A historic figure making history, this is emerging as an over-arching theme—if not obsession—in the Obama presidency....
The old fashioned, big government liberalism that Mr. Obama uses to make himself history-making also alienates him in the center-right America of today. It makes him the most divisive president in memory—a president who elicits narcissistic identification on the one hand and an enraged tea party movement on the other. His health-care victory has renewed his narcissistic charge for the moment, but if he continues to be a 1965 liberal it will become more and more impossible for Americans to see themselves in him.
March 31, 2010
"But if the old bowing and boyish president is receding, a new and more ominous president is emerging."
Shelby Steele examines the new Barack Obama, after the health care fight:
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The one is on a roll to destroy and remake our world in the Marxist Dream of doing good by destroying the good that exists now. He uses that to excite himself and we must pay the price. Health Care as we knew and loved it is now destroyed. The news media as we knew and loved it is now gone and a propaganda operation in its place. the US/Israel alliance with Egypt as a balancing ally is now gone and Iranian nuclear hegemony is our strategy. It goes on and we weaken as the Obama imaginatio gets fired up with "Victory" over us. This will not end well.
Wow, Steele will just not quit...you know you have no shame when you can write a book titled "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win" and just keep punching...
"His health-care victory has renewed his narcissistic charge for the moment ... "
Narcissism of the type on display by this President is a serious mental illness.
I hope Barack Obama can use the new health care reform bill to get the psychiatric help he so desperately needs.
Barack Obama is a sick, sick man. Shame on the Wall Street Journal for making fun of his mental illness.
This article will really help shape your understanding
of BHO. not. Fish in a barrel territory here.
Oh NO! He's working backwards into his legacy.
I did notice in the news yesterday that Obama looks like he's gonna do a Clinton now and move to get the right off his back a little. He will do it by getting tougher overseas and softer domestically.
Like Clinton, I suspect he is a pretty good chameleon, but much less intellectually capable of it. It will be interesting to watch. I expect him to abandon it quickly.
Thank you Shelby. Now you can go back to kissing pictures of Ron Reagan and resume your spot as toady.
More divisive than George Bush?
I think not, at least not yet. Not by a long shot.
The Tea Whiners are loud, but they are a tiny peninsula on the continent of the American public.
More divisive than George Bush?
Tell us, Robert, what law did Bush sign or what did he do that public opinion was overwhelmingly against.
Also, Robert, I am still, still, still waiting for you to educate us concerning the treaties by which the United States is bound or international law to which we humbly submit that made or makes the Iraq War illegal.
Tick-tock.
Will I die before you deign to share this secret knowledge?
Cook's going to be fit to be tied when he figures out that the people at the Tea Parties are the proletarian mass he's been wating for so hopefully.
Robert is going to be absolutely suicidal when he learns that the United States has never entered into a treaty that prevents it from declaring war whenever the fuck it wants.
This is really an old story from a simpler time, but it never gets old for me because Robert epitomizes the messianic leftist type who thinks his sorry, unworkable opinions are the law of the land.
The left's continuing allegation that racism is the underlying cause of opposition to Obama has a basis in fact.
What if the natural tendencies of black culture account for Obama's love for big government?
Look at Detroit. Or, for that matter, look at Africa. The black machine politics of ultra corruption and self-dealing in the name of socialism is dominant in both Detroit and Africa.
Diversity and multi-culturalism demand that we pretend that white and black culture are equally valued. So, are we to just pretend that the Anglo/American tradition of law, individual freedom, individual rights and economic freedom are just accidents, and not characteristics of white dominated societies?
Equality for women and minorities is a concept that developed in Anglo/American, white cultures.
Steve Sailer has written at length about the "Big Man" ideology of African politics exemplified by Obama's father.
I think that, just as the left constantly cries, race is at the center of Obama's world view, and, thus, racism is at the center of opposition to Obama.
