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For Obama, Republican-orchestrated Racial Minefields Ahead.
Having strenuously and painstakingly attempted to run an above-race ( some have called it post-racial ) campaign which nearly succeeded before the Clintons decidedly embarked on a systematic racialization of the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama is fully cognizant of the onerous task that lies ahead as the Republicans sharpen their knives for an overkill premised on their need to highlight Obama's racial identity as a black man. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has thus become their most valued weapon toward the achievement of that fundamental goal. Moreover, the "Muslim" label often tagged on Obama by Republican fringe groups on behalf of John McCain is all designed to construe to the often gullible and malleable electorate a co-ordinated message carefully caliberated to encapsulate an exotic and unAmerican imagery. Hence they are using Wright for no other reason than to remind voters that Obama is black. Obama's wife is being subjected to similar attacks on a daily basis and for the same reasons. This is part and parcel of their overall racist strategy congenial to their political culture. This is race-baiting of the first order the Republican and their conservative allies are accustomed to. These are the same elements with a history of vigorous opposition to the civil rights. They will not rest until Obama has been effectively disabled politically and rendered utterly unelectable.
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Comments (8)
How is pointing out that only a President can sign a bill into law "systematic racialization" ? Alternatively, if it doesn't take a President to get things done, why is Obama running?
June 13, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saying "Obama wouldn't be where is today if he weren't a black man", or the Jessie Jackson/SC comments or the "hard working white voters" statements are (but a few) examples racialization by Camp Hillary. These examples happened across a timeframe (pre-SC to post-WV) that makes the racialization appear to be systemic.
WTF are you talking about?
June 13, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saying "Obama wouldn't be where is today if he weren't a black man"...
...is a true statement. As was the statement that JJ won SC twice. The truth always seems to be the enemy of the Obama campaign. That should tell you something...but likely won't.
June 13, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The first statement is an assertion, the second is factual but devoid of either context or meaning.
Back to school for you...
June 13, 2008 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
They will try. They will fail. You see how well it worked in the primary.
June 13, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why in the world you would want to continue to fight the primary battle is beyond me. Its incredibly stupid to throw stones at Hillary. Its like flame bait. Obama started the racialization of this campaign when he sent Jesse Jackson Jr. out to attack Hillary.
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/01/09/jackson/index.html
That's not the only time he used Jackson to stir up racial animosity to move African Americans to his side.
Look, I've stopped attacking Obama because he is now the democratic nominee. Not that there hasn't been a lot that's happened since Hillary conceded to attack him over. For one, his ignorant endorsement of an undivided Jerusalem as capital of Israel just shows his inexperience and lack of depth in understanding international relations. Its another "without preconditions" moment.
Obama is no fool, he just hasn't studied international relations very deeply. Its sad that a presidential nominee didn't spot a pitfall that a rank amateur like myself did. Generally I prefer a president who knows considerably more than I do about foreign policy not less. Hopefully if he gets elected he'll have educated people to explain these things to him before he makes similar mistakes in negotiations when it will not be so easy to take back his words and will do real damage.
At any rate supporting Obama will not come easy for me. But I can keep my mouth shut and not attack him. If you have any interest in having an undivided party I suggest you do the same and stop attacking Hillary with your ignorant bullshit.
June 13, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Why are we still fighting? Ah yes, because things were so much more lively around here when we were fighting with each other. 99% of us here would vote for a mozzarella stick over McCain, so a lot of the passion has been sucked out of the debate. I confess that I want to pick an intellectual fight, but not over something that is clearly over. Maybe I'll make my case against hybrids or something. Let's get brainstorming oceankat, so we can get people pissed again. It's what we need.
June 13, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that the 'wouldn't be where he is today if he weren't a black man' is in fact an assertion that shouldn't have been made because he isn't a black man at all. He's a racially mixed man that is claiming black status because he married a black woman and made a decision to identify with the black community.
That you say the second statement is 'devoid of either context or meaning' is to say that you have little or no knowledge base to work from.
You have my sympathy.
June 14, 2008 2:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
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