Barack Obama's three little words -- and they weren't, 'I love you'

Three poorly chosen words.

In the sound-bite world of political campaigning, three words have the power to overpower a broader and deeper message. So, as Barack Obama attempts to climb out of two weeks of trench-warfare over the most critical social division in America -- race -- he's going to need to refocus his campaign on the things that got him this far.

Obama didn't do himself any favors Thursday in an early-morning call to WIP-610, a sports radio station in Philadelphia, when he was asked about the comment in his Philadelphia speech on race about his grandmother and her racial view of the world.

"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, there is a reaction that has been bred into our experiences that don't go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way... That's the nature of race in our society and we have to break through it. And what makes me optimistic is you see each generation feeling a little less like that, and that's pretty powerful stuff.''

Yet the three words linger on the short loop that is cable television news and reverberate on the Internet like some bad political equivalent of the film, "Groundhog Day": "Typical white person.'' And, suddenly, the candidate who delivered what has been called the most powerful speech about racial harmony since the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is lambasted online as racist.

The truth is, virtually every white person and every black person knows ...  

precisely what Obama meant. After generations of racial segregation either de jure (Southern) or de facto (Northern), the inbred, impulsive reactions of people who either mistrust, fear or resent members of another race are no secret in America. Even those of the youngest generation, in whom Obama sees hope for progress, can probably recall a parent or grandparent who has given voice to precisely what Obama meant: "Typical.''

Obama also was asked in the radio interview if he bears any "added responsibility'' as an African American in becoming president.

"I think that, if I'm in the Oval Office, I've got all kinds of things to worry about. You know, that comes with the job. But I wouldn't be running If I wasn't confident that I can help the country work through some of these issues, at the same time as we're taking care of the business at hand, which is making sure that the economy is working for ordinary people, that we've got health care, that they can afford to send their kids to college, that we can end this war in Iraq that has cost us so dearly in blood and treasure.''

And toward the end of another long campaign day that started with sports radio at dawn, Larry King also asked him on CNN Thursday night what he meant about "typical white person."

"Well, what I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that, you know, were responses that I think many people feel. She's not extraordinary in that regard. She's somebody who I love as much as anybody. I mean, she has literally helped to raise me.

"But those are fears that are embedded in our culture and embedded in our society. And, you know, even within our own families, even within a family like mine that is diverse, you know, there are those gaps in understanding or the stereotypes that are fed by the news media and fed by what we see around us and, you know, in our popular culture.

"And so the point I made is that good people, people who are not in any way racist, are still subject to some of these images and stereotypes and that it's very hard to escape from them."

King asked if Obama thought this might hurt the campaign.

"My campaign has always been built on a confidence in the American people, that we can talk honestly about issues, that we can acknowledge that they're complicated, that we can disagree without being disagreeable, that we can understand each other's point of view, and that if we take the time to listen to each other, if we're honest with each other, if we're not trying to demonize each other, then we can solve problems, that we can, in very practical ways, start investing in infrastructure to put people back to work in this country ....

"So I think that this is a good example of the kinds of tough, sometimes uncomfortable issues that are going to come up in our politics. But I have confidence in the American people's fairness, that they're going to judge me based on who I am, what I've talked about, the kind of campaign we've run, and the track record of 20 years of service. And if they believe that I can help them in their lives and make their lives and their children's lives and grandkids' lives a little bit better, then I have confidence that they're going to support me and we have a chance to really change this country.''

There -- a few hundred words that should help put the political debate back on the track where it belongs.

-- Mark Silva

Mark Silva wrote this for The Swamp blog for the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.

Comments

[Hinnis]

Obama has the Audacity to Hope that we are all stupid enough to forget that he lied about NAFTA, that he lies about his "continual" opposition to the Iraq war, that he plays the race card whenever things get too hot (for which he was busted by Tim Russert in one of the debates), that he is uncomfortably close to the indicted slumlord Rezko, that he has been going to a church for 20 years whose racist and anti-American pastor he calls his "mentor and spiritual advisor," that he has been exposing his innocent children to this hate speech for most of their lives, that he will throw his own grandmother under the bus to further his goals, and that he is now trying his best to disenfranchise millions of voters in Michigan and Florida to further his political ambitions. Yes, he has the Audacity to Hope . . .

[Sam]

I see a great inconsistency in Obama's stance with the black community. He has come out against the most disenfranchised blacks in the world—the black embryo. How can you love blacks and favor without the slightest tinge of compassion the abortion of a black fetus? Does he know that the black heart begins to beat at the 18th to 25th day from conception? Does he know that a black embryo has its own brain waves at 40 days? Does he know that that black child has its own fingerprints and has fully functioning body systems at 11 to 12 weeks? How many black babies will never get a chance to run for president because thinking like Obama's got them killed? A presidential candidate should care for all of those in his country — especially the most innocent and defenseless of all, the fetus.

