TNC and Joe Klein both have good pieces up about the racist angle in Republican attacks on Obama. TNC makes the point that what angers the right most is that “Barack Obama, bourgeois in every way that bourgeois is right and just, will not dance.” Klein makes the point that it may not be white-on-black racism per se so much as it is generalized xenophobia and paranoia that animates the birther crowd.
My opinion is that it’s obviously no coincidence that the first time a president was heckled from the House floor it was a white southerner heckling the first black president. And if Joe Wilson doesn’t laugh at racist jokes, that may be because he takes racism very seriously, to paraphrase the great Jake Gittes.
But there’s another angle on this that I haven’t seen discussed. Klein, in particular, should be familiar with it from covering Clinton, though I doubt he’d admit it (pundit’s code and all that). It’s that personally destroying your opponent is an important part of Republican politics. I’m not making a value judgement here, but it’s a fact that these days at least, Republicans are much more aggressive about dehumanizing Democrats than vice versa. Have you ever seen a Democratic presidential ad as personal and free of issues as McCain’s “Celebrity” ad? And, in the end, what Obama went through last fall was pretty mild compared with what Clinton, Gore, and Kerry got hit with, and with with what Obama is being hit with now.
With Clinton in particular, the notion that he was the first black president because Republicans treated him like a black man is right on target. Racism is about viewing others as less than human. And so was Clenis-hunting. I remember having a talk with a Republican acquaintance of mine who told me that “Kerry and Gore are just weird people, like aliens, they’re not really humans.” The politics of personal destruction and the politics of racially-based debasement are striking similar.
General Winfield Stuck
Why wouldn’t it be funny for a white southern congressman who is an active member of the Sons of the Confederacy to call the first black president a liar under the Capital Dome/
You libtards have no sense of humor, especially since Michael Moore is fat and The Dixie Chicks are Al Quaida sympathizers..
You just wait till the 2011 election. We patriots are goonna turn out by the 2 millions.
General Winfield Stuck
And oh oh oh!. Now I’m gooona put Red Dawn in the oven and watch hit agin, soon as I get this sticky stuff offin hit.
JK
Matt Welch on tonight’s edition of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:
GWEN IFILL: “Matt Welch, what do you think of that? Reason magazine has covered a lot of the Tea Party protests and the concerns. Have you been picking up that that space that’s occupied by people who are unhappy about the president’s race is also occupied by people who are unhappy with his policies?”
MATT WELCH, Reason Magazine: “Here’s how I approach the problem. If this is true, if there’s a significant percentage of people who are motivated by, let’s say, racial anxiety, not outright racism, in their opposition to Obama, then what else would we see? How would we expect that to manifest itself?
I would expect it to manifest itself at minimum with people expressing, whether it’s in their signage or in their conversation, concerns about hot-button racial issues: affirmative action, immigration, welfare queens, and whatnot.
What I saw going out in the crowd and actually talking to people was almost none of that. We saw a lot of different signs out there, but the vast majority of people that I talked to and the displays that they were making was actually pretty coherent. They were against government overreach and spending in their lives and in the economy.
And I saw a precious little — and I even tried to tease people out, like, “Ah, what do you think about that Obama character? Is he legitimate? Is he not?” A lot of people said, “Hey, I like the guy. I disagree with his policies.”
So I have a hard time going to the next step and assuming that their motivation is something that is somehow sublimated that I can’t measure.”
h/t http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec09/rage_09-16.html
Mike G
On the right bullying holds a special exalted position. This is a movement that adores bullies, that cheers their bullying slogans at conventions, that longs for a bully mean enough to put the weaklings back in their place forever, that has lionized bullies from Joe McCarthy to Westbrook Pegler to Bill O’Reilly to George Allen to Michelle Malkin, a pundit with the appearance of a Bratz doll but the soul of Chucky.
— Thomas Frank
If you have much familiarity with Rethug fundamentalist churches, you’ll find a deep-seated viciousness and intellectual violence woven into their ideology, and a powerful appetite for stories about killing, hating and punishment.
freelancer
@General Winfield Stuck:
Stuck +7
arguingwithsignposts
I will again repeat my assertion that they are all overgrown Cartmans. “Screw you guys, I’m going home.” There’s a reason for that “South Park Republicans” book. They just didn’t realize that it was only *one* of the SP characters they were talking about.
