The debate and discussion about Barack Obama has been presented by BlackCommentator.com for some time. BC has published commentaries about Obama that range from adoration to disgust. This range is an example of putting our belief in diversity into practice (See: The Challenge of Diversity - BlackCommentator.com's Guiding Principles).

The purpose of this Reader's Corner column is to give voice to those who have responded via email to some of the views expressed by Executive Editor, Editorial Board member and columnist Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Columnist and Editorial Board member Larry Pinkney. Their African World and Keeping It Real columns have received the largest amount of email.

You will notice in this issue the direction of the Obama critique has changed. Looking ahead with the hope that the hard right will be losing control of of the Presidency you will be reading more commentaries that will focus on specific strategies for progressive change and accountability.

In this issue, for example, Bill Fletcher, Jr. writes about "Obama, Enthusiasm & Movement-Building" and Larry Pinkney's column is titled: "Thinking Outside of the Box: Economics and Party Building".

Getting back to the Obama debate/discussion we move on to the diverse opinions of BC readers.

Pinkney, has caused a great deal of reaction. The three most recent columns that applied brother Larry's demand for critical thinking about Barack Obama brought forth strong positive and negative responses from BC readers.

The three columns are:

Goose-Stepping Behind Barack Obama:The Absence of Critical Thinking - Issue 265

Barack Obama and the Euphoria of Madness - Issue 263

Barack Obama: Bamboozling America - Issue 262

Reader S.E. is thankful for the commentaries and adds...

I am not an African American but I wholly agree with everything you have said and the questions you raise surrounding this man's policies, his whole being and what he purports to be. I am amazed that even the so called progressives in the US are jumping into the heart of the Obama feeding frenzy to get a bite for themselves. I am truly sickened but thankful for the relatively few sane voices.

Larry frequently uses links in his columns to make a point and reader G.Z. found one of them very educational:

Thank you for the link — inside your BC column in Issue 265 of 21 February —to Obama's address to AIPAC back in March 2007. I had not correlated before that Obama visited the State of Israel amid the Palestinian Legislative Council elections of January 2006. These were the elections which brought Hamas to office with 74 of 132 seats, triggering the global boycott and siege led by the US-EU-Israel which only the forces of Palestinian resistance have been able, episodically but significantly, to breach at key moments and spaces such as Gaza and the Rafah Crossing wall.

Reading this transcript, I realized that I had not paid Obama's rhetoric the attention it deserves. The comparison he evokes, on the one hand, of the hapless Israeli military (4th or 5th largest on earth, thanks to eternal US subsidies) victimized and caught in the middle of Palestinians' civil war and, on the other hand, the hapless US military victimized and caught in the middle of Iraqi civil war, was spine-chilling and wretch-inducing at the same time. Not only did it feel like a most compromising position anatomically speaking. I felt I had been subjected to ideopolitical waterboarding.

Obama for the corporate oligarchy is like one of those utterly blank slates on which the most beautiful characters can be written, as opposed to Hillary who comes with soooooo much baggage, at least in the eye of the U.S. voting public. No wonder the Kennedy clan are so fascinated at the thought of the possibilities of shaping such raw material. I can almost see these people salivating at the prospect.

What a choice the Colgate-Pepsodent system of electoral choice has served up for the U.S. electorate this season: John McCain, the hardened war criminal who is proud of genociding Southeast Asian peasants from 30,000 feet and Barack Obama, a young and vigorous supplicant of empire eagerly awaiting his opportunity to genocide West Asian peoples in West Asia by any means necessary.

TVC is a regular consumer of Keeping It Real who disagrees with Larry:

Brother Pinkney-Once again, an inaccurate assessment of Senator Obama’s remarks regarding Ronald Reagan. Senator Obama never ‘heaped praise” on Ronald Reagan. He made the factual but painful point that Reagan was successful in pushing the conservative agenda in America while at the same time stating his disagreement with that agenda. Your assessment fails to account for the full remarks of Senator Obama regarding Reagan. If you really desire to keep a Clarence Thomas from chairing the EEOC, perhaps you may consider advocating that our community support Brother Obama for President – a brother with a real chance to become President of the U.S. – rather than allow another conservative like Senator McCain to become President whereby you will definitely get another Clarence Thomas at EEOC. Such fine but real details matter, my brother.

