Why is Obama getting a pass that Cosby didn't get?

Socrtease

Socrtease

Verified User
Ok, first off and without any real explanation, I think most of you know I support Obama.

That being said, on Sunday, Obama chose for his father's day address to confront absent black fathers. It is a speech that I believe strong black men, who are leaders in their community should make more often. Obama said "They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it." In May 2004 Bill Cosby said basically the same thing. He actually went further and decried what he sees has a declining morality and bad behavior in the underclass black communities. Good god almighty did he catch shit for it. Now Barack Obama has confronted the same issue. The irresponsibility that he speaks of is multi-pronged. Neither of these guys were the first to address this issue and people like Dubois and Jesse Jackson have tried to address these issues as well. Michael Eric Dyson has decried Cosby's statements and has equally criticized what he calls Cosby's refusal over the years to deal with blackness and color in his comedy. That may be true, but there was a time, back in the late sixties where Cosby got a bunch of black children together and schooled them on no allowing themselves to be called "negro" anymore. He even went as far as to offer a kid that was probably 7 or 8 years old 50 dollars if he would just admit he was a negro. The child refused.

Cosby, in my mind, has removed his commedy from his personal belief system. He has chosen to be inclusive in his comedy but not in his personal life. So my question is, I guess "Why was Cosby wrong for airing the Black community's dirty laundry? Why was Obama NOT called to the carpet by the same people that did so to Cosby.

I guess this question is best directed to the black members of our little community. I have, in the past been an interloper in that community. I have lived for a time with a black woman whose daughter had not seen her father since she was 2. I had tried to have a conversation with him about it once to no avail. I still care a great deal for his child even though her mother and I could not work out our relationship. So in a way, a way removed several times over, I feel that I have a valid concern about why her father will not have a relationship with his daughter and the affects that will have on her in the future. I thought Cosby was right on point just as I think that Obama was with his speech on Sunday. Why doesn't the black community, at least the vocal and critical community see the two men as equals in their concern for their community?

As a side note, I know that the deadbeat dad issue is not JUST a Black issue, but it is, IMHO, a larger issue in the black community.
 
Cause Obama The Messiah can do no wrong in the eyes of Obamites. When Bill Cosby said the same thing he was immediately denounced as an Uncle Tom.
 
Socrtease said:
Ok, first off and without any real explanation, I think most of you know I support Obama.

That being said, on Sunday, Obama chose for his father's day address to confront absent black fathers. It is a speech that I believe strong black men, who are leaders in their community should make more often. Obama said "They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it." In May 2004 Bill Cosby said basically the same thing. He actually went further and decried what he sees has a declining morality and bad behavior in the underclass black communities. Good god almighty did he catch shit for it. Now Barack Obama has confronted the same issue. The irresponsibility that he speaks of is multi-pronged. Neither of these guys were the first to address this issue and people like Dubois and Jesse Jackson have tried to address these issues as well. Michael Eric Dyson has decried Cosby's statements and has equally criticized what he calls Cosby's refusal over the years to deal with blackness and color in his comedy. That may be true, but there was a time, back in the late sixties where Cosby got a bunch of black children together and schooled them on no allowing themselves to be called "negro" anymore. He even went as far as to offer a kid that was probably 7 or 8 years old 50 dollars if he would just admit he was a negro. The child refused.

Cosby, in my mind, has removed his commedy from his personal belief system. He has chosen to be inclusive in his comedy but not in his personal life. So my question is, I guess "Why was Cosby wrong for airing the Black community's dirty laundry? Why was Obama NOT called to the carpet by the same people that did so to Cosby.

I guess this question is best directed to the black members of our little community. I have, in the past been an interloper in that community. I have lived for a time with a black woman whose daughter had not seen her father since she was 2. I had tried to have a conversation with him about it once to no avail. I still care a great deal for his child even though her mother and I could not work out our relationship. So in a way, a way removed several times over, I feel that I have a valid concern about why her father will not have a relationship with his daughter and the affects that will have on her in the future. I thought Cosby was right on point just as I think that Obama was with his speech on Sunday. Why doesn't the black community, at least the vocal and critical community see the two men as equals in their concern for their community?

As a side note, I know that the deadbeat dad issue is not JUST a Black issue, but it is, IMHO, a larger issue in the black community.
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I'll bottomline this from my perspective. I don't speak for every Black person.

1) Obama addressed all fathers and not just Black men. I think I heard that 50% of White households are run by single mothers, which is a lot, but obviously that number is much higher for Black households. But its an issue that was addressed to everyone.