The irony is that the white racism in opposition to Obama is based on those great Anglo/American values of justice, economic and individual freedom, etc.
Black racism, as we've long seen, has a different face... the longing for a Big Man to lead, virulent racial favoritism and corruption, and a taste for collectivism as a justification for personal gain.
Racism, black and white, is at the center of the struggle we're facing. Obama represents black racism. In the current political environment, black racism is viewed favorably. So, he's got a free hand to prosecute his racism.
Whites are forbidden to answer with their racism.
This does not seem, to me, to be a supportable structure over the long term.
shoutingthomas is a moby, right?
shoutingthomas,
Interesting perspective that I'm sure far more have noticed than spoken of, but the relationship with leftism and melanin in the skin is coincidental, not causal. Blacks are certainly capable of conservatism, but it's learned and you learn from your community. Whatever it has adopted, is what you get. Freedom is really a rarity in the world. It's far easier and more common to suppress it than accept it.
At shoutingthomas's blog, the top entry is about how he wants Duke to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament "because Duke often plays four white guys."
So my hunch is that this person has some racial opinions that I don't want conservatism associated with. So, like William F. Buckley, I am kicking his ass to the curb with the Cedarford and the Jew haters.
Wow, Steele will just not quit...you know you have no shame when you can write a book titled..
One bad prediction doesn't invalidate a legacy.
One bad prediction doesn't invalidate a legacy.
Lem, perhaps no skill has been so finely honed than the left's ability and desire to cherry pick.
The entire world has been lifted by the efficiencies created by capital and capitalist driven innovation from the United States.
But horror and dismay, there is a 75 year old lady in Ohio that got dropped by her health insurance company, so we need to wreck the entire capitalist system because of her story.
And this is what the left passes off for wisdom and compassion.
Yes, I do encourage readers to peruse my current blog entry.
I discuss why racial pride is supposedly good for black guys, and taboo for white guys.
Next up, author of "DOW 36,000" on Obama's effect on the stock market.
Hey Seven Machos:
the surge
TARP
What if the natural tendencies of black culture account for Obama's love for big government?
That might be interesting or even relevant if Obama had been raised in the "black culture" of any location.
He was raised in several venues. The first being the tired hippie anti Americanism of his mother. In South East Asia in a Muslim environment. And finally by his wealthy white Grandparents in multicultural Hawaii in exclusive private schools.
Obama is not a 'black' man culturally. Oh, sure, he puts on the act and talks the talk, adopts the black Baptist preacher cadence when it suits his needs. But he is a product of progressive, communistic liberalism. The worst of the worst of our perverted elitist educational system.
We are so screwed.
That might be interesting or even relevant if Obama had been raised in the "black culture" of any location.
You're certainly right.
You should read Steve Sailer's critique of Obama's autobiography.
Obama move to Chicago and took up with Rev. Wright to become "completely black."
He's a phony. That's true.
But, that's doesn't exactly refute what I said.
Obama consciously embraced black racism for political gain. His mother was a type I know well, since I live in Woodstock. She hated America, worshipped blacks and was a die hard commie. She indoctrinated her son is this crazy shit.
Obama is even more dangerous as a black racist because he consciously set out to make himself a black racist.
This op-ed is really bringing out the leftist commenters everywhere.
Must be too close to the truth.
This piece by Shelby Steele is one of the worst things I have ever read. Further, it perfectly -- perfectly -- shows how Steele got is SO wrong. All Steele sees is race. Examples:
There aren't even any myths that speak directly to your circumstance, no allegorical tales of ancient black kings who ruled over white kingdoms...
Mr. Obama's success has always been ephemeral because it was based on an illusion: that if we Americans could transcend race enough to elect a black president, we could transcend all manner of human banalities and be on our way to human perfectibility...
Steele never bothered to listen to Obama. That's why he could publish his book in 2007. He never bothered to notice that Obama explicitly did not run on a race-based platform; that he moved away from it as much as possible.
