I actually found something that I agree with Barack Obama about!!!

Thank you Cynddvs! I do hope that you hunt down this exchange between O'Reilly and Dr. Hill, as it was very thought-provoking. I look forward to your further thoughts on this issue.

Hello Raimond2, Thank you for sharing your reaction to the speech. Yours is a very valuable post -- for this reason: I have every reason to suspect that your reaction is precisely the reaction that Obama's team had hoped for! Every Presidential hopeful must work on energizing the base during the primaries. Then, when the general election moves to front & center, the requirement is to shift from the cohesive message that motivates the base, to a more moderate, expansive, and inclusing message designed to curry support from Middle America. Politics is no less a game of strategy than chess is. This move represents the Obama team's first aggressive play toward a check-mate maneuver!

Oops! That should read "inclusive", not inclusing. DOH!!!

Except he negated his speech when he indicated there might be some money in it for the fathers that did actually "stick around"!

Hello Destiny, "Naturally, I found myself agreeing with it." I would say "Who wouldn't agree with it.". Yet, if you watch the speech clip, this was not a typical Obama speech. There were no fainting spells. In fact, Obama was nearly two minutes into the speech before the church crowd began to melt its icey veneer. The first two minutes of the speech, it sounds like Obama is giving the speech to a room full of hearing impaired people. The first round of applause did not occur until nearly 2:50 seconds (if I remember correctly). What a shift from his typical speeches, eh? "Now we know, beyond any doubt what we already knew but no one could really prove.... That Obama is just like every other politician, and his message of change is merely empty meaningless political rhetoric. What is great, is that his own people are now throwing HIM under the bus by exposing the hypocrite that he is. while the black vote is important to him.... he NEEDS the white vote to get elected." Excellent points, Destiny!!!

Hello Barehugs, If I had a direct line to Team Obama, I would share your legitimate concern, among many others, with them. Yes, it does take two to Tango! Although, the concept of 'jewels in the crown' appears to only relate to male virility. Though, your point is not lost. Perhaps if more young women knew about the deliberate effort to impregnate them by young men who only seek to prove their manhood, maybe more young women would less inclined to embrace the Tango, eh???

its the same reason aids is so rampant in africa.it does take two to tango.

Hello Piasabird, Thanks for stopping by! I have not run across you in discussions in quite a while. It's nice to visit with you again! As for your contribution here, I cannot say that I blame you for your distrust of politicians. It's difficult to have faith in any group of people who have so consistently abused the people's trust!

Hello Sir Rodney, Yes, I absolutely was surprised! I was surprised that Obama would abandon the 'Black Power' movement on this issue. I was surprised that he was courageous enough to bring this to the public's attention. I was surprised that Obama would make this particular leap toward the middle ground. I readily admit that Obama's team has kept me on my toes. His campaign, thus far, has been anything but predictable! He has some very sharp political strategists on his team. And, I think it would be wise to make certain not to underestimate them!

Hello Red, Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this issue. No, I had not heard Rush's commentary on the speech. Though, it isn't surprising that he initially liked it. Bill Cosby's 'personal responsibility' campaign has been enormously popular with a great many Caucasians, though highly unpopular with much of the Black Community. As far as I'm concerned, this represents Obama's first plunge toward Middle-America. Yet, I believe that it is wholly hypocritical. The mention of financial assistance being provided if Obama is elected confirms that he is not sincerely undertaking a proposed behavioral change away from 'jewels in the crown'. He's simply talking out of both sides of his mouth on an extremely polarizing issue. Grrrr!!!

Hello DaddyOfTheRose, Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. Though, I'm inclined to ask you why you would expect Obama to have meant what he said in that speech? The issue of the demise of the Black American Family, and the devastating effect it has had on both the Black Community, as well as the nation, is perhaps the most pressing issue within the Black Community for many years! Obama has been on the 'stump trail' for over a year, and has only now included this significant issue among his campaign platform. Moreover, and more importantly: Obama spent twenty years ingratiating himself into the 'Black Power' movement (by way of Trinity United), which has continued to rail against the Welfare Reform Act. That legislation effectively dismantled the prohibitions established by the welfare system to prevent women from becoming habitualized against having a husband residing with them. It did so by limiting the time a recipient was eligible to receive benefits, thereby quashing generational welfare. The Welfare Reform Act, the major compact of Republican Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" recognized that the absence of Black men from their children's lives was a major component of generational welfare, and the demise of the Black Family Unit. Yet, Obama aligned himself with a lobby who continues to protest the Welfare Reform Act! If Obama sincerely supports Bill Cosby's efforts (in contradiction to the Black Power movement) then why is Obama just now supporting Cosby's message? Bill Cosby has been courageously putting himself in the line of fire since May, 2004. So why has Obama been so conspicuously silent on perhaps the single greatest issue facing the Black Community until now??? Below is commentary about Bill Cosby's rant to the 2004 Rainbow/Push Coalition conference from one of my favorite academic economists, Walter Williams. http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/04/cos.html Another link to a discussion about 'The Cos' http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/001932.php Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, Starr Parker, Thomas Seoul, Walter Williams, Bill Cosby etc... These successful Black American's have, for years, been attempting to shock the Black Community toward a much needed wake-up call. Where has Obama been for the last four years???