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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Racisim or Distraction?

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White House Response

Maureen Dowd's Opinion Piece

How should the office of the president respond to Maureen Dowd and former president Jimmy Carter?

In your opinion does this arguement have any validity?

Will this derail the healthcare reform bill?

33 comments:

D.Samuels said...

In my opinion i think the office of the president should not talk about the racism part of it and stick with the health reform. Because if Obama mentions the word racism and how its directed to him it will have a snowball effect and the health reform may be delayed. In my opinion i think that this argument does have validity because it is true what he is saying but there will be people out there that will take it and make it big deal or just get defensive about it. And i think this will not derail the health reform because Obama will set things straight and still make his point.

Philip M. said...

Based on the article by Maureen Dowd, and former president Jimmy Carter's response, I think that the office of the president should prove to the media that Joe Wilson’s outburst was directed towards Obama's health care plan concerning immigrants. If the article and the statement were disregarded, the situation would be worse, and Obama would eventually be asked a question about the outburst. The argument has no validity since it is just a distraction from the health care plan, causing it to be derailed since it gets more attention. For example, I knew that Joe Wilson said President Obama lied before I even knew why Obama was accused.

Elizabeth P. said...

I feel that the guy who yelled out "Liar" is getting to much attention for that one action. He expressed his opinion in a rude disrespectful way but I wouldn't go as far as him being a racist. One of the arguments is more of an opinion rather than a fact and the other argument really isn’t necessary. I’m sure that if Obama makes another public appearance about taking action for his health care plan I’m sure everyone will be back to focusing on that then Joe Wilson. I’ms sure the press would pin question about it but if people really want a good health care then they need to listen up. They need to stop focusing on non sense like the rude comment Wilson made and trying to interpret his actions. I think Obama shouldn’t make a response to what both articles said. He should just focus on his bill because if he does make a comment it could lead to questions to justify how he feels about Joe Wilson’s action and why he did it.

ShantelW. said...

I think the office should make a brief statement about the opinions of Maureen Dowd & Jimmy Carter and try and turn the focus back the Obama’s plan. Personally I feel Jimmy Carter’s opinion is right. I don’t think Mr. Wilson should have yelled out “you lie” during the president’s speech. There is a time & place for everything and that wasn’t it. Yes, I think there is validity in the argument. This will definitely derail the heath care plan. People are mostly focused on Obama’s reaction to Wilson’s outburst

A.Tejada said...

I believe that Maureen Dowd wanted to imply her opinions as facts. She wanted people to see Obama the way every other Republican sees him. I don’t find it fair that she tends to blame it on racism through out her whole piece “ Boy, Oh, Boy”. Like I was saying in class I feel it’s more of a fight between Democrats and Republicans. Joe Wilson wanted to make everything a joke he wanted to be in the media and make more nonsense appear on the news and newspaper.
However the office of the president should just make it seem like nothing went wrong and play it simple. I don’t think they would want to cause more problems between a president and just a publisher for new your times. As for Jimmy Carter, he as a former president said what most people would say about a black president. Yea Obama is black and they don’t expect much from him but what most of our society doesn’t understand is that he is also white (remember his mother). Jimmy Carter has no right to my opinion to come back and judge a president especially him being a democrat .
Like I said before I did not like Maureen’s piece, it doesn’t have any valid objection its just all opinion.
The healthcare reform bill will probably not be looked at as much. Right now at this moment they are just trying to see if Obama is truly gong to make this plan work and also see if he will or will not include any more things into the bill.

Ray said...

Hello I am a senior from Mr. Tesler's class from WJPS


I feel the office has dealt with this perfectly. They refuse to comment on the remarks and did not escalate the debate. As for how I feel, I think it would be unreasonable to assume that their is no racism in the white house. And I think this can only slightly derail the universal health care reform

Ana J. said...

The office of the president should just focus on the healthcare reform. The whole Joe Wilson scenario should just be put aside and pay more attention towards the important issue. I agree with what Amelbi said about Maureen's writing piece on how she makes it feel like its all about racisim. For what former president Jimmy Carter said, who cares if the president is black? This man will lead the country to greater heights and Jimmy Carter is a Democrat, so for him to say this is wow. I think there is validity because after the little show Joe Wilson gave, more people are focused on that than the healthcare reform. The question is, will Obama's plan succeed?

Kendra D said...

Everyone so far I think said it clearly, both President Jimmy Carter and Maureen Dowd were out of line. There is no doubt that African Americans have been deprived , but we have moved on and we are more than ever as equal as everyone else. Mr. Obama as president is proof of that. Saying remarks that state that people act the way they do because of Obama’s skin color just lets me know that secretly were not over African Americans being free. I think Obama should briefly state that this is not about race but about Joe Wilson being a non professional ignorant politician. Unfortunately I think this will prevent us from handling the most important problem, health care until Obama sets the “racists” remark straight.

