Granted i do not believe what providence is saying, but for people to assume he is racist is pretty lame. If i say O.J. Simpson DID IT (wow big surprise) am i racist? because hes black? If i say Hilary Clinton is not cut out for the job (which i don't believe she is) am i a feminist? People are titled to their opinions. and maybe i should correct when i assumed providence is a male by saying "he or she". stupid politically correct world

Look, Dave. I am not going to be one of these irritating parents who think every little cute thing a kid does indicates that he's destined to be a genius.

Studies have found that South Korean children are not as confident and self-assured as are American children. But they are much more academically capable than American children are, especially in math and science, the engine of a thriving economy. Just look at what their economy has done in the last 20 years versus ours.

I am a liberal, but I can admit that Kennedy was really not a very impressive president. He didn't get much accomplished. But people loved him, his sound bites, that whole crazy Camelot junk. It's the same with Obama. People love his inexperience and his rambling talk. The man has never done anything impressive with his life. He's barely been challenged for his politicial seats. One of his colleagues from Illinois atually thinks Obama was ordained by God to lead the US. Maybe that's why Obama's campaign is so empty on specifics and full of hot air. He thinks he'll just get there by being "fresh."

And you cannot form good judgement without the necessary experience on which to base them. Maybe in ten years, if he can hack it in DC, he'll be ready to run for the presidency. Until then, he's just a black dude who's popular because Americans want to believe themselves to be egalitarian and found someone with whom they can identify.

I sure hope you are not sharing your non-motivating conclusion with any children. OMG. Also, right now we Americans just need one (person with that dream, the drive and GOOD judgment) to lead. Obama08

Yeah and how many of those seemingly precocious little girls and little boys actually turn out to be gifted singers and swimmers? Hardly any, that's how many.

I pray for the safety of the Obama family, who is making a huge sacrifice for the American people (they have many better options than being on the campaign trail everyday.)

That's the funniest thing I've read in a long time. A man who cannot verbalize a specific reason or a goal for wanting to become President (other than "to bring people together") is sacrificing terribly to become the most powerful man in the world when he was a nobody-state-senator just three years ago having won that seat barely challenged.

If he wants to do some good for the country, he could have used his overwhelming popularity as a freshly elected senator to buck trends in the senate and speak his mind for the people instead of going with the flow with his senior colleagues just so he can posture for a presidential run in 2008. This man is simply unqualified to be the President now and given his incompetence/failure to come up with concrete ideas/plans (not fresh-sounding platitudes), I am not sure he will ever wisen up enough to become one.

Instead of admiring an unqualified person for reaching for something he cannot attain, let's be honest and say his ego is out of control. While we're at it, let's admit that ALL politicians running for President, competent or otherwise, do so because they have giant egos.

America is in trouble.

BTW, Michelle Obama is SMOKIN' HOT.

Obama lived for most of his childhood in Hawaii and spent four of his pre-teen years in Indonesia. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama’s father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, and then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was 21. His mother married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian foreign student, with whom she had one daughter, Maya. The family moved to Jakarta in 1967, where Obama attended local schools from ages 6 to 10. He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from 5th grade until his graduation in 1979. In, The Audacity of Hope Obama writes that he "was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known." He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian step-father as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004; launching his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003 (technically he’s been in elected office longer than Hillary).

Anon, Ottawa, OH: Sometimes no matter how hard people try to prove you wrong, you still aren’t going to believe the truth. People misquote the bible all the time; technically you prove my point because you misspelled Moses (Mosses, your spelling, not mine). But hey we’re all human right?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama

If anybody can refute the above statements with REAL FACT, let me know and list your source. Four years in a Muslim country and people think that was enough time to become a brainwashed, radical Muslim? Furthermore, even if he was Muslim or worse, a fundamentalist, do you really think that would radically change the whole country’s religion or course in world affairs in 4-8 years time? Anybody who answered “yes” to either of my questions above needs some serious help. I remember hearing about JFK getting bad press when he ran for President for being Catholic. People said “Kennedy’s gonna bring the pope in to convert us all to Catholics.” Of course we all know that never happened.

Stop the paranoia and hysteria for once and listen to the man. If you don’t like what he has to say, don’t vote for him. For God’s sake, start acting like adults instead of children on the playground.

Tom – Dedham, Mass

Though I don’t always agree with your politics or your posts, I think you are to be commended for defending Obama’s wife from the empty rhetoric and white noise coming from these other posters. Thank you Tom for bringing real debate and upstanding, upbeat REAL rhetoric to these blogs.

Arshad:

We need more people like you to correct the misinformed people about Arab/Islamic/Muslim countries.