Also, this "black kings" thing is just deeply, deeply offensive and tribalist. Really obnoxious. Let me ask -- what would Obama learn from this king, if one existed?
Shelby Steele has a huge racial chip on his shoulder. He couldn't handle Obama. Really, he just wanted another Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton, who would lose and reinforce his world view that black people only think in racial terms and can't win doing it.
Shouting Thomas...i follow your argument and find it one rational way to see things, but it does not identify the True Problem. Skin color is a cheap way to evaluate culture/ethnicity/tribalism differences. As many white guys are screwed up in the culture areas as guys with lesser amounts of white northern european ancestors in the DNA (See,Skip Gates work). Hispanic groups that see 50 differing Racial categories in their cultural categories, while we see one that is "Non-white, certainly deserve better from us. IMO just refuse to go down a road that will make one into a skin color Eugenics preacher. Why would you want to do that to yourself?
if you want to know self-loathing just study shelby steele. i bet he hates obama because he's too much of a coward to be as self-accepting as obama. he sees black people from as far a distance as they did in his generation, and he gains acceptance in white conservative communities because he says out loud what they have always believed in private, validating them and himself.
IMO just refuse to go down a road that will make one into a skin color Eugenics preacher. Why would you want to do that to yourself?
Where in the world did you come up with that?
Black people have their strengths and weaknesses, just like whites.
We're in a period of massive re-alignment.
I suspect that one of the good outcomes of the Obama presidency will be that black racism gets worn out. How much longer can the left argue for special deals for blacks?
I can't ever recall having argued for eugenics.
Perhaps, you can point out to me where I did that.
I am tired of a system in which it is taboo for white men to press for their self-interest.
Everybody should have an equal right to advance their self-interest. At the moment, that is not the case.
Shoutingthomas, let's have a look, shall we?
What if the natural tendencies of black culture account for Obama's love for big government?
Look at Detroit. Or, for that matter, look at Africa. The black machine politics of ultra corruption and self-dealing in the name of socialism is dominant in both Detroit and Africa.
1. "natural tendencies" -- natural means inherent, born with, no?
2. "natural tendencies of black culture" -- wait, is culture natural or learned?
3. "...black culture... Look at Detroit... or Africa." Huh. So "black culture" is the same in Detroit and Africa? Most black people in this country are decedent from slaves who came here hundreds of years ago. So is their cultural link genetic, or did they just hold onto some sort of 17th century African culture generation after generation?
3. "ultra corruption and self-dealing in the name of socialism" -- Soviet Union anyone? (Not so many black people.) Latin America? North Korea?
You have to get out a little.
DBQ - you don't think 20 year's in the front pew in the Rev Wright's Church on Hatin' Whitey and the Jews had an influence? What about the influence of Michelle?
VW = Dinglo - a neon-colored coyote-analogue. "A dinglo's got my baby, but at least they are easy to track!"
The black machine politics of ultra corruption and self-dealing in the name of socialism
And what about Boston!!! I mean, I know the Irish are the blacks of Europe, but jeez...
Shouting Thomas...You cannot stop Black rascism by becoming a White rascist. Just rise above it. Are you comfortable with Black people sitting next to you and sharing their viewpoints with you? You may have been raised a southerner and have yet to cross that rubicon. Once you do that, then all this racial crap seems so irrelevent to our life in the Human Race. There are Good People and Bad People in each and every skin color and skull shape and nose length. Getting to know them requires time spent with them and an accepting heart. (If I am right, the returning Jewish Messiah will not turn out to be a tall thin, blue eyed, blonde either).
Shouting Thomas...You cannot stop Black rascism by becoming a White rascist. Just rise above it. Are you comfortable with Black people sitting next to you and sharing their viewpoints with you? You may have been raised a southerner and have yet to cross that rubicon. Once you do that, then all this racial crap seems so irrelevent to our life in the Human Race. There are Good People and Bad People in each and every skin color and skull shape and nose length. Getting to know them requires time spent with them and an accepting heart. (If I am right, the returning Jewish Messiah will not turn out to be a tall thin, blue eyed, blonde either).
