Based on the transcript posted by the Chicago Sun Times, here are the 5 quotes from then Senator Obama’s 2007 speech at Hampton University that are most likely to raise eyebrows:
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Hurricane Katrina “was a powerful metaphor for what’s gone on [in America] for generations.”
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“It was also there — at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago — that I met Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who took me on another journey and introduced me to a man named Jesus Christ. It was the best education I ever had.”
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On his run for the Illinois State Senate: “And the second thing people would ask me gets back to the question about why we can’t seem to take the bullet out in this country and do the works and the deeds and unite this country.”
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“[The poor] may need help with basic skills — how to show up to work on time, wear the right clothes, and act appropriately in an office. We have to help them get there. That’s why I have called for $50 million to begin innovative new job training and workforce development programs.”
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“We need to give our young people some real choices out there so they move away from gangs and violence and connect them with growing job sectors. That is why I am also going to create a 5-E Youth Service Corps. The ‘E’s’ stand for energy efficiency, environmental education and employment. This program would directly engage disconnected and disadvantaged young people in energy efficiency and environmental service opportunities to strengthen their communities while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important and growing career field.”
It appears that President Obama went off script when he delivered the speech, but if he went on to deliver these remarks as written, I imagine they will cause some controversy.