Obama Skips Memphis, Remembers MLK in Indiana
Barack Obama commemorated the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination at a campaign stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana today. The candidate led a racially diverse crowd in a moment of silence before speaking the life and legacy of Dr. King, a man whom Obama referred to as a “modern day Moses.” His death, Obama said, “left a wound on the soul of our nation that has not yet fully healed.”
While Obama spoke to voters in Indiana, both Hillary Clinton and John McCain made the journey to Memphis, Tennessee, the city where Dr. King was shot and killed 40 years ago today. Obama skipped the Memphis events, but did mention that he spoke with Martin Luther King, III this morning.
When asked to explain his absence, Obama, who regularly cites King on the campaign trail, told reporters he was not worried about appearances. “I spoke at Dr. Kings’ church on his birthday, was with the King family then. I obviously gave a fairly fulsome speech on the state of race relations just two weeks ago. And I think it’s important to spread the message that Dr. King’s work is unfinished in places like Indiana and North Dakota,” he explained. The candidate will also campaign today in North Dakota and Montana.
But Indiana isn’t entirely irrelevant to this anniversary. Then candidate for president, Robert F. Kennedy held a rally in Indianapolis shortly after news broke that King had been assassinated. Many in the mostly African American crowd had not yet heard the news when Kennedy told them.
“As the shock turned toward anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King’s compassion, and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis,” Obama noted in his speech.
Mike Reilly worked for Kennedy and was with him that day, 40 years ago. When he introduced Obama at the Fort Wayne town hall, Reilly noted, “If Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were here right now, first of all they’d tell me to get off the stage, but if they were here, they would believe that Senator Obama was standing for the same issues that they were concerned about.” Reilly concluded, “I believe that Senator Obama has captured the passion of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.”
Read Obama’s prepared remarks after the jump.
As Mike said, today represents a tragic anniversary for our country. Through his faith, courage, and wisdom, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved an entire nation. He preached the gospel of brotherhood; of equality and justice. That’s the cause for which he lived – and for which he died forty years ago today. And so before we begin, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary American.
There’s been a lot of discussion this week about how Dr. King’s life and legacy speak to us today. It’s taking place in our schools and churches, on television and around the dinner table. And I suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers on issues of racial justice – on the Montgomery bus boycott and the March on Washington, on the freedom rides and the stand at Selma.
And that’s as it should be – because those were times when ordinary men and women, straight-backed and clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our union. And they did so in large part because Dr. King pointed the way.
But I also think it’s worth reflecting on what Dr. King was doing in Memphis, when he stepped onto that motel balcony on his way out for dinner.
And what he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers. For years, these workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people’s trash for little pay and even less respect. Passers-by would call them “walking buzzards,” and in the segregated South, most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and bathrooms.
But in 1968, these workers decided they’d had enough, and over 1,000 went on strike. Their demands were modest – better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their union. But the opposition was fierce. Their vigils were met with handcuffs. Their protests turned back with mace. And at the end of one march, a 16-year old boy lay dead.
This is the struggle that brought Dr. King to Memphis. It was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and all walks of life. Because Dr. King understood that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one – that each was part of a larger struggle “for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity.” So long as Americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied the wages, benefits, and fair treatment they deserved – so long as opportunity was being opened to some but not all – the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach.
And on the eve of his death, Dr. King gave a sermon in Memphis about what the movement there meant to him and to America. And in tones that would prove eerily prophetic, Dr. King said that despite the threats he’d received, he didn’t fear any man, because he had been there when Birmingham aroused the conscience of this nation. And he’d been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting in at lunch counters. And he’d been there in Memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community coming together around a common purpose. So Dr. King had been to the mountaintop. He had seen the Promised Land. And while he knew somewhere deep in his bones that he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there.
He knew it because he had seen that Americans have “the capacity,” as he said that night, “to project the ‘I’ into the ‘thou.’” To recognize that no matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have – no matter whether we are sanitation workers or United States Senators – we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, and “either we go up together, or we go down together.”