If this doesn't demonstrate the absurd stupidity of white men, what does?
50 years of indoctrination have just about made it impossible for white guys to think.
FOI: I grew up in Chicago. I'm a blues musician. I knew and played with the great Chicago bluesmen. In NYC, I've played with most of the great black bebop musicians. I play basketball with black guys and go to church with black people.
The racial indoctrination is so deep that sane discussion is impossible.
I've got work to do. It's become a waste of time.
The white guys on this board are responding to what I say like hysterical Catholic girls did in the 50s when somebody saw the reflection of their panties in their Mary Janes.
Against stupidity was are helpless, to quote Henry Miller.
Have at it.
Try reading what I actually said, from beginning to end, in my blog post today. You might learn something.
But horror and dismay, there is a 75 year old lady in Ohio that got dropped by her health insurance company,
Medicare kicked her out????
Hey, agreement!
It's become a waste of time...
Against stupidity was [sic] are helpless, to quote Henry Miller.
Daniel Steele never bothered to listen to Obama … He never bothered to notice that Obama explicitly did not run on a race-based platform; that he moved away from it as much as possible.
Neither did I. In fact, I think I have a better understanding of the person because I haven't allowed that obvious nonsense directly. See statements on taxes. See statements on Healthcare. Look one post down and see statements on offshore drilling, etc., ad nauseam. Compare/contrast the candidate O with the president O, then see for yourself how nonsensical that statement ↑ and your posturing is in light of those glaring contradictions, if such deep introspection is possible for you.
At any rate, Steele is showing us again that Obama is still the blank canvas upon which we sketch and paint our own vision, our own interpretation of what it is we see, and so Steele's interpretation is worth aught to me in developing my own understanding. I'll do my own sketching and painting, Steele, thank you very much.
Daniel, I like you. I find you earnest. Let's be honest with ourselves here.
"you have NOTHING to be proud of, whatever color you are."
I might add whatever intelligence, or natural physical ability you may have and a lot of other things we pride ourselves on. You could have easily
been born just the opposite of what you are. This is why racial pride and prejudice is so illogical and stupid.
I am proud of America, and I hope I would be regardless of where I was born. I'm also proud of Israel, England, and lately Iraq for various reasons.
I will take leave of this discussion, because it is a waste of time. Since my blog post was referenced, here it is in its entirety:
I'm Rooting for Duke and John Scheyer
Yes, I am. And I'm doing it because Duke often plays four white guys. I'm tired of black guys dominating football and basketball, and I want to see white guys return to those sports in large numbers. And, I really like John Scheyer.
If you watch basketball a lot, as I do, you know that the announcers are constantly trumpeting some “first” for black players. Good for them. Throughout the NCAA tournament, the real story has been the return of white players to the game in large numbers. Northern Iowa, Butler, Duke and a bunch of other teams field a lot of white players. No mention of this by the announcers.
If Duke wins the NCAA, that would be the first win by a dominantly white team in decades.
Haven't got anything against the black guys. I'm just tired of white guys being wimps who can't compete. And, as European white players have proven in the NBA, there is no reason white guys can't compete. The reasons why black dominate... well, I don't think it's all talent.
Black athletes, by and large, aren't really going to school. This is true from elementary school through college. Kentucky's team featured a cast of black guys who were pretending to go to college. That's a pretty significant competitive edge. White guys are almost always really going to school. This rebounds badly for black guys when they don't make the NBA or European ball. They go home and work at lousy jobs the rest of their lives.
Black athletes are encouraged to have macho, killer attitudes. Oozing testosterone is cheered on if you're black and male. White guys have been getting their butts kicked for 50 years if they display this kind of machismo. This is also a distinct competitive advantage for black guys.
