I am white, and cannot voice my opinion about Obama

reply to post by knows_but_doesnt


Well you live and learn every day. I thought Obama's mother was white, so why not call him White? In any case all Europeans descend from an African woman who migrated north. I don't really see how his ancestry makes a difference. So far from what we have seen of Obama in the news in Australia he looks like a very reasonable and clued up man. He looks a lot more human than many other politicians. We saw how sensitive he can be after he lost his grandmother. I do not doubt that he feels for all Americans in need and just hope that he can achieve at least some of his promises. I wouldn't condemn if he cannot, since others before him haven't made it a perfect world. I think he is sincere and will try to make life better for his countrymen and that is what really counts.

The only person who I know that told me he was voting for Obama, blew his stack when I told him "everyone has the right to be wrong". His rant showed that in his allegedly open mind, he could not conceive of the idea of absolute truth or that people who believed in absolute truth did not have the right to express their opinions because they were "hateful".

reply to post by knows_but_doesnt


I live in Tampa Florida which went for Obama just barely and there is no shortage of people who are and have been criticizing Obama for months and months without being called a racist. I just had a discussion today with a guy who thinks Obama is a Marxist and nobody called him out for anything. Where do you live, Nazi Germany?

Mr. Obama won here in 2008 because he is the better man. I did not vote
but I was going for Obama all the way.
Yes I am white, and not a (Mcain) Bush supporter at all. We need change and not the same old republican agenda in this country that we have had for the last 8 years.
Mr. Obama will bring us change and respect back to this country, I Thank God for this. no joke we all need to get along and respect all.

Originally posted by The Cyfre
reply to post by knows_but_doesnt

 

I live in Tampa Florida which went for Obama just barely and there is no shortage of people who are and have been criticizing Obama for months and months without being called a racist. I just had a discussion today with a guy who thinks Obama is a Marxist and nobody called him out for anything. Where do you live, Nazi Germany?

Worse, I live in the California Bay Area. You know, the place where people can do anything they want. Like live in trees, have bike parades that block traffic, gay marriage, gang bangers of all types, etc.

I do see it subsiding a bit now. For the first week it was "all hail the new messiah", whites get ready to pick cotton etc. We'll see how it pans out.

As stated before, we're a retail type store (a place you can pay your PG&E bill, etc) so we get ALL walks of life.

If you don't like Obama because of his views or his political stance or if you just feel he wouldnt do a good job you had your very fair shot of letting your opinion be heard by voting. The election is over. America has spoken. He is our President-elect. Lets move on....

Now as far as the whole white/black issue; whether white people can comment or not; whether they are being racist or not....

Look.

As an African-American it was indeed a proud moment to finally see 'a black man in office' but because he was a good choice, I feel. The race issue only comes up because he was the first to do it. I'd be just as proud as a woman, if a qualified woman took the office. The reason so many white people are catching backlash is because of our circumstances.

History proves that as African Americans we were brought here as slaves to be nothing more than slaves. To work for 'the white man' but never be his equal. We were denyed equal rights, fair opportunity, basic education and simple humanity. To get to the point we are now; just to be able to be able to eat at the same restaurant as a white person, was a STRUGGLE with all odds against us. Just take a moment and digest that so maybe you can begin to understand the mind set....ok?

HOLD ON TO THAT FOR ONE MINUTE.....

Now, The President of the United States is often considered the most powerful man in America (obviously) and maybe in the WORLD. He's to be revered, a symbol of strength for this country, a beacon of light towards equality, he represents the American people (ideally) and above all he is RESPECTED. For ONCE, he happens to be a black man. Its not about a "brother making a come-up"! Its about finally having the opportunity to see be seen as an equal in an ULTIMATE way. To come from Chicken George to Chief of Staff in a few short years. Again, just to have the opportunity to stand among those few great men that were elected into office is huge!

Why...?

Because we didnt come to America bright eyed through Ellis Island in search of a better tomorrow like so many immigrants did.
They stole us from our homes, put us on a boat, sold and traded us like livestock and told us that was all we would ever be good for. And somehow, against all odds and some 200 years later, Barack Obama, an African American, is President. We have evolved! We overcame! We have ARRIVED! Give us this moment....we've waited a long time for this type of recognition. Because honestly White America, compared to African Americans, you guys had a hell of a head start!

Point being, I think I speak for a greater majority of educated Black American people when I say that we are just PROUD....simple as that. We are SO VERY PROUD that not only do we have a black president, but we have a QUALIFIED one at that. Barack didn't make it into office because all the black people in America voted him in....We had help. There were plenty of white people that helped and as black people we know that, and it makes the victory that much sweeter.

