Obama Calls Grandmother ‘Typical White Person’ in Radio Interview
Barack Obama called his grandmother a “typical white person” in a radio interview on Thursday, raising eyebrows among some of his critics only days after he sought to bridge racial division in a major campaign speech.
Obama had pointed to his mother’s mother in his speech Tuesday as an example of someone who harbored fears of blacks based on racial prejudice. The Illinois senator revisited his relationship with his grandmother on Thursday in an interview on 610 WIP, Philadelphia Sports Radio.
He denied his grandmother held hatred toward blacks, but described her as a “typical white person.”
“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity — she doesn’t,” he said. “But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction. That has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way.”
On Tuesday, Obama described his grandmother as a woman who was at times fearful of black men.
In the speech, he said: “I can no more disown [Wright] than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”
The remarks weren’t the only ones focusing on race and the campaign on Thursday.
Geraldine Ferraro complained that Obama had lumped her in with his controversial pastor, whom she called a “racist bigot.”
Obama mentioned the 1984 vice presidential candidate on Tuesday in his speech on race and his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose heated, anti-U.S. sermons raised questions about the company Obama keeps.
“To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable,” Ferraro told the Los Angeles newspaper, The Daily Breeze, on Wednesday. “He gave a very good speech on race relations, but he did not address the fact that this man is up there spewing hatred.”
Ferraro, who left Hillary Clinton’s campaign finance team after saying Obama wouldn’t be where he is if he were white, said she had “no clue” why Obama included her in his speech. She said Obama’s relationship with Wright raises questions about his judgment.
“What this man is doing is he is spewing that stuff out to young people, and to younger people than Obama, and putting it in their heads that it’s OK to say ‘God damn America’ and it’s OK to beat up on white people,” she said. “You don’t preach that from the pulpit.”
The Wright controversy lit up shortly after Ferraro left her post on the Clinton finance committee following her initial interview with The Daily Breeze on Obama’s success.
In his speech, Obama drew a comparison between the two individuals.
“We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias,” he said.
Speaking in Philadelphia, Obama then argued that the issue of race cannot be ignored and that to over-simplify and focus only on the negative aspects of the matter would distort reality.
Overall, Ferraro said Obama’s speech was “excellent,” aside from the part where her name was mentioned.
Click here to read the article in The Daily Breeze.
This is getting crazy! Hell, I am a typical white women and I am afraid of blacks walking behind me in the dark. Obama is being real! And honest, alot of typical white women feel this way. Wake up america!!! He is speaking the truth!
Obama just can’t stop getting himself into trouble. The more he speaks the worst things are becoming for him. Thanks to his spiritual adviser, Reverend Wright of 20 years; Obama he has learned just how to talk bad of whites starting from his own grandmother. This man is despicable. After his ties to the Trinity… he is through.
Why should you vote for anyone based on color, gender, etc… Shouldn’t a voter have a more mature intellect than that?
I am uncomfortable passing ANY man on the street and I am even more uncomfortable thinking that I might have an angry, confused, and double minded one as president. Why hasn’t he protected his family from being brainwashed by a racist spiritual authority and he himself has anti Christian values. I want to hear exactly what he walked down that aisle for! God calls us to be pure, holy, and set apart. There is no color division with HIM. This man does not know and love the God I know.
Hey, I am a mixed race man and I look more white than I do black. I have been privy to hearing racial slurs from both ends. It’s funny however, when most whites find out that I am mixed with black, they oddly enough assume that I am not fully in tuned with my white family or white heritage.
I do not agree with Mr. Obama’s politics, I agree even less with some of the comments of Rev.Wright; but I do think Mr. Obama is qualified to speak to the issue of race. Especially when it comes to members of his own family. Ultimately, at 45-46yrs old, all of this may be the best thing that could have happened to Mr. Obama. If he’s as bright as I think he is, he may not be ready now but in 4 to 8 years he may be the best president that this country has had since Reagan.
So, now we see that some of Rev. Wright’s views are actually views of Obama himself; that is, the “typical” white person (like Obama’s grandmother) uses racial “stereotypes” for blacks (which was just a euphemistic way of saying she that used racial epithets) and are prejudiced against blacks.
Obama’s not such a “new,” “transcendent” “uniter” after all.
He made that statement based on him being a typical black that has a hatred against whites, europeans, and the american government just like his spiritural advisors Wright and Farrakhan……………….
What a transparent attempt to manufacture a contraversy where there isn’t one. I have to hand it to the creative minds of the conservative media. As a democrat, all this noise about Senator Obama’s pastor and the issue of race in America is quite exciting to watch. It clearly indicates a beleif amongst the conservative media that Senator Obama would pose a huge threat to McCain’s chances in the general election were he to become the Democratic nominee.
You folks need to get a life!!!!! Everytime you open your mouths the only thing that comes out is stench!
Any member or leader of a church that is centered around Christain Faith should be dedicated to following the teachings of Christ as presented in the Bible. There are several versions of the Bible. I am certain, however, that none of these different versions of the Bible say that Christ would look favorably upon some of Pastor Wright’s sermons. I am also certain that anyone whom would seek spiritual advice from a pastor with such views as Wright’s does not deserve to be President of the United States. Christ teaches us to love each other, regardless of race. Electing Barack Obama for President would make about as much sense as electing David Duke.
Sounds like Rodney is bitter about the more centrist talk shows because they are not liberal sounding boards any more .. The reason the more conservative radio and TV shows are kicking the butts of the Big 3 networks is because people are sick of being fed the same liberal pap every night for the last 30 years … Americans need to hear some truth instead of the same old socialist, globalist, liberal lies and misdirection …