Comments on Obama I recieved in an email

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by SurfDoctor, Jul 29, 2012.

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  1. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    A friend sent me this in an email. What do you think about it?


    "When you've read to the end, come back and read this first paragraph again.

    A Coil of Rage - The character of any man is defined by how he treats his mother as the years pass...need I say more about this person below other than there is no character, no integrity but there is a ton of attitude and arrogance that defines his shallow past and hollow future................
    I rest my case.

    I bought and read Obama's book, Audacity of Hope. It was difficult to read considering his attitude toward us and everything American. Let me add a phrase he used to describe his attitude toward whites. He harbors a "COIL OF RAGE". His words not mine.

    THIS IS OUR PRESIDENT -- HE'S RUNNING AGAIN, YOU KNOW! Is anyone out there awake?

    Everyone of voting age should read these two books by him:
    Don't buy them, just get them from the library.

    From Dreams From My Father:
    "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

    From Dreams From My Father:
    "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."

    From Dreams From My Father:
    "There was something about her that made me wary, a little too sure of herself, maybe and white."

    From Dreams From My Father:
    "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses,
    to strike out and name names."

    From Dreams From My Father:
    "I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own.
    It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the
    attributes I sought in myself: the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."
    And FINALLY...........and most scary:

    From Audacity of Hope:
    "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
    If you have never forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to do so!!! We have someone with this mentality running our GREAT nation! Keep your eye on him and don't blink.

    I don't care whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Conservative or a liberal,
    be aware of the attitude and character of this sitting President.
    "
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 29, 2012
  2. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

  3. DLer

    DLer New Member

    “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” - Mark Twain
     
  4. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I'm not voting for Obama, but it's not because of racial stuff like the above. It seems to me that the author of this email was a bit racist him/herself.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 29, 2012
  5. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    I will probably be voting for Obama, but it's not like my vote will make any difference. My state is a red state, and my vote will only mean that Obama will simply have one more vote in a losing effort in Tennessee.

    I'm not sure what exact proposal would be better, but this electoral college system is quite annoying to me. Your vote only really matters in the swing states. Places like Texas or California are simply foregone conclusions.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    If it makes you feel better, even in a system that used a nationwide popular vote your vote wouldn't really matter unless all the other one hundred thirty-two million voters were perfectly evenly divided.
     
  7. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I agree, it feels pretty useless voting and the electoral college system is annoying. Like you, I vote anyway.
     
  8. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    True, but at least geography wouldn't determine relevance. Oh, you live in Florida? Your vote REALLY matters. New York? Well, there's always baseball.
     
  9. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    Actually, I would tentatively suggest altering the way electoral college electors are determined. I would like to follow the Maine and Nebraska model of assigning electors by congressional district, with the two remaining electors coming from the statewide popular vote.

    It wouldn't alleviate all of the problems, but it could make things a little more fair. Gerrymandering wouldn't help, though.
     
  10. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I live in Florida and plan to make sure I vote!
     
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    The Electoral College was established because the Founding Fathers didn't trust the people in electing the President directly. (They also didn't trust them to elect their own Senators, but that has since changed.)

    The Electoral College is biased towards less-populated states, which are (like in the Senate) way overly represented. Some of the most populous states, therefore, are ripped off. Bush won in 2000 (well, sort of) despite not winning the popular vote. Kerry came close to this in 2004 (where Bush was re-elected by the slimmest margin in history). It's no secret that these sparsely populated states are, for the most part, states who tend to go Republican.

    Because of the Electoral College, most states are clearly in one column (Republican or Democrat) or the other. This means the candidates tend to focus on the few remaining "battleground" states. But this isn't what the Founders intended--they wanted the outcomes in the less-populated states to matter, forcing candidates to pursue votes even in those less-populated states. That's unfortunate. Because of this, neither candidate will stump for votes where it doesn't matter, thus negating the voters from those states. Romney won't take California seriously, for example, because it is a lock to go for Obama. But if there was a direct vote, Romney would be forced to campaign in California to either secure as many Republican votes as possible or to sway as many fence-sitters as he could. The same is true for Obama regarding "red" states like Alabama or Mississippi. The result: The campaigns (and the incredibly moneyed surrogates--thanks a lot, SCOTUS) will focus on a handful of states "in play." This serves to suppress the vote in many states, which can have a real impact on state and local races.

