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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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 Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:41 am Post subject: The Great Jackie Robinson and Barack. Soul brothers? |
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Clearly Obama is a uniquely gifted speaker. He has thus far run an effective, well-organized campaign, raised big money from a wide range of sources, and sustained a straight face before a thoroughly bought, seriously deranged corporate media.
Obama now must face the Rovian swift-boating thugs of the mainstream GOP. He and his family will be horrifically tested. Does anyone doubt this will be the ugliest campaign in US history?
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/16/8993/
God bless America. And every other f*cking racist country in the world. West Virginia, Mountain Moma, Take me home, country road.  
Last edited by R. S. Refugee on Sat May 17, 2008 2:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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Maybe We Can't.
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Which brings me to South Carolina, where I was born and raised. I was there before and during the primary. Recall the moment. Obama was gaining on Clinton--but had also just lost New Hampshire and Nevada. A loss in South Carolina, and he would have been done for.
It's worth remembering that the majority of blacks still think O.J. Simpson is innocent. And, in times like these, when a black man is out front in the public eye, black people feel both proud and vulnerable and, as a result, scour the earth for evidence of racists plotting to bring him down, like an advance team ready to sound an alarm. Barack needed only a gesture, a quick sneer or nod in the direction of the Clintons' hidden racism to avail himself of the twisted love that rescued O.J. and others like him and to smooth his path to victory, and, therefore, to salvage his candidacy. After Donna Brazile and James Clyburn started to cry racism, Barack was repeatedly asked his thoughts. He declined to answer, allowing the charge to grow for days (in sharp contrast to how he leapt to Joe Biden's defense a month earlier). But, while he remained silent about the allegations of racism, he gave speeches across South Carolina that warned against being "hoodwinked" and "bamboozled" by the Clintons. His use of the phrase is resonant. It comes from a scene in Malcolm X, where Denzel Washington warns black people about the hidden evils of "the White Man" masquerading as a smiling politician: "Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us," he says. "You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled."
By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin. |
Consider Barack swiftboated. |
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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:57 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
Maybe We Can't.
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Which brings me to South Carolina, where I was born and raised. I was there before and during the primary. Recall the moment. Obama was gaining on Clinton--but had also just lost New Hampshire and Nevada. A loss in South Carolina, and he would have been done for.
It's worth remembering that the majority of blacks still think O.J. Simpson is innocent. And, in times like these, when a black man is out front in the public eye, black people feel both proud and vulnerable and, as a result, scour the earth for evidence of racists plotting to bring him down, like an advance team ready to sound an alarm. Barack needed only a gesture, a quick sneer or nod in the direction of the Clintons' hidden racism to avail himself of the twisted love that rescued O.J. and others like him and to smooth his path to victory, and, therefore, to salvage his candidacy. After Donna Brazile and James Clyburn started to cry racism, Barack was repeatedly asked his thoughts. He declined to answer, allowing the charge to grow for days (in sharp contrast to how he leapt to Joe Biden's defense a month earlier). But, while he remained silent about the allegations of racism, he gave speeches across South Carolina that warned against being "hoodwinked" and "bamboozled" by the Clintons. His use of the phrase is resonant. It comes from a scene in Malcolm X, where Denzel Washington warns black people about the hidden evils of "the White Man" masquerading as a smiling politician: "Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us," he says. "You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled."
By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin. |
Consider Barack swiftboated. |
I knew we could as always count on you to clear the air, Kuros. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
Maybe We Can't.
| Quote: |
Which brings me to South Carolina, where I was born and raised. I was there before and during the primary. Recall the moment. Obama was gaining on Clinton--but had also just lost New Hampshire and Nevada. A loss in South Carolina, and he would have been done for.
