Posts tagged: Politicians

The Real Story Behind “Obama’s Other Race Speech”

By , October 3, 2012 3:54 pm

It’s been a while since I’ve written in this space, but I haven’t stopped writing. I’ve been posting on my other blog about fatherhood, manhood and being a stay-at-home dad. But after watching last night’s big political bombshell that turned out to be a dud, I was compelled to write here.

Last night Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Daily Caller‘s Tucker Carlson were apoplectic about a 2007 video in which then-Sen. Barack Obama identified himself as black to a black audience with an “cadences,” an “accent” and “gestures” some blacks use.

Yes, world. Barack Obama is black. This is clearly shocking to some of you, but it shouldn’t be. He’s been open out his blackness for many years. He even wrote a bestselling book about it. The speech and all its blackness shouldn’t be a surprise either. “Obama’s Other Race Speech” – as Hannity and Carlson call it – was covered by numerous mainstream media outlets.

This tape “revelation” is a non-story, but the response by Hannity, the Daily Caller and others who are trying to make something out of nothing is a story.

First, the timing of all this is highly suspect.. and transparent: A five-year-old speech that had been reported and shown is then re-released 24 hours before the first presidential debate? It seems worried Romney supporters are trying to distract voters away from the Republican’s floundering campaign.

And look at what they’re using: Race. In a world without nuance – yes, a black and white world – anytime a progressive brings up race, it’s racism. In that world, calling out racism, is racism. (In the real world, though, talking about race isn’t necessarily racism. Using race as a way to oppress one group while giving another privileges is racism.) A black president who identifies with a black audience is a racist. Why? Because, in that world encased in a conservative bubble that’s immune to facts and reason, it stokes the fear that Obama will take stuff away from working-class white people and give it to poor lazy black people in the form of welfare. It’s the same world where Obama is a secret muslim who wasn’t born in the United States. It’s a world that seeks to delegitimize his presidency by saying he’s not an American.

So, given the GOP’s history of using racism in campaigns, to this year’s race-baiting by Newt Gingrich and even Romney himself, it shouldn’t be news that a tape like this “surfaced.”

In August, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said about the GOP: “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” Making something out of nothing from this tape is an attempt to get a few more angry white guys to vote for Romeny.

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Why Revisit The Jeremiah Wright Controversy? Look At The Census Numbers

By , May 18, 2012 11:44 pm

The big political news on Thursday was that Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his controversial sermons that dogged Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign were going to make a comeback.

In case you missed it, the New York Times reported a super PAC called the Ending Spending Action Fund – a separate entity from Mitt Romney’s campaign and working independently from them – was thinking about making Wright’s statements a campaign issue after this year’s Democratic National Convention. This didn’t come from a group of people brainstorming or having an extended spit-balling session. They were going to use racial divisiveness and fear to win votes.

From the New York Times:

The plan, which is awaiting approval, calls for running commercials linking Mr. Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose race-related sermons made him a highly charged figure in the 2008 campaign.

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.

The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”

After the plan was made public on Thursday, Mitt Romney repudiated it and a spokesperson for Ricketts said the billionaire rejects “that approach to politics.” So, it doesn’t look like that proposal will be executed. But why would a group of people write up a 54-page proposal and consider spending $10 million to stir up fear of black people? Why would they re-hash Rev. Wright’s sermons and try again to tie them to President Obama, who the Ricketts plan said deceived America into thinking he was a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln?”
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News & Opinion 1-20-12

By , January 20, 2012 4:15 pm

I haven’t done one of these general News & Opinion links in a while. I came across some interesting stories this week, so I thought I’d share them.

Mitt Romney debates Martin Luther King, Jr. Romney doesn’t fare too well.

Before he dropped out of the presidential race, Rick Perry said at a debate that South Carolina is at war with the federal government. [Huffington Post] Since that wasn’t the first time Perry alluded to secession (for those who forgot, South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union at the start the Civil War), shouldn’t he be considered un-American?

