Fri, 03/14/2008 - 4:35pm — vastleft
Mickey Kaus at Slate notes that Andrew Sullivan preceded Geraldine Ferraro's scurrilous racial comments by several months.
Kaus cites many of the inflammatory, racially-charged phrases Sullivan used in a piece from the Atlantic that can't help but remind one of the most repugnant moments of The Birth of a Nation:
If one of the "foremost" things Obama offers voters is the "face of a brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia, etc." doesn't that mean "he would not be in this position if he were white"? If you like Obama because he might "rebrand" America to the world--well, he wouldn't accomplish that simply by having his election televised, as Sullivan suggests he would, if he were white, would he?
Is Hillary going to stand by idly while Sullivan fuels her agenda of race-baiting, or will she speak out against Grand Wizard Andy?
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You're leaving out a critical point, VL
One of the Obama Rules is that if the Boyz on the Blogs talk about Obama's "brown skin" it's OK. But if an older white woman does, it's not OK. Especially if she supports Hillary. See how simple it all is?
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Damn, I need that rule book!
And fast!
Exactly!
Andy gets to praise Obama on the terms of his color, ethnicity, middle name, and so-called global Muslim appeal and yet when former Senator Bob Kerrey also praised Obama on those same terms it was yet another episode of Clinton race-baiting.
Praising Obama as Andy has is, indeed, racist: presenting Obama as a superhuman who will cure our ills is profoundly dehumanizing, which will only lead to resentment; and believing people of color or Muslims will all of a suddenly realize how great America is because they see a president of color who spent his early years in a Muslim country is not only foolish* but also beyond patronizing (especially when Obama himself continues to push the idea that being Muslim is itself a smear).
*Anyone who has ever lived abroad realizes that an American is an American is an American. Period.
there's been patronizing and reductive stuff
from all of his supporters, i've found--and because he himself has run on his biography and life and heritage -- instead of his experience or devotion to specific issues or the specific needs of Americans, i think he's encouraged it, which is sad.
His explicit and stated desire to be seen as "postracial" has been hurt by his own supporters just as much as by his opponents.
Andrew Sullivan is supporting Obama
What is the point of this post??? Sullivan is supporting Obama? It is nonsensical?
Someone forgot to learn the Obama Rules
1. Obama supporters may make any and all extravagant claims about the transformative significance of his ethnicity.
2. Anyone else who broaches this topic, even if they make precisely the same points, becomes an instant dishonorary member of the KKK.
Mickey Kaus and I were indulging in a fantasy world where these rules didn't apply.