John Scheyer, Duke's point guard, is a good case in point. The kid is Jewish, for Christ's sake! If he had the angry machismo of Chris Paul, he'd be a terror. Scheyer is the classic white player... polite, quiet and respectful. Even so, Scheyer is a great player... who seems to have no chance to be drafted in the first round by the NBA.
Scheyer is supposedly not athletic... the usual put down for the white athlete. I've watched him a dozen times this year. He persists in beating the black point guards who are supposedly better than him. Check out his stats versus Sherron Collins, the supposedly superior black point guard of Kansas:
Collins, 15.5 pts, 4.5 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 2.4 turnovers
Scheyer, 18.2 pts, 4.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 turnovers
Scheyer is clearly the better point guard. He drives past every point guard he plays, and gets to the hoop. Yet, Scheyer has been labeled “slow.” He also posts up and scores over every point guard he plays. I've seen this with my own eyes. It is not an illusion. And Scheyer's team is in the Final Four. Collins' team isn't.
An intelligent NBA coach would be well advised to draft and play Scheyer at the point. If he's given the opportunity, Scheyer is going to be a Hall of Fame player. That is, if he's given the chance.
So, I'm rooting for my own kind to win the NCAA. I'm rooting for Duke and Scheyer. I want to see white guys playing like macho studs. I'm looking forward to the day when a white guy is the leading scorer in the NBA. It's about time.
So long, boys. Have at it.
Shouting Thomas...I stand corrected. For whatever reason you want to see racial strife justified by the attacks done by the "Other Side First". I wish you well in your blog, but I strategically plan to fight another enemy. Ours is still a winner take all electoral system.
As I read the last couple of paragraphs, I found myself humming
"Barack, the Magic Negro".
Chip, I'll take the compliment. And I agree with the blank slate point a bit -- it's hard not to, given such different analysis of the same data. (Though in our hyperpartisan moment, I think that applies to a lot of people who aren't Obama.) So I'll do my own painting and sketching too.
Whites are forbidden to answer with their racism.
Not that that ever stops Steve Sailer and his pathetic acolytes. We've got to start doing a better job of forbidding.
You might learn something
How is it possible for one to learn from ignorance?
Ann Althouse said...
"But if the old bowing and boyish president is receding, a new and more ominous president is emerging.
The old fashioned, big government liberalism that Mr. Obama uses to make himself history-making also alienates him in the center-right America of today. It makes him the most divisive president in memory—a president who elicits narcissistic identification on the one hand and an enraged tea party movement on the other. His health-care victory has renewed his narcissistic charge for the moment, but if he continues to be a 1965 liberal it will become more and more impossible for Americans to see themselves in him.
Emphasis mine. Nothing new is emerging. This is the Red Zero shoutingthomas snarkily, but accurately, describes "His mother was a type I know well, ... She hated America, ... and was a die hard commie." Go back to some of his TV interviews as state senator and it comes through loud and clear.
His radicalism, not liberalism, is not old fashioned or of 1965. LBJ, whatever his other sins, would not have dreamed of trying to pass the Great Society or, for that matter, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 without broad consensus. The Zero didn't care, once it was clear he couldn't sell ZeroCare to the country. He would go against the people if that was the way to get what he wanted.
But, yes, Steele is right that he will be the most divisive POTUS in a very long time. Hate to break it to Cook, but that does include Dubya.
I'm not at all sure how this discussion devolved to one of Duke basketball, but returning more to the point:
Did anyone else notice how the new and more ominous president just made student loans into free money?
Apparently, starting in the near future, when someone is lucky enough to be given a student loan by the new First National Bank of Obama, they'll only have to ever pay back a tiny fraction of that loan (10% of "discretionary income" for 20 years, then nothing, nada, zip).
And here's the funny part: This new bank, the First National Bank of Obama, won't be loaning out money that they have in savings accounts, or money they've borrowed from larger banks. No, they'll get this money directly from your pocket.
