Are we on the left guilty of racial stereotyping

[d-ray657]

Despite his somewhat reserved rhetoric, how many of us believed that Barak Obama was going to be the liberal champion that we wanted? He did not profess to being a liberal, always insisting that he was interested in the politics of the possible. Because he was a revolutionary to the extent that he shattered a racial barrier, did we believe he was also going to be a revolutionary in politics? Did we think that because Barak Obama is a black man that he must be willing to push the liberal agenda? It seems to me like some of the left might have been guilty of a little racial stereotyping of our own. What do you think?

Regards,

D-Ray

[Boreas]

I never really had any illusions about Obama. He was very clear in his positions throughout the campaign. For instance, his position on health care was to the right of Hillary's and on Afghanistan he was pretty close to the position of many Republicans.

It's clear that many of his supporters have become disenchanted with Obama because he isn't governing far enough to the left. They seem to believe that he is betraying the ideals he espoused during the campaign but I think it's more a matter of projecting their own beliefs and ideals onto Obama rather than assumptions about him based on race.

John

[noonereal]

He was way down on my list of Dem's I wanted to be President. It seems once I supported someone they were no long running. :rolleyes:

I am disappointed because he seems so ineffective so far.

[BlueStreak]

I'm not disappointed in him because I don't think he went left far enough, I'm disappointed because I think he hasn't lived up to the degree of transparency he promised. There seems to be more effort going on in this area lately, but it's lagging.
The GOP has already had the opportunity to exploit this fact to their advantage.
He didn't go far enough to explain why we need to do the things he promised, until (I fear) it was too late.

Although I thought it quite remarkable that a non-white* had won the Presidency, my decision to give him my vote had nothing to do with his being bi-racial*. He seemed intelligent, dignified and, well, I liked the things he said. The opposition just seemed to be throwing out the usual party line and smear tactics, and as I stated in another thread, "then Suzy Creamcheese showed up" and it was over for McCain, as far as I was concerned.

I can't speak for others, and I can see how many may have thought his being a "black man"* may have been an advantage, but I personally never thought that. I still think it doesn't matter what happens, all too many Americans declared him a miserable failure the day he was born, forget giving him credit for anything now. And any successes he tries to claim at the end of his term will be poo-pooed, ignored, or even counter-claimed by the right, regardless.

In summation, I would say;---------Maybe so, maybe not.

Does that help?

Regards,
Dave

*The whole "blackman" thing makes me nuts. It's a throwback to three hundred years ago, and the "one drop" rule.
It's insane. The guys mother was White, a caucasian. He is bi-racial. Or, to me----a human being. Call him what you like, but to me the "one drop" rule serves to do nothing but perpetuate the racism. Okay, I'll step down from my soapbox now.

[merrylander]

We were for Hillary until she got knocked off the list so we were in the position of stay home or vote for Obama. There was no way on God's green earth we could have even thought of voting McCain-Palin. We had hoped the Dem's could have got their s**t together on health care and at least have kept the public option. Would have preferred Single Payer but in a country where they see the socialist bogeyman under every bed there was fat chance of that. He was second choice but I'm pretty sure it had nowt to do with his race.

[Boreas]

He was way down on my list of Dem's I wanted to be President. It seems once I supported someone they were no long running. :rolleyes:

I am disappointed because he seems so ineffective so far.

He was second choice for me in the early going. My objection to Hillary was that she was too polarizing a figure. I honestly felt that the personal animosity people felt toward her would be more debilitating than that for a "black man".

Now, in a sense, I think I was wrong. Hillary is a polarizing figure mostly because the Right made her one with "Hillarycare", "Travelgate" and the whole "cast iron bitch"* meme. I now realize they would have done that sort of thing to any Democrat, no matter who it was. The politics of personal destruction works quite well for them.

I said Obama was my second choice and implied that I ranked him above Hillary. So, who was my first choice?

Edwards.

Elizabeth Edwards. ;)

John

*You say that like it's a bad thing.;)

[Fast_Eddie]

I'm *not* dissapointed in him. I'm very dissapointed in the Republicans who have very effectively blocked any real progress and I'm dissapointed but not surprised by Democrats in Congress who can't get organized enough.