2) Obama specified the party who should be maligned for their gross negligence: dead beat fathers. If I recall correctly Cosby made overgeneralized sweeping accusations about Blacks in general which offended specific people even though a subset of said group had done no wrong.
 
Socrtease said:
Ok, first off and without any real explanation, I think most of you know I support Obama.

That being said, on Sunday, Obama chose for his father's day address to confront absent black fathers. It is a speech that I believe strong black men, who are leaders in their community should make more often. Obama said "They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it." In May 2004 Bill Cosby said basically the same thing. He actually went further and decried what he sees has a declining morality and bad behavior in the underclass black communities. Good god almighty did he catch shit for it. Now Barack Obama has confronted the same issue. The irresponsibility that he speaks of is multi-pronged. Neither of these guys were the first to address this issue and people like Dubois and Jesse Jackson have tried to address these issues as well. Michael Eric Dyson has decried Cosby's statements and has equally criticized what he calls Cosby's refusal over the years to deal with blackness and color in his comedy. That may be true, but there was a time, back in the late sixties where Cosby got a bunch of black children together and schooled them on no allowing themselves to be called "negro" anymore. He even went as far as to offer a kid that was probably 7 or 8 years old 50 dollars if he would just admit he was a negro. The child refused.

Cosby, in my mind, has removed his commedy from his personal belief system. He has chosen to be inclusive in his comedy but not in his personal life. So my question is, I guess "Why was Cosby wrong for airing the Black community's dirty laundry? Why was Obama NOT called to the carpet by the same people that did so to Cosby.

I guess this question is best directed to the black members of our little community. I have, in the past been an interloper in that community. I have lived for a time with a black woman whose daughter had not seen her father since she was 2. I had tried to have a conversation with him about it once to no avail. I still care a great deal for his child even though her mother and I could not work out our relationship. So in a way, a way removed several times over, I feel that I have a valid concern about why her father will not have a relationship with his daughter and the affects that will have on her in the future. I thought Cosby was right on point just as I think that Obama was with his speech on Sunday. Why doesn't the black community, at least the vocal and critical community see the two men as equals in their concern for their community?

As a side note, I know that the deadbeat dad issue is not JUST a Black issue, but it is, IMHO, a larger issue in the black community.
Click to expand...

The most recent statistics I saw showed that 71% of black children were born out of wedlock, 28% of white children were and it was somewhere in between for hispanic children (actually it came from Juan Williams of Fox News in a Wall St Journal article last week).

I think you ask an excellent question socrtease. Cosby received a lot of negative press when he went public with his concerns. To his credit it hasn't stopped him as he has toured the country talking to numerous communitites.

BET actually had a half hour show on Sunday featuring three rappers and the theme was being a father to your child.

There will always be examples of kids who grew up with fathers who don't do well and kids who grew up without fathers who do extremely well. But if you want to talk about what gives a child the best chance in life it is growing up in a household with two parents and having a father in their life.
 
cawacko said:
The most recent statistics I saw showed that 71% of black children were born out of wedlock, 28% of white children were and it was somewhere in between for hispanic children (actually it came from Juan Williams of Fox News in a Wall St Journal article last week).
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28%

Maybe what I saw was wrong then.
 
Socrtease said:
Ok, first off and without any real explanation, I think most of you know I support Obama.

snip

Cosby, in my mind, has removed his commedy from his personal belief system. He has chosen to be inclusive in his comedy but not in his personal life. So my question is, I guess "Why was Cosby wrong for airing the Black community's dirty laundry? Why was Obama NOT called to the carpet by the same people that did so to Cosby.

snip

As a side note, I know that the deadbeat dad issue is not JUST a Black issue, but it is, IMHO, a larger issue in the black community.
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Honestly, I think the Cosby brouhaha was overblown.

The debate about "family values" and absentee fatherhood goes on all the time, even in the black community. While nobody ever likes to give Louis Farakhan any credit for anything, that's exactly what the million man march was about. Since the white media ignores, for the most part, the black community, the white media and conservatives in particular had to feign shock at what Cosby said.

When if fact, that debate goes on all the time, as far as I know. And while every Con has memorized what Louis Farakhan said about jews 25 years ago, there's hardly a Con who can tell you what the Million Man March was about. It was explicitly about these issues mentioned by Obama and Cosby: personal responsibility, fatherhood, and family values.
 
Cypress said:
Honestly, I think the Cosby brouhaha was overblown.

The debate about "family values" and absentee fatherhood goes on all the time, even in the black community. While nobody ever likes to give Louis Farakhan any credit for anything, that's exactly what the million man march was about. Since the white media ignores, for the most part, the black community, the white media and conservatives in particular had to feign shock at what Cosby said.

