I thought the University of Wisconsin was a major photo-op. Where are the photos — vistas of hopeful, youthful faces? There's a tiny thumbnail here in the NYT. Help me find some pictures or I'm going with the theory — offered by those who looked at my pictures — that the crowd was — as all those news media people loved to say about the Tea Party rallies — overwhelmingly white.
My pictures were taken on Bascom Hill and the Memorial Union Terrace — overflow areas with piped in sound/video. I did not go through security and into the Library Mall area where the President could be seen in person, and I thought we were going to get some grand wide-angle shots of the President and his enthusiasts.
ADDED: Here's the vista in the Cap Times. "Overwhelmingly" is not the right adverb. It's too much of an understatement. (Thanks to former law student, in the comments, for pointing me there.)
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84 comments:
Well, who you gonna believe? The media or your lying eyes? (Apologies to Chico Marx.)
Well, Ann, this isn't a can o' worms or anything... I don't know how on-target your theory is, but it certainly is peculiar, isn't it, the dearth of media pics regarding this event.
On the other hand, maybe with the economy being bad and all, they're saving all their film (lol) for this weekend in DC. All the diversity that couldn't make it to Madison is bound to end up there.
the crowd was overwhelmingly white
Going to Madison, WI expecting anything else would be like, I don't know, expecting a massive new federal entitlement to save money or expecting government ownership of a large industrial company to improve performance.
photo on madison.com looks about right
http://tinyurl.com/obamadison
Click on photo, count the black folks.
Boy, there sure is a lot of sand on that beach, and by golly Lake Mendota is all kinds of wet.
Ann-
Your photos weren't very convincing evidence that the crowd was large. I see that the police estimated about 27K, however.
So overwhelmingly white is OK again? Is there a website where we can check that status?
Your photos weren't very convincing evidence that the crowd was large. I see that the police estimated about 27K, however.
This is misleading as hell. Anyone knows that on any given weekday, there are 80,000 tourists in that area.
So overwhelmingly white is OK again? Is there a website where we can check that status?
quickfacts.census.gov
If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
Got it?
Nina has pictures posted
What if your DC event is overwhelmingly black, FLS? That okay?
Got it?
No. If Madison is close enough to Chicago for Obama to have driven there to party, all those black folks in Chicago should have driven there to hear him speak. And, maybe eat some fried chicken.
If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
Oversimplification.
I think it was on this morning's Today Show. Wife watches it regularly, and as I was eating breakfast I noticed a clip of Obama speaking with a bunch of college-age kids wearing red & white T-shirts behind him as a backdrop.
if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black
A solid attempt, but Washington DC is the nation's capital and therefore a place where people frequently and regularly travel to do their protesting and such. It is absurd to expect the ethnic makeup of may rally in Washington DC to be representative of the city because the rallies tend to be national events, or, more often, highly specialized events.
Is the Washington DC 54 percent black, just for example? What about the recent Vietnamese-American Appreciation Day?
Edit: is the Washington DC MARATHON 54 percent black?
Chris Christie is overwhelmingly wide. So what?
Well, Fox news had one here.
Helllooo...University of Wisconsin is overwhelmingly white.
Helllooo...United States is overwhelmingly white.
Please stand back, tool, and let FLS do this. He is much better than you are.
Dude,
Did you just call Michael_H a tool?
Or that they had expected 30,000, but only got 10,000?
President Thomas Jefferson often practiced his speeches before his uninterested slaves. In much the same way he practiced his sexual techniques.
(Pressing the Flesh, Presidential Campaigns and the People Who Run Them, Doris Kearns Goodwin, E Knof & Sons, 2009)
Did Bucky attend the rally? Or is he still recovering from doing 385 push ups last Saturday?
I love the fact that you've got a tag called "boring Obama speech," even if it is a little redundant.
I don't know if you saw this but the dems/ obama team put up some photos from the even, around 50 good shots
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=232508&id=12301006942
don't know if this will work for all it is on facebook but while the crowd is pretty white, I can see many faces of color in the crowd.
You white people out there.
How often have you been in a large crowd where you were the only white person?
Did you feel overwhelmed?
Just what does "overwhelming" white mean?
