Refuting M. J. Rosenberg: George W. Bush Had Nothing To Do With It
TPM Cafe's M. J. Rosenberg blogged the other day that (in essence) were it not for George W. Bush, Americans might not have elected Barack Obama. Rosenberg wrote, unconvincingly, that "Would America have elected Barack Obama if white Americans had not gotten accustomed to seeing (in succession) two African-American Secretaries of State? I don't think so." I'll let you find the gratuitous and insulting mention of Tiger Woods in his original post.
Rosenberg went on to posit some Pollyanna BS about Bush: Fact is, "W" never gave any evidence of holding racist attitudes."
But in his very next sentence, Rosenberg contradicts himself, contorting more than a Chinese gymnast: "I'm not talking about his programs which, to put it mildly, did not help African-Americans unless they were in the upper tax brackets. I'm talking about old fashioned racism -- or even just the slur the occasionally slips out of the mouth of even our most liberal leaders."
But if the ridiculousness of that statement does not have you rolling on the floor busting a gut, Rosenberg adds this: "Same with Arabs and Muslims. I'm not talking about Guantanamo. That is an ugly policy, but it's policy. But Bush, after 9/11, never resorted to anti-Arab or Muslim stereotypes. He drew distinctions between terrorists and Arabs, unlike this year's GOP campaign. He was the first President to celebrate Muslim holy days, both at the White House and in a Mosque. Had he not done these things, Arabs and Muslims might have experienced not just hate crimes but pogroms."
But in all seriousness, where does one begin to refute this nonsense? First let's eliminate the notion of some distinctions between "old-fashioned" racism and the newfangled stuff being trotted out. They are one and the same. As I have said in this forum time and time again, one need not come dressed in white sheets or spout the N-word at every turn to be racist.
The most obvious of Bush's shortcomings on that front is his administration's failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina. The Bush administration participated in a hurricane simulation where New Orleans was the target of a Cat 5 storm. Shortly thereafter, the real hurricane appeared, barreling towards New Orleans. You know the rest of the story. But what is telling is Bush's delay in responding to the disaster that he knew was coming, and the continuing failure of Bush's administration to restore New Orleans -- Mayor Ray Nagin's "Chocolate City" -- back to it's chocolatey goodness. That is not just the ineptitude of FEMA and other government agencies. Just how long would you tolerate being an exile and refugee from your home city?
But let's look at some of the other policies of the Bush administration, like going to the Supreme Court and arguing against the voluntary programs put forth by school districts in Seattle, WA and Jefferson County, KY to insure their schools remain desegregated. And supporting a ballot initiative in Michigan to remove affirmative action in higher education and state government hiring. And if Rosenberg wants to argue that Powell and Rice are evidence of the goodness of the President's heart, please note: both Powell and Rice -- products of affirmative action, Brown v. Topeka BOE and the whole of the civil rights movement -- both urged the President to support affirmative action and oppose the ballot initiative. He did not listen to either of these supposedly "influential" and well-placed African Americans.
Never mind that Bush also sent his Secretaries out to promote his unilateral invasion and occupation of a sovereign country. Which brings us to the Rosenberg's "Arabs and Muslims." And we do need to talk about Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib and all of the rest of the sordid handling of the post-9/11 world. To ignore the Bush administration's rounding up and detaining -- without habeas corpus or any other rights and protections offered by the Constitution -- citizens of other nations, citizens of our allies, and our citizens without access to legal counsel, without warrants, without access to family or even the Red Cross, simply because they are of Middle Eastern heritage. What about those no-fly lists that prevent persons with Middle Eastern sounding names from boarding planes for no other reason than their name? What about racial profiling of tourists taking pictures of New York skyline because they are from the Middle East -- or just look like they are? What about the renditioning (the capturing and spiriting away to foreign countries who are willing to dirty their hands with the job of "harshly interrogating" and torturing) these unsuspecting people? Yeah, M.J., that's not racist at all.
Bush didn't pull a Trent Lott, or a Strom Thurmond or a Jesse Helms -- saying out loud the totally outrageous but genuinely heartfelt sentiments of the racism they believe(d) in. He didn't need to. He put his beliefs in action. Why fix inner city schools when you can pass out coupons, er, "school vouchers" to promote school choice and charter schools -- another way to encourage "white flight" from public schools. We could spend all day arguing No Child Left Behind.
We can talk about mandatory minimums in federal sentencing guidelines. We can talk about the disparity in sentencing white abusers of cocaine and black abusers of crack. We can talk about illegal immigration enforcement and restrictions in legal immigration from countries of color.
The reality is George W. Bush did far more to limit diversity in government and everyday life -- which is what leads to people of color participating in the electoral process -- than he did to encourage it. It was George Bush who benefitted from the Karl Rove-designed strategies that purged black voters from eligibility lists in Florida and Ohio and other GOP strongholds. It was during the eight years of the Bush Administration that black participation in the GOP dropped so low that of the 1538 delegates attending the convention in St. Paul this year, only 32 were black. Yeah, that really paves the way for black President.
