Letters: Race aspect not what Parkers says

Let me say right off that I am not and never have been a racist. I do not hate President Barack Obama or anybody else, but I couldn’t let Kathleen Parker’s column in the Sept. 3 Advocate go unchallenged.

She asks if Obama had been white, would he have been elected or re-elected? I believe he would never have been nominated! Can you imagine the Democratic Party nominating a white person who had an undistinguished career in his state Legislature, served only two years in the U.S. Senate with no significant accomplishments and had no administrative experience?

He was nominated only because of his skin color, and the media was reluctant to address this. They let the electorate down by not examining his qualifications.

Louise Kinney

retired accountant

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by gvm - 16/09/2012

I forgive the American people for giving us Reagan and Bush II.

2) Comment by ScotB - 16/09/2012

I'm sure that if the job of president were a posted on a website, it would say that one of the qualifications is executive experience. When Obama was elected he had none. Now, after four years, it shows. The American people can be forgiven for making a mistake. It happens. Time to correct it and move ahead. It's got nothing to do with race, it is about who is best able to get the great American economic engine reving again so that tax revenues will rise and deficits will fall. May the best man win.

3) Comment by ex-louisianian - 15/09/2012

You can tell that the opinion writer is bigoted because she uses the trope "He was nominated only because of his skin color", completely forgetting that the Democratic Party shed its racists 40 years ago and had a serious contender in Jesse Jackson for the nomination over twenty years ago. If the writer had sensibility, then she would have easily seen that Obama was nominated because he was a stronger politician than John Kerry and didn't face years of demagogic attacks like H Clinton. But these rightwingers don't have sensibility, they have sentimentality. And in the case of conservative Southerners, their sentimentality rests squarely on race. It's their idee fixe. The very comments from the right wingers on this blog and others on this site bear this fact out.

4) Comment by nimby? - 15/09/2012

half truth or lie ? will the white house press corp explain later what was actually meant ?

5) Comment by gvm - 14/09/2012

@mcarter: My dislike of those people has nothing to do with the color of their skin. It's entirely due to the fact that I find their politics reprehensible. Unfortunately, too many LA conservatives are too anti-Obama, anti-progress, anti anything that makes sense. It's pretty sad, really.

6) Comment by gvm - 14/09/2012

@Attila : "95% of blacks voted for BHO because he was black." Cite your source please. The voices in your head don't count.

7) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 14/09/2012

DMJ: spot on, but unfortunate

8) Comment by DMJ - 14/09/2012

pandering

9) Comment by nimby? - 14/09/2012

it has been said our president and the democratic party believe in god , truth or vote pandering ?

10) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 14/09/2012

Ah the good christian showing his true christian colors yet again. Of course, how any adherent to the teachings of Jesus could be a republican or conservative is beyond belief.

11) Comment by Whatnow - 14/09/2012

@DMJ, "Say what you will about his policies, but the man is a gifted writer and orator. His speech at the 2004 Democratic convention was inspiring. He's an inspiring guy." I'm glad you really liked his speech in 2004, so much that you got to hear it again this year. Being a gifted speech writer is not the top criteria of a good President. It's actions that count the most and we have seen his actions. No, thanks.

12) Comment by Whatnow - 14/09/2012

Bush graduated from Yale University in and Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to have earned an M.B.A. He showed his grades, which we know weren't the greatest, but at least we know his grades and didn't pay to have them hidden.

13) Comment by Whatnow - 14/09/2012

@ twinkie1cat , "Obama was nominated because he promised something different from the drudgery, propaganda, wars, outsourcing and subsidies to large businesses of the Reagan, Bush, Bush administrations. He promised hope and change. He promised to end the tyranny of the big banks and Wall Street support." I find your faith in Obama's promises hilarious! He and his own administration is guilty of abusing the same things you so fondly admire him for. You just refuse to see it.

14) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 14/09/2012

Poor Attila, it is you who is quite ignorant. You should really learn to read because I never said all republicans are racist. Within a statistical margin of error, the same percentage of blacks voted for Obama as they did for every other democratic candidate in the past 30 or more years. I believe someone posted that a while back. I'd really like to know what poll you pulled your ridiculous claim that "95% of blacks voted for BHO because he was black" You wouldn't know a fact if it bit you on your derrière. But I am glad that you yet again show your true colors. The insults your small mind conceives meas thing to me. Keep flailing. It's fun to watch

15) Comment by mcarter - 14/09/2012

@gvm, I guess so. If that's what it means cause I don't like Obama. Kinda confusing because I voted for kip and Cleo (before I knew he was a crook).