So if you just so happen to have a negative opinion of President-elect Obama and you just so happen to catch a dirty look from your African-American counter-part, and before you become un-done because SUDDENLY your comfort level has been compromised, try to display a little racial empathy. If he just isn't doing his job as a president then please, hold him accountable. But to emphasize his inablity to adhere to your standard of excellence simply because hes a black president not only shows complete insensitivity but ignorance as well.

Dont rain on our parade, we didnt make the rules, we're just trying to stay in the game.

reply to post by mattguy404

He hasn't even been inaugurated yet - in other words, his presidency hasn't begun, and so there's little room to criticize him for anything.

Sorry he is making his cabinet picks. The people he picks will be his advisors and will set the tone for the next 4 years. These people will study problems distill information and add their bias to their advice therefore WHO they are is very very important.

I am speaking from experience. I was head of Quality at a small company. I went head to head with the production manager over quality and safety issues. He was older and male, I was young and female. Despite data and evidence to support my side, the old guy would pull the president aside and sway his judgments in private after the meetings. No money was spent to upgrade the safety of the equipment. I quit in frustration Result? A week later the plant blew-up killing several!

I realize the president of a corporation and the president of the US are not the same, but both are inexperienced and both are relying on others for input before making decisions.

On the other issue: After the Equal Right Amendment was passed the same sort of behavior was seen. I met several blacks who considered it a free pass to easy street and saw no reason to study or work. Any criticism of their bullying or other behavior was trumped with the race card. I actually had to go head to head with a clique of black girls who were terrorizing my dorm. They decide they wanted it as an ALL black sorority
and were abusing white girls to get them to leave.

No I am not racist. My father was from Harlem and my mother was Muslim from Lebanon.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Mr. Obama won here in 2008 because he is the better man. I did not vote
but I was going for Obama all the way.
Yes I am white, and not a (Mcain) Bush supporter at all. We need change and not the same old republican agenda in this country that we have had for the last 8 years.
Mr. Obama will bring us change and respect back to this country, I Thank God for this. no joke we all need to get along and respect all.

In what way is he the better man?

How will he change things?

Maybe Hillary can help him.

Uh, what's a nubian?

A nubian is a goat with very short or no ears. They are dairy goats of standard size. Anglo-Nubians can live in very hot climates and have a longer breeding season than other dairy goats.

The Nigerian Dwarf goat on the otherhand is a miniature dairy goat breed of West African ancestry. They are as cute as a button.
http//www.albc-usa.org/cpl/nigerian.html

ask a stupid question, and a wisedonkey will answer it....

[edit on 27-11-2008 by crimvelvet]

reply to post by knows_but_doesnt


OK, here's a test (no comments on race, religion, et c.). Put down your pencils. :

Obama pledged to use (limited) public funding in his campaign, but accepted unlimited funds once he secured his party's nomination.

He campaigned on a ticket of "change," but has so far named only former Clinton appointees to his cabinet (Gates was Clinton's Sec. of the Navy).

He espoused the counsel of "rivals," citing Lincoln and the Joyce Kearns book he carried around.

He claimed devotion and faith, but deferred services after the election was settled in all state over gym workouts. (I didn't mention any religion, just noticed the change in performance).

He established a "no lobbyist" test for his Cabinet, but names Tim Geithner as Secretary of Treasury (Geithner did not go to Congress to get money for Citibank (lobbying), he gave them billions himself as N.Y. Fed chief (and got paid by them for it)--this may not be "lobbying in the technical sense, but he was definitely a compensated advocate, which is lobbying in the classic sense.

He vows an administrative of transparency and hope, but names Eric Holder as A.G. appointee. Holder was Clinton's deputy A. G. and signed off on a pardon for fugitive financier/illegal Iran oil-trader Marc Rich. Pardons were otherwise exclusively handled by a "Pardon" attorney at Justice, except Holder did this one personally after speaking with Rich's attoney, Quinn, who was formerly Clinton's attorney. The subsequent Congressional investigation/report was never acted on or considered by the Democratic Congress. Clean Hands?

All this, and he hasn't even been sworn in yet. Hell, we're not even 1 month post-election!