[Fred]

Dear Moderators: Obviously you will not allow criticism of Obama. I am one of your subscribers from Orange County; I will terminate my subscription, immediately.

(Oh, please, Fred. Just look around you. There's criticism of every candidate and criticism of us because we "obviously" support every candidate. Go ahead and criticize whomever you want. Or, shocker, praise someone here. And as, long as it's clean language, not racist or unsubstantiated claims (Candidate X is an obvious member of al-Qaeda), it'll get in. But since this isn't the newspaper, cancelling your subscription to anything has zero effect on anything here. Thanks for reading.)

[laurenR1]

As a 'Typical white middle aged person" race has never been an issue w/ me until now. The Wright video's and Obama's race comments are dredging up a negative side that I have not experienced and frankly is scary to me now. It seems that the unity message was a smoke screen. His slavery speech is really making things more divisive, more black and white, going backwards instead of where we were. By defending Wright, Obama shows clouded judgement. I have made choices and changed parishes based on my values. This has left me w/ a queasy, anxious feeling.

[Jim MacDonald]

There can be little doubt that Mr Obama is the best
Presidential hopeful that America has witnessed in living memory.If he is successful the USA will be the better for it.

[Rose Valenziano]

Obama is definitely racist. This country is now very much divided because of him. Blacks can say they are being discriminated and it is OK but if white say anything like that they would be called racist. If a white pastor would have preached like that, Hillary would no longer be running for president, but instead the media tells us that the speech given by Obama was the greatest speech about race. Do you call that equality? Give me a break.

[Marks]

How is Obama's mother not a typical white person? We are described by our skin characteristics and gender.

I think its language Obama has heard in his family dynamic growing up. We don't know how his Grandparents talked to his mother after she married a Kenyan.

I can imagine his Grandmother describing Obama as her black grandson. Or his mother in a fit said, she's just an opinionated white lady about her mother.

It's a description of his Grandmother, not a derision.

It's media parsing out pieces of a discussion for their own "evil" benefit.

A looping effect to dumb down the population. A conversation can only be about those few words.

[Lee From Treasure Island Florida]

I do not understand why everyone, including the media is having so much trouble understanding this "typical white person" thing. I am white, 54, female, but raised with almost daily examples of what racism was, as my mother had little tolerance for it. I expected the same of my friends, yet rarely do we as Americans discuss this.
4 years ago vacationing in Italy, changing my battery in my camera, I asked by girlfriend to go ask a man not 20 ft away "what time it was " so I could set my cameras clock. She looked at shocked and scared to death..."No, I can't, he is black" I was amazed, and angry...I marched over there and asked him...and her and I argued for days about this. She was scared of a black man she did not know...because he was black. THIS IS COMMON. THIS IS AMERICAN

[Lee From Treasure Island Florida]

Anyone who thinks there is not racial issues in this country are fooling themselves. Turn on Fox News, Turn on Radio talk shows, White Preacher TV shows.
You will get an ear full. My mother would make an example of my father, at the dinner table, telling us kids that he was a racist, which he would absolutely say was untrue. My mother would then prove her prove her point by asking if he would share his meal with a black person...and he would be so shocked, he would drop his fork and utter "OF COURSE NOT", shaking his head in apparent disgust. She would then look at all of us and proudly state in equal disgust but at HIM..."see kids, your father is a racist, he thinks black people have different germs than we do....how ridiculous!"

[Roland]

Obama's speech on race was right on the money... hit the nail on the head... and was long overdue by any political leader. Regardless of campaign reasons for giving the speech, it had to be said. Rarely does this kind of discussion reach the homes of the many. The truth is there is a history of two Americas: Black and White.

I'm black, you all remember the one drop of blood clause from history class right? Well the truth is I am of Scott-Irish, Cherokee, Blackfoot, Mohawk, and African descent. On paper however I'm Black (non-hispanic), but I never check the boxes. I'm also a descendant of a Confederate General. So I guess the real truth is I'm American.

Growing up, my family thought me that there were two types of racism towards blacks. In the south it was out in the open, up north it was behind closed doors. I should also say that they told me this for my safety. To this day black people are still being lynched. If you don't think racism is still present Google "Jena 6". If we go back a little further... Didn't Tiger Woods face golf courses where blacks were discriminated and denied membership? Did W campaign his second term at a college that has never had a black student? What about David Duke?

Slavery wasn't that long ago folks, let alone the civil rights. I have family members alive today who personally met members of the family who were once slaves. My father even remembers a conversation with an Aunt who saw Lincoln wave from the back of a train during his presidential campaign. So the past really wasn't that long ago.

