One of our regulars was very offended by the video from the president (see below). I am not. However, I am going to tell the story of my hair stylist’s uncle. Her name is Diane (changed for privacy reasons). Diane is a late 30-something black woman who was raised in Prince William County. She has been my hair person since she was a youngster, right out of high school.
Diane’s uncle had never voted in his life. He had never had reason to, in his mind. In 2008, as an old man in his 80’s, suffering from 2 different serious cancers, he got up, got dressed and registered to vote. He said it had never seemed important to him. He said he never thought in his life he would ever have the chance to vote for a black man for president. And vote he did. Shortly after President Obama took office, Diane’s uncle passed away, but as she told me with tears in her eyes, her uncle got to vote for a black man for president.
That’s not something I will ever be able to feel. It sure made my eyeballs sweat a little when she told me about it though. On the other hand, how often have I gotten to vote for a woman for president, and is it really the same thing? I am thinking probably not. Somehow its just a little bit different.
Should people be offended when the president wants to make certain that certain demographics stay involved in the election process? How about other politicians? Isn’t that what goes on anyway? What makes young people, Blacks, Hispanics and women worthy of being specially cited?
Maybe I am missing something. I am just not offended.
Valid point about the old gentleman being able to vote for a Black man for President.
However, I noticed that Obama left one key word out of his political spiel:”jobs.” African-Americans are being left further behind than anyone in the attempt to secure jobs, I hear that even the Black Caucus on the Hill is becoming just a tad disturbed at Obama over that critical issue. Shoot, I talk more about African-American unemployment woes than the President himself does. At some point, the African-American community is going to wake up to all this talk about the Latino immigrants and scarcely a word about their own plight. It’ll take more than platitudes to reinvigorate the 2008 coalition.
Can a president create jobs? Should Black unemployment be highlighted more than white unemployment?
I am not sure employment should be discussed as a demographic at this point.
I do think we ought to be talking about employment. I am not sure how to jump start the jobs market. Is it part of a cycle? Is there a component of the financial recovery that is missing a key element so jobs can be created?
I see nothing offensive whatsoever about this video. All citizens, black or white, should exercise their right to vote. Those who take offense at this video must not want black people to vote.
There are ways to create jobs if you are willing to use the tax power, especially with regard to our small businesses, the biggest creator of jobs. And the President has promised to create jobs often enough. That stubborn unemployment percentage must be irritating the heck out of him.
You’re right that the job situation is colorless, but the African-Americans are suffering immensely, especially the younger ones. I do believe that the Black Caucus is seriously concerned, and I don’t blame them. The expectations were sky high after November 2008. The President may have a real problem when he goes back to the well this year. Not the African-Americans turning on him personally, but getting them to go the polls after this letdown could be the problem. Well, maybe he has some “diplomatic” effort going on which we don’t see yet. I think the first rule in politics is to secure the base.
It’s sad to hear that someone could live for 80 years and decide to make their first vote purely on racism. Are we supposed to cheer this racism as different than some old KKKer who never voted before but did in 2008 to try to keep a black man out of the White House? If so, can someone explain the difference to me?
A. If a different politician led a campaign to get out the white vote, it’d be scandal.
B. The thing that unnerves me is not just any aspect of this campaign. It’s the way that ethnic identity politics so clearly factors in to this Administration’s activities. (As it did Bush’s). Political consultants speak openly about it; it’s no secret. Majority of women voters – a given. Strong majority of black voters – a given. Majority of Latino voters = Democratic victory. And on the other side, a slpit of Latinos plus a strong majority of angry white males = Republican victory.
The primary source of racial tension, or at least organized racial tension and difference in the US is from our two corrupt political parties inflaming and exploiiting it. BOTH OF THEM. Their supporters each see clearly how the other “side” does it, but make excuses for their own side doing it.
Good points – Visitor/Rick. A lot of increasingly angry citizens – who voted to give Obama his chance (since there was no Republican to vote for anyway) will not make that mistake twice. The old assumptions that once elected they come to the center and become the President of all of us have been broken by this big government, business displacing, privacy invading, borrow and spend, race-bating, conceited, self-absorbed, arrogant, self-important, hubristic, ambitious, vain, snobbish, stuck-up, high and mighty, smug, self-righteous, haughty, narcissistic, war-time american apologist.
