Sebelius: Obama’s race ‘may be a factor’

Sebelius: Obama’s race ‘may be a factor’
By John Deeth 9/16/08 8:31 PM

IOWA CITY — Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius publicly considered the possibility that Sen. Barack Obama’s race might be a factor in this year’s presidential election during an appearance here Tuesday.

“Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?” Sebelius asked in response to a question about why the election is so close. “That may be a factor. All the code language, all that doesn’t show up in the polls. And that may be a factor for some people.”

The remark, delivered in the governor’s low key, folksy, out-from-behind-the-podium style, raised a couple chuckles but few eyebrows in the downtown Iowa City crowd, but Republicans took offense and responded in short order.

“Governor Sebelius’s remarks in Iowa City today are hurtful and divisive at best,” said Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Caleb Hunter in a press release. “With less than 50 days to go, Democrats will continue to try and change the focus away from the issues that will decide this election.”

The rest of Sebelius’ remarks in Iowa City stuck closely to the Obama campaign’s talking points.

“The bottom line question is, do you think George Bush has been a wonderful president?” she told an audience whose questions focused as much on the horse race as on specific issues.

One questioner argued that Obama was under-performing in polls because young voters with cell phones were under-reported, and Sebelius agreed. “I have a 24 year old and a 27 year old and they’ve never had a land-line since they went to college,” she said. “So they don’t show up in polls. But they need to show up at the polls.”

Yet at each turn, Sebelius tried to return the dialogue to bread and butter issues, to the delight of Bob Elliott, a former member of Iowa City’s city council and a leading local supporter of Sen. Joe Biden during the Iowa caucuses.

“Lipstick can stay home! Talk about the issues!” he shouted, in apparent reference to another governor.

During a brief press availability, Sebelius said she didn’t know much about her Alaska colleague. “She’s one of our new governors, and I’ve met her at a couple of events that all the governors were at,” she said of GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “But we’ve really had no personal interaction. The real issue is John McCain vs. Barack Obama, and their policies could not be more different.”

Sebelius responded to criticism from Kansas Republicans about her campaign visits, and implied that the campaigning went hand in hand with her job.

“I can do a much better job as governor of Kansas, and Chet Culver can do a much better job in Iowa, if we have a partner in the White House instead of an adversary.”

 

OBAMA ATTEMPTS TO STOP U.S. TROOP WITHDRAWAL
DISGRACEFUL ACTION TAKEN IN IRAQ FOR POLITICAL ADVANTAGE!
By Melanie Morgan, Move America Forward

Dear Friends:

It is almost impossible to believe Barack Obama can be this arrogant. But sometimes the worst about politicians is true. It looks like Barack Obama told the Iraqi government to halt negotiations on troop withdrawals until after the election.

Obama is putting his own political objectives ahead of the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq. Apparently this all happened during his celebrated trip to Iraq - yes, the same trip where he refused to meet with American military personnel in the hospital in Germany because they wouldn't let news camera crews turn the visit into a circus and political stunt.

Iraqi government sources have revealed to the New York Post that Presidential candidate Barack Obama demanded that Iraqi officials stop negotiations with the Bush Administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Read the story for yourself

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0915200...tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm

Fearful that the success in Iraq would harm his political aspirations, Obama sought to keep U.S. troops in Iraq so he can continue attacking the Bush Administration for not imposing a timetable for withdrawal. If these allegations prove to be true, it should be the end of the Obama campaign. The report says this was a demand Obama made to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

You can bet the mainstream media will try to smother this story and keep Americans from finding out about what happened. Only Fox News has reported it so far.

Obama should have the decency to recognize that he lacks the moral character to serve as Commander-in-Chief, and he should withdraw from the ticket. I have never heard of any candidate deliberately trying to get Americans killed to prove their point.

According to the New York Post story, not only did Obama seek to get the Iraqi to stop negotiating with Americans on the troop drawdown, he also tried to bully General David Petraeus to agree to a hard withdrawal date.

The hypocrisy of Barack Obama - to say, in the United States, that he wants a speedier troop withdrawal date - while telling the Iraqis to stop negotiating is appalling. Even supporters of a quicker U.S. withdrawal must be sickened by his conduct in Iraq. If there were ever a candidate who has demonstrated the lack of character and leadership to represent the United States in foreign affairs, it is Barack Obama..."