Do I think Obama has done a perfect job? In hind sight, certainly not. But it's not over yet.

[BlueStreak]

I'm very dissapointed in the Republicans who have very effectively blocked any real progress and I'm dissapointed but not surprised by Democrats in Congress who can't get organized enough.




But, that's what they do, on both counts.

Republicans have shit ideas, but are well organized and resolute in advancing them. Blocking progress is their forte'.

Democrats have good ideas, but fu**'em up in the execution.

It's been that way for quite some time now, IMO.

Dave

[merrylander]

As Will Rogers said "I am not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

[noonereal]

But, that's what they do, on both counts.

Republicans have shit ideas, but are well organized and resolute in advancing them. Blocking progress is their forte'.

Democrats have good ideas, but fu**'em up in the execution.

It's been that way for quite some time now, IMO.

Dave

you nailed it

[piece-itpete]

D, you may be right, I know Morgan Freeman just ripped him a new one.

I won't rip him for being white black mulatto whatever, I don't care. It's the foreigner thing I care about :p

I'm still waiting for him to withdraw all troops from Iraq, he's got 4 months left! Right of Hillary indeed.

Pete

[Boreas]

I'm still waiting for him to withdraw all troops from Iraq, he's got 4 months left! Right of Hillary indeed.

Pete

Obama's and Hillary's campaign positions were pretty similar, by and large, but on health care he was to the right of her. If you doubt me, look at their respective campaign positions. Neither campaigned from the far left, more like center-left which is the way he's trying to govern.

As for Iraq, didn't he say in the SOTU that we'd have all the troops out by this coming August? I seem to remember August 2010 was always the deadline.

John

[piece-itpete]

In the primaries he said all troops out in 16 months, no matter what, to beat Hillary who was actually trying to seem practical, wise.

Care to bet on August? ;)

Pete

[finnbow]

My beef is entirely with ineffectiveness, race be damned. His approach of leaving his primary agenda item to Congress to iron out was ill-advised. Remembering the adage "A camel is a horse designed by committee," the resulting camel (health care bill) was an ugly creature indeed, both in terms of process and content. There are those on the left (e.g., Howard Dean) that now think that this abomination of a bill is worse than nothing at all.

I'll admit that part of Obama's appeal to me was that he was black and "moderate". I was hoping that his election and his admistration's successes would help narrow the race relations gap in this country. I may have bit a bit naïve in this regard.

[Boreas]

Care to bet on August? ;)

Pete

Of course not. We'll see though.

John

[Fast_Eddie]

Care to bet on August? ;)

I believe he will do exactly what he said he would do and combat troops will indeed be home or coming home by August. I further believe that the Republicans will lie about what he promised and point out that there are still support troops in Iraq and say he failed to follow through on his promise.

I will then come to politicalchat.org and say how evil they are for doing that when they would have all our troops stay for years longer and they are critical of Obama for actually getting the job done. Then they will say how he doesn't get anything done and everyone will be frustraited with him because, as we've seen, the Republicans sell their lies better than the Democrats sell the truth.

You can all tell me what an oracle I am when this all comes to pass...

[Boreas]

You can all tell me what an oracle I am when this all comes to pass...

Since I'm an oracle too, I'll congratulate you now. ;)

John

[piece-itpete]

He said ALL troops out in 16 months, pandering to Sheenan and MoveOn (and the somewhat dumb kid vote) to beat Hillary.

ALL usually means ALL. Bush was already 'bringing them home'.

Finn, I agree about letting Congress run the show. I knew I wouldn't agree with him, but from his campaign I expected a strong leader. Really.

Pete

[d-ray657]

I'm not suggesting at all that criticism of his performance is not justified, nor that it is based on race. I would suggest that those on the left who feel betrayed by Obama's moderate proposals might have expected a more liberal approach because of his racial trailblazing, but that expectation would not have been based on the actual proposals he made on the campaign trial.

Regards,

D-Ray

[merrylander]

You can't win, Hillary developed the whole plan at the WhiteHouse and it went down in flames. Obama left it to Congress to develop the plan and theirs was even worse. Let us all hope Churchill was right.

[BlueStreak]

Well, Churchill wasn't right about everything but, I believe he was right on the issue to which you refer, Rob.

[merrylander]

You and me both, Dave