I have a newfound respect for Barack Obama

I still don’t believe he’ll be elected president, but I have a newfound respect for Sen. Barack Obama after watching this exchange between the presidential hopeful and a few hecklers at a rally last week.

Obama was speaking at a rally in St. Petersburg, Florida on Friday (8/1) when he was interrupted by three young black men holding up a banner that read “what about the black community?” Acknowledging that this country was built on Freedom of Speech, the senator asked the young men to allow him to continue his speech, then their voices would be heard.

After his speech, Obama did indeed address one of the young men’s concerns. For 10 minutes he engaged the brother while addressing each of his issues point by point.

When the crowd booed, Obama reacted, saying, “I want everybody to respect him…He has a legitimate question.”

This is in stark contrast to the way Obama’s opponent, John McCain handles American citizens who oppose his views. Hecklers are ignored by the candidate and they are often manhandled and physically removed from the room by McCain’s overzealous staff.

Not only does McCain not waste his precious time engaging his fellow citizens, er, hecklers, but it matters not to him that his attention could possibly sway a heckler to change his views and vote for him.

iyonah

Go Barack! I am telling you, this man is about a different type of politics.
mizzdallas

Im offended that these 3 young black men would disrespect B.Obama. If I said this once I said this a thousand times, Barack Obama is NOT running for Black America he is running for the United States Of America, yes he is a black men and we cant expect B.O. to solve all our issues within the the Black community Im so sick of some black people thinking he is our savior.

OMG!
starr

^^^^^Amen!!!!!!

I’ve been trying to tell people that exact same thing for a while now.
tkotuki

Happy Birthday Mr. Obama!!!!
stefany

Those young men had a legitiment question but went about it the wrong way..And as far as their claim that Obama is not addressing our issues hell gas, healthcare, jobs and education is everybody’s issue..Not saying that blacks don’t face issues that are unique to our culture but we’re all being affected by high ass gas, rising groceries and loss of jobs..A big part of the black communities problem is we have a 50% high scool drop out rate, which is setting these young people up for failure or to end up in the prison system..I lot of our problems arent’ even political it’s social and bad parenting..But I love the way Barack told that guy he could vote for someone else or run for office, priceless!!!
licia

i agree with what mizzdallas & stephany said.
http://www.myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

That was beautiful. The brotha might be a little on the militant side but he asked questions that were imporant to him and he asked them eloquently(sp?)when given a chance. Rather than dismiss him, Barack treated him like a man and allowed him to have a voice. In the end both of them behaved like men and fabulous black men. Just beautiful.

As for Barack being all gung ho on black issues during the race that can’t and won’t happen if he is expected to win. Black people make a very small pertcentage of American voters so Barack can’t only address our specific issues. He has to deal with issue that affect Americans on a large scale and that is what he is doing and that is what is going to put him in the White House.
http://www.myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

And now that I know it is not Sandra’s fault, what the hell is up with Google ads only carrying negative Barack ads? Maybe we need to start a writing campaign to get Google to be more fair. Don’t nobody want to see a bunch of negative McCain ads on a black site.
pointhimout

when will black people get thru their heads that barack can’t come out his mouth saying what he’s gonna do for the black people????
Kymystry

mizzDallas …Stefany.. And Bird said all I wanted to say and some …

Amen…
Sharonda

Barack is for ALL people.Why can’t most understand that?He’s not for one people.He came out answering his question respectfully.I’m glad he doesn’t have a short fuse.It seems like those 3 black men didn’t study.
stefany

At the end of the rally they interviewed one of the protesters and he made the comment that he’s not voting for Barack, clearly his choice but I wanted to smack him..I would like to challenge these group of protesters to go to a McCain rally and ask him what is he going to do for black people..Why is Barack the only candidate being held accountable for the black race and not others.

If you want to talk about accountability we need to start at the bottom and work our way up..We should start with our state,local and city school systems, teachers, parents, superintendants, congressmen, mayors, and governors first before we go after the president..Especially in these black neighborhoods where we have black city officals who don’t do a damn thing but collect a paycheck, that’s where the protesters need to start, you can’tjump over the middle man and go to the top and start pointing fingers.
brooklynisis

I just finished his book “Dreams From My Father”. If those young men read it they would KNOW Obama is VERY for our people (as an organizer in Chicago) and probably has done more for them than they ever have or will.
http://myspace.com/sfh50millionpounds mj

mizzdallas – I luv the way you put it.
“Barack Obama is NOT running for Black America he is running for the United States Of America”
And the sooner folks realize that, the better.
You go!
katgirl33

I like the way he played that….classy!

He hit it on the head, we don’t have respect for each other, ESPECIALLY blacks toward each other. Notice how the young man kept on interrupting him, eventhough he was given an opportunity to speak???

McCain would have had him and his boys drop kicked outta there!
brooklynisis

I agree – he is running for America and to change the world. Just because you are a Black man, WTF do they expect??!??! Plus good points he has spoken on those topics. You can’t please everyone for real…
stefany

McCain would have had him and his boys drop kicked outta there!

@ KATGIRL33,

You ain’t never lied, their asses probably would have gotton guns pulled on them, handcuffed and dragged out of there like a bunch of animals.
http://www.myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

stefany Says:

I would like to challenge these group of protesters to go to a McCain rally and ask him what is he going to do for black people..Why is Barack the only candidate being held accountable for the black race and not others.
*********************************************************

Preach my sista!!! The young man may not be old enough to remember Jesse Jackson’s candidacy where he made race a constant issue. We see how far he got with that. The young man needs a better grasp of political strategy.
NC_NYer

What about Black America? What a ridiculous question!!

When is Black America going to stand up for THEMSELVES??!!

When are you going to get out of VIP in the club or off the corner?

When are you going to stop buying rims and buy a CD or open a Schwab account?

When are you going to put down the guns & pick up a BOOK?

When are you going to stop FAKE hustling and gangbanging by choice and hustle for REAL? Education, Employment, Career, building a life!

I have a newfound respect for Barack Obama

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