 

C'mon now, of course it is a factor - the only reason why he's the Dem nominee - and everybody knows that, duh!

 

Barack Obama and White Privilege
by John Stossel, townhall.com

"Complaints about racism still dominate media discussion of the disparity between black and white success. Comedian Chris Rock tells white audiences, "None of ya would change places with me! And I'm rich! That's how good it is to be white!"

I assumed that the success of Barack Obama, as well as thousands of other black Americans and dark-skinned immigrants -- many of whom thrive despite language problems -- demonstrates that America today is largely a colorblind meritocracy. But a white campus lecturer, Tim Wise, gets tremendous applause from students by saying things like, "[W]hite supremacy and privilege continue to skew opportunities hundreds of years after they were set in place" and in America, "meritocracy is as close to a lie as you can come." His message is in demand -- he is invited to more than 80 speaking engagements a year.

But black writer Shelby Steele argues that whites do blacks no favors wringing their hands about white privilege.

"I grew up in segregation," Steele told me. "So I really know what racism is. I went to segregated school. I bow to no one in my knowledge of racism, which is one of the reasons why I say white privilege is not a problem."

Steele claims, "the real problem is black irresponsibility. ... Racism is about 18th on a list of problems that black America faces."

Whites' preoccupation with guilt and compensation such as affirmative action is actually a subtle form of racism, writes Steele in his book "White Guilt". "One of the things that is clear about white privilege, and so many of the arguments for diversity that pretend to be compensatory, is that they advantage whites. They make the argument that whites can solve [black people's] problems. ... The problem with that is ... you reinforce white supremacy. ... And black dependency.

"White privilege is a disingenuous idea," he adds. In fact, now there is "minority privilege."

"If I'm a black high school student today, there are white American institutions, universities, hovering over me to offer me opportunities. Almost every institution has a diversity committee. Every country club now has a diversity committee. I've been asked to join so many clubs, I can't tell you. ... I don't have to even look for opportunities in many cases, they come right to me."

Of course, there is still racism in America. At ABC News we've aired hidden-camera video showing sales clerks spying on black customers, cab drivers passing blacks to pick up whites and employers favoring white-sounding names.

Steele says those are minor problems.

"The fact is," he adds, "we got a raw deal in America. We got a much better deal now. But we can't access it unless we take ... responsibility for getting there ourselves."

He makes good points. White privilege does still exist, but Barack Obama's success is more evidence that it's not the whole story. There are plenty of people in America who want to vote for someone because he is black. Or female.

It's not politically correct to say that. Hillary Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro said she wouldn't have been nominated for vice president in 1984 were she not a woman and that Obama would not have been doing so well were he not black. "Could I have said ... his experience is what puts him there? No. Could I say because his stand on issues have distinguished him? No ... If Obama were a white man, he would not be in this position. ... He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

For saying that, she was repeatedly called racist. The heat got so intense, Ferraro had to resign from Clinton's finance committee, and Clinton disavowed her remarks.

There is black privilege -- and white privilege. It's time to stop complaining about past discrimination and to treat people as individuals, not as members of a certain race."

 

IMAO: I'm Not Going to Call Him a Traitor... But I'll Let My Commenters Do It

"So, apparently Obama negotiated with Iraqis to not allow withdrawal of American troops, straight out undermining our country. So now his campaign strategy is to basically be a gremlin to America's interests and then claim to be able to fix everything he's screwed up if we elect him?

So what else has he been doing? Drugging American athletes to try and keep us from winning medals at the Olympics? Finding people who are looking for jobs and talk them down to employers to keep them unemployed? Breaking levees in hopes of more flooding? Is he why giant lenders are failing?

The guy could be a supervillain -- Captain UnAmerican. We have to watch him. Hopefully Biden isn't doing things like this to, because I don't think you can pay anyone enough to keep an eye on him."

 

of course if 90% of African Americans are voting for Obama that could not be racist at all, but if any white person is NOT voting for him you must be suspect that he is a grand dragon in the KKK.

 

LBJ is the only Democrat to recieve more than 50% of the white male vote since 1944!

Whites were voting against Dem's long before Barry Obama came along.....

 

90% of Blacks would vote for whomever the Democratic candidate is. And Whites are free to vote for whomever they want, but I am suspicous of alleged "Democrats" who find Obama so objectionable that they publicly announce their support for McCain, like that Rothschild woman.