How awesome is that?
So the government will get to decide who qualifies for this bonanza; and I'll get to pay for it. I doubt that my children will qualify, so instead I'll have to pay their tuition, which will explode in cost, since there will be more money than ever out there chasing the commodity of college education. My children probably won't qualify for a loan under any terms.
This will be the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Think about it: If 4 yrs costs $200,000, in the past the recipient would have to pay back something like $300,000 with interest. Now they might have to pay back only $100,000 or so. Maybe less, if they're a Womyn's Studies major and they're funemployed for the first decade or so after grad school.
And I'll have to pay for that person's tuition, as well as my own child's (inflated) tuition. And the fact that the tuition is inflated just transfers more wealth to Obama voters like our good hostess.
Oh, and did I mention that I worked my ass off to put myself through university with academic scholarships and part-time and summer jobs, with no assistance from anyone?
Well, I guess I'll go back to work now, to make more money for our new and more ominous president to redistribute to his supporters.
I'm going to be in a really chipper mood today, boy.
Hard to know which part of this is more off base. Is it the claim that a health care bill that largely follows the 1990's Republican alternative to Clinton care is left wing statism? Or the claim that being a 1965 liberal--the kind of liberal who voted to pass the Voting Rights Act and Medicare--is somehow anathema to Americans today.
Stephen...You are stuck on stupid. Medicare and voting rights are abused yet they still allowed for a co-existing system that produces good health care for private money and a certain judicial review of over reaching re-districting. The Obamunist bill has killed off private medicine that will now fade away forever and we will become like Canada unless it is repealed very soon. That is why Pelossi and Obama believe that the jackpot of all jackpots has been won by the Communist side.
Hard to know which part of this is more off base. Is it the claim that a health care bill that largely follows the 1990's Republican alternative to Clinton care is left wing statism? Or the claim that being a 1965 liberal--the kind of liberal who voted to pass the Voting Rights Act and Medicare--is somehow anathema to Americans today.
1990's Republican alternative, maybe, but with a massive bureaucracy added, as well as a lot of onerous mandates. And without anything to rein in some of the Democrats' biggest backers, the trial attorneys.
The Tea Whiners are loud, but they are a tiny peninsula on the continent of the American public.
Most of the American people are teabaggers.
Stephen, this government takeover of the student "loan" program is part of the health care bill.
And it is pure "left-wing statism".
Obama has a grandiosity problem. That's all Steele is saying. All this race crap the Left throws up whenever it's leader is criticized is just so much smoke.
"Steve Sailer has written at length about the 'Big Man' ideology of African politics exemplified by Obama's father."
OK, but all the non-big-man Africans I know think that system really sucks.
And do you not realize that lots of us think that "racial" pride is a putrid notion, and the sooner we get over it the better.
It's not just that "whites" should be able to take as much pride from MLK's achievements as should "blacks", but--much more importantly--there is nothing about those achievements that somehow accrues or rubs off on some random black person just because they happen to be black, any more than I should get some residual honor from Neil Armstrong's achievements simply because I happen to be white.
And sorry, but my own kind has nothing to do with ethnic origin. Instead, it's about "strong men stand[ing] face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth".
Daniel: "He never bothered to notice that Obama explicitly did not run on a race-based platform; that he moved away from it as much as possible."
Moved away when necessary after first moving there and living there for as long as it worked.
"Also, this "black kings" thing is just deeply, deeply offensive and tribalist. Really obnoxious. Let me ask -- what would Obama learn from this king, if one existed?"
I wonder about how obnoxious you really find this when having a black President was championed for just this reason and I think it had some validity for making Blacks feel a more equal standing in America. I think you just don't like the messenger here and would totally agree with it if Obama said it. I would.
DBQ - you don't think 20 year's in the front pew in the Rev Wright's Church on Hatin' Whitey and the Jews had an influence? What about the influence of Michelle?
