Author Topic: Do you feel sorry for Obama's poor old grandmother?  (Read 1032 times)

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Offline USA4ME

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Do you feel sorry for Obama's poor old grandmother?
« on: March 19, 2008, 12:57:01 PM »
Quote from:
pnwmom

How about feeling sorry for the dark-skinned, nappy-haired little boy, being raised in a white family, who had to listen to his beloved grandmother express racial views that made him cringe? That might have made him feel ashamed? That might even have made him wish he could wake up one morning and just be white?

Put yourself in his shoes. He was the only person of color in his family. He looked just like the scary men his grandmother tried to avoid. His own black father had abandoned the family – earning him the scorn of all the adults who cared for Barack. Can you feel how painful it must have been for the boy? To feel the scorn directed at his father? To sense the fear directed at other black men?

How would he have responded to his grandmother’s expressions of racism? When he was very young, he would have just accepted it as being part of her. Worse, he might have wondered if there WAS something wrong with black people. His mother didn’t think so – but his grandmother did. And in that case . . . maybe there was something wrong with him, too.

When he got older, he could have chosen to argue with his grandmother – but he probably realized she would deny it. Most people aren’t conscious of their racism. Or he could have rejected her, and allowed bitterness to take over. But he didn’t, because he knew she loved him, and he loved her. So he just kept his mouth shut, and listened, and tried to understand the woman whose racist statements sometimes felt like a slap in the face.

Later, he found a Church and an African-American congregation where – to all outward appearances -- he finally seemed to fit in. The pastor was inspiring but sometimes he, too, crossed the line into racism. This had to be painful for Barack, the son of a white woman, to hear. At times, he probably felt like shouting out that the pastor was wrong. But Barack did what he had learned to do as a child. He kept quiet. He listened. He tried to understand where the pastor was coming from.

Now he’s speaking out, despite the political risks. He wants to help us all to understand the truths he has painfully learned. And he’s trying to pass along his hope: maybe all these contradictions, these opposites, CAN be reconciled. Even after all this time.

And so the question is: are we up to it? Can we love each other, and our country, with all its flaws? Can we be as brave as he’s been?


______________________
Please note: I'm still officially bi-candidate. I will be happy to support whoever is our eventual nominee. But yesterday was Obama's day to make me feel proud to be a Democrat.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5152139&mesg_id=5152139

This is a different spin to try and explain why Hussein Osama never confronted Wright.

pnwmom, here's the problem.  If Hussein was too timid to confront the guy, or otherwise just get up and leave, and he's now now speaking out against what Wright has said (something he would not have done had this issue never emerged), for what reason do we have to believe he'll speak up on behalf of America because he's too timid and/or only because it's politically expedient?

And it's not exactly bravey when you're backed into the corner and trying to save your political butt.

Quote from:
leftofcool

2. I find it hard to feel sorry for anyone who is a Harvard Law school graduate with a Princeton wife and a pastor who lives in a 750,000 home and I don't care what color they are. Sounds to me like they are all doing just fine

Quote from:
pnwmom

5. I'm not asking you to feel sorry for the ADULT. I'm asking you to consider how it felt for Obama as a child, and to think about how growing up in his family taught him to be quiet, to listen, and to try to understand -- rather than to argue, to reject, and to walk out when his pastor said objectionable things.

So, the guy's in his late 40's and he still hasn't grown enough to overcome the fear of confrontation?  I'm feeling better.

Quote from:
Mystery2Me

12. Yeah, uhm, I feel sorry for a certain senator from NY and her hubby who will do anything, say anything, imply anything to get back into the White House. More than that, I feel very sorry to know that there are people of the same mentality in my party and at this board who feel the same.

Bet 10 years ago you were defending this guy about being impeached over a blow job.  Now they're willing to say and do anything.  They were back then, too, you dimwit.  Grow the hell up.

Quote from:
babylonsister

6. & 13.  And do you know what I just heard?

Scarborough said, during Obama's speech, a high-placed 'journalist' called him and expressed shock that Obama 'just threw his grandmother under the bus', using her for political capital. I'm pretty outraged because I just don't believe Obama made this up. My father is 80 and told me months ago that a black man will never have a chance to be prez in this country, especially in the south. His racism is there; we can no longer talk about politics because of this black man.

