Obama tells NAACP blacks must take responsibility

[babylonsister]

Obama tells NAACP blacks must take responsibility

By GLEN JOHNSON and DAN SEWELL


CINCINNATI (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama insisted Monday that blacks must show greater responsibility for their actions. In remarks prepared for delivery at the annual NAACP convention, the man who could become the first black president said Washington must provide greater education and economic assistance, but that blacks must demand more of themselves.

"If we're serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families and our own communities," Obama said. "That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework and setting a good example."

He added: "I know some say I've been too tough on folks about this responsibility stuff. But I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because I believe that in the end, it doesn't matter how much money we invest in our communities, or how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch - none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives."

Obama, who grew up without his father, has spoken and written at length about issues of parental responsibility and fathers participating in their children's lives. Yet a similar speech by the Illinois senator on Father's Day prompted an awkward rebuke from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Democratic presidential contender in 1984 and 1988, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a fellow Chicago political activist.

Jackson apologized last week after being caught saying on an open microphone that he wanted to castrate Obama for speaking down to blacks.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_BLACKS?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[anonymous171]

1. Wow. What an interesting headline.

Good article though.

[Median Democrat]

2. Misleading Headline Though - Obama Also Does Talk About Structural Barriers

Of course, forget about the MSM being fair. The MSM is going to do an Iraq "revision" type smear, and suggest that Obama is ripping on African Americans, and ignore his comments about removing structural barriers to African American advancement.

[TheDonkey]

7. yea that is a very bombastic and borderline ridiculous headline. No surprise

but the article is good.

[ravishane]

3. gubmint and the crack rock

How about holding the U.S. government RESPONSIBLE for facilitating the introduction of crack into the inner-cities? How about holding little Democratic politicians RESPONSIBLE for not doing a damn thing to help poor black people in the inner-city so they can keep getting the "oppressed" vote?

[babylonsister]

4. Good luck; how about holding the US gov't responsible for anything?

Ain't happenin' with this admin.

[jasmine621]

5. Funny, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Jocelyn Elders, and many other

blacks have said much the same thing but Obama gets so much credit for chastising blacks.

[babylonsister]

6. Tell Al Sharpton that; he agrees with Obama.

And did you even bother to read the article? I'm sure not.

Al Sharpton on responsibility, civil rights
Email Print Link
Posted July 14, 2008 4:43 PM
The Swamp

by Rick Pearson

Rev. Al Sharpton says anybody who believes Sen. Barack Obama is speaking down to African Americans by calling for more parental responsibility isn't reflecting the modernization of the civil rights movement in America.

Sharpton, who visited Chicago today as part of a recently formed movement to push for equality in educational opportunity, said that just as Obama's rise as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee shows "a new paradigm, politically, there's a new paradigm civil-rights-wise" in which Rev. Jesse Jackson may have felt generationally left behind.

It was Jackson, often a rival of Sharpton's previously as the voice for African Americans in civil rights issues, who recently used a physically indelicate criticism of Obama on the issue of race in saying the Illinois senator was talking down to blacks.

"I'm glad that Rev. Jackson apologized. I'm glad that Obama graciously accepted it. I happen to think that Obama was dead right. I think that I and others have been saying a long time and Bill Cosby, who I support, that...the civil rights movement of the 21st Century must be government accountability and personal responsibility," Sharpton said.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/07/al_sharpton_civil_rights.html#more

[NattPang]

8. Who is "crediting" Obama with "Chastising" Blacks?

Please let me know.