Pinkney had this response to TVC:

In my view, yours is the "inaccurate assessment" re Obama's praise of that racist apartheid-supporting Ronald Reagan. There was absolutely no need (other than crass opportunism) for Obama to have praised Ronald Reagan in the first place in any manner whatsoever. Obama however, did praise Reagan for, among other things, supposedly curving the so-called "excesses of the 1960's and 1970's..." and for supposedly "taking America" in the direction that it allegedly should have been taken. I assume that you are cognizant of Reaganomics and/or Reagan's so-called trickle-down economics; all of which were utterly horrible for Black America, and absolutely wonderful for big blood-sucking corporations. These courses of action by Reagan were not the correct or right direction for Black America, and other people of color--regardless of Obama's praise of Ronald Reagan; and these were "excesses" by Ronald Reagan that Barack Obama could easily have exposed: but he chose not to.

Having lived in Palestine, I have seen the Israeli U.S.-backed Zionists mercilessly and bloodily attack Palestinian refugee camps and murder Palestinian children, women, old men, and youth on land that is (to this day) illegally and militarily occupied by the state of Israel; supported by the U.S. Clearly, Obama supports these Zionists. I do not. It reminds me of what I witnessed first-hand in what was then apartheid South Africa.

Moreover, I do not consider a person to be a "Brother" or Sister based upon their skin tone. Blackness and/or being a "Brother" means a great deal more than complexion. Having also lived in Africa, I saw with my own eyes the massive brutality by people of the same skin tone, against one another. No indeed. Being a brother (or sister), means so much more than skin tone.

As to what I "really desire:" I certainly do not depend on you to inform me of what I "really desire" and/or have politically struggled for, on behalf of Black and other oppressed peoples for over 40 years; just as I don't presume to tell you what you "really desire." I give you the benefit of doubt by, among other things, not presuming to tell you what you do or do not "really desire." Only you can determine that. The most I can do is put forth my observations based upon my long years of past & ongoing experiences, my political activities, and my study. I do not presume to tell you what you would do if you "really desire[d]" this or that. That is your individual decision. I must insist upon the same benefit of the doubt from you.

Ultimately, and notwithstanding Barack Obama, there is virtually no substantive systemic difference between the Democrat and Republican parties. "Fine but real details" do indeed matter, which is precisely why I do not support Barack Obama. Black people, other people of color, and even white people in America need real systemic change, not superficial feel-good rhetoric. And neither Obama, Clinton, or McCain will bring about systemic change as they all have a vested interest in maintaining the system intact.

I support former Congresswoman Sister Cynthia McKinney's Presidential Campaign. You apparently do not. We obviously disagree and I suggest it be left at that. Let us simply agree to disagree.

Larry Pinkney
The Black Commentator

Click here to view a video of Obama's statement about Ronald Reagan.

A.R. reads Pinkney in a different light and sees things more clearly as a result:

I am in complete agreement with your sweeping political and historical analysis of Obama.

Unfortunately, people in this "Dumb-Downed" country tend to gravitate toward people based on complexion, charisma, personality, appearance, and articulation.

You, obviously, have transcended that non-sense.

Your thesis needs to be advanced for the sole purpose of intelligent debate, and further analysis.

I applaud you. Continue to speak truth to power.

Peace & Blessings

A.R.

N.F. is also a fan of Keeping It Real:

Your article on Ole Bama, i mean Obama is EXCELLENT! We are so like minded, you and i. I read it out loud to my mom and she was all about it. My Mother is very progressive-revolutionary in her thinking.

I'm going to send your article around, even though i'll make some people angry by doing so. AND i would like to see if we can have you on the radio show again when we start doing things about elections.

What you mention about Obama not really being able to talk about African-American experience was right on and what also telling is that his ass can't even properly address or deal with what is happening in Kenya right now in order stay in the good graces of his corp backers. He has to abstain from taking a position on the African country where he has direct family ties. How pathetic is that?

Keep keep'n it Real!