And when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has yet to fully heal. And in few places was the pain more pronounced than in Indianapolis, where Robert Kennedy happened to be campaigning. And it fell to him to inform a crowded park that Dr. King had been killed. And as the shock turned toward anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King’s compassion, and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis.
In the dark days after Dr. King’s death, Coretta Scott King pointed out the stars. She took up her husband’s cause and led a march in Memphis. But while those sanitation workers eventually got their union contract, the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the King legacy. Because the dream is still out of reach for too many Americans. Just this morning, it was announced that more Americans are unemployed now than at any time in years. And all across this country, families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages, and the terrible burden of losing a home.
Part of the problem is that for a long time, we’ve had a politics that’s been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. This is something I spoke about a few weeks ago in a speech I gave in Philadelphia. And what I said was that instead of having a politics that lives up to Dr. King’s call for unity, we’ve had a politics that’s used race to drive us apart, when all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction, and stop us from solving our problems.
That is why the great need of this hour is much the same as it was when Dr. King delivered his sermon in Memphis. We have to recognize that while we each have a different past, we all share the same hopes for the future – that we’ll be able to find a job that pays a decent wage, that there will be affordable health care when we get sick, that we’ll be able to send our kids to college, and that after a lifetime of hard work, we’ll be able to retire with security. They’re common hopes, modest dreams. And they’re at the heart of the struggle for freedom, dignity, and humanity that Dr. King began, and that it is our task to complete.
You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. But what he also knew was that it doesn’t bend on its own. It bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice.
So on this day – of all days – let’s each do our part to bend that arc.
Let’s bend that arc toward justice.
Let’s bend that arc toward opportunity.
Let’s bend that arc toward prosperity for all.
And if we can do that and march together – as one nation, and one people – then we won’t just be keeping faith with what Dr. King lived and died for, we’ll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often, and “let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Tags: anniversary, indiana, Martin Luther King, Memphis, obama
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A meaningless gesture on Obama’s part. He has moved past the colorblind equality MLK fought for and embraces a culture of affirmative action, Black seperatism and White guilt. Don’t recall MLK preaching any of that stuff.
Comment by Haley Rodman Clemson
A meaningless gesture on Obama’s part. He has moved past the colorblind equality MLK fought for and embraces a culture of affirmative action, Black seperatism and White guilt. Don’t recall MLK preaching any of that stuff.
___________________________
You are right I do not remember MLK preaching that stuff.
Obama has a white mama - reason enough for me NOT to vote for him.
SHARPTON ‘08!!!
Once again Obama lets the black people down, he didn’t attended tha black union and now he doesn’t even show up to Menphis but yet is quick to cash in on MLK quotes. Why the black people let him have 90 percent of their vote, can anyone answer this question?
Obama the great liar,
Who else would they give it to. McCain, the man who voted against the MLK holiday?
They should have given it to either Edward or Hillary at least more than 10 percent, but my question is why? Obama man, sorry hannity man.
Oh please! Obama references Dr. King in every stump speech. His life demonstrates Dr. King’s dream. He doesn’t have to do the once-a-year-or-10-20-30-40 year anniversary deal. By the way, if you read Dr. King’s sermon from the Riverside Church regarding the Vietnam war you would swear it was Rev. Wright. If Fox was around back then you guys would label Dr. King unpatriotic.
Did McCain answer why he voted against the holiday? He definitely had my vote, but voting against MLK day…geesh
shows who obama really cares about!!!!!!!!! himself and getting the votes he needs, to lead americans into african politics!!!
Mccain voted against it when he was 40, you do the math, but that was along time ago. MLK today would be ashamed of how his people are acting and what they are saying, he was a true Christian,sad he is not here now to condem the actions of this so called church!!!GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS……..
Comment by Unsure
April 4th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Did McCain answer why he voted against the holiday? He definitely had my vote, but voting against MLK day…geesh
—————————
What no one will ever say out loud anymore is that MLK Day fever swept through the US like a firestorm, with Jesse and his people pouring kerosene on the flames with screams of RACIST against anyone who dared to resist.