16) Comment by Attila - 14/09/2012

@T_S: Once again you demonstrate you ignorance. Since you and those of like thinking consider ALL conservatives as racist I could care less if that is what you think of us. In your small minded universe the fact that I could care less is proof that I am a racist....is that all you got? Come on...let's hear it. If you actually believe that all conservatives are racist you are more brain damaged than I thought. Over 50 million people voted Republican in the '08 elections. I guess they are all racists too. 95% of blacks voted for BHO because he was black. I guess that is OK in your mind. Ever hear the word hypocrisy? For a definition of exactly what that is just look in the mirror.

17) Comment by Art Vandelay - 14/09/2012

@DMJ. You're wrong again bub. Obama never voted for or against the war in Iraq, he did vote for continued funding for the war in Iraq, Hillary Clinton also voted for the war in Iraq, so guess where Bill stood on the issue. A little research can save you from sounding stupid dude.

18) Comment by DMJ - 14/09/2012

"He was nominated only because of the color of his skin." Man, that's dumb. First of all, Barack Obama is not the first black person to run for president. The fact that Ms. Kinney didn't know this proves that race wasn't the only reason Obama was nominated or elected. Say what you will about his policies, but the man is a gifted writer and orator. His speech at the 2004 Democratic convention was inspiring. He's an inspiring guy. That, and he voted against the Iraq war when so many, including those in his own party, didn't. If race was the only factor, Hermain Cain would be running.....but Herman Cain is an idiot, so he didn't get the nomination. Starting to make sense? And Nimby, Powell voted for Obama. Sorry.

19) Comment by nimby? - 14/09/2012

I know of many conservatives who would have preferred a Powell/Rice ticket . the race game will be played in equal from both sides . I have no problem with our president ; he seems a decent , honest man . it's that he chose to surround himself with a familiar chorus of inefficient old white people , who keep jumping ship ....

20) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 14/09/2012

And every time Attila starts typing, his foot invariably ends up in his mouth. He actually admitted that conservative values include racism. It's actually refreshing to see some honesty from a right winger. "personally could care less if I am called a racist. To me that only means that I have convictions strong enough to support conservative values."

21) Comment by Attila - 14/09/2012

Every time another of you left wing zealots opens your mouth you demonstrate just why it is imperative that the adults retake the country. Left to your own devices your socialist policies will guarantee that this country ends up just like Greece, Spain, Ireland, and others. I wonder what great gift you people have to see what is in other people's hearts. Every Republican, in your eyes, is a racist. I personally could care less if I am called a racist. To me that only means that I have convictions strong enough to support conservative values. Just because liberals are eaten up with class envy, jealousy of people who are successful, believe that the fruits of someone else's labor should be confiscated to be redistributed to those who have less, and no longer demand an equal playing field but demand equal results doesn't mean that I am a racist...The Democrat party has been co-opted to the point that it has become the party of misfits, malcontents, and leeches that suck off of the producers. Alan Keys, Herman Cain, Condeleeza Rice, Alan West, and J. C. Watts, to name a few are black people that I would gladly vote for. The reason I do not vote for the Democrats can be summed up in paraphrasing one James Carville...It is not their race, it is their politics; stupid.

22) Comment by twinkie1cat - 14/09/2012

Lie! Cut taxes on the rich! Cut benefits! Privatize and outsource jobs! Backpedal on human rights! Start wars! That is what the Republicans do Look at Bobby Jindal. Look at the Teaparties. Look at Romney/Ryan. Oh, and at all costs, prevent the children from thinking. That's the Republican agenda. Destruction of the soul of America. A fiefdom. With a king much like Louisiana's own emporer, Piyush.

23) Comment by DMJ - 14/09/2012

Yeah, since when has being black not been an asset in Unites States politics? Dumbest letter in a long, long time. Whenever someone starts a point by saying something like... "I'm not racist, but..." They're usually about to say something racist.

