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I don't hate Obama. And I CERTAINLY don't judge him by the color of his skin. But yes, I did find his remarks poorly timed and condescending at best. Today was not the time to admonish DALLAS POLICE OFFICERS for being guilty of racism. Today was not the day to eulogize Shelton and chastise white folks for not acknowledging how they hurt black folks.
That does NOTHING for unity, for comfort, for peacemaking. It's divisive - but I have come to expect that from our President so I can't say that I'm surprised. Dismayed, yes. Surprised - not at all. He has done NOTHING to cure the cancer of racism in this country. In fact, he's fanned the flames. Why, I don't know and he doesn't owe me an answer, but he will stand before his Maker one day and I hope he has an answer then.
The root causes on ALL sides are the elephants in the national room.
He could not have been more complimentary of the Dallas PD and held them up as an example of how to police.
Imagine if Obama went to Alton Sterling's funeral.....and made remarks about how we must remember why white cops might be scared because of other black men who killed a white cop. That would be DISGUSTING. Right?
Well.....ditto.
Obama acknowledged mutual fear, police vs black communities.
easy to judge -and not know it all - he said one very important thing- we ask too much of policemen- and I think that is very true-
Actually, I've stated numerous times on various threads on this topic that the President's speech was largely good and mostly true and that it was well written. My main issue with it is that it was not appropriate for the venue. It focused more on Shelton and Castile and institutionalized racism - and the imperfections of police forces, and white people specifically in one part of the speech - than it did on the five dead police officers. I found that to be insensitive and I thought his political agenda should have been saved for a different time and place.
That is an easy judgment to make. I'm not passing eternal judgment on the man, or saying that I hate him because he's black, or anything like that. I'm saying the speech was poorly timed and placed.
The speech was fine. Conservatives are just butt-hurt complainer monkeys. Jesus could come down from on high and give a speech and they'd still hate on it because it didn't embrace assault rifles and marginalization of non-whites.
I'll go further and say that the speech itself was very good. It was poorly timed and placed.
As for the rest of your post - I'll let it speak for itself. After all, this is an anonymous internet forum and I doubt very seriously that you would say this sort of diatribe to anyone face to face. Much easier to hide behind a computer screen and hurl insults.
He carried on a bit more than I imagined. The first half of the speech was fine. He mentions Minnesota and Baton Rouge, that's okay. He gets into hate and divide, that's fine, he pretty much has to mention it. It's illegal for a teenager to buy a Glock, that part was off. Then he mentions the Minnesota and Baton Rouge victims by name, once again that's okay. At that point, any reference to them should have ended. The whole paragraph that began with even those who dislike the phrase black lives matter.... should have been left out. The speech was now less about the memorial and more of a lecture. So basically, the speech that had been just fine turned into overkill. I'm sure his presence was appreciated though, it's the thought that counts (for a lack of better words).
I can agree with this.
Hell, my own dad, who despised Jimmy Carter with a passion, called home one night when I was a kid - he was away on a business trip to DC - and said, "Guess what, guess what - guess what I just did!" I said, "What?" and he said, so excitedly, "I just met the President! I shook his hand!" Now as a kid, I just didn't get this. I was a total buzzkill I guess, because I said, "You mean Jimmy Carter?" "Yes!" my dad exclaimed excitedly, "I shook his hand and he said it's so nice to meet you and then he slapped me on the back!" I said, "But Dad...you can't stand that guy. Why are you so excited? I thought you didn't like him at all." There was a long pause and then my dad said, "Let me speak to your mother."
I am not a fan of Obama's speeches. Having said this, this particular speech was on target. He briefly took the opportunity to acknowledge that the families of Castile and Sterling were also mourning.
He acknowledged the mutual fear, police vs black communities.
It is true that in some neighborhoods it is easy to acquire a gun.
I did not read anything about a militia. Did I miss this?
He could not have been more respectful of the Dalles PD and the fallen officers.
Will you agree that it is also easy to acquire the use of a computer or books, provided for free at the public library? The problem is that the kids in the neighborhood would rather get a gun than a book.
The police officers were killed by a mentally ill black person that hated white cops and white people in general, he also indicated the reason he did this was because of the shootings. Why would you not expect race to be brought up, ignoring it was really not an option.
Every other speaker managed to handle the topic very gracefully and without offense. Maybe Obama should have let one of them write his speech.
What about the videos of the Bush's and Obama's hand in hand? GWB looks drunk, and gleeful. I doubt he was either, but could imagine if Obama had acted EXACTLY as GWB did, the outcry would be deafening.
I thought Bush acted like a complete idiot.
There, does that make you feel better?
(I meant that by the way - I have no idea what was wrong with him but he looked ridiculous.)
It should still have been to honor and celebrate the lives of those that died so others could live. We didn't need to be hearing about guns, race, his political agenda, etc. All the other speakers stuck to the subject. Obama disgusted me in his lack of consideration for the families of the men who had died. I don't think his whole speech is there. But I didn't hear his whole speech. When he started talking about a peaceful demonstration and mentioned someone killed in another city, I had heard enough.
I tuned in to hear the police honored, not blamed for something that happened somewhere else. Those policeman were innocent victims. That is the only thing that should have been talked about today. It was their day, or should have been.
And the President did honor those fallen officers. The speech was very respectful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CD2013
I know this. If I was a cop...I'd have my will made out just in case. And in that will....id say that if I am killed on duty to specifically request Obama and Hillary to NOT come to my funeral. What Obama did was disgusting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quick Enough
I thought it was a memorial to the police officers and NOT a funeral.
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
It was a Memorial, not a funeral.
Obama, Bush2 and Biden were invited to attend and speak, by the Mayor.
My mistake, yes...it was a memorial.
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