I can’t speak for what was in McCain’s mind, but MLK Day went far beyond a political statement about race relations and honoring the man.
As the Federal govt. and each state govt. took up this issue, they were faced with a very real fiscal crisis. The holiday designation would force them to add yet another FULLY PAID holiday to their budgets.
Consider. 261 work days in the year, less an average of 3 weeks paid vacation. 246 work days less a minimum of 7 mandatory paid holidays. 239 days or work left, less an average of 14 paid sick and personal days.
In case you weren’t counting that’s 36 days of full pay and benefits per year, per worker, Add one more and you have just increased non-productive expenditures by 2.7%
Many states balked at adding yet another budget strain. Every union in the land rallied around the MLK Day flag. They would have rallied if it was for Hitler’s birthday if they thought it would get them another paid day.
I recall several Arizona state politicians clearly stating that they would gladly accept MLK day if the unions would give up a matching holiday.
Tempe AZ had been chosen for Super Bowl 27, but they lost it because the NFL bowed to pressure by Jesse and his minions.
MLK Day was rarely ever about honoring the man. For black “leaders” of the time, it was an exercise in political power.
Obama only cares about Obama. I’m more concerned with Obama’s many lies than Hillary’s tax returns. I know the Clintons made lots of money.
I don’t understand why a candidate, with strong, long-term ties to radical, bigoted, anti-Americans expects ALL Americans to trust him.
Obama gave a speech on March 10th. He said, “Where else can the son of a Kenyan sheepherder and a girl from Kansas run for President”? He failed to mention that the Kenyan sheepherder was a black Muslim and the girl from Kansas was a white Atheist. He never mentioned the Grandmother who loved him and helped raise him.
Later, Obama gave his ‘historical’ speech, which is now defined by “how you throw your ‘TYPICAL WHITE’ grandmother under the bus”. He played the race card and used his grandmother to distract attention from his 20-year relationship with a radical anti-American, among others. Apparently he will say anything to win and, it was sad to watch him trying to use race to get back in this race. I’m disappointed to see him as just another ‘TYPICAL’ politician. He used very poor judgment with his ties to too many shady characters. He has continued to lie to all American people when the truth would have been better. Did he stay in this church to get the votes of it’s 8,000 members?
He is who he is, but it is what it is! Too many lies! Hillary is the better candidate.
HOWDYYYYYYYYYYY,,, Im JUST SO PROUD TO BE HERE,,,,, HEY HOLLY,,, HOW YA DOIN??? OH ,,,I SEE THE HEADING ON THIS PAGE SAYS (OBAMA SKIPS MEMPHIS, REMEMBERS MLK IN INDIANA)
MCCAIN WAS IN MEMPHIS TODAY
1) Hillary backer, but fully respect what McCain did today. Shame the Obamabots in the audience only booed at him mwhen he was brave enough to admit he made a mistake. Theres only one candidate in the process is is too proud to admit he has ever made a mistake, pathetic.
2) Is anyone else really irritated about how only FOX is reporting the “wh0re” comments at Hillary made during an Obama fundraising event. Oh, and lets not forget about a second Obama aide who has now come forward to admit that he plans to stay in Iraq until 2010. I agree with this, but it demonstrates that Obama is flat lying to the public.
3) I wish the Clintons had spent some of that 10,000,000 they gave to charity to hire someone to fly a plane into MSNBC. If Obama is president, Im sure our with our weakened borders it would be pretty easy to do.
