Trump to Cut 17 Federal Agencies

[Philly]

That "if I had a son" line certainly did piss off a lot of racists. Can't argue with that.

[lnrw]

It wasn't only racists. The demonstrations were dominated by black folks. Obama could have said it's always a bad idea to attack armed people and not have turned it into a heavily politicized issue. But he chose the race issue instead. Something his election had gone miles and miles to finally overcome.

[IndependentProfessor]

I find it humorous that people can easily see the connection between President Obama making a race-related comment like that and how it stoked racial tensions. Yet, those same people fail to see how having such organizations as Black Chambers of Commerce, mandatory DBE participation in governmental contract, and other set-asides do the exact same thing.

Wait. No, I don't find it humorous. Not at all.

[lnrw]

How is the Black Chamber of Commerce racially political?

If you can justify that, I will only say, that you have to be the change you want to see.

[spacemonkey]

[exploited]

On the issue of race, Obama made a few mild mistakes, but they were only mistakes because they (a) were foreseeably controversial and (b) achieved very little in the way of influencing the behaviour of others.

I personally thought he was very restrained. As the first black President of a country that does have significant racial tensions, it would be very tempting to come down hard, and really swing your weight around pushing things forward. Saying "that could have been my son" is pretty mild compared to saying "the police, courts, juries and lawmakers in this country engage in widespread and historical racism and it needs to be confronted now." That is the truth of the matter, and it is much more harsh than what he said.

Overall, his message was consistent: don't use violence, don't kill cops, try to understand that blacks are upset and their distrust of the system prevails over the individual circumstances of each case, etc.

[Philly]

I think this quote from our former president really sums it all up:

"Punching Nazis is Good. Also, soccer sucks and Bernie would have won."
-Barack H. Obama

[NAB]

[lnrw]

@ex.

I will agree that his intent wasn't likely meant to be harmful and maybe it was to show people they had a president, or just someone finally on their side in D.C..

But it just goes to show you how powerful and polarizing words from the POTUS can be. Things really started to happen after that.

[exploited]