Another regular reader of Pinkney's creations is E.S. who believes criticism of Obama should be postponed until after a Black family is in the White House:

I have been writing to you to stop your diatribes against Obama, and at least to give him a benefit of doubt, until he reaches the presidency, and you can be free to criticize him, but you don't get it!

Please STOP YOUR CURRENT ATTACKS ON OBAMA, for the sake of your own good, as it makes you look like a mad man, deprived of enough critical thinking to understand the potential positive impact, the Obama presidency may have to the USA and the world, in these unusual times, we are living!

YES, YES, YES, to your current column in BC. Now, how do we engage the extraordinarily passive American public? Even people who would substantively agree with you seem to fall prey to feel-good, hollow rhetoric. What is it going to take to get Americans, many of whom are suffering lack of access to housing, health care, education, and jobs, to get off their behinds and CARE about themselves and their nation?

However, the goose-stepping title angered S.M.:

Dear Mr. Pinkney,

I've been following your critiques of Sen Obama in the Black Commentator for some time, and though I generally agree with your critiques of two party politics (I wish Cynthia McKinney had some chance of making a mark here in California) and Senator Obama's vagueness on the issues, I find myself more persuaded by Bill Fletcher's 'critical support' position articulated last week in BlackCommentator.com.

However, I am horrified, nauseated and absolutely infuriated by the title of your current article. Implicitly you are comparing Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler, and those who seek hope, however vague, in Obama's statements, to future Nazis.

Do you really believe that Obama, if elected, will put millions of marginalized and oppressed people in the U.S. in gas chambers? I think you owe your readers and Sen. Obama a huge apology for your disgusting analogy.

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher, Jr. has written several "African World" columns about Barack Obama including the following:

And Now, Obama? - Issue 264

The Democratic Race for the White House and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.- Issue 262

P.M. is a Fletcher fan:

Your article "The African World and Now Obama?" was the most sensible, intelligent and well reasoned position on the democratic primary I have read. I wish it was published in all the national media.

Thank you.

Reader E.L.F. enjoys Brother Bill's perspective:

Thank you for you optimistic piece on Mr. Obama. We certainly do need commentators to keep reminding us that he's not a progressive yet, may not ever be a real progressive.

The most important thing, it seems to me, to keep in mind always is that Mr. Obama will not be able to use his charisma to repair the messes we face without serious Congressional support. Mrs. Clinton will, of course, face the same problem. But she is additionally hobbled by not having the power of personality of Mr. Obama.

To that point, I hope you will start to speak in your writings to the next step, whether for Obama or Clinton. We must use the high of Mr. Obama's charisma to work for change at all 3 levels simultaneously - Executive, Legislative and, if we're lucky, Judicial.

If we, the electorate, do not provide the Legislative support immediately, on January 20, 2009, it will not matter which Democrat wins the Executive position.

D.F. Jr. agrees that our appetite for change may be getting too big for the meal being offered:

I want to thank you for your well-formulated and well-advised article on Mr. Obama. I fear that, as you say, people are so hungry for change they might slide into indiscriminate support of Mr. Obama who, as you so well point out, is a capable candidate but not that different from Mrs. Clinton in policy. This is truly a time for constructively critical support of either candidate. We are the people and what we think counts. We must let them know and choose wisely. We must think and not allow our emotions to carry our imaginations sky-high otherwise there will be great disappointment (to say the least) the day after "Day One". Thank you.

Many readers have grown weary of having to select the candidate they feel is nothing more than the best of poor choices. D.K. is in this group:

Hi Bill -

On your point of critical support to Obama as a lesser evil - I agree that the US left is in pretty pathetic shape, but isn't that because for decades we have put off the hard work of constructing our own party with our own voice in favor of supporting today's lesser evil? Every major election is regarded as "the most important in our lifetime!" and all our energy gets directed towards opposing the "greater" evil. But the rulers will always give us a "greater" vs "lesser" scenario.

If sometime over the last 70 years the left would've built its own party, imagine where we'd be today. We wouldn't have to depend upon spineless Democrats to oppose the war, torture, outsourcing, Katrina-ethnic cleansing and global warming. So why not start the ball rolling THIS YEAR?