Presumably something more than "predominantly" or "almost exclusive;y."
froggyprager: The appropriate phrase is "peoples of color" but "faces of color" is excellent and I hope it takes hold. In examining the pictures, however, I am saddened to note that significantly less than one in sixteen has a face of color. One in sixteen would, of course, be the norm in the FLS Theory Of Crowds, all of which mirror the demographic of the locale. Wisconsin residents being six percent African American one would expect a similar turnout to see and hear our first African American president.
former law student-
Well have you seen the demographic breakdown at Gallup for Obama's approval ratings?
Just this week they dropped from 92% IIRC to-
88%. amongst black voters.
Just because one bloc of voters is seeing things one way doesn't mean one idea is completely illegitimate.
btw-if this phenomena occurred in any other country the words used to describe it by the Liberal media wouldn't look too pretty to you.
27 thou is the huge crowd everybody is oohing and ahing about?
Makes this a bit more credible.
Trooper York said...
President Thomas Jefferson often practiced his speeches before his uninterested slaves. In much the same way he practiced his sexual techniques.
I think you mean Willie. Most credible historians don't buy the Sally Hemmings thing.
Anyways-
As to the content of Obama's speech-
Obama referred to himself in the third person at the beginning of his speech about three times.
I had a bio-psych prof tell me once-if you meet a guy who does that-run like hell.
He knew I was bartender working my way through college.
Do w/that what you will.
How often have you been in a large crowd where you were the only white person?
Did you feel overwhelmed?
Growing up on the south side of Chicago, yes. Overwhelmed? I wasn't made to feel so until high school when it was pointed out, plainly, that whites weren't really wanted anymore.
I've got a reverse question for you. Ever been made to feel like you should be solely responsible for the ill-conceived acts someone else committed fifty, a hundred, or two years ago?
"But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
Got it?"
Kind of depends on where you live in DC. Northwest and west, it's apparently ok to have an overwhelmingly white crowd, south, not so much.
DC is pretty heavily segregated, truth be known.
Except in the school system, where the whites have graciously allowed the blacks to have about 90%.
These are the people who make a career of regulating how the rest of us are supposed to live.
President Thomas Jefferson often practiced his speeches before his uninterested slaves. In much the same way he practiced his sexual techniques.
When George Washington got wood-it was a new set of teeth.
[Abigail Adams, the Unabridged Anthologies 1776]
"Ever been made to feel like you should be solely responsible for the ill-conceived acts someone else committed fifty, a hundred, or two years ago?"
Solely? Never.
Collectively? Once upon a time, but I got over it.
Except for those injustices two years ago-they still rankle.
I followed the link to the Cap Times photo. I see that the UW organizers thoughtfully placed their token person of color first row center.
It's hard to find a Tea Drinker With All His Teeth- Why I Had to Marry My Third Cousin
[Abigail Adams, I Settled for Short 1756]
Bob Dylan is Hoooootttt!
[Althouse,Althouse I'm Easy 1996]
If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
If your rally is in opposition to Democratic governance and is overwhelmingly white that's ok, because 90% of black people are Democrats.
FLS,
So is it U of W, or Madison, that has a problem? Or Pres Obama, for picking a venue that was so non-representative of the nation?
I know it's a Saul Alinsky-style political game you guys are playing - what's good for the goose, etc. - but I wonder if I'm not the only one who could give a damn what color the crowd was? It never occurred to me to think that way. Frankly, it strikes me as unAmerican to do so.
But, then, everything regarding Alinsky strikes me that way.
Carry on.
A quote from the Cap link:
"Marcus Stanford, an Edgewood College senior from Madison, said: "I thought it was great. He talked about some great things. It was wonderful to see him in person. It's my birthday today, so it was the best birthday present ever. I'm speechless."
Speechless doesn't begin to cover it.
If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
Yes, I hear that DC entry passes for white people have become rather scarce since Obama took office.
"Marcus Stanford, an Edgewood College senior from Madison, said: "I thought it was great. He talked about some great things. It was wonderful to see him in person. It's my birthday today, so it was the best birthday present ever. I'm speechless."
Seriously, an Obama speech as the best birthday present ever? The kid really needs to find someone to give him a blowjob.
