Legal Commentary

Obama Continues to Stress Accountability to Black Voters

By Jeralyn

Addressing the NAACP last night, Sen. Barack Obama said he will continue to stress his theme that black voters must take accountability for bettering their own lives.

Obama got a standing ovation at the annual NAACP convention here, presenting himself as a symbol of the political power that earlier black leaders had won. Touting the sacrifice of these activists, Obama said their courage had allowed him to "stand before you tonight as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America."

But Obama, in diagnosing conditions in the black community, made it clear that he was prepared to break with the generation of black leadership represented by Jackson. He said that government and business alone couldn't be blamed for the pain suffusing some black neighborhoods, but that black parents needed to show more maturity and demand more from their children.

Obama's advice to parents: [More...]

He advised "turning off the TV set; putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences; helping our children with their homework; setting a good example."

He continued that parents needed to teach "our sons to treat women with respect and to realize responsibility does not end at conception. That what makes a man a man is not the ability to have a child but to raise one."

The largely black crowd roared its approval.

Obama also stressed this theme in his father's day speech. It does not seem to hurt his standing among African-American voters and some posit it may help him with white voters:

In his implicit criticism that some black men neglect their children, Obama showed he was prepared to endure a breach with his political base. The move could have an upside: White voters might see it as an example of courage.

It's a theme Obama has no intention of abandoning:

In his address to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, Obama made a veiled reference to the flare-up with Jackson. "I know there are some who've been saying I've been too tough talking about responsibility," he said. "But NAACP, I'm here to report I'm not going to stop talking about it."

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 15, 2008 (boomark / email).