Othering Obama
This sounds about right to me:
On the low road, Obama's black and foreign. On the middle road, he's unpatriotic. And on the high-road he's one of those post-American tranzies. Which is, of course, a fancy way of saying he's black and foreign. And thus the loop is closed.I kind of like Obama's "Otherness," although I can see the problem the GOP would have with it.
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We Irish do take a lot of getting used to but O'bama really isn't all that much Irish when you get right down to it.
Admittedly he is not bad at a bit of blarney and his humor does show through at times.
There are worse. Most of us.
Best, Terry
February 24, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here you go. Senator Obama does how have some Irish roots.
Not wanting to be left behind, Ireland claims there's a bit of Irish blood in Obama as well. New records reportedly show Obama's great-great-great grandfather from his mother's side was Falmouth Kearney, a well-to-do shoemaker from Moneygall, County Offaly. A local Irish radio station reported that Kearney left for New York in 1850 at the age of 19.
February 24, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's uncanny, the New York Times has a bizarre twist related to the Irish heritage and black meme right on its front page today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/world/europe/25ireland.html
February 25, 2008 7:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, artappraiser.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Beautiful.
Now America too will soon have a real Irishman as president no matter what he thinks he is. LOL!
Best, Terry
February 25, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, they'll try it. It won't work on the 60% of Americans who aren't already drinking their koolaid. America is too diverse now to put up with that kind of nativism. It might not even work on Michelle Malkin.
Give more to Obama, and more to the DCCC. Let's squash the GOP flat this November.
February 24, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like to see more of Obama's "otherness" because I think that's an aspect of him I would like. What I see too much of is the Oprah side, the Hallmark rhetoric side. The thoroughly mainstream side. If people can show me that Obama's a little punk rock, I'd be much happier about the way things are going.
February 24, 2008 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which candidate have you been backing, and please provide an example of that candidate's punk rock stylings.
February 24, 2008 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary
Punk rock creds: She will totally stomp you if you get in her way. Totally.
Proof: She was the first to point out that a "vast right wing conspiracy" actually exists when everyone else was either too polite, or too afraid, to say so. That's punk rock.
But, Liam... the important point here is that you need to lighten up, lad.
February 24, 2008 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is a common or garden variety MCP.
February 24, 2008 8:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. I'd never heard of tranzies until today, so I clicked through some of the links. Turns out some dude at the Hudson Institute composed a whole strawman ideology called "Transnational Progressivism."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnational_progressivism
It's kind of an amalgam of affirmative action, identity politics, political correctness, Marxism and the politics of victimhood, imposed by "postdemocratic" institutions like the UN and the EU and abetted by the NAACP, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a couple of college professors quoted out of context.
The tranzies' goals include installing gays into the military, destroying Israel, securing equal wages for women, eliminating free speech and paying reparations for slavery.
It's impossible to read this nonsense without wondering aloud, "Who ARE these people and who do they imagine to believe this stuff?" However, Stephen DenBeste thinks it's one of the most profound things he's ever heard.
http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/08/Transnationalprogressivis.shtml
http://denbeste.nu/external/Fonte01.html
Enough said.
February 24, 2008 8:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Microsoft Certified Professional?
Male Chauvinist Pig?
MCP is an acronym for lots of things.
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/MCP
February 24, 2008 11:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Male Candidate Punk?
February 25, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
:D
C'mon, it's Multi-Cultural Person, er? Right?
February 25, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's just like me except he's smarter, has a better tan and jumpshot from what I hear.
OTH McCain, like me comes from a family with a long military history, is white, and we both have Irish surnames. Our differences start with the fact that I'm not insane or a Republican which these days I think are symptoms of the same disease.
February 25, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Othering is clearly becoming the Republican strategy to try and dismantle Obama since the inexperience label didn't seem to work for HRC. The Economist last two articles have tried to question his American-ness and patriotism. Bill Kristol's NYT opinion piece today is following the same line. Obama is arrogant and a foreigner. His wife hates America. Sure he is inspiring and clever but he isn't one of us. Vote for McCain, he is on our side. Vote for familiarity over talent. This argument is easier to make because Obama is black the right needs to remind American's that they don't trust blacks. The right needs to remind America that blacks hate America.
Oddly however, Obama is a true blue American dream story. He is exactly what the American dream is about.
I think Obama should give a great speech about patriotism and what it means to be an American. I think Obama should give a speech about loving America and being critical of it's leadership. Many democrats who love America, particularly hated how the Bushies blocked all criticsm as unpatriotic. Obama should directly address that. He would subtly defend his wife and diminish McCain and the war enablers at the same time.
I think he also should tell his own story from start to finish. He should explain clearly to Americans why he wants to preside over a country he loves.
He might wait until after 3/4 to see if this Republican line gets wings and make sure HRC is no longer an issue, but he needs to counter the otherness label clearly.
As for me, I love America. I just hate the Republicans who (presently) rule it.
February 25, 2008 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right on, I share your view.
February 26, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink