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Watch this! It's Barack Obama on the Charlie rose Show circa 2004 talking about this same topic.

O.k., Thevail, interesting link, I wonder where you got it? I would have liked to have seen the whole interview, not just the clip. So, Barack's been thinking about this for a while, not surprising. Do you think the San Fran speech came off as condescending? Wonder how Barack would feel if he didn't have the prospect of being a politician anymore? Would he want to be a nurses assistant? I don't think so. What is really his answer to this problem?

I think that the San Fran speech did come off as condescending, but not on purpose.

I mean, it's pretty condescending when people say things like, "Black, inner-city kids turn to drugs, crime, and gangs because of poverty, ignorance, and single parent homes."

No, not all of them do, and those may not be the reasons either. Those things are individual.

But I've heard that on 60 Minutes and no one blew a gasket.

Is that really somehow less condescending?? But, any time anyone is trying to explain the "typical" behavior of any group of which they are not a member, they end up indulging in over-simplification, and they sound like a jerk.

But how the heck are you supposed to even address this issue without offending people? There are basically no non-offensive words to talk about it.

The fact is that "single issue" voters end up voting against their own economic interests more often than not. And that is a problem. Just as kids in bad neighborhoods are also being self-destructive, just on a different scale.

Good clip, and good point.

I guess that leaves us where we always end up in elections, with insipid politicians spewing meaningless platitudes.

Shame on you Barack Obama, for not aiming everything you say at a fifth grade mentality.

I agree, good point on making generalizations about the typical behavior of any one group.

I'm not sure in this day and age who you can trust to vote in your economic interest. Don't get me wrong, I did not vote for W., ever. I am so disgusted by that regime. I am so disgusted in myself for not doing more lobby against the initial authorization to go to war. I do believe that we, the U.S., will be there for quite a bit longer. I think that Barack and Hillary don't have the guts to tell us that even if we leave now, we'll be back or we'll just increase the troop presence in Afganastan.

But what are we to do with this economy? There must be statistics on this, but it is difficult to believe that NAFTA brought down the economies of PA, MI, OH, IN etc. What is in our economic best interests? We can't stop trading with China when it owns, what percentage of our national debt? Just hypothetical questions, no answer required.