Actual quotes from Obama from the two books he's written. BARACK OBAMA "Dreams of My Father" and BARACK OBAMA "The Audacity of Hope".
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."
-"I found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."
-"There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."
-"It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show loyalty to black masses, to strike out and name names."
FINALLY, from Audacity of Hope:
"I will stand with the Muslins should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
A few readers have sent me an e-mail that has been circulating around the internet warning about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The e-mail says:
Think you know who this man is? This possible President of the United States!! We CANNOT have someone with this type of mentality running our GREAT nation!! I don't care whether you a Democrat or a Conservative. We CANNOT turn ourselves over to this type of character in a President. PLEASE help spread the word.
It then calls our attention to several quotations from Obama's book Dreams from My Father. I happen to be reading that book right now -- I'm not quite finished -- and thought I would examine some of the quotes in light of what I've read. I'm sure there are many other people who have done this too, but below is my version.
Quote #1: "There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."
This quote is taken out of context. Obama was referring to Marty, a community organizer in Chicago under whom Obama worked. They were working almost exclusively in black Chicago. Marty was white. Naturally, that meant he had to prove himself a little more than a black organizer.
I've done community organizing work vaguely similar to what Obama did, in the same types of black or Latino low income neighborhoods, and faced the same suspicions myself. There is nothing racist or "reverse racist" about what Obama is saying here -- it would apply to any group.
Quote #2: "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."
Quote #3: "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."
Quote # 4: "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."
Three more meaningless quotes. Much of the book deals with Obama's struggle to find himself as a man, half black and half white, in a racially divided nation. According to his autobiography, he spent much of his teens and his 20s ruminating over this.
On one level, I can completely understand and sympathize. On another, it eventually became a little boring to read about, at times feeling like listening to a 16-year-old endlessly pondering the meaning of life.
Regardless, the quotes above reflect this struggle. If he considered himself white, or immersed himself in so-called white culture, he would be called a sellout or an Uncle Tom by blacks. Looking at the poverty and racism that many blacks endured, he felt a desire and a responsibility to try to help them. To be "loyal" to them.
On the other hand, if he embraced black culture, he felt as if he would be disrespecting his white mother, and his two white grandparents who largely raised him. It's a legitimate dilemma, and his discussion of it hardly merits these attempts to take quotes out of context and make them seem incendiary.
Quote #5: "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, Du Bois and Mandela."
It is particularly hard to understand why this quote is considered so terrible. Two of the four men he mentions -- Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela -- are indisputably heroes. Mandela, for example, spent 27 years in a South African prison as part of his struggle against that country's racial apartheid.
The other two men mentioned here -- Malcolm X and W. E. B. Du Bois -- are also admirable. Du Bois helped found the NAACP and was a civil rights leader in an era when it was unpopular and dangerous to be one.
Malcolm X can be admired for several reasons. For one, he raised himself up from being a junkie and a criminal to being a justifiably respected leader of a political movement, as well as being a good family man. He became a leader of the Nation of Islam at a time when this was an understandable thing to do. He later broke with the Nation of Islam because of its hostility towards whites, declaring the enemy is not whites but instead white racism.
I would also add that I've taught in many black schools and pictures of these four men are often displayed. It is hardly unusual or sensational for a modern black man or woman to admire "the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Du Bois and Mandela."
On a larger level, I like Obama's background. I like that his perspective is different from those of practically any other presidential candidate. I like the fact that he has spent so much of his efforts considering how to help poor people and black people. He seems more complex and less one-dimensional than most candidates and former presidents.
That being said, I can't say I think he is qualified to become the next president of the United States. He often touts his background as a community organizer. However, having read his autobiographical description of his years as a community organizer, it's real, real hard to see how this qualifies him to be president of the United States. Given his thin legislative history, I don't see a lot else he's done which does.
Regardless, we should be judging him based on who he is, instead of misleading, out of context quotes. ESR
Glenn Sacks’ columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in dozens of the largest newspapers in the United States. He invites readers to visit his website at www.GlennSacks.com.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:38 pm
twotap F L I N T O I D
I believe that those of us who are against him are judging him on who he is, who he was, what he has said, how he voted, and who he hung with. We have little else to go on. What are you judging him on????
_________________ "If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:49 pm
Kevin McKague F L I N T O I D
I'm curious, do they still teach research techniques in most high schools?
I ask, because it seems with the advent of the internet, people seem to have lowered the bar a ways in what passes as a legitimate source of information.
Not every e-mail contains facts. Not every website reveals the truth. You-Tube has millions of videos, and anybody can contribute one. Just because somebody finds one with a story from Howard Stern doesn't mean what he says is true.
Without considering the source, the information means nothing. As we see here, quotes are taken out of context. The fact that page numbers weren't listed should have been the first clue. When somebody makes it hard for you to double-check the info, you should be suspicious.