Midnight Marauder
@JK:
What an absolute load of shit from that guy. I used to be pretty indifferent to Reason magazine, but in this past year, I have developed a robust hatred for those insincere, obfuscating bastards.
JK
@freelancer:
Win
Brian J
To the extent that racism is being used to attack Obama, I don’t think his color is the motivation of the attacks, but rather the method. Do some people attack him purely because of his color? Absolutely, but even those who use racial slurs and innuendo aren’t motivated by bigotry. Instead, I feel a large number of them feel it’s the easiest and most effective thing with which they can bring Obama down. If he was fat, they’d figure out a way to make that the characteristic that sunk him. If he was gay, they’d call him a cocksucker more times than you can imagine. If he had a particular verbal tic, they’d bring that up every chance they’d get. If Hillary Clinton was president, she’d be attack for her female-specific traits. You get the idea…
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
Wow, that is such epic fail coming from a guy who works for “Reason” magazine. (insert Inyego Montoya joke here)
PeakVT
“Kerry and Gore are just weird people, like aliens, they’re not really humans.”
Yeah, none of those weird people. What America needs is more morans who start wars so they can show up their fathers.
wasabi gasp
Hello KKKitty
Brian J
@Midnight Marauder:
I’d really like him to define the distinction between “racism” and “racial anxiety.”
freelancer
Yeah, right! and I once read a guy who was actually on the train with a bunch of scary black kids who were talking about another scary black guy, but they didn’t punch him or anything so he didn’t have to hang them or nothin’.
And did I mention the girlfriend I have? She’s Canadian, we met at Niagara Falls. We ride the hobby horse, like, every night.
JK
@arguingwithsignposts:
Reason needs to change the name of its publication.
“Reason” no longer prevails at Reason.
Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie have jumped the shark.
In the Wed Night Open thread, I included links to 2 interviews melissa Harris lacewell gave earlier today.
valdivia
me with the OT comments all the time but maybe sort of related. This is the normalcy that drives them nuts as TNC says. Also probably the cutest Obama family pictures ever.
stacie
I think you’re right that this is more about dehumanizing than it is about racism, per se. I keep imagining the reverse situation, if Democrats and progressives were dealing with the first black president, Michael Steele or Alan Keyes.
A lot of the animus on the right is racially tinged. I’ve seen a few too many “massa Obama” comments on the internet for my tastes, but I’m pretty sure that more than a few liberals would get caught up in the same language under President Steele or Keyes. I’m sad for that, but it’s not like we’re fundamentally different for being lefties.
What gets me is the radically different style of right and left. I genuinely believe that on the left we’re pretty good about making actual policy critiques. Watching these fools ramble about death panels or government takeovers of health care, it’s clear that they’re unfamiliar with the policy options on the table. Which makes it impossible to have a substantive debate.
And in the absence of substance, symbolism is king, and race is such potent symbolism. But then I don’t believe that the ultimate goal of the tea partiers is a policy agenda, since the right’s policy objectives are deeply contradictory and often incoherent (fiscal responsibility just doesn’t include letting China pay for our Iraq invasion so we can cut additional taxes during record deficits. It just doesn’t). The goal is to cast out the heretic and the sinner — Democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever you call us. We’re the “other”, the fake Americans. The right is engaged in some kind of hunt for purity. And as long as they’re not shooting, I wish them the best with it.
jl
@JK: So, upon close inspection, most of the teabaggers were “actually pretty coherent.” That is a ringing endorsement.
If you can navigate between the vicious racists, and gibbering loons, and get close enough to talk with most of them, they are “actually pretty coherent.”
As an ex-near-glibertarian I will use this phrase in honor of Reason’s thug logic in order to make recommendations.
You know that John Cole’s Balloon-Juice, when you just spend time to read the posts closely, they are “actually pretty coherent.”
Tunch’s approach to managing his impertinent owner is “actually pretty coherent” when you think about it.
