It's not exactly a shocker that the mostly white GOP and its minions have decided to go after the mostly black Barack Obama over a race issue. I think we all saw that coming from the very beginning of Obama's quest to become president. What's been surprising to me, however, is the amount of traction this issue has for the American people and how much time we're now devoting to it instead of focusing on more substantial issues like the war, the economy and health care.But, of course, this is the mostly white Republican Party's Grand Plan. That is, to make the American electorate feel that they are going to vote for an anti-American and anti-White black man who has proudly been serving his country for years. It is quite a radical and, in my opinion, discordant strategy but one that, again, has seemed to ring true, especially to those with existing political and/or racial prejudices.
The other part of that Grand Plan is to deflect attention from the devastation Republicans have inflicted on this country during the last 8 years that they've held the White House. To a populace hooked on "Deal or No Deal" and "American Idol" and who look to folks like Rush Limbaugh for their political comprehension, this "hey-lookie-over-there-at-the-angry-black-man" plan of distraction is not really a huge challenge and is working quite well, particularly among those aforementioned folks predisposed to this type of philosophy.
I urge people to keep their eye on the issues, to listen to many sources of information including people like the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, Jr., who wrote this spot-on column yesterday [thanks, ReidBlog!] and to note what wingnuts like the folks over at babalu are NOT saying about the important issues of today and the Republican nominee for president.
That can be more revealing than any tripe that good 'ol boys at the GOP can stir up, dish out and serve up to Americans who prefer their politics delivered in sound bites and easy to digest portions.
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13 comments:
When a guy says he can transcend race and then you come to find out that he sits in church listening to the same old hate whitey rhetoric for 20 years one word comes to mind. Phony.
Barack Obama's ancestors were never American slaves. To claim that he somehow shares the "black experience" in this country is plainly false.
Yeah, pay attention to the issues. The ones he's really fuzzy on. He can't run as a socialist and win so he has to run on something else.
So what you're essentially saying, A., is that the not-so-black Obama agrees with Wright's racist remarks against white?
Hmmm.
I imagine if Obama were a little more blacker for you A., you might expect him to be up there making the speeches, right?
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@ anonymous
You don't have to be the direct decedents of African slaves to go through the black experience. Anybody who is going to discriminate against a black man doesn't go and do his genealogical background check before he refuses to pick him up in a cab.
I'm still waiting for one of these really offended pseudo-conservatives to tell me what exactly they found so offensive about Wright's comments. What did he say that was so vile and patently untrue that your willing to damn another individual simply by association?
Was it the "God damn America" part? If so, explain to me why we shouldn't damn America for what it's done to blacks throughout its history.
These people that are acting so offended pretend like racism ended 200 years ago. There are still people alive today that had to drink out of a separate water fountain. That humiliation and pain does not go away so quickly, and the fact that the anger felt by the black community is being contained within the aggressive but mostly true words of a preacher and not in a violent revolt against white people is a credit to the restraint of the community.
It is all a game folks. The wingnut conservatives attack the wingnut liberals. The only two "official" political parties "fight it out" while all involved suck up bribes like a sponge. 300 million people in America, and these three disgusting pieces of work are all we are going to get to choose from?
Hell, I would go to ANY America city and grab 10 people off the street at random and I bet at least five of them actually have more qualifications to be President than any of these three stooges.
It has gotten me so disgusted that I wonder why I vote at all anymore.
Does it matter? Does it really matter anymore? Every politician since the dawn of time has run on the "Change" theme. Nothing has changed.
SCG
you need to get your facts straight. All the attacks on Obama are coming from Shrillary and the Demon-crats. I'm Republican and I voted for Obama in the primary. Strom Thurmond and George Wallace were both Democrats. The Democratic Party when I was a kid here in Miami were all segregationist and racists. The Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and was founded on the principle of the abolition of slavery and fought for emancipation. Sure there are idiots in the Republican party! You find them in the Democratic party too. Try Howard Dean that robbed Floridians of our primary votes for one. How democratic is it to have unelected "super delegates" possibly overturning Obama's victories? Far as I know, the Republicans go by the popular vote.
All the attacks on Obama are coming from Shrillary and the Demon-crats.
"Shrillary" and the "Demon-crats," Dave?
I sorta tuned out after that because I knew that everything that followed would be so, well, predictable.
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I think your analysis might be a little bit off here. What we're seeing is massive collusion between the Clinton camp and the GOP. Clinton is at the point where she will do anything to become the nominee, and if that means accepting help from the Republicans so be it.
From a purely political point of view, the Republicans played this pretty intelligently. They know that they can't go after Obama on any race related issues once they're facing him one-on-one; but since they're not officially running against him yet, they can do pretty much whatever they want. The GOP really has no choice but to fight this way - bloody-up Obama as much as they can before Clinton finally stands down, and then have the issue dropped but not forgotten.
Their Obama attacks aren't meant to bring more people into the fold, they're meant to solidify the ever-shrinking rank-and-file members. The GOP knows that they're not going to be winning over any new or independent voters this year (and they flat out said they don't have room anymore for what used to be a sizable portion of their base), they can't count on the Christian Right as they have in years past, and they'll be going up against perhaps a more uniting figure that Reagan ever was.
Also, I've grown extremely tired of the whole Republican "we are the party of Lincoln" thing. Lincoln was as horrible of a president as we've ever had. He did more to damage this republic and the ideas on which it was founded as much as any president before or since (although Bush has been giving it a hell of a shot). Republicans like Dave who proudly pronounce their ignorance and lack of a consistent philosophical basis have been what have brought the platform, the party, and the country crashing down.
Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of the Democratic platform is unconstitutional, against the ideas behind the founding of this nation, and ultimately horrible for this country; but it would have been nice for the Republicans to actually stand behind their stated beliefs instead of playing ball with them.
If you think there is a bit of difference between the "Demon-crats" and the Republicans, I urge you, for the sake of our nation, to be responsible and rethink if you have the understanding of both our history and principles to make an informed vote.
I know this isn't going to happen; because through their own unwavering support for a party and a rhetoric that simply doesn't make any coherent sense, they have proven that their love for power is much stronger than their love of country.
Rick,
You tune out when the accusations and play on words get directed your way, huh?
Now you know how we feel when you break out your broad brush and complain that Obama is getting attacked by the big mean white Republicans (even big mean white Cuban Republicans!) because he's black.
Dave,
How could you have voted in the Democratic Primary if you are republican?
Robert: sorry to disappoint you, man, but I didn't tune Dave out because he accused me of anything or directed words my way (WTF?). I tuned him out because it was quite obvious out of the gate of where his allegiances lie no matter what he claims.
Barack Obama is being attacked first and foremost because he's the Democratic front runner.
But you have to have your head in the sand, Robert, if you think that his skin color is not playing a part in the way people feel about him and the attacks they're making on his culture and associations. Being a Black Muslim was the first round. Being anti-White and anti-American is the second round. You should know, because your brother CA hardliners have been riding the wave from the beginning, Robert. They even throw in the pro-communist, pro-fidel and pro-Che accusations as frosting on the cake.
I don't what round 3 will bring, but you can bet it will be something race-related. It's worked too well for Republicans to change their strategy at this point.
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Carlos: Because I'm still registered as a Democrat from years ago. As to being tuned out, that is your perogative Rick. It is still a fact that most of the virulent anti Obama slander was promulgated by the Clinton campaign workers by their own admission. Hillary has had to apologize how many times now?
Dave,
Are you a Dixiecrat?
I prefer to think I am an enlightened conservative. Dixiecrats as I remember were the southern racist strain of the party and I sure hope no one thinks of me in that light!
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