Huckabee’s Wise Statement On Race And Blame
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Huckabee, Race
In response to Obama’s speech yesterday, Mike Huckabee displays the type of understanding we will all need to get past the issue of race:
As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus…”And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
Do note that last sentence. Because when it comes to the topic of race, it’s particularly important to remember that until we walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes we have no idea what their experience is. Would we be as strong in the face of slurs, bigotry and institutional bias?
In any event, well said Huck. He’s continuing to show us all why his voice could actually help bring unity to this country down the road, and I think that’s ultimately why I liked him to begin with. Ge offered a different kind of political tone, and while many dismiss that as just talk, I’ll keep on saying that “talk” is quite important when we’re trying to start a different kind of political discussion.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Huckabee, Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Well, I suppose that because 40 years ago, your relatives endured segregation, that history could stimulate you into comparing American troops in Iraq to Al-queda terrorists, or that 9/11 was justified.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:36 am
[...] is how many voices from the right have applauded Obama for his candor and honesty, including Mike Huckabee this morning. Obviously Michael is entitled to his opinion, but what he’s saying here isn’t opinion, [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Yes, that’s exactly what Huckabee is saying. Well done Jimmy. As nuanced and elegant as always.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] Donklephant, through Daily [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 10:51 am
You cut slack for a slip of a tongue, not for 2 decades of racist remarks and comparing our troops to Al-Quaeda terrorists, or the latter’s actions to what happened during WW2.
I have not caught up with previous threads so, I don’t know if anyone brough up the subject that while Obama’s speech awed his supporters it also revealed Obama did lie about never sitting in the pews during some of those statements.
Also, was all that demonization of Republicans toward the end of his speech meant to “unite” us or divide us even further?
It’s not the Republicans, or Fox that brought the race issue out in the open. It was his pastor, mentor and friend.
Let’s not forget that many blacks have denounced Rev. Wright’s accusations and like many of us would never attend, support or share Rev. Wright’s opinions.
That many liberals want to give a pass to Obama et al shows the double standard we have come to know so well. A Republican in a less controversial situation would have already quit the race amidst liberals outrage.
Incidentally, if Obama want to be excused for being out of touch with reality when it comes to his close friend, HOW in the world can we expect him to be clued to bigger issues as CiC?
You guys, can’t have it both ways.
“He’s honest but he lies. He’s unaware but he’s smart.”
This situation is very similar to Ron Paul racists letters. Actually, RP’s pretension of ignorance, looks at this juncture more credible than Obama’s initial claim to ignorance. Those of you who casted RP’s followers as blindly adhering to the man, are doing the same thing with Obama.
I understand, he is your only “hope,” but by defending the indefensible your own disingenuousness shows.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Actually, you’re completely wrong about that. What Obama said first of all is that he wasn’t in the pews for the now famous youtube screed sermons. Then in his subsequent speech, he said that on occasion he has witnessed Wright say ugly things he didn’t agree with.
There’s no contradiction there. No one has shown that Obama witnessed the youtube screeds.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
There was no contradiction in Bill Clinton’s “depends on the meaning of the word is” either, kritter. This is exactly the same thing.
The defense Obama initially gave was that he wasn’t there during the controversial statements. OK, fine, so that explains why he didn’t stand up and walk out, or take any other action to express his disapproval of those particular statements.
Yet now he admits that he WAS there during other controversial statements. So, he didn’t walk out on those…why? He never really explains that, other than to list all of the other good qualities that Rev. Wright has, and why he liked this particular church. Yet he won’t admit that it was wrong for him to give tacit approval to the incendiary statements that he DID sit through silently, even though you are correct to note that this doesn’t disprove his lawyerly defense of not speaking out against the particular ones that have made their way to YouTube.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Frankly, it’s you that are wrong.
Obama verbatem:
“Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin
Fact ~ Obama denied being present when ANY controversial statement was made.
Fact ~ Yesterday, he negated that initial stance.
Seems like you want to quibble on words and meanings and re-interpret what he said.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Glad someone brought the similarity with Clinton.
Obama, unlike his campaign’s slogans is just another politician. Perhaps, a little better than Bill Clinton, but just the same.
Many yesterday saw through the double-talk and the lies. His speech raised more questions than it answered.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Wrong Elisabetta
Check the youtube of Obama, he says he never heard the comments that were the cause of the current controvery, the comments being rplayed on the news, you are distorting the facts
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_7piGy0u43c
March 19th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hey, I’m just “cuttin him some slack.” Apparently, Obama cut him a LOT of slack over the years, since Wright has been known to preach this crap since the 70’s, and none-the-less Obama got married by him, had his children baptised by him, recruited him for support during all his political campaigns and even called him his “mentor” rather recently. But hey, black people underwent segregation 40 years ago, so no big deal.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Everyone, Governor Huckabee is right on target. When Michelle Obama stated that for the first time she is happy with our Nation, you have to remember, the Black society has and apparently is still enduring the harsh discrimination not having ended so long ago and in some quarters still exists. Not to excuse anyone for such hate or rhetoric, one has to forgive the human behavior that may clinge to a bitter vengeful attitude and allow it to mellow out.
