Obama On Race Card: "What I Said Was What I Think Everybody Knows"

Barack Obama responds to John McCain campaign charges that he's using the race card in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times:

"I was in union, Missouri which is 98 percent white - a rural, conservative. and what I said was what I think everybody knows, which is that I don't look like I came out of central casting when it comes to presidential candidates. But that I think that what people are really concerned about, what they're looking for is fundamental change on the economy, things that are going to help their families live out the American dream.

"There was nobody there who thought at all that I was trying to inject race in this. What this has become I think is a typical pattern from the McCain campaign, whether it's Paris Hilton or Britney or this phony allegation that I wouldn't visit troops. They seem to be focused on a negative campaign what I think our campaign wants to do is focus on the issues that matter to American families."

Joe Trippi, meanwhile, says McCain is "executing a classic 'Race? Not me!' campaign."

Comments

[Phil123]

Obama claims that "McCain will tell you that" Obama doesn't look like the presidents on the dollar bills because McCain will be trying to imply that Obama is "not from central casting"? That's the most ridiculous attempt to wriggle out of a race-baiting comment that I've ever heard.

OF COURSE Obama meant to imply that McCain intends to play the race card. Funny thing is that McCain hasn't played the race card, but Obama just did. He did it to Clinton, and he just did it to McCain.

[Heavy]

All of the slime originates from YOUR party. Figure it out!

[Heavy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/03/mccain-mocked-idea-of-oba_n_116589.html

[YesWeCanada]

Laura Ingraham said she's "Never seen anything like Barack Obama, I've never seen anything like him since Ronald Reagan." She went on about the crowds that Barack is getting.

http://www.newshounds.us/2008/02/05/conservative_radio_host_laura_ingraham_compares_barack_obama_to_ronald_reagan.php

[YesWeCanada]

Rush Limbaugh said “John McCain has stabbed his own party in the back, I can’t tell you how many times.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8314.html

[YesWeCanada]

Pat Buchanan concluded the segment by arguing that McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

[YesWeCanada]

Ann Coulter said John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth. LOL

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=231

[dukeitout]

In the article Sen. Obama speaks the truth when he says "what I said was what I think everybody knows." He should keep giving honest opinions just like this one and decent people will support him. He may show us that being honest is the politically correct thing. McCain is trying to appeal to the racist crowd with his propaganda.

[joeyp404]

There was nobody there who thought at all that I was trying to inject race in this,,, Then why did you do it? If they already knew it?

[generationyes]

Wha?

[joeyp404]

Exactly.

[midknightryder13]

Because there is a difference between "knowing something" and acknowledging or discussing it. Knowing this is not going to be enough. In truth, it NEVER WAS going to be "enough" to just 'know'.

[mesmerize]

I guess the real Maverick Man is showing. Just because mcCain has been on Capitol Hill for 26 years doesn't make him so knowledgeable on being Commander in Chief. I wonder why more Republicans are not requiring more substance form Mccain. He should be doing 50 times more than what Senator Obama is doing.

[Pupadup4oBama]

Rethugs...­.substance­....truth.­..honesty.­...ha ha...surel­y you jest!
They don't care what their candidate has...as long as he can parrot what they tell him, they're happy campers.

[DrToketee]

Bottomline line: Obama is half white, half black. So it's genetically IMPOSSIBLE for Obama to raise the issue of race. What he did raise was the issue of SKIN COLOR, period, that varies heavily from person to person with the same mixtures of racial inheritance. That is, the issue is that he really simply does not look like previous Presidents. That is a fact. There are many Americans who look white but have a substantial amount of black ancestry. Moreover, he is fitter, better looking, thinner, and younger than most of our previous Presidents. And guess what? He has been criticised by McCain for EVERY ONE of these qualities, too!

So who is really raising the "he's different from us" issue? You would have to illiterate or delusional to not to know by now.

But, nevertheless, that critical nuance is probably way beyond the understanding and capabilities of most American voters, anyway ... but the Europeans got it.

[StillIRise]

The majority of African Americans, including those who are even fairer in complexion than Senator Obama, are not only genetically mixed, as Senator Obama is, half white and half black, but they are nonetheless black in America, and so too is Senator Obama black in America. Few, if any, Americans make a distinction between skin color and race, nor is this distinction even made among those of us in the black community. White America defines race not only by one's skin color, but to ensure that skin color alone would not confuse the issue, white America established the "one-drop" rule, which delineated the races into black and white, regardless of skin color and regardless of one's genetic background. Therefore, to suggest that Senator Obama is not black enough, in essence, to raise the issue of race is ridiculous. Some twisted minds even believe that Obama raises the issue of race simply by being black! I do not believe that Senator Obama injected race into this campaign, and I agree that his opponents have already attacked him on every issue that Senator Obama reminded us of. However, I do question your attempt to genetically dissect Senator Obama to somehow make him something other than black. It is both the color of his skin AND his race that distinguishes him from previous presidents, and it is this that Senator McCain and the GOP are trying to exploit.