Many e-mails like this one don't cite any sources at all. "Quotes" are often given from interviews without stating who did the interview, or when and where it was originally published. The only reason for not providing this information is to make it difficult to verify, or more often, disprove the story.
Finally, just because you found it on the web, doesn't make it true. Too often in "web news media", what should more accurately described as commentary is disguised and packaged as news. Other times stuff is just made up. Ask yourself, does the writer have a horse in the race? Just because you find a story quoting somebody swearing that Elvis was spotted at Burger King, doesn't mean the "mainstream media" is part of a cover-up because they aren't jumping on the story. Sometimes a lack of coverage in the mainstream media simply means they looked into it, and decided that there is no story to report. Don't assume they're part of a widespread conspiracy to cover up the truth. Maybe they just have a rule about not printing crap.
Long story short, take responsibility for the stuff you repeat. Look at something carefully before you risk slandering somebody. Once you repeat it, you own the lie, and YOU'RE part of the problem of dumbing down the electorate.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:05 pm
Richard F L I N T O I D
These are not internet lies but facts and quotes from his book in his own words. Facts are facts.
Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:01 am
Kevin McKague F L I N T O I D
quote:Richard schreef:
These are not internet lies but facts and quotes from his book in his own words. Facts are facts.
No, what you have given to us are quotes intentionally taken out of context in order to convey a completely different message that the author had intended.
Let me put it another way. How would you feel if I sent out the following:
quote:
Attention! Richard is not to be trusted! He has devious habits and dangerous ideas! Here are some actual quotes:
1)"The last time I was there I saw one of the visitation rooms set up as a drug and sex den of sorts. So while the wife stood guard I creeped in for a few pictures."
2) "I think the black race suffers from a very bad public image. Come on-HELP YOURSELFS and give up the guns, quit buying drugs and buy some food."
That's after about two minutes work. Imagine how bad I could make you look if you wrote two books.
BTW, I have the links to your original comments so you can see how badly I took you out of context. The guys who send out e-mails like the one you quote never give you that benefit, do they?
You missed the one about Obama standing with the Muslins. Is that "one-line" also taken out of contents?
The reality of it is, it was said however you look at it.
Richard
Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:19 pm
Adam Ford F L I N T O I D
Hey Kevin is this quote out of context or do you admit Obama is a liar?
Obama; "I am a believer in knowing what you are doing when applying for a job".
That is what he said in this video on November 8th 2004 right after he won his election to a 6 year term in the U.S. Senate, (look at upper right corner of video).
Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:34 pm
Kevin McKague F L I N T O I D
quote:Richard schreef:
You missed the one about Obama standing with the Muslins. Is that "one-line" also taken out of contents?
The reality of it is, it was said however you look at it.
Richard
Actually, that "quote" wasn't even taken out of
context
, because it was
completely fabricated.
The original quote doesn't even include the word "Muslims" in the quote. I have the book right here in front of me. You can also check the quote at Snopes.com, which shows all of these "quotes" in their original
context
.
quote:
"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."
As an interesting aside, your quote above, with the misspelled
"Muslins"
is further proof of how lies get spread on-line when people pass this stuff on without critically examining it. Not only was your quote factually incorrect, but if you search the quote as you pasted it,
quite a few other people
have uncritically passed on this quote,
misspelled "Muslin" and all.
Not only could you and the co-owners of this lie be bothered to check the authenticity of this information, you didn't even check it closely enough to see the misspelled word. You all just copied it, typo and all.
Shame on you, Richard. This is quite pathetic, actually.
Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:52 am
Richard F L I N T O I D
The misspelling of the word "Muslin" was my mistake sine I retyped these quotes first then copied them into this site. Certainly appreciate you pointing that out and know Obama will be just as watchfull for Americans as you have in defending him!
Obviously this is going no where.
Richard
Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:09 pm
Gumby F L I N T O I D
Its going no where because you realize that you have been called out for spreading dishonest BS. Nice try though.
Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:31 pm
Richard F L I N T O I D
I have to disagree 100%. I will agree that "It is going nowhere" as with any political discussion with opposing sides.
Richard
Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:03 am
Kevin McKague F L I N T O I D
Yeah, "opposing sides", that's the ticket. . . . You mean truth vs. fiction?
Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:47 am
Richard F L I N T O I D
quote:Kevin McKague schreef:
Yeah, "opposing sides", that's the ticket. . . . You mean truth vs. fiction?
You know what, I gave it rest so how about you doing the same. There are many many issues with Obama as well as with McCain. There are and always will be two views and I can only pray, Obama does not screw this country up even more than Bush did. I hope you are there to defend him then!!!!!
Richard
(Let's talk to Iran-oh yeah now that's a good idea)
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