Thank you, Mr. Obama
September 1, 2008
He is one classy politician. I am glad he has stayed above the fray. It makes me like him more.
46 Comments
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I agree. I was going to be VERY upset if his campaign was going to exploit the situation that Gov. Palin’s family is going through right now. I hope that his supporters follow suit.
Ah, as I said in another thread, Obama’s family history is also complicated. I guess I wonder why, the media hasn’t done the same thing to him.
One has to wonder what the response of the media, the public, and the GOP would have been if the Obamas had an unwed and pregnant teenage daughter.
Good for Obama – one of the reasons I admire his campaign.
(deleted. stay on topic–rcm)
He gets half credit.
Okay, 3/4.
The problem is that the rumors that dominated things over the weekened and the gossip mongering is driven by sites that are not officially part of the campaign but are an integral part of the “netroots” strategy – Daily Kos, Demoratic Underground and so on. And one of Obama’s most vocal pundit supporters, Andrew Sullivan, was the leader in this all weekend.
He should have gone farther and condemned them – by name.
(deleted. stay on topic–rcm).
To play fair, Mr. Obama does not need to do anything. Bush himself did little in 2004 to tarnish John Kerry but many acting on his behalf did. Swift boats and all. But Bush enabled all that (draft dodger that he was).
Actually, right wing media bots did hack away at the family life of Obama’s mom, et cet. How quick we forget. There was quite the flurry of hackery on it.
Certainly, Obama was classier than the VN poster who immediately called for Palin to withdraw from the race. At the same time, there would be little for Obama to exploit here. He certainly does not mind lying about the National Right to Life Committee or McCain and Ralph Reed.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obama_and_infanticide.html
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/reed_reality.html
What else could Obama possibly say that would redound to his benefit here?
“Actually, right wing media bots did hack away at the family life of Obama’s mom, et cet. How quick we forget. There was quite the flurry of hackery on it.”
It’s true. I think the Palin pseudo-pregnancy rumors and the Obama-as-muslim rumors are pretty much the mirror images of each other.
DC and Liam
There is no reason to indulge in tu quoques. It is wrong to pile on a candidate’s family for reasons of political expediency, regardless of whether that person has an R or D behind their name. It is putting political expediency above the dignity of the family. When it happens it should be exposed and corrected, not indulged in or rationalized.
The virtue of moderation is that it subordinates the desire for pleasure to the dictates of reason. That said, to what do I owe the honor of being placed in moderation?
I was actually wondering if there are certain family issues that would prove more damaging to an African American candidate, one who is already facing charges of not being a “real American” who shares “American values,” as opposed to white “all American” candidates. You can see something similar in the use of “working class” as African Americans are more likely to actually be in the working class, but politically it almost always refers exculsively to white candidates and voters.
Bravo for Obama. He needs to continue to be vigilant regarding anyone in his organization being involved and he needs to continue to denounce these types of “support”. He has already done better than some of his supporters in the comment boxes on this blog.
Todd
I am very glad he did this. Now, I only certain supporters of his will actually listen.
“One has to wonder what the response of the media, the public, and the GOP would have been if the Obamas had an unwed and pregnant teenage daughter.”
It wouldn’t even get out because Obama has said that he would favor aborting his grandchildren in that situation.
Anyway, did anyone expect Obama or any other politician to say anything different? Obama was more forceful than others probably would have been but I don’t see why that’s necessarily something to applaud. Imagine if Obama had attacked Palin and her family. Nobody would be blaming the media for asking Obama to comment on the story. I suppose that is part of Obama’s genius. He doesn’t take the politically tried and true route which would’ve been to say “I will not comment on someone else’s private family affairs.” Instead, Obama saw this as an opportunity to score some easy points by admonishing the media.
Br Matthew
I agree. I was merely responding to the complaint that this kind of crap was unique aimed towards the R side. (deleted. be nice–rcm)
A nice statement. Of course, he had to disassociate himself from those supporters, it was making HIM look bad, not the Palins.
Here is a great picture of the Palin kids. The text states that McCain knew prior to selecting Gov Palin of her daughter’s situation.
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/sarah_palins_teenage_daughter.html
Like all things Obama, it sounds good. It really does. But you need to look deeper. Obama can afford to sound “good”, “classy” and “nice” because his own campaign and surrogates can do the dirty work for him.
Courtesy of his own campaign and Nancy Pelosi:
“Why, with so many other qualified women and men in his party, did John McCain choose Sarah Palin? Sarah Palin is not the right choice. She shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade…”
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency,…”
“Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil…”
Like all things Obama, it sounds good. It really does. But you need to look deeper. Obama can afford to sound “good”, “classy” and “nice” because his own campaign and surrogates can do the dirty work for him.
TeutonicTim,
Did you even read Obama’s statement??? He said people’s families, and particularly children, are off limits. He didn’t declare Sarah Palin immune from all criticism. Where is there criticism of her family in anything you listed?