Yes, I hear that DC entry passes for white people have become rather scarce since Obama took office.
Only if you're white and trying to get into the DOJ to lodge a complaint.
The kids must have been up all night making those signs!
It never occurred to me to think that way. Frankly, it strikes me as unAmerican to do so.
I saw the type of crowd I expect to see in Madison.
If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
But if the Tea Party is overwhelmingly white because the Country is 80% white that's racist.
MM, agreed. I've lived here for over 30 years and it's what I would have anticipated. That's not to say that the campus hasn't consistently had a diversity problem, because it has. They always seem to be working on it, but for today, it is what it is.
Here's the first wide shot of Bascom that I've come across.
Actually...
Most of the crowd isn't much "whiter" than Obama.
What matters is the percentage of patriots at an event, especially that one coming in November. That I will attend.
"If your rally is overwhelmingly white in North Dakota, that's OK because ND is overwhelmingly white. But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black."
This is actually not very true. DC is pretty much 100% black or 100% white... depending on where you are.
But it doesn't matter anyway, because when there is a "rally" in DC, it's generally people who drive there (or even fly) for the purpose of having a rally in that place.
@fls
Click on photo, count the black folks.
Who thinks this way nowadays?
Ironically, in their rush to denounce TEA partiers our post-racial president and his ideological running dogs have created a reverse Jim Crowism.
But if your rally is overwhelmingly white in Washington DC, that's not OK because DC is 54% black.
Like anybody who lives in DC goes to that shit.
What's the deal with the rally this weekend? It's going to be pitful and under attended right? I'll be there this weekend and I don't want my vacation ruined by idiots.
Nice picture of the presidential teleprompter!
k*thy said: "That's not to say that the campus hasn't consistently had a diversity problem, because it has."
In line with the rest of this thread, why is a mostly white university in a mostly white state said to have a "diversity problem"? What's the problem?!? That the population doesn't reflect the wishful thinking of some minority group? That the vanilla crowd doesn't make for a visually interesting photo op? In fact, because Wisconsin is 90% white and the UW is only 75% white, couldn't it be said that the U has a "problem" of too much diversity? Wisconsin's 90% white taxpayers aren't being fairly represented at the state university!
But of course, to ask is to be labeled a racist. Ack. Now I remember why I try to avoid the race-trap threads.
madawaskan said...
President Thomas Jefferson often practiced his speeches before his uninterested slaves. In much the same way he practiced his sexual techniques.
When George Washington got wood-it was a new set of teeth.
Martha always complained about the splinters in her thighs.
What's the opposite of diversity?
University.
(credit to Kate McMillan)
Geez, that crowd sure is white. Guess it's ok to ignore and/or ridicule what went on at that rally.
Looks like we're getting on with the ridicule part. It's fun to make fun of a Klan rally.
Well the Madison campus is overwhelming white, although I walked behind a crowd of black folks, who like myself, did not make it into the Library Mall; I did notice a fair number of Asian students-- what to make of that?
"I did notice a fair number of Asian students-- what to make of that?
Loretta Sanchez wants to know if they were Vietnamese.
...I wonder if I'm not the only one who could give a damn what color the crowd was? It never occurred to me to think that way.
Me either.
Leftist tools, listen: Nobody on the right gives a particular fuck about the racial composition of the crowd at Obama's speech. Let me spell it out for you in simple steps, using simple words:
1. Leftists bitched and moaned that the tea parties had no diversity (despite all the diversity).
2. Obama's political rally on the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin had no diversity.
3. Leftists now bitch and moan and give lame rationales when conservatives and libertarians point out that Obama's political rally on the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin had no diversity.
4. This is hilarious shit.
Crack - I realize that utilizing Alinsky-tactics back on the left makes you feel uncomfortable, but war is war.
The left used Alinsky on us, but in striking us down they made us more powerful they they could possibly imagine. Now we're coming back at them with the Constitution + Alinsky.
...but I wonder if I'm not the only one who could give a damn what color the crowd was?...Frankly, it strikes me as unAmerican to do so.
Thank God. It strikes you that way because it IS unAmerican. I thought I was the only one, I started to say something earlier but I do loathe this subject. I didn't even notice the racial make-up of the crowd until others started talking about it.