Kendra D said...

Everyone so far I think said it clearly, both President Jimmy Carter and Maureen Dowd were out of line. There is no doubt that African Americans have been deprived , but we have moved on and we are more than ever as equal as everyone else. Mr. Obama as president is proof of that. Saying remarks that state that people act the way they do because of Obama’s skin color just lets me know that secretly were not over African Americans being free. I think Obama should briefly state that this is not about race but about Joe Wilson being a non professional ignorant politician. Unfortunately I think this will prevent us from handling the most important problem, health care until Obama sets the “racists” remark straight.

Adetayo O. said...

I agree with Philip and Elizabeth when they say that the outburst from Joe Wilson is nothing but a big distraction to the real matter at hand, president Obama's healthcare reform plan. I don’t feel like president Obama should have to respond at all because things are always going to be said about race when it comes to him. He is America’s first black president which means the race card could come up at anytime, so why should Obama be responsible for responding to every race comment? Former president Jimmy Carter’s comment and Maureen Dowd article have no validation whatsoever, Carter should absolutely watch what he says in the public eye. He is from a totally different generation from today and he could possibly be stuck in the past a bit. Now that he has come out with a comment to “You Lie” he has made it somewhat mandatory that Obama speak up about the outburst and reassure America that he is still on task and plans to move forward with his plans. I also agree with Denzel when he says it won’t derail the healthcare reform bill because it was just a silly statement made by Mr.Wilson in a heated moment and nothing as silly as that should cause any future plans to fall apart.

Supreet Singh said...

I think that this statement is obviously derailing the health care plan, Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carter are making this issue definitely into something bigger then it already is. I feel that Mr. Wilson was just a little upset about the health care plan. He just doesn't agree with the plan and honestly I think that president Obama does lie a tad bit, but I think that Mr. Wilson should have waited until the end of the speech to make his remark, it was rude to interrupt the president during his speech. It may or may not have been a act of racism, but we are missing the bigger issue which is the health care plan and making this racism issue the into the next big thing.

Shah M. said...

I think the white house response to this whole event was well put and I believe that this whole racism issue should be put aside and dealt with later because right now the most important thing is Health Care.
No, I don’t think this argument has any validity because this is just a small issue blown up into a big deal, I don’t understand how anyone can say why Joe Wilson said what he said, I don’t understand why this has turned into a race issue, because when Bush was still president and people used to criticize him all the time, and no one ever said it was because he was “white”, so what is criticizing Obama turned into a big thing? I think its ridiculous and it needs to stop, because this is derailing the healthcare reform bill, and I believe that Obama needs to speak up in pubic and set the record set that nothing is more important than healthcare at this moment.

Lisa-Marie Ludford said...

The office should not respond to the comments made by jimmy Carter because they have nothing to do with the issue we are facing which is health care. And no there is no viability, because obviously there will be racism, were not a perfect country, but to pay such attention to it is ridiculous, who cares, he's already in office and will not leave because some white guys don't think a black guy can be in charge of a country. And no it will not derail the healthcare bill because this is stuff that was said when he was only running for office so it isn't exactly new, and it will only derail the bill if the president takes his focus off of it and on this.

WJPS senior, Mr Tesler

nbeckford ! said...

Honestly, i think everyone should keep their opinions to their self if they don't know what they're talking about! Everyone just wants to pull the race card since our president is African American now. Obama's race had nothing to do with Joe Wilson being rude. I think Joe Wilson would still had said his same remark if any other Democrat was speaking.

I think Philip has an excellent point. The article by Maureen Dowd and the response of former president Jimmy Carter is clearly just a distraction and holds no sort of validity. These unnecessary distractions will only continue to slowly derail the reform of healthcare.

Ashley A said...

I do believe that Maureen Dowd’s argument does have some validity. There are many people out there who are racist towards Obama. However I do not think that that is the case with Joe Wilson and I agree with Elizabeth that this is getting to much attention. Nevertheless Obama should address it saying something along the lines of that they understand that racism is an issue still but that is not going to stand in his way of accomplishing what he wants to as president. I don’t believe this will deter people from thinking about healthcare reform because this is a subject many people are passionate about.

J. Yang said...

I agree with Shantel, I believe that office of the president should briefly mention the whole situation and try to turn the focus back onto Obama’s health care plan. Instead of focusing on the main topic which is the health care plan everyone is focusing on Joe Wilson’s outburst. In my opinion the argument has no validity. Like Philip said, it has become a distraction. This has already somewhat derailed the health care reform bill. Everyone is more focused on the statement made by Joe Wilson.