If you just ignore the rampant typos, the comments of that insufferable jackass, jl, are “actually pretty coherent.”
The police officers testifying against you was “actually pretty coherent” if you listened closely.
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
Thanks, I saw those links. She is a very intelligent commenter on race. Makes me wish she spent more time on Tweety and the Morning Joke, but would probably lower her IQ by a few points.
Disclaimer: I grew up in the deep south and was subjected to forced busing in my high school. My parents were pretty racial about it. But they also voted for Obama. Blue-collar union. I was gob-smacked when my step-father said he’d be voting for Obama. I also spent time in south crackolina, and I can honestly say that the racism there is not even below the surface in a lot of places. Sickening.
I’m just saying so it doesn’t sound racist that I’m saying she’s very intelligent. I really do respect that just as much as I do in Rachel or … I’m failing on a male commenter right now – maybe Krugman.
Mike P
@JK: The willful blindness from some of the Reason crowd is just disturbing.
gizmo
The bizarre behavior of the wingnuts provides a lot of opportunity for psychological speculation, but it may have something to do with the fact that they see themselves as victims and losers, and so they live in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety about the future. And then along comes Obama, who is smarter and better-looking and more articulate and more athletic than they are, thus he is a painful reminder that their horizons are grim. They feel they are getting passed by– the Latino population is on the rise, Asians are doing well, and heaven forbid even the homo’s are getting some respect.
Lower middle class white people interpret Obama’s rise to the White House as confirmation that they have lost the game. I actually don’t think all the wingers are racist– but when they see a person of color succeeding it’s a painful reminder that their own station in life isn’t about to get better anytime soon. They’ve been screwed by NAFTA and WalMart and the drug companies and Wall St., but they are not bright enough to recognize who they ought to blame, and so they direct their ire at those of a different color.
arguingwithsignposts
@arguingwithsignposts:
or Eugene Robinson. I wish Bob Herbert and Frank Rich would show up more. Hell, I’d give good money to see Amy Goodman show up on one of those Sunday Morning Shows and slap George Will around a little.
NR
Everything you say about the Republicans is 100% true, Doug.
And yet Obama is still dead-set on giving away the store to these people.
So what does that say about him?
parksideq
I’d like to posit that Dukakis got it worse, what with “Willie Horton” and all. For all the bullshit thrown out there at Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama, none of them were directly accused of abetting a murderer/rapist by their opponent’s ad campaign. Not to trivialize their campaign struggles, but the smears of birthers/black helicopter crowd weren’t officially sanctioned by a presidential campaign the way Poppy Bush condoned that despicable ad.
Of course, I may not be accurately remembering the past, and if this is the case please correct me and accept my apologies. But the point remains that this is an old game that the GOP is playing, and FINALLY losing after all these years.
Brian J
@gizmo:
I agree with a lot of your description. What’s nuts about that sentiment is that Obama is the exception to the unfortunate rule. He has far higher than most people of his racial background have. All in all, I’d say the average white person in this country has it better than the average person of color, yet the fact that anybody besides the white male rising to a position of power is just too much for some people.
JK
jl, arguingwithsignposts, Mike P
When Matt Welch started talking, I was hoping he was just playing it laughs and then he’d say what he really thought of the teabaggers.
At least Matt Welch had better fashion sense than his fellow wankertarian Nick Gillespie. Welch wore a sport jacket on the NewsHour. Every time I’ve seen Gillespie on tv, he’s always wearing a lameass fake leather jacket.
General Winfield Stuck
@Brian J:
Don’t know what his definition is, and likely it’s different for everyone. But to me “racist” is someone who employs some action to their bigotry/ Racial anxiety is more in the thought realm, maybe willing to believe things that are normally out of character, like death panels and sinister plots against whites that some are tossing out there. But like I said, it’s subjective.
And I think like Dougj says, the genesis for this stuff isn’t random or spontaneous. it is SOP for the RW and scientific in the sense there are people in wingnut think tanks who know Psyop techniques who target the fears of certain groups of Americans who are predisposed to react with what we are seeing. It is insidious and completely evil.