So as to not make this a black & white thing; here in L.A. have you not noticed a rise in killings between Black and Brown people? In the past month alone how many families fell victim to killings based on the color of their skin?

That being said, lets look at the politics of today. Historically I've voted for the least of the evils. This time I voted for a candidate I proudly agree with, and I think represents who America is.

I DO think that Geraldine A. Ferraro's statements were racist and/or bigotry. I don't know what was worse: her first statement (suggesting that Obama was succeeding only because he was black), or every comment she has made since. The saddest part is she seems totally unaware of her how ignorant her comments are. Even sadder is that she's an elected official. (For now.)

But worse then her statements were the somewhat overlooked statements of Adelfa Callejo. "....Adelfa Callejo, a trail-blazing Latina lawyer in Texas. According to the reporter, Callejo "recently told us that African Americans never help Hispanics when they gain power and influence and that she would never vote for Sen. Obama. And now, quoting here, she said, 'Obama's problem is that he happens to be black.' "
(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/02/denounce-andor.html#more)

It's good to see that some of America has never experienced racism, but that doesn't mean it's not there. It's even better to see people of all races and backgrounds uniting behind Obama. For everyone else, I only hope that you can except his truth, and take part in the healing and rebuilding of OUR nation.

Refuse to wake up on the wrong side of your history!

BARACK OBAMA: THE PEOPLES CHAMP!!!

[ck]

Again, “a few hundred words” and lots of mental gymnastics are required to try in vain to explain away what is so clearly Obama’s own racial bias, expressed in a public slip of his silvery tongue uttering those three little words, “typical white person.” Just ask yourselves what Obama (or his campaign mignons) would call anyone (particularly anyone from the other candidates’ campaigns) who dared to refer to Obama, his mentor Rev. Wright, or any other black person as a ‘typical black person’? Obama is the only one continually injecting race into this campaign because he knows it’s to his advantage to do so and because he knows he can do so with impunity, while making it clear that anyone not from his camp who introduces it for discussion risks being forever branded a racist by Obama and his cadre of apologists. Obama’s recent speech shows that he believes the so-called “racial divide” to be the most important, if not the only, problem confronting this country, and yet at every opportunity he uses his campaign to widen that divide in an apparent effort to make it a chasm, rather than bridge it as he would try to do if he were indeed the ‘uniter’ he would like us to believe him to be. If Obama is confident in the “American people’s fairness,” as he claims, why does he not allow voters themselves to place race in proper context and perspective as just one among the many complex issues our country faces? Instead, he continues to press race as though it’s the only issue that matters. Ultimately, once Obama’s finished making a racial chasm out of any divide that may now exist, does he have a detailed, realistic, workable plan for solving that problem? Or does he believe, simply by being half-black/half-white, merely by being elected, that only he, single-handedly, can miraculously save us from the racial strife he’s apparently trying to foment? In fact, does he have a detailed, realistic, workable plan for solving any of this country’s complex problems? Or does he believe he can solve them simply by proving that he can be nominated and elected? So far, he’s spoken many thousands of words, with each few hundred even more unconvincing than the last, all of them lacking any real substance. Perhaps, like his mentor Rev. Wright, he could be a preacher, but certainly not president.

[Girl with the bushy armpits]

Senator Obama reads a fantastic speech off the teleprompter and his speech writers are second to none.
It's when he ad-libs his own words and thoughts that
the wheels come off. This campaign,unless I am out to lunch is not about who can read best, but about who can
best read reality and lead us to greener pastures. Obama
looks like he can follow much more than he can lead. He
needs to remain in the senate and follow instructions from
the senate majority leader...that bespectacled lefty who
filled in for Daschle when he got fired by the people.

[blakmira]

Did anyone else receive a recorded phone message from the Obama campaign a couple months ago, complaining that John Lewis, a "fellow black caucus member," was refusing to support Obama? The message then went on to list John Lewis's phone number to call and complain that he was not supporting a "fellow black caucus member" (this phrase was repeated throughout the message).

Would this be considered playing the "race card"? It seemed rather clear to me that Obama was insinuating that if another black person didn't vote for him, he had every right to feel wronged; to complain, bully and pressure that person until his mind was changed. (And guess what? John Lewis soon afterwards dropped his support of Clinton over to Obama). I found the phone message to be absurd, and the mindset and behavior disturbing.

When several Obama supporters in Florida were filmed being asked which one of Obama's policies they liked the most, they each looked dumbfounded, at a loss for words and embarassed that they had no answer. It was clear they knew nothing about the man, other than his slogans and promises of hope and change.

I, for one, have done extensive research on every candidate and the more I find out about Obama, the more frightening he is. He voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act; he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (along with Bush, the Clintons, McCain, Cheney and Exxon); he belongs to a "church" whose pastor spews hatred and blame towards those of a different skin color or ethnicity; not to mention his 16 year business association with a slumlord under federal indictment.

