Category Archives: Obama

President Obama: The Adult In The Room

For generations to come, this statement will be used as an exemplar and a touchstone in discussing the toxic political dynamic of our day.

Turning Over Their Own Rocks And Crawling Out

Missouri police officer on leave over video in which he says: ‘I’m … a killer’

They are crawling out from under their own rocks. Just connect the dots – from rage-fueled hatred of President Obama to declaring open season on powerless young black men. For each of these outspoken killers in military or civilian uniform, imagine how many anonymous like-minded men and women are in agreement and cheering them on.

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http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/22/us/missouri-police-officer-suspended/index.html

As American As…

HNIC

A few weeks ago I was at a train station standing next to what turned out to be a mother, father, and young child heading off on a trip, and a few friends and family there to see them off. All white. Blue collar I’d guess, a pleasant group of 7-8 folks of various ages.

The group included a couple of charming little girls, around 4 years old. They were dancing around and singing that song from Frozen, occasionally getting a little too exuberant as they do at that age. We all smiled benignly at them from time to time.

Dad reined in one giddy dancer for a quiet moment. She stood for a bit. Looked at me quite seriously, and then turned to her father and said, sort of as a question, as if she wanted to get it right, “stupid nigger.”

He pretended I wasn’t there, but told her not to say that. No raised voice, no shock or dismay on Dad’s part. All matter of fact. We all continued to stand around. Not everyone in their chatting group even heard it.

It took me a few minutes, but I think I know what happened. It occurred to me that she simply repeated, in the everyday tone her father uses, exactly what he says whenever he notices the President on TV — a casual observation. She wasn’t quite sure, because I was not a man.

So much for that little member of the coming enlightened generation. But also, a bit of insight into the Fox TV demographic living room. Most of their viewers are not wild-eyed weirdos. Just folks raising their kids — and passing along their family values.

Father-Daughter

More Louisiana Republicans Blame President Obama For Hurricane Katrina Response Than Bush

A surprising number of Republicans blame then-Senator Obama for the botched handling of Hurricane Katrina.

via More Louisiana Republicans Blame President Obama For Hurricane Katrina Response Than Bush.

50 Years Later: We March on Washington to End Racism, Materialism, and Militarism | Common Dreams

50 Years Later: We March on Washington to End Racism, Materialism, and Militarism | Common Dreams.

Twisted Into Political Knots

It is not easy to process the familiar and unfamiliar, conscious and unconscious, ways Obama has become such a Rorschach for so many racist segments of society  who have felt it was their moment to run up and down the street expressing the most odious views.

And now, seeing so many on the Left rending their garments in disappointment, using time, energy and brainpower bemoaning Obama’s faults and failures rather than joining forces to beat a vicious SOB like Romney, is becoming increasingly problematic.

Time’s a-wastin’, and all of the remove voters from the rolls, don’t allow students to vote, mess with the voting machines, divide and conquer, create faux scandals, spread outright lies on all fronts, etc. strategists are already working overtime to spread a clear and simple message: Obama is the worst president ever. That he is simultaneously not very bright, an intellectual elitist, and an enemy of the nation.

Birther Trump is a grotesque joke to us, but affirms millions who feel they share the opinion of a successful public figure. Some stunning percentage of the population remains convinced that the POTUS is anti-Christian and/or anti-semitic, conspiring to impose Sharia law on the US.

The young voters and campaign workers who did make a difference, are not so fired up this time, in part because most don’t really understand what a Romney victory could mean. They knocked themselves out to make history. We all did. McCain and Palin were so improbable that there really was no political analysis to speak of. Race is still the Great American Dilemma, and along with cynical pie-in-the-sky economic promises, will cause millions to vote against their own best interests.

Obama & Derrick Bell

So Breitbart’s info that would end Obama’s career was that in 1991 Obama spoke well of Derrick Bell? That’s right up there with having put in a good word for the Dalai Lama.

I knew Derrick Bell and his family, and helped organize the memorial service at The African Meeting House for his first wife, Jewel, who died at far too early an age.

If anyone is in need of heroes of integrity, concern for individuals and for community, delight in life, and profound and lasting intellectual work, read up on them both.

Speaking ill of the dead Breitbart is one thing; speaking the simple truth is another: he was about to attempt another Shirley Sherrod, only worse as it was against a man no longer alive to speak for himself. I guarantee there would have been a significant outcry if Breitbart had lived to try something both so vile and so just plain stupid.

There was no “hidden” video. It was easily available and utterly innocuous.

Obama Sings At The Apollo

Forget The Fat Lady; re-election is in sight!