| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 4:15:31 PM | This is an Obama Email that is circulating around. It contains real words from Obama, written in his books. How does this strike you?
In my view, it is indeed cause for significant concern, the verbiage is taken verbatim from two of his own books, (verified), so it can't hit much closer to home or be more direct.
However to be completely fair, let's also present the rebuttal offered by Obama's camp so you can see both sides and make your own decisions.
You may have already seen this. In any case, here's the Email:
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Pay close attention to the last comment!! Below are a few lines from Obama's books; his words:
From Dreams of My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.'
From Dreams of My Father: ' There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'
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Now here is the Obama Camp's rebuttal.. Recommended reading. Not to suggest this response is completely valid, or that it is not. But good for the sake of comparison and analysis. They felt the need to respond, and so they should, and did.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/thormadsen/gGBfQV
-Suth'nBoy 
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 4:22:28 PM | OP, I think the link you provided does pretty well in clearing up any quotes like this taken out of context, and so forth. At the end of the day however, people are going to make up their own minds and the ones who already have their minds made up (like I do, admittedly) aren't going to change their minds. From the link,
Following are the six (mis)quotes that you've probably seen lined up in a row in emails and postings - each in bold followed by the actual quote and context with paginated citations so that anyone can check for themselves and/or build on this:
Misleading quote: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites' - claimed to be from "Dreams of My Father"
In the paragraph prior to this quote (Introduction: pp. xiv-xv), Obama talks of his mother's 6 year old cousin who had "already lost" his innocence after reporting to his parents that some of his first grade "classmates had refused to play with him because of his dark skin". As you read further you can see the implications of this on Obama's life growing up and why he felt compelled to bring up his mother's race until "the age of 12 or 13":
Actual quote: "When people who don't know me well, black or white, discover my background (and it is usually a discovery, for I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites) I see the the split-second adjustments they have to make, the searching of my eyes for some telltale sign." (Introduction: Page xv)
Fake quote: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.' - claimed to be from "Dreams of My Father"
I cannot locate this anywhere in "Dreams of My Father" after searching on each key word through an unabridged copy downloaded from ebooks.com. We can simply shoot this one quote down and rightfully attack the credibility of the entire post.
Fake quote: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.' - claimed to be from "Dreams of My Father"
When Obama was still in New York (after graduating Columbia) and at the point of almost giving up on organizing, he gets a call from Marty Kaufman who had "started an organizing drive in Chicago and was looking to hire a trainee." (Story begin on page 140). After talking about Chicago, the Cubs, his organizing efforts, Harold Washington, the South Side community, etc... he offers Obama the job with a small salary and travel expense. When Marty leaves, Obama walks home and thinks about this man and the offer (starting his community organizing days in Chicago):
Actual quote: "He was smart, I decided. He seemed committed to his work. Still, there was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white - he'd said himself that was a problem." (Page 142).
Later, Obama sits down on a bench to consider his options. A "black woman and her young son approach" and the boy asks him why the East River goes one way and the other. Obama explains the tides. "The answer seemed to satisfy the boy..." "As I watched the two of them disappear into dusk, I realized I had never noticed which way the river ran. A week later, I loaded up my car and drove to Chicago." (Page 143). Obama quickly recognizes that his back and forth on Marty, the situation, etc... is like the East River - it's going to go back and forth no matter what - it's time to act and he does.
Misleading quote: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names' - from "Dreams of My Father" (Page 101)
Obama is IN COLLEGE not running through the riot-strewn city streets. He is posing, finding his identity.
How do we know? Prior to this quote he explains the early pressure of fitting in with the so-called campus "radicals" to "avoid being mistaken for a sellout." (page 100). Starting on page 101 right after the quote, he goes through an incident where he is "called out" on this attitude. Thinking back, he realizes that "the whole year seemed like one big lie..." as he then matures beyond this perspective (Page 102).
I am sure none of us copped similar attitudes while in college or in our late teens/early twenties.