Eric Steinback, Chicago IL

I’m a former motorcyclist and avid turn signal user (wish more people would use them). There is one other factor that might be interesting, was the motorcyclist passing in a double yellow line or an intersection? I suspect you “conclusions” about Obama’s wife and the campaign are more based on partisan politics more than based on the innocence before being proved guilty. Don’t you think the campaign would receive a lot of press by now if they were guilty in the accident?

Emerson was taken by helicopter to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa where he was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

..."We are not going to go on with the day as planned. Our hearts just aren't in it," [Michelle Obama] said.

CNN could use a commenter registration system like this little paper does & cut down on the propagation of misinformation & hate.

As the article says the motorcyclist was 3 vehicles back, & tried to pass on the left as the van was making a left hand turn. We do have idiot drivers in Iowa, and on a 2-lane highway, some crazies are always trying to pass. Hopefully he recovers, but he's the one who caused the accident by driving recklessly.

As for the comments on Michelle Obama's looks, what in the heck? I saw her an hour before the accident in Waterloo, & she was gorgeous & refined as always. More importantly, she spoke the truth and showed she cares about the issues. She will make the best First Lady we've ever had.

All the non-racist, non-idiot Americans need to vote this time!! Don't think change will come on it's own. As you can see, the trolls are noisy.

As a motorcyclist I am always careful when passing cars that are slowing down. All motorcyclists are, as we are constantly reminded how stupid and selfishly most people drive.

I do not believe a motorcyclist would have missed the turn signal or proceeded to pass if it had been on.

This leads me to conclude that the Obama Campaign does not believe they are subject to the same rules of the road as the rest of us. I know another group like this, they're called bad cops.

I expect a fully apology from the Obama campaign, an acknowledgment of guilt and a commitment to send whoever was driving to driver education again – or my vote has just been lost. Barrack says he wants to bring integrity back to politics, well let's here the whole story folks.

I even wrote that of course this accident was just an "accident".

Do you support anon, providence and Kyu, Hillary supporters all, on their totally racists comments on Michelle Obama?

I don't, and I am a mean "hillary hating Republican" who happens to love Michelle Obama for being strong and "real".

If you are going to censor my comments, please post your comment policy.

"A report from the Hampton Police Department said the van carrying Michelle Obama was trying to make a left turn when it was struck. The motorcycle, which was three vehicles behind the campaign van, attempted to pass and struck the left side of the van, the report said, while traveling on the wrong side of the road.

The campaign event she was headed to was canceled."

Did you READ the freakin' article?!? The FACTS are right in your face.

Mrs. Obama was NOT driving, it was NOT the van's fault (as stated by police), and the Obamas DID CARE (they canceled their event).

Enough is enough.

As an alledged christian, he could not even quote the bible right when he said he was like Joshua (should be Mosses).

I can see his supporters are angry without providing proof otherwise, although I said earlier that religion is not the only factor for qualifications to be the next president. Obama's resume is simply a few pages shorter than Hillary.

He is a rookie politician, with his speech performance up in one town hall and down in another townhall. He is an inexperienced politician without substance. If he were white, there are lots of politicians better than him in washington dc.

does the chimp currently sitting in teh White House look Presidential?

- He was given a muslim middle name, hussein.

- Once muslim at borth, he is considered muslim for life, per their tradition.

- His mother kept a koran at home.

- He was raised by muslim Indonesian stepfathr in Indonesia, a muslim country.

- Based on his book, Audacity of Hope, Obama admitted that he went to a muslim school in Indonesia.

- His United Church minister said Obama did not regularly attend the church.

Many muslim are killing our soldiers. It is ironic that we may have a muslim president.
- He bought a parcent of land at a big discount from a muslim lobbyist.

-

Posted By anon, ottawa, OH : October 10, 2007 9:02 am

Just so you guys know this is 100% BS!

He never knew his father and his stepfather became aetheist.

All of this crap suggests that someone cannot be saved. If you militant christians believed in what you defend you would try to go out and save some muslims instead of slandering good christians.

except that barack did go to a basra as a young child...about the only good school available in indonesia...where the school is sponsored by a local mosque but they do not teach religion.

Please consider the courage of this man
running for president as a black man even with the arrogant and ignorant
racism that is apparent on this CNN
site. Not to mention the hatred spuing
from religious bigots of all kinds.

Also consider Barak Obama's resume of real life on the ground experience in
community organization and teaching constitutional law as well as being a state and federal elected official.

Barak Obama and Michelle Obama are a
rare gift of leadership that comes around only once in a century. I hope
we as a nation do not miss the boat
and elect the same corrupt bunch
of the old and stagnant politicians
who are bought and sold by the corporate elite.

