# Can someone explain why it is controversial that Obama hugged Derrick Bell? **URL:** \ **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:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/21 "2012-03-08T18:46:27Z")
I think it wasn’t so much the hug, but the nut-tickling afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/22 "2012-03-08T18:49:42Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Andrew Breitbart died for _that_? I think it was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/23 "2012-03-08T18:51:39Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Andrew Breitbart died for _that_? Wait, wait…what? That’s it? That’s the incredibly damning sooper-secret Breitbart video? That all the Freepers are up in arms that he was murdered to keep silent? The one [PBS aired in 2008](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/07/pbs-already-published-breitbarts-obama-tapes/) as part of a profile of the election? Ah hahhahaha. I’m sorry Breitbart’s dead, because he’s missing the gigantic public outcry of “Yes and…?” and “SEEEN it!” and “Who gives a shit?” What’s the next big conspiracy theory they’re going to uncover - that he smoked pot as a teenager? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/24 "2012-03-08T19:07:15Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > And they’re doing it [without a whiff of the irony](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Shirley_Sherrod). Brietbart would be proud. What? C’mon, you’ve seen this movie before, editing the tape is child’s play compared to making the murder look like natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/25 "2012-03-08T19:07:37Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > What’s the next big conspiracy theory they’re going to uncover - that he smoked pot as a teenager? Worse; he once [wore a hipster hat](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/images/2009/03/26/obama_youth_09_2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/26 "2012-03-08T20:17:14Z")
What is it about Hannity? Can’t quite put my finger on it. I mean, I hear Limbaugh, and I think, Jesus, what an asshole! O’Reilly, Jesus, what an asshole! But that’s the extent of my emotional reaction, a repugnance for their rectalism. Hannity, I want to reach into the screen and grab his humongous head and slam it down onto the desk, and again, and again, and again… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/27 "2012-03-08T20:24:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What is it about Hannity? Can’t quite put my finger on it. If you do, you’ll get warts on your finger. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/28 "2012-03-08T20:41:48Z")
Borrow yours? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/29 "2012-03-08T20:44:33Z")
It’s not just that he’s a smug bag-o-douche, it’s that he’s got that smirk. You know … that _smirk_. Never trust a man who smirks. Smirk, smirk, smirk, smirk. The word has lost all meaning to me now. ---
**Author:** ![JQPublic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@JQPublic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JQPublic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/30 "2012-03-08T20:55:32Z")
If these really were unimportant why was it edited/hidden during the 2008 run. If Bell was so dear to him and such a great man why wasn’t he in the forefront during the 08 elections. Bell had a big influence on Rev. Wright, Obama’s spiritual leader for 20 years. What happened when people started paying attention to what Rev. Wright was preaching? Obama disowned him, basically said he must have slept through the services when Rev. Wright went on his racists rants. While I don’t think this is video has a “smoking gun” that will guarantee his defeat this year there are more videos that are going to be released in the coming weeks. What these videos are going to show is that he surrounded himself with and was greatly influenced by far left extremists. They are going to show who trained him to use class warfare to push his policies through. And they will show why he comes across as an elitist, looking down his nose at the rest of us who are inferior to his superior intellect. I can tell by the flavor of most of the posts above that a lot of people don’t care about that. That they are OK with the fact that, in his own words, he wants to “fundamentally change America” and turn a blind eye to it. Sadly most now want to be talked down to and be told to fear their fellow citizens and look to the goverment as their savior. They cheer when he tells them that if it wasn’t for the rich guy down the street you would have more. Too many are willing to believe that there actually is such a thing as utopia. And worse that the government can provide it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/31 "2012-03-08T20:58:10Z")
It wasn’t hidden. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/32 "2012-03-08T20:59:53Z")
[Exclusive: Unedited Obama race video unveiled](http://video.foxnews.com/v/1494661753001/exclusive-unedited-obama-race-video-unveiled) [Link is to [Foxnews.com](http://Foxnews.com)] So, when Hannity says that tonight “we reveal the video that, by their very own admission, friends of Barack Obama have been keeping under lock and key”. Who are these friends and what did they admit? Jesus, those smarmy little Junior Breitbart wannabes are annoying. They all so desperately want this to be a story. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/33 "2012-03-08T21:01:10Z")
I think Brietbart also had video proving Obama fathered two black children by a black woman. It was titled: “News Flash- Black Guy Sometimes Hangs Out With Black People!” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/34 "2012-03-08T21:03:00Z")
Believe me, most of us want to “fundamentally change America” far more than Obama does. I for one want immediate legalization of same-sex marriages and a single-payer health care system, a complete ban on political contributions with fully publicly funded election campaigns, liberal immigration laws, much stronger consumer, employee, and environmental protections, and a reversal of many of the enhancements of executive power that have taken place in the last few years. Obama’s hardly liberal at all, not to mention leftist. He’s as moderate as they come in this country. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/35 "2012-03-08T21:04:38Z")
> [@JQPublic](#): > > …there are more videos that are going to be released in the coming weeks… We wait with bated breath. Any idea how many weeks? Two? Five? Seventy? Doctor says I probably only have about twenty-thirty more years, don’t want to miss it! ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/36 "2012-03-08T21:11:17Z")
Hmm…the economy must be doing better. ---
**Author:** ![JQPublic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@JQPublic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JQPublic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/37 "2012-03-08T21:14:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It wasn’t hidden. OK hidden may be the wrong word. Buried would be more like it. Don’t you wonder even a little bit why, if he is so brilliant and was such a leader in college, he wouldn’t play it up while trying to get the nomination away from Hillary? Don’t you wonder why he just materialized in Chicago and everything before that is a blur? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/38 "2012-03-08T21:16:16Z")
He wrote a best-selling autobiography. Which was on sale. Everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/39 "2012-03-08T21:18:09Z")
> [@JQPublic](#): > > OK hidden may be the wrong word. Buried would be more like it. It was played on PBS during the run-up to the election, as was already mentioned in this thread. > [@](#): > > Don’t you wonder even a little bit why, if he is so brilliant and was such a leader in college, he wouldn’t play it up while trying to get the nomination away from Hillary? Don’t you wonder why he just materialized in Chicago and everything before that is a blur? He wrote a 450 page book about his life prior to his political career. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/40 "2012-03-08T21:18:35Z")
> [@JQPublic](#): > > Don’t you wonder why he just materialized in Chicago and everything before that is a blur? _What_ was a blur? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140.md?page=3)