No, I will be writing my candidate's name in if he is not on the ballot -- and I certainly will NOT be voting for Barack Obama.

[John G]

First Obama states that his grandmother used words about blacks that made him cringe. Now he says she's a typical white woman. Hmmmm......

[Heather]

Personally, I think calling anyone a typical anything plays right into the very cultural, racial, and bigoted stereotypes that he's supposedly trying to fight. In his statement, a "typical white person" sees any African American on the street and instantly tries to stay away from them. That's a stereotype. That's a generalization. That's racist.

Would there be any debate about his intentions if he said anything about a "typical black man" or a "typical Muslim," and went on to talk about an adverse reaction inherent to those typical people? No. His remarks would be seen for what they really are - racist. But because it's about white people, it's debated, it's excused, it's all okay.

Well it isn't. I'm white, I don't have that "typical" reaction. I moved around a lot as a kid because my father was in the military. When I was in first grade, I was living in a small town in Mississippi. My classroom was segregated. The kids played on separate playgrounds based on the color of our skin. I saw racism up close and personal, it was in my face every single day I was at school. I'm white, my whole family's white, but you know what? It still destroyed me. When I moved to Mississippi and I saw the injustice, the prejudice, and the racism being drilled into the heads of children, I hated it. I was so upset by it that a previously excited attitude toward school turned into absolute dread. From the very first day I stepped into that classroom and saw the massive aisle between the black children and the white children, I made up every excuse in the book to never go there again. I didn't want to be around it. Thankfully my parents hated it too, and I was taken out of that school within two weeks. We did everything we could to fight that system of oppression, racism, and bigotry. While we were there, we were intensely involved in our community and we did everything we possibly could to make some contribution. I've never forgotten it, I never will, and I will never stop fighting for true and absolute equality.

Why would I, as a white child, go out of my way to abolish a system where I got preferential treatment? Where I was treated like a princess and given better playground equipment, better food, and a better education? Because I saw it as wrong. It was so wrong that it disturbed me deeply, down to my very soul.
According to Obama, is that the way a "typical white person" reacts? No. According to me, however, I can't speak for all white people, but I can talk about what I know. And I can tell you that me, my family, every white person I spoke to about this situation, we were all just as hurt by what was happening. We were all just as outraged. We all fought to stop it. Did we look the other way? No. Did we side-step on the sidewalk when an African American man walked toward us? No. We walked toward them, we offered hands of friendship, and we fought together as equals to put an end to prejudice in our community. And that wasn't even a conscious thought; we didn't see an African American as someone deserving of special treatment or pity. They were just people, people who were being mistreated, and people who deserved respect. It didn't matter that their skin was any darker than mine, it just mattered that they were being hurt. Without a second thought I would do the same thing if someone of any race, religion, or nationality was being abused, mistreated, and dehumanized.

Typical has nothing to do with it. But you know what? White has nothing to do with it either. The only thing typical is our humanity, and that is just as much a part of an African American as it is in me as a white person. How can you hold yourself up to be a pillar of hope in an era steeped in racial divides, when you play into them yourself? You can't. And that's precisely why Obama isn't who he says he is. Racism can easily come from any source and be directed at anyone else. And when that statement escaped Obama's lips, we got a glimpse into who Barack Obama really is. And if he thinks there's anything "typical" in white people that equates to racist behavior, then he's only projecting his own shortcomings onto other people.

For me, I don't avoid anybody because of the color of their skin - I never have, and by God, I never will. If I saw any man or woman walking down the street with an attitude of hate, I'd avoid them, whether they're white, black, or any other color. If they were wearing something that clearly served to hide their identity, or hiding something that potentially could be a weapon, I'd avoid them. None of that has to do with race, it has to do with the clear intentions of the invidivual. I no more expect a black man to behave that way than I do a white man. Hatred is unfortunately a potential part of any human heart, no matter what they look like on the outside. And the only time I'll side-step anyone on the sidewalk is when that hatred becomes apparent.
I had high hopes for Barack Obama. But in statements like this, and in past behaviors, statements, and ideologies, that hatred is apparent in him. If he had ascribed that "typical" behavior to anyone other than a white person, everyone else would see it too. But if you can't see it for what it is, maybe you need to take a look at yourself and your own attitudes toward Caucasions. White people are a race just as much as black people; any statement that ascribes generalizations of hatred against any individual of any color is racism, pure and simple.

[Evita]

After reading many of the comments, I am totally disgusted and disillusioned by the realization that this country is largely comprised of MORONS and RACISTS!!!
God help Barack Obama!!! He is way too good for this country! We do not deserve him!!! I want to protect him against this country!!!