[bronceye]

The key to writing a good mystery is to first figure out the ending, then write backwards to elicit evidence of something different. Rove's goons came up with an ad and waited. When the Obama camp responded, they came out with the practiced "race card" allegation. They had all sorts of evidence that he, and not they had played the race card. Obama had no reliable response as he hadn't spent so much time choreograhing the events. I think Hillary should hit minibush's rovians with some sort of plaigarising suit as they are simply using her playbook-remember her talking of celestial choirs, the sky opening up and all would be well? Oh, she didn't use Charlton Heston. Isn't injecting the term race card not indeed, using the race card?

[smoo]

If this works, we get exactly what we deserve.

[Mogamboguru]

Let H.R.C go a f t e r M.c.C for his clearly evident d i s r e s p e c t for women, which he was showing in his latest ads.

If someboy knows how to REALLY b i t e , then it's her.

"Go for him, H-i-l-l-a-r-y! There's M.c.C. - f e t c h!"

[ObserverinVancouver]

After the way she praised him during the primaries, that would be really believable.

[NewArtz]

Gosh, when I heard Obama compare how he looks different from other Presidents, I thought he was talking about his ears. Why did McCain think he was talking about his color? Why did he bring up his race? He should have played the ear card.

[Daly]

or his age, wooden teeth, or the fact that it seem O likes to smile; I do not see any smiling on the US pesos.

[marysandra]

I think that Obama was just showing the audience "the elephant in the room" get it out, get it over with,because if he didn't, it is a certainty the Repubs would have. And not nearly as honestly.

[Heavy]

This is why he said it

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/03/mccain-mocked-idea-of-oba_n_116589.html

[mergina]

Obama, in case no one on your illustrious staff has said so, the ANGRY BLACK MAN is not doing you any good among voters, NO GOOD AT ALL. You are allowing this election to slip right into the republican mold, and a slimy mold it is.

[jayelo]

Yesterday, Obama was heckled by African Americans in Florida. Obama responded that he passed the first important racial profiling bill in Illinois. Very misleading. State Senator Rick Hendon did all the work on that bill and took all the heat, and at the last moment it was handed to Obama by Emil Jones. Why? Because Obama hadn't accomplished much and wanted to run for the U.S. Senate. Some called it bill hijacking. Why doesn't MSM report this? Good question.

[vernonbc]

Why doesn't the MSM report on this? Because it's all bunkum, that's why. Hendon may have worked on the bill but he couldn't get anything done on it and couldn't get the Republicans to work with him. Once O*bama took it over, his ability to get things done resulted in much needed legislation. That's why 0bama's running for president, not Hendon. 0bama is brilliant and capable and can work both sides of the aisle. Hendon can't.

[Peachie49]

If McCain wanted to imply that Obama was a "celebrity", it would have been more fitting if he had compared him to Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt or George Clooney. But to throw out the names of Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton, both young, white women with mental issues, drug and alcohol problems, wealthy--seemed more like he was really lashing out at himself. As those two women fit more into his family than to Obama's. Secondly, since these two girls could be McCain's daughters or granddaughters, I would think that even those "hard working Americans" and conservatives should be angry and insulted that McCain would pick on someone's children who obviously have serious issues--I would think that the Hiltons and Spears families would be greatly offended at McCain and the Republicans at this time.

[Tulka2]

Jon Stewart showed a photocopy of the actual check where the Hilton's gave the maximum amount to the McCain campaign. Then... McCain takes a public dump on their daughter. But.....? That Paris girl is so camera hungry it might be possible she voluntered. And Spears....­? Do not forget, she's the one who famously said, "We should just trust our president".

All that said, i agree the Rovians are masters at the subliminal dig. Turn off the sound and to a boozing, doozing, red-neck American, it;s just two blond girls with a good looking, sucessful, black guy. Alarm, alarm, Will Robinson!

[beastmode]

The LA Times pointed out that the McCain ad also gets Obama's presence wrong - he is far more a "rock star" than a simple "celebrity" - celebrities don't get crowds of 200k, rock stars do.

[rojo7449]

And, it was rock stars who did, not Obama....e­xcept, of course, that his campaign paid for the rock bands to bring the crowd, the brats and beer to feed the crowd, and the American flags for staging it as a campaign event that people came prepared for.