Obama says 'institutional constraints' kept him from commenting on killings of Black Americans

[largebillsonlyplease]

I have no problem with offending white people or making them uncomfortable but when engaged with an enemy possessing an arsenal more powerful than yours it becomes a matter of tactics if you expect to win. Don't misunderstand, I am by no means a "turn the other cheek" type individual. I am more the type that believes in employing tactics that will have the enemy saying "how did that happen"?

And I believe that calling out people isn't distracting from the tactics because they're going to hate us anyway.
Obama played it exactly as some are saying he should have and nothing worked

The racist got elected wiped out most of his gains but pretty much everything he accomplished that they could
and now he's telling us he should have spoken up more

That doesn't do anything for us

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

I mean I'm really fully appreciating that just now because Trump's grip on the GOP is strong. But I just like to follow politics... Obama was the fucking POTUS.. He should have seen what was coming and obviously he didn't.. I feel like he was just as clueless as the rest of us until we all figured out it was possible just like he did.. when it was too close for comfort at the end.. swing states within the margin of error.

We didn't have an army of people who's job it was to keep him informed
he also wanted to hand the party over to Hillary instead of inserting hillary as an extension of himself

Joe Biden won this election because he was vice president under Obama no other reason contributed to that more outside of him being a white man

 

[Amajorfucup]

I don't think either makes a difference in terms of what he would have gotten done legislatively.

However, the POTUS putting certain things on the historical record would have made a difference in the future.

For instance, he knew reparations would never have been passed.. especially with him as potus. However, he should have said that America absolutely needs to do it. He was always in the weeds of the policy or the fact that there weren't votes for it. But you should have made the fucking MORAL argument for it.. especially in your second term. He could have said.. I won't be able to do it.. maybe the next POTUS won't be able to do it either. But American is obligated to pay reparations. If a black POTUS can't say it, we're fucked. He couldn't get it passed, but he should have made the fucking argument to the country.

Now you got CACs not even wanting racism to be taught in school at all.

Obama wanted to do his job well but he also did miss the opportunity to really use the bully pulpit as a black man. You're the POTUS and you do have institutional constraints, but you're the first BLACK potus on a racist ass country. You can't miss your opportunity to point out the evil nature of the system.

Now he understands he missed the moment. Writing about it in books won't even meant shit compared to what it could have meant with him saying it as potus.. even though it would not have changed anything legilslatively.

Disagree on him not being able to get anything black specific via EO or legislative measures (even minor measures would have been used as seeds sown for subsequent admins to build upon). But even missed opportunity from the bully pulpit are just as unforgiveable. Not to mention him kicking the can down the road with criminal justice reform and using his DOJ to go after the killers of Tamar Rice or Eric Garner.

Also, he shoulda told that bitch RBG to get the fuck out the paint.

 

[Spectrum]

We didn't have an army of people who's job it was to keep him informed
he also wanted to hand the party over to Hillary instead of inserting hillary as an extension of himself

army of people plus dude was traveling across the whole fucking country. The only way is that he just saw "the best of white folks" and ignored the worst of them. I mean, after all the birth certificate shit, how did he miss it unless he really thought fox news wasn't fully presenting half the country.

Joe Biden won this election because he was vice president under Obama no other reason contributed to that more outside of him being a white man

that's it. Trump had shit so fucked up that many of those same CACs wanted the black man back and Biden was the closest thing to it.

 

[Spectrum]

Disagree on him not being able to get anything black specific via EO or legislative measures (even minor measures would have been used as seeds sown for subsequent admins to build upon). But even missed opportunity from the bully pulpit are just as unforgiveable. Not to mention him kicking the can down the road with criminal justice reform and using his DOJ to go after the killers of Tamar Rice or Eric Garner.

Also, he shoulda told that bitch RBG to get the fuck out the paint.

Yeah. I'm being hyperbolic. He could have gotten "something".

But yeah.. the bully pulpit missed opportunities are TRAGIC. We got nothing from that shit man.. nothing. We had a black man in control of the bully pulpit for 8 years and he never stopped being POTUS. it's like he only thought of himself as the first black POTUS rather than fully realizing it was a black man at POTUS and not Barack Obama...and a black man had a special responsibility to address White America... but he did his "job" as opposed to taking advantage of the moment to address White America. He flushed that shit down the drain man. he knows it.

 

[Spectrum]

Also, he shoulda told that bitch RBG to get the fuck out the paint.

