Financial Times Columnist: Obama Like Felix The Cat — Black And Lucky

The Financial Times' Niall Ferguson Tuesday compared President Obama to Felix the Cat, saying that, like Obama, the cartoon cat was black and lucky.

The lede of Ferguson's column reads:

President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US as he takes a well-earned summer break after just over six months in the world's biggest and toughest job.

In February, the New York Post came under fire for appearing to compare President Obama to a chimp in a cartoon decrying the stimulus bill. Ferguson's column was accompanied by a cartoon and caption that read, "Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat! Whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks!"

Read Ferguson's full column here (registration may be required).

Comments

[dee544]

Here's this knucklehead's email at Harvard. Write him . . .
nfergus@fa­s.harvard.­edu

[Chip W]

I'll cast a vote for "Not Racist." Obama is of the black persuasion, you know.

[tsunamiano]

I for one love Felix and Obama. Its a match made in heaven. The real problem is all the cat haters!

[star3]

Don't hate cats, but am allergic to them. Achoo!

[kutkreata]

Incredible...

[zoophee]

He is spineless. Now he he denies his racism. This isn't the first time that he has shown what kind of a hater he is. What a vontz.
In Feb., in the NY Post he wrote a column followed by a cartoon portraying President Obama as a monkey.

[26charlie]

'Scuse me zoophee, but what kind of hating racist column did Niall write for the NYPost and was the cartoon drawn by him as well? You must not be spineless, so this wont be hard for you to back up. Show us what makes him a hater.

Com'on folks - please let the right be the ones reacting irrationally toward buzz words and lacking facts.

[writerroz]

OOPS! My mistake. Ferguson made his comments in an article in Financial Times. I forgot my intention as I got through other blogs. But I hope Ferguson sees our comments of disagreement.

[26charlie]

Whats weird is nobody has attempted to issue a coherent reason why that was racism, as if we're all expected to understand this. I read the article and dont see the rationale for the accusation. So can someone please explain to me - and very possibly others, who are just as mystified - what all the fuss is about? (Is it racial if someone calls me a "white cat"?)

[Centient]

'Black and lucky.' Yeah...There's no way that is going to be misconstrued. Best to just let it go quietly Professor.

[CynAnne]

Agreed, Centient..and the last paragraph of the article by Ferguson mentions the creator of Felix the Cat "..drinking himself to death.." - really subtle in the 'wishful thinking' department, huh? *eyeroll*

[For the People]

While people have a right to speak their minds, I don't think individuals like Mr. Ferguson should be allowed to clutter the Huffington Post with useless commentary.

We have to focus on the many important problems to solve in this country and the world, like healthcare, global warming, alternative energy, influenza, cancer, heart disease, and gun violence.

[snesich]

Niall Ferguson is writing this mainly out of sour grapes. He was a strong and enthusiastic supporter of John McCain last year and so this accounts for the juvenile name calling and the comparison of President Obama to a black cartoon cat.

Ferguson was a strong supporter of Bush's war and occupation in Iraq. He said the only problem was Bush didn't use enough force and enough repression. He also argued for "enhanced interrogation" and spying on citizens, like Dick Cheney and John Yoo.

Here's Niall, before the right-wing Hoover Institution, praising McCain and arguing that it was a very good thing for McCain to publicly sing "Bomb Bomb Iran" and that it would actually create world peace if the president was seen as a madman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mli7OjrB3M

Ferguson needs to stop posing as an "intellectual" and admit his right-wing, neo-con status.

[shamanbart]

The first and last paragraphs of the article were horribly written and ill-conceived.

>>President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. ...Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US ...

Felix is black -- duh, who doesn't know that?

Ferguson goes to great lengths to show how "lucky" Obama is, when in fact the economic situation was extremely dire as he entered office. Many of the steps Obama took are attributed to luck. Why can't Ferguson give Obama any credit for being intelligent and skillful?

So Ferguson is saying there's nothing to Obama other than luck, and of course the fact that he's black. I'm thinking of an -ism that starts with R...

Then in the last paragraph, that horrible blurb about Felix's maker meeting his maker. What kind of parallel is that? What is being insinuated by that comment?

Editor must have been asleep/gone. Ferguson must have been zonked on some medication or hungover.

Ferguson -- admit it -- the analogy and the thrust of the article sucked and drew parallels that perhaps you didn't mean (or at least don't want to admit to meaning). Apologize and get it right next time.

[TRex86]

"In foreign policy as in economic policy this is a president that makes his own luck." OK, only the meaning of luck is a favorable outcome against the odds. Making one's own luck is thus a weak, oxymoronic compliment at best. How about just saying that he's done a good job in difficult times (bronze medal) but has lots more Bush administration disasters yet to repair? Nah.
Having read the whole article I find the Felix the Cat simile at best strained. No, it's not racist despite the artless title. The genral thrust of the article was that Obama has done well so far, but he will need to attend to the federal debt/deficit in the future. Duh. For someone who has written some excellent books this is hopelessly unoriginal and of course fails to proffer possible solutions to the dilemma. Nor does he remind the reader of the genesis of the fiscal crisis, the Bush administration kleptocracy, which took a surplus and the opportunity to retire much of the national debt--and turned it into a $ ten trillion national debt.

[Chip W]

Kleptocracy. Good one. Did you coin that one yourself?

[taptaptap]

I've read the article and I don't think that Ferguson was intentionally slurring President Obama. It's actually full of praise. I do disagree with the "lucky" part, President Obama's success can be attributed to, among many things, old fashioned hard work. But then the comparison wouldn't be as clever. Could it possibly be a cultural difference between how we see Felix the Cat (unfamiliar), and how those in the UK do (beloved)?

No log in required:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c24385ce-85ef-11de-98de-00144feabdc0.html

[quindy]

It's pure luck that he has to deal with the worst economic crisis since great depression, with two wars, with high unemployment, health care in crisis and so on and so on. And he can always reach in his bag of tricks, because it will be tricks that will solve these problems.

[Tags]

There's nothing wrong with Niall that getting hit on the head with a brick thrown by a mouse won't fix.

[ccoppe]

LMAO!!

[Ohsnap]

I prefer to think of Obama more as Blade. He's a half breed, black, and defeats the evil vampires.

[a3w]

Awesome.