[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.ADDED: Obama was not the "I" in his own statement. He was speaking in the voice of an American idiot.
June 13, 2018
"I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will" — said Barack Obama in 1991.
From the incredibly long Wikiquote page for Barack Obama. Full quote, from "Race and Rights Rhetoric", a law school paper:
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I may not be Donald Trump now
He still isn't.
Funny that quote dates from 1991.
From WP article:
The concerns that drove Trump's lenders were brought sharply into focus in a telephone conference call in June 1991, when people who had the right to seize the Trump Castle casino chose not to do so. The fear of bankruptcy dominated their deliberations, according to a tape recording of the discussion made available to The Washington Post.
Bankruptcy was "a huge wild card," a participant warned during the strategy session. "This would be a really drawn out, very, very nasty process," he said.
The lenders -- bondholders who had helped finance the Trump Castle casino and hotel -- expressed contempt for the way Trump had managed the casino. But their cynicism about the bankruptcy system outweighed their cynicism about Trump.
Warren Foss, an adviser to the bondholders, advocated letting Trump stay in charge of the casino and paying him an annual $1.4 million management fee, mainly to win Trump's support for a deal that would keep them out of bankruptcy court.
"What is he providing for the million and a half?" one bondholder asked, prompting hearty laughter.
"We hope as little as possible," Foss said, to even greater laughter. "We hope it becomes characterized as a nonmanagement fee."
How is that optimism unfounded?
All you have to do is look at examples like Ben Carson and Clarence Thomas to know that this is true.
Hell, look at my favorite African-American. He moved here dead broke and is now worth several billions of dollars. He moved to the United States precisely because he knew individual freedom and opportunity flourished here.
I may not be Donald Trump now
He couldn't pass the physical
continuing normative commitment
Who the fuck writes like that?? It's not phrased to convey any meaning. It's phrased to convey elite status to the writer.
It's like the dog sitting in the corner licking his balls....cuz it feels good.
O's children will learn the fine art of griftin' from both him and their mother. They'll be set for life. Trump did it with hard work a concept entirely unfamiliar to Obama.
Trump is full of positive and that for which he stands. Obama is Mr. negative.
Do the math.
"[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind."
Said with the proper distancing disdain of the progressive intellectual. They would think that, those Americans, bitterly clinging to their illusions.
But progs know better: individual freedom must submit to state power, and mobility can only take the form of coercive redistribution.
One of the librul papers (WaPO and NYT look alike to me, and all real Americans -- who knows cares re a specific reference?) reported that more than 6 outa 10 kids in the States is a CHIPer or Medicaider.
So this BHO quote was from 1991. And, the con seems to be as strong as ever, i.e. the DJT era. Presumably we've got another 27 years, or more, before folks figure differently.
I dunno.
Well Obama talks a lot; beyond that not so much.
And if Trump's lenders were cynical about the bankruptcy system in 1991, well they hadn't seen nothin' yet. What Obama and his people did to the bankruptcy laws in the Chrysler and GM bailouts in 2008-2009 upended years of settled bankruptcy law. Obama was protecting labor--and "hosing" secured creditors (at leaat they had the rights of secured creditors until Obama and his boys showed up).
You have to stop sucking from the cock of Socialism first. . .
“I may not be Donald Trump now...”
Eat at McDonald’s more often.
How condescending, sneeringly superior, does that sound now in the Age of Trump? How inappropriate in a leader, to take an analytical dislike of the optimism of the American people. Did anyone ever imagine that Obama loved them, or was it that they just loved him so much? Ann still likes him. But he never even pretended to reciprocate, not even in law school.
Barack Obama does understand the American psyche, even if his summary dismissal did not work out so well. Wikiquote also has this:
"And Bill Clinton? Well, his campaign's fascinating to a student of politics. It's disturbing to someone who cares about certain issues. But politically, it seems to be working."
As to what he meant by "certain issues" I've always thought Slick Willy was who Michelle Obama was alluding to when she famously said, "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country." The "adult" qualifier leaves room for her to be proud of Jimmy Carter's presidency. As a Democrat, she's not expected to be proud of the Reagan and Bush presidencies. That leaves Bill Clinton as the target of the statement.
Barack, however you get your money: You Did Not Build That or anything else...
I could see Barack Obama becoming Hannibal Lecter--at least the eating part. Once you get past dog, it's all downhill.
Says the former President!
So, not hopeful optimism, but thinly veiled contempt, thus redistributive and retributive? change.
And then Donald Trump was, in position, Barack Obama, and Barack Obama was, in wealth, Donald Trump.
Trippy.
Do most people aspire to fabulous wealth. I'm not so sure.
"this commitment" is what makes America great. One of the largest pathologies in minority communities is the rejection of this commitment.
Do most people aspire to fabulous wealth.
Very few would reject it. But I think most Americans, most people worldwide really, hope that their children live better lives than them.
"Do most people aspire to fabulous wealth. I'm not so sure."