I DO BELIEVE B.O. WAS IN THE WRONG STATE TODAY
Go Obama!!!
a liitle boy was sitting in the audience listening B.O. make his speech.,,, after the speech,,the little boy kept trying to get B.O. attention,,,,,and he did FINALLY,,,,, he asked B.O. what does it take to be come president?????? B.O. said stay in school,, study real hard,,,, and by the way ,, IS THIS YOUR GRANDMA SITTING BESIDE YOU???? the little boy said yes,,,, B.O. responed back to the little boy “ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDMA”…. I liked to have flipped out on that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
B. O. CALLS HIS GRANDMA TYPICAL WHITE PERSON,,,,,,, I GUESS IT WAS JUST “BRED INTO HER” YES ,, HE DID,, YES HE DID
Hillary is at it again. She just said in a live video that the Civil Rights movement and the 26th amendment gave her the right to vote as a young woman. Just check the facts. The 26th Amendment was signed by President Nixon on July 5, 1971. Ms. Clinton was born on October 26, 1947. At the time of the passage of the 26th Amendment she was 25 years old and had already been eligible to vote for four years. Can this woman ever tell the truth?
Some of these comments are the most idiotic and ridiculous I’ve ever seen. Just from the fact that Obama is running for President at all is a testament to Dr. King’s vison.
Obama 08′
Has anyone asked Hillary why is that she said that she would never step foot in rev. wright’s church but attended the MLK event in memphis? Also if you listen to “Why I am oppose of the Vietnam War, or letter from the prison, or time to break the silence, you will see that rev. wright did not say anything different from dr. king. Hoover stated once that MLK was the most dangerous man in america.
Being called a typical white woman could be the way she described herself to obama whenever he questioned her about race, you never know, typical white woman could many things to different people. I believe that is a lot nicer then being called nigga!!
How dare you compare MLK to Reverand Wright you uneducated, kool aid drinking, nigga.
While John McCain was attempting to apologize for voting against the MLK holiday and Hillary Clinton was sucking up, Obama decided to renact RFK. Gotta love the man!
McCAIN WILL BE PRESIDENT
Who’s flip -floping now???
The OBAMA Advisers are singing different tune???
- “Adviser Colin Kahl wrote in a policy paper for the Center for a New American Security that the United States should transition to an “over-watch” force of between 60,000 and 80,000 troops by the end of 2010, according to an article Friday in the New York Sun.
That appears to be at odds with Obama’s public position of removing all combat brigades from the country within 16 months of taking office.
Kahl told the Sun his plan would still keep the U.S. “out of the lead” and mainly in a “support role.” He said the plan had nothing to do with the campaign.
The Obama campaign said in a statement: “The writing of Mr. Kahl, one of hundreds of outside advisers to the campaign, is not representative of Barack Obama’s consistent policy position on the Iraq war.”
But Kahl’s plan seems to jibe with other advisers’ statements that Obama’s withdrawal timetables are more a goal than a firm policy commitment.
Foreign policy adviser Susan Rice, for instance, told reporters in February that Obama’s plan to end the war in 2009 is not absolute, and that he reserves the right to revisit troop levels in Iraq upon taking the oath of office….”
SHOULD WE BELIEVE OBAMA WHEN HE SAID “THIS IS A WRONG WAR?” - AND PROMISING AMERICANS THAT HE WILL END IT? BUT WE ARE HEARING TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM HIS SURROGATES???
WHAT IS THIS??? SAYING AND PROMISING SOMETHING BUT PLANNING TO DO DIFFERENT???
WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENCY OBAMA WILL HAVE?
- IF HE WILL BE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO IS PLANNING TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS THAN WHAT HE IS PROMISING TO AMERICAN PEOPLE???
- FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!!
I guess there is a problem with the way white people and black people process information, because I am still trying to figure out why you are complaining about being called a typical white woman? I have seen white women clutch their purse and move to the side when they see a black man coming toward them. In my neighborhood a white person is free to come and go without any problem, but if a black person was in their neighborhood, they would question as to why he is there. One more thing, why is that a large percentage of racial couples is most likely to move in a african american neighborhood rather then a all white neighborhood?
Zues, that last comment alone demonstrates your current level of intelligence which is lower than zero.
Queation for Obamabots,
I can’t believe you said you would want a plane to fly into the MSNBC building. Explain why you would want Americans to die becasue they do not believe in your political views. Most of us have had different experinces and that is why we think different - it doesn’t mean we are evil or whatever. That was just a stupid comment.
