said... as of a CNN article last week, McCain had raised $55 million. Obama and Clinton are both closing in on $200 million each. For that reason alone, McCain is in deep trouble.

[jaybear]

I think that perhaps I've become so jaded at Democrats' ability to 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,' as they say, that I find it really hard to remain optimistic about November.

I will say that I've been unenrolled in any party for the vast majority of my voting life (I was enrolled as a Green for about a year). However, Obama's candidacy *has* managed to energize in a way that Presidential politics never has.

If the superdelegates do manage to align themselves behind the frontrunner, I'm planning to join the Democratic Party and to start advocating for them. If they pass up this opportunity to move past the DLC and entrenched power and give at least the semblance of non-oligarchy a chance, I'll still work for individual candidates and causes, but the Party itself will have proved that it isn't worth my energy.

[hickbear]

Apropos of nothing connected with this post, I want to point you over to this post over on my LJ which is really nothing more than pointers to this article by Maureen Dowd and, more interesting to me this article by Gingrich disciple and fellow wingnut Matt Towery where he calls out "Vice President Darth Vader"?

I'd seen our fellow lefties compare the veep to Vader (such as you do in one of my favorite of your icons <3<3<3), but this is the first time I recall a rabid right-winger doing the same.