Something makes folks (in a country where more than six outa ten kids are on CHIP or Medicaid) be cool w/ a government that moves more dough up.
I, like you, worry that this can't keep going forever. Sure, North Korea and Cuba et. al. can support massive lopsidedness. But, can DJT or someone else do that here? Maybe. But, it's best to assume not.
I dunno.
Best to liquidate and run up the country's debt ASAP.
Get dough now.
If it keeps flowing for many decades, that's even better.
sea Obama o Trump. Poseen los mismos pensamiento. No se porque tienen esa mentalidad del el racismo cuando eso se abolió hace muchos años y considero que deberían cambiar porque todos somos iguales seres humanos.
Of course Ann misrepresents this quote. She has to stoke her Althouse Hillbillies.
I think most people just want to be able to amply provide. I don't think most people sit around dreaming about helicopter skiing or private islands. Well, maybe they dream about private islands when they're around people who drone on about how dumb they think average Americans are for hoping to improve their lives.
"He was speaking in the voice of an American idiot."
Unless I'm missing your sarcasm, that is incorrect. He was speaking in the voice of an "average American" as he and his co-author saw her. It's right there in the quote.
I'd love to read the rest of that essay but it's either unavailable online or just very hard to find. How bad must the rest of it be?
...which you can see, she got her Hillbillies howling.
Of course Ann misrepresents this quote.
Explain to me how Obama did not mean this as an insult to millions of Americans.
Unless I'm missing your sarcasm, that is incorrect. He was speaking in the voice of an "average American" as he and his co-author saw her. It's right there in the quote.
You're both right. Obama considers average Americans to be idiots.
John Mulaney had it right- Trump is not a rich man, he is what a hobo imagines a rich man to be.
I’ve read that article. It’s titled: The Bitter Clingers
I don’t k iw why Obama has contempt for me- we’ve never met yet there it is.
You can't keep them down if they start believing in unfounded optimism.
"the unfounded optimism of the average American"
Those morons.
"I think most people just want to be able to amply provide."=most kids (i.e. more than 6/10) being on Medicaid and CHIP.=livin' the Am dream.
Providing medical insurance for all children is actually quite cheap, relatively speaking.
The expensive people are the elderly.
If the Democrats had passed some free Medicaid for children in 2009-10, they would probably have gotten it and it would be not-too controversial today.
Indeed, if the Democrats had gone for a stretch goal and tried for Canadian-style, with the caveat that it would be Canadian-style in EVERY way, none of that procedural waste and liability CYA BS or medical billing systems, they could pay for the whole thing with current Medicare/Medicaid revenues already, its that cheap in Canada. State medical spending would be a lagniappe.
I have pointed this out before, and often. The big difference between the US and anyone else in medical finance is not how the US pays for it, the world has many systems, very different from each other, and they all work more or less well. What really matters is how incredibly much the US pays.
The US argument over all this is absurd, fake.
anti-de Sitter space: "One of the librul papers (WaPO and NYT look alike to me, and all real Americans..."
It was just this very day that Inga informed us the Washington Post and the Stanford University papers were "rightist propaganda".
I'm sorry you didn't get memo.
#WhenMoronLeftyTalkingPointsCollide
“It was just this very day that Inga informed us the Washington Post and the Stanford University papers were "rightist propaganda".”
Except that’s a lie.
#PropagandistsGottaPropagndize
Freeman,
Buw is hinting at my fear.
That is that folks will stop having your POV, and instead they'll think that it's okay fer the gov to pay for folks who haven't made it.
That's bad cause we gotta keep the taker:maker ratio in balance. If ya didn't make it, ya can't take it = that's theft = MAGA!
I have a friend who went to high school with Obama, and I went to law school with one of his closest advisors. I do not consider him to be more elite than I could have been if I wanted. I have not read his autobiography but I am not interested, I have met lots of self-obsessed Ivy League mediocrities like him, I am happy he got married and that his wife pumped out a couple of babies ---- that is the best one can hope for philosophically mediocre people like him. Have fun surfing the zeitgeist, Barrryy!
Agree with him or not, you have to admit, he was an expert in speaking in the voice of the kind of American idiot he despises.
It comes naturally to the little guy.
"I do not consider him to be more elite than I could have been if I wanted"
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Yur awesome!!
Incredible! In the Birt sense.
PB&J,
It would cut the costs of every maker hugely.
That employer mandate thing is incredible. Hidden tax.
And your tax-tax for this is itself high.
This approach would lower taxes besides, state tax particularly.
Very maker-centric.
All it requires is jumping out of the box you all are in.
You especially PB&J, your mind is in an armor-plate box.
It would require breaking many, many rice bowls.
What you need for that is to start a medical cost jihad.
A fanatical rage to eliminate process and overhead, a bloody rage.
Are you ready for that PB&J?
And you could do that now without messing with financing.
When everything is much cheaper it's much less interesting to argue where the money comes from.
Medicaid is almost free. It was $5 to see my dr.