BFR
It’s that personally destroying your opponent is an important part of Republican politics. I’m not making a value judgement here, but it’s a fact that these days at least, Republicans are much more aggressive about dehumanizing Democrats than vice versa.
To a large extent, the GOP is all about “ruling” these days while a significant number of Democrats are oriented around “governing.”
It’s actually not a value judgement – both sides are attempting to win at the expense of the other, but it allows republicans to be far more ruthless in their approaches than the Democrats.
Roger Moore
@Brian J:
But you have to consider what the choice of that method says about the anti-Obama crowd. Nobody would choose race as an important point in their attacks on Obama if they didn’t think that it would resonate with their listeners. Whether the people who launch those attacks are actively racist or just opportunists, it’s hard to see anyone who would be swayed by them as anything but a racist.
Turgidson
@stacie:
Well, if Steele or Keyes were president, liberals would go on and on about how terrible they are at being president – based on facts, outcomes, and other types of verifiable evidence – and the right would ignore all the substance of the criticism and simply SCREAM AND HOWL about how liberals were just being racist. (see “Palin, Sarah”)
Midnight Marauder
@Turgidson:
Well, if Steele or Keyes were president, liberals would go on and on about how terrible they are at being president – based on facts, outcomes, and other types of verifiable evidence – and the right would ignore all the substance of the criticism and simply SCREAM AND HOWL about how liberals were just being racist. (see “Palin, Sarah”)
Real talk, son.
Mnemosyne
@General Winfield Stuck:
@Brian J:
There’s a relatively new concept coming up that people are calling “color arousal.” Basically, it’s when racial stereotypes are triggered without the person being fully aware that’s what’s happened. (I’m kinda winging it here, so if someone has a better definition, please chime in.) I think that may be the distinction he’s trying to draw.
Mike G
For all the bullshit thrown out there at Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama, none of them were directly accused of abetting a murderer/rapist by their opponent’s ad campaign.
In the post-9/11 fearscape, I’d say Princess Jesus Boobies’ “palling around with terrorists” smear against Obama was just as dirty.
Zuzu's Petals
And when they have to, they just make up the most insane crap:
“Hey, Kerry looks French!”
pattonbt
For the lunatic R’s (and glibertarians) its all about “those” people. Lucky for the lunatic R’s they are not bound by logic or consistency so the “other” can conveniently change as needed to fit whatever argument they have. And the lunatic R’s will accept token “others” in their gang as long as they know their place and say the right things (see Alan Keyes), and the lunatic R’s will use those tokens as proof!!! proof I tell you!!! that they arent racist!!!! Well they might not be racist, per se, but they sure as hell are xenophobic race baiters who rely on irrational fear as their main argumentative tool.
My boss and one co-worker are both highly educated, apparently intelligent and (supposedly) very christian people (evangelicals). Both are raving lunatic R’s. Both fear Obama to the core. As a pretty firm, confident lefty myself, I started trying to get them to come to the table and actually say why they were afraid.
They honestly couldnt articulate anything coherent. My boss even said (before the election) he feared Obama’s win because he would put “those” people in his cabinet. When pressed who “those” people were, he said blacks (and other minorities). Of course, he notes, its not that hes racist, its just that the blacks will want payback (reparations or power) and the “right” people will lose out. I love to argue, but you get to a point where its just pointless, and thats where we are with the lunatic R’s. There is no point to trying, just expose them for what they are.
For them its all about their own perfection. The lunatics simply are America and CAN NOT BE WRONG!!!! That is just a fact, and can not be disputed in their minds. So anyone who isnt them is the “other” and is to be demonized.
Im not surprised by racism or fear of the other. Im just shocked that a large swath of people who hold those fears and beliefs consider themselves “christian”. Baffles the mind how they can work out that logical twister in their brains and not simply shut down completely.
ninerdave
I’m sure racism plays into the wingnut outrage. However I think there are a few factors that play an even more important part.
I quite distinctly remember having arguments with people of the right in the late 80s and early 90s on OneNet (First Class BBS network) where we could argue and agree to disagree. It was actually a good time: I changed my view of the world, they did too.