When you have Tea Party activists calling black congressmen ni**er [edited by admin.] , and when you have tea party speakers like Tom Tancredo claiming that only people who don’t speak English voted for Obama, and when you have photoshopped images of Obama dressed as an African witchdoctor circulating around, it’s really the height of arrogance to accuse the Obama administration of playing the race card.
[Starry, that word will go to moderation each and every time and take your entire comment with it. If you must use it, fix it because it is a pain to dig it out of moderation. ]
Visitor, I can see you have ice water pumping through those veins. Try walking in someone else’s shoes for just a mile.
Actually, I believe Diane’s uncle was closer to 90. Is it possible for you to even grasp a sense of how unempowered this man must have felt most of his life?
I find it sad that you cannot at least empathize somewhat with this man. I can’t pretend to say I know what it was like to be a black man born and raised in Prince William County shorty after the turn of the century.
I can probably safely say that I had a lot more opportunity afford me being born in the middle of the 20th centuryin a university town to white college-educated parents and grandparents. But perhaps I am wrong and am just being…racist?
I think it is neat that he cared enough to register to vote and at the very end of his life felt some connection with the voting process. The glass is half empty or the glass if half full?
tp–were all those adjectives just for President Obama?
I don’t see any difference in talking about Black or Latino voters and talking about soccer mom or Catholic voters actually. Its just another demographic. Maybe we need to turn pollsters out along with lobbyists.
“big government, business displacing, privacy invading, borrow and spend, race-bating, conceited, self-absorbed, arrogant, self-important, hubristic, ambitious, vain, snobbish, stuck-up, high and mighty, smug, self-righteous, haughty, narcissistic, war-time american apologist”
Most of that applies to Bush as well as Obama (the ones that bear validity – I don’t consider race-baiting or apologist valid to either man). each party has given us a charming novice who doesn’t know what he’s doing, who they’ll follow to the end of the earth.
“The glass is half empty or the glass if half full?”
The Democrats want to take 35% of the water out of your cup to disperse it more evenly across everyone’s cups … the Republicans want to give all the water to the bankers and let them disperse it somehow. A pox on both parties.
Rick, I don’t actually disagree with that pox.
Actually, I was referring to the old man going out to vote at the end of his life. I found Diane’s story touching. Not everyone comes in to this world with the same vision and the same outlook.
It is touching.
The spectacle of a President – he himself, not his consultants – openly more concerned with getting some segments of society to vote than others is very distasteful. You can’t say you want to take us beyond race and then do things like that, or blasting a police officer for arresting a friend of yours and presupposing race as a motivator.
It’s not that I WANT Obama to fail. He just is failing in this and other regards. Let’s see the naked lunch at the end of the fork (i.e. ‘call a spade a spade”). Obama at times behaves inappropriately, in ways that are probably A-OK for a ‘community organizer” but not for a President. But what should we expect? He’s an empty suit with limited life experience who was voted mostly based on personal charm and on ability inspire through vacuous speeches.
It’d all be well and good if we hadn’t just suffered through 8 years of a similarly ill-equipped novice.
I see Obama and Bush as mirrot images of each other. They are very similar, almost the same guy. I have no illusion that there’s much change of choice going from one to the other. One rails against health care insurers and their 6% markup as if it matters, the other invades Iraq … they both fail to address much real and how could they? They’re more or less incompetant shills.
mirror images I meant, sorry.
When I watched a 1-hour profile on Obama that FOX News showed, before the election, it hit me. My god, this guy’s very similar to the tool we have just suffered through. Neither’s really accomplished much, they’ve coasted through life by being likeable and glad-handing people. They’re exactly the type of people we should be keeping as far away from this office as possible.
“Yes we can” put an inexperienced novice into the White House whose whole agenda is smoke and mirrors. I voted for him too, but in retrospect maybe Hillary would have been a better choice. (But maybe not. She’s a shrill unlikeable egomaniac).