If course it would have some influence. Obama purposely chose to immerse himself in the teachings of Wright's racist black liberation theology church. And obviously, the ideas that your spouse holds will affect your own.
However, I reject the idea that there is a monolithic "black culture" where all people who have darker skin are pigeonholed into a "black culture".
I objected to this when everyone wanted to excuse Tiger Woods for his bad behaviour because he is less that a lighter shade of pale. Tiger is no more the product of "black culture" than I am.
Obama is also no more "black culturally" than I am either. This was actually pointed out and discussed by several prominent in the "black community" organizer types.
Obama is a product of the urban progressive elites that infest our institutions of so-called higher learning. Just because he has darker skin, does not make him a product of 'black culture', whatever that is supposed to mean. Again. There is no ONE black culture......just as there is no ONE white culture....or ONE hispanic culture and so on.
Obama, however has deliberately chosen to try and cloak himself, strategically as a product of what self flagellating progressives want to THINK is 'black culture'. He is doing this to disguise his real motives and to curry favor with people who look at the world through they eyes of racism. That includes blacks and whites. He is a chameleon. A puff of smoke. He is a pretender.
His real 'culture' is fascist socialistic leftists progressivism and as such makes him anti everything I believe in, colour has nothing to do with it.
"Oh, and did I mention that I worked my ass off to put myself through university with academic scholarships and part-time and summer jobs, with no assistance from anyone?"
Me too. Paid for it all with summer jobs, and student loans that I paid back in full with interest and although I was dirt poor for years after college, the bank never offered to forgive those loans. I paid them off slowly but in full. I think I'm better for it. This is now denied our future generation. They will learn the new standard: borrow as much as you can and default when it needs paid back. That has been our county's "strength" lately.
Alex said...
The Tea Whiners are loud, but they are a tiny peninsula on the continent of the American public.
Most of the American people are teabaggers.
Tea Partiers. And they may well be the wave of the future.
I'm not a fan of "instant history". Some of Steele's points are interesting.
Isn't just easier to state President Obama has a liberal approach to governing, that he was elected in a unique time (i.e. dramatic economic downturn), that many folks voted for what he was not (i.e. Bush) and for what he symbolized (our 1st black president) and that as the dust has settled his liberal agenda is out of sync with a large proportion/the majority of Americans.
We should have know going into the Presidency that race would always be a part of the conversation, that it continues to play a part of our understanding of the President (from both sides) but that to reduce all analysis/critique down to race is mistake.
PS Can we once and for all do away with the phrase "self-loathing black man". It is simply a racist statement (i.e. all of your group see the world this way and if you don't well, there's something wrong with you)
What kind of name is Shelby for a man?
I thought Steele's piece was interesting, but it's really just speculation. All of this is. Trying to figure out what's in Obama's head by delving into his past is just a waste of time.
What kind of name is Shelby for a man?
There's a guy named Carroll Shelby and he's made some damn fast, cool cars. Yeah, Shelby's his last name but look at the first name, almost as bad as the Chicago Bears running back, Gayle Sayers.
@bagoh20 says:
I wonder about how obnoxious you really find this when having a black President was championed for just this reason and I think it had some validity for making Blacks feel a more equal standing in America. I think you just don't like the messenger here and would totally agree with it if Obama said it. I would.
There is no way that Obama would ever, ever say this. That's my point.
"There is no way that Obama would ever, ever say this. That's my point."
It was not Steele's or mine either.
But, Obama already has said so in paraphrase in a number of his speeches. When in front of the right audience he has talked about the effect of someone like him being President. The idea that people relate to people who look like them is pretty obvious and when those people are leaders it has an effect. Is this really controversial?
Tea Partiers. And they may well be the wave of the future.
The tea party movement is largely made up of people that don't have movements. While they collect checks printed by the government, and get liver transplants sponsored by the government, some schmuck goes bankrupt paying 20k for a routine procedure.