Whether or not Jay-Z will stop using the word bitch in his music, would he need to do more? [Guardian] By the way, will he stop using “nigger,” too?

Administrators at a Utah high school reject the use of a cougar as its mascot because of the word’s meaning. Not the mountain lion definition, but the other “derogatory” definition. [SportsGrid]

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Rick Santorum’s Outrage And Snobbery

By , January 10, 2012 4:01 pm

After being the GOP’s latest (and for him, best-timed) flavor of the month, Iowa Caucus co-winner Rick Santorum told a group of New Hampshire voters that it’s “snobbery” for President Obama to think he knows “how to run our lives” and say that everyone should go to college. Speaking at St. Anselm College (the irony!), Santorum said he was “outraged” at “the hubris of this president to think that he knows what’s best for you.”

I agree with Santorum that college isn’t for everyone and someone certainly doesn’t need to finish college to be personally successful or influential in high-tech fields. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the best examples of that. Not everyone is going to be a Zuckerberg or a Gates, though.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess Obama wasn’t suggesting a federal mandate stating every person is required to go to college. I’m sure he meant that everyone should have the opportunity - the freedom! – to go college, if they choose.

So, while college isn’t for everyone, Obama is correct in suggesting that it’s a good thing and makes life better. Here are three reasons why:

Continue reading 'Rick Santorum’s Outrage And Snobbery'»

Now Rick Santorum Wants Us To Know He Hunts

By , December 27, 2011 10:53 pm

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the video of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum campaigning at an Iowa brewery where he talked an awful lot about the beers he likes and dislikes. Because he seemed like he was showing off his beer knowledge to prove what a down-to-earth and tough guy he is, I joked, “Maybe he’ll be the first candidate to have a photo-op on a hunting trip.”

The video below isn’t a photo-op, but with just a week and a day from that interview to the Iowa Caucuses, Santorum spent a lot of air-time on Fox News talking about pheasant kills.

After beer and guns, is there anything else he needs to say to prove he’s a manly man, and therefore, fit to be the president?

See the video from Mediaite.

UPDATE: It turns out there is video of the hunting trip. Sad for Santorum, though, as The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur points out, the hunting party doesn’t get him the endorsement he wants.

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Hunstman Questions Trump’s Cojones

By , December 16, 2011 11:00 am

Jon Huntsman appeared on “The View” this Tuesday a few hours before Donald Trump pulled out of hosting a Republican debate because of lack of interest. Huntsman rightfully asserted that if Trump wants to influence the presidential race, the real estate tycoon and shameless self-promoter should get in the race and not influence it from the sidelines. While doing it, he questioned if he has the cojones to run. (“The View” muted him, so you’ll have to read his lips.)

Video from The Daily Beast.

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Rick Santorum Loves Beer, And Wants Us To Know It

By , December 15, 2011 12:43 pm

Rick Santorum made a campaign stop at the Millstream Brewery in Iowa last weekend. He talks at length at the different kinds of beer he likes, which isn’t a problem. I like beer as much as the next guy. It’s his last line that stands out: ”I don’t do wine tasting. I do beer tasting,” No wimpy wine tastings for him. Maybe he’ll be the first candidate to have a photo-op on a hunting trip.

Here’s the video:

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H/t: Huffington Post

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Man Up For The 2012 Election

By , November 29, 2011 2:02 pm

Before Herman Cain was accused of sexual harassment, and before the allegation of a 13-year affair came to light, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO gave an interview to GQ magazine. Actually, it was more of a pizza party in which they talked about things like Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan over slices. But they talked about pizzas, too. Here’s a bit of it:

[GQ Correspondent] Chris Heath: What can you tell about a man by the type of pizza that he likes?

Herman Cain: [repeats the question aloud, then pauses for a long moment] The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe the more manly he is.

Chris Heath: Why is that?

Herman Cain: Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance. [laughs]

[GQ Senior Editor] Devin Gordon: Is that purely a meat question?

Herman Cain: A manly man don’t want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza.

Another GOP candidate touted their manliness as a qualification for office on Nov. 16.

