[Rhodes22-list] Say What, Barack?

[Herb Parsons]

Huh???? How is discussing whether "the bush presidency will be evtually 
considered a catastrophe or a disaster" more a substantiative political 
critique than discussing the current candidates? The Bush presidency is 
just about over, and virtually nothing can be done to change his course. 
History has shown that the great presidencies were typically not 
recognized as such until LONG after they're over. In reality, that 
discussion would be virtually empty of substance were it to be held now.

petelargo wrote:
> Really. This is seriously nit-picky.  The march to which Obama referred was
> not one of the famous Martin Luther King Selma marches, which started in
> 1965. In 1955, a group of black women walked home instead of taking the bus,
> a preface to the more famous Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956. As well, civil
> rights marches had started occurring in late 50s.
>
> As regards his oratory abilities.  Compared to a president that can't
> conjugate a verb, speak in complete sentences, or pronounce words, anybody
> looks smooth AND less embarrassing.  
>
> For a more substantiative political critique I suggest the discussion of
> whether the bush presidency will be eventually considered a catastrophe or a
> disaster. I am undecided, but willing to hear arguments on both sides.  
>
> Pete Hussein Lauritzen
> Key Largo
>
>
>
> Hank-5 wrote:
>   
>>  Here is some more slick talking from Obama.
>>
>> Hank
>>
>>
>>
>> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/03/obamas_selma_speech_text_as_de.html
>>
>>
>>
>> Say What, Barack?
>>
>>
>>
>> By Paul R. Hollrah
>>
>>
>>
>> Tuning in to C-Span recently, I found myself listening to a speech by
>> Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. He was standing in the pulpit of a black
>> church in Selma, Alabama, and as I studied the body language of the dozen
>> or
>> so black ministers standing behind the senator, I couldn't help but be
>> reminded of the little head-bobbing dolls that people used to place in the
>> rear windows of their 1957 Chevrolets. If their reactions are any
>> indication, the new "Schlickmeister" of the Democrat Party is actually a
>> pretty accomplished public speaker.
>>
>>
>>
>> However, as he spoke, I found my b.s. alarm going off, repeatedly. But I
>> couldn't quite figure out why until I actually read excerpts of his speech
>> several days later. Here's part o f what he said:
>>
>>
>>
>> "...something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in
>> Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, "ripples of hope all
>> around the world." Something happened when a bunch of women decided they
>> were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing
>> somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children.
>>
>>
>>
>> "When (black) men who had PhD's decided 'that's enough' and 'we're going
>> to
>> stand up for our dignity,' that sent a shout across oceans so that my
>> grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who
>> grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could s uddenly set his
>> sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world
>> had
>> a chance.
>>
>>
>>
>> "So the Kennedy's decided we're going to do an airlift.  We're going to go
>> to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give
>> them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country
>> America is.
>>
>>
>>
>> "This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over
>> to
>> this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great- grandfather
>> had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going
>> on
>> because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in)
>> the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together
>> and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because
>> of
>> what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march
>> across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. Was born. So
>> don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma , Alabama. Don't tell me I'm
>> not
>> coming home to Selma, Alabama."
>>
>>
>>
>> Okay, so what's wrong with that? It all sounds good. But is it?
>>
>>
>>
>> Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to "march
>> across a bridge" in Selma, Alabama, his mother, a white woman from Kansas,
>> and his father, a black Muslim from Africa, took heart. It gave them the
>> courage to get married and have a child. The problem with that
>> characterization is that Barrack Obama, Jr., was born on August 4,
>> 1961,while the first of three marches across that bridge in Selma didn't
>> occur until March 7, 1965, at least five years after Obama's parents met.
>>
>>
>>
>> Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby,
>> decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so
>> that
>> they could be educated and learn all about America. His grandfather heard
>> that call and sent his son, Barrack Obama, Sr., to America.
>>
>>
>>
>> The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961,
>> the
>> future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So if
>> this
>> African grandfather heard words that ''sent a shout across oceans,''
>> inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America, it was not a
>> Democrat
>> Jack Kennedy he heard, nor his brother Bobby, it was a Republican
>> President,
>> Dwight D. Eisenhower.
>>
>>
>>
>> Obama's speech is reminiscent of Al Gore's claim of having invented the
>> Internet, Hillary Clinton's claim of having been named after the first man
>> to climb Mt. Everest, even though she was born five years and seven months
>> before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry's imaginary trip to
>> Cambodia.
>>
>>
>>
>> As one of my black friends, Eddie Huff, has said, "We need to ask some
>> very
>> serious questions of the senator from Illinois. It's not enough to be
>> black,
>> it's not enough to be articulate, and it's not enough to be eloquent and a
>> media darling. The only question will be how deaf an ear, or how blind an
>> eye, will people turn in order to turn a frog into a prince."
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>>
>>     
>
>   

-- 
Herb Parsons
S/V O'Jure - O'Day 25
S/V Reve de Pappa - Coronado 35