Ready, pick up your pencils, you may begin the test.

reply to post by jdub297

If you are white, you just voiced your opinion about Obama [with rhetorical questions] and showed that it can be done without grave personal consequence. Obama will have a tough time with his presidency since he will be starting in a deep financial and global political hole dug by Dubya and the oil barons.
Personally, I will refrain from criticism of our new president until he takes office and shows what he can do. Arguing about cabinet choices now is premature --- we need to see the results that those choices will bring. Results are what counts for the majority of the American public.

reply to post by CoffinFeeder

yes, I said 'n-word', and in basic conversation, and not in a racist statement. look how probably 90% of the people here flinched when they read that word. I'm sure I'll get warnings and U2U's up the wazoo just because I said 'n-word'. I'll know who all the tightends are then, so its a good thing to know.

A rose is a rose by any other name. I find the change to "politically correct speak" utterly laughable. All it does is take a perfectly good word and make it into a swear word. It does nothing to change the persons underlying feelings. It just gives him another word to use to vent those feelings. Was that the reason for the language change?

When brother OBAMA fails to make all the blacks wealthy and instead brings famine to the USA I wonder how fast the blacks will turn on him and call him an "Uncle Tom"? Famine is very close so I am speaking realities here. USDA and FDA are targeting the rural poor especially the blacks for a land grab by the big Ag-corporations.

This thread show just how close to famine we will be if Obama make the wrong move when he choses the Sec of AG.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by CharlesMartel
The only person who I know that told me he was voting for Obama, blew his stack when I told him "everyone has the right to be wrong". His rant showed that in his allegedly open mind, he could not conceive of the idea of absolute truth or that people who believed in absolute truth did not have the right to express their opinions because they were "hateful".

Wow, all you did was tell someone that their own personal belief was wrong. How is that open minded? If you each have right to your own opinion, how does deciding that his is wrong come across as fair to you? Tell me something you have decided based on a deeply held set of beliefs, let me tell you that you are wrong and see how you feel about my open mind. In case you did not know, this is America and we vote. Obama won by a majority of the votes so I guess that means you were wrong anyway.

I applaud the autor to this thread! It wa magnifasent in it's simplicity! And all too true!

It seems like now polatics has turned into a Raiders and Broncos game (those who know; understand). I too, have fond the subject of polotics three times more difficult to talk about.

Again: applause to all those who feel that polotics might not be what it once was. The issue is polotics.. Not race! I'm not galavanting arond in a white sheet cos I don't agree with his decisions...

Originally posted by Jkd Up
blah blah blah polatics blah blah blah polotics blah blah blah polotics.. bah blah blah cos blah

YAY. I applaud you for applauding the author. I can only hope the author is supported by more intelligent and well thought out posts like this one.

[edit on 29-11-2008 by Iblis Smiley]

When Obama first came on the scene I was all for him, then researched his associations and accomplishments.

WHY does he deserve the office of President ''

Every person that tried to promote him as "The one" to me was asked why are you voting for him --- their response was "CHANGE"

Where is the "CHANGE" --- more Washingtonians in place in his administration than Bush''

The only "CHANGE" you will see is what's left in your pocket when he is done''

Originally posted by SANTA CLAWS
When Obama first came on the scene I was all for him, then researched his associations and accomplishments.

WHY does he deserve the office of President '

'

Because this is a representative republic and the majority voted him in. If you do not like the way we chose our presidents, perhaps you should look for a different country that picks the one the minority of the people want or one where the leader chooses who will lead. I like that we get to vote every four years but I guess you do not understand how that all works?

Because this is a representative republic and the majority voted him in. If you do not like the way we chose our presidents, perhaps you should look for a different country that picks the one the minority of the people want or one where the leader chooses who will lead. I like that we get to vote every four years but I guess you do not understand how that all works?

No, YOU do not understand how it really works. I do not like the way we choose our presidents because the choice is not made by the public but by the big bucks behind the Candidate. The Candidate is then expected to STAY bought by the wealthy who financed him.

Here is an example using Agriculture from the 2002 Ag census:
There were 2,128,982 farms in 2002. (over 2 million)
1,817,594 had GROSS sales under $100,000 (poverty level after expenses)
240,746 had sales between $100,000 and $499,999
70,642 had sales over half a mill (these are the corporate farms 73,752 listed as Corp)


How do those 1.8 million just hanging in their farmers compete with Cargill, Monsanto, ConAgra and Walmart in influencing or choosing the politicos when just these 4 corporations contribute 11 million to campaign funds? Do you really think a group of farmers has any influence? I KNOW we do not after the fight against NAIS. IF Obama does not support NAIS then I will believe the Corporation do not pick and choose our government leaders.