Keep up the great work

M.A. believes only the future may show who Obama really is:

Bill,

I believe your editorial is right on target. We may not have to wait until Obama is elected to see who he really is. If the Democrats steal his nomination by brokering a deal with super delegates then we will see if he has the backbone to stand firm, and possibly start a new independent party, or buckle as Al Gore did on the race issue in Florida. We live in very interesting times.

The lack of accountability has been missing for too long according to J.G.B.:

Mr. Fletcher,

Thank you for breaking 'the Obama situation' down in a rational way. I was hoping that not everyone at Black Commentator saw Obama and his campaign and potential impact in as negative a light as previous contributors have been. I agree completely - because Obama has gathered such popular support, we, the people need to do our job at holding our elected representative(s) accountable. If we had been doing that all along, we all might be in a very different place.

Take care

M.S. is not an Obama fan, but admits the possibility of a color change in the White house would be a positive development:

Bill, I agree with your recent comments, "And now Obama? I don't agree with much of Obama's politics. Peace and freedom party is how I normally vote. However, it will be refreshing, should Obama make the White House. We'll have an intelligent Black family in the media 24/7, which can only help erase the negative images and perceptions of Black folk created by a racist media.

Reader T.H. thinks getting too excited about the idea of "President Obama" borders on delusion.

Thanks,Bill Fletcher for the clarity necessary to ignite meaningful discussion based on facts and not emotions. Capitalist global political economy is what determines the future value and substance of our daily lives and that of the planet as too many people exhaust themselves at the intersection of gender, race and class. Business week reported 80% of Obama's campaign is being financed by Wall Street and big business, among them nuclear enterprise. His friends, advisors and tutors include war monger Zibignew Brezinski; Warren Buffet (worth $52 Billion); Paul Volker, the Former Federal Reserve Chair under Reagan who supported finance capital while busting the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) to name some of the more notable ones. No one should have any illusions about who or what Obama represents. It is fantasy and conjecture to expect Obama in the White House will undo the erosion of civil liberties or effect radical social change for the billions in poverty inside or outside this country. Worse yet, comments such as "a Black man in the White House would be a positive thing for our children" speaks to the malignant and indelible legacy of post traumatic slavery syndrome. We have yet to be healed.

B.B.F. writes to agree that true critical support for Obama is the correct approach to take:

My question is: Why not "critical support" for Hillary Clinton? After all, according to the records, Hillary and Obama voted the same 257 out of 267 votes, and he has voted along the party line 97% of the time. Of course, Hillary did vote for the amendment that would have capped the credit card interest rate to 30%, and Obama votes against it. What especially bothers me are the lies that the Obama camp continues to perpetrate, about his anti-war stance. Am still trying to understand how one can be anti-war and still vote 300 billion + to fund the war you are so against. He and Hillary both have "blood on their hands". I thought it bad enough that Hillary Clinton had Mrs. Madeline "I didn't know I was a Jew" Albright as one of her endorsers, but then I got a look at the list of Obama's foreign policy advisors! Zbigniew Brzezinski, who leads the list of Obama's pro-war, right-wing advisors. Not good news for Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran.

Seriously, after reading articles about Obama by Paul Street, articles in the Progressive Review, by Max Blunt and Ed Long and especially Larry Pinkney, I could in no way support Obama.

R.D. is an Obama supporter who is weary of the critcism:

Mr Fletcher,

I am worried with the state of journalism in America. I understand that part of the political game is for his opponents to downplay his brilliance and sum him up as a "great speaker." But, when I hear JOURNALISTS say that Obama is "no substance" all "rhetoric" it appears that either they do not WANT to hear anything of substance that he says, or they have not done their research.

Obama has written a "Blueprint for America" which is on his website and easily accessible. When he started out in the campaign back in 2007, people criticized his speeches and town hall meetings, saying that they were lackluster compared to his glorious speeches.

I, for one, did not start supporting Obama because he inspired me. He is my senator. I looked at the candidates and the issues. Obama lined up best with me. He is realistic, knows how to tell the people the truth even when it is hard.

He knew the war was wrong, it was a risky move. Obama knew the war would take us away from domestic issues, cost us billions of dollars and lives.

Why is it that all these people with "experience" has led our country down a destructive path.

