The issue of race has swirled it's way to the forefront of this campaign, again. For Senator Obama, in my opinion, it's a distraction that keeps him from expressing his views and to introduce policies on what he hopes would be his presidential duties. The media has pushed race to the forefront and shifted the attention away from political issues to race issues. Analysts, reporters and past campaign staff go head to head on which candidate is playing the race card and who brought it up first.
What Obama should do, and I'm sure that his advisors tell him otherwise, is to just say:
"Look, I am a Black man running for President. Get over it. Let's focus on these national and world issues that affect us and work toward a common goal."
If I'm not mistaken, wasn't Queen Elizabeth beseiged by naysayers? Didn't she reign for something like, forty years?
Don't get me wrong, I believe the issue of race in today's society are highly relevant issues to acknowledge and to have in depth discussions to get people on the same page. For example, here in Myrtle Beach the hotly debated May Bike rallies is a race related issue and let's not forget there's still that Confederate Flag issue in the state capital.
This morning, I'm watching MSNBC and the network switches to the Obama town hall meeting in Florida where a couple of people began raising a ruckus behind the Presidential candidate as he is speaking. He handles the situation well, offers them a chance to voice their views during the Q&A, and he continues his speech.
The hecklers are speaking out, from what I've gathered, about the lack of Obama's voice in regards to the African-American community. MSNBC, then cuts away from this LIVE event and turns its attention to another story. That's acceptable, it's a news organization, but their follow up is highly suspect.
What's my point? Well, recent news reports say that Obama is taking some serious heat because he hasn't addressed African American issues, and this group, The Online Voice of the International African Revolution, brought up those points. After about an hour, the MSNBC follow-up appeared and, as usual, the edited version appeared. The media only pulls the soundbites that fit their spin. If you watched the edited segment, you get a disjointed question from one of the protestors and an edited version of Obama's response which ends with a list of ethnic groups and leads you to believe that Obama hasn't really answered the question. Hence, all of the heat he takes for not addressing African American issues. After a bit of online searching, MSNBC has posted the online excerpt here. Its an edited version also, but it gives you a better idea of the exchange.
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