Yup, I did. I was parodying you. You beseeching Obama to “be black, dude!” immediately conjured that in my head. And also that one scene in Hollywood Shuffle.
Can’t you see you’re holding him to a different standard than other politicians just because of his race? You’re also equating the default to white. If Obama is like other politicians, he’s “acting white”, in your world. He can’t simply be acting like others in his profession; no, he’s gotta be a racial phony.
Why do you want a black president to do this and not a white one? The white one would probably have an easier time pulling this off, since they’d be less likely to come across as a zealot trying to inflame a race war. If you truly want these issues addressed, you wouldn’t just be faulting Obama; you’d be faulting everyone. And talking about social justice is not “being black”. If that was the case, John Edwards would be called a wigger.
So? Abortion’s a big issue with some people but nobody’s asking John McCain to get pregnant. Flying to Baghdad so you can walk down a street is just a publicity stunt.
I’ve heard of Basra. Never heard of Englewood. Anarchy there isn’t going to lose my vote, unless I live there and I’m not happy with the local police chief. No offense, but Illinois can go up in flames and I won’t care, unless it’s part a problem that’s going to spread across the country and affect me.
That’s my point. A white president would have a better chance of pulling things off. So tell me again why we’re electing a black president? People insist he should be able to be as ineffectual as any other person, but you yourself admit he’ll be even more ineffectual. Hey, it’s not my fault.
If I vote for him it’ll be because he’s not Republican, but I’m not expecting him to do much of anything, and that’s got me in a quandary.
We’re electing Obama because we are confident that out of everyone running, he is the best candidate for the job. Focusing on his race only makes you look like a race-blinded idiot.
All other things being equal, a white president would probably have an easier time than Obama fighting for the underclass. **But all things ain’t equal.**Obama has proven himself a stronger candidate than his Democratic rivals, in spite of the hurdles that come with being black. If he has the will and cajones to tackle social justice, he’s not going to do it levdrakon’s way and marginalize himself. Because that would be foolish. He’s going to do it his way. Because that is the way that will allow him to win. That’s not “acting white”. That’s acting smart.
No, because it would be pointless. What did McCain prove by visiting Iraq with a small army and pretending that he was all brave ? That he was a publicity whore, and dishonest.
I think you, and others, are kidding yourselves repeating this mantra about him being the best candidate running and it’s not about race, it’s not about race, it’s not about race, it’s not about race, then in the same breath you admit his effectiveness will be about race.
It’s the elephant in the room folks, quit kidding yourself it’s not about race, and please fucking quit implying I’m racist for noticing.
The guy is Joe Safe. I don’t want Joe Safe; I want Joe Change, and I think the rest of you are pussies for being afraid to put forth a black and/or female candidate unless they’re allowed to be ineffectual, like that’s a virtue everyone’s aspiring to.
If it was about race, then he’d have no chance at all. One. More. Time. The racism of America is a racism AGAINST blacks, not for them. It is NOT helping him.
There is no “Joe Change”, or even “Joe Safe”; there’s McCain and Obama. We can only choose from the candidates that come forward, and realistically only from the Republican and Democratic ones. We can’t make the ideal candidate materialize from the ether by sheer willpower.
And so far, Obama’s been pretty damned effective, anyway. Where you get the idea he’s “ineffectual” I don’t know.
Holy crap, people, this thread is a perfect example of Nader’s trolldom.
Nader has made his stupid comment, and gotten pitted for it, but the thread has turned away from Nader’s assholery to whether or not Obama is black enough, or something. More perniciously, it has given the Obama-haters (and particularly the race-based Obama-haters) a springboard to bash the candidate based on his perceived level of excess or insufficient blackness, whatever the fuck that means.
I don’t get calling Nader a “troll,” unless you’re doing it in the time-honored SDMB sense of “someone you disagree strongly with.” Like the man or not, he’s performing a useful role as gadfly, and as a reminder that the rampant conservatism (in an apolitical sense) of the American voters deters any sound but radical policies being proposed by Presidential candidates.
I’m a strong Obama supporter, but face it, he can’t (and IMO shouldn’t) raise certain issues on the campaign trail (though I hope he’ll raise them and act on them when in office) that Nader is standing for now. If all he does is remind people that Obama is a centrist candidate, and that there are intelligent policies FAR to his left, that’s a service.
The classic definition “someone who stirs up crap to call attention to himself for purposes of ego gratification” fits just fine, so there’s no need to invoke any others.
Actually, pseudotriton, I agree with many of Nader’s political positions, but think he is not advocating them in a good-faith manner with the legitimate objective of advancing the cause. Rather, he is doing so in a highly inflammatory, over-the-top manner apparently intended to shine attention on the person of Ralph Nader.
In advocating for the reform of payday loans, it is not necessary to say, in effect: “Obama is being a traitor to his Negro race by not making payday loans the centerpiece of his campaign.” That’s trolling.
He’s been to Iraq before, and says he’ll go again this summer. McCain was making a big deal about how he’s visited more times than Obama. Can we as a nation really afford to elect the man who has not been to Iraq the most times? We cannot allow a photo op gap! I think Obama should consider moving his campaign offices to Baghdad just to make sure he has enough national security experience.
Police and football fans were baffled today when a pair of goal posts pulled themselves out of the field and began wandering around downtown Centerville…
His point is that McCain is ignoring this constituency and he won’t. I had no idea this was going to be so difficult to understand.
I think you couldn’t possibly be making less sense if you tried.