Obama: 'Unacceptable' to omit slavery from Confederate history

[bobbyw24]

By Michael O'Brien - 04/09/10 07:40 AM ET
It was "unacceptable" for Virginia's governor to omit references to slavery in declaring Confederate History Month in the state, President Barack Obama said Friday.

The president said that while he thought it was important for Americans to be familiar with the history of the Confederacy, it was impossible to see the full picture without studying the institution of slavery.

"I don't think you can understand the Confederacy and the Civil War unless you understand slavery," Obama said during an interview on "Good Morning America" on ABC. "And so, I think that was an unacceptable omission. I think the governor's now acknowledged that."

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) revived observance of the month, something his two predecessors in office, both Democrats, had declined to do.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/91297-obama-unacceptable-to-omit-slavery-from-confederate-history-month

[MelissaWV]

If this were ALL there was to it, I would be in rare agreement with President Obama. Slavery was pretty vital to the Confederacy from an economic and cultural standpoint. It wasn't "the reason for the Civil War," in the sense that most generic history books make it out to be, but leaving it out altogether is just dumb.

HOWEVER!

I would submit to Mr. Obama that slavery should also not be left out of Union history. Most people seem to be under the impression that a) the Civil War instantly and absolutely ended slavery, b) all slaves were African in origin, c) the North held no slaves and was uniformly in favor of freeing them... and so on. The North were the good guys, and wanted everyone to be free. The South were dumb racists, and wanted all black people to be slaves forever, and most of them owned slaves. The history books have presented a very unfair image of both sides of the Civil War.

I do not think tipping the scales the other way is the answer. I think being honest about both sides is.

[torchbearer]

Slavery was pretty vital to the Confederacy from an economic and cultural standpoint.

let me add to your post this- that slavery was pretty vital to the northern economy led by textiles who needed the raw material cotton. slavery had nothing to do with the culture of the south. at least in louisiana, i can definitely say the culture was determined by its french settlers and their heritage. to say slavery was vital to "their" cultural standpoint would be incorrect.

[BamaFanNKy]

So is he wanting the Federal Government to step in and take away a state's right to choose how they observe the month?

[stu2002]

So is he wanting the Federal Government to step in and take away a state's right to choose how they observe the month?

He wants no state's rights on any issue

[MelissaWV]

let me add to your post this- that slavery was pretty vital to the northern economy led by textiles who needed the raw material cotton. slavery had nothing to do with the culture of the south. at least in louisiana, i can definitely say the culture was determined by its french settlers and their heritage. to say slavery was vital to "their" cultural standpoint would be incorrect.

The first part of your post agrees with the second part of mine :)

When I say slavery was vital from a cultural standpoint, I don't mean in a direct way depicted in movies. "The South" as a "nation" did owe a lot of its culture to its economy, which hinged upon the plantation model in many areas. Without slavery, the culture of the South as a general concept would have been different. The culture of specific areas within the South varied greatly. Hell, the culture within Louisiana or Georgia varies greatly (and always did).

The culture of America in general owed a great deal, mostly indirectly, to slavery, child labor, and indentured servitude, and the impact those things had on the economy. My point is to leave it out of the South's history is still dishonest, even if in another direction than history usually is.

[catdd]

"It was "unacceptable" for Virginia's governor to omit references to slavery in declaring Confederate History Month in the state, President Barack Obama said Friday. "

And if he had mentioned it he would have been charged with some type of hate speech or bigotry. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[ChaosControl]

By Michael O'Brien - 04/09/10 07:40 AM ET
It was "unacceptable" for Virginia's governor to omit references to slavery in declaring Confederate History Month in the state, President Barack Obama said Friday.

The president said that while he thought it was important for Americans to be familiar with the history of the Confederacy, it was impossible to see the full picture without studying the institution of slavery.

"I don't think you can understand the Confederacy and the Civil War unless you understand slavery," Obama said during an interview on "Good Morning America" on ABC. "And so, I think that was an unacceptable omission. I think the governor's now acknowledged that."

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) revived observance of the month, something his two predecessors in office, both Democrats, had declined to do.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/91297-obama-unacceptable-to-omit-slavery-from-confederate-history-month

And yet its acceptable to say it was all about slavery and ignore all the injustices of the US Federal government that triggered the Confederacy to secede to begin with? Hypocrite.

[specsaregood]

let me add to your post this- that slavery was pretty vital to the northern economy led by textiles who needed the raw material cotton. slavery had nothing to do with the culture of the south. at least in louisiana, i can definitely say the culture was determined by its french settlers and their heritage. to say slavery was vital to "their" cultural standpoint would be incorrect.

Somebody should ask him why the emancipation proclamation didn't free any slaves owned in union territory.
And specifically exempted 55 counties in the state of virginia.... Hrm, that would be nice rebuttal. You are correct we shouldn't omit it. Pres. Lincoln specifically allowed slavery to continue in much of virginia.

[Stary Hickory]

"It was "unacceptable" for Virginia's governor to omit references to slavery in declaring Confederate History Month in the state, President Barack Obama said Friday. "

And if he had mentioned it he would have been charged with some type of hate speech or bigotry. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I really don't think Washington nor Obama has any say in how Virgininans commemorate Virginian history. The race baiting is getting old. Really old.