I can hardly believe that after all these years we're leaving this obsession to our children. I hold Obama largely responsible for this. He could - SHOULD! - have been transformative on race. Instead he and his bunch play the race card so much it's become a joke.
And you know, I don't agree with fls much, but how is he supposed to produce a mixed race crowd in Madison Wisconsin? Bus in some brothers? Give me a break.
Instead he and his bunch play the race card so much it's become a joke.
Yes. For the right, this is an ironic and hilarious throwing down of the race card. Race is not a big deal for conservatives and libertarians. It's an absurd trope that the left uses to discredit the right.
There's a reason why World ends; women, minorities hardest hit is funny.
He could - SHOULD! - have been transformative on race. Instead he and his bunch play the race card so much it's become a joke.
Isn't the removal of the race card from the Trump Suit rather transformative?
"I don't want my vacation ruined by idiots."
That's what vacations and idiots are for. A real vacation is a hike in the wilderness...alone...with a dog...and a low maintenance woman.
Here's a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel photo of Obama's surprise stop at Madison's La Follette High School.
@ Irene
Well...sure....its the athletic team. I want to see a photo with the Chess Club or the FFA.
:-D
@roesch
*AOOOGAH* AOOOGAH*
*Duck drops from above*
Congrats!!!!
You win the thread for trotting out two old, hoary racial stereotypes in one paragraph; studious Asians and folksy blacks.
Knowing UW...they photoshopped Black people into the crowd.
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/09/02/doctoring-diversity-race-and-photoshop/
OK, the crowd was mostly white. So is the school. 83% if the figure I found is correct.
That's some fresh insight, Michael. No one thought to say such a profound thing already.
Edjamikated Redneck gets it.
Hey, did anybody notice that the crowd was whiter than the MSNBC line-up?
@BJM
"@roesch...
You win the thread for trotting out two old, hoary racial stereotypes in one paragraph; studious Asians and folksy blacks."
I never before have read the phrase, "...trotting out, two old, hoary racial stereotypes..."; nor words even like them!
I live in No VA and work in DC, and all my neighbors (except for the Korean boy Andrew) are studious, and all of my fellow riders on the Green line are folksy black folk. But these are actual facts that are anecdotal and not factual. At all. Nor do any hoary statistics that I have ever read support any generalizations that could be drawn from these anecdotal observations. Nonetheless, I shall continue to enjoy living amongst these anecdotal people.
edutcher
Martha always complained about the splinters in her thighs.
LOL!
What she really hated is when he made her wear his wig...
[Abigail Adams, Auto Erotica 1779]
I love the defenses here.
No surprise, when you start looking at a photo and criticize the racial makeup, it's not a very reasonable or nice thing to do. Sometimes, it's perfectly OK for a group of people to be mainly white.
that only reasonable reason to point out the whiteness is really to shut down demogogues who can't shut up about it. It's not really true that the Tea Party is all white, or unusually white, but regardless, it's a dumb attack. And people reject those, quite a lot, these days. Check back with me in november if you don't believe me.
That really is pretty overwhelming.
@Mark
Are you really that obtuse or just throwing pixie dust into the air? I was replying to comments made on this thread, not your anecdotal life.
Why did black people in the Madison crowd require a paternalistic descriptor?
Was this snark necessary "I did notice a fair number of Asian students-- what to make of that?"
I found dozens of Asian restaurants listed in the Madison area with a single click, so obviously Madison has a non-student Asian population.
What else are we to make of his remarks other than playing of the race card against commenters he perceives as racist conservatives, which of course is the Liberal mother lode of stereotypes.
Care to deal again? No trumps.
Synova is exactly right. A rally at DC is not (usually) representative of the city's ethnic mix. A rally at madison, however, would be, for the most part, unless there was an active effort to bus people in from other parts of the country.
Madison is 84% white. I am willing to bet the university is even more so. according to USNews college diversity rankings, UWisc's diversity is pretty low - same as University of Utah at Salt Lake city, and just a little higher than and quite a bit lower than Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (!!), TX.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-campus-ethnic-diversity
wv: toper. Hah.
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