Taxpayer, why don’t you just come right out and say what you really mean – uppity “banned word”.
Uppity ‘banned word’ might be shorter and its easy to get around. I showed Starry how to do it even. Censored, by George, I think you are on to something with TP!
Rick, I think Hillary would have been a better choice also. Who cares if she is unlikeable. You won’t ever get to know her anyway. So Bush and Obama are likeable and Hillary is unlikeable. Does their personality really matter?
I would always go with a Clinton. Bill could always make up for Hillary being unlikeable. He still woes a crowd.
Seriously, I just can’t operate president bashing all the time. I had to listen to it for 8 years and now I am intolerant. I think Obama leaves a lot to be desired but I wish him well. On the other hand, I wasn’t horribly surprised at the short comings. I just fault him over things other than trying to bring some of the demographics back in to the fold. I didn’t see that as a horribly racist move at all.
And Rick, you really didn’t have much of a choice did you? I look at supreme court justice choices when I start feeling like you do. In fact, I vote that way in presidential elections. You might want to try asking youself who you want picking a Supreme Court Justice–Sarah Palin or Obama.
The biggest reason I didn’t consider supporting Hillary is because every one of the many insider books written about the Clinton Presidency say that she was overly emotional, defensive, and made things very personal when she didn’t need to. It’s not the portrait of an effective President.
As someone proud to have voted for Bill twice, even going door-to-door in 1992, I was/am very disappointed also in the rhetoric Bill used to suggest that Obama shouldn’t be nominated basically because he was black. Hillary lacked class also. I see them both as entitled jerks, as I saw Bush in 1992. It’s sad to me that it came down to that.
Still, Obama offends me so much in the disconnect between what’s real and what he says. Raging deficit spending? Pretend health insurers are somehow connected. 20% unemployment? Play games with the immigration issue to maintain Latino support. He’s failed to lead, completely. I’d even consider voting for Palin probably rather than to validate this disconnect. She probably has her own disconnect but it’d be interesting to watch.
I can’t think of anything that would make me vote for Palin. She represents so many things I find unacceptable in the presidency.
Bush is/was a reckless, intellectually lazy goofball
Obama is an empty suit shouting slogans, not even trying to govern
Palin is a vacuous fool with little self-control or planning ability
I wish America could be spared all 3.
Let me get this straight. If an opposing presidential candidate was to urge white men to get out and vote on his behalf you would just consider that part of politics? Do you really think that could ever happen and no eyebrows would be raised? Good old Al would be all over it in a heartbeat. You can’t even bring up white people in a positive context (Confederacy month) without someone bitching that you were excluding others. The president excluded white males, and it certainly wasn’t by accident. Trust me, if he isn’t depending on their support he better not start.
Obama is a street politician through and through. His latest undignified comments about the Arizona law sounds nothing similar to what you would expect from the one person who is expected to bring the nation’s citizens together to solve the nations problems in a professional and dignified manner. His last comment about a Hispanic man and his daughter going for ice-cream and then being stopped for papers was as divisive as any law on the books. An intelligent person would have withheld comment until they had at least personally reviewed the content of the law. He was acting as no more that the common blogger on this site. Hell the police don’t need an additional law to start ‘profiling’ people if they so chose, and yet they haven’t so what is the big fear? You don’t think there are already other laws that could be improperly applied to those you fear might be ‘profiled’? If you want to score points, then show cases of profiling in Arizona from the past. I’m sure that if they existed, then now is when they would be paraded, and yet nothing!
Look! A squirrel!
“When you have Tea Party activists calling black congressmen ni**er”
Starry,
When you start off your comment with lies, why should we read anymore. Either you are intellectually lazy or dishonest.
Obama’s video doesn’t offend me either. I expect him to be a partisan, race baiting, typical politician. He was elected because of race. His race, first, is what got people to vote for him. Guess what? Don’t care. People vote for emotional reasons. His voters, after voting, were presented with McCain’s programs under Obama’s name and said, “Right on!”
His vague promises and the almost total media support clinched the deal. He did not have to back up any promises.