1) The past eight or so years it seems that the wingers have this us against them mentality. Liberals are exist just to destroy America. Which follows to point 2
2) Xenophobia, not racism but xenophobia. Which follows the point 3
3) People are scared of change. I happen to believe that once the “greatest generation” and “baby boomers” pass on to the netherworld, race and sexuality will become increasingly less and less important.
Integration happened. It’s just a lagging indicator. :)
drillfork
@NR:
I was just thinking about this. In the Democratic primaries, the Obama campaign didn’t have any problem with playing up racially tinged things on the Hillary side. I mean, what Big Dog said about Obama winning South Carolina (to the effect, of course the black guy won that primary) — I suppose Bill was just trying to minimize the result, but his choice of words was ODD, to say the least.
But when Hillary made her statement about MLK and LBJ, and that “it took a president” to ultimately advance the cause of civil rights, that seemed like a pretty benign statement to me. Still, the Obama people had zero problem stirring this up with the media.
But when teabaggers display their awful signs, when el Rushbo spews his bile, when cracker congress-critter Joe Wilson shouts at him — hell, when Jimmy Carter points out the obvious — nothing. Nope, no racism at work here, the Obama people maintain.
WTF is up with that?…
tc125231
Well, I used to just think that it was just the GOP that needed complete destruction before America could rise from the ashes.
Now I know it is also all aspects of the MSM.
Thomas Friedman, of whom I am not particularly fond, made a sound point in today’s column. Applied Materials is building all its solar plants in other countries, BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE MARKETS ARE, due to action by their governments.
In the US, the government is incapable of taking any useful action. All we can do is cut taxes on the rich while increasing the Pentagon’s budget annually. And, of course, subsidize those institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, that are important to the wealthy.
The unholy collusion of the MSM and the GOP in supporting the corporatist model is undoubtedly a primary factor in this phenomena.
I wish them their just desserts. Those that will not repent can enjoy their bankruptcies.
tc125231
@Mnemosyne: What a load of crap. Do you think their mother’s didn’t spank them enough?
Wile E. Quixote
@drillfork
I’m going to have to be in agreement with Elie here, Obama can’t do anything, if he points out that these people are a bunch of pig-ignorant racist crapsacks the media narrative will be that Obama is a whiner, or that he’s attempting to distract people from his administration’s problems or anything, anything other than pointing out that hey, these people are racist asswipes. No, Obama is in a position where he has to take shit off of these people.
On the other hand that doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to and we should kick the living fucking shit out of these stupid bastards by pointing out that they’re stupid, hypocritical, pig-ignorant, useless, easily led pack of racist morons completely lacking in anything that even vaguely resembles character.
PTirebiter
“…is that “Barack Obama, bourgeois in every way that bourgeois is right and just, will not dance.”
Coates’ is great and his post really spells it out for guys like me.
“He takes his wife out for a date–and their veins bulge. His humanity, his ordinary blackness, is killing them. Dig the audio of his response to Kanye West–the way he says, “He’s a jackass.” He sounds like one of my brothers. And that’s the point, because that’s what he is. Barack Obama refuses to be their nigger. And it’s driving them crazy.”
It’s really uncomfortable to believe, but on the gut level, I think he’s right.
ds
“But when teabaggers display their awful signs, when el Rushbo spews his bile, when cracker congress-critter Joe Wilson shouts at him—hell, when Jimmy Carter points out the obvious—nothing. Nope, no racism at work here, the Obama people maintain.
WTF is up with that?…”
Hillary is a Democrat. You can accuse her of being a rapist, a murderer, a crack dealer, etc. and the media won’t bat an eye.
Accuse some fat white guy holding a sign adorned with swastikas comparing you to a monkey of being a racist, and the whole media will join in the massive right wing freakout. E.g. “How will Obama’s race baiting affect the midterms? Let’s ask Pat Buchanan…”
Shell Goddamnit
Of course, he notes, its not that hes racist, its just that the blacks will want payback (reparations or power) and the “right” people will lose out.
So, guilt plays its role; the consciousness of having done wrong actually leads to further wrongdoing. Honestly, these are just bad people.
jl
@ds:
“Hillary is a Democrat. You can accuse her of being a rapist, a murderer, a crack dealer, etc. and the media won’t bat an eye.”