He probably diplomatically discussed it with her and just accepted her NO. He probably didn't want to be the guy to push her out. However, he should have used other "methods" of pushing her out man. She was barely alive during Obama's first term. I know hindsight is a different thing but man that was mishandled and then Hillary came and fucking fumbled the shit right on the fucking goal line

 

[ronmch20]

Correct, @largebillsonlyplease

For one thing, he could have acknowledged publicly that there was a systemic problem that reached deep into police departments, corrupt grand jury systems, officers writing false reports, commanding officers covering shit up and corrupt DAs. He could have cited statistics on how Black unarmed people are disproportionately killed by cops relative to whites.

He could have NOT continuously harped on 99 percent of police being good upstanding citizens who risk their lives every day, and it being only1% of cops who are bad committing the murders who are the problem. That's a blatant lie. City bus drivers and construction workers risk their lives every day more than cops and no one tries to canonize them as saints. Fuck that shit.

In short, he could have TOLD THE TRUTH instead of gaslighting America in order to not shake up whitey.

Obama gaslighting America. He's been accuse of a lot of things, but that's a new one. All the things you say he could have done I don't disagree with but the reality is they would serve him well if he were President of the NAACP not President of a majority white country. It's about tactics pure and simple. To defeat an enemy possessing superior might you must lull him into inaction until you're able to engage him with a reasonable chance of achieving you objective. Or as the old folks used to say, "don't cut off your nose to spite your face".

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

army of people plus dude was traveling across the whole fucking country. The only way is that he just saw "the best of white folks" and ignored the worst of them. I mean, after all the birth certificate shit, how did he miss it unless he really thought fox news wasn't fully presenting half the country.



that's it. Trump had shit so fucked up that many of those same CACs wanted the black man back and Biden was the closest thing to it.

You can't have tween power
either you want it or you don't

Obama it seems was always fully undecided.

 

[Amajorfucup]

He probably diplomatically discussed it with her and just accepted her NO. He probably didn't want to be the guy to push her out. However, he should have used other "methods" of pushing her out man. She was barely alive during Obama's first term. I know hindsight is a different thing but man that was mishandled and then Hillary came and fucking fumbled the shit right on the fucking goal line

Man fuck hindsight on RBG.. We literally discussed that shit in 2015.. Who the fuck thought this bitch would last to 90 as a frail built cancer suffering cac!!!?? Vain bitch wanted to break a record like she Lebron or some shit.

And at Hillary.. I truly underestimated how much white people hated her (not to mention the surprisingly high volume of self hate among white women).

 

[Supersav]

And I believe that calling out people isn't distracting from the tactics because they're going to hate us anyway.
Obama played it exactly as some are saying he should have and nothing worked

The racist got elected wiped out most of his gains but pretty much everything he accomplished that they could
and now he's telling us he should have spoken up more

That doesn't do anything for us

Out wealth as a group has been stagnant since 1865. What gains are u speaking of?

 

[respiration]

Obama gaslighting America. He's been accuse of a lot of things, but that's a new one. All the things you say he could have done I don't disagree with but the reality is they would serve him well if he were President of the NAACP not President of a majority white country. It's about tactics pure and simple. To defeat an enemy possessing superior might you must lull him into inaction until you're able to engage him with a reasonable chance of achieving you objective. Or as the old folks used to say, "don't cut off your nose to spite your face".

Yes he did gaslight America and I would argue that his soft sell of the problem was a contributing factor to the creation of "All Lives Matter." Because he never treated the killings as more than just isolated incidents. Never sold it as racial, which is what it was.It was never definitive. After Ferguson, he expended more breath on condemning people rioting and destroying stores than he did condemning the one that took Michael Brown's life. At the moment of truth, Obama displayed cowardice and played politics. This, at a time he didn't even have a reelection coming up to use as an excuse for him not telling it like it is.

It's no wonder that even so-called moderate networks like CNN and MSNBC routinely featured debate format discussions about Black people getting murdered by police. Whereas, if there was a panel discussion about a cop getting killed, there was no such debate framing. Like we have to fight to even have it be accepted as what it was, a murder. Treating the murders of Black people by cops like debates over the existence of UFOs.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

Out wealth as a group has been stagnant since 1865. What gains are u speaking of?

Exactly my point

These old "Shhh be quiet tonight is the night that we ride 40 camouflage hummers with niggas inside" ass niggas

don't understand.

 

[Entrepronegro]

You have a problem with that???

Yes I do, he focused more on the LGBT than he did black people. Are you mad cause you are apart of the LGBT?

 

[WattDogs]

Trump didn't do that. Whites did. I hope yall aren't simple-minded enough to think that Obama could even remotely get away with the shit that Trump did. Biden can't even get away with the shit that Trump did. CACs have a special reverence for someone who boldly and explicitly protects white supremacy and that was the extension of credit that Trump got.

