No More Code Words: Racism is Public Again

Why do you mix metaphors so much? Why do you entitle an article about veiled racism "Racism is Public Again"? Why do you use an article about racism to bash corporations? This stuff sounds like a badly written Marxist newspaper that I've picked up in a library vestibule.

...others believe that the only good racist rightwing scumbag is a dead racist rightwing scumbag.

Publicly hanging George W Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney at the foot of the United States Capitol Building for war crimes (a la Nuremberg Trials) would send a crystal clear message to all their fellow racist rightwing scumbags.

Sorry, Mark, but ever since the Democratic primary, whenever you scream "Racist!", it just sounds like "Wolf!".

Go figure.

BTW - Now you're citing Maureen Dowd?  Jeeeee-zus.  I thought it was bad enough when you were reduced to the using National Enquirer as support.  I didn't think you could go lower than when you were citing Drudge.  But Maureen Dowd?!?!?

Guess I was wrong.

to our own PM's continuous defense of Obama (in particular, that by playing the long game, Obama has allowed untold damage to his administration and the country itself in the meantime). Since PM indicates he takes the Serious People - so-called experts and professional journalists - more seriously than he does the lot of us, maybe Frank can disabuse PM of some of his excessive allegiance to Obama, though I rather doubt it. Instead, I expect PM will either "respectfully disagree" with the brilliant liberal columnist or ignore him altogether.

I hope a real Liberal has the cojones to run against Obama in 2012.  Obama has taken a big dump on Liberals and Progressives and only seems interested in pleasing the right-wing extremist 20% of the country. 

President Obama needs to install passion into his beliefs. Edwards had passion about medical care for all. Howard Dean has passion about progressive politics.

To fight the corporate controlled media and the extreme right, we need a president with passion about doing what is right, not worry about being inclusive. We can't let 20% rule the country, no matter how much Obama wants bipartisanship.

Dean didn't leave the presidential race in '04 because of a 'scream.' He was run out by the corporate media which was affraid of his message and how it would appeal to the masses.

Edwards exercised poor judgment in '08 which was sensationalized by the corporate media thus making him unelectable. Conservatives have the same moral lapses and are still in office and running for higher office. Why do we let them get away with the double standard?

Times have changed. The losing party, i.e., Republican Party, does not see its obligation as doing what is good for the country and coming together with the Democrats after the last election. They are too extreme!

The republicans are controlled by the far right mostly living in the southeast. They should be ignored as Obama moves the country forward. Do what you were elected to do. Bring us health care for all. End the wars. Reduce the country's dependence on foreign energy sources. Make college affordable for all.

If the Republicans want to join in the progress, welcome them. If they continue to obstruct progress, complete the mission you were elected to do and let the voters know who did the work for them.

LBJ succeeded because of his tenure in Congress.  He began in the House & then went to the Senate.  He knew, "where all the bodies were buried".  He was owed many favors & he called them in.  Obama does not have that tenure to fall back on.  Therefore I believe that is a good part of his problem. 

First off, I agree with the premise that what is surfacing on the right is all about racism, and that needs to be vigorously condemned.

Secondly, I agree with Bill Maher's balsy characterization of Obama, when he is in full speechifying mode, as a "Black Elvis." He is fully capable of putting his listeners in a trance, but really, really, when does he ever deliver?

I believe that Obama's entire psychology is fundamentally linked to racial issues that exist in our society and that have been internalized to the point of making him a virtual puppet and, in street jargon, an Oreo condemned even by the Black Progressive caucus. This psychology, as far as I know, has never been adequately explored.

So what exactly is meant by referring to Obama as an Oreo? ANd what do I mean by psychology?

It means that Obama's entire personality has been built around the desire to be perceived as a pleaser, and here we are talking about the White Power Structure, the capitalist credo on Wall Street, if not the imperialist credo associated with American neocolonialism. One could let him off the hook and accuse him of just being a "law professor," but I think it goes much deeper than that. Metaphorically speaking, this is a man who would prefer to vote "present" rather than taking a position. He is our Black Neville Chamberlain, and precisely because of the fact he is Black, the "Hitlers" he has conciliated are everywhere and there has been no end to his conciliations.

He is neither Martin Luther King nor Malcom X. For the very first time ever, someone of the stature of Bill Maher dared to attack Obaba not for being Black, but for being a Black flim-flam man entrenched in a course of conciliation with very evil powers. Frank Rich accurately suggested that Obama was "punking" his supporters (I found his use of prison-speech totally appropriate and very UN-racist). Obama's betrayals go hand in glove with his being a Black Oreo who simply cannot walk his talk no matter how hard he tries. They go together, and if Maher or Rich didn't say that overtly, I believe it was implied. Maher understood full well that we have "enabled" Obama precisely because he is a "Black Elvis."  He had, for a time, put us in a trance, and boy, we do like our trances. We, the Northern "liberals," simply love our "Black Elvis,' and there is no speech-maker better than Obama. It wasn't a racist utterance on Maher's part. It cut to the very core of things.