From Farm%20Bill%20April%202007.pdf

CARGILL
Cargill is the second largest private corporation in the U S
2006 Revenue: $75.2 billion
Top U.S. Company in: turkeys, grain exportation, flour milling
Operations in 63 countries

Products Include: Seed, fertilizer, grain,GMOs, meat, poultry & egg products, processed foods, industrial-grade oils, pharmaceutical ingredients
Services Include: Financial services, grain marketing , electricity marketing,& trading

Political Campaign Contributions2 (1990-2006): more than $1.5 million

U.S. Government Connections:
• Dan Amstutz, president of Cargill Investor Services 1972-1978, was the USDA Undersecretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs 1983-1987 and Chief Agriculture Trade Negotiator for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1987-1989 in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In 2003, he was appointed to lead U.S. agricultural reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
• Warren Staley, Cargill CEO, was appointed to Bush’s Export Council in 2003.41 • Daniel Pearson, Cargill VP for Public Affairs, appointed to the International Trade Commission in 2002.
• Ernest Micek, the president of Cargill 1994-1998, was appointed to President Clinton’s Export Council in 1998.

• Cargill is represented on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee and the USTR Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade’s Subcommittees on Animal and Animal Products; Grains Feeds and Oilseeds; Processed Foods; and Sweeteners and Sweetener Products.

MONSANTO
Monsanto sells GMO seeds worldwide. By contract, farmers are not allowed to reuse seeds

2006 Net Sales: $7.3 billion
Top World Company in: GMO agricultural seeds, herbicide

Global Reach: Operations in 53 countries

Products Include: GMO cotton, soybean and corn seeds, herbicides, bovine growth hormone, swine genetics

Political Campaign Contributions2 (1990-2006): more than $1.2 million

U.S. Government Connections Include:
• Linda Fisher, Monsanto Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto was an FDA staff lawyer 1976-1981, Deputy Commissioner for Public Policy at FDA 1991-1994, and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Administrator 1994-1996. While at the FDA, Taylor wrote the guidelines on milk labeling and rBGH, which was the basis of Monsanto’s lawsuit against Oakhurst dairy

• Monsanto is represented on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee and the USTR Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade’s Subcommittee on Grains, Feed and Oilseeds.

CONAGRA
ConAgra Foods are in 96 percent of U.S. households. More then 30 percent of ConAgra’s brands are number one in their category. The annual compensation for the company’s CEO is reported to be more than $11 million, which was more than the combined average net income for 3,300 farm households in 2002.

2006 Net Sales: $11.6 billion

Global Reach: Products sold in more than 100 countries Brands Include: Armour, Butterball turkey, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Kid Cuisine, La Choy, Peter Pan, Slim Jim, Swiss Miss Products Include: Seed, fertilizer components, animal feed, turkey, pork, beef, seafood, processed food

Services Include: Flour milling, food processing, grain handling, storage, trading and merchandising of food, fertilizer and energy

Political Campaign Contributions (1990-2006): more than $2.7 million

U.S. Government Connections:
• Richard Crowder, ConAgra’s Executive Vice President of Armour Swift-Eckrich meat processing 1992-1994, is the U.S. Trade Representative’s Chief Agricultural Negotiator. He was involved with the GATT agriculture negotiations and the 1990 Farm Bill as USDA Under Secretary of International Affairs and Commodity Programs 1989-1992.63
• Mary Waters, ConAgra’s senior director and legislative counsel from 1986-2001, was USDA Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations 2001-2005. 64
• ConAgra is represented on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee.

[Wal-Mart:
Squeezing Out Small Processors

2006 Net Sales: $312.4 billion

Global Reach: More than 6,000 stores in 11 countries.

Political Campaign Contributions (1990-2006): more than $5.7 million

Wal-Mart,the one-stop behemoth has been selling groceries for only about 10 years, but it is already the largest food retailer in the world, and growing.
In order to get their products on the shelves at a grocery store, food processors must pay a flat rate called a slotting allowance. This arrangement puts smaller food processors at a disadvantage, because the slotting allowance is a proportionally larger chunk of their earnings than for large processors.
exe

[edit on 29-11-2008 by crimvelvet]

I am now going to pull one of those "go into the thread without reading any responses at all, and drop a one liner in response to the OP" posts- how disgusting- but I just can't resist.

I am white and I can voice my opinion about Obama any damn time I want to.

Ahh, good to get that off my chest. Proceed.

reply to post by knows_but_doesnt


When you talk about the fema trailers and all of that - don't put it on Obama - BUSH is the one who had all of that done.

Bush is the person to blame for the things that are coming down on us, not Obama.

It seems blame is being put on Obama, before he is even in office.