Please stay on topic, or your post will be deleted.
Maybe the fact that they think that because she is against Roe vs. Wade that she is unfit to be a VP pick. Last time I checked, that’s good values, family values specifically.
Agreed. He has also insulated his outspoken wife from negative comments with this move. As long as she stays off the campaign trail, should any conservative bring her up I will have to come to her defense.
“The virtue of moderation is that it subordinates the desire for pleasure to the dictates of reason. That said, to what do I owe the honor of being placed in moderation?”
Winston, I don’t know. I will have to check. Sometimes comments disappear and i don’t know why.
No, RR, he did not say that. Here’s the full context:
“This is a very difficult issue, and I understand sort of the passions on both sides of the issue,” he said. “I have two precious daughters — they are miracles.”
But politicians must trust women to make the right decisions for themselves, he said.
“This is an example where good people can disagree,” the Illinois senator said. “The question then is, are there areas that we can agree to that everybody can get behind? We can all agree that we want to reduce teen pregnancies. We can all agree that we want to make sure that adoption is a viable option.”
The exchange appeared to be prompted by Obama’s earlier comments that he does not favor abstinence-only education, but rather comprehensive sexual education that includes information on abstinence and birth control.
“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.”
In other words, he favors sex eduction.
Not all that classy, RCM:
http://www.geraldnaus.com/?p=10852
There he goes again, dissing the small town.
There he goes again, dissing the small town.
Gerald, I’m from a small town. It isn’t “dissing” small towns to point out the distinct difference between governing a small town and the united states of america. Anyone who comes from a small town knows this.
Well, Mr. Community Organizer (w/ a terrorist) wasn’t exactly moving mountains. Palin is a governor, which that wanker and his campaign conveniently gloss over and dwell on the fact that she was mayor of a small town. He hasn’t done a damn thing in the Senate, has been running for president from day 1. If he weren’t half black, he’d never have been considered. And of course his ‘sleeping his way to the top’, figuratively speaking, by cozying up to every leftist lunatic in Chicago and their lunatic clergy, Catholic and Protestant. After he’d moved on to ‘greater things’, they found themselves under the same bus with his ‘racist’ grandmother. Since an African bigamist had knocked up and deserted her young daughter, that bias isn’t all that surprising.
It’s like that female Indy racer – she’s not bad but she wouldn’t be special and getting big endorsements if she weren’t female. Obama should have stayed where he was – state senate. That seems appropriate. Of course one can thank Republicans, the first one had to drop out and then they ran crazy Keyes against him. Now we have mass hysteria and the scary possibility of Democrat rule on every level. I guess every quarter century people deserve a zero in the line of that despicable Jimmy Carter. Clinton was a god compared to Barry O.
rcm,
Obama can only stay “above the fray” because he has the media doing the dirty work for him.
As the child of a teenage mother himself, why would Obama say anything negative about Bristol Palin? His mother was 3 mos pg when she married his father as is clearly stated in his biography. Sure, the media who is ALWAYS sniffing around for something salacious is going to run with it, NOT because she’s a pg teenager which is no big deal anymore, but because her mother is running on the national ticket of the self described “Family Values” party. It’s the Hypocrisy, Stupid!
It’s the Hypocrisy, Stupid!
You have a rather strange definition of hypocrisy.
People who live in glass houses… etc., etc.
You have a rather strange definition of hypocrisy.
Haha. OK, let me put it this way:
Hypocrisy: You know it when you see it.
Example: A Jamie Lynn Spears moment at the national convention of Phyllis Schlaffley, Tony Perkins, James Dobson etc etc.
Hypocrisy: You know it when you see it.
You might try consulting a dictionary.
“Santorum’s Revenge,” you’re a true wit: much better at hoisting these silly “conservatives” on their own petards than I am. Please stick around!
It’s the Hypocrisy, Stupid!
Nice how this slipped by the “moderators”. Hmm?
Joseph: Believe it or not, I have a life. I am a stay at home mother who is babysitting her neighbor’s son, and I also volunteer with my church and community. In short, I am one busy woman. I try to check in and moderate because I hate things getting nasty. You are right. I can do a MUCH better job. But, yes, sometimes things do slip past me and it is not intentional.
I apologize.
Nice how this slipped by the “moderators”.
Vox Nova does not have “moderators.” It has contributors who occasionally delete comments that are insulting, racist, off topic, etc.
Thanks, Joseph and I will try and make sure people stay on their best behavior.
(deleted–be nice–rcm)
deleted because I deleted the above :)–rcm
He’s so classy he had to crash McCain’s speech. I seem to remember McCain even releasing a paid commercial congratulating Obama – That’s classy.
Crashing McCain’s speech by finally going on O’Reilly the day of McCain’s speech is scummy.