In the face of the widespread racism in our society, Obama had every reason to fear what Cheney and Bush might have tacitly (or overtly?) threatened prior to the inauguration. And so, Obama did the unthinkable. He bent over farther for these same individuals than most other candidates would have done--possibly, even including Hillary--and predicatble, he also bent over for Wall Street. Carter, who was also widely viewed  as a weak president, was at least a person of principle. Obama is a president who wears his "principles" on his sleeve, but I don't think they run very deep.

As a president, I think he is overcompensating and capitulating in ways that are unprecedented in my lifetime. Now, he says he "owns" the health plan, fallout and all. Mazel Tov. He also owns a jillion dollar bank bailout, Afghanistan and the betrayal of the majority of people who voted for him. I voted for Obama excepting a change. But now? Would you really want to buy a used car from this guy?

Let's cut the the BIG question that someone, somewhere should probably begin talking about at your level, Mark. And they should start talking about it soon. This is what is actually behind FOX News, Glenn Beck and the right wing march on Washington. There is a long-term political strategy at work here. To scold them for racism is not sufficient. This is the work of Karl Rove, or someone very much like him. It implements a strategic plan to use Obama's weaknesses against him. Moreover, it is working. Even as the wheels come off the Obama-machine, the wheels are coming off our democracy.

What's going to happen in 2012 when Obama's presidency is seen as totally failed, and when people seek strength in a leader? And they will, Mark. The country most likely will be in shambles on just about every level imaginable. As Jon Sterwart observed, Cheney would make one hell of a dictator. My guess is that it's coming, and it won't be despite Obama's behavior as president, but because of it.

Me, I would never vote Democratic again even if Obama ran against the Boogie Man. That wouldn't be cause of covert racism on my side, but quite possibly because of internalized racism--and the contemptible Oreo behavior that followed--on the part of Obama.

Sorry to be a one trick pony, but think Germany, 1932.

" White racists will not accept a black boy as their boss ". Or to put it another way: White racists cannot accept the fact that a black family moved into their neighborhood!

Geeze, all one need do is saunter into a lower-middle, working class bar in a white neighborhood or small town to feel the racism.

I can't begin to tell you how many bars in my neighborhood sport ersatz Confederate battle flags (they're rectangular, real CSA battle flags were square) on the walls as decoration.

I can't begin to tell you how many racist "jokes" I receive from friends who think "I'm just like them," i.e. a white, American (which I am) who thinks anyone on "welfare" is black, Latino and living high on the hog at hard-working white folks' expense. Most of the time I delete that kind of crap but about a week ago I received an unfunny, racist email "joke" that had as an originating email address that of an insurance agent's somewhere in Texas. In that case I replied to the originating email address, letting the insurance agent what I thought of his so-called "joke" and the State of Texas in general. 

ET Spoon

This is where your theory falls apart:

'Big money is going to use racist pawns to come after him anyway.'

Actually, "Big money" long ago bought Obama to use as their puppet president pawn boy. They don't care if Obama, Clinton or McCain was the president. They bought all three of them on the private campaign contribution auction block via the K Street lobbyist auctioneers.

This petty bickering is just a smoke screen to make it appear as if there is a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats when it comes to the matter of money.

They could care less about the wedge issues like race, abortion, gays, guns or god. Just so long as the money continues to flow from the U.S. Treasury and out of the pockets of the middle class, and into the pockets of the upper 1% plutocracy and their big business corporations.

So what is the difference between the Republican Neocon-Fascists and the Blue Dog DINO Democrats?

The Republicans got voted out of office and out of power over the past two election cycles. Next year, the Blue Dog Democrats will get voted out of office and out of power in their Democratic Primaries by real Democrats.

I predict a comeback from Howard Dean as the de facto leader of the progressive movement. He will lead the movement to oust the Blue Dogs in 2010, which will clear the way for his bid to oust Rahm Obama in 2012.

I'm surpised that this editorial neglects the critical contribution of LBJ to the civil rights movement.  If it weren't for his determination and skill at manipulationg a reluctant congress, the civil rights acts would not have been passed. I disagree with the assertion that "it was not a victory of Democrats..."  LBJ was was a Democrat ahead of his time in cajoling old-school party members into doing the right thing, even though he knew it meant losing the south to the Republicans.  Johnson should be Obama's role model in doing the same for health care reform.  No delays, no compromises.

scott kroken