Obama first black president?

You've got to be kidding me.

Let's just say if Obama is elected he will be the first President that identifies himself as black or African American. I daresay a lot of people have black ancestors somewhere in their family line, but that does not necessarily make them black. What matters is what they identify themselves as. Unless of course you propose we revert back to the 1/8 rule, or whatever it was. Heaven forbid someone identifies themselves as "white" when they have black ancestors.

 

I thought Bill Clinton was the first black president?

I don't care if Obama is purple, if he is anything like his church, then he is racist. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and state that he may not know just what his church's covenant states.

The man's skin color doesn't matter a hill of beans to me. His beliefs do. If he is to become the first "openly black" president, it will be without my vote.

Give me a candidate who is honest, fair, compassionate, spiritually minded, Christian, and conservative, and I'll be happy to vote for him whether white, black, brown, yellow, red, or clear.

Obama's platform is "I'm young and black...vote for me!" I guarantee you that he will not get the Democratic nod. Maybe in 8 or 12 years, but not now. The fanfare around him will die down within the year.

 

No it's not. You may not like him, but he is not an idiot. Any politician that runs that platform would lose outright. Case in point Jesse Jackson and Al sharpton. Besides, the majority of black intelligencia are not even openly supporting him, as of yet. His skin color does not mean a hill of beans to them either. It is the platforms he chooses to run with.

Also, as far as his church is concerned, it is an integral part of the black community and churches such as this use their covenants to uplift the community, in that they are taking care of each other and pulling each other up by the bootstraps. They are working to build character and responsibility in their community. Like the Black Covenant that Tavis Smiley sponsored on C-span last weekend. It is NOT about excluding anyone who is not black, it is about taking responsibility for the community and working together to better said community.

The covenant is not the only aspect of this church, not to mention the fact that I believe some people are putting too much emphasis on the word "black". They are very active in their community, and like many other "black" churches I sincerely doubt, based on personal experience, they are excluding anyone for not being black.

It's not a race thing. It is a community thing. It is not about excluding anyone or anything. It is about working through the problems in their community and strengthening their community. If other races were excluded the church would not highlight white people in their Trumpet magazine. On a larger scale Tavis Smiley's Black covenant is also not about exclusion. It is about community. White people were present. White people are not excluded. Think of it like a speical interest club. If it interests you, you will attend and participate. Frankly issues in the black community are not something that concern many white people to the point of active particpation. Nor do they have to be, there are other more pressing interests for most people.

You ask well, why can't a white church? Because it is not about race. The white race is roughly 70% of the US population, by default most things are considered predominantly white. Beyond that if you look at in it in it's true sense, that of community, the white population is too large to have one or two unifying interests. The black community on the other hand is small enough, as are other smaller subsets of the US population.

With that being said, we can debate about whether this covenant is racist or not until the cows come home, and it will not make a difference. It might not be the direction your church, or my church takes, but it is the direction their church chooses to take. They have that right. I hardly think you can glean that Obama is racist from the covenant of his church alone.

 

Barack Hussein [attack deleted] Obama goes to a church that flies the Garvey flag. It asks all people to support black interests first.

But that really does not matter if he is a racist. Hillary has total control of a majority within the Democrat Party. She will be nominated.

Barack Hussein got a lot of liberal press coverage for his defeat of Alan Keyes but [attack deleted] is a total airhead and unfit to be President of the USA.

 

Sen. Obama will eventually shoot himself in the foot, and the media that is enamored with him won't be able to save his candidacy.

 

Filmproducer, NPR would have us think something different. They had a piece about a week or so ago saying that Barack wasn't getting support from the black community, the piece was set in Chicago btw, because he wasn't "black enough". I'm not entirely sure what that means. I've heard some say that it means that his background didn't take him through the same kinds of things that most other black people had/have to endure.

Perhaps it's not skin color per se, but that seems to be a part of it, if the NPR piece is to be believed.

 

It might have something to do with enunciation.

 

Well, I don't know where they sourced their story, but it is different from what I saw on C-Span during State of the Black Union 2007. The common theme that was addressed when Obama was metioned was that 1. it would be a huge accomplishemnt to have a black president elected, but 2. race is not as important as agenda. Everyone from Cornel West to Al Sharpton and Cathy Hughs to Angela Glover Blackwell. They want to know the platforms he will stand on and they are not going to blindly support him just because he is black.

His background has nothing to do with it. Cornel West even said that he would defend him as a black man and encourage him, but he will not vote for him, at least not until he knows his stance. If you read his books, he had just as much problem, if not more, with skin color. His entire first book dealt with the issue of "trying to fit in" (simplified).

 

enunciation? What are you talking about?

He struggled with defining his identity because he was bi-racial. His mother was white, and father black. He grew up in the 60's and 70's, race relations were not all that great.

 

What saddens me is, it will no longer be the "White House"............:BangHead: Its a joke folks, so don't be jumping on me......

BBob,

 

:applause: Didn't see that one coming!