Never thought I would like something Obama said..

[Frank]

but damn glad to see him say it.

Obama tells blacks to 'stop complainin' and fight

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tells-blacks-stop-complainin-fight-015928905.html

"Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."

[mikeb]

He's in campaign mode. He needs the black vote.

[Forever_frost]

Caucus leaders remain fiercely protective of the nation's first African-American president, but in recent weeks they've been increasingly vocal in their discontent -- especially over black joblessness.

"If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House," the caucus chairman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, recently told McClatchy Newspapers.


Subtitle: Had Obama been white, he'd been lynched

[Geor!]

I believe his approval rating among the black community has gone from 90%+ to -70%. Also, something I've noticed lately in his campaign speeches (Mike, he never left campaign mode anyway, dude) is that the crowd is changing. It used to be a very diverse crowd. Now you see a majority of blacks in the crowd, indicating that they're about the only ones actually supporting him anymore. He's just going to get thrashed at the polls come November.

[Frank]

He's in campaign mode. He needs the black vote.

Oh, no doubt! Bill Cosby got some harsh criticism a few years ago when he spoke the truth trying to talk some sense into people.

[stevo]

Was this said before or after he made the comments that a Republic president would cripple the US?

Stevo

[GhostTX]

He's in campaign mode. He needs the black vote.

This. He doesn't actually want them to work. Just get off their duff's and collectively vote for him again.

[FastFox]

They (the blacks) will vote for him in the same percentage as they did before.

[V8tt]

They (the blacks) will vote for him in the same percentage as they did before.

The black community is going to get mighty confused if Cain becomes the GOP candidate.

[racrguy]

Oh, no doubt! Bill Cosby got some harsh criticism a few years ago when he spoke the truth trying to talk some sense into people.

Bill Cosby would make a better president than this joker, IMO.

[talisman]

Want to have a good laugh at all sides, read this:

By most accounts, President Obama gave a fiery speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, telling blacks to "quit crying and complaining" and support him in the fight for jobs, according to the Associated Press. But was the AP transcription of Obama's remarks racist?

That's the subject currently being debated after the issue was raised on Chris Hayes' MSNBC show on Sunday.

On MSNBC, the African-American author Karen Hunter complained the news service transcribed Obama's speech without cleaning it up as other outlets did--specifically including the "dropped g's."

Via the AP version:
"Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."
Hunter called the AP's version "inherently racist," sparring with New Republic contributing editor and noted linguistics expert John McWhorter, who argued the g-less version "is actually the correct one," noting that the president's victory in the 2008 election was due, in part, to how effortlessly "he can switch into that [black] dialect."

Whatever the reason, Hunter found it offensive. "I teach a journalism class, and I tell my students to fix people's grammar, because you don't want them to sound ignorant," she said. "For them to do that, it's code, and I don't like it."

It's worth noting that the same sorts of arguments arose during George W. Bush's presidency, with the White House cleaning up the president's speeches to make him sound smarter, and news outlets sometimes not doing so.
According to Mark Smith, the AP reporter who filed the story, Obama was making a point by dropping his g's, making the transcription a no-brainer.
"Normally, I lean toward the clean-it-up school of quote transcribing—for everyone," Smith told Mediaite. "But in this case, the President appeared to be making such a point of dropping Gs, and doing so in a rhythmic fashion, that for me to insert them would run clearly counter to his meaning. I believe I was respecting his intent in this. Certainly disrespect was the last thing I intended."

"The AP Stylebook counsels against using spellings like gonna or wanna--or in this case, complainin' and cryin'--'in attempts to convey regional dialects or informal pronunciations, except to help a desired touch or to convey an emphasis by the speaker,'" Tom Kent, the AP deputy managing editor for standards and production, said in a statement to The Cutline. "In this case, our reporter, who was there in person, felt the spellings were appropriate to convey a particular touch that President Obama appeared to be intentionally making use of."

Conservative bloggers agree--mainly because the story showed Obama pandering to a black base.

"The first job of a journalist is to report a story as accurately as possible," Howard Portnoy wrote on HotAir.com. "Part of the job of reporting Obama's speech last night was to highlight his obvious pandering, which is borne of desperation. The only element missing from the story is whether any of the listeners were offended by the president's 'blaccent.'"

"The AP did not print the words as written for the president," Mike Opelka wrote on Glenn Beck-owned TheBlaze.com, "instead choosing to transcribe the speech with what might be considered a bit more accuracy."
"He was specifically, and intentionally, using an African-American linguistic style to emphasize his message," a conservative blog called the Last Refuge noted.

"Now that the presidential campaign season has begun," Courtland Milloy wrote in an op-ed column for the Washington Post, "it's okay for President Obama to openly court black people again."

[Jimbo]

The black community is going to get mighty confused if Cain becomes the GOP candidate.

I was thinking the same thing about those that vote based on race, but a friend brought it to my attention that he might be viewed as an "uncle tom".

[Forever_frost]

The CBC is pissed. They demanded to know why he was telling blacks to stop bitchin' when he hasn't told hispanics and gays. Not even playing

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20111619-503544.html

September 26, 2011 11:32 AM

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CBC member Maxine Waters reacts to Obama: We're not complaining

By
Stephanie Condon
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Obama Administration

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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who's been critical this year of President Obama's response to the high unemployment within the black community, said she found it "curious" that Mr. Obama this weekend told black leaders to "stop complaining."

"I don't know who he was talking to because we're certainly not complaining," Waters said on CBS' "The Early Show." "We're working. We support him, and we're protecting that base because we want people to be enthusiastic about him when that election rolls around."

Waters and other CBC members this year have said Mr. Obama should do more to directly address the black unemployment rate, which is nearly double the national average. The Labor Department earlier this month said unemployment rate among African-Americans was 16.7 percent in August, while the overall unemployment rate last month was 9.1 percent. Among black youth, the unemployment rate was 46.5 percent in August, the government said.

At the CBC's annual awards dinner on Saturday, Mr. Obama told black leaders to "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."

He urged them to "put on your marching shoes" and get behind him.

Waters said she doesn't think the president would speak like that to other minority communities.

"I found that language a bit curious because the president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus, and certainly they're pushing him on immigration... he certainly didn't tell them to stop complaining," she said. "And he would never say that to the gay and lesbian community, who really pushed him on Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The CBC has been holding a series of town hall meetings and jobs fairs across the country, where Waters said people have been "circling the blocks to get a chance to talk to employers."

"They want to know that we recognize, and that the president recognizes the pain that is in the African American community," she said.

Though she said she was surprised by some of Mr. Obama's language on Saturday, Waters said the president has heard the concerns of the CBC and is energized to address the needs of the black community.

[EW]

Dems do not want their base to actually do anything but vote for Dems. Dems need their base dependent upon handouts.

[Bassics]

Black America (tm) wants a leader. he is trying to be that leader. Except he is closing the breach with straw brooms.

He essentially is being disowned because the overall black american mindset is still american. Say what you will about the ghetto stereotype, but there are fighting, clinging, never-give-up young people out there still chasing the dream. It crosses all boundaries. This is still "America" and it still means something to someone. True color blindness starts with capitalism under a republic. We have that, lets not piss it away.