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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Obama: Acting White or Transcending Race?

posted by on September 19 at 13:50 PM

Apparently it’s both, according to Jesse Jackson, who said yesterday, in a critique of how Obama has been responding to the Jena controversy in Louisiana, that Obama has been “acting like he’s white.”

Today Jackson offered a different public comment:

“I reaffirm my commitment to vote for Sen. Barack Obama,” Jackson says in the statement. “He has remarkably transcended race, however the impact of Katrina and Jena makes America’s unresolved moral dilemma of race unavoidable. I think Jena is another defining moment of the issue of race and the criminal justice system. This issue requires direct and bold leadership. I commend Sen. Obama for speaking out and demanding fairness on this defining issue. Any attempt to dilute my support for Sen. Obama will not succeed.”

In other Jena politics: Hillary Clinton was on Al Sharpton’s radio show today to discuss the case and John Edwards issued a statement saying, “As someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel a special responsibility to speak out on racial intolerance.”

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RSS icon Comments

1

Oh PUHLEEZE! John Edwards did NOT grow up in the "segregated south". He may have grown up in a south with racial divisions, but during his childhood and adolescence the southern states were going through the motions of integration.

Posted by Sweetie | September 19, 2007 2:44 PM
2

"acting like he's white" = acting like a politician who wants to be president. and being Obama's a politician raised by a white woman & an african immigrant man,that's not an equation for "blackness" the way you want it.

get over it, Jesse. keep your eyes on the prize - A BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE. of course the first one is going to be more Cuba Gooding than Too $hort.

Posted by maxsolomon | September 19, 2007 3:19 PM
3

ron sims never endorses national black leaders for office. he did not endorse jesse jackson in 1988, and he said that if elected to the US Senate he would not join the black caucus.

ron's always been more comfortable being around non-blacks and being the "one good one" and not having to share the spotlight with someone like Obama, who um, isn't a sellout to the moneyed interests around King County and loves to stab people in the back who are his friends.

hillary might want to reconsider tooting that support around Washington, esp. given that Sims is a 2 time loser statewide, and will do not a thing to help her out, just help him get his big gummint check at FEMA.

Posted by broadway bill | September 20, 2007 12:59 PM

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