I hadn't heard that prior to this a.m. and am fuming.  The one thing I know; this man has integrity. If he wanted to win at all costs, why didn't he throw Wright under the bus? This meme makes no sense.

Quote from:
shayes51

87. Another reason he shound not have said what he did.

I do feel sorry for her! A loving grandson would have had a private conversation with his grandmother rather than expose her flaws to the world. Anything for a vote, I guess.

Correct.

Despite how his grandmother was, given what she did for him the last thing he should ever be doing is embarrasing her in public.

Quote from:
pnwmom

88. You could also say that a loving grandmother wouldn't have expressed racial views that made her black grandson cringe.

He wasn't accusing her of anything out of the ordinary, for people of HER generation. And he clearly spoke of their love for each other. I don't think there's any reason to feel sorry for her.

Spin, spin, spin.

Quote from:
lizzy

51. Well, throwing Wright under the bus would upset a lot of people.

So I doubt that would be a smart move to make politically.

But throwing grandma was OK.

Quote from:
cornermouse

41. Because he doesn't appear to love her enough not to use her to give himself an advantage in a political race and for embarrassing her on a national podium to the nation. That's why. And yeah, I think it is about getting elected.

Gee, ya think?

Quote from:
lizzy

62. Did he ever mention his reverend's "mistakes" in his books prior to this?

Ouch!

Quote from:
pnwmom

69. It's possible he never thought through all of this till now.

I bet most people who attend church regularly have had experience with disagreeing with their pastors.

 :rotf:

BS he never thought it through, he just had no problem with it.

Put it this way, if he didn't think it through until now, then he's even worse off that I thought.

And BTW, most people who attend church regularily have NOT had experiences disagreeing with their pastors, not if they're saying things like this Wright guy said.  Leaving a place like that is an easy choice.

Quote from:
EffieBlack

84. He didn't say his grandmother was racist and shame on you for suggesting he did

The point he made - which either went right over your head or you have chosen to ignore - is that good people can have narrow-minded views about race and that does not make them bad or evil or hateful. It makes them human.

And, as I said in previous posts, this is not the first time that Obama has mentioned this about his grandmother, in loving terms, mind you. She not only "answers the phone" when he calls, but he, his wife and children are extremely close to her - She still seems to love him dearly and doesn't seem nearly as upset as you are about what he said.

So you and all of others who are SO "worried" about his having "thrown his grandmother under the bus" can save your fake concern - his grandmother is just fine, thank you and doesn't need you to protect her from her grandson, who knows, loves and understands her better and more than any of you do.

Keep that in mind, libs.  If a conservative says something that you falsely believe to be racist (which would be the overwhelming majority of the time that you falsely believe it to be racist), it's not racist or bad or evil or hateful,..... it's human.

Quote from:
watrwefitinfor

70. Come on, you guys. Take another look at what he actually said about his grandmother.

He didn't accuse her of overt or hateful racism, as many seem to be trying to interpret it. He said that she "...on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

He didn't say she used racist epithets. He didn't say that she said hateful things. He didn't say she was a vile bigot, for goodness sake. He said she was guilty of using "racial or ethnic sterotypes." That's a far cry from what he's being accused of saying.

Good Grief!  Talk about twisting in the wind.

Are you actually trying to convince me that the lib position isn't that using racial or ethnic stereotypes is the same as saying the words?  Yeah, that's gonna work.

I knew you idiots are more than willing to lie to yourselves, but this is out of hand.

Quote from:
MethuenProgressive

86. The story was a rhetorical trick to equate PastorGate with being mean to his granny.

Now, if you think PastorGate is an issue, you evidently hate Barack's granny.
He's good at what he does, that Obama.

Clinton does the same thing, dipsh*t, and you swallow it every time.  And you will continue to swallow it every time, robot.

I just picked out a few to highlight.  Head on over and watch them putting lip-stick on a pig.

.




« Last Edit: March 19, 2008, 01:01:51 PM by USA4ME »
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Offline franksolich

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Re: Do you feel sorry for Obama's poor old grandmother?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2008, 01:27:15 PM »
Looks like the primitives lip-sticked the wrong end of the pig, USA4ME.
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Offline DixieBelle

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Re: Do you feel sorry for Obama's poor old grandmother?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2008, 01:39:42 PM »
^LOL frank! That's it exactly.

And I thought we couldn't say "nappy headed" without being threatened with rehab or community service. :-)
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