When if fact, that debate goes on all the time, as far as I know. And while every Con has memorized what Louis Farakhan said about jews 25 years ago, there's hardly a Con who can tell you what the Million Man March was about. It was explicitly about these issues mentioned by Obama and Cosby: personal responsibility, fatherhood, and family values.
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Well said brother .. and absentee fathers is less an issue within the Nation of Islam than it is in the general population, regardless of race.
 
LadyT said:
I'll bottomline this from my perspective. I don't speak for every Black person.

1) Obama addressed all fathers and not just Black men. I think I heard that 50% of White households are run by single mothers, which is a lot, but obviously that number is much higher for Black households. But its an issue that was addressed to everyone.

2) Obama specified the party who should be maligned for their gross negligence: dead beat fathers. If I recall correctly Cosby made overgeneralized sweeping accusations about Blacks in general which offended specific people even though a subset of said group had done no wrong.
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Absolutely correct.

I interviewed Cosby when he was here to speak at Spelman College and I think he is one of the most arrogant and pompous men I have ever met .. with a really bad temper .. and that's how he came off in his admonitions to the black commuinity .. and that is why he was rejected.

Cosby is a pompous ass. Great contribution to Spelman from him and his wife Camille .. but he's still a pompous ass.

By the way, Obama's speech at the church was intended for white conservatives as much as it was for a black audience. He was saying to them that he agrees with some of what they think about "conservative values" .. although parenthood is not a value restricted to conservatives.
 
blackascoal said:
Absolutely correct.

I interviewed Cosby when he was here to speak at Spelman College and I think he is one of the most arrogant and pompous men I have ever met .. with a really bad temper .. and that's how he came off in his admonitions to the black commuinity .. and that is why he was rejected.

Cosby is a pompous ass. Great contribution to Spelman from him and his wife Camille .. but he's still a pompous ass.

By the way, Obama's speech at the church was intended for white conservatives as much as it was for a black audience. He was saying to them that he agrees with some of what they think about "conservative values" .. although parenthood is not a value restricted to conservatives.
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I don't see how being a good parent or importantly in this case being a father to your child is a partisan thing. I would hope that is a commonly shared value among all people. Empirical evidence clearly shows it is an advantage to a child to have both parents in the house and especially having a father in their life.
 
LadyT said:
28%

Maybe what I saw was wrong then.
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Probably not Tiana. His figure is about babies born to an unmarried mother, yours reflects later divorces. 50% of white women heading up single households sounds about right considering the divorce rate.
 
cawacko said:
I don't see how being a good parent or importantly in this case being a father to your child is a partisan thing. I would hope that is a commonly shared value among all people. Empirical evidence clearly shows it is an advantage to a child to have both parents in the house and especially having a father in their life.
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I agree with you.
 
Cypress said:
Honestly, I think the Cosby brouhaha was overblown.

The debate about "family values" and absentee fatherhood goes on all the time, even in the black community. While nobody ever likes to give Louis Farakhan any credit for anything, that's exactly what the million man march was about. Since the white media ignores, for the most part, the black community, the white media and conservatives in particular had to feign shock at what Cosby said.

When if fact, that debate goes on all the time, as far as I know. And while every Con has memorized what Louis Farakhan said about jews 25 years ago, there's hardly a Con who can tell you what the Million Man March was about. It was explicitly about these issues mentioned by Obama and Cosby: personal responsibility, fatherhood, and family values.
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What always bothers me is how quick whites are to start with the “as Bill Cosby said”. I really hate that shit.
 
Darla said:
What always bothers me is how quick whites are to start with the “as Bill Cosby said”. I really hate that shit.
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Me too. I could never understand the white fixation on what Cosby said. I guess Cons thought that Cosby was confirming some of their deeply held biases, or something.

I really didn't care about what cosby said. It really wasn't that newsworthy, to me anyway.
 
Darla said:
Probably not Tiana. His figure is about babies born to an unmarried mother, yours reflects later divorces. 50% of white women heading up single households sounds about right considering the divorce rate.
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oh.you're probably right.
 
My only point was that Cosby said it and got lambasted for it, Obama said it and got praise. I guess my view from the outside was that Cosby could say those things inside his own community that a white man could not say or that maybe Cosby could have said them if the venue had not been quite so public and he should have evaluated how his chastising of not just deadbeat dads but of poor blacks in general would be used by people who had less than honorable motives for saying the same thing. I only know Cosby from his very public face and nothing about him from more than a TV signals distance. So for me to hear that he is arrogant and angry and that was how he came across helps me understand the difference in the reception. Because Obama was NOT arrogant nor was he angry. He was guiding.
 
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