Obama's mother Ann, center, being held by her parents "Toot" and Stanley Dunham. (Photo: Family Photo)
Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., center, is shown wearing floral leis on his graduation day at the University of Hawaii in the early 1960s. (Photo: Family Photo)
Barack Obama Sr., with his son in the early 1970s. (Photo: Family Photo)
Future Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his grandpa Stanley on the beach. (Photo: Family Photo) I came across this interesting article, and it reminded me of the times that I have listened to certain statements made by Senator Obama, made in such a confusing way, that I thought, "Hmmm...wonder what he meant by that?" Now, it looks like he has made quite a few of those statements--and not only the Senator has made such statements, but Mrs. Obama has said a few things, herself, which were a little puzzling.
Just within the past few days, she said that she and Senator Obama were not so far removed from them ( voters they are trying to win over,) implying, of course, that their life had been a real struggle, too. Somehow, I just can't grasp that. I don't know a lot of people who make over 300,000 dollars a year, which she does, as one of the head honchos at a large hospital. I don't know a lot of people who were privilieged enough to attend Princeton and Harvard as she and her husband have. I think they are pretty far removed from the average citizen and voter, myself, but what do I know? I'm too busy trying to figure out what they are all saying...really.
by Paul R. Hollrah
Say What, Barrack?
March 12, 2007 12:00 PM EST
Tuning in to C-Span recently, I found myself listening to a speech by Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. He was standing in the pulpit of a black church in Selma, Alabama, and as I studied the body language of the dozen or so black ministers standing behind the senator, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the little head-bobbing dolls that people used to place in the rear windows of their 1957 Chevrolets. If their reactions are any indication, the new Schlickmeister of the Democrat Party is actually a pretty accomplished public speaker. However, as he spoke, I found my bull_ _ _ _ alarm going off, repeatedly. But I couldn’t quite figure out why until I actually read excerpts of his speech several days later. Here’s part of what he said: "...something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children.
Say What, Barrack?
March 12, 2007 12:00 PM EST
Tuning in to C-Span recently, I found myself listening to a speech by Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. He was standing in the pulpit of a black church in Selma, Alabama, and as I studied the body language of the dozen or so black ministers standing behind the senator, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the little head-bobbing dolls that people used to place in the rear windows of their 1957 Chevrolets. If their reactions are any indication, the new Schlickmeister of the Democrat Party is actually a pretty accomplished public speaker. However, as he spoke, I found my bull_ _ _ _ alarm going off, repeatedly. But I couldn’t quite figure out why until I actually read excerpts of his speech several days later. Here’s part of what he said: "...something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children.
“When (black) men who had PhD’s decided ‘that's enough’ and ‘we’re going to stand up for our dignity,’ that sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.
“… So the Kennedy’s decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.
“This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in) the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama."
Okay, so what’s wrong with that? It all sounds good… but is it? Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to “march across a bridge” in Selma, Alabama, his mother, a white woman from Kansas, and his father, a black Muslim from Africa, took heart. It gave them the courage to get married and have a child. The problem with that characterization is that Barrack Obama, Jr. was born on August 4, 1961, while the first of three marches across that bridge in Selma didn’t occur until March 7, 1965, at least five years after Obama’s parents met.
Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about America. His grandfather heard that call and sent his son, Barrack Obama, Sr., to America.
The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So, if his African grandfather heard words that “sent a shout across oceans,” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America, it was not Democrat Jack Kennedy he heard, or his brother Bobby, it was Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Obama’s speech is reminiscent of Al Gore's claim of having invented the Internet, Hillary Clinton’s claim of having been named after the first man to climb Mt. Everest… even though she was born five years and seven months before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry's imaginary trip to Cambodia.
As one of my black friends, Eddie Huff, has said, “We need to ask some very serious questions of the senator from Illinois. It’s not enough to be black, it’s not enough to be articulate, and it’s not enough to be eloquent and a media darling… The only question will be how deaf an ear, or how blind an eye, will people turn in order to turn a frog into a prince.”
