While it's been a struggle hiding my disappointment in regards to our duly elected president not effectively vanquishing the insane and invasive Right Wing to the dank fringes from whence it slithered, and disappointed that, for all intents and purposes, our duly elected president has been more or less an ally of the corporate behemoths who run everything from the military to the media, I nonetheless remain convinced that the main thrust of Right Wing opposition to said duly elected president is based solely on a deep, dark and extremely personalized dislike.
It's deeper and darker than the Right's dislike for, say, Bill Clinton who, while an out n' proud Democrat was also very clearly a good friend to big business (NAFTA) and a thorn in the side of the poor (his welfare reform initiative) and despite his being brought down in a concerted effort by genophobic forces bent on instilling morality at the expense of governmental effectiveness, he was always regarded by the Right with respect, however grudging.
And that speaks to the glaring double standard which was and still is at the heart of the lion's share of Right Wing opposition to Barak Obama:
He is a black man.
Given the facts about President Obama's arguably centrist, over-conciliatory and über-accommodating approach toward governing, one would assume there'd be little disappointment from anyone claiming to be his political opposite, saving disappointment from those like myself who looked to him as a healing balm to the years of flaming stupidity and brazen disregard for Democracy that marked the Bush years; who saw in Obama an articulate embodiment of America's best hopes rather than the opportunistic, low-brow bullying that prospered under the aegis of neo-conservatism and unregulated corporate influence.
But that has not been the case. For the Right Wing, it's not the fact that Obama has been nowhere near the ideological anathema they tarred him as being. For the Right Wing, it is beyond politics, deeper than ideological differences.
He's a black man living in their white house.
And that reality proved even harder to bear than the mere election of a Democrat. How else to explain the Right's almost carnal embrace of apocalyptic rhetoric and unprecedented displays of nonsensical and stunningly counter intuitive/hypocritical/contradictory behavior since his inauguration?
How else to explain the suddenly awakened consciences of the conspicuously caucasian Tea Baggers who, rather than easily grasp that the causes they trumpet are actually empirically proven to be detrimental to their own interests, opt instead to bleat banal credos which sound superficially like rousing cries for "smaller government" and "accountability" but what are in truth thinly veiled, virulent, recidivistic expressions of deep-seated racism?
How else to explain the constant howl of birthers, death panelers, gun fetishists, Islamophobes and other vendors of dystopic delusions, all of which happen to have a boogie man at the core of their night terrors?
The Right will of course roll its collective eyes (the ones already warped with myopia) and attempt to shrug off the accusation of racism as a lame Liberal argument. But saying it's so doesn't mean it's so.
Like WMDs and yellow cake.
Like Trickle Down Economics.
Like women who receive abortions are more likely to come down with breast cancer in the future.
Given such a record of falsehoods, exaggerations, distractions and denial, how else can one account for the Right Wing's steady attack on Barak Obama, regardless of his effectiveness as a political leader? The tragedy is that Jim Crow America was just yesterday and the nation, humiliating as it may be to admit, has not exorcised the xenophobic demons which have motivated some of its darkest behavior.
The Right's relentless and confounding opposition to our duly elected president can be explained by paraphrasing Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
And once The Right's impossible reasons for opposing this president have been eliminated, one must conclude that fear of a black man in the white house---however improbable in this day and age---is the sad truth.
Follow Steven Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheStevenWeber
the reason i'm here is kams told our little blog community she as having "intelligent" debates with that "actor" from wings. i had to see this for myself.
god, what's it been now, over a year?
i've had hiv for 26yrs, you've only had kams for a year.
i feel more empathy for you than i do for myself.
i live in the same area as kams and it is rife with racism.
a dixie flag everywhere you turn. unremoved McCain/Palin bumper stickers.
blows darwin out of the water as these people clearly evolved from manatees.
fat slow and dumb.
and swamp preachers that want to burn Qur'ans and stone people to death, like it says in the bible.
well, i have your back and the others do, too.
so, just delete her again and let's move on with our lives until she reincarnates in 8 to 10 days.
seriously than my normal salutation of"wordsmithie".
I request that you and your talented compatriots work together on a meaningful project.
I think we need a non-michael moore- more 2012 - movie extrapolating the LARGE MONEY/conservative/tea party/rand end view. you know - what america would actually "live" like when they get everything they want.
no taxes, no blacks, no foreigners of color, no social safety net............the whole shebang.
obviously the american public needs to see this on a screen - because they can't seem to
wrap their little minds around the real "end times" they unknowingly are crafting.
thanks! just a deep/expensive idea..........
