What Did You Think?

OK, this speech will work for Barack.  I was with him for quite a while, but he lost me at the end (I want a transcript!).

I don't want to promise that this is what he said, but this is what I heard, in outline, after denunciation of Wright and a dubious linkage of Wright and Obama's grandmother with her stray racist comments.  [Hmm, did Obama choose his grandma?  Or, is his point that he didn't confront his grandmother when he was ten, so he couldn't confront Wright when he was forty?]

- Black people have reasons to be angry about slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing discrimination;

- Whites have reason to be unhappy with (pre-reform) welfare, affirmative action, busing, and being called a racist for worrying about black crime rates.

- Wright was wrong in both his racial divisiveness and his belief that American society was static, and progress was not occurring. [But is this a generational thing?  Moss, the new minister, is younger than Barack (and about as charismatic) but seemingly cut from the same divisive cloth as Wright.]
.
- whites needed to do more to raise up black schools and black communities.

Wait!  Did he lose a page here - what, if anything is the black community meant to do differently?  [Thank you Matt Drudge - see below]

Then his conclusion left me at sea - he seemed to be saying that, as in elections past, we could ignore race except as a distraction, but that he was committed to discussing it.  Huh?  His new-found commitment seems to be a direct response to this Wright controversy, not something he wanted to do.

And his discussion of healing race relations seemed to be disappear into a talk about health care, jobs, and everything else.  Baffling.

Still, this will slide him past the Dem primary voters.  For the general, time will tell.

OH, YEAH!  Obama does summon the Dem dream of working class whites and blacks (and browns and yellows) uniting against their oppressive corporate overlords.

FROM THE TRANSCRIPT (emphasis added):

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

Hmm, in the post-speech commentary I see that Pat Buchanan also missed that call to responsibility.  Let's guess that no one will fault Barack for over-emphasizing that point.

WERE MY QUESTIONS ANSWERED?  Developing...

IMAGINE MY DISAPPOINTMENT AND SURPRISE:  More Victims Studies as part of the path to racial reconciliation made a brief appearance over the weekend but seems to have been dropped.  And my suggested spin - Who better to speak to the Muslim youths emerging from their hate-filled mosques than a man coming from a hate-filled church - never arrived. 

 

Comments

[kim]

It's all the fault of the evil corporations, er, uh, I mean the evil Republicans.
===========================

[Sue]

Tom,

You can get a transcript via Drudge.

[boris]

what, if anything is the black community meant to do differently?

Make demands for government care apply to everybody not just blacks.

[Sue]

I think it was enough so that he can now say let's move on. It was a typical blame everyone but the person progressive speech. His audience will love it. Will it fly in the general? Depends on how well McCain does in the debates. And if both Iraq and the economy play nice with McCain. Otherwise, this fool that preaches racial unity and attends a church that preaches racial divisiveness will be our president.

[MTT]

TM,

The speech was brilliant!

And effective.

The True Believers have now, more so than ever, found the man, the Way, to Redemption.

AmeriKKKA will be no more.

Having damned her, her will save her.

The Narrative continues.

Only better.

Hillary! has lost.

The Democtractic race is over.

There is only now November.

And beyond.

Or not.

Hallelujah!

[Soylent Red]

TM, I disagree.

In typical preachiness, Obamessiah told white America that:

a. Wright's rhetoric was understandable, and on some levels, defensible

b. If you don't agree with his vision of the nature and effects of racism, you are part of the problem

c. "Post-racial" means endless discussion of a racism that many whites don't believe exists.

I don't think I'm all that unique. This speech will turn off a lot of white voters who have not already consumed Obamessiah Kool-Aid.

But what do I know? I'm apparently a racist because I don't buy into His garbage.

[PrestoPundit]

I posted this at PrestoPundit:

Obama says this: "[the racial anger against America and against whites of the older generation] is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."

But note well. Barack Obama continues act to make sure that this anger against whites and against America gets passed along to the next generation, even to his own children, buy putting them in the pews of Rev. Wright's racist church, by bankrolling Wrights anti-white and anti-American ministry, and in the realm of public policy by advocating the expanded teaching of grievance history and victimology in the schools.

And this agenda is not a deviation from the course of Obama's life history. Throughout his life he sought out peers, mentors and teachers -- in college, in his religion and in Chicago -- who also cultivated anger and grievance against America and especially "White America." It's documented in his own autobiography, it's documented in his actions in Chicago. And the facts are not going to go away.

[hrtshpdbox]

"I'm apparently a racist because I don't buy into His garbage."
But you get a pass for at least capitalizing references to Him.

[boris]

Black people have reasons to be angry about slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing discrimination

And yet are 90% democrat, the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow, the party that pandered to white privilege, that party that NOW is the party that pandered to minority entitlement. The party that blames rich people (white Republicans) for all that bad stuff.

Maybe the blacks who go for the minority entitlement pandering and shifting blame away from their new benefactors are not as bad as the whites who went for the white privilege and discrimination but putting up with being the target of anger shifted from others is unacceptable. Aint gonna be nobody's scapegoat.

[Soylent Red]

But you get a pass for at least capitalizing references to Him.

