# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/101 "2012-03-09T19:24:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Just to give a brief, serious response to this: You could get 95% briefer, you’d still be wasting your time. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/102 "2012-03-09T19:42:34Z")
The thing that clangs about this “controversy” is that it’s based on a fatally flawed GOP strategy for attacking Obama. NRA lobbyists tell us Obama wants to take all your guns. All the GOP candidates claim Obama is a socialist. Race-baiting commentators telling us Obama “has a deep-seated hatred of white people” or “In Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering.” There are two problems with this. First, the Obama-haters are running out of material. If the claims above seem a little stale, it’s because they are; this latest 20-year-old “shocker” embrace of an obscure (but black) Harvard professor really pales by comparison–they’re clearly running out of material. Second, the guy has been president for _three frickin’ years_, and folks are pretty familiar with him; he hasn’t started herding whites into concentration camps or pried weapons out of their cold dead hands yet, so implying he’ll suddenly start doing that the day after his re-election is a much tougher sell. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/103 "2012-03-09T20:00:46Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > this latest 20-year-old “shocker” embrace of an obscure (but black) Harvard professor I might add that Bell is also _dead_, so he’s not going to be advising the Obama White House on how to eliminate whitey. Saul Alinsky is dead, too. Apparently some conservatives have decided the reason the Jeremiah Wright/William Ayers attacks failed to destroy Obama because that stuff was too fresh in everybody’s memory. If this is the kind of vetting Republicans think Obama needs, it’s easy to see why McCain lost. It’s going to be very hard to get anybody interested in this stuff except rabid paranoids, and most of them are already busy losing Birther lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/104 "2012-03-09T22:10:23Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ve gone from french fries to a Senior Analyst at a bank … it took a little longer than three years, though. But everybody has to have a dream, huh? That’s all well and good, but the important issues here is, is your cat proud of you? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/105 "2012-03-09T22:33:43Z")
That would require a reversal of the natural order, i.e., your cat paying attention to you. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/106 "2012-03-09T22:54:39Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > That would require a reversal of the natural order, i.e., your cat paying attention to you. Just be grateful they allow their servants to “vote” for their own “leaders.” (The hallmark of a developed economy is industrial-scale cat-food production; all else is support apparatus.) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/107 "2012-03-09T23:41:38Z")
> [@JQPublic](#): > > President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address again rated at an 8th grade comprehension level on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test — the third lowest score of any State of the Union address since 1934. > > The University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics conducted an analysis on the last 70 State of the Union addresses and found that President Obama’s three addresses have the lowest grade average of any modern president. “Obama’s average grade-level score of 8.4 is more than two grades lower than the 10.7 grade average for the other 67 addresses written by his 12 predecessors,” they conclude. > > Not talking down to us eh? I’m getting serious Poe’s Law reactions. An 8th grade readability test? You’re shitting us, right? ---
**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 9, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/108 "2012-03-09T23:53:35Z")
Remember that Obama has to try to communicate with conservatives, who are troubled by large words and complex ideas. When, “Drill, baby, drill!” is someone’s policy position on energy, you have to feed them in small bites. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/109 "2012-03-10T00:02:09Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I’m getting serious Poe’s Law reactions. An 8th grade readability test? You’re shitting us, right? This meme has been bouncing around ever since the SOTU address, you never saw it before? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/110 "2012-03-10T06:23:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > This meme has been bouncing around ever since the SOTU address, you never saw it before? Nope, first time! Frankly I wouldn’t believe it unless people gave cites. It sounds like an Onion article ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/111 "2012-03-10T16:50:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And that makes Obama an elitist. > > \*\* Of course, if he had given a speech glittering with fancy SAT words, literary and historical allusions, and recondite metaphors, that also would make Obama an elitist – wouldn’t it?\*\* > > Please explain the standards by which he could conceivably **win** here. The bolded would make him Dennis Miller. So I say let’s keep it the way it is. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/112 "2012-03-10T18:00:48Z")
I just want to know what the deal is with that guy eating the sandwich. And if it can be turned into an Internet meme, kinda like Evil Bert. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/113 "2012-03-10T21:19:47Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Nope, first time! Frankly I wouldn’t believe it unless people gave cites. It sounds like an Onion article No, it’s from an actual [study.](http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2012/01/my_message_is_simple_obamas_so.php) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/114 "2012-03-10T22:19:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No, it’s from an actual [study.](http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2012/01/my_message_is_simple_obamas_so.php) The crazy part is not that the reading level of Obama’s SOU addresses is low. The crazy part is that this is being used as “evidence” that he is an elitist. It’s sort of like if I had a complaint that Romney was putting on a facade of being a “man of the people”, that he was faking being the kind of guy that you could have a beer with. And then as evidence, I produce a news article that shows that Romney gave a private $5,000/plate talk to a bunch of bankers on the topic of “Intrastate Commerce laws and the extrajudicial components of legislative bodies”. And I tried to tell you that that proved my point that he was faking being a “man of the people”. It’s unreal. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/115 "2012-03-11T02:44:31Z")
Well, in my journalism-school writing classes, we were taught to strive for brevity, simplicity, preferring plain to fancy words, and packing as much information as possible into as few words as possible. And, in fact, when writing for newspapers, to write for an 8th-grade reading level (or something like that – junior high, anyway) wherever possible and appropriate, just so the story should be accessible and comprehensible to the widest possible readership – newspapers being a medium directed to members of the general public, distinguished only by basic literacy. Seems to me a presidential address should be simple in style for similar reasons, since he’s trying to reach all the people, distinguished only by TV access and by caring enough to watch these things. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/116 "2012-03-11T02:52:15Z")
I wonder how the Gettysburg Address would score out on this Flesch-Kincaid score? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/117 "2012-03-11T03:01:18Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > My guess, though, is that if there was a video of a republican candidate endorsing David Duke 20 or 30 years ago it would be front page news.[snip] > Dan Rather went as far as to report on false TANG documents without properly vetting them. –Bell is hardly comparable to Duke. –Those documents were forged because the guy who forged them was unable to smuggle the real ones out. The secretary of the guy whose documents they were alleged to be appeared on TV saying (I’m paraphrasing from memory) “I didn’t type these, but I did type documents that said essentially the same thing”. Point being that Bush and the GOP actually got pretty lucky out of that whole deal because they could spin it like “the documents were forged, therefore the accusation that he evaded military service is disproven”. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/118 "2012-03-11T03:08:18Z")
GeeDubya didn’t evade service, he was in the Texas Air National Guard while Gore ran off to a cushy billet in some foreign capital! Saigon, I think it was called… ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/119 "2012-03-11T03:21:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I wonder how the Gettysburg Address would score out on this Flesch-Kincaid score? Or Churchill: I have nothing to present to you but exsanguination, employment, lachrymosity, and perspiration. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140/120 "2012-03-11T03:24:55Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > –Those documents were forged because the guy who forged them was unable to smuggle the real ones out. The secretary of the guy whose documents they were alleged to be appeared on TV saying (I’m paraphrasing from memory) “I didn’t type these, but I did type documents that said essentially the same thing”. Point being that Bush and the GOP actually got pretty lucky out of that whole deal because they could spin it like “the documents were forged, therefore the accusation that he evaded military service is disproven”. I don’t remember hearing that, but from a journalistic point of view, it’s not satisfactory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-it-is-controversial-that-obama-hugged-derrick-bell/615140.md?page=7)