Text 8242, 158 rader
Skriven 2008-11-12 18:54:00 av Bob Klahn (1:124/311)
Ärende: Obama BOMB!
===================
 TR> Farrakhan hails Obama's win, warns of racial tensions

 TR> Nov 9 07:12 PM US/Eastern

 TR> Farrakhan Praises Obama, Compares Him To RFK

 That's damning with faint praise.

 TR> Louis Farrakhan, controversial leader of the Nation of
 TR> Islam, on Sunday hailed US president-elect Barack Obama as
 TR> an extraordinary leader but warned his victory would stir
 TR> up racial animosity.

 Which last part is most certainly true. The first remains to be
 seen.

 TR> Farrakhan, 75, said that Obama's presidential candidacy had
 TR> excited the nation in a way not seen since Robert Kennedy
 TR> ran for the White House in 1968, and that he had been moved

 Since Bobby Kennedy really did NOT excite the nation all that
 much, that's not impressive.

 TR> by the "oneness of spirit" he saw among voters,
 TR> particularly on election night in Chicago.

 TR> But he said the country remained "divided and polarized,"
 TR> and he warned that the president-elect faced a daunting
 TR> task in taking the reins of the nation during one of the
 TR> most troubled periods in its history.

 Well, that part is true.

 TR> Many of the voters that backed Republican Senator John
 TR> McCain "were older Americans and most reside below the
 TR> Mason-Dixon line where racial attitudes and traditions die
 TR> hard," he said in a reference to the American South.

 Could well be.

 TR> "We can change laws, but it's difficult to change
 TR> attitudes," he told a congregation of about 1,200 people at
 TR> Mosque Maryam on Chicago's South Side.

 Sounds like what a lot of whites will tell you.

 TR> He cited news reports that gun sales had surged since
 TR> Obama's electoral victory, and told of how fights
 TR> reportedly broke out in some schools, with white students
 TR> chanting "white power," while blacks students chanted
 TR> "black power."

 Never heard about that.

 TR> ((Where? When? I haven't heard of any of these so-called
 TR> "fights" or any chanting of `white power'.....TR))

 Oh, you too?

 TR> "I'm sure that many of our people have unfortunately lost
 TR> their lives because of the absolute hatred that is
 TR> manifested now that one of our own has risen to such a high
 TR> office," he told the crowd at the national headquarters of
 TR> the Nation of Islam.

 TR> ((Where? When? I haven't heard of any killings over Obama
 TR> winning the election...TR))

 Neither have I.

 TR> Farrakhan is the leader of the religious group which rose to
 TR> national prominence under Malcolm X during the civil rights
 TR> movement.

 No, it rose to prominence under Elija Mohammed. Malcom X was one
 of his high ranking followers, but never the leader of the
 "Nation of Islam".

 Malcom X left the NOI when he turned away from racial seperatism
 and started preaching racial peace. Which is when they killed
 him.

 TR> He has been an influential voice but often a lightning rod
 TR> for criticism with his incendiary remarks prompting charges
 TR> of anti-Semitism and homophobia. He made headlines with his
 TR> accusations that the government deliberately blew up levees
 TR> in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to
 TR> wipe out the city's black population.

 Sounds like Paranoia.

 TR> On Sunday, he also said that the gracious concession speech
 TR> given by McCain had not assuaged "the pain of loss and
 TR> frustration and disappointment to those who felt great pain
 TR> at Obama's rise." And he said that for some people, the
 TR> prospect of a black family in the White House, was a
 TR> "sacrilege."

 That sounds about right.

 TR> But he said Obama had reached out to those voters who did
 TR> not cast a ballot for him, pledging to earn their support
 TR> and represent them too.

 True.

 TR> Farrakhan heaped praise upon Obama during the long speech,
 TR> and said he could speak openly now that the election was
 TR> wrapped up and his comments could not be used to hurt the
 TR> Illinois senator.

 True.

 TR> He never formally endorsed Obama during the long campaign,
 TR> apparently conscious that such a step might handicap the
 TR> aspiring presidential candidate given Farrakhan's divisive
 TR> reputation.

 True.

 TR> On one occasion during the battle for the Democratic party
 TR> nomination, Farrakhan did speak in glowing terms of the
 TR> Obama, saying he was the only man who could heal the racial
 TR> divisions in the United States and that he carried the
 TR> hopes of the "entire world" for a better America.

 I doubt he's the "only man" who can do it, but he's probably
 well positioned to do some good on that.

 TR> ((Notice the reference made of ""the Obama""? How long, I
 TR> wonder, will it be before the word `the' takes on a capitol
 TR> `T', and we have regular and un-blinking reference by the
 TR> media to ""The Obama""?....TR))

 Wasn't that O'Reilly who said, "The Obama"?

 TR> But shortly afterwards, during a televised debate with his
 TR> primary opponents in February, Obama distanced himself from
 TR> the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, saying he
 TR> had publicly disavowed Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments,
 TR> and had not sought his support.

 So, no problem...




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BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Race is an idea whose time has passed. <New People Magazine>
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