Has Barack Obama been caught showing a prejudiced mentality? Just how much has his controversial pastor impacted him after all?
Obama's “typical white person” slip, which has the internet and media buzzing, came when he “clarified” his comments to a Philadelphia radio host last Thursday regarding the following statement he made earlier in the week, during his national press conference which was called to "clarify" his pastor's racist and other inflammatory comments:
"I can no more disown [Pastor Jeremiah Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."
Ought Oh! So he tried to clarify his own statement later to 610 WIP host Angelo Cataldi:
"The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred in our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society."
Double Ought Oh!
So then he sat down on the Larry King Live show later that night to “clarify” himself again:
"What I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that, you know, were responses that I think many people feel. She’s not extraordinary in that regard. She’s somebody who I love as much as anybody. I mean, she has literally helped to raise me.
But those are fears that are embedded in our culture and embedded in our society. And, you know, even within our own families, even within a family like mine that is diverse, you know, there are those gaps in understanding or the stereotypes that are fed by the news media and fed by what we see around us and, you know, in our popular culture."
Okay, so there may be a family member in our families who is prejudiced in some manner. But, as someone running for the president of the United States – as a “uniter” not divider – someone who is trying to dodge the racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American statements of his controversial pastor ... do his “clarifying” statements show good judgment? The kind a wise president would make? Are they prejudice-free?
Imagine John McCain or Hillary Clinton saying "typical black person."
You know, there are a lot of “typical white” people who are color-blind who would love to see an African-American as president. I would. But, not one who hasn't got their own racist issues settled. The president of the U.S. has to be the president of all the people, without prejudice, period.
I'd love to see a woman as president also.
But, whether male or female, white or black, red or yellow, or polka-dot ... more than anything I want to see a true American patriot ... one who loves this country, who believes in our Constitution and founding principles, and esteems all people equally regardless of race, color, religion ... for president of the United States.
It's possible. We've had them before. And I believe we can have them again.
What do you use to scrutinize candidates – How they make you feel? Or what they truly stand for?
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Sharon Hughes is Founder and President of The Center for Changing Worldviews and a radio talk show host on KDIA in San Francisco, NPLR, RIGHTALK.com, and online at Salem Web Network’s Oneplace.com. Her articles appear in many recognized news sites and publications, including FRONTPAGEMAG. She also writes for NewsBusters.org, a division of The Media Research Center, and has appeared on FOX News and other national radio programs. For further information visit her Websites www.changingworldviews.com, WOMANTalk.us, and Blog changingworldviews.blogspot.com. Or Contact: sharon@changingworldviews.com
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Hume, there is a difference between speaking at a convention and attending a church for years, equating the pastor to a close relative. Nevertheless, white people probably do get away with more. It is also interesting to note that I remember when Obama actually helped a former Klansman run for office. I think one could make the argument that like many politicians, Obama may very well have used Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church to his political advantage. After all, there have been those who have called into question his ‘blackness.’
Harald Hardrada: Also, you want to talk about pastors with ties to extremist organizations, Mike Huckabee recorded a speech for the most prominent white supremacist group in the country, the Conservative Citizen's Council. Why didn't establishment talking heads speculate on how much Huckabee agreed with them for two weeks straight?
Harald Hardrada: Obama has had to be ten times better than the average white presidential candidate just have a good chance at getting the Democratic nomination, much less getting elected. Consider: Would George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale have even been serious contenders if you just switched the color of their skin to black? No. They would have done worse than Carol Mosely-Braun, because they had all the charisma of rocks.
Bottom line is Barrack Hussein Obama's "church" is not a Christian church whatsoever!
What kind of Christian church advocates abortion and gay marriage and racism?
None do...only apostate "churches" do.
Jesus Christ very clearly says that racism is not valid. All are children of God.
There is no longer gentile nor jew but all are one people in Christ.
The fact is jeremiah wright has many many ties to the nation of islam, which is a muslim group and the most similar group to modern day nazism! The nation of islam openly advocates jihad and a modern day holocaust of jews and all "white devils".
Hume, the fact that you think we should "give obama a chance" just because he is black and all of our presidents have been white, is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Ms. Hughes, the color you are blind to is not black, or brown...it's white. It's good that you would love to see a black man as president, but that would make the ratio 43 straight white, male presidents to 1 straight black male president, 0 black female presidents of any sexuality, 0 hispanic presidents of any sexuality, not to mention no middle class or working class presidents
It is only by standing up to our racial anxieties and looking them square in the face that we as white people can recognize the amount of privilege that being white brings in our society. That won't happen until black pastors can say the same sort of nutty things (and some truth: look at that litany of presidents above and ask how anyone can deny that rich, white men, as a class are in control of the country, just as Rev. Wright said) that white pastors say every day of the year without the establishment media and a significant portion of the country freaking out. The alternative is to give John Hagee exactly much obsessive scrutiny as Jeremiah Wright has received. Personally, I'd prefer the second one, simply because its good to get a complete picture of what religion is like in this country.