As I remember it, the media joined in. I am not a big Hillary fan, but even when her campaign pissed me off, I noticed how the media joined in the stale, very retro, and rancid vicious dismissive sexism. And that pissed me off ten times a much anything Hillary’s campaign did.
I would watch these dudes, and think, how old and senile are these dumbass goofus white dudes? Besides being hateful, they were also doddering hysterical out-of-it fools, simple-minded stereotypes from a bad sitcom. But, no, they were our Very Serious Opinion Leaders, believe it nor not.
The media’s Hillery hate and wank fest was a sign that they learned nothing from the Bush II years, and a fitting prelude to the complete rottenness they have displayed during the health reform debate.
jl
@Shell Goddamnit: Benjamin Franklin noted long ago that it is much more difficult for the bigoted oppressor to forgive the ones they oppressed, than for the oppresssed to forgive their oppressors.
Every demonstration by those who are hated that they are actually worthy human beings is a rebuke to those who held the prejudice, sending the bigot into a kind of psychological guilt-hell, and these bigots can never forgive their objects of contempt and hatred for doing this to them. The just and fair solution to prejudice is a constant rebuke to those who participated in, or closely identified with the oppression. The good effects of the end of oppression produce an insoluble and intolerable dilemma to those who cling to their prejudice.
Mike P
@PTirebiter:
The sad thing is that Coates is very, very right. Barack Obama walked right up the line on Gatesgate with these people and I think he knows on some level, he kind of got away with one. Most people who have functioning brains could realize that calling an action stupid isn’t the same as calling the person who committed said act stupid. Of course, that’s not how it portrayed, and because of that, we ended up with the most recent version of “Our National Conversation on Race” (as an aside: can I turn that name into a talk show title or make it the name of an indie rock band? I think there’s something to it).
In any case, Rush and his ilk are lying with baited breath for Barack Obama to “get black” for a second, so they can have their “See! We told you he’s just like those other n#$$ers!” moment. That’s why they can’t let go of the non-offensive comment about Obama’s grandmother from the race speech or why they can’t believe that Obama hearing Rev. Wright for all those years didn’t build some level of dislike within him for white people. They want him to go Al Sharpton for a hot minute so they can call him a race pimp or worse. But, as Coates said, Obama’s not doing that dance for them and they can’t deal with it. It’s an especially rich irony that this man’s inherent personal conservatism (in the sense of being measured in one’s actions) is perhaps the main reasons he won’t give them what they want.
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
Nicely observed. Good essay.
.
someguy
It’s funny that conservatives, who are basically like humans except lacking empathy or higher reasoning functions, would consider other people subhumans.
asiangrrlMN
I just read TNC’s column, and he is dead-on. Racism may not be the biggest factor, but it’s still a factor. Yes, Obama would have been excoriated no matter what by the Republicans because he’s a Democratic president, but the race factor just ratchets up the crazy exponentially.
I look at the Congress people who are Republicans, and I see mostly old, white bitter men (plus the oh-so-special Virginia crazy like a Foxx) who can’t stand to be working for, so to speak, a black man who is smarter than they are, better looking than they are, and just an all-around more accomplished person than they are (and nicer, too).
Michael D.
I think what the Right hates is not so much that Obama is black. I think they hate that he doesn’t “act black.” So they can’t chuckle at him behind his back and tell all the white people “Told ya so!” if he does things like:
1. “Axes” a question.
2. Says “Know what I’m sayin'” at the end of every sentence
3. Wears his pants down around his thighs
4. Speaks ebonics
5. Raps an answer during a news conference
Shit. Even I expected the right to go ballistic when Obama confessed his love for baseball! Etcetera, etcetera.
I really DO think that’s what Whitey-Righties hate about Obama. “He a black dude! Why isn’t he wearing the clothing made by that P. Diddy fella or the stuff with the rhinoceros on it?”
I actually think, while they’d still have hated them, Whitey-Righties would have been more “satisfied” with Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. Because Sharpton and Jackson act and speak more in line with how those people think black people should act and speak.