Time for real and creative change!

The world is watching!

Vote for the smartest guy in the room!

Baarock the vote!!!

Posted By Pat, Huntington, NY : October 10, 2007 10:04 am

Sorry "Pat" the three who wrote the most hateful things here (anon, providence and Kyu) are all Hillary supporters. Sorry when facts get in the way. The accident was simply an accident of course.

I know Bea likes to say that men who don't support Hillary are sexist, blah, blah, blah, but the fact of the matter is that I indeed do HATE Hillary based on the facts and her words and actions, I respect and admire Michelle for her words and actions.

Posted By Leila, Long Beach, CA : October 9, 2007 11:47 pm

Obama might be "not" muslim because if he is explicitly muslim, no one (or a few only) will vote for him. But his "true faith" is muslim. You can observe his behavior carefully in more details to see if all his main behavior will reflect muslim values or christian values.

Second, it's true every religion has extremists, but muslim's extremists are the worst. If there is any other religion extremists have caused damage to the world, compare it with muslim's extremists, how much damage each extremists have caused. You tried to persuade people that muslim is a peaceful religion?
You won't succeed, because facts are more important than words! The fact is muslim is a destructive religion not a contructive one! I bet you must be a muslim Leila. If you are not, than let me give you a lessson about what Koran is.

Also you Bradley Schaubs from Greeley, CO. If you are really not a muslim, I can teach you about Koran and you will be amazed what Koran teaches about killing and destroying the world. Those are Mohammad's commands! He is the man of sword!

I hope the motorcyclist (who caused the accident) is okay. I prayers go out to him and the Obama family.

Then when you click to read the article, the heading is "Michelle Obama's campaign van in car accident.

Why did you writers try to underhand Mrs. Obama and the truth. You are terrible writers and would not be my employee.

Could you please use EDITORIAL JUDGEMENT and remove this peace?

This is a NEWS that came and already went. Sensible people whether they support Obama or not Should just offer their prayers to the people involved in the accident and move on.

Instead by leaving the post on you are allowing the forum to become a stage of hate speech.

Again, editorial wise there is nothing to be discussed here: a traffic accident except one of the people happens to be Michelle Obama.

Can you please remove this? Can we move on?

Posted By Sam, IA : October 10, 2007 3:43 am

Guess what "Sammy", the next correct thing you post will be your first.

Guzzle your kool-aid and sit back, the grownups are talking.

This has nothing to do with hate radio or Republicans or Concervatives.

Kyu, Providence and anon are all Hillary supporters and I have to tell you, I am disgusted at their comments.

Even as a Republican/Independent I think the world of this woman (sorry Bea, I love her and HATE Hillary) and for anyone to make light of this accident is unfathomaable.

For ignorants like you, without knowledge or wisdom, Hussain/Hussein is an Arabic word. The meaning of this word is "NICE". You will find many non-muslim in Arab who has an Arabic name. Being Arab is their culture, nationality is which country they live in and religion is what they believe in. Since the religion Islam started in Arab, Quran is written in Arabic, muslims around the world (even not from middle east) having an Arabic name.

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, had 2 grandsons, Hassan and Hussain. Sons of his only daughter, Fatema. During early day of preaching Islam, Muhammad was attacked time and time again, to prevent him preaching from Islam. He defended the religion with his values, integrity and character. He also defended in battle field when a battle was imposed on him. During one of those battle, these two young men (Hassan and Hussain) sacrficed their lives to defend the religion and the prophet. Muslims and Arabs tend to name their kid after the name of Hussain or Hassan to show respect to their dedication and sacrifice. This is coming from 1400 years ago and has nothing to do with Saddam Hussain in Iraq. So stop this crap.
If I do a goggle or yahoo search for George+criminal, I can find many Georges who are robbers, murderers, rapist, serial killiers, arsonits...
Don't tell me these criminals earn a bad name for George Washington, George Bush 1 or 2 just because they share the same name.
Face Obama if you can, on ideas, values, integrity, passion, wisdom, knowledge. That's a fair game. Don't spread irresponsible and nonsense notions when you have no clue what you are talking about. First learn yourself and then share your opinion with others.

This is why the media should be called on its bias no matter who the target is. CNN's liberal corruption hurts everyone, on both sides.. Join me in the call for political equality from the media..

Wait, what? So a motorcyclist blatantly breaks the rules of the road and passes a column of vehicles without caring what that column is doing; how is that not his fault just because he struck a vehicle carrying a VIP? I'm sorry, this is ludicrous.