Obama addresses urban issues in Iowa (message to inner city youth: "Pull up your pants!" )

It was a rare scene in Iowa: an audience that included a large percentage of minorities.

After a two-day swing through western Iowa, Sen. Barack Obama held a forum on urban issues at a Des Moines high school, packing the gymnasium with 500 Iowans of every variety. He fielded a series of questions that touched on race - not a common topic in this overwhelmingly white state, and one that Obama, by his own measure, views from a rare perspective.

In one exchange, the Illinois senator tackled the steep obstacles faced by inner city youth. He said he would dispatch nurses or social workers visit "at-risk parents," to "meet with them and talk to them about you've got to read to your child...Here's how you talk to your child. Don't tell them to shut up. Let them ask questions, that's what children do."

When Obama was asked how he would use the bully pulpit as president, he returned to the subject of parenting, and noted that his father wasn't present during his childhood - a challenge that many single mothers face today. "I will tell them, look I know what this is about," he said. "I know how hard it is for a lot of young men, who basically don't see a role model and don't have direction. But you know what, that's no excuse."

One woman lamented how some inner-city kids don't know how to dress for a job interview. "Pull up your pants!" Obama interjected, as the crowd laughed. "Pull up your pants!"

Appearance is key to urban youth succeeding, he stressed. "You've got people coming in, heads hanging down, hat cocked. They're mumbling. You can't understand what they're saying. The employer asks them to do something and they've got an attitude. Why do I got to do it? Why didn't you ask Pookie to do it? They come in late. The employer says, why are you late? I don't know."

The crowd laughed and cheered as Obama spoke. But people turned silent when Annette Brown, an African-American woman, told Obama of her struggle to integrate into the community, after moving to Des Moines from Chicago.

"I come from a diverse background. I have people of every race in my family," Obama responded. "When we were at Thanksgiving, you looked around and everybody tried to figure out, how do all these people fit together? I see a lot of different perspectives. And one of the things that I truly believe is that the vast majority of Americans want to do the right thing. They want to live together. They believe in diversity...They believe everyone is American. I truly believe that is where America wants to be."

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http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/11/25/post_212.html#more

WHAT!!!??? did he really say that? :rofl:

He's in almost all white Iowa telling Pookie to pull up his pants and get to work?

He should see some of the dumbass workers I've seen who happen to be white. One was a lawyer who was holding a mouse up in the air, moving it around and asking me why the mouse pointer on the screen wasn't moving. Another wasted millions on a computer system that obviously didn't work

As for your "dumbass workers"...at least they made it through a job interview somehow. The lawyer wasn't stupid, just ignorant--which is curable. And if I had a dime for every person who wasted millions on bad computer equipment...

Meanwhile, there are tons of people out there who know how to use a mouse, know how to buy computer equipment wisely, and also know how to dress to get hired in the first place.

I'm not sure I see your point. Is it that dress and appearance shouldn't matter on job interviews because the person being interviewed might be very smart and a better worker than some of the people who dress better? I doubt that's ever going to matter. On interviews, anyway, superficial appearance counts for something. The first indicator that the person might have a clue is proper dress for the workplace. It's no guarantee that they WILL have a clue, but interviewers can't afford to waste time searching the oceans of ill-dressed candidates looking for that "pearl" who is an exception to the rule that those who don't know how to dress for a job interview may also not be great bets for doing well at the job.

I don't see anything so wrong with telling young people that if you want a job, you have to educate yourself and dress yourself and develop the proper sense of what is expected from you to go get it. If you do all that and you still can't get one or keep one, then maybe there are other issues at hand that aren't your fault and that the government can help with.

And, to add: If you can't get the education because you can't afford it, maybe the government can help with that too.

I just don't think that "Tell Pookie to pull up his pants and get to work" is a very progressive response to the problem of young and unemployed black men.

Now Obama, a black man, is sending out racist code to Iowa voters????

What won't you guys think of next?

I got a little chuckle out of it.

:eyes:

They're scared of Obama, you can tell.

How inspiring!