Brian Griffin
@asiangrrlMN:
Coates’ essay is excellent, as usual, but he’s missing one issue in relation to Clinton. And I think it’s relevant to the Obama-hatred today.
One thing I recall about being back home in Alabama during the Clinton years is where a lot of the hatred actually came from: A lot of people didn’t think he was legitimate as President because he grew up as a poor country kid. Old folks back home constantly carped about the “white trash” in the white house. It didn’t matterhow good a job he did, to them he was beneath the office. Some people just think they have to have groups to look down on.
This may sound odd to people who aren’t that familiar with it, but there is a strong delusion on the right that our leaders are supposed to be some mythical blend of tough guy and aristocratic twit. George W Bush had that pose down cold, but Clinton didn’t even pursue it.
Obama hasn’t either. Like Clinton, he “doesn’t know his place,” and is upsetting the natural balance of the status quo, simply by his success. That line has racist implications when applied to Obama, but it was thrown at Clinton often as well.
The result was and is that we have a vocal minority in this country who cling to the notion that someone “beneath” them is now their leader, which upsets all their notions of their own status, turning their delusions upside down. The line that “Obama took away their right not to have a black president” actually hits pretty close to the truth.
But the striver Clinton’s election also caused the same sorts of wailing from the same people.
pat kelly
Don’t forget, though, that much of the dirty work against Gore was done by the media – Chris Matthews saying he doesn’t look American, Maureen Dowd “imagining” him singing “I Feel Pretty” and making up the Love Story bit. The press hated Gore and they made up the liar storyline and never let it go.
So, yes the Republicans are bullys and smear artists, but they get a huge helping hand from the mainstream media repeating their b.s., or, in Gore’s case, making it up themselves.
The Democrats and liberals need to learn to always see it coming and be prepared to push back.
Michael D.
@Brian Griffin: Never thought of it this way. Good points!
HRA
The underlying motivation in these people is they are taking over the country.
It began with the illegal aliens. Take a look back at the trend. “They should learn English”. “They are taking away the jobs of Americans”. It went on for quite a while and it is still out there .
Then along comes a charismatic, well educated and victorious Black man to be catapulted as the president of the United States. It has blown their minds.
Zach
Joe Wilson’s kid or whoever it was really messed up defending Joe’s entire life as not-racist. Wilson criticized that Strom Thurmond and Thomas Jefferson’s illegitimate black offspring were made public. He said it tarnished their reputation and should’ve been kept private (even though in the case of Thurmond it was his daughter’s choice). That’s racist. End of story.
They could’ve said that “you lie” wasn’t racist all they want and been fine, but this opens up a can of worms. Not to mention being a main supporter of the confederate flag in SC, etc.
shpx.ohfu
Since republitards are never wrong, and since they told us BHO was a murka-hatin commie muslin socialist kenyan dijon arugula lover terrorist before the election, and we voted for him anyway, they have to PROVE TO US BENIGHTED SOULS they were right by tearing him down after the fact.
Tonybrown74
@parksideq:
Two things:
1: Clinton was accused of having a ‘Death List’ and Hillary was accused of murdering Vince Foster.
2: It is still early in the Obama Presidency. We have yet to see the worst of the accusations against him yet.
Bernard Addison Von Hippel-Lindau Wilson Cori
@JK:
How ’bout Excuse?
CalD
@Tonybrown74:
True enough, but that was mostly coming from surrogates and fellow travelers. I’m hard put to think of an official campaign ad from a presidential campaign that rises to the level of Willie Horton, although I doubt I’ve seen them all.
It’s interesting to note that the same guy who made the Horton ad (Roger Ailes) is now president of Fox News Channel and chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Small world.
Corner Stone
@Brian Griffin: If I may riff off your post a little:
I think what you’re saying, IOW, is that Republicans would prefer a Monarchy. They don’t care for outcomes of actual democracy and would much rather have the right kind of person installed on the throne.
Corner Stone
@jl:
So, you were a BJ frequenter during the primaries then?
CalD
I’m suddenly missing that edit function again. When I said “rises to the level” (above) I should have said “sinks.”