Fake quote: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.' - claimed to be from "Dreams of My Father"
Actual quote: (in context, he is specifically addressing his earlier attitude towards his stepfather and grandfather): "...men I might love but never emulate, white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela." (Page 220).
In the very next paragraph Obama writes, "Now...that image had suddenly vanished." " To think all my life I had been wrestling with nothing more than a ghost!" as Obama comes to terms with the image versus the reality of his father.
Anyone out there not go through a similar process with their father?
Fake quote: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.' - claimed to be from "The Audacity of Hope"
Actual quote: "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." (page 261).
If someone requires further context on this last, actual quote, heaven help them. | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 5:06:51 PM | This is the scary thing that's wrong with almost all of us. We all have people with their agendas spoonfeeding us what they want us to feel and believe and we think we are astute and intelligent when we are not even close to either.
Thanks Exo for posting the complete thoughts that explain the challenges that Obama faced as a child in his situation and how those fragments were actually part of a real thought that proved the opposite of what the indoctrinators of Suth tricked him into believing and he then attempted to pass on. | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 5:11:37 PM | More of the neo con strategy in action.
Deceive, Confuse, and Divide.
Meanwhile, grab the reigns of power under the guise of a new candidate, one with strong neo con/extremist right wing members of his staff - which no one questions.
Look who these men are, their record in how they fight political battles, and their record running the nation into the ground.
Thanks for placing those quotes in context.  | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 5:41:29 PM | Hillary sounds like she's starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel..... it seems to me that whenever people run out of anything else of significance to say about or against Obama (anything true at least --- I'm not even going into ludicrous insinuations or assertions that he's actually a "black Muslim", and all of that BS) they revert to the "well he'll likely be assassinated" type of line. Why is he more likely than anyone else? Because he's black? Obviously that must be what they're getting at when they say or imply this kind of thing. After all Bush has had all this (sometimes probably potentially violent) dislike ...to say the least ... directed at him these last few years and yet nobody has publicly made a statement like that about him.
from MSNBC,
From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
This might not help the Hillary-for-veep chatter... The New York Post writes, "Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama. 'My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it,' she said, dismissing calls to drop out."
"Clinton made her comments at a meeting with the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's editorial board while campaigning in South Dakota, where she complained that, 'People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa.'"
Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded to Clinton's remarks. "Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign."
NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli notes that Clinton said something similar the day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. "Sometimes you gotta calm people down a little bit. But if you look at successful presidential campaigns, my husband did not get the nomination until June of 1992," she said. "I remember tragically when Senator Kennedy won California near the end of that process."
In fact, the specter of assassination was first raised in this campaign on January 8, when a Clinton introducer, a retired teacher from New Hampshire, brought it up before Clinton spoke. "If you look back, some people have been comparing one of the other candidates to JFK, and he was a wonderful leader. He gave us a lot of hope," the retired teacher said. "But he was assassinated, and Lyndon Baines Johnson actually did all of his work and got both the Republicans and Democrats to pass those measures." | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 5:47:23 PM | I agree with the spoon feed comment.
The people who will believe this email will be the same morons who believed the one that circulated saying he was a Muslim and was secretly a terrorist... oops I have seen some people on here post that they believe that, oh jeez here comes the trouncing!  | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 6:38:46 PM | "We all have people with their agendas spoonfeeding us what they want us to feel and believe and we think we are astute and intelligent when we are not even close to either."
Southern Boy, this thread that you started is very unfortunate. Whether you accept the criticism quoted above or not, it is evident that your concern is deeply rooted in the racial issue. Having read the context of the actual quotes now, there is no doubt in my mind that the intended purpose of the e-mail that you posted is to mis-inform and fan the flames of division. This campaign will test all of us, as the opposite camps will do their utmost to win our hearts and minds. | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 6:50:42 PM | Thanks Nero for putting those so called quotes from Obama's books in the proper context.
Now that we know the truth hopefully, the OP and others who are passing this email along will do the honorable thing and stop forwarding that email.