From CNN.com:

“If we want to change this country up…I’m your man,” [GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele] Bachmann said in Webster City, Iowa, on Wednesday. “When people think of the president, they think of who is that individual. And I’m willing to ‘man up,’ so to speak, for the job and do what needs to be done… I’m a very strong woman.”

So, it’s started. The candidates are beginning to man up for the election.

All of this may be moot. Bachmann has been down in the polls for weeks, and Cain may drop out by the end of the week. But these probably won’t be the last flexing their manly muscles. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t matter if the candidate is a man or woman. For some, manliness is a qualification for office.

Which of the pizzas served at the GQ interview did Cain like the most? It shouldn’t be a surprise: “The man pizza!” he said. “The manly pizza! That was great.”

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Strong Politicians

By , October 5, 2011 12:26 am

Vladimir Putin apparently has two jobs: Prime Minister and Action Man.

That second title is what The Atlantic recently called him. They posted 32 pictures of Putin doing many manly things: He’s a race car driver, shirtless hunter and a martial artist. He also dives for treasure, rides with leather- and tattoo-clad “motorcycle enthusiasts” and is a concert pianist. (So, he’s cultured, too.)

As much swagger Americans like our elected officials to have, I’m glad our politicians don’t go to the extremes of Putin. The worst American equivalent in recent memory would be Bush’s “Mission: Accomplished” carrier landing in full Top Gun flight gear. If there was a photo of Rick Perry jogging with his Ruger .380 pistol, that would probably be a close second.

Yes, politics is a lot of theater, but there’s an easy way for every politician to prove they are tough, strong and worthy of their position:

Keep their word and do their job.

UPDATE: Theater, by definition, is staged. Turns out Putin’s treasure diving trip was staged, too.

H/t: Art Of Manliness

Photo credit: Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images via The Atlantic

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Pledging Is All The Rage

By , July 11, 2011 8:17 am

This is a guest post by Rich Perkin.

Moving to America when I was fifteen, I started to encounter something I’d never seen in England.

Pledges.

There is something so American about pledges. The Pledge of Allegiance in class every morning that my teacher and I got into a fight about. Chastity pledges that kids would make in high school. The pledges one makes to join the fraternity or sorority that they’ve decided will be their social guide through university. But until recently, they seemed to be something that happened in our youth. How many people take the Pledge of Allegiance on a regular basis? How many people pledge anything once they leave university, and hope that the pictures of them doing a keg stand with a Portuguese pot-bellied pig never surface?

Until, apparently, you become a politician.

Now, pledging is all the rage. There’s a pledge against new taxes. There’s a Marriage Vow pledging to fight gay marriage, “quickie divorce” and “all forms of pornography.” I’m curious to see if any more pledges come out before the end of this election, and I hope they get even crazier than the porn one. We might as well have our elected officials pledging not to drink whisky while driving backwards through the Mall of America—that’s something I could really get behind.

As far as I can tell, there’s only one pledge our elected officials should be taking. They should be pledging to represent the American people, the people who elected them. And yet by pledging not to raise taxes, they’re actually going counter to the wishes of a majority of the electorate. By pledging to oppose gay marriage, they’re going against a steadily increasing majority of the electorate. By making a pledge against porn, they’re going against approximately 100% of the electorate.

When we elect someone to Congress, we’re choosing that person to be our spokesperson. We’re giving them the privilege of speaking for us, our beliefs. That’s why women fought for suffrage at the beginning of this century. That’s why African-Americans fought for civil rights more recently.  They wanted representation, a fair say, to be a part of this country. What did they fight for, and will we all have to start fighting, when our Congress members start ignoring the oaths they took when they entered office and start signing pledges that are in no way representative of the people they serve?

There’s only one pledge I’m interested in any of them taking:

“I pledge, during my time in office, and beyond, to fully represent the desires and will of the people who have granted me the privilege of representing them in the United States Government.”

Rich is the executive producer and co-founder of the British National Theatre of America. You can follow him on his blog and on Twitter.

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