It appears that Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. is not a “fresh face,” as media sycophants like to describe him, he’s just another in a long line of Democrat snake oil salesmen.
11 comments:
It's amazing that a southern white woman like yourself knows more about black history than black pastor/activists. Maybe the snake oil they sell comes from wringing out Ted Kennedy's sweaty oversized shirt!!! Excellent post Jan!!!
Frank Family..thanks!
It is amazing how one can say a whole lot, but really say nothing, and have people believe that it is the truth which will lead them out of bondage, give health, peace, and prosperity, and change their lives forever..just like the snake oil salesmen used to do.
Jan...I'm afraid Mr.Hollrah set off my bull#*&t alarm in the first sentence. I think you kind of figured that would happen. :] I don't see anything wrong with Sen. Obama's middle name Hussein...it means "beautiful child" I think; but it is usually used by people who think that my brain tissues are so soft that by reading "Hussein" again and again, it will conjure up a vision in my subconscious of an Islamic terrorist. Trying to seed my psyche to hate Obama before we know what he stands for is manipulative. I don't think much of folks who think so little of me. He demonstrated that right off. Anyway, I read on. My next thought was that this guy must have never been in an evangelical church service let alone a black church service. It is very common for people to nod their heads in assent while the speaker is speaking.[ I may use up all the available bytes explaining what this fellow misunderstood and mischaracterized. I'll post again if needed.]
He had some trouble with the part of Obama's speech that dealt with the early years and what brought his family here. Obama went from the latest to the oldest when he mentioned Selma, then Birmingham, then the bus boycotts [in Montgomery]. Understanding that would've avoided his misunderstanding about the bridge crossings in Selma that came after O was born. There were bridge crossings during the bus boycotts and marches that took place in the mid-50's in Montgomery well before Obama was born. Those boycotts and marches inspired a generation ...including Dr.MLK. The Senator was speaking in a black church where everyone would understand when and where the bus boycotts took place. I still kept reading. He then very inaccurately said that Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet. Al Gore said that while in Congress he took the initiative in creating the internet. He had a hand in sponsoring many pieces of legislation that helped bring the internet about. The internet didn't happen all at once. Some pieces were in place in the late 70's. Gore's activity encouraging and "creating" the internet took place mostly in the 80"s and early 90"s. He was honored by a large web organization [WEBB] in 2005 for 3 decades of contributions to creating the internet. Had Gore actually claimed he was the "inventor" of the internet he would not have been honored in that way.
I don't know if Sen.Clinton said what he said she said [by this time I was pretty much questioning the accuracy and verity of everything this guy had written], but I do know that Edmund Hillary was a respected man before he first climbed Everest in '53. Then.....bringing up Sen.Kerry and questioning his service did not endear Mr. Hollrah to me. I don't like it when people lie to me. There has been enough evidence of false testimony and payoffs of folks who spread that lie about Kerry's service that no writer who is worth a darn and would like to be taken seriously would ever repeat it. Mr.Hollrah did.
My memory of what other objectionable things Mr.Hollrah wrote has failed me. I'll reread his piece....unless I decide not to. Jan...do you think I'll find anything more to comment on? :]
Richard
Jan...you can call the Senator a snake oil salesman, but Mr.Hollrah can't. "...just another in a long line of Democrat snake oil salesmen".? Where has this man been for the last 7 years and what in the world has he been reading? Dems don't have an exclusive lock on snake oil. How did we end up with an 8 trillion dollar debt, stuck in a war that has lasted longer than WWII and will take a generation to recover from and generations to pay for, with 4000 US dead , 30,000 US maimed, wounded, and brain damaged soldiers, al-Qaeda stronger than ever, an underfunded VA, billions missing in graft and corruption from Iraq to the bathroom in a Minnesota airport, we're reviled around the world and no safer than before? What snake oil salesmen sold us these dogs that won't hunt? The Democrats?! People like you, Mr.Hollrah. People like you.
Richard
Richard..I see nothing wrong with Senator Obama's middle name, either, so I wonder why he, and his followers get so uptight when someone uses it, nor why Senator McCain felt that an apology was in order because someone used it at one of his gatherings?