Zues, I won’t even go there with you, but it is obvious that you have not read any of the speeches that I meant or studied Dr. King. You also do not know anything about rev. wright other than what the media has portrayed home. I really wonder who is the one uneducated?
Andylit, Not only did the MLK holiday idea spread like wildfire, but at the same time this was happening, thousands of people,and buisinesses, had to change their adress. Cities from coast to coast, all felt obligated to name a street after him. This too was a big waste of resources.
Since when it’s a waste of resources to properly honor a great man?
RC MO;
“Big waste.” Really? Sign a piece a paper and put up a new sign.
If they was about to have a holiday for Cesar Chavez, would the response to this be “It’s a waste of resources?”
Zues,
I want to hear exactly how you feel about black people.
SEE WHAT I MEAN,,, ” INFIGHTING” among the DEM. party ,, will be thier down fall,,, mccain will be president,,,,,, HELL YEAH
EXCERPT FROM MLK SPEECH “BREAK THE SILENCE”
When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictatorships seemed to offer no real change — especially in terms of their need for land and peace.
The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received regular promises of peace and democracy — and land reform. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us — not their fellow Vietnamese –the real enemy. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs. So they go — primarily women and children and the aged.
They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals, with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one “Vietcong”-inflicted injury. So far we may have killed a million of them — mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children, degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.
What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?
We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their crops. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nation’s only non-Communist revolutionary political force — the unified Buddhist church. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. What liberators?
Redneck Woman,
I agree. I wish Bush had 4 more years. I love my tax cuts.
ME TOO hannity man,,, HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! (redneck thing)
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM REV. WRIGHT SPEECH
In this sermon, Wright spoke about the military rule during biblical days, led by Pontius Pilate. It was clear, through his language, such as “occupying military brigade” that he was making an analogy to the war in Iraq.
“War does not make for peace,” he said. “Fighting for peace is like raping for virginity.”
“War does not make for peace. War only makes for escalating violence and a mindset to pay the enemy back by any means necessary,” he said.
He then gets to the thesis of his sermon, saying, “y’all looking to the government for only what God can give. A lot of people confuse God with their government.”
Wright criticizes the Bush administration and its supporters for using Godly language to justify the war in Iraq. He equates using God in America as condoning the war in Iraq to the same perspective of Islamic fundamentalists.
“We can see clearly the confusion in the mind of a few Muslims, and please notice I did not say all Muslims, I said a few Muslims, who see Allah as condoning killing and killing any and all who don’t believe what they don’t believe. They call it jihad. We can see clearly the confusion in their minds, but we cannot see clearly what it is that we do. We call it crusade when we turn right around and say that our God condones the killing of innocent civilians as a necessary means to an end. WE say that God understand collateral damage. We say that God knows how to forgive friendly fire.”
“We say that God will bless the shock and awe as we take over unilaterally another country, calling it a coalition because we’ve got three guys from Australia, going against the United Nations, going against the majority of Christians, Muslims and Jews throughout the world, making a pre-emptive strike in the name of God. We cannot see how what we are doing is the same thing that Al-Qaeda is doing under a different color flag – calling on the name of a different God to sanction and approve our murder and our mayhem.”
He continues on his thesis of equating government with our God, saying that God sent the early settlers to America to take the country from Native Americans; ordained slavery; and that “we believe that God approves of 6 percent of the people on the face of this earth controlling all of the wealth on the face of this earth while the other 94 percent live in poverty and squalor while we give millions of tax breaks to the white rich.”
nk,,, and your point is…………..?????
OH I forgot,,,,,,,,,,,,,, HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! redneck thing for me
NK
Can you process the Obama’s cousin Odinga is burning black Christians alive in churches in Kenya?
Can you process that he and Obama recently met in Kenya, support each other, and talk to each other regularly?
Can you process that when Odinga did not get the presidency in Kenya recently, he and his radical Muslim followers burned down black people’s homes and businesses?