Don’t know if you remember, but the shit was water under the bridge until Trump, as President, brought it back up & made it a political thing. Trump basically strong-armed the league into action. Before that, they was gonna let Kap chill.

Yes, the whites started it but Trump is the reason that even today, it’s a hot-button topic.

Don’t undermine the presidency to condone one Prez actions & disregard the other.

 

[Spectrum]

Don’t know if you remember, but the shit was water under the bridge until Trump, as President, brought it back up & made it a political thing. Trump basically strong-armed the league into action. Before that, they was gonna let Kap chill.

Yes, the whites started it but Trump is the reason that even today, it’s a hot-button topic.

Don’t undermine the presidency to condone one Prez actions & disregard the other.

What I'm saying is that Trump only sold what whites wanted to buy anyway. That wasn't a legislative accomplishment. It wasn't even something that was directly related to his position as POTUS. He just used to bully pulpit to make something that he'd always made into personal issues (I don't think even cares about this one though) into national issues to help his political narrative. It was food for his base. He didn't "do anything" though. All he did was keep Kap out of a job and cause the NFL a bunch of headaches. I know this isn't what yall are pitching as an accomplishment?

Trump didn't make any of this shit a hot-button issue. They always were.. he just amplified it because that's what he does well. Trump didn't give two shits about that.... he just knew his "people" did. I feel like most of yall still don't understand Trump.. even after all of this.

I swear if you followed Breitbart or other right wing channels, you could predict what Trump would make into a national issue next. He was just a funnel. I bet you he literally had Stephen Miller pitching him things to "make into issues" that served their politics. They'd already been bubbling under the surface and then he'd take them and amplify them. Trump was a "Remix" artist... take that take that.

 

[mcguyver]

He will always be my favorite POTUS of all time for several reasons including the obvious ones.. But i find myself liking him less and less as time goes on.

That's because you are retarded. But besides, that the sad thing is a black president that is as bold as Trump will not get the same support Trump got. Obama was the black president he had to be elected and be a 2 term black president.

 

[BigDaddyBuk]

Trump did whatever he wanted so the argument is moot

no he did not.

damn, dont yall remember all the shit that got stopped either by his own handlers, congress or the courts?

Trump-O-Meter : Tracking Trump’s first-term campaign promises | PolitiFact

PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others on its Truth-O-Meter.

www.politifact.com

 

[blaze]

Correct, @largebillsonlyplease

For one thing, he could have acknowledged publicly that there was a systemic problem that reached deep into police departments, corrupt grand jury systems, officers writing false reports, commanding officers covering shit up and corrupt DAs. He could have cited statistics on how Black unarmed people are disproportionately killed by cops relative to whites.

He could have NOT continuously harped on 99 percent of police being good upstanding citizens who risk their lives every day, and it being only1% of cops who are bad committing the murders who are the problem. That's a blatant lie. City bus drivers and construction workers risk their lives every day more than cops and no one tries to canonize them as saints. Fuck that shit.

In short, he could have TOLD THE TRUTH instead of gaslighting America in order to not shake up whitey.

I don't disagree with anything you just said. My question is then what? Short of actually doing what I was talking about in my original post, that shit is just somebody else saying what I already know. Like I know it's hot out here because of the sun, muhfucka! Get ya boy some shade or some AC or some shit! If he couldn't make that happen, just save it for your speaking tour after you don't have to worry about votes anymore. Just saying from a practicality stanpoint.

 

[Spectrum]

Man fuck hindsight on RBG.. We literally discussed that shit in 2015.. Who the fuck thought this bitch would last to 90 as a frail built cancer suffering cac!!!?? Vain bitch wanted to break a record like she Lebron or some shit.

And at Hillary.. I truly underestimated how much white people hated her (not to mention the surprisingly high volume of self hate among white women).

Man. I'm trying to extend this dude some credit where he figured he'd do such a good job that his successor would handle it. That shit was a colossal fuckup... especially when you're dealing with the got-damn supreme court.

Fuck allowing her to step down on her own time. Man, handing the GOP that 6-3 advantage really can just undo everything.... even if Biden passes a new VRA, the GOP can gut much of it through the courts. Dems were fucking stupid for that shit. Obama should have taken her answer and just put someone else on it... now we're at the mercy of looneys on the court man

Obama and the Dems were playing fucking Checkers with the most important thing you have influence over when you control the POTUS and Congress.

