Obama's 'stop grumbling' speech prompts some grumbling

[ProSense]

Obama's 'stop grumbling' speech prompts some grumbling

By msnbc.com's Michael O'Brien

President Obama's fiery speech to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation's dinner on Saturday evening drew a stiff rebuke Monday from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who questioned whether it was warranted for the president to tell black voters to "stop grumbling" and "put on your marching shoes."

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But other members of the CBC, including its chairman, Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D), have had different reactions to the speech, which they defended as a rallying call to African American voters, whose large turnout in 2008 helped fuel Obama's election, and whose 2012 turnout could be pivotal to the president's reelection effort.

"The Congressional Black Caucus supports the president; we intend to be as strongly pushing his reelection as anybody in the country," Cleaver said Monday morning on MSNBC.

"I was like most of the crowd there -- incredibly enthusiastic by the fighting spirit the president was showing. I think the president is right-on-message," Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards (D), another CBC member, said in a separate appearance on MSNBC. "I think it's incredibly clear, the difference, like night and day, between Republicans, who want to give special breaks to the wealthiest in this country, and the president of the United States. And it's important that we reelect him because we have to really get this country back...the president was on that message, and we're going to be on that message, too, for 2012."

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From the speech:

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Dr. King once said: “Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on.” (Applause.)

So I don’t know about you, CBC, but the future rewards those who press on. (Applause.) With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. (Applause.) I'm going to press on for equality. (Applause.) I'm going to press on for the sake of our children. (Applause.) I'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on. (Applause.)

I expect all of you to march with me and press on. (Applause.) Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. (Applause.) Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do, CBC. (Applause.)

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

[Empowerer]

1. It took a couple of days to dig up some "grumbling" but, of course, there has to be some somewhere

And Rep. Waters' comments were hardly a "stiff rebuke" - but it's so much fun to try to pit black people against each other, just about anything will do . . .

[FrenchieCat]

3. It's the divide and conquer the media is so well known for.....

Notice that anytime the subject is Obama and Black support,
they are all over it.

They, of course, do not mention the fact that Obama's support in the Hispanic community is up 6 points in just a few weeks,

nor that, although they wrote about Obama's hollywood not being as "enthusiastic" this time around, they don't mention that both of his fundraisers on the Westcoast were sold out....at thousands a seat.

But you know....that's how it is. The media is not our friend, and they never will be.

Personally, I’m always taking aback by those who allow the media to continuously manipulate us, divide us, and set us off on one another. It is with dismay that we witness leftists who don’t support President Obama using biased media sources to support their arguments against this administration, while actively dampening down Democrats’ enthusiasm as we head into a crucial election. They simply do not recall, and perhaps simply don’t want to, exactly what actions the Obama administration took that got the Tea Party movement started. They would prefer to call President Obama a corporatist and blame everything negative on him, rather than realizing that they have been played by forces measurably more powerful than the President himself. Maybe it is because, in their hearts, they know that the corporate media is such a power, and they are too afraid to confront it, and so turn a blind eye as to what it is that the media does, apart from a weak-throated complaint now and then when they are the party aggrieved.

As I have in the past, I will again suggest that the next protest organized by those who say they care about our future has got to be against the corporate media. They are the ones we need to call attention to. They are the ones hiding in the shadows, working on keeping us too distracted to notice how easily they manipulate so many of us . We wear their puppet strings, while we act unaware, mostly out of convenience.

Look, there are still many on the left who would insist that the Obama administration go after members of the Bush administration for all that it did, most which could have only been accomplished via media duplicity. I would suggest that instead of spending so much time scorning this President, which is like cutting our nose off our face while putting a plastic bag over our head, we instead turn our ire where it belongs – upon the media – and stick to it and demand accountability as forcefully has we have been demanding it from one man. I’d love to see us hold the power-hungry manipulative SOBs responsible, just for once!
http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/09/25/what-the-media-is-doing-to-the-wall-st-protest-is-what-they-are-paid-to-do/

[ProSense]

5. It's

awfully quiet in here!

[Whisp]

7. that is the head of the snake, the media.

the filthy liars and protectors of the 1%.

if that slither can be shown for what it is, most everything else that needs fixing will be possible.

The same media that most, if not all of us here, used to lambast during the Bush years, has suddenly sprouted some integrity and truth telling when they pound on Obama every day?
They didn't pound on Bush every day now, did they? They licked his ass to the very last minute where popular opinion was so overwhelmingly disgusting with the Chimp. Then the media gave him a few little noodle slaps here and there - keeping them honest! horseshit.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Yep...you're telling how I really feel!

thanks! :hi:

[ProSense]

4. Even more fascinating

is the how the media can take a statement out of context and it becomes the accepted interpretation because people allow them to get away with it:

"questioned whether it was warranted for the president to tell black voters to 'stop grumbling'"

Anyone who heard the speech or can read the snip in the OP should understand the intent of his comments and to whom they were directed. I don't need Maxine Waters' interpretation to understand the point.

The speech kicked ass! When he ended by slapping the podium, I read a tweet that characterized it as:

"At the end of his speech the President dropped the mic like Rakim!"

:rofl:

[CakeGrrl]

2. Of course there was!

Some people get pissy when the POTUS dares ask them to help do their part.

Apparently he's supposed to deliver rainbows and sunshine on his own while people hit the airwaves and the blogs with 10 million opinions about the best way for him to deliver their particular ray of sunshine.

As for complaints from Congress, it's a little odd that Congressional Dems engage in the backbiting. If they don't know how dangerous their colleagues across the aisle are to the health of this nation, then who should?

That said, the reception for the speech was VERY positive. Despite some grumbling somewhere, it is never as bad as the MSM makes it.

[Tx4obama]

6. K&R n/t

[JCMach1]

9. He should really stop channeling Bill Cosby

seriously