Althouse said...
He was speaking in the voice of an American idiot.
I prefer the term “cock-eyed optimist”.
Something makes folks (in a country where more than six outa ten kids are on CHIP or Medicaid) be cool w/ a government that moves more dough up
Marriage bad. Single motherhood celebrated.
Obama admitted in 2007, he couldn't bring about single payer, t hats how we won the Iowa primaries, it would need to happen innstages.
Buw,
One of the librul MSM fake newsers recently reported that there is a rabies med that costs between $3000 and $16,000 depending where you are in the States.
But, it's $1,600 in Canada.
You wanna upend that circumstance? And other circumstances like that?
If so, yur making an error when you think yur opposing my sorta thinkin'.
Well there you go PB&J.
You are American, and you say you are wealthy and all.
Its your politics, so go reduce medical costs. Start your jihad.
Thats your real problem, I have pointed it out, and you agree. Go fix it.
As Lou Holtz said, "I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth... because I was born an American". Of course, Lou was dirt floor poor growing up.
I never aspired be Donald Trump. I do aspire to be the best version of me. What I've found is that those who create the most value for others tend to also make the most money.
[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.
Translation: Americans have hope ("If I don't make it, my children will."), and they desire change ("individual freedom and mobility"), but it's not the sort of "Hope and Change" that depends on Democratic politicians, so that's bad.
"it would be Canadian-style in EVERY way, none of that procedural waste and liability "
Canadian style would never be accepted any more than the NHS would be.
The French system is excellent and has the highest patient rating in Europe (That is by people who actually used it) but it uses a market mechanism and so would never be acceptable to the political left.
It was also funded by payroll deduction but the high unemployment in France, plus millions of freeloaders have ruined that part.
It doesn't matter if its French, Canadian, Australian or Swedish.
The US already collects enough in payroll and other taxes to "buy" a first-world medical-care delivery system, which is really what we are talking about. That is, one already paid for out of taxes, "single payer" if you like. Or not, if you don't. Cut payroll taxes and keep (much cheaper) employer mandates. It doesn't really matter. Whatever financing scheme you like, its feasible, because its already flush with money. At Euro-global First-world costs that is.
The US problem has nothing to do with financing, but with cost of medical services delivery. The US is horribly inefficient. Its the most inefficient in the world.
The Canadians also have much more gov control of banking.
Efficient Canadians.
The US problem has nothing to do with financing, but with cost of medical services delivery. The US is horribly inefficient. Its the most inefficient in the world.
Freedom is inefficient. The major selling point for government control of medical is to make it more efficient. The problem is, a major tool of that efficiency is rationing.
Medical care is expensive for three reasons.
1) Most people don't pay for it and so don't care what it costs. Either the government is giving it to them or their insurance company pays.
2) The government effectively controls prices through medicare payments.
3) Heavy government regulation and demands for paperwork.
Look at what has happened to the costs of plastic surgery or Lasik surgery. Both have dropped and continue to drop even as other forms of surgery continue to go up. Why? Because neither is usually covered by insurance and so people have to pay for it themselves.
"He was speaking in the voice of an American idiot."
Every word Barry ever uttered was spoken in the voice of an American idiot.
Gahrie,
The same price reductions have happened in veterinary medicine. And most of the drugs, procedures, and devices are very similar to human medicine.
". . . continuing normative commitment . . ."
Classic.
Well, I ride on a mail train, baby, can't buy a thrill
Well, I been up all night leanin' on the windowsill
Well, if I die on top of the hill
And if I don't make it, you know my baby will
He never really hid his contempt for us. It still amazes me that so many were fooled by him.They saw what they wanted to see.
Obama spoke in sneer. I can't imagine being an Honest Liberal Democrat member of congress with Barry, Harry and Nancy at the wheel. Unopposed is UnAmerican.
—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.
Ha ha remember that Obama mic drop proclaiming Trump will never be president? Even Trump has unfounded optimism! That darned American spirit...!
Obama was not the "I" in his own statement. He was speaking in the voice of an American idiot.
Which would, in fact, be his own voice. Or perhaps the voice of the people who voted for him.
Never in history has so much praise been heaped by so many on one so undeserving.
Ok, so trying to figure out what this quoted section of text (sic) is saying: it’s, as noted, a sneering comment.
It appears that it’s tring to pimp race and racism as something that’s more important than, In this case, freedom and the desire to succeed. Essentially a statement to continue to drive a wedge between blacks and whites. He is saying that it’s a stupid notion that blacks can succeed by adopting the farsical American desire for freedom and the success that comes with it.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but based on the past decade, I don’t think so.
It would be really funny to me to see Obama get a job in the Trump administration doing PR, or become a tow truck driver in Queens, or start out with the Illinois Dept of Education and stand up to all the corruption, or have to work as a lawyer actually hustling for business.
Barry has to work a real job instead of just being poster-boy for the faculty-lounge Left.
It’s looking like foam columns all the way down.
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