Obama's Malady: The Bleeding Continues

Once again, obama needs to explain some things. Oh, he's trying. But he is not doing very well, of late. Here's what started the latest round of tap dancing, from Obama's Monday speech found on his website.

Speaking of Jeremiah Wright, he said:

I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

I have no reason to doubt this is accurate, I know people that feel this way.

Most of them are older people that feel vulnerable, if for no other reason than they are old. But with the saturation by the media of all things negative, they really do not understand that it is not the race, but the socio-economic and psychological demographics, which are far more telling of the story. And believe you me, stereotypes are very hard to change, once they have been internalized.

For this, we can give a significant amount of credit and/or responsibility to the media. one that glorifies this kind of lifestyle to make money. In my opinion, shows that promote this kind image are not helping the problem. I am not for censorship, but common sense would dictate that better judgment should be shown in how race is presented.

Be that as it may, there are instances where we simply must pay attention. There are times when extra vigilance can be justified. Let's not forget what Jesse Jackson said some years ago, about being relieved to see he was being followed by a white person, because of the high rate of "black on black" crime.

So after some criticism, you could expect he would be asked about some things and Obama was asked to clarify. Here's what he said (emphasis is mine):

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

It seems to me, by by trying to explain his earlier statement, he is getting deeper in the mire that is starting to look more and more like quicksand. Maybe, he's a bit uncomfortable being pressed, I don't know. But the larger point in this issue is as plain as the noses we have on our faces. Whites are instantly labeled racist or with "having racist attitudes and opinions", if they use the phrase " "typical black person". If it applies in that case, we must really apply it here.

There are many white people that aren't afraid of black people, because they are socially aware enough to understand that the images portrayed on TV are only accurate in certain socio-economic and psychological demographics. There are some racist white people and there those that aren't. The point is, the white community is no more homogeneous, than the black community. There are no "typical" anythings.

If he wasn't in enough turmoil, he is now going to be forced to explain the explanation. Meanwhile, his credibility is further eroding. He gets deeper and deeper, and the backtracking gets gets even more attention. So as you may guess, the Obama camp needs an event that will divert attention from an issue he is clearly not prepared to handle appropriately.

Presto, change-o, abracadabra and "poof", we have one.

Two state department contract workers have been fired, for accessing Obama's passport information.

Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said today.

The officials, all contract workers, used their authorized computer network access to look up files within the department's consular affairs section, which processes and stores passport information, and read Mr. Obama's passport application and other records, in violation of department privacy rules, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Clearly this wasn't the right thing to do, no matter what the motive was. It is private information. Those that determined to be responsible have been fired or disciplined. Sounds like they have it under control, to me.

Hoping to capitalize, we have the first Obama campaign response:

The Obama campaign denounced the accessing as "an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an Administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years."

Spokesman Bill Burton said "our government’s duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes. This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama’s passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach."

Sounds pretty standard, but my question is, what possibly could be learned from the information that isn't already known? What kind of real damage can be done, politically, with the information? Most of the data, should already be known, unless it is of an extreme personal nature. It's not a bank account we are talking about here, nor is it a medical record.

The only reason we will see the outrage from the Obama camp is to deflect valid criticism from valid issues that Obama is failing to address, at this time. We need to have this discussion, but not with Obama and certainly not with those that he surrounds himself with.

And the bleeding continues. Stay tuned for vital signs and EKG interpretation.



(NRO and AC McCloud are covering these things too.)