PBUH.

[RichatUF]

Speech text

Caught only the end of it. Lifting this from the other thread:

a shot at the Red Witch-

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

2008-23+9=1994. Hillarycare! See what she caused, I bet the Red Witch doesn't like puppies either. The rest of my comment was Cratchet and COBRA...

[GMax]

How historic. Another typical progressive speech where we learn to Blame America and white people for, well everything.

It might get him to the nomination, it will not get him older white voters in rural areas and probably does not get him 1/2 of the Jewish vote.

One more stumble and he ends up making Mcgovern look like an overacheiver.

[Rick Ballard]

"What Did You Think?"

My Mirror of Erised still shows a red diaper lefty race baiting hustler whose total lack of ethical foundation was glaringly apparent from day one.

Maybe I need to listen again?

[MayBee]

There is a history of racism in America, and Wright is stuck in the past. But white people now bear the burden of fixing that.

I want to know why the people in Wright's congregation cheered him so hard if he was stuck in the past. I want to know what they want Obama to do to make them stop standing up and cheering at God damn America.

[kim]

This guy should have spent a little time in the Army; then he might have a clue how far beyond Wright's racism this here country has gotten. This guy got his mother's white guilt in his genes, and bought racist anger from the money in his jeans. He is a mess, actually, a prototypical Prog. A Trotsky to Hillary's Stalin. The pick is halfway through his skull already.
======================

[LibraryLady]

The speech was way too long and became tedious.

I had already read the transcript on Drudge so knew he was going to use the typical excuses. Blame someone else.....

[MayBee]

I'm hearing people talking about how important this speech was. It was a gift to this country, and gives everyone a chance to discuss this.

Where do people live, that this isn't being discussed all the time? Are people afraid of not looking enlightened if they say this was a yawner?

[Sue]

And we still don't know about the "mother" country. And we never will, apparently.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Maybe I need to listen again?

No you got it the first time.

[Anon]

great-I only caught the end and now the media is telling me what he said-

Starting to go through the transcript that Sue linked to-

At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough."

During this campaign, that's been done to him?

By who?

[Sue]

Are any of you listening to the MSM? The speech is going to be his finest moment, if they have anything to do with it.

[Sue]

ABC radio just described him giving an important speech in the shadow of the Liberty Bell.

[MayBee]

Yes, Sue. People really want to show that they, too, "get" race in America. Finally, someone is addressing it. It is a beautiful moment for all of us, really.

[Anon]

I mean that RichatUF linked too, great I can't even get that right!

[Paul]

I think this speech plays well with the true believers of the Democrats and the nutroots.

But for your average white blue collar worker Democrat or Independent, as well as most Republicans this speech leaves a sick feeling in the your stomach, like just before your're going to barf.

How is your average Joe going to justify to himself and his peers voting for Obama's "its just whitey's fault in the end, whitey just don't understand us black folks" tude.

The guy is a talented speaker and he might have pulled it off if he had stopped one third into this speech. But the last two thirds showed his underlying anger at whites and America with his "we just don't understand him" meme and the divisive Dem talking points accusations.

He is a very smooth, talented speaker, but this speech reinforced my view of him as a con artist trying to put one over on America.

This is not a person who genuinely wants to bring America together.

[Neo]

It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made ..

This is the best line that I found in the speech.

Funny how I got this image in my mind while I was reading it of many, many members of the Democratic Party believing the same thing.

If you didn't .. reading it again and think "surge".

[Sue]

He is not going to further distance himself from his pastor. Why should he? No one knows what his pastor said unless they watch FoxNews. And by linking his pastor and Ferraro together, most people will assume he said nothing more than she did.

[RichatUF]

Lets see if this works:

Thus speakth Obama, "
Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons."

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

Cheer hate whitey sermons on Sunday, cash Rezko checks on Monday.

BTW - did you catch "long march". Right out of either Gramsci or Mao.

If we're gonna do the "original sin of slavery" bit, could we toss in a reference to the African chiefs who sold their people to those Portugese and Spanish fellas or do we have to pretend that Washington and Jefferson spent their off hours as slave catchers on the Gold Coast?

[Anon]

Sue-

Well it just proves the campaign motto-bad publicity is better than no publicity-

I think Hillary needs to counter with an affair with Bill or somethin'...

I had sex with my husband-news at 11!

[RichatUF]

darn it...can't do colors in typepad:(

[Anon]

I think this is the part where he gets into trouble because somehow now he must know that someone has the "good" on him.

Notice the change here?

Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

[Soylent Red]

long march

Caught that. Bet most people won't though.

[Appalled Moderate]

Obama believes that we in this country have misdirected our anger. Black is angry at white. Middle-class white is angry at black. But our anger really should be directed at:

corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.

This kind of populism is pure 20th century, Schrum style pablum. The problem I face as a voter is McCain could have delivered the same line. I believe the political system is quite broken, but increased economic regulation is not the best way to fix it.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Missed that part, but from the transcript, "This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America."

Ouch, wonder who let in that little bit.

[Anon]

Rick-

Err, I'm guessing this option-

or do we have to pretend that Washington and Jefferson spent their off hours as slave catchers on the Gold Coast?