Hey garage, how many of the supposed 32 million people got their health insurance? Do you think they will get it before another alleged 18,000 die next month?
They can't even figure out yet what parts of the bill are legal, since there are conflicts and contradictions galore. Then there is the language that is muddled. But, hey, according to Reich Queen Sebelius, the law, as written is not important. The intent is what must be followed. "You vil do vat I tellz you to."
Hee, hee, hee. Boy are you people fooled. This bill will be stripped piece by piece before one policy or plan is written. 2014 is a long time off.
The tea party movement is largely made up of people that don't have movements. While they collect checks printed by the government, and get liver transplants sponsored by the government, some schmuck goes bankrupt paying 20k for a routine procedure.
Sounds like a typical Democrat voter to me.
Peter
Why aren't Republicans running on repealing then? If everything they say is true, it should be the easiest slam dunk to run on in history.
Shouting Thomas, I think I understand what you are trying to say now that I read your blog entry.
Let's look at a little microcosm of the world...college basketball. Let's also notice that the teams that win have a majority of black players. In this little piece of our world, black men are the majority, and white men the minority. That seems to set the stage for a host of "assumptions" about what makes a good basketball player. The infrastructure supports these assumptions, as do sports announcers, and those who would determine which of these young men move on or get the "promotion" to the NBA.
In that little corner of our world, the MAJORITY, or black males, are more likely to get that promotion. It doesn't always have to do with their greater ability, but perhaps more with their sheer numbers, and maybe even because of a mindset that exists as to what makes a good NBA player.
You aren't cheering on the white guys just because they are white, you cheer them on because they are the minority...the "little guy" in that little corner of our universe.
There are many lessons to learn through your post. To my mind, the greatest of which is the clear advantage that the MAJORITY is given.
@bagoh20, what you just said:
But, Obama already has said so in paraphrase in a number of his speeches. When in front of the right audience he has talked about the effect of someone like him being President. The idea that people relate to people who look like them is pretty obvious and when those people are leaders it has an effect. Is this really controversial?
What Steele said, which I found offensive:
There aren't even any myths that speak directly to your circumstance, no allegorical tales of ancient black kings who ruled over white kingdoms.
What I said about it:
Also, this "black kings" thing is just deeply, deeply offensive and tribalist. Really obnoxious. Let me ask -- what would Obama learn from this king, if one existed?
Please don't misquote me.
Peculiar that fixation on Bark Obama ...
He'll be gone somedays.
His voters and enablers will remain among us.
Some of those forgot need learn squat from history ...
Squat!
Moving away from the microcosm that is college basketball onto the larger arena that is American politics.
Democrats are the MAJORITY party in both the house and the senate. Couple that with a president from the same party, and we wonder why any legislation would call for anything other than bigger government? They WON, for cripe's sake, and now it's time for them to make the best of that.
So how does it feel being a "minority", in this winner-take-all world?
The most interesting point made in this entire article is that the center is none too pleased with the direction this country is going. Like it or not, when it comes to elections, centrists get to determine the "winner" at the ballot box.
New Barack Obama same as the old Barack Obama.
GM;
The tea party movement is largely made up of people that don't have movements.
Of what kind of movements are you speaking? Are we talking gastro-intestinal or political?
Gastro-intestinal.
"Of what kind of movements are you speaking? Are we talking gastro-intestinal or political?"
Gastro-political = politics based on feelings = liberal
Bagoh, there are a whole lot of liberal technocrats who think they can fix things through rational, scientific means. Also, I'm pretty sure Bush was known to go to his gut here and there.
Whether he is Black, White or Purple, he is not eligible to even hold the office since he is not a Natural Born citizen (his father was not a citizen when Obama 2 was born. Narcissism is the only explanation of why a man would knowingly Usurp the Presidency. Meanwhile, supposed constitutional Lawyers like Volokh and Trout sit back and ignore the constitutional crisis.
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