The facts in evidence are that George W. Bush may have never been caught saying n***** on a hot mic, but he has done everything in his power to maintain and enhance the racist ideas and attitudes of his party.
And to add to your argument: the complete corruption of the Civil Rights Division of the Bush era Dept of Justice, was accomplished under Bush's watch. This group of career professionals and political appointees was thoroughly demoralized under the Bush administration and suffered seeing its primary purpose turned on its head. Schlozman and Spakovsky, two names to remember and lay on Bush's doorstep.
From the Huffington post:
"One person who has been subpoenaed before the grand jury, sources said, was Hans von Spakovsky, who as a former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights was a top aide to Schlozman. An attempt to reach Spakovsky for comment for this story was unsuccessful.
Earlier this year, Spakovsky withdrew his name from nomination by President Bush to serve on the Federal Election Commission after repeatedly claiming a faulty memory or citing the attorney-client privilege to fend off questions from senators about allegedly using his position to restrict voting rights for minorities -- and that he hindered an investigation of Republican officeholders in Minnesota accused of discriminating against Native American voters."
The list of republican misdeeds as they became a monoracial special interest nativist group under Bush is long.
November 7, 2008 11:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
M. J., I am a big fan of yours. Ordinarily you are right effing on. But on this observation you, uh, strayed from your usual path of common sense. Barack Obama is an incredible anomaly. He is half-white, but there is more. He was not raised in the hot-house African-American culture that tends to be anti-intellectual and insists that everything is the fault of whites that we find in many American cities. He was raised in Hawaii where I was a reporter for the daily newspapers when I was a young man. After work we used to adjourn to a newspaper bar called the Columbia Inn where we sat around a round table--reporters and editors who were an ethnic stew: Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and haoles like me. We laughed at our stereotypes and we got alone. The Chinese were held to be cheap. The Japanese rules-obeying bureaucrats. And we haoles? Well, we were thought to be maybe a little slow off the mark. African-Americans were rare yes, but Obama couldn't help but benefit in growing up the way he did. As they got to know him, the American voters understood that he was no resentful black; he was what he comes off as, a cool, thoughtful, intellectual politician who genuinely gives a damn, somebody they can trust. THAT was why people voted for him, not because of anything having to do with Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice.
November 8, 2008 7:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
"hot-house African-American culture that tends to be anti-intellectual and insists that everything is the fault of whites that we find in many American cities" I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. statement you just made. "A resentful black" is in and of itself a STEREOTYPE and a moronic one at taht. How about you keep your bullshit to yourself and don't comment on things you know nothing about when it comes to the African American community. Watching too much BET gives people a false impression of at least MY African American community.
November 8, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I saw Bush on TV during his first term, he was being introduced by an AA gentleman at some function to give a speech.
http://www.counterbias.com/news001.html
He rubbed the mans head, which was interpeted by some to indicate an old racist practice. I always saw every thing Bush did as sending messages to his base so I tend to believe it.
November 8, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bush rubs every bald head he's near.
November 8, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Simply amazing as well as hilarious! (You can learn something new every day from Ellen. :-))
I have wondered at times on Barbara Bush's secret thoughts about her motherhooding experiences, i.e., how is it that the one with class clown sensibilities got to be president and the serious ones didn't?
November 8, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only in America.
November 8, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jade,
I think it's a good thing I never read the original column. Normally I would. After reading yours, I am going to protect my stress level and the health consequences of getting to a boiling point. I salute you for refuting it.
Something I think has been missing from the discussion on what has influenced America to accept an AA for president.
How about the AA president of "24" the first few seasons? Compared to his family situations, Obama was perfect.
Anybody remember the show on a woman vice president becoming president? I can't even remember how long it didn't last.
My recollection of an analysis on whether the entertainment business reflects trends already out there, or pushes society to accept new concepts, was that it only goes with ideas that are accepted enough to make money. So most Americans then were already able to think of an AA president back then ('02?), and the character helped the concept increase.
There is an essay at TNR today [ http://www.tnr.com/currentissue/story.html?id=1945c380-a40f-44dd-b8d2-5f95e7017263] where the editor, Leon Weiseltier, wrote about the revelry Tuesday in DC. He really nailed one concept for me in the second paragraph. I believe a lot of whites have been really angry about the way racism had continued to function in this country. That when that many people are not allowed to be the best they can be, we all lose. Big Time.
Bush was for me the ultimate example of that. He had a very integrated administration, including Hispanics. What was visible was correct. Everything else was behind closed doors and heavily curtained windows. Slid into budget cuts and program changes with justification that was too slimey to touch.
As someone pointed out above. NOLA?
November 8, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink