# Obama March 18th, 2008 Speech **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 18, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774 "2008-03-18T14:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/361 "2008-03-20T04:14:38Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] The New Black Panthers have endorsed Obama. [/QUOTE] So? I endorse Obama, and my opinion doesn’t mean shit. Now, if _he_ endorsed _them_, then you’d have something. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/362 "2008-03-20T04:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] If I may, I’d like to call everyone’s attention back to [that quote by Huckabee noted earlier](http://openthread.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/72716/0494/229/479797). First off, points to Huck for actually thinking about this situation instead of just shouting “Yay! This ought to rile up the rubes!” I think some on the right have no problems with Obama’s relationship with Wright. They just think others might, and are willing to repeat this to help their guy. Glad to see Huckabee is more intellectually honest than that. But more to the point, I think that if the right seriously hammers on the Wright thing, it may damage their standing with evangelicals. I think part of the reason why Huckabee gets it is because he himself is a minister, and some of his rhetoric is probably not a hundred miles from Wright’s. I think pastors will resent the implication that they have to be PC with their sermons. That their congregations will be held responsible if they don’t abandon them after they condemn a sinful society just a little too strongly. These things are poison to any preacher, no matter where they fall on the political spectrum. I’m not saying that this will cause evangelicals to vote for Obama, but maybe it could cause their leaders to beat the drums just a little more softly. Depress turnout just a crucial little bit more. [/QUOTE] That’s an interesting assessment. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/363 "2008-03-20T04:18:03Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] And you post this with a straight face. [/QUOTE] Oh, it’s okay I realize nothing about Obama, his associates (Wright), supporters (Farrakhan), endorsers (Black Panthers), etc. could ever trouble an Obama supporter. I’m sure it’ll all work out just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/364 "2008-03-20T04:20:58Z")
News Bulletin: Faux News puts out a Faux Smear Piece Against Obama, and the Pope is still Catholic, story at 11. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > So Fox News evidently decided to pore through our millions of user-created pages on [My.BarackObama.com](http://My.BarackObama.com) and put a screenshot of inflammatory content on the front page of [FoxNews.com](http://FoxNews.com). > > You see, more than 700,000 people have created accounts on the system. You can create one right now if you choose, in about a minute – anyone can. > > Now, from time to time people get up to no good – creating fake profiles (like one for Sean Hannity created today), or posting profane or inappropriate content. When they do, the community reports the offending content and if it violates our terms of service it is removed (as the Sean Hannity profile was). > > [My.BarackObama.com](http://My.BarackObama.com) has been at the core of our bottom-up organizing strategy. The tools available have been put to work by a community of supporters that is bigger and more powerful than anything presidential politics has ever seen. > > Evidently, Fox News didn’t think it was a big deal that hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans are participating in the democratic process creating groups and local events in communities all across the country. > > But they did think it was a big deal that one random person on the Internet, without the knowledge of the Obama campaign, posted a profile in the system with the image of the New Black Panther Party on it. > > When we were alerted of the existence of this page, we pulled it down. Yet even after we pulled the page, Fox News continues to disingenuously and prominently feature this “story” on their homepage. > > [http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBbgQ](http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBbgQ) So now Obama doesn’t only have to be responsible for every word ever uttered by his preacher, he has to be responsible for every anonymous blogger on the internet, even after his campaign learns of the offensive posting and removes it. This is just so much bullshit I can’t stand it. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/365 "2008-03-20T04:23:07Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] News Bulletin: Faux News puts out a Faux Smear Piece Against Obama, and the Pope is still Catholic, story at 11. :rolleyes: So now Obama doesn’t only have to be responsible for every word ever uttered by his preacher, he has to be responsible for every anonymous blogger on the internet, even after his campaign learns of the offensive posting and removes it. This is just so much bullshit I can’t stand it. [/QUOTE] The fact that the the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party both endorse Obama doesn’t trouble you as a voter? ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/366 "2008-03-20T04:23:21Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] I think part of the reason why Huckabee gets it is because he himself is a minister, and some of his rhetoric is probably not a hundred miles from Wright’s. [/QUOTE] Thanks for calling attention to this again. I was really impressed with him when I read his quotes earlier today. And your observation above is exactly what I said to my husband. He gets it. And good for him for speaking out. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/367 "2008-03-20T04:27:54Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] The fact that the the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party both endorse Obama doesn’t trouble you as a voter? [/QUOTE] The reason why black nationalists are endorsing the first African-American with a real chance of actually winning the presidency is too obvious to really give anyone pause. (Hint: It ain’t because they prefer his healthcare plan) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/368 "2008-03-20T04:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] Oh, it’s okay I realize nothing about Obama, his associates (Wright), supporters (Farrakhan), endorsers (Black Panthers), etc. could ever trouble an Obama supporter. [/QUOTE] Are you really that surprised that a militant black group is going to be rooting for the first black man to make a serious bid for the presidency? These are people who are declaring their support for him without his input. He is not seeking them out, so far as I’m aware. It’s a different situation than, say, McCain, who’s actively courting the fundamentalist vote. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/369 "2008-03-20T04:37:20Z")
Lemme put it this way. If Obama wins the nomination, and white supremacist groups start supporting McCain\*, I won’t hold that against him. I’d just assume that they’re automatically voting against the black guy, and don’t really care who they have to vote for as long as he’s white (and not Jewish). It would only concern me if it could be shown that McCain actively courted them, endorsed their agendas, or was otherwise supporting them. \*I guarantee this will happen. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/370 "2008-03-20T04:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] Are you really that surprised that a militant black group is going to be rooting for the first black man to make a serious bid for the presidency? [/QUOTE] There’s not even any evidence that the New Black Panthers did “endorse” him, any more than the real Sean Hannity made a personal profile page at [barackobama.com](http://barackobama.com), which they also had to remove today. > [@Obama Campaign](#): > > But [Fox] did think it was a big deal that **one random person** on the Internet, without the knowledge of the Obama campaign, posted a profile in the system with the image of the New Black Panther Party on it. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/371 "2008-03-20T04:55:11Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] There’s not even any evidence that the New Black Panthers did “endorse” him, any more than the real Sean Hannity made a personal profile page at [barackobama.com](http://barackobama.com), which they also had to remove today. [/QUOTE] So you don’t believe that chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz endorsed him. Okay. …but does it trouble you? Farakkhan’s endorsment? Shabazz’s (if so)? No? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/372 "2008-03-20T04:57:42Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] Now there’s an intolerant guy. Not. Boy, I sure am sorry Barack Obama picked _this_ guy to be his mentor of 20 years. :rolleyes: Oh yeah, this guy would be a _terrible_ influence in one’s life. Please. [/QUOTE] Speaking of please, can you please explain how Christians lynching blacks today is supposed to be equivalent or analagous to radical Muslims murdering 3,000 people. Of course, to be fair, if you have the mind, you’ll expand the murderous Muslims to include ALL murderous Muslims. And yes, you can expand the white Christian lynchers to include ALL those that have singled out blacks for being black and killed them. Let’s use the last ten years. This is the kind of dishonest bullshit that makes people like Wright worthy of derision and ostricization. But I’m sure you’ll have some nice rationalizations for your reverend. Please share. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/373 "2008-03-20T05:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] The fact that the the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party both endorse Obama doesn’t trouble you as a voter? [/QUOTE] That’s one of the stupidest notions I’ve ever been presented with. It seems to suggest that NoI and NBPP are somehow obligated to support the candidacy of the worst possible aspirant to the Oval Office. Did they endorse GWB in 2000 and 2004? If not, I don’t think the proposition has legs… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/374 "2008-03-20T05:34:37Z")
