Posted on 03/06/2007 6:01:00 AM PST by pissant
Sunday’s march in Selma, Ala., may have been a sacred commemoration of the “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march of 1965, but beneath it all lurked raw politics, with Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., competing fiercely for black voters.
While local churches were packed with parishioners, just a few hundred yards apart on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, the rival Democratic presidential candidates made their pitches, both praising civil rights leaders for paving their way.
“Don’t tell me I’m not coming home when I come to Selma, Ala. I’m here because somebody marched for our freedom. I’m here because y’all sacrificed for me,” Obama told a crowd.
Meanwhile, at 709 Martin Luther King St., Clinton told parishioners at First Baptist Church that “the Voting Rights Act gave more Americans from every corner of our nation the chance to live out their dreams. And it is the gift that keeps on giving. Today it is giving Sen. Obama the chance to run for president of the United States. And by its logic and spirit, it is giving the same chance to [New Mexico] Gov. Bill Richardson, an Hispanic. And, yes, it is giving me that chance, too.”
Black voters are crucial for both front-runners as their campaigns calculate the math that will lead to their nominations. The fierce competition between the two was not only evident in their presence this weekend, but in the the steps they took to connect with the crowds.
Raised in Illinois and representing New York, Clinton effected a sporadic but curious Southern drawl in her speech. “I” became “Ahhh,” “far” morphed into “fahhhr,” and “mayor” suddenly sounded like “mare.”
And how about Obama? Well, he credited the “Bloody Sunday” civil rights marchers of 1965 with the fact that his parents — a black African father and white Kansas mother — were empowered to fall in love and got married.
“They looked at each other and they decided, ‘We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.’ And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma, Ala.!”
Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later. Obama said later that he meant to credit the entire civil rights movement with his parents’ union, not just the Bloody Sunday marchers…
Funny how Mr. Obama’s mistakes about history call ot mind our first black President’s memories of seeing black churches burning in his youth.
Meanwhile, the cries of outrage at these two politicians illegally race-baiting pandering campaigning in these black churches are deafening, aren’t they?
What a circus.
I suspect I'm going to get really, really tired of "white-this" and "black-that" before Election Day gets here.
I'm ashamed of both of them because neither of them represents America. Talk about political agendas....
Maybe when they're throats are literally being cut as a result of liberalism. I wouldn't be on it though, as they are probably too stupid to place the blame correctly.
It's the Halle Berry syndrome. Ann Coulter nailed it best.
This was from ABC's Jake Tapper, so HE didn't let it slide. But it will get no MSM legs, I guarantee that. But it better get around the blogosphere. Did Rush comment on this yesterday?
Look at that. The first black president and a mulatto who wants to be the second black president hanging around together.
Obama has as much in common with a southern black man as I do.
Does anyone know if Obama's parents were married in this country?
Who told Obama-jama that he didn't have a claim to Selma?
Yep. But try finding it on google news. I had to search the blogs.
So his parents can see into the future? Black father + white mother = he's black. Black father leaves white mother alone with child. Child is still black. White mother raises child without black father, child is still black. Mother gets no credit for her race. Where are the feminists when you need them?
Two lying peas in a pod
Yes, well, in the MSM, a liberal does not have to get his/her facts right. Makes no difference.
He's more popular to guilty white libs than southern blacks, that's for sure.
Well, he's just another piece of white trash in my book.
Damn he is ugly
What did his black father actually do for him, other than the obvious? Apparently nothing.
Why can't he be called a White-African-American, or an African-White-American, or a black-white-American, or white-black-American......
But nooooo, only one name applies to a mixed race person.
That makes good liberal sense.
He was raised by his white mother. His "Papa was a Rolling Stone" -------->>>>>>
Senior dies in an alcohol-related car accident in Kenya, leaving three wives, six sons and a daughter.
One of Senior's former drinking partners, Kenyan writer Philip Ochieng Ochieng says that his friend's downfall was his weak character.
"Although charming, generous and extraordinarily clever, Obama Sr. was also imperious, cruel and given to boasting about his brain and his wealth," he said.
"He was excessively fond of Scotch. He had fallen into the habit of going home drunk every night. His boasting proved his undoing and left him without a job, plunged him into prolonged poverty and dangerously wounded his ego."
Ochieng recalls how, after sitting up all night drinking Black Label whisky at Nairobi's famous Stanley Hotel, Obama Sr. would fly into rages if Ruth asked where he had been.
Ochieng remonstrated with his friend, saying: "You bring a woman from far away and you reduce her to pulp. That is not our way."
But it was to no avail. Ruth sued for divorce after her husband administered brutal beatings.
In fact he was a menace to life, said Ochieng. "He had many extremely serious accidents. Both his legs had to be amputated. They were replaced with crude false limbs made from iron.
"He was just like Mr Toad [from Wind In The Willows], very arrogant on the road, especially when he had whisky inside. I was not surprised when I learned how he died."
Ruth refused to comment on the abuse charges when we tracked her down to the Kenyan school where she now works.
She said: "I was married to Barack's father for seven years so, yes, you could say Barack is my stepson.
"Barack's father was a very difficult man. Although I was married to him the longest of any of his wives he wasn't an easy person to be around."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.