Posted on 03/02/2008 11:16:58 AM PST by grundle
Crowd cheers advice to turn off TV, skip Popeyes for breakfast
FORT WORTH, Texas -- On the campaign trail, Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama talks about how he would use the bully pulpit if president, and he offered a demonstration Thursday when he drew wild cheers as he told a mostly African-American crowd that parents need to shape up, turn off the TV, help their kids with their homework and stop letting them grow fat eating Popeyes chicken for breakfast.
"It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you got the TV set on, you got the radio on, you don't check their homework, there is not a book in the house, you've got the video game playing," said Obama while in Beaumont, in southeast Texas.
"So turn off the TV set, put the video game away. Buy a little desk or put that child by the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don't know how to do it, give them help. If you don't know how to do it, call the teacher. Make them go to bed at a reasonable time. Keep them off the streets. Give ' em some breakfast. Come on. ... You know I am right."
Can change happen with words? That's a core question being raised about the Obama candidacy.
"I've got to talk about us a little bit," said Obama. "We can't keep on feeding our children junk all day long, giving them no exercise. They are overweight by the time they are 4 or 5 years old, and then we are surprised when they get sick."
Obama -- who exercises and is careful about what he eats -- said obese children need to improve their nutrition habits, invoking the name of a chain that makes delicious fried chicken.
"I know how hard it is to get kids to eat properly," Obama said. "But I also know that if folks letting our children drink eight sodas a day, which some parents do, or, you know, eat a bag of potato chips for lunch, or Popeyes for breakfast.
"Y'all have Popeyes out in Beaumont? I know some of y'all you got that cold Popeyes out for breakfast. I know. That's why y'all laughing. ... You can't do that. Children have to have proper nutrition. That affects also how they study, how they learn in school."
Obama has delivered "tough love'' messages before about personal responsibility, but he seemed to revel in his "truth-telling" while campaigning in Beaumont, on a day that also took him to Austin and Fort Worth in advance of Tuesday's crucial primaries.
As Obama stumped in the Lone Star State to Texas-size crowds -- he packed in 13,000 people at the convention center here Thursday night -- his campaign was downplaying any presumption that he will emerge in a few days as the all-but-certain Democratic nominee.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "is working tirelessly, as is Bill Clinton, in both Ohio and Texas; these races are extraordinarily tight," Obama said during a press conference on his plane en route to Beaumont. The Obama team was shocked to lose the New Hampshire primary in January, and since then, Obama has curbed the bravado that bubbled up in the Granite State.
Obama resisted an invitation by a reporter to write the Clinton campaign obituary. Said Obama, "Remember New Hampshire?"
I know that Obama usually speaks out in favor of more taxes, more governemnt spending, and more government regulation. However, his economic advisor is Austan Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. If Obama wins the election, it's possible that he could be the most libertarian President that this country has had in a long time.
Hussein’s guide to proper parenting. He left out ‘vote early, vote often’.
I’d never vote for him, but on this topic he’s 100% right. Kudos to the Senator for this one.
These statements will ever make it to the rest of the msm. It would turnoff too many of obamas voters who think that the state should be raising their children, thereby negating their responsibility of parenting.
How many retard sandwiches have you eaten today? Have you seen his health care plan for America?
Refreshingly honest. He sounds like Jesse Ventura.
And yet nothing said about worshipping thug rappers, being respectful towards women and having children out of wedlock?
overheard from obama's campaign hq: Geez! I can't believe it! I never thought that we'd actually have to say something real. I mean, who'd have ever thought it would come to this?! Sh33t, we need material. Let's see..Farakhan, nahh, that didn't work too good....Pryor? no, he won't work outside Harlem....OH! Of course! Google those Bill Cosby quotes! Everybody loves him. OK...I hope they don't call it plagiarism this time...
|
Yeah, if Libertarian = Socialist.
As for the topic, ultimately people have to take responsibility for themselves, even if the cards aren't dealt fairly. That's the case for all people.
As has been pointed out by those far more intelligent and eloquent than I, racial preferences don't really qualify as "bootstrapping."
Yes, I'm sure he's a big fan of less-restrictive gun laws. Nationwide CCW is on the top of his agenda, to be sure.
/s
Doesn’t Obama care about white children?
Austan Goolsbee....You mean the same Austan Goolsbee who told the Candanian Gov’t not to worry about Obama’s NAFTA rhetoric, that it was just meant to get votes in Ohio and that he was not serious????
CTV, the well-regarded Canadian news network, reported this week that a top Obama adviser contacted the Canadian government to calm fears that the senator was serious about rewriting pro-corporate deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement to benefit workers, farmers and the environment. According to CTV, the Obama adviser told the Canadians that “when Senator Obama talks about opting out of the free trade deal, the Canadian government shouldn’t worry. The operative said it was just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously.”
oy (to copy the invisible hand), there’s a thread one post below this one about the FR changes.
Why is it that when Bill Cosby came out with the same message a few years back he was pilloried for being a ‘sell out’?
If Obama wins the election, it’s possible that he could be the most libertarian President that this country has had in a long time.
Yeah, right.
They sure resonate positively with me. Barack Obama would make a fantastic private school principal.
As Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America, he would be an unmitigated disaster ....... just like Ron Paul.
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.