Corner Stone
@CalD:
It’s even more interesting when you listen to Howard Fineman on Countdown the other night describe what a good, decent and admirable person Roger Ailes really is. The things at Fox that are going on now are just beneath Ailes intrinsic goodness and he should be made aware of them soon or they will start to tarnish Ailes pureousity.
According to Fineman that is.
CalD
@Corner Stone:
Wow.
The things you miss when you’ve sworn off cable news…
Brachiator
@pat kelly:
After the stuff that has been thrown at Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and now Barack Obama, you have to wonder what it takes for the Democrats to get the message.
Corner Stone
@CalD: from the 9-14 transcripts:
Leelee for Obama
I mentioned this the other day, but there are many reactionaries in the modern Repub/Conservative group are in fact monarchists. Even in the very beginning of the Republic, that strain was strong. The Founding Fathers wanted entrepreneurship, yes, but the leadership was supposed to be the very educated elites, like them. That’s why a Republic, not a straight democracy. I many ways, they were right-but the strong strain of monarchists, who believe to their toes that only a select few should lead the great unwashed have been the makers of history on all sides of politics. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have broken the mold in our modern age, like Harry Truman, Ike and Andrew Jackson and others in past ages. They are “of the people” and got ahead of their natural caste, and were and are loved by many. Those who fear them are those who would likely have voted against the Bill of Rights, and said yes to the question”Shall we have a King?”
benjoya
since i have no life, i will point out that the title of this post is a reference to a Husker Du song, I believe.
binzinerator
@Brian J:
Why, racial anxiety isn’t racist at all. It just means real Americans, hardworking white Americans, are just a little concerned and apprehensive there’s a too-smart-for-his-own-good uppity black-black NIGGER from AFRICA in the White House acting like he goddamn belongs there.
It doesn’t mean they’re racist or anything.
binzinerator
@drillfork:
I’m thinking they realize to respond to it gives the wingers exactly what they want — a response they can use to escalate their crazy rage even more.
Calling them what they are will absolutely froth the racist fucks, because that is what often happens when you call out a racist fuck. They are incensed they are exposed, they are enraged because they know on some level everything they’ve been doing is mean and ugly yet inside they prefer this narrative in their heads where they are really the decent ones. They have a real problem with self-awareness, admitting they are wrong, accepting their weak and mean parts of themselves, and they get screeching mad when reality intrudes and breaks the mental walls they built between their compartmented beliefs. (Fuck that’s the absolute requirement to be a teabagger conservative now…)
The leaders of the GOP want a race war — because they’ve always wanted a culture war. They’ve always seen themselves in some form of cultural war, and race is a huge part of it especially to them. They want an incident, a spark, an escalation from ‘the other side’ and they want especially for it to come from Obama. They will fucking frame him as the cause of any race riot that happens.
Yes they will do this no matter what Obama says — Limbaugh is already trying to do this — but there’s more to be lost and more for them to gain by handing them what they want.
In Alabama in the 60’s the kinds of people who would have loved Limbaugh had he been on the air then sicced dogs on african-americans who were peacefully demonstrating or engaged in passive-resistance sit-ins. And the rest of the nation, the entire world saw it and was disgusted and horrified. And the Civil Rights act was the result.
The limbaugh racist fucks are smarter this time. Ideally they need a photo-moment where blacks are siccing the dogs on a bunch of non-violent defenseless young idealistic white people. That ain’t going to happen outside of Photoshop. So the next best thing is to gin up an excuse to retaliate, an excuse to lash out with the kind of rage and brutality they’ve longed to do all along.
Hell, it worked for the Iraq war didn’t it?
Finally, Obama can call it whatever the hell he wants — but everyone knows it is racist. Racist baiting assholes like Limbaugh know it too, as do his listeners. What Obama’s doing is another rope-a-dope.
The Drizzle
Racism is defined as a liberal losing an argument. I thought we “overcame” when this joker was elected. Now I find out that, holy shit, racism is even worse than it was before. Let this be a lesson,America. We cannot re-elect this man. Imagine how bad racism will get if he gets a second term! Oh the humanity! Hold on… I hear the clan at the door…oh no…….!!!
dbwhite
@benjoya:
It’s okay. I was just about to go there.