The Most Controversial Quotes from Obama’s Hampton University Speech

National Review ^ | October 2, 2012 7:54 P.M | By Eliana Johnson

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Based on the transcript posted by the Chicago Sun Times, here are the 5 quotes from then Senator Obama’s 2007 speech at Hampton University that are most likely to raise eyebrows:

1. Hurricane Katrina “was a powerful metaphor for what’s gone [in America] on for generations.”
2. “It was also there — at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago — that I met Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who took me on another journey and introduced me to a man named Jesus Christ. It was the best education I ever had.”
3. On his run for the Illinois State Senate: “And the second thing people would ask me gets back to the question about why we can’t seem to take the bullet out in this country and do the works and the deeds and unite this country.”
4. “[The poor] may need help with basic skills — how to show up to work on time, wear the right clothes, and act appropriately in an office. We have to help them get there. That’s why I have called for $50 million to begin innovative new job training and workforce development programs.”
5. “We need to give our young people some real choices out there so they move away from gangs and violence and connect them with growing job sectors. That is why I am also going to create a 5-E Youth Service Corps. The ‘E’s’ stand for energy efficiency, environmental education and employment. This program would directly engage disconnected and disadvantaged young people in energy efficiency and environmental service opportunities to strengthen their communities while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important and growing career field.”

It appears that President Obama went off script when he delivered the speech, but if he went on to deliver these remarks as written, I imagine they will cause some controversy.

[Texas4ever]

We need a good commercial that shows this video and his shuddering at Nc. Then contrast how he speaks to the white base. I swear I saw him in a checker shirt and Michelle in gingham going to WI. Wow. Who are they?

[brent13a]

I do not think there is much in the way of controversy here at all.

I guess I'll keep repeating the obvious:

It's quite simple really....this video release isn't about revealing anything to conservatives/republicans. (duh)
This video may well provide all the right talk shows with all the right quotes and snippets we need to sway the “undecideds”.
Pile on the treasure trove of quotes and snippets to the ones we currently have and there will be a long endless loop of them played until election day that just might help us sway the wishy-washy “undecideds”.
That is the point of releasing this video.

[musicman]

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[xzins]

There is nothing in those lines that will get obama-supporters upset. Independents probably won’t find them that unusual either.

This is no story with teeth there.

In sum, those who’d have problems with his words in this instance are already not supporting him.

[vox_freedom]

Agree.

[aposiopetic]

The 0bama at Hampton sounds different from 0bama in The Hamptons.

[PghBaldy]

Teflon(R)? He’s been almost consistently below 50% in the polls. Nothing Teflon(R) bout that.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“You also have Obama saying, in essence, that poor people are lazy and rude:
“[The poor] may need help with basic skills — how to show up to work on time, wear the right clothes, and act appropriately in an office.””

Yeah; we could work with that quote. The “undecideds” we are trying to reach; might not like to be reminded why their tax money has go to show someone how to get to work on time.
When they are getting up at 5:00 to go to work to pay taxes to pay for that.

[rfp1234]

Most undecided voters have never seen the G-d AmeriKKKa video
clips and have forgotten who Wright is. That’s why they’re undecided.

[RaisingCain]

“Of course what he introduced Obama too is different than 90% of everything else that in and of itself makes it controversial.”

---

We’re running a freaking Mormon who believes that some guy found gold plates, which probably weighed something like 600 pounds if they existed, with the Book of Mormon on it written in Reformed Egyptian which he translated out of his hat.

I don’t think the “different Jesus” angle is going to work out here.

[exit82]

The 0bama at Hampton sounds different from 0bama in The Hamptons.

That is excellent. Seriously.

[paudio]

How is it odd logic? I don't understand or approve many other Christian denominations either, so if they want to believe something strange, it's between them and God.

I don't like Wright or Obama. But, to make such quotes controversial is a bit of stretch.

[o2bfree]

Lets hear the quotes that rush picks out for the show tomorrow.

The NRO is a pretty wimpy rag - I wouldn’t be surprised if they cherry picked to find the least offending quotes Obama said.

[montag813]

Big yawn. Saw most of this in 2008.

[GBA]

Is this supposed to hurt or help obama?

I must be missing something, because if my take on libs is close to accurate, those quotes should do more to add to his support, not take support away.

Nice of Fox to rerun campaign material for obama like that. I bet they donate a lot of cash to his campaign, too. No wonder. It's easier to be a "journalist" when your stories are already written for you.

That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Now that ain't workin',

[NKP_Vet]

He makes me want to vomit. The SOB born in Kenya, grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, but has a black southern accent when he speaks to blacks. The pandering fake, fraud POS.

[piytar]

That would be brilliant because many urban blacks would see it as a dis - which it is!

[MNJohnnie]

This isn't for the hard core on either side. This exposes the “great uniter” as just another race baiting huckster like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson

This is not going to sit well with the “moderates” who voted for a “post racial” President in 2008. This video shows he is not “The One” they were promised.

[patriotspride]

Juan Williams on Hannity is expressing just the exact reaction I expect that the other 97% will cheer! No problem with Zero pandering in using the Black accent and cadence! Yeah for Zero!

---

Agree there are those who enjoy the “shuck and jive” , but also think there
Are one who will see the side that distorts things then, and is still doing it
Now.

Newt called him out on his outright lie on New Orleans not getting their share.

[MNJohnnie]

This isn't for the hard core on either side.

This exposes the “great uniter” as just another race baiting huckster like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. We all knew this in 2008. The middle, including about 15% of normally GOP voters, did not.

This video is not going to sit well with the “independents” who voted for a “post racial” President in 2008. This video shows he is not “The One” they were promised.