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

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by RaiderH8r

For a remarkably large hurricane it is amazing that it only left storm debris in New Orleans and that nobody else on the gulf coast ran into this problem. Probably because George Bush hates black people.

I'm not sure what argument you think J Diddy is making.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by LOCOChief

Well well as it out Fox is reporting on the Five right now that Stafford was actually waived 10 days prior to Katrina and Obama actually, wait for it, wait for it, he voted against it being waved 1 of 14 to vote agiainst it being waived.

Obama's misuse of the facts to help his own cause shouldn't be a surprise.

[LOCOChief]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

So the truth in his unprovable statement is in another unprovable statement?

proof?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GziHxkMQrNM

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

So let me get this straight...years after the event the city left debris on the side of the road? That should tell you about the level of intelligence of the people of LA. I don't find any of it inadequate, but I also understand the logistics of executing a massive project with a limited amount of resources and a quick timetable. And no I don't see it that way. These people are responsibile for themselves and either too stupid to know that or are to lazy to act on it....neither one is a good quality.

But just so you know...I tarped roofs in the Katrina zone...so I saw some of this stuff first hand.

I did not know that... that must have been a phenomenal experience for you.

But I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore, except that you believed the federal response to Katrina was adequate.

Again, that's fine if that's what you want to believe. You're just not going to have a lot of company.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRaider

Barry is so fake is disgusting. He puts on a slang accent saying bidness, special shout out and where's your dollar. This embarrassment plays the race card every chance he gets. When he is in another environment he is very well spoken. The fact he pulls this act would offend me if I was a black man. He praises Reverend Wright and threw him in front of the bus. He is a shitbag and a horrible person. Anyone who can vote for this colossal failure based on his record is stunning, to vote for him knowing he is a phony two faced shitbag on top of it is beyond amazing. Romney is a very unattractive option, yet when comparing the two I will never understand how anyone could choose Barry~

He's actually well spoken in the video. He's just playing to the audience. There's no crime in that necessarily, and it's actually very, very common amongst the African American community that black people talk to each other much differently than they talk to the rest of us.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

He's actually well spoken in the video. He's just playing to the audience. There's no crime in that necessarily, and it's actually very, very common amongst the African American community that black people talk to each other much differently than they talk to the rest of us.

He's so well spoken.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by mnchiefsguy

I really want to agree with you, but I just do not see it. I am hopeful for a strong post debate bounce, and some momentum. Romney's number do not seem to be trending up, and he needs them too.

I haven't been paying too much attention to the numbers. Do they look bad?

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

We're talking about storm debris here. Not just trash.

Link?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

That there is a racial angle to the New Orleans angle is undeniable. I think there probably is a racial and definitely a class angle.

What part of "Leave, there is a hurricane coming" did they not understand?

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

The African American community has a feeling of lesser treatment because (a.) they are often legitimately treated worse, and (b.) they are typically less educated, less healthy, less protected, and less successful compared to the rest of society. This stuff isn't far from the black community's collective minds, and they serve as deep wounds in the African American psyche.

Hannity won't tell you this, but Obama's speech in the OP was actually about African American self-empowerment in light of these foibles in the community. Tucker Carlson simply cut out the parts nearly all of us would agree with, isolated the few parts we see in the OP, and interspersed it with Hannity's fat face telling us what we're watching is incendiary! and race-baiting!.

Unlike the first partial release of that video (by I don't know who), this time the entire video is available on Tucker Carlson's website. To accuse Carlson of selectively editing the video to be deceptive is completely backwards. He's the guy responsible for the entire video being available. It's natural that they're going to narrow the focus to the points of interest on the Hannity show. The format dictates that they can't play the entire nearly-hour-long video just so you can't pull BS like this. But they made it clear where the entire video can be seen, thanks again to Tucker Carlson.

[mnchiefsguy]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I haven't been paying too much attention to the numbers. Do they look bad?

Today's numbers in the WSJ/NBC poll were the best I had seen in the past couple of weeks, Romney was within the margin of error, trailing Obama 49-46.

Of course, every Democrat I know is predicting an Obama blowout of epic proportions....not sure how they would react if Romney was to pick up a few points in the polls after the debates. It would make for some interesting discussion.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by mnchiefsguy

Today's numbers in the WSJ/NBC poll were the best I had seen in the past couple of weeks, Romney was within the margin of error, trailing Obama 49-46.

Of course, every Democrat I know is predicting an Obama blowout of epic proportions....not sure how they would react if Romney was to pick up a few points in the polls after the debates. It would make for some interesting discussion.

Well see, there you go. Romney's on the move and IMO it's unlikely that Obama will be able to stop the momentum. Romney's getting his freight train on.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Well see, there you go. Romney's on the move and IMO it's unlikely that Obama will be able to stop the momentum. Romney's getting his freight train on.

I wonder if you actually believe this.

[RaiderH8r]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I'm sure that the only factor was that New Orleans was an entire city filled with lazy people. Yep that makes sense.

No, it is Bush's fault. He hates black people.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I wonder if you actually believe this.

I'm skeptical about whether Romney is really 3 points behind at the moment, so no not completely.