Michael van der Galiën Grossly Distorts Obama’s Race Speech
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Blogging, RaceFirst, here’s his interpretation of what Obama said about black Americans…
I think it’s a good speech because I know how some people react to it; the target audience will be ‘inspired’ by his speech. So, it’s a good speech. But for me: it’s mostly empty rhetoric disguised as deep thoughts and he’s, as I see it, saying everyone should just accept that blacks – seemingly all blacks according to Obama – hate America, hate Jews and hate whites.
Okay folks, if you’ve seen or read the speech by now you know that Obama didn’t say, nor did he imply, that all blacks hate America, etc. What he did touch on is that there is still a lot of resentment on both sides of racial divide and its time we address it in earnest and try to work through it.
What’s sad is this is the type of thing I’d expect from the right-wing noise machine, not a moderate blogger. And what makes his statements all the more shocking 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, it’s laughable distortion that many on the right wing seem to already be distancing themselves from with their approval of Obama’s speech.
But the hits keep coming, and this one is even worse than the first…
Also interesting to see that he finally admitted that he was in Church when Wright said some of the things we saw him say on video. He denied that at first.
No two ways about it, this is just plain false.
Obama did say he has been in church when Wright has said controversial things, but he has stated repeatedly that he wasn’t in the church during the sermons that have appeared on YouTube and all over the media. If it’s uncovered down the road that Obama was indeed in the church during what I’m now calling “The YouTube Sermons”, he’ll have to answer for that. In fact, it’ll most likely be the end of his campaign. But that’s not what he said in his speech.
For Michael to suggest otherwise isn’t just disappointing, it’s telling. Because either he hasn’t been paying close enough attention to what has been said or he simply doesn’t care about being honest when it comes to the topic of Obama. I sincerely hope it’s the former, but after seeing him launch a consistent anti-Obama campaign day in and day out at his blog, I have serious fears that it’s the latter.
And so it goes…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Blogging, 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 11:07 am
Well put Justin, I’ve noticed these repeated contentions too, that Obama is now admitting what he denied. And at this point, those contentions are false. It is just as you have said regarding the youtube sermons. Unless we see actual evidence that suggests otherwise. Which we haven’t.
MVdG has been embarassing himself for weeks. Combine that with their balky interface and there’s little reason to go there these days so long as MVdG is dominating the posting.
You and Alan have been doing a much better job of covering political news these days.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Good words, Justin. Michael didn’t use to be this way. He has been getting on my nerves for a while now. I am not a big fan of Obama, but he is just unfair to the Senator.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Yet Obama still refuses to release his attendance dates so that question could actually be settled, doesn’t he? ;-)
Even Brian Ross at ABC isn’t buying it. Instead he sees Wright as Obama’s Spiritual Rezko.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I might be biased, but I think that my assessment and analysis of Barack’s speech is better than Michael’s. Although my blog is relatively new, I have gone for quality over quantity. There are over a dozen thought provoking posts at http://progthinker.blogspot.com. Several are about Barack Obama.
I put a lot of time an energy into my posts and I think it shows. My blog might be new, but I do much more than simply quote other articles and give one or two lines of opinion on them. I seek truth. I give facts and have links to back them up. I also offer my opinion. Since truth regarding people is sometimes more perceptual than objective, some people might not agree with my truth. However, that doesn’t make it any less valid.
In closing, I urge you to read the posts in my blog. Whether you agree or not, I think you’ll find them thought provoking.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
[...] Wright, Donklephant hasn’t said a lot with which you’re likely to agree. Justin Gardner has defended and praised Obama. I’ve more-or-less given Obama a pass as I’ve tried to grasp the complexities [...]
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[...] to know why I made such a big deal when a blogger said that Obama “finally admitted that he was in Church when Wright said some of the things we saw [...]