Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Good and Bad in All of Us


that's essentially the content of obama's speech. people aren't all good or all bad but a combination of good and bad.

do you find the fact that your own mother is bigoted despicable? yes, but she's also ineherently good and you still love her. does your friend do stupid things that you wish she would change? yes, but she's still your friend. does your teen get pregnant? yes but you still love her.

it takes a lot of courage and leadership and honesty for obama to openly say that he found his former pastor's remarks divisive and that he has disagreed with his pastor's political views, but at the same time he can't disown him.

obama understands where wright is coming from but he doesn't agree with him. you CAN do both.

obama's point is that the only way to address the racial injustices or anything in america is to agree to come together to solve bigger problems that affect all of us. in addition to long standing racial problems, we have some doozies. i don't think anyone realizes the depth of our economic problems, due much to the fact that the bush administration has turned away from the country's economy to focus on war. we know the depth is deep because many of the economists can't even say the word "recession."

they keep coming up with new descriptions. maybe it's worse than a recession. anyway, we don't have the truth and we're not likely to get it until it's too late. we just have bush saying that we are in "challenging" times. i don't need bush telling me these are challenging times. i know. i don't need cheney to tell me that the progress in iraq is "phenomenal." i know he's lying.

the bush administration is phenomenally challenged.

with the economy in the dumps and the wars in iraq and afghanistan, we don't have the time to be sidetracked by people who are spreading hate for their financial gain or political purposes.
obama's audacious speech newsweek:

Barack Obama could have responded to the controversy that has been ginned up with regard to comments made by his former pastor with a safe and predictable speech. The politically "smart" strategy -- counseled by some Obama allies -- would have been to have the Democratic presidential contender focus on concerns about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.'s critique of U.S. foreign policy and then distance himself from any offending sentiments.

But Obama did not do the politically "smart" thing.

He did the right thing. And that is why his campaign will weather this storm.

NYT:

There have been times when we wondered what Mr. Obama meant when he talked about rising above traditional divides. This was not such a moment.

We can’t know how effective Mr. Obama’s words will be with those who will not draw the distinctions between faith and politics that he drew, or who will reject his frank talk about race. What is evident, though, is that he not only cleared the air over a particular controversy — he raised the discussion to a higher plane.

Obama: the Un-Beholden President

Obama Widely Underestimated
Obama's family

bad reactions.
it must be really sad when you hear something brilliant (and there is an ultimate truth) and something genuine that flies in the face of your views but you are so entrenched in your views that you have to find a way to fight for them. i'm thinking extreme wings and talk show hosts and their followers. i mean, the things they're coming up with are actually quite funny.
some folks are more subtle "good speech... but" and others just can't seem to get over themselves.