Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IMF crisis]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080620/pl_nm/usa_politics_obama_race_dc

[Kuros]

Are you surprised? He played the race card against Clinton. Clinton tried to play the gender card against him. He was just better at it.

Obama needs to win the election first before he becomes the post-racial President. He needs to win the election first before he brings the country together.

Here's David Brooks repenting from his previous silly optimism. Obama doesn't look so good to Indies and Republicans now that Hillary is out.

[Gopher]

IMF: if it is not clear to you now, which people and which forces in American society play the race card, actually, more accurately and comprehensively "the race, class, and gender" cards, then I think you have a long way to fall re: disillusionment.

Kuros: "Fast Eddie Obama" deals a deadly blow to campaign finance reform...

"He made a cut-throat political calculation seem like Mother Teresa's final steps to sainthood...On the one hand, Obama did sell out the primary cause of his professional life, all for a tiny political advantage. If he'll sell that out, what won't he sell out?"

I love it.

[Kuros]

Gopher:

When Clinton was running, I admired her toughness and willingness to play the game. It would be hypocrisy for me to convict Obama for doing what she vowed to do, wouldn't it?

Obama's problem is that he made promises he could not keep, at least not on the trail. He cannot transform politics. The funny thing is that while he promised to change Washington, he eschewed campaign finance because his fund-raisers are just so damned effective. McCain doesn't seem to virtuous, either. He's embracing campaign finance because his fundraising has been pitiful. He might as well free up his schedule from gathering donors and play the insurgent. It fits him better, too.

We won't know if the ends justify the means. Right now all I really care about is governance. This campaign finance stuff is interesting, but ultimately not essential.

[Gopher]

But you do recognize that power corrupts?

No matter who Obama was before he entered politics, no matter what dreams he truly dreamt, by the time he makes it through this process, securing the Democratic nomination, and assuming he wins in November, winning the election, and then holding the presidency for a second term, he will have entirely lost sight of whatever it was he truly set out to do. In fact, it seems to already have begun.

Sorry for the pop-culture metaphor, but it is exactly like the ring of power in the Lord of the Rings. One cannot touch and/or hold it and not fall under its influence. Or another cheesy line: "If you dance with the devil, you do not change the devil. The devil changes you."

In any case, as far as "governance" goes, I suspect that, at the end of the day, we would not see much difference between a McCain or an Obama presidency. My only concern remains the people these candidates would bring with them to the White House and the bureaucracy.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Race will play a role, a big role, in the election. It will most likely follow the Swift Boat School of political theater. McCain himself will stand above the fray while groups outside the leadership will do the dirty work. After a few days of the media stirring the pot the party leadership will collectively shake their heads in feigned dismay. A week or so later the cycle will repeat.

[Gopher]

You did leave out those who are beating the drums the loudest, Ya-ta Boy. And in this election cycle, the race card started here. Obama's supporters -- namely Rev. J. Wright, who he has since distanced himself from, as any realist ought to, and now Obama himself (see the story this thread presents) -- have explicitly picked it up.

[Pligganease]

This is after a Republican-licensed merchandise dealer in Texas sold pins that said "If Barack Obama wins, will it still be called the White House?"

Right?

Yeah... He's just stirring the pot.

[Gopher]

Yes, Obama and many others on the left are indeed stirring the pot.

And yes, others, including, from your source, "Jonathan Alcox, owner of Republicanmarket.com, said he didn't intend to offend anyone. He made 12 buttons and sold four of them, but said two of them were sold to reporters.

"We're into humor, not racism," said Alcox, who described himself as an independent who still may vote for Obama in November..." are also stirring the pot.

And yes, Ya-ta Boy's favorite boogeyman, the allegedly all-powerful, nightmarish "Republican attack machine," is almost certainly also stirring the pot. (Have anything substantial to point to on this, Ya-ta Boy, incidentally?)

So have comedians including Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy and many others stirred the pot for decades, for that matter.

All of the above are true, Pligganease.

Finally, I also note that Texas Republican leader Hans Klingler clarified that "we will neither tolerate nor profit from bigotry" as he ejected Alcox from the event. Did you?

[mises]

Well, is his statement correct or incorrect? It seems to me that both side will try and use the "race card" in their favour. Funny that the dems use of the 'card' is saying that the right will use it.

Either way, I think that race will be much less of an issue that some are assuming. This is not to say that race isn't an explosive topic in American (and elsewhere) politics but rather that the economy is going to get worse, two wars raging and so on. In addition, I think (and maybe this is my being influenced by McCain's rhetoric) McCain will try and keep the discourse on his side fairly clean.

[Pligganease]

[Gopher]

But the difference remains this: you and probably Ya-ta Boy will interpret this incident as representing the Republican leadership's hidden position, while I, on the other hand, can cite Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, and Barack Obama's explictly and openly playing the racist card for political gain. You can discuss pins at a Texas conference, while I can discuss national ads and speeches.

[bacasper]

[Pligganease]

[Ya-ta Boy]