Neal,B said...

I feel that Obama should not respond to Maureen Dowd opinion piece or jimmy Carter’s comments. The reason behind this is because why should he waste time on commenting on other peoples opinion instead of going after them he should focus on the start of this which was the Joe Wilson’s outburst. Maureen Dowd’s opinion on the outburst doesn’t have any validity Joe Wilson was just speaking his mind and I feel there was not a secret meaning behind it. No this will not derail the healthcare bill since its going to take 4 years anyway and this situation will be gone in a month.

jasmyn said...

I'm going to disagree with Elizabeth and say that I do feel that Wilson's outburst can be associated with racism. Let's be real. How many times has Bush made stupid speeches? Did anyone criticize or have rude outbursts in the midst of his speech? I don't think so. As a side note, I don't think that Obama doesn't always get the full respect that he deserves because he's black.
But I do agree with what Denzel said about the "snowball effect".

Unfortunately, Wilson's outburst definitely has derailed the health care plan. The media needed something to feed off of and this was their cake. I'm sure Obama will find a way for people to refocus on the matters at hand. Soon enough the health care plan will gain attention again.

M.Karim said...

I agree with all of Philips statements. i think he should address the media about what Jimmy Carter and Maureen Dowd has said and set the record straight and say that he believes that the comment was about the healthcare plan and change the topic back to pushing for the healthcare bill to be past. the Maureen Dowd article i think has no validity because she wrote that article in her own opinion and maybe a few other people agree with her but the article in my mind has no truth. The healthcare reform bill was put to the side when these stories came out and President Obama's task is to get the attention back on passing the bill.

Michael Kotrys said...

- The office should disregard the comments because they have the right to say what they want. Making a big deal about it will only get in the way of fixing our real problems.
- Theres really no validity because these people could just deny saying it in a racial manner. On the other hand the reporter had a point when he stated that no one shouted "You lie!" to Bush when he clearly had no idea what he was talking about.
- This might slow down the process of it being passed. It could be the perfect healt care reform bill and racist people could say its no good because it was brought up by Obama .

Michael Kotrys, Senior at WJPS, Government & Economic teacher Mr.Testler.

Stephanie Castro, a student from Mr.Tesler's Government and Economics class of WJPS said...

I believe that the office should completely disregard these statements. I'm sure this isn't the first time racist comments have been thrown at our current president, and that thought will remain in some people's heads. I do believe that Carter's response has some sort of validity, because it was a completely racist statement. But the United States should toughen up and not get distracted by such minuscule remarks. We have to focus on the bigger task at hand, the health care reform bill.

rizoyt said...

Presonally, I think that Mr. Carter shouldn't be publicized like how the media is reporting him. I don' t think that his remark was directed towards his race, but I do feel he was trying to make the president feel uncomfortable. So, I do think the white house should address him. his remark was out of line.

J.Phillips said...

I agree with Adetayo when she said "I don’t feel like president Obama should have to respond at all because things are always going to be said about race when it comes to him. He is America’s first black president which means the race card could come up at anytime" This is true, so everytime someone makes a remark on him being black is he always going to have to stop what he is doing such as the health care reform just to clear up this racism? No, the show must go on and people will talk, but if everyone stops listening eventually they'll stop.
I also agree with Philip when he said "The argument has no validity since it is just a distraction from the health care plan, causing it to be derailed since it gets more attention." I believe that this won't be the only thing that may try to distract Obama from the goals he wishes America to reach. Yes, it's said that people will try to hold you back, but that's just life and everyone is bound to experience that if they haven't already.

Alvarez S. said...

I feel the office should handle Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carters response to a type of offense, not only to the fact that it's the president but just the fact that you are coming out of your chracter and saying this to a human being on national television. How should office react to this type of thing? Whether to take action or assume the obvious. The best thing that I think the office should do is to just ask what they both meant in their response. Was it due to race or just act of their own opinion. There is no justification on what Jimmy Carter did, he can't say that it was mistake that he didn't mean it, the only thing he can comment is why he thought Barack Obama was a liar. Would this derail the helathcare reform? It might have a set back because people are thinking about what was told to the president but it won't completely stop the whole topic of healthcare. This is a very big thing that Obama is talking about so there isn't really much that can derail this subject. Nothing is more as serious than someone's health.

Alvarez S. said...