**9thfloor** , seriously, how can a candidate be held responsible for who comes out as a supporter? Answer that. What if David Duke endorses McCain? What if NAMBLA endorses Hillary? Will you be equally outraged then? I don’t like McCain, but I don’t give a rip roaring dump who endorses him, and I sure won’t hold McCain accountable for every extreme douchebag who might throw support his way. I don’t dislike McCain because of who may endorse him; I dislike him over his policy. But yet it seems every anti-Obamite out there has decided to ignore Obama’s policy stances and focus merely on peripheral bullshit and fear mongering. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/375 "2008-03-20T05:38:21Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] That’s one of the stupidest notions I’ve ever been presented with. It seems to suggest that NoI and NBPP are somehow obligated to support the candidacy of the worst possible aspirant to the Oval Office. Did they endorse GWB in 2000 and 2004? If not, I don’t think the proposition has legs… [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about seriously. What proposition? I was asking a question. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/376 "2008-03-20T05:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] **9thfloor** , seriously, how can a candidate be held responsible for who comes out as a supporter? Answer that. What if David Duke endorses McCain? What if NAMBLA endorses Hillary? Will you be equally outraged then? I don’t like McCain, but I don’t give a rip roaring dump who endorses him, and I sure won’t hold McCain accountable for every extreme douchebag who might throw support his way. I don’t dislike McCain because of who may endorse him; I dislike him over his policy. But yet it seems every anti-Obamite out there has decided to ignore Obama’s policy stances and focus merely on peripheral bullshit and fear mongering. [/QUOTE] Okay, I’ll answer that: in my opinion, they can’t be held responsible.\* Now can you answer my question? P.S. I didn’t say I was outraged, and I’m not. I understand how with all the heated rhetoric flying around on the boards you’d think that’s where I’m coming from but I’m not. I’m asking a serious question. I don’t appreciate that you call my concern ‘peripheral bullshit’ but I understand your position. - They might be held responsible to varying degrees if they have long established relationships with nefarious parties but I’m not claiming that here. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/377 "2008-03-20T06:43:33Z")
**Shayna** , you note that Reverend Wright should not be assessed on a number of incendiary comments out of a career of 30 years. If I may extrapolate, perhaps you think some of the rhetoric was clumsily-worded but legitimate critiques of American society. I agree. I’ve only asked for consistency from the media and the public in this campaign. Geraldine Ferraro said a clumsy and incendiary comment - heck, she said it twice in her political career - but she’s been tarred by many as a racist. Bill Clinton made a comment that might be construed (notice the “might,” I certainly didn’t interpret it that way) as equating Obama with Jesse Jackson - he’s been accused of injecting race into the campaign. We know a lot more and can assess the actions of Ferraro and Clinton much easier than those of Reverend Wright - they have a lot more press coverage. But either we’re going to be fair and consistent, and state that it’s unfair to label people with negative attributes because they make an occasional controversial statement, or we’re going to hold people accountable for every clumsily-worded rant. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/378 "2008-03-20T06:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] So you don’t believe that chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz endorsed him. Okay. …but does it trouble you? Farakkhan’s endorsment? Shabazz’s (if so)? No? [/QUOTE] Seriously? The New Black Panther Party might have endorsed Barack Obama? Louis Farrakhan did? Here I’ve been supporting Barack Obama all this time thinking that only similarly like-minded, rational, individuals could chose the same candidate. I might have to rethink things. Please find me a list of all supporters of each candidate, every single one, and I’ll vote for the candidate that has never been supported or endorsed by anyone with reprehensible opinions. ---
**Author:** ![9thFloor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/b487fb/32.png) [@9thFloor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/9thFloor)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/379 "2008-03-20T07:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=waterj2] Seriously? The New Black Panther Party might have endorsed Barack Obama? Louis Farrakhan did? Here I’ve been supporting Barack Obama all this time thinking that only similarly like-minded, rational, individuals could chose the same candidate. I might have to rethink things. Please find me a list of all supporters of each candidate, every single one, and I’ll vote for the candidate that has never been supported or endorsed by anyone with reprehensible opinions. [/QUOTE] I guess your sarcasm is a “no, that doesn’t concern me.” Very well. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774/380 "2008-03-20T07:52:20Z")
[QUOTE=9thFloor] I guess your sarcasm is a “no, that doesn’t concern me.” Very well. [/QUOTE] Well, you seem to be implying that it should concern me. Perhaps you could explain why? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-march-18th-2008-speech/441774.md?page=20)