That's why i say that Mitch McConnel has been the most consequential politician over the last 2-3 decades. How can you argue that McConnell hasn't shaped the country more than Obama or even Trump?

 

[BigDaddyBuk]

Man ill never forget those first 2 years when those niggas had all power in the world

dude! that DID NOT happen!

he had control of congress for about 72 days and it wasnt even consecutive!

 

[Spectrum]

no he did not.

damn, dont yall remember all the shit that got stopped either by his own handlers, congress or the courts?

Trump-O-Meter : Tracking Trump’s first-term campaign promises | PolitiFact

PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others on its Truth-O-Meter.

www.politifact.com

People both underestimate and overestimate Trump

legislatively, he EASILY has the weakest record of any POTUS. It's just his rhetoric and destruction of the state are historic.

And I don't talk about it anymore, but we know someone is getting indicted... might not be him but 95% of grand juries end with an indictment so his story isn't even done yet.

 

[Spectrum]

dude! that DID NOT happen!

he had control of congress for about 72 days and it wasnt even consecutive!

Yep! Another misconception. He had that supermajority for a heartbeat and I forget with Senator got hospitalized... I think it was Kennedy, that fucked it all up. People really think he had way more power than he did.. then after the first midterms, that was a wrap.

That's why I said that I don't think he could have accomplished "much" more legislatively. Most of his political capital was spent on the Recovery Bill and then the ACA.... then the Dems got washed in both branches of congress. It was a wrap after that. They didn't have the votes. Mitch wouldnt even allow them to fill court seats man

 

[ronmch20]

Yes I do, he focused more on the LGBT than he did black people. Are you mad cause you are apart of the LGBT?

You must be a glutton for punishment. If anyone should be mad it's you because your father has been in the closet for years and is just the simp who is taking the rap for your half breed coon ass as your mother couldn't be sure which one of the ten guys she fucked that night impregnated her. .

 

[BigDaddyBuk]

Yep! Another misconception. He had that supermajority for a heartbeat and I forget with Senator got hospitalized... I think it was Kennedy, that fucked it all up. People really think he had way more power than he did.. then after the first midterms, that was a wrap.

That's why I said that I don't think he could have accomplished "much" more legislatively. Most of his political capital was spent on the Recovery Bill and then the ACA.... then the Dems got washed in both branches of congress. It was a wrap after that. They didn't have the votes. Mitch wouldnt even allow them to fill court seats man

But here’s the deal — the real deal — there actually wasn’t a two year supermajority.


This timeline shows the facts.



President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009 with just 58 Senators to support his agenda.

He should have had 59, but Republicans contested Al Franken’s election in Minnesota and he didn’t get seated for seven months.

The President’s cause was helped in April when Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched parties.

That gave the President 59 votes — still a vote shy of the super majority.

But one month later, Democratic Senator Byrd of West Virginia was hospitalized and was basically out of commission.

So while the President’s number on paper was 59 Senators — he was really working with just 58 Senators.

Then in July, Minnesota Senator Al Franken was finally sworn in, giving President Obama the magic 60 — but only in theory, because Senator Byrd was still out.

In August, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died and the number went back down to 59 again until Paul Kirk temporarily filled Kennedy’s seat in September.

Any pretense of a supermajority ended on February 4, 2010 when Republican Scott Brown was sworn into the seat Senator Kennedy once held.Do you see a two-year supermajority?

Debunking the Myth: Obama's Two-Year Supermajority

Mitt Romney's at it again -- shading the truth on CBS News' <i>60 Minutes</i>. He's perpetuating the false Republican narrative that President Obama should have gotten more done during his first two years in office because he had a supermajority in the Senate.

www.huffpost.com

 

[roots69]

Hmm,, reagan/bush/clinton/bush/obama/trump/biden, all those mouth pieces were either dem or rep/red or blue/lib or conserv/left or right/!! Theres no difference between the 2 parties, only to keep the people divided!! Because they know if the masses happen to snap outta this trance, they know it will only take less than 8hrs to figure out whats really going on around them!! But as long as folks sit in front of the tv or social media platforms, they dont have a thing worry about!! The illusion will carry on and get a strangle hold on these little kids and they will fight and defend EVERYTHING these teleprompter puppets tell them!!

 

[Spectrum]

But here’s the deal — the real deal — there actually wasn’t a two year supermajority.


This timeline shows the facts.



President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009 with just 58 Senators to support his agenda.

He should have had 59, but Republicans contested Al Franken’s election in Minnesota and he didn’t get seated for seven months.

The President’s cause was helped in April when Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched parties.

