Following up on dday's post below, can I just ask if those of you who are older than 35 or so are getting that strange familiar feeling? You know the one, where the media are suddenly hostile to the president, the Democrats are running for the hills and the country is confused and doesn't know what to think? The one where cable news gets obsessed with manufactured wingnut shitstorms designed to distract and diminish the president's stature and sap his political capital just when he needs it the most? We've seen this movie before, haven't we?And so it goes. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. Only, this time when the Village Clinton playbook for wrecking Obama invariably gets mutated by the GOP Pretty Hate Machine on the issues of implied racism, fascism, and the end of White America, we're all going to get a front row seat to just how ugly the world is going to be. The Jeremiah Wright/Seekrit Mooslum stuff is but a pale specter of what is truly to come. Skip Gates, Wise Latina and the Birthers are much more indicitive.
It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that we are seeing a rather sudden attention being paid to race. First, our black president nominated a Hispanic woman to the Supreme court. That got the right wing noise machine all hyped up about "reverse discrimination" a concept which began seeping into the mainstream almost immediately. Then we suddenly have a lot of attention being paid to the Birthers, out of the blue. It's not like they haven't been around for a while, but on the heels of the Sotomayor discussion, we are hearing a whole lot about them --- and their claims are being aired over and over and over again on mainstream TV (even as they are being refuted.) Hmmmmm. Now we have the president having the temerity to suggest that the arrest of a black man for disorderly conduct in his own home was handled "stupidly," which has sent the media into a frenzy the likes of which we haven't seen since Jeremiah Wright.
Indeed, I heard a TV commentator suggest this morning that this one comment may be the reason for the death of health care reform because it sucked the air out of the conversation. The fact that it's the media which is doing the sucking doesn't seem to occur to anyone.
It will, if you can imagine it, get worse. Much worse. And soon. Remember the worst, most vile, most racist and idiotic parts of the campaign coming out of the GOP? Expect that from everyone. You've already had a taste of the Derangement in Obama Derangement Syndrome. Now imagine every media outlet acting like that, on a daily basis, for pretty much the rest of the legislative year.
Just wait.
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3 comments:
As you point out one of the narratives evolving in the establishment media is that Obama's remarks about GatesGate were a misstep. I'm not convinced of that. America is not a post-racial country and while it is possible, I just don't see it happening in my lifetime.
This could very well be a calculated step on Obama's part to begin to address some of the more nefarious aspects of the current mood out in America AND address the corrossive nature of racial resentment. Shed light on it, as it were. See if the cockroaches scurry away so the rest of can have a real dialog about race and all its implications.
I'm game. I just hope all my fellow melanin challenged brothers and sisters have a "black friend at work" so they have some one to tell they don't like Obama and its not because he's, well, you know ... (We don't have to say that that to our melanin challenged friends. It's an understood truth.)
Here's the thing, GP. I don't think Obama actually said anything he had to apologize for. I don't think he said anything more than the truth of how he viewed the situation. It was a candid and honest moment from Barack Obama, the person.
Having said that, I can see why Barack Obama the President would want to have a beer with Skip Gates and Mike Crowley.
Wanting to have a teachable moment in order to help the country move on, sure. Apologizing for what he said? He's admitting to overreacting a bit. But it doesn't change what he said nor the truth behind it.
He doesn't need to say he's sorry here, then again, it's not like the parties wanting him to apologize will accept it anyway.
I agree that Obama said nothing wrong. The cop did make a stupid decision. As far as the teachable moment goes I don't think some of the folks you describe in this post are teachable. It is out and out hate. Period. They are not listening, nor are they making any good faith arguments. I just jope the next McVeigh isn't out their renting a Ryder van.
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