Can you process that Obama was born Muslim?…Muslim’s do not allow one to turn from the faith or the family sends orders for them to be killed.
Can you process that if he and his father really left the Muslim faith there would be execution orders for them?
Can you process that these radicals will lie, cheat, murder to get control of the world so their Muhammed can return?
Can you process that he has Farakhan and other radicals from this faith backing him?
Can you process that he is one BIG DECEPTION?
Go research ODINGA, the Muslim/ Islamic faith?
Then process!
My point is that rev. wright was not preaching hatred, he was upset about the same thing dr. king was 40 years ago.
Did Rev. Wright really fight in the military?
OH HELL NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE,,,,, AS FAR AS I KNOW,, MLK NEVER WENT TO LYBIA TO VISIT AN OLD PAL NAMED MOMAR,, AND HE NEVER WANTED TO GIVE AMUSLIM NAMED FARRAKAHN,, AN AWARD,,, AND HE NEVER SAID G.D. AMERICA
oh I forgot my red neck thing——- HHHHELLLLLLLLLL YEAHHHHHHHHH
Gerald Shields,and Hannity Man, In my opinion any time you have to pay someone not to work, it`s a waste of money. When you own a buisiness, and change your adress, there is more to it then putting up a piece of paper. I owned a chrysler dealership and When they changed the name from 5th St. to Martin Luther King Blv. my propety value dropped 6%. I`m not sure how much a street sign cost, but if you addit up country wide, I`m sure a better use for the money could have found. All of these people we name holidays after are just men, not gods.
nk,,,check it out man
Who’s flip -floping now???
The OBAMA Advisers are singing different tune???
- “Adviser Colin Kahl wrote in a policy paper for the Center for a New American Security that the United States should transition to an “over-watch” force of between 60,000 and 80,000 troops by the end of 2010, according to an article Friday in the New York Sun.
That appears to be at odds with Obama’s public position of removing all combat brigades from the country within 16 months of taking office.
Kahl told the Sun his plan would still keep the U.S. “out of the lead” and mainly in a “support role.” He said the plan had nothing to do with the campaign.
The Obama campaign said in a statement: “The writing of Mr. Kahl, one of hundreds of outside advisers to the campaign, is not representative of Barack Obama’s consistent policy position on the Iraq war.”
But Kahl’s plan seems to jibe with other advisers’ statements that Obama’s withdrawal timetables are more a goal than a firm policy commitment.
Foreign policy adviser Susan Rice, for instance, told reporters in February that Obama’s plan to end the war in 2009 is not absolute, and that he reserves the right to revisit troop levels in Iraq upon taking the oath of office….”
SHOULD WE BELIEVE OBAMA WHEN HE SAID “THIS IS A WRONG WAR?” - AND PROMISING AMERICANS THAT HE WILL END IT? BUT WE ARE HEARING TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM HIS SURROGATES???
WHAT IS THIS??? SAYING AND PROMISING SOMETHING BUT PLANNING TO DO DIFFERENT???
WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENCY OBAMA WILL HAVE?
- IF HE WILL BE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO IS PLANNING TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS THAN WHAT HE IS PROMISING TO AMERICAN PEOPLE???
- FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!!
***OBAMA CAMP IS NOW SINGING DIFFERENT TUNE BECAUSE OF THE LATEST POLL***
BASE ON THE INSIDER POLL IN THE MILITARY -
- THE MAJORITY OF THE ARM FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES ARE FAVORING TO VOTE EITHER FOR McCAIN OR CLINTON.
- THE MILITARY WILL NEVER VOTE FOR AN “ARAB AMERICAN CANDIDATE”
- THE ARAB NEWS MEDIA POLL - OBAMA IS THEIR NO. 1 CHOICE.
- THE ARAB NEWS MEDIA POLL - THEY HATE CLINTON AND McCAIN FOR THEIR
STRONG SUPPORT TO ISRAEL…
NOW THE BIG QUESTION IS…
- WILL AMERICANS VOTE FOR SOMEBODY THE MILITARY DON’T TRUST???
- FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR COUNTRY PLEASE VOTE FOR McCAIN OR CLINTON
AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!
- THE ONLY QUESTION LEFT TO ASK - WHO IS BEST TO SOLVE OUR ECONOMY PROBLEM??
- VOTE RESPONSIBLY!!!
A Presidential Salary is $400,000K per year. Hillary’s salary as a law partner before her husband got into office was around $60,000K per year. Her salary as a First Lady didn’t exist since she wasn’t any longer a law partner in her firm and she had no salary as a first lady. Her salary per year as a US Senator is $165,200K per year. Bill, as Governor of Arkansas made about $75,000 per year. As President back when Bubba was in office, he got paid $200,000K plus $50,000K in a non-taxable expense account. Now out of office, the Clintons made since 2000 a wopping $109 Million dollars, at least, this is what they claim as they most likely made much more. On Hillary’s $165,200 dollar salary and Bubba’s retirement salary of maybe $100,000 per year, how do these two scum bags accumulate $109 million dollars? Can you say “pay offs for oil”, “pay offs from the Chinese for stolen technology and nuclear secrets” and other dirty money? You make your own assumptions.
Obama doen’t give a flip about MLK, that is why he didn’t go.
Obama’s black side never fought for civil rights or freedom…the dad was a Muslim from Kenya who was great at getting women pregnant…he never did a darn thing for this country!!!
Obama has no black roots in this country…guys wake up…he is using you big time to get to to his agendas. He will say anything!!
He went to libya with lewis farrakhan and jessie jackson to bring home a u.s. soldier
RJ——- CHECKED IT OUT FOR MYSELF,,, HELL YEAH
Just wanted to remind all of the Obama supporters:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/youare
RC MO.It’s worth it, so kids could ask there parents when driving by who was “Martin Luther King” and his legacy could be passed down. Bush spent more on telling us we were getting a tax refund.
OMG,,,,,, nk,,, do some research…… follow the money trail
He was united states marine, and he also was in the operating room with president johnson as a part of the medical team
Make Iran Glow-
Can you say book deals…their books made them the bulk of it…I don’t like the Clintons…but it is books and paid speeches
Hillary is at it again. She stated in a live video feed tonight on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams that the Civil Rights movement and the 26th amendment gave her the right to vote as a young woman. Just check the facts. The 26th Amendment was signed by President Nixon on July 5, 1971. Ms. Clinton was born on October 26, 1947. At the time of the passage of the 26th Amendment she was 25 years old and had already been eligible to vote for four years. Can this woman ever tell the truth?
NK
Can you process the Obama’s cousin Odinga is burning black Christians alive in churches in Kenya?
Can you process that he and Obama recently met in Kenya, support each other, and talk to each other regularly?
Can you process that when Odinga did not get the presidency in Kenya recently, he and his radical Muslim followers burned down black people’s homes and businesses?
Can you process that Obama was born Muslim?…Muslim’s do not allow one to turn from the faith or the family sends orders for them to be killed.
Can you process that if he and his father really left the Muslim faith there would be execution orders for them?
Can you process that these radicals will lie, cheat, murder to get control of the world so their Muhammed can return?
Can you process that he has Farakhan and other radicals from this faith backing him?
Can you process that he is one BIG DECEPTION?
Go research ODINGA, the Muslim/ Islamic faith?
Then process!
THE ONLY GOOD THING JESSEE JACKSON EVER SAID IS “I AM SOMEBODY” as a matterof fact he would say it 3 times in arow,,, kinda like ,,,yes we can” repeat 3 times
IF ANY OF YOU WERE JUDGED BY YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS OR FRIENDS, I WONDER WHAT PEOPLE WOULD THINK OF YOU?
What happened to Alan Keyes?
Why is it the media doesn’t get this black man’s opinion? He is intelligent and has moved on.