That gave the President 59 votes — still a vote shy of the super majority.

But one month later, Democratic Senator Byrd of West Virginia was hospitalized and was basically out of commission.

So while the President’s number on paper was 59 Senators — he was really working with just 58 Senators.

Then in July, Minnesota Senator Al Franken was finally sworn in, giving President Obama the magic 60 — but only in theory, because Senator Byrd was still out.

In August, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died and the number went back down to 59 again until Paul Kirk temporarily filled Kennedy’s seat in September.

Any pretense of a supermajority ended on February 4, 2010 when Republican Scott Brown was sworn into the seat Senator Kennedy once held.Do you see a two-year supermajority?

Debunking the Myth: Obama's Two-Year Supermajority

Mitt Romney's at it again -- shading the truth on CBS News' <i>60 Minutes</i>. He's perpetuating the false Republican narrative that President Obama should have gotten more done during his first two years in office because he had a supermajority in the Senate.

www.huffpost.com

Yeah. I think we discussed this in another thread too. I think the Dems do a bad job at messaging... this myth has been allowed to survive with very little pushback and now it's taken as "fact" to make it seem like it was dem ineptitude instead of republican obstruction... wild

 

[TheAlias]

He knows he could have done more. But to not even articulate it....I can't get over the fact of how cautious he was in what he expressed.

But then what kills me is how didn't hesitate to talk down to black people when he was in office. Where was he doom and gloom, preacher voice when it was open season for us for black bodies? Nope, he only saved that when he reduced us to absent fathers who's part of an irresponsible citizenry.

And now him and Michelle want to take up the cause for the trannies, er trans community.

The Obamas can miss me. I'll always appreciate what he represented, but to have power and not wield it? As my girl says, sorry your father didn't love you Barack, but you don't have to kiss the white man's ass every chance you get. Stop apologizing for being who you are.

 

[Tom Slick]

He still a faggot.

 

[BKF]

If anything Trump proved all of this to be some shit that ain't true lol.

A president can do what they want when they're in office
Especially one who's secured his 2nd term.
And especially on his way out of his 2nd term.
That's like last week of college with your cap, gown, stole, and tickets printed and you got an A on all of your finals already.

Trump doesn't prove anything. The dude was and is a complete uncouth moron. Trump broke the mold and now it's a different world. Plus he was only able to do a lot of things because he was allowed to by his comrades in the senate.

 

[Entrepronegro]

You must be a glutton for punishment. If anyone should be mad it's you because your father has been in the closet for years and is just the simp who is taking the rap for your half breed coon ass as your mother couldn't be sure which one of the ten guys she fucked that night impregnated her. .

Blah Blah Blah you revealed yourself you are apart of the LGBT just come on out the closet sissy boy.

 

[BKF]

Hell Trump is the product of Obama
Man ill never forget those first 2 years when those niggas had all power in the world
and yet they were still trying to please the repigs

mofos created a whole tea party...basically i hate black people party and youre still reaching out
that ninja needs to enjoy retirement
like amajor said, my favorite potus of all time but im disliking him more by the day

Actually they didn't have complete control for two years because they only had a fillbuster proof majority on paper for most of that two years.

The problem was that Harry Reid was holding shit up with continued talks with the Republicans over the ACA once they had an actual filibusters proof majority.
Pelosi was passing shit left and right.
Obama was saying send me whatever bills and I will sign it. So it wasn't the Democrats but Harry Reid.

 

[BKF]

And I believe that calling out people isn't distracting from the tactics because they're going to hate us anyway.
Obama played it exactly as some are saying he should have and nothing worked

The racist got elected wiped out most of his gains but pretty much everything he accomplished that they could
and now he's telling us he should have spoken up more

That doesn't do anything for us

The truth is being the first black anything comes with a lot of constraints (includes constraints we may put on ourselves).
Being a public official and being an activist are two completely different animals and people were expecting Obama to be an activist. It's what we thought would happen (something we never thought would happen) once a black person was elected president.

You'll never see a Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, etc....elected as president.

 

[Supersav]

 

[Soul On Ice]

BGOL: The presidency is the most important and most powerful job in the country from 1789-2008. Then from 2016-2020***

Had to quote one of my classics

 

[Megatron X]

I knew it just like clockwork that these niggaz would feel that buyers remorse when it was too late. It took over a decade for these knuckleheads to realize they got played.

i knew Obama back in 08 by his attitude alone that he wasn’t going to do anything for Black Americans. I remember that He was worshipped like god on bgol. Now these niggaz feel like suckers and see him as the devil. you’ll also feel that way under Biden too.