Quote:
Originally Posted by hambirg  Of course she loves him. But I think he did make her look like a bigot. . . |
That's exactly what he made her look like. And rightly so. It wasn't that long ago that we were a divided country, where black and white couldn't sit, stand, or eat in the same places. There is still a big chunk of this country that lived through those times, and some of those people handed down their beliefs to their children, and so on. It is easy to fear what is different -- what doesn't look or act like us.
I don't think that he is that far off in describing her as a "typical white person." I would say that it is a true assessment of a good chunk of the population - white, black, brown, whatever - that's just the nature of race in our society. It's why the women at the McCain rally stood up and said she didn't trust Obama because he was an Arab - I don't think it had anything to do with her age, as much as it did with fear and what society has allowed being "Arab" to mean in this country. We are all bigots from time to time - bigotry is not just racially motivated.
My grandmother was a racist, not just a bigot - and I was very lucky to have parents that didn't have the same world view, so Igrew up with a much lager view of the world. I'm happy for that. That's not to say that my Irish, Catholic father didn't show some signs of bigotry from time to time and that my near 70 year old mother doesn't still get worried when she walks alone down the street. I'm sure Obama's grandmother's world vision changed a little the day he was brought into this world, and maybe she's a little less fear driven than some others, but she serves as a good example of learned behavoirs and beliefs are not always right. And just because she never said it to her friends, doesn't mean it isn't something she shared with him.
I think you highlighted the wrong part of the quote....I think he was trying to make this point....
"... .. 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, uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society.
We have to break through it..." - Senator Barack Obama
This doesn't read to me like a man who was trying to throw his grandma under the bus or someone that was using her. But, everyone has their own opinion....
As far as going to visit her on the jet, I will say the same thing I did about Palin's clothes. If you gave money to the Obama camp, then you should have something to say about it. If it breaks FEC rules, then I'm sure they will have something to say about it.
Both camps have made it a point to make their "families first" in this election (kids are off limits, spouses being treated with respect) so I would expect nothing less from either side and I would have done the same thing.