Yes, racism is far more common and virulent among the right, and yes, that's what's driving a lot of the really crazy bagger stuff ... but we're still, in large part, a quite racist country.
here is a link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=202528533112937&id=100000673758156&aid=49411&l=3a8e34a078
just a few things, most inspired by kams and her religious beliefs.
You'll just have to wait until shift change R2V.
a not so smart,
not too passionate,
and definitely not honest at all.
any regular reader of Mr. W realizes this.
You will see.
soooo much Galliano, they were practically giving it away.
you were right kams, something good did come out of the holocoust.
Please, any of you, please explain how it isn't just simple, common, par for the course ideological differences?? Please show how, even though Obama is holding the most powerful POLITICAL position in the world, it's not about politics.. it's about the color of his skin. I choose to think better of my fellow citizens ESPECIALLY when there is no evidence to the contrary. You all are hurting this country, Obama and also the minority group you claim is hated so much by fabricating this hatred to further your political agenda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI
The number of white Republicans who spoke out against that in their LOUDEST voices? That's the number of whites in the Republican Party who are NOT RACIST. The rest of you either tacitly agreed
with it by you deafening silence or else you willingly gave up all self-respect, dignity and honor in the hopes of not antagonizing potential voters. Which is the same thing. Either way it's pathetic.
Seriously, you should be posting a disclaimer on everything you write.
If you don't want to wade through 6 whole minutes of nonsense, I suggest starting at 2:40 in. Gets to the crux of the matter. And what did the right do? Their silence was deafening.
Where do I start? I've tried.. again in vain I regret I think I must come to accept, so many times and different ways to explain this error in thinking of the left. Let me try this way... AGAIN... if you are standing in a crowd of hundreds or thousands, and someone you don't know at all, holds up a sign, does that sign speak for you? Now, let me try it this way... how many "racist" signs are in that video? Count them.. and then count all the other signs you can find in all the crowds of all political rallies since Obama entered the political scene. Now... count the total number of people who've attended all those rallies. Now compare the two numbers. Which is larger? Which represents the M I N O R I T Y and which represents the M A J O R I T Y? This should be sufficient.. but I know it won't be... I KNOW IT WON'T BE... you guys make me want to pull my hair out!!
Repulican
Racism
I received 6,610,000 results.
Simple basic math skills. With that many results it's probably more fire than smoke.
The party of Lincoln is now the party of the Koch Boys and Rupert Murdoch. Their central organizing focus is money--moving it to the top 0.5 percent of Americans, hence keeping the "bottom 99 percent" dazed and confused is critical to their success. Their criticisms of the president serve two purposes: One, throw crap on the wall and see what sticks. Two, bait the president until he finally does Angry Black Man so they can say, "I told you so. He's a racist, who hates white people."
Republicans are dutifully deconstructing all the progressive reforms of the 20th century in service of their (tax hating) plutocratic masters. They follow orders and have a brilliant propaganda apparatus. This underscores Obama's central failing. He doesn't counter the manure that flies from the noise machine; he fails to amplify a vision that defines his leadership; he triangulates. Calling Republicans racists alienates the sane ones and does nothing with the rest. They have already sold their souls for crumbs. They don't do logic; they do obedience. Speak up, Mr. President.
Seems you are ahead of the curve yet again Steven.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI
But I'm sure you spoke up, right?
And yes, it was ""stealth tactics" of a gang of . . . well, you know, that almost brought this country to its knees. Had nothing to do with our financial institutions gambling with our future. Wall who? Street where? No, it's those commie firefighters and teachers who have caused this. Our economic system works, as long as you don't have any oversight. Because Wall Street ALWAYS has our best interest at heart.
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
Thomas Jefferson
But who was he? Just some nobody. They've already figured that out in Texas.
Whatever there is to ha_8 about Obama “The Right” will find it. I don’t believe that it is all about his race. It goes much deeper than that. With Clinton it was other things; anything they could find to tear apart.
As far as Obama’s irritating “niceness”; in my opinion it is because he is a lawyer and lawyers would always rather settle out of court. I assume (because I am not a lawyer) that is if the preface is merely a dispute and each party has a valid point. In this case though I think that the repubs are not valid and that Obama should go to court and fight it out in front of the judge which is the people of the US.
Repubs have taken our lunch and breakfast; I hope Obama learns how to fight soon before they take our dinner as well.
bon appetit.