LOL!

[anduril]

``I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community,'' Obama, 46, said today in Philadelphia. ``I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me.''

I thought this was incoherent and bizarre--does he really value a man whose views are, in his own words, "profoundly distorted," as highly as his own flesh and blood. I'm trying to picture me telling my wife and/or children something like that about some kooky guru, or just anybody who isn't family. But it may be the type of bullshit--love me, love everyone who shares my skin color no matter what--that will fly, especially if the economy distracts people from this issue.

Speaking of which,

Bernanke May Run Low on `Ammunition' for Loans, Rates (Update1)

By Scott Lanman and Rich Miller

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may be running out of room to pump money into the financial markets and cut interest rates to rescue the economy.

The Fed has committed as much as 60 percent of the $709 billion in Treasury securities on its balance sheet to providing liquidity and opened the door to more with yesterday's decision to become a lender of last resort for the biggest Wall Street dealers. The central bank has cut short-term rates by 2.25 percentage points since September and will probably reduce them again tomorrow.

``They're using up their ammunition on the liquidity and overnight interest-rate fronts,'' said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Jersey City, New Jersey-based Wrightson ICAP LLC, a unit of ICAP Plc, the world's largest broker for banks and other financial institutions.

...

``There's a limit to how much the Fed can do,'' said Brian Sack, a former Fed research manager, and now senior economist at Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in Washington. ``They've been incredibly aggressive with their balance-sheet policies over the past several weeks, and that has very quickly put this capacity issue in play.''

The actions mean the Fed, and consequently U.S. taxpayers, are assuming additional credit risks. It may also put the central bank closer to the unwanted position of affecting private asset prices, ``a line that they've been reluctant to cross in the past,'' Sack said.

...

The Fed may also decide as early as tomorrow to start outright purchases of mortgage-backed securities, said Vincent Reinhart, former director of the Fed's monetary-affairs decision. Some investors have been clamoring for the Fed to make such a move, and the recent measures fell short of that step.

Pressure on Treasury

The Fed's actions ``absolutely'' put more pressure on the White House and Treasury Department to take further action that would restore ``credibility'' in the mortgage process, said Scott Pardee, former head of foreign-exchange operations at the New York Fed.

The Dow is up on all this speculation, while housing starts are at a 16 year low.

[clarice]

Well, that Schrum style lefty pablum might be more effective if he didn't have that Rezko stuff stuck to the bottom of his shoes and the TP trailing behind him.

[MayBee]

Did Obama mention Reginald Denney?

[Sue]

anduril,

Do you know how to do links? If not, I'm sure someone here can explain it to you.

[Anon]

OK this here is good-in regards to Wright's comments-

Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

But only now does he say it-he did nothing before. He only goes here because he's been made to march to this territory.

[kim]

Right, anon, he's admitted hearing all that carp. 'The Long March' was to catch the ear of any prog who was letting it go in one ear and out the other.

This guy is a tormented mess. Should I feel sorry for him yet?
============================

[Paul]

All I know is that I am getting sick and tired of being told what I have to do for other people who think that I am the devil when I have a hard enough time making ends meet for myself. Not only do I not have any guilt over slavery (here's a clue: I wasn't alive at the time!) but I also do not have any guilt complex because some people, regardless of race, have an entitlement mentality and refuse to get off of their rear ends and do something to alleviate their situation.

For someone who is supposed to oozing hope and change from every pore Obama certainly does have a lot of people around him who do nothing but gripe and repeat the same old cliches that have been around since the late 60s and throughout the 70s.

I guess no man is a prophet in his own close-knit circle.

[Sue]

Some signs that not everyone is feeling it. Obama throwing his white grandmother under the bus while elevating his black preacher is making waves. Stay tuned.

[TexasToast]

Wow. I didn't hear him blame anyone. He repudiated the blame game and suggested we must get past the habit of blame.

This will be a historical piece of rhetoric. You folks are not the target audience.

AM

The shoutout to "populist pablum" should resonate with every democratic voter on the day after an historic fed intervention in an attempt to keep the whole banking system afloat. Interesting how Wall Street (and the rest of us) want "unregulated free markets" when we win, bailouts when we lose.

[Sue]

He repudiated the blame game and suggested we must get past the habit of blame.

Which works well if you don't know he sat in a pew for 20 years listening to a preacher who has never gotten past the blame game and is subjecting his two young children to that same rhetoric. That is truly historic. If you buy is bullshit.

[kim]

One of these days, Anon, he's going to have to confront the 'perverse and hateful ideologies' of the radical left, or of his own church.
========================================

[MayBee]

Sue- exactly. Ann Althouse has a very good take on this.

Missing here, I think, is an explicit acknowledgment that Wright is not merely expressing the anger he feels but that he is leading people into anger, keeping anger fresh and alive.

[kim]

You are right, TT, we were not the target audience; that was self-marginalizing leftists. But that was yesteryear, and yesteryear's gone.

Even in Texas, but not its liberal ghettos.
========================

[clarice]

Not to mention as others, including TM have, that he was financing this hatred and making sure it was passed on to his kids.