    I'd rather see one voter, one vote, each carrying the same weight no matter in which state the ballot was cast. Oh, and I'm in favor of diminishing the Senate's equal standing with the much-more representative House. Giving Wyoming (with a population of just over one-half million) the same representation in the Senate as California (with more than 75 TIMES that number) is stupid. The Brits saw this and have effectively reduced the House of Lords to a very low level of power. The House of Commons runs the country. While I appreciate our separate Executive and Judicial branches (term limits on SCOTUS judges, please!), I like the idea of a largely unicameral system. Let the people and their representatives be heard.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 30, 2012
  12. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Putting the comments in context, as the snopes article does, is all one needs to do to understand the very important point that Obama was actually making in his books. He struggled with his personal identity, as many socially cross-categorized people do. Later, when he became more secure in his identity, he still had to deal with the reality of others' categorization of him. Ironically, the email itself, with the assumptions and aspersions made, demonstrates exactly why Obama faced and at times might still face this complex issue. No one who hasn't experienced it first hand can really be a valid judge.

    A few years ago, when I moved to my current neighborhood, I received quite an intense shock when one of the local drug dealers tried to get my attention by shouting "Hey, White Boy!!!" It took me a while to realize that it was to me that he referred, but then found myself feeling... almost... offended. I'd never considered myself a "white" person before and I objected (internally) to the label. I'd hardly call it fair if a person reading that little honest revelation of mine were to then accuse me of racism. It was one of the few times in my life that I came to see that while I view and define myself as an individual, others are often vacuously heuristic.
     
  13. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I'm white, but some of my best friends are from other cultures; Africa, Asia, Mexico. Maybe I'm touchy about it, but I cringe when somebody says something around us like "Blacks always...." "those Mexicans..." Etc. Addressing someone by their race is especially distasteful.
     
  14. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    What I think of the email is summed up here snopes.com: Obama Racism Quotes

    Like I've argued before, there seems to be irrational hatred against the President and the right seems bent on using lies and half truths against him. To me it seems much worse than the hatred expressed against Clinton or Carter. He is probably more center than either of those two?
     
  15. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Yeah, but he's more of something else that is absolutely driving these people nuts.
     
  16. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Obama is to the right of Carter, but then this isn't the '70s. And I don't think he's to the right of Clinton. Well, Bill Clinton.
     
  17. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Except for just a few issues (healthcare being the biggie), Obama is hardly different than his predecessor. Obama left alone the Bush tax cuts, the Bush timeline for both the Iraqi and Afghani wars, the Bush warantless surveillance techniques on US citizens, followed in Bush's footsteps with a $700b stimulus package, and began to support offshore drilling nearly immediately after being elected. Also, deportations of undocumented immigrants and federal shut downs of state sanctioned marijuana dispensaries have skyrocketed under Obama to much greater levels than under Bush. How much of that is attributable to Obama himself might be debatable, but overall, a disinterested observer might think that they belonged to the same party- maybe even the same sub-group of the same party.
     
  18. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    #1 Rule of E-mail. Never, ever, ever, EVAH forward chain emails. Stop. As soon as someone says "I got this in an email from....." you can know that further reading will hurt your soul. It's always from that crazy uncle with the mullett and dentures who believes Dec 21 really is the end of the world. Yech.
     
  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Stupid heretic! It's the 22nd! The 22nd, I say! Repent!
     
  20. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I asked with a PM and got no response, so I'll ask it here: why do you quote me out of context in your sig line? You're leaving an impression I didn't make. I asked you very politely to remove it because it left a skewed impression.

    This is yet another example of "Moderators" failing to (a) moderate and (b) be moderate. They should be seen and seldom heard (from), IMHO.
     

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