Making this eleciton campaign for Obama about race is wrong and is harmful. Just let it go. Let the healing happen. Let the race go back to substance and get out of the gutter. To react to this past but makes it our future. In other words, grow up, everyone.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I didn’t realize how common sense Huckabee is. Seems like a real guy.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Reality check ~
Rev. Wright and his beliefs have made race the central issue of this campaign.
Avinash ~
you like others play with words to fit your ideas.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Wow, Elisabetta. You’re missing the larger point, and you have taken Mr. Obama’s words rather out-of-context, or should I say, in incomplete context.
I’ll try to address what you said, and help you see what these good folk have been trying to patiently explain to you:
Firstly, your partial Obama quote:
“Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.”You left out the balance of the segment: . Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.And please, don’t respond to that with another simplistic view that he should have walked out back then. To do so would have shown a myopic vision that is not within him. He discusses this further: Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Would you want a man of integrity, or a politician who only looks to see ‘how things will look in the press’, hmm?
Obama, unlike his campaign’s slogans is just another politician. Perhaps, a little better than Bill Clinton, but just the same.Okay, that’s not only offensive, but SO VERY wrong. Read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the U.S. lately? The whole Chapter on Clinton? His aide in converting FEMA to a military organization; His acts of war and disgrace in the Sudan, in Rwanda, in Somalia; his involvement in Iraq in the FIRST PLACE. Depleted Uranium Rounds, starving Iraqi children - all acceptable to Bill. And apparently, as she never spoke out against these acts - too busy collecting money from medical corporate giants I suppose - Hillary is as guilty as her husband.Shame on you for comparing these men.
Rev. Wright and his beliefs have made race the central issue of this campaign.
Absurd! Matters of Race are far from being quiet, or settled, or even properly addressed in this country. I mean, what about the dang Natives of this country - on their second longest walk in history across the country. Would they need to do this if the racial divide was stemming from 1 black minister? Or the black church? No. overt racism and it’s long-lasting demoralizing affects have come, my dear, from whites - from Columbus the murderer down to the present. Get real. The good Reverend has spoken words that many people, black and white, happen to believe, for your information. They are part of our country’s heritage, and it’s reality today. Healing begins by someone, ANYone, actually addressing these issues, painful as it is.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
sorry for the messing up of some of my tags - I hope you can all see where I was quoting Elisabetta, and where my own responses were. cheers.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Hey, this all part of the “getting to know” BHO. I was not particularly impressed with BHO speech. It is suppose to be some brave political move not to throw Wright under the bus, okay. I can get that. But he does not repudiate the idiocy **in logic** that faciilitated Wright’s ascension to complete nut-job or the horrid social-effects on the black community of having such a freak spill its stupid bile every Sunday.
So everyone should know that the “audacity of hope” stems not from love and faith, but resentment and hatred, which (yes, Obama) if left unchecked leads to massive distortions in reality — like the U.S. gov’t created Aids to kill blacks and the Jews are conspiring against us with their mounds of gold in the basement of Temple.
The distortion in reality comes from being UNCHECKED. Never having one of the parishioners, particularly the Harvard educated ones, stand up after Church and say…”If your goal is to make life better for our community, you are on the WRONG track.”
Obama let down his own community by not stopping this hater. If fact, inaction is tactic agreement and support. And what should WHITES do the next time they hear another WHITE use the N-word — According to BHO: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! And that’s change how….
March 20th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Rico, I regret to tell you that it is you you can’t see the forest for the trees.
My quotations of Obama’s words are in context as are my remarks. It is you refuse to look at the bigger picture and the implications.
I have resigned to the idea that Obama’s fans do their hardest to justify the man’s actions and split hairs, but I don’t buy it.
You believe that Obama should have remained, as he did, in a church that thrives on hatred, because to leave would have displayed a myopic vision?
It appears we have different understandings of “integrity” as well of other things.
It’s a no brainer that for much less whites have been escoriated. Obama himself, a year ago, when Imus made one offensive racial remark, called for him to be fired.
How hypocritical after he listened to Wright’s hateful messages for years and did nothing but come back. Talk is cheap. Let’s see him walk it.
When I wrote that Rev. Wright’s speeches made race central issue in this campaign, it was in response to RGDunn’s comment.
No one is denying that the issue of race is alive and well. However, it’s always framed as Whites on Blacks and ignored when it’s Blacks on Whites. Rev. Wright’s divisive speeches brought it into this campaign. Oh, I understand they wanted to keep it under cover until a more appropriate time, but then, Obama should have distanced himself from the man a long time ago, and they shouldn’t have been selling tapes of those sermons. Therefore, Obama has no one to blame but himself and his close friend and mentor.
The fact that some Whites and some Blacks believe the worst about our government and white people is not a justifiable reason for a preacher to stand up in church and inflame the congregation with lies and hatred. To use an old song, “Where is the Love?”
Do you believe AlQaeda terrorists are equal to our troops?
Our government created the HIV epidemic?
All the problem in this country are caused by Whites?
I see no difference between this reverend and Black Panthers. However, he is using his pulpit for all the wrong reasons.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Huckabee NEVER once defended Rev. Wright’s comments. What he did was to compassionately look under the surface of the remarks and keep an open mind as to the root of Wright’s bitterness. It’s too bad all of us can’t show kindness/compassion toward others, even when they miss the mark. Huckabee is an authentic man who looks beyond mistakes and trys to see what can be done to improve situations and relationships. This is what we need more of in America!