Why do they continue with the joke of a man Sharpton and the back room dealer Jackson?
The are pathetic!
BEEN THERE DONE THAT BOUGHT THE T-SHIRT HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHH
He is connected to them, supports them NK.
If my cousin was burning anybody to death, I would not be going over to support their candiacy!!
What? Really, can you not see…are you that blinded.
He talks to this inhumane person and supports him!!!
What does Bill Cosby think?
ks,,,, if I had a blue ribbon,,,, I would give it to ya
Rev. Wright not only served in the military, he gave up his deferment so he could go early.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0404wrightapr03,0,92000.story
Factor military duty into criticism
By Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss
April 3, 2008
In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.
In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)
The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy’s premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief’s medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.
What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.
While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.
Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?
After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one of America’s biggest cities.
This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the retiring pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, who has been in the news for comments he made over the last three decades.
Since these comments became public we have heard criticisms, condemnations, denouncements and rejections of his comments and him.
We’ve seen on television, in a seemingly endless loop, sound bites of a select few of Rev. Wright’s many sermons.
Some of the Wright’s comments are inexcusable and inappropriate and should be condemned, but in calling him “unpatriotic,” let us not forget that this is a man who gave up six of the most productive years of his life to serve his country.
How many of Wright’s detractors, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly to name but a few, volunteered for service, and did so under the often tumultuous circumstances of a newly integrated armed forces and a society in the midst of a civil rights struggle? Not many.
While words do count, so do actions.
Let us not forget that, for whatever Rev. Wright may have said over the last 30 years, he has demonstrated his patriotism.
Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss are, respectively, Navy and Marine Corps veterans. They work at The Center For American Progress. Korb served as assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration.
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html
CLICK ON THE ABOVE SITE AND WATCH A CATHOLIC PRIEST WHO IS A FRIEND OF REV. WRIGHT, IT IS VERY INTERESTING
(YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON “WATCH RAW FACTOR CONFRONTATION”)
“KS” - That’s funny…..$109 million for a book and a few speeches……that’s a good one.
SEEN him…he is repulsive on many fronts…He and Wright are not Christians…just because someone says they are a pastor and have a church doesn’t make it so.
They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, you will know them by their fruit.
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Comment by nk
April 4th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
IF ANY OF YOU WERE JUDGED BY YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS OR FRIENDS, I WONDER WHAT PEOPLE WOULD
He is connected to them, supports them NK.
If my cousin was burning anybody to death, I would not be going over to support their candiacy!!
What? Really, can you not see…are you that blinded.
He talks to this inhumane person and supports him!!!
It is true, books make people millionaires everyday!!!
IN ADDITION TO WHAT WAS SAID ABOVE, THIS MAN IS NOT ONLY THE PASTOR OF OBAMA, HE IS ALSO THE PASTOR OF SEVERAL NEWS REPORTERS IN CHICAGO THAT ARE TRYING TO LAY LOW, HIGH PROFILE LAWYERS, JUDGES, PROFESSORS, TEACHERS, DOCTORS AS WELL AS PEOPLE ON PUBLIC AID, THE CHURCH IN THE LAST THREE YEARS SENT 400 STUDENTS TO COLLEGE, THEY HAVE OVER 70 MINITRIES THAT ADDRESS ALL SOCIAL INTEREST, TWO SENIOR CITIZENS HOME, A HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER, DAYCARE BUILDING AND HAS HELPED TO START OVER 13 CHURCHES. IF ANY OF YOU KNEW THE HONORABLE JUSTICE EUGENE PINCHAM WHO RECENTLY DIED YESTERDAY WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH. I WONDER HOW IF THIS MAN WAS SUCH A RACIST PREACHER, WHY HAVEN’T ANY OF YOU HEARD ABOUT ANYONE COMING FROM THAT CHURCH EXPRESSING THOSE VIEW OPENLY?
Where do you tink Obama got all his big money…books
He teaches and is educated on black liberation theology…last time I checked that was not what Christ left his folloewers to preach