Comments on: Obama’s Humanity and (Moving Beyond?) Race Politics

By: Anas

Anas — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:10:42 +0000

yeah, I’m still a fan of his, Sunny.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:03:48 +0000

How about Martin Luther King Anas?

By: Anas

Anas — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:17:10 +0000

Yeah, bb, but Galloway’s a bit of an easy target these days. It’s not like Hari’s challenging himself attacking him.

By: bananabrain

bananabrain — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:11:28 +0000

how soon things get back to normal, anas, eh?

hehe, i do enjoy johann hari when he’s having a go at someone i dislike. he can be splendidly splenetic.

i may dislike chomsky, but at least he deserves a measure of respect for the consistency and integrity of his views, albeit i can’t think of a single one of them i actually agree with.

b’shalom

bananabrain

By: ZinZin

ZinZin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:49:47 +0000

Got that right.

By: Anas

Anas — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:44:31 +0000

Yeah of course I am — Chomsky’s still one of my top three heroes of modern times along with Norman Finkelstein and Reverend Spook. You can’t compare Galloway to Chomsky, not by any stretch of the imagination.

By: ZinZin

ZinZin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:38:17 +0000

Sorry that should be: Are you still a fan of chomsky?

By: ZinZin

ZinZin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:37:25 +0000

Your still a fan of Chomsky, Anas?

By: Anas

Anas — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:08:55 +0000

No, I’ve gone off him.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:45:26 +0000

Anas – Btw, are you still a fan of George Galloway?
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1277

By: sonia

sonia — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:00:56 +0000

i’m tired of hearing about obama and clinton, i wish they’d just get on with it now.

By: sonia

sonia — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:58:14 +0000

the chapati mystery article was far too black and white for me. where are the shades of grey??

By: sonia

sonia — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:38:26 +0000

where’s PP’s coverage of the exciting events happening today..as the Olympic torch sails through london with its police protection? ( bunch of pussies..)

By: douglas clark

douglas clark — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:16:13 +0000

This might be of interest. I’d be surprised if many people here, listening to the whole of what Wright had to say, would find it even controversial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw

By: douglas clark

douglas clark — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:34:06 +0000

McCain is happy to be endorsed by Rev Hagee, who has things like this to say:

“Democrats quoted Hagee as saying the Catholic Church conspired with Nazis against the Jews and that Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for homosexual sin, and they recited his demeaning comments about women and flip remarks about slavery.”

See here:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/29/hagee/

It might not constitute friendship but it most certainly does constitute a cozy relationship.

‘Tis McCain that is getting the free ride methinks….

By: digitalcntrl

digitalcntrl — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:09:33 +0000

I would disagree with the viewpoints of these pundits. The issue is not whether Obama has these extremist views (I don’t believe he does). But his actions in condoning the remarks of Rev. Wright by refusing to denounce him is the real issue. If McCain had a white racist close friend who made similar remarks about blacks, would we tolerate McCain’s continued friendship/association with the guy?

By: douglas clark

douglas clark — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:56:30 +0000

Re Wright and Aids. If anyone did this to me, or anyone I knew:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Study_of_Untreated_Syphilis_in_the_Negro_Male

I think I’d be pretty twitchy.

By: shariq

shariq — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:24:06 +0000

I’m not sure to be honest. I think its just a right wing talking point. Even in the famous ‘chicken coming home to roost’ speech, he was actually referring to something someone said on Fox.

People have also criticized Wright for saying that the government deliberately spread Aids. This is fair game, but when people of his generation feel they are helpless they are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.

Its a stretch to say that Obama in any way believes those things or believes in ‘god damn america’ given the opportunities he’s been given.

By: Sajn

Sajn — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:55:20 +0000

What did Wright say that makes him anti-semitic or a racist?

By: Anas

Anas — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:07:08 +0000

Obama’s humanity? The guy is on record as explicitly supporting US imperialism which has included giving his explicit support to Israel (“our strongest ally”)in an attempt to woo the pro-Israel lobby — to whom he has to go all out to prove himself.

So, how much can his supposedly inspirational and rousing views on Race politics in the US matter when he’s giving his full vocal backing to a racist apartheid state abroad? Most disgustingly this was his response to Israel’s inhuman starvation siege against Gaza:

All of us are concerned about the impact of closed border crossings on Palestinian families. However, we have to understand why Israel is forced to do thisâ€¦ Israel has the right to respond while seeking to minimize any impact on civilians.

Funny kind of humanitarian, trying to justify a barbaric form of collective punishment against an already brutalized people. I understand he has to take this pro-Aparthied stance if he stands any chance of being elected, but let’s not pretend the guy’s brimming with compassion and humanity. People should stop falling for this brand of messianic politics: it’s invariably a smokescreen behind which the usual dirty business of realpolitik goes on as usual.