24) Comment by twinkie1cat - 14/09/2012

We had a black Republican running for president . His name was Herman Cain. Apparently he pulled a Newt Gingrich and had to drop out. Cain's politics stank as much as any other Republican, apparently caused by his growing up in a very conservative black neighborhood in Atlanta. But I think it would have been fun to have him as the Republican candidate and watch the bigots twisting and flipping and probably running off to Ron Paul to keep from voting for one of "them". For Republicans the election has a lot to do with race. For Democrats it's about who can make America better.

25) Comment by twinkie1cat - 14/09/2012

And Mildred Citizen, do you really want to replace him with a greasy haired white guy and his religious zealot teaparty assistant who is so racist he helped sabotage our president. Want your kids and your grandkids to have to move in with you because they can't get a job because they are sent, even more of them to China? Romney is nothing but a mealy mouthed opportunistic rich guy from a wealthy, political family. He cares about America about as much as Bobby Jindal cares about Louisiana. God help us if he wins. It just might bring on the Second Coming.

26) Comment by gvm - 14/09/2012

@mcarter: I don't like Romney's, Jindal's, Bush's (none of them), McConnell's, Boehner's or any other conservative politician's politics. Does that make me a racist?

27) Comment by twinkie1cat - 14/09/2012

Obama was nominated because he promised something different from the drudgery, propaganda, wars, outsourcing and subsidies to large businesses of the Reagan, Bush, Bush administrations. He promised hope and change. He promised to end the tyranny of the big banks and Wall Street support. He promised that we would finally get what most developed countries have, universal health care. And he did what he said he would do even though the beneficiaries of Reagan, Bush, Bush have tried to drag him down at every turn and sabotage his every move. Even now large Republican run businesses are holding on to the profits they should be using to create more jobs and improve the economy in the hope that they won't have to do the right thing with it and so they can sabotage Obama's re-election. The election was NOT about race. It was about CHANGE. I supported Hillary Clinton because she had more experience. She would have been a change too. Remember she is a woman and has been an outstanding Secretary of State. We cannot help that most Republicans are racists and would not voluntarily vote for a woman or an African-American for President. But the fact is that Obama has done a good job with what he has to work with and will continue to do so if we don't return to the abyss with Romney and get some of those blasted teapartiers out of Congress. All Republicans know how to do is lie, start wars, and pay off rich people.

28) Comment by gvm - 14/09/2012

One thing Ms. Kinney overlooks: skin color is the overriding factor for many (not all) of those who oppose him today. His predecessor had a dubious career as governor and a marginally successful businessman in Texas. Are these the qualities she seeks in a president? During Bush's term as governor, one of his signature accomplishments was to champion a huge tax cut for "bidness." It seems this turned out to be a dress rehearsal for what he would do as president. Is the country, or Texas, better off as a result?

29) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 14/09/2012

rgerald, she has to lead off with that statement because she follows it up with this ridiculous one: "He was nominated only because of his skin color, and the media was reluctant to address this." And to address his lack of experience, she probably voted for the previous president whose only experience ( besides 6 years as governor) was running companies into the ground until his daddy's friends bailed him out

30) Comment by mcarter - 14/09/2012

@rgeraldwallace you know the answer to that. If you don't like a black person's politics you obviously are a racist. Not sure how that isnt the same for black people who don't like white peoples politics.

31) Comment by [e-mail] - 14/09/2012

"Let me say right off that I am not and never have been a racist. I do not hate President Barack Obama or anybody else, but ..." why is it mandatory to precede any criticism of Obama or other Black leaders with that statement?

32) Comment by bourbon-soda - 14/09/2012

Affirmative action attitude probably did propel Obama, but Ted Kennedy had a great career despite being thrown out of college for cheating and highly plausible allegations of vehicular or negligent homicide with obstruction of justice in coverup.

33) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 14/09/2012

Of course you are correct, Ms. Kinney. This point has been made before. The good news is that after Mitt Romney wins by a landslide and America can put this presidency behind, it will be a long time before it happens again. Sworn into the Senate Jan 2005, he campaigns for other Senators/Reps in 2006 while putting out feelers for being president. Announces he's a candidate for president Feb 2007. That really is audacity. All he has ever done, or been good at, is campaigning - either for himself or others. Thank God this administration is almost at an end!