Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

Did anyone catch this?

Barack Obama heckled by members of a pan-African socialist group, the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, at a town hall meeting in Florida yesterday. Their message essentially being "What about the black community Obama?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ul8gPo4zwo

And here he is taking questions from the protestors at the end of his speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pod1Kr-q6us

First... Wow. Way to get him elected, guys. :rolleyes:

Second, Obama lapsing into a southern folksy voice came over as really condescending.

Third - apart from that, I thought he handled the heckling pretty damn well. I can only imagine how one of our politicians would have stumbled over it. I suspect anti-terror legislation would have been applied.

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

You can bet that if similar heckling broke out at a McCain rally, the hecklers likely would have been escorted out of the building, not have their questions answered in a respectful way.

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

mmmm ok.
it's hard to tell whether his sudden affectation was true or condescending. you cant fake it without sounding doubly obvious so maybe it was a response to the sudden informality that presented itself. my boss comes from the south and you couldnt tell. when told "oh wow i'd never have guessed" she immediately reverted to "weel ah c'n talk like this if ye wonted"
so it's hard to say. he's not a southern man but he suddenly talked like everyone else did when i went to an all-black school for a couple of years, and i'm in california, so i'd lean towards it being pretty natural to his background.

but, huge points on insisting that those concerns be adressed instead of poking fun and turning his back, waiting for security to boot him out. obama clearly didnt have an answer ready and did admirably, sticking to what he's done professionally. the only problem is that these are still pat answers that clear the name but present the same sort of inefficacy of "statements and policy" that look good but dont amount to beans for the people it's meant for. granted, the questions werent exactly fair ("what are you going to do about institutionalized racism and the system that silently supports it/doesnt care/will fuck us over every time") but i was just waiting, aching for obama to address that core frustration with something along the lines of "the things that i've done as a senator i've been able to do as one voice out of 100. imagine what i can do for you as president of the united states."

because it's true. whats obama going to do about predatory loans, the jena 6, or a cop shooting as a senator? make statements. lots of statement, enact legislature that will be broad and more of a symbol than anything effective. there's no saying that as president situations like these are automatically not like that. they often are. but the president, as we've seen in the last 8 years or so, sets the national tone. simply being commander in chief works more subtly than any well-meaniing policy, condemnation, or support. and if you give a shit enough as president something *will* be pushed.

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

or he could do what McCain does and just make empty promises like "I can make all the bad things disappear and win" without actually saying how:D

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

so the guy who asked a question is from a movement called uhuru
who "are united in the purpose of raising the consciousness of African people through talk shows, news, music and other culture to facilitate the unification of African people as one people worldwide in the process of liberating Africa."

part of that platform is recognizing that the entire basis of american/european culture is corrupt, built on slaverly, and shouldnt even be entertained with the idea that it's fixable and should be worked with. they're basically talking revolution.

and from what i can gather, it was looking pretty damn good for them, what with Bush being extra blatant about displaying the inextricable corruption and malaise that ran and continues to run (as recently evidenced by the judiciary branch scandal) through ALL the governmental arteries. people that didnt start radical could be swung towards accepting the idea that at least maybe the system is irreparably broken, and the face lift required would be too drastic without doing away with the foundation altogether. which is all fun and exciting.... personally i think their frustration's in the right place but theyre mistaken if they think it's limited to their burden alone.

and then barack comes in and gums it up harder than any white guy could. he's the compromise, the beacon, the hope. he's the guy that can maybe kinda hopefully keep the existing system and make it work at the same time. no one gives up anything, we're just steered in the right direction on the same ship. and the fact that he's black just doubles that parade. they see other people in the movement get excited at the possibility, collegues get infused with excitement and suddenly revolutionary radicalism is once again back to being seen as the petulant ruminations of the fundamentally angry. shit, he's the biggest threat they've seen in a long time.

so the guy up there wasnt really there to ask questions. he expected to be tossed out. to be given the fuel to affirm that obama isnt interested in the same way bush and mccain never will be. a confirmation that just because he's black doesnt mean anything substantiative will happen. an ability to assert that he's their biggest enemy thats working for "they" and against them, and is fooling everyone in the process. in a way, both parties were taken aback by the whole deal, and so obama stuttered through respecting his viewpoint enough to frame an answer, and the guy fumbled through framing his statements and protests as questions.

the big problem i have with all this is that, if you're a politically radical movement, you know you're walking on thin ice, credibility-wise. you're suggesting that the system that people depend on everyday is so flawed that it should be run out of business. okay, thats fine, but you better make damn sure you keep things complete, documented, and honest to yourself and to the ground your movement's on. and editing the video of that event on their home page to make it so that obama did nothing but vacillate against the concerns of a strong-willed fellow radical is not that.

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

I'm just glad Obama didn't rely on the well-worn approach of biding time jabbering on about "Well isn't this just a fantastic example of democracy where gentlemen like you can freely air your views, how great to live in a country where people are free to speak out......." (meanwhile said protestor is grabbed by the nuts and discreetly removed from view)

Re: Y'all are feisty here in St Petersburg!
 

oh that would have been a nightmare.