YES WE CAN!!!!

I love Obama more than anyone, but I am worried that as he says these kinds of things non blacks are going to start to feel they can echo his comments like the one about feeding your kids "cold popeyes chicken for breakfast." I guess if we dont want to be embarrassed we shouldn't do embarrassing stuff, however, I wish he could send the white press out of the proverbial room when he chastises the black community as did that judge a while back . . .

Shouldn't it be censured instead of censored? Sorry, I can be a bit of a grammar nut.

Wasn't "Black America" upset with Bill Cosby for uttering similar sentiments?

I love this man.

What? There's something wrong with cold Popeye's for breakfast????

Preach indeed, Lauren! The cycle of self-destruction in our community breaks my heart…especially when I see little boys w/o fathers and I know that they are being given a double whammy in America: black male, fatherless -the latter usually equating to living in poverty or some other undesirable situation.

KatieK, you're right, the Cos did catch heat. He comes off as if he is looking down at the rest of us from his perch high above. Barack doesn't come off that way. Bill lectures AT people, but Barack doesn't do that. Yes, same message, but the delivery is key here. Also Bill Cosby is seen by many (me) as being disconnected from the people, you know? As unfair as that may seem it is reality. I don't cringe when Barack makes a speech about black men needing to be responsible. When Bill is speaking…I can't run for the remote fast enough.

@ blackmistressdiva

"When Bill is speaking…I can’t run for the remote fast enough."

Too funny!

Yes, I wondered if the messages would be received differently, and it seems that they are, overall. Delivery is key I suppose!

ah, the moynihan report is alive and well. this glaringly problematic rhetoric makes my stomach hurt. (or maybe it's the popeye's i had for breakfast.)

Alex says:
Shouldn’t it be censured instead of censored? Sorry, I can be a bit of a grammar nut.

you should visit >>>http://www.stuffebplike.com/?p=133

Love Barack and his truth tellin.
Gee, no one got mad at Farrakhan when he told 1 Million Men to get it together.

Let me go down the list

@Black Ivy-

Thank You! You have sense, you seem to get it. The media had a field day with it when they printed headlines like "Obama Tells Black Fathers to Act Like Men Not Boys" etc…

@KatieK

Yes, but this is Barack Obama, he could slap black people and they will cheer him on!

@Khia213

Yea funny.

@BlackMistressDiva

Obama does act as if he looks down at the rest of us-black folks. Nothing he said was new and his approach was cliche. I guess he missed the study that said that black fathers who are not actually physically in the home still have a relationship with their children-as fathers. So looking at a statistic and behaving like we a statistic is daunting.

@Anon

I agree.

@Gloss Glam

Obama is killing me with his lying, lying by omission and pandering. He tells not "truth" to any other group at all yet he will come to a black church and preach to the choir.

Louis Farrakhan's way of addressing certain issues are completely different. He is not chastising, he is trying to uplift. Obama was chastising.

If only some people knew their history and the effects it has on today in the regards to the breakdown of the black family.

I have my father and so did everyone I knew growing up. Also, there is more nuance behind the statistic. I wish that they would not continue to get overshadowed with negativity. No wonder the entire world thinks that blacks are dysfunctional, pathological, immoral and lazy. Moving on…

Obama's family (as he would like to make it seem) is not an exception. There are millions of blacks that have nuclear families. Mine is like that, everyone in my family is like that and all the blacks that I saw growing up in my middle class neighborhood is like that but of course we don't exist.

When Obama gets the balls to talk down to his other half (white people) then he can come with his "truth" telling.

Did you guys catch that racist political cartoon that has been circulating about Obama's speech…yea…case and point.