maporsche wrote:
Obama says that the "typical white person" is like his grandmother, spouting racial comments that make him cringe.
You misquote him in the audio in the link. He said that,""The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person. Who. . . If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away, and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it. And what makes me optimistic is seeing each generation feeling a little bit less like that."
I think he used an unfortunate phrase there in saying that his grandmother was a typical white person, but he included himself in speaking of those experiences that don't go away, reactions that have been bred into oneself--I'm surprised that people haven't jumped onto that comment. This is more typical of an off the cuff comment during a live interview, than the highly polished speech he gave in regard to his pastor. In any case, it surely is a negative that will be wielded against him and his presidential campaign.
