President Obama's Glad He Used N-Word: Public Reaction Shows He’s Triggered Broader Racism Debate

[big_dog]

Source: Politico 6/23/15 9:06

President Barack Obama’s glad he said what he said. And he believes America proved his point: Even in the wake of an amateur white supremacist shooting nine African-Americans to death in a historically black church in the hopes of inciting a race war, we still struggle to have a genuine discussion about race in this country.

Aides said that walking into a podcast, Obama knew he’d probably get asked about race, and he knew roughly what he wanted to say. When the taping ended, he could guess that most people would focus on the president of the United States, the nation’s first black president in its history, using the most racially charged word in the English language.
When the interview went live, the news instantly went live everywhere around the world: President Barack Obama said “n*gger.”
The reaction, in Obama’s mind, is a good thing. Like a national experiment in abstract expressionism, the response it’s generated has shown him he was right in the point he was making about what’s wrong with how the country talks about race.
“Racism: We’re not cured of it,” Obama told Maron. “It’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say n*gger in public, that’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t overnight erase everything that happened two to 300 years earlier.”


Aides say he’s glad his language got a whole lot more people talking about what he had to say on race than they would have been otherwise — even if some of that reaction looks to the White House to be dumb and petty and shortsighted.“Is the reaction all good? No, but that’s never the goal,” said Valerie Jarrett, an Obama senior adviser and friend who was in the room for the interview. “It was a really important point for people to hear. I think he’s glad that he said it. And he is encouraged that people were able to hear his broader message.”



Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/barack-obama-race-marc-maron-racism-119311.html#ixzz3dwi0mHFJ

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[3catwoman3]

1. I am glad that he said it, too.

"...even if some of that reaction looks to the White House to be dumb and petty and shortsighted."

Aren't most RWNJ reactions to anything he does dumb, petty and shortsighted? What else is new?

[pnwmom]

2. That ugly word is just a tiny tiny part of what all African Americans have gone through.

And yet it's so ugly it has "conservatives" flipping out everywhere. So why aren't they flipping out about the big stuff? The even uglier stuff? Like police shootings and terrorist murders and rampant discrimination?

Compared to that, that little ugly word is just a little ugly word.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Politico is such a fucking despicable rag

What do YOU think about this issue, big_dog?

[big_dog]

5. Valerie Jarrett is right

so what if the right wing nutjobs squirm a little in their shorts?

[romanic]

4. He had to say it.

To get his points across. That's whay a good president would do, cut the crap and say what needs to be said bluntly.

[Hekate]

6. I'm glad he did it. Just because we've made the n-word socially unacceptable ...

.....doesn't mean certain profound underlying problems have gone away. That's what he was saying.

[truthisfreedom]

7. This president knows how to make me smile.

And make all of us think.

[phleshdef]

8. He has been called it enough times. If he can't speak it in a non-derogatory fashion to make a point

...then I guess no one can.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. DUzy!!!

[mahannah]

9. Obama's statement was brilliant. He did not say "n*gger". He said nigger. The media stinks.

[IkeRepublican]

10. Absolutely. Media acts like we're all little children.

Christ, they stoke most of this racial shit anyway. After their constant blowing of the previous admin about Iraq WMD, I don't put anything past the corporate monopoly media anymore. They're scum.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Agree. F-word the media! -nt

[Baitball Blogger]

12. I agree with him on this point.

[Cal33]

13. An important point is: Did he have to wait until his 7th year as President before bringing it up?

There have been ugly race cases all along before this latest Roof Nut Job. All the previous
presidents avoided the topic like the plague, too.

I don't think race relationships will now suddenly become a topic that will be discussed and
debated broadly and deeply throughout our nation. Very likely it will be avoided and ignored
again within a short time. I hope I am wrong.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. I hope a black community leader steps up to make sure

that this issue becomes an election priority.

You are right. We can't depend on politicians who depend on campaign donations to carry this one through an election year.

[Cal33]

19. Yes, having this issue as an election priority is important.

[Politicub]

17. Too bad the pres doesn't have your superior intellect on his team

If he had just followed your advice, racism would have been solved in the brief duration of his tenure. It's such an easy solution - it's crazy that no one thought of it, but you!

[Cal33]

18. Who said "racism would have been solved in the brief duration of is tenre"? You did. I didn't. In

fact, I said, "I don't think race relationships will now suddenly become a topic that will be discussed and
debated broadly and deeply throughout our nation. Very likely it will be avoided and ignored
again within a short time. I hope I am wrong."

It's the opposite of what you implied. Don't put words into my mouth!

[Politicub]

16. It was performance art of the highest order

And I mean that in the best way possible.

A single, yet ugly and charged, word uttered by the President provoked a wounded nation at exactly the right time.

Art is powerful.