Video surfaces of Obama in 2007 suggesting racism slowed aid to post-Katrina

[ChiefsandO'sfan]

It's the Obama speech on race you probably haven't heard.

In June 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama told a mostly black audience of ministers that the country's leaders "don't care about" New Orleans residents, suggesting the city was neglected in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because of institutional racism, according to a an unedited video uncovered by The Daily Caller.

In the address, delivered during the upswing of the Democratic presidential primary season, candidate Obama specifically criticizes in outspoken terms the decision not to waive a federal law known as the Stafford Act that requires communities hit by disasters to match 10 percent of federal aid.

“When 9/11 happened in New York City, they waived the Stafford Act. … And that was the right thing to do,” he tells the crowd at Hampton University in Virginia. “When Hurricane Andrew struck in Florida, people said, 'Look at this devastation. We don't expect you to come up with your own money. Here, here's the money to rebuild. We're not going wait for you to scratch it together, because you're part of the American family.' "

Obama, echoing rapper Kanye West's infamous anti-Bush remarks a couple years earlier, then argues that New Orleans was treated differently, suggesting the reason was that the city is mostly black.

"What's happening down in New Orleans? Where's your dollar? Where's your Stafford Act money?" Obama says. "Makes no sense. ... Tells me that somehow the people down in New Orleans they don't care about as much."

The Obama campaign didn't response to FoxNews.com's request for comment Tuesday night about the Daily Caller report and the video, but the Associated Press reported that Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt dismissed the criticism as "a transparent attempt to change the subject" at a time when Mitt Romney is down in the polls.

Media organizations covered the speech at the time, but the Daily Caller said the video it obtained showed parts of the speech that had never been publicized. It posted what it said was the complete speech on the website.

By January 2007, nearly a year and a half after Hurricane Katrina hit, the federal government had committed $110 billion to relief efforts in areas hit by Katrina through a variety of programs, including Community Development Block Grants, funding for the Corps of Engineers and Small Business Administration loans, according to a report that May by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic and Statistics Administration.

But at the time of Obama's speech, there were still concerns about federal response to the disaster under the Stafford Act, which governs relief efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was unwilling to waive the law’s 10 percent local match provision for aid, like it did after the Sept. 11 attacks and other hurricanes.

“One reason cited for FEMA’s reluctance to waive the 10 percent match in New Orleans is concern about corruption,” the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said in a 2008 report on the relief efforts.

That report also noted that then-Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was pushing in early 2007 for a federal law eliminating the 10 percent match. The House passed the bill, but it stalled in the Senate and President Bush had threatened to veto it.

The complete video of Obama’s 2007 speech, surfacing barely a month before the presidential election and the night before Obama’s first debate with Romney, could complicate Obama’s efforts to avoid a politically risky debate over race that partly ensnared him during the 2008 race. Four years ago, his fiery pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a political liability over videos that showed Wright making controversial statements.

Obama, after initially defending him, eventually was forced to condemn Wright publicly, and the controversy prompted Obama to deliver his much-heralded 2008 address on race in Philadelphia.

Wright reportedly attended the 2007 speech, and in the video obtained by the Daily Caller, Obama is heard calling Wright "my pastor, the guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me. He's a friend and a great leader. Not just in Chicago, but all across the country."

The Daily Caller also highlighted a segment in which Obama questions federal priorities in transportation spending.

"We need additional federal public transportation dollars flowing to the highest-need communities. We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs. If we have people in the cities right now who want to work but have no way to get into those jobs, we've got to help connect them to the jobs that exist,” Obama said. “We should be investing in minority-owned businesses, in our neighborhoods, so people don’t have to travel from miles away.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz28DAqpUMX

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Donger

You think it's the responsibility of the federal government to clean up storm debris?

Part of FEMA's existence is to provide and coordinate recovery. You don't think cleaning up storm debris is part of recovery?

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by patteeu

What good would your signature be to me given that if I win, you'll be gone forever anyway because of one of the other stupid bets you made?

Make a signature bet with me.

Obama wins, I get your signature for one week. Vice versa if Romney pulls off the comeback.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

Part of FEMA's existence is to provide and coordinate recovery. You don't think cleaning up storm debris is part of recovery?

If you have a pile of debris in your yard, how long are you going to wait for FEMA to come around and clean it up before you take matters into your own hands?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Heh.

Are you arguing the federal response to Katrina was adequate?

I'm asking you for more examples of federal ineptitude.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Make a signature bet with me.

Obama wins, I get your signature for one week. Vice versa if Romney pulls off the comeback.

If Romney wins, you're leaving forever. If I were the kind of fool you must think I am, I'd be voting for your guy.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Heh.

Are you arguing the federal response to Katrina was adequate?

Heh, the irony here is libs complaining about the inadequacies and incompetence of the federal government, yet libs always want to build up and lean on federal assistance even more.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

Part of FEMA's existence is to provide and coordinate recovery. You don't think cleaning up storm debris is part of recovery?

I believe that FEMA actually pays other organizations to do that.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Donger

I'm asking you for more examples of federal ineptitude.

I'm not interested in arguing once again that the federal response to Katrina was poor, to say the least.

I'm all for wasting time on this forum, but some bridges are too far.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by patteeu

If Romney wins, you're leaving forever. If I were the kind of fool you must think I am, I'd be voting for your guy.

I'm just leaving DC if (heh) that happens.

Make the signature bet, pat. Swing the bat.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

Part of FEMA's existence is to provide and coordinate recovery. You don't think cleaning up storm debris is part of recovery?

Only the major debris. This reliance on the federal government is sickening, and is indicative of why many of those people are in the situation they are in to start with.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Heh, the irony here is libs complaining about the inadequacies and incompetence of the federal government, yet libs always want to build up and lean on federal assistance even more.

Swing and a miss.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I'm not interested in arguing once again that the federal response to Katrina was poor, to say the least.

I'm all for wasting time on this forum, but some bridges are too far.

Once again? So, you've laid out in detail how you think the federal government's response to Katrina was inept?

Was the local and state response to Katrina also inept?

[KC Dan]

Originally Posted by patteeu

If you have a pile of debris in your yard, how long are you going to wait for FEMA to come around and clean it up before you take matters into your own hands?

Depends on where you live. example - midwestern tornados vs Katrina

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Donger

Once again? So, you've laid out in detail how you think the federal government's response to Katrina was inept?

Was the local and state response to Katrina also inept?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Edit: I should note that I was not on this board when Katrina occurred.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Donger

I believe that FEMA actually pays other organizations to do that.

I think that's a safe assumption that FEMA doesn't have a dedicated team with trash bags. If FEMA pays someone to do that and they haven't done that then it is FEMA's responsibility to correct that problem. If they have not corrected the problem it is their fault.