# Can someone explain why it is controversial that Obama hugged Derrick Bell?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [March 8, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140 "2012-03-08T12:26:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 11

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/201 "2012-03-16T21:40:36Z")

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> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Neither would I, but that would raise a whole new objection: Obama is a necromancer!!! :eek:

An old variant of which is “nigromancer,” BTW. (Read it in _The Once and Future King.)_

So, Obama is a nigromancer and a hugger. Dangerous combination - a hugromancer!

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/202 "2012-03-16T22:34:32Z")

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> [@JQPublic](#):
>
> Now please tell me why he’s not a controversial figure without using the line “it was a long time ago and nobody knows who he is.”

Simple. He’s not a controversial figure because nobody (outside of the lunatic fringe) materially disagrees with anything he used to say. Yes, he _used_ to be a controversial figure, just like the Beatles used to be controversial figures. But his views are now considered mainstream - someone agreeing with Derrick Bell today is no more controversial than someone owning a Beatles album. It doesn’t matter if his views were controversial in 1968, because we are no longer living in 1968.

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**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/203 "2012-03-16T22:39:37Z")

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His views were not controversial when Obama hugged him. Simple as that. (personally, I have yet to referred to any views that would have been controversial in 1968 either. “Desegregation of public schools” is all we’ve got so far, and although some might have argued over how to best achieve that, the goal was certainly not controversial except for bigots.)

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/204 "2012-03-16T23:46:17Z")

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> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> His views were not controversial when Obama hugged him. Simple as that. (personally, I have yet to referred to any views that would have been controversial in 1968 either. “Desegregation of public schools” is all we’ve got so far, and although some might have argued over how to best achieve that, the goal was certainly not controversial except for bigots.)

In fact, it would probably be much more damaging to a Dem candidate nowadays to have been filmed **snubbing** Derrick Bell.

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