Obama's sermon in Atlanta 1/20/08

At least we don't have to see much of this foof this time around

 

Excellent.

 

Amen to that. I used to live, literally a block from the Tabernacle. Now I live about 4 blocks from Ebenezer. Couldn't get anywhere near the place today; it was packed. No surprise there.

 

Here is what Hillary said March 7 2007:

"Now, five months later the voting rights act was enacted by Congress and signed by President Johnson, but we all know it was written on the march from Selma to Montgomery.

It was written by men and women with tired feet and swollen ankles. And it was first signed with their blood, sweat, and tears."

Here is what Hillary said in New Hampshire January 14 th 2008

“Dr King’s dream began to be realised when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done.”

What a fraud.

 

This is what I like about Obama. He goes to a large black church, on the eve of a very-black primary, and condemns black homophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Mexican racism. Whooo does that, ever?

For the West Wing fans here, reminds me of the time, early in Bartlet's failing campaign, when Toby told him to piss off the dairy farmers just because it was the right thing to do. (And then Josh saw something in him and signed on, etc. etc.) Obama, quite frequently, says things because they're the right things to say despite their unpopularity with important audiences. That's refreshing.

There are lots of Big Showy Piss-Offs - Sister Souljah moments - but I don't get the sense that Obama's moments of honesty are calculated to the same extent. He really seems to just believe that these are things that need to be said.

Good good good.

 

I liked that part, too, but my favorite part was near the end:

The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight. They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives. They happen in the moments we least expect. Let me give you an example of one of those stories.

There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She's been working to organize a mostly African American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we begin.

Damn right.

 

The Bush handmaidens have had their fun. Now they can ingest their generous, consistent servings of finely-textured shit on a daily basis . . . at least until November, 2010 . . . and intermittently, for the foreseeable, thereafter.

They made their beds. They can wallow in it.

 

Clearly, Obama is a gifted orator. I don't consider myself easily swayed by speeches, but there's something about Obama that gives me hope that our divided nation can heal.

Here's the link to the speech:

 

Makes me a little nervous, especially since Obama's not, you know, a clrgyman, but appears to be playing one on TV.

 

The "yolk of oppression"?

 

Yeah. Boom, you're not too fucking predictable.

 

Fenian - do better