Note: Obama's anti Iraq-war has not been consistant. The BC cover story of December 1, 2005 titled: "Obama Mouths Mush on War" said the following:

U.S. Senator Barack Obama has planted his feet deeply inside the Iraq war-prolongation camp of the Democratic Party, the great swamp that, if not drained, will swallow up any hope of victory over the GOP in next year's congressional elections. In a masterpiece of double-speak before the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, November 22, the Black Illinois lawmaker managed to out-mush-mouth Sen. John Kerry - a prodigious feat, indeed.

Obama's speech had the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) brand stamped all over it. Triangulating expertly, Obama first praised the war record of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), who has called for immediate steps towards U.S. military redeployment out of Iraq, hopefully in six months, then dismissed both Murtha's bill and any hint of "timetables" for withdrawal. In essence, all Obama wants from the Bush regime is that it fess up to having launched the war based on false information, and to henceforth come clean with the Senate on how it plans to proceed in the future. Those Democrats who want to dwell on the past - the actual genesis and rationale for the war, and the real reasons for its continuation - should be quiet.

Both sides are wrong, says Obama - deploying the classic triangulation device - for engaging in a "war of talking points" - "one I am not interested in joining." Then Obama positions himself above the fray:

"Iraq was a major issue in last year's election. But that election is now over. We need to stop the campaign."

Americans want a "pragmatic solution to the real war we're facing in Iraq."

According to Webster, the term "pragmatic" means "practical as opposed to idealistic." Here is what Obama contends is a practical solution to what ails U.S. policy in Iraq:

"The President could take the politics out of Iraq once and for all if he would simply go on television and say to the American people ‘Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, there are things I would have done differently. But now that we're here, I am willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to find the most responsible way out.'"

It's not hard to satisfy Sen. Obama. If Bush would just stop repeating his lies to cover the fact that the Iraq war was premeditated, on the front-burner since his administration came to power, and therefore a crime against peace, well, we could all pretend like nothing criminal had happened - and was still happening.

In the near term Obama, a semanticist with a vengeance, says, "we need to focus our attention on how to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq. Notice that I say ‘reduce,' and not ‘fully withdraw.'"

D.P offers his reasons for supporting Obama:

Bill: As always I enjoy your comments. The reasons I am supporting Obama critically are:

He is a very bright man

He has the ability to orate to bring people along

He chose to do community organizing and he must have learned something about power and the abuses of power there

He is Black

I expect a very serious economic depression during his administration, and with his capabilities, I would rather take my chances with him than with Hillary who has a sterling record of selling out.

He just may be a Lincoln for our times...one who does what he has to do to get elected, as Lincoln did, but who does what should be done, once elected.

Some BC readers send comments in general that are not directed to any particular writer:

Reader W. is not inspired by any Democrat:

Obama just like Bill Clinton is enchanting the public with a siren`s song but will be working for wall street, the federal reserve bank and the arms industry. Like Kofi Annan, Obama will be a sophisticated flunky for the empire. Finally let it be said that he has no right to tell us that we have achieved 90% of our civil and human rights in America, thereby suggesting that we cool out and stop bothering about things unpleasant to the american ear!

And there are readers like D.H. Sr. who prefer that BC stop all debate and critical thinking about Obama:

It seems that someone or everyone in your camp has lost sight of the prize. Obama may not the great hope for us all but for now he is the best game in town. So you say he does the flip/flop. Who do you know that's in any elected office that doesn't? This is, as you must know, a very dirty business. If you and yours don't have another choice to offer, stop the hate. Almost anyone is better than business usual. Keep hope alive. He may be the only one who's going to change this mess.

D.H. should click here and read: The Challenge of Diversity - BlackCommentator.com's Guiding Principles.

We thank all readers who have taken the time to write to us. We apologize for not offering a Readers' Column more often. We will try to do better. However, please know your comments are always welcome.

In a somewhat related note, a Zogby Poll released Feb 27, 2008 finds 67% View Traditional Journalism as "Out of Touch". The poll also indicates the Internet is the top source of news for nearly half of Americans; Survey finds two-thirds dissatisfied with the quality of journalism.

Your comments are always welcome.