You know why I don’t care whether he was elected because of race, the ignorance of the voters, or because he’s an unrealized genius? Because it doesn’t matter. He was able to pull together enough votes to win. Nothing HE did was illegal. The GOP FAILED miserably to nominate a good candidate and then that candidate failed miserably to present his arguments and defend his positions.
In this country, if you can get elected by claiming that you are a blue footed booby, then have at it.
What does offend me is that a President so blatantly ignored and disregarded the American populace as a whole, and is continuing the balkanization of America. He’s supposed to represent ALL of us, and has failed miserably at that. Support your party, yes. But do it by appealing to ALL Americans to vote for “X” party because of “X” reasons.
So Starry, why on earth would people from the Tea Party call others a ‘nicker’, or ‘nipper’? Perhaps you should explain what the two ‘**’ stand for so I can better understand. : )
Second,
Those are Moon’s ‘**’.
Second Alamo, Cargo is right…those are my ‘**’ although I really wish they didn’t look boobish in isolation.
I edited Starry’s word. We all know what he meant but I don’t want the N-word popping up in a google search for this blog. It hurts the reputation.
Second Alamo, your gravitar is coming up broken. Do you need help with one?
SA, the reality is, white people can’t issue white calls to each other any more. Just is. I guess we kept the ball in our own court for too many years.
Well, the ball is no longer in the white court over in Africa. How’s that been working out for them?
Probably best not to go there. Worry about that which you can change….
“You can’t even bring up white people in a positive context (Confederacy month)”
I don’t see fighting a Civil War to preserve slavery as a positive context for white people.
And on Africa : there are too many nations over there to generalize it as one entity. But in general, are you arguing that white “paternalism” was a good thing over there? You want to see it make a comeback?
@Moon-howler
Actually, its boobquake week. Google boobquake.
Interesting SA and RB exchange on “paternalism” in Africa. Actually it wasn’t a question of “paternalism.” It was more often a question of grabbing one’s freedom when the opportunity came and then deciding how much of the old colonial system to keep and how much to jettison. Despite all the negatives, and sometimes depending on the country which was the colonial power, there were some things built up by the colonials which were worth fitting into the new systems and serving as positive elements for the future.
I can give you two of the most contrasting examples. In 1958, Guinea broke completely with the French Union which DeGaulle had created to replace the old colonial governance mechanisms. Guniea actually had a “yes” or “no” plebiscite on whether to stay in the French Union. The Guineans said “no.” Their currency, no longer supported by the French franc, became immediately non-exchangeable. They quickly ran through their limited reserves just trying to feed the people. In effect, Guinea fell into grinding economic trouble, following by political repression and eventually political instability. Even large amounts of foreign aid from both West and East did let them climb out of their basic travail. The country, in my opinion, has never really recovered, as hard as many Guineans have tried to change the course.
In the neighboring Ivory Coast they decided to stick with the French Union. They did not kick out the French. They kept many of them on to assist in development and other aspects of nation building. By adhering to the French Union, they were able to use a common monetary system with other former French colonies which had made the same decision. Their money was backed by the French franc and was worth something. The economy did well. The country prospered. Their self-defense in case of war was assured by agreements with the French military. In fact, the then capital, Abidjan, was often referred to as the “Paris of West Africa.” I can even recall that there were over a million Guineans who had left their own troubled country and resettled in Ivory Coast. The Ivorians did get criticism from those countries which had all but kicked out most vestiges of the colonial presence as having been duped into remaining a sort of French colony, of being less than free, especially in the area of foreign affairs. Some of that criticism was legitimate in a way. But I remember Ivorians of the time laughing at it mostly, following by the suggestion that a comparison of economies and the actual quality of life and political stability be made before coming to any conclusion. (Alas, the good years only lasted until not too long after the death of the first president. World economic conditions and a re-emergence of long-absent tribal antipathies finally brought many of the problems faced by other African countries. Nevertheless, they had a great run while it lasted and still have, in my opinion, a much better chance than most of “making it.”)
Having said the above, both Guineans and Ivorians are some of the finest people you could ever meet anywhere.