Obama 2008 | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 6:58:25 PM | I've read those comments of Obama and I tend to want to cut him some slack on this issue.
I've known a few mixed raced children in my life and I know they are frequently conflicted in how they view themselves and which allegiance they should have.
It should be no different than if one parent were German and the other French but we aren't there yet. I'm optimistic that we will get closer to that point.
PhillyFellow | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 8:26:03 PM | It's pretty sad when the REpublican party, who claims to hold such high moral ground, the truth, the light and the American way, had to resort to LIES to get their man elected.
What a ****ing bunch of absolute SLIMEBALLS. | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/23/2008 8:40:16 PM | Steven02151 --- you may want to note that it was a HILLARY
supporter who posted this - NOT a Republican. Just FYI.......
As far as the quotes, they definitely seem to be taken out of
context. And what really bothers me, is the one quote which
was supposedly in his book, cannot be found in it. To me, if
they are lying about the one quote, then the rest are obviously
suspect.
Dayna
http://www.ronpaul2008.com | |
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/24/2008 2:25:29 AM | Some of the responses here are right. There IS a lot of misinterpretation going on. Only the misinterpretation is that those words were not written by Obama. They clearly were, and are a part of his books, and needless to say, his own camp confirms that, except in one case where they said they couldn't find the quote. That will require further research. They simply claim the rest to be taken "out of context" via the circulating emails.. But there's no doubt the words were written, and by Barack Obama.
As stated in the OP, which presented BOTH SIDES of the issue, everyone simply has to decide what they believe, or what the proper context actually is. But if you used the link, then you are very aware that he did write those statements well before ever campaigning for president.
Whichever context is accurate, one can only decide for themselves from the available evidence. That's why both sides were presented in the first post. It would however be wise, before voting on the man either way, to actually read his books and be privy to how he actually thinks, which are sure to give much better insight than listening to him speak from the stump. This is the real world, not a fantasy-land, and Obama is not the next coming of the Messiah. He doesn't get a free pass because he has charmed you with his oratory. We conveniently forget that while on the stump he can, and will, say anything to get elected.
In any case, it's absolutely true that Obama and his wife have a long history of racial activism, promoting a single race over all others. They also have a long history with a racist preacher who they consider family, a father figure, and their personal mentor. Those are not things one can dismiss at the blink of an eye. Sure, he eventually denounced the man and his rash commentary. But of course what other choice did he have?
Those priorities don't fit very well, when expected to administer a major melting pot, with equality and complete fairness for all concerned. There is no place in a U.S. president's mindset for divisionary, or racially motivated, interests..
-Suth'nBoy
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/24/2008 2:49:58 AM | Philly said:
I've read those comments of Obama and I tend to want to cut him some slack on this issue.
I've known a few mixed raced children in my life and I know they are frequently conflicted in how they view themselves and which allegiance they should have.
Very true, as individuals. And that's certainly to be expected, at least in some cases. But as absolute leaders of the country, responsible equally for every single citizen, theoretically regardless of creed, color, or national origin, it's quite a different perspective. One cannot harbor biases and perform in that job effectively. I'm not saying that he does. I am simply suggesting that there are quite a few indications of that. And that voters need to apply considerable judgment regarding such matters.
Giving Obama free pass, as so many do, including here, just because he has charmed us as an orator from the stump, is not applying fact-finding judgment.
-Suth'nBoy
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| Hitting too Close to Home?? Obama's Inner-most Thoughts
Posted: 5/24/2008 3:11:15 AM | Exodusi,
You claim to be an economist. Do you watch the news? McCain has an 8 point lead over Obama not the other way around. The news also reports that ina general election that McCain beats Obama just barely. In a general election, Hillary neats McCain by 2 points. I am no way a McCain supporter but I do persent the facts the way they are for real and not just some bogus liberal story. I am an independent so there is no way that I can be considered a as you dems put it a neocon. I am not voting for any of these three candidates come november. They all stink as far as I am concerned | |
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