I feel the office should handle Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carters response to a type of offense, not only to the fact that it's the president but just the fact that you are coming out of your chracter and saying this to a human being on national television. How should office react to this type of thing? Whether to take action or assume the obvious. The best thing that I think the office should do is to just ask what they both meant in their response. Was it due to race or just act of their own opinion. There is no justification on what Jimmy Carter did, he can't say that it was mistake that he didn't mean it, the only thing he can comment is why he thought Barack Obama was a liar. Would this derail the helathcare reform? It might have a set back because people are thinking about what was told to the president but it won't completely stop the whole topic of healthcare. This is a very big thing that Obama is talking about so there isn't really much that can derail this subject. Nothing is more as serious than someone's health.

Victoria.O said...

I agree with Adetayo,Philip, and nbeckford,when the world still has a some way racism going on and you know you have a black president he know he's going to be hit with some racism sleurs here and there but he knows how to respound back to it. Ex president Carter say that the people who attacked the president because of his policy have some what some races over tone attached to it. Many people disagree with the president , but did not insult the pesident in public while speaking.It is fear to say this is the view of minority of people who disagree with any policy the president is trying to put forword. Mr.Obama was black before he was elected to be president by minority of people. Even tho the none listerners disagree with him and make alot of noise Obama is still puting his words out to the people who are.

Hogan,I said...

I agree with D.Samuels, when he states that the office of the president should not talk about the racism part of it and stick with the health reform. The president has so many important different events and situations to worry about, then this nonsense. Who knows if Maureen Dowd opinion piece had facts hidden, and Jimmy Carter probably knows the only reason why Joe Wilson yelled" You Lie" was because of racisim . Maybe. But we wont know the real story. I believe that this argument has no validity since its misleading from the actual purpose.Yes it will derail the healthcare reform bill since everyone is worring about how Obama is going to react.

Michelle said...

The office of the president should just focus on the health care reform. The whole Joe Wilson 5 minute fame was just a waste of time.For Maureen Dow d it's not about racism it's about Health care and how it can help people who can't afford it . The guy who yelled Liar who knows why he said that , all we have is questions and no answers and this little situation should not effect the decision of health care. Since this situation is not resolved President Obama should talk to Mr.Wilson and ask why he did such a thing so America can see and let it be over with. We all know having an Black president is going to be a tough road because people are so ignorant and prejudice . “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.”

A. Gonzalez said...

I strongly agree with Supreet I think that Mr. Wilson took it too far. I think he should have made his comment at the end. Although I do not think it's "derailing" the healthcare plan. I think that Obama will try his best to make these goals complete but I do not think it's going to effect anything. I doubt it has anything to do with racism.

TiffanyH said...

As far as Jimmy Carter goes I agree with his belief that Joe Wilson's outburst was unnecessary and unjustified. He meerely blurted out a disrespectful alligation at a time that was inappropriate and opinionated. I believe that the presidential office shouldn't address what has happened because that would simply be adding to Joe Wilson's moments of fame and deminishing the media and importance of the healthcare issue that the President has been trying to address. But as far as racism is concerned that's just a guess or thought that some people would have to weigh and out weigh because you never really know why a person says what they say, it could mean one thing and it can also be tied back to other beliefs in topics but there is never really any way to determine weither it was an act of racism or not inless the person making the alligations admits to it being a racial problem.

C. Reyes said...

I think that Maureen Dowd and former president Jimmy Carter are trying in a way to stand up for Obama. However what they are really doing is hurting his chances at getting his healthcare plan recognized. I think that president Obama shouldn’t really give a response to these claims. He should just stay focused on the plan that he is trying to get across. He needs to stay on task if things are going to go the way he wants. I think that the whole argument that the statement said at Obama’s healthcare speech was out of racism is ridiculous. It may have been out of racism really who knows? But there is no proof what so ever that it was said because of race. I think that if president Obama doesn’t stay on track with his healthcare reform bill that it has a big chance of becoming derailed. I agree with Nadia when she said that everyone should keep their opinions to themselves. I think it should be obvious that it isn’t a good idea to yell your opinion while the president is in the middle of an important speech but if you feel that strongly about something then there is a time and place to express yourself. I felt that this whole situation was just unnecessary and is getting way more attention than needed.

geneva b said...

My opinion is why did the office of the president is talking about racism and where did racism become a issue when the office president should be talking about health reform. if our black president obama had a speech and had say the word RACISM everybody would go out of there mind and say why is the president talking about racism and not about the health.

I think this argument was validity because some people are making a big deal about how the office president was talking about racism and not sticking to the topic about health reforms.

This will not derail; the health reforms because everything will changes and our president will make it happen.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Ana. The office of the president should just focus on the healthcare reform. The whole Joe Wilson scenario should just be put aside and pay more attention towards the important issue. If we pay so much attention to what Joe said then we're not getting anywhere. We're basically giving him the attention he wants.

- Jessica R.