You're right about the Dems not having a lock on snake oil..it's been around in abundance, on both sides, as far back as I can remember.
You're right about the civil rights era being something that inspired a generation, and whether or not he was right, chronologically, when speaking of the bridge crossings, marches, Selma, etc., it is like riding in on the coattails of those who did, in deed, suffer during that time, so what is his point?
Gore? I dislike him, immensely, for many reasons, and nothing that he could do or say, could I take very seriously.
And you're right..I knew this post would stir your ire, Richard! :)
Thanks for your input.
I hope your loyalty to Obama will be justified, but I'm not too sure about that.
Jan....I think the point Barrack was trying to make by talking about the historic events that took place in and around Selma so many years ago was that those events inspired his father to come to this country. They are why he is here today. The second point of bringing up Selma, Birmingham, and the bus boycotts was that because of those brave people he was able to have the opportunity for success that he certainly would not have had were it not for them. So, he was also saying thank you to those who had come before. He knows he owes them a lot.
It's not so much that I'm loyal to Sen. Obama. I'd come to the defense of anyone who is wrongly accused or mischaracterized. When Sen.McCain first looked as if he was going to be the GOP nominee, my daughter [a Republican] said he was way too liberal and she'd never vote for him. Rush Limbaugh attacked him. Ann Coulter said she'd work for Hillary if McCain was the nominee. I wrote to them all outlining the Senator's conservative credentials. He has since adjusted some of his "filthy liberal" and "moderate" stands. [ he no longer needs my help.] Neither Barrack nor Hillary were my first choices in this, but they all deserve accuracy in how they are portrayed.
So, what's next? Have you got something else up your sleeve to get me stirred up, Jan?
Can you say where in the South you're from? Is that allowed on a blog? Some of my favorite people are from Texas, Georgia, and Chicago [well, south Chicago] :].
Richard
"The second point of bringing up Selma, Birmingham, and the bus boycotts was that because of those brave people he was able to have the opportunity for success that he certainly would not have had were it not for them. So, he was also saying thank you to those who had come before. He knows he owes them a lot."
Richard..do you honestly believe that? I don't. It is true that he has used it to his advantage, but he is just as much white,as he is black, but he is using his blackness to further himself. From what I can understand, he comes from a pretty affluent background on his mother's side of the family, so either way, he would have had many advantages, anyway.
Your sense of fairness is admirable, but I don't agree with your point of view when it comes to Senator Obama.
Btw..I am not trying to come up with things to get you stirred up, I am just saying what I feel to be true.
I was born in Georgia, grew up in Alabama, and lived in many other places since then, including here, where Obama was tonight, and Clinton a few days ago.
I would like to say, also, that I am not prejudiced, I am not racist, and the color of a person's skin means nothing to me. I don't base any judgement of anyone, on the color of their skin, but on what I can learn, and understand about them. :)
Jan....Although Barrack is half black and half white, his appearance is that of a black man. Whatever stigma that carries, whatever baggage that presents he has had to carry. I know that I would not trade the color of my skin in order to get the "advantage" of being thought of as black. :] If he was to say that he's a white guy who's half black, who'd believe that?
The most important thing is what you said, " don't base any judgement of anyone, on the color of their skin, but on what I can learn, and understand about them. :)"
Thanks for the geographical info about yourself. You were raised well. Your forebearance and politeness are attractive qualities not often found on internet blogs. Thanks again.
Richard
The most important thing is what you said, " don't base any judgement of anyone, on the color of their skin, but on what I can learn, and understand about them. :)"
Richard..how about that..we found something we could agree on! :)
And I do thank you for your kind words about me and my blog. If you check the archives, you will find several stories about me, personally, and my background. You might enjoy reading some of them..might even get a laugh or two! :)
There's a curmudgeon who writes for the Asia Times... you might read his take...
granny j..thank you for the link. I thought it was interesting, and dealt with much of what I had been thinking about it.
I went ahead and posted it, just in case it got overlooked in comments.
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