It's worth remembering that the majority of blacks still think O.J. Simpson is innocent. And, in times like these, when a black man is out front in the public eye, black people feel both proud and vulnerable and, as a result, scour the earth for evidence of racists plotting to bring him down, like an advance team ready to sound an alarm. Barack needed only a gesture, a quick sneer or nod in the direction of the Clintons' hidden racism to avail himself of the twisted love that rescued O.J. and others like him and to smooth his path to victory, and, therefore, to salvage his candidacy. After Donna Brazile and James Clyburn started to cry racism, Barack was repeatedly asked his thoughts. He declined to answer, allowing the charge to grow for days (in sharp contrast to how he leapt to Joe Biden's defense a month earlier). But, while he remained silent about the allegations of racism, he gave speeches across South Carolina that warned against being "hoodwinked" and "bamboozled" by the Clintons. His use of the phrase is resonant. It comes from a scene in Malcolm X, where Denzel Washington warns black people about the hidden evils of "the White Man" masquerading as a smiling politician: "Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us," he says. "You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled."
By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin. |
Consider Barack swiftboated. |
While the author had some good insights, she was doing some stereotyping of her own. Awesome. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| While the author had some good insights, she was doing some stereotyping of her own. Awesome. |
The writer makes it sound like all a black politician has to do is quote the movie Malcolm X, and blacks will automatically go out en masse and vote for him.
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| By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin. |
Overall, the writer's point is valid. I don't doubt that Obama plays one tune for black audiences, and another for whites. But that sort of thing has likely been going on in the Democratic party since the days when their two pillars of support were northeastern Catholics and pope-bashing southern Protestants. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| While the author had some good insights, she was doing some stereotyping of her own. Awesome. |
The writer makes it sound like all a black politician has to do is quote the movie Malcolm X, and blacks will automatically go out en masse and vote for him. |
Well, I think Obama winning Iowa was just as decisive in terms of winning the black vote. By winning a white state, Obama showed he could win it. That was at least as important for blacks as anything Obama had said. So, I agree with what you're saying.
The reason this article upset me so much is because it showed Obama's willingness to imply Bill Clinton was a racist. The media has been saying Bill was cracking up, and Bill himself has come out and said Obama played the race card. The Obama response was to point to what Bill Clinton said after South Carolina, you know, the 'infamous' Jesse Jackson comment (so outrageous, apparently, that Jesse Jackson did not bat an eyelash). The Obama camp said they could hardly have played the race card since Clinton himself made that comment. But, I don't think that is what Clinton was referring to when he claimed Team Obama played the race card. Clinton is probably referring to Baracks bamboozled and hoodwinked language against 'the Clintons.'
| Quote: |
| By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin. |
Overall, the writer's point is valid. I don't doubt that Obama plays one tune for black audiences, and another for whites. But that sort of thing has likely been going on in the Democratic party since the days when their two pillars of support were northeastern Catholics and pope-bashing southern Protestants.[/quote]
Yes, I don't mind the subtext and the speaking in code. Except, I do mind that he actively encouraged the idea that Bill Clinton was racist. I mind that a lot. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| I should also say that I'm not sure that Obama's use of the words "bamboozled" and "hoodwinked" prove that he was trying to identify himself as a closet racist. He might have been trying to identify himself with Malcolm X, but is that really the same thing? Henderson's argument would seem to assume that every black person who likes Malcolm X does so because Malcolm X was, at one point, a racist. Not sure how accurate that perception is. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| I should also say that I'm not sure that Obama's use of the words "bamboozled" and "hoodwinked" prove that he was trying to identify himself as a closet racist. |
Neither Henderson nor I am arguing that Obama was trying to show that he himself was racist. Obama, by employing the words "bamboozled" and "hoodwinked", while demurring to address specifically whether Clinton was racist when asked specifically, was encouraging the idea that Bill Clinton is racist.
Malcolm X's beliefs here are almost entirely tangential. It was his words in the mouth of Denzel Washington as echoed by Obama that matter here.
I don't think Obama is racist at all. But I am definitely positive that Bill Clinton is not racist. This article does stereotype blacks a little by arguing that they turned in droves for Obama only after he alleged Bill Clinton was racist. But the effectiveness of this tactic aside, this article makes a powerful point that Obama did play the race card against Bill Clinton. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 3:00 am Post subject: |
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Neither Henderson nor I am arguing that Obama was trying to show that he himself was racist. Obama, by employing the words "bamboozled" and "hoodwinked", while demurring to address specifically whether Clinton was racist when asked specifically, was encouraging the idea that Bill Clinton is racist.
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Ah, I completely misread that passage, but I see it now. Thanks. |
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