Deconstructing the "Whup Ass" -Victor Davis Hanson: Obama & Jones’ lucrative anti-capitalist careers

pajamasmedia.com ^ | September 8, 2009 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Tolik]

Lots of good comments, as always, following the article at the pajamasmedia.com

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index:

Once Upon a Time... Whatever happened to the old Barack Obama?

The Second World War — 70 Years Later

From Preparedness to Appeasement

What We Are Learning About the Era of Obama

War — What War? We have public confusion about both wars: Iraq and Afghanistan

Obama and "Redistributive Change". His real agenda

Obama vs. Obama "The fault, dear Barack, is not in our stars, But in ourselves"

The Strange Case of the Obama Meltdown

The Obama Administration : What Went Wrong

Our Road to Oceania

When America Will Become Europe. Thoughts of Our European Future to Come

Bullying Israel-only country with which the U.S. has worse relations since Obama took office

Prairie-Fire Anger. Why Are People in Revolt?

Obama's Great Race to Change America

Obama’s Path Not Taken. What Might Have Happened

On Shearing Sheep (relentless hostility to small business)

The War Against the Producers

A Thug’s Primer - How to win liberal friends and oppress your people

What Do these First Six Months Mean? Where Are We Going?

The New Orwellianism

Our Historically Challenged President. A list of distortions

I No Longer Quite Believe ... [Victor Davis Hanson on Orwellian media & science, race relations]

The Reckoning. Obama Versus the Way of the Universe

President Palin’s First 100 Days. Imagine if Sarah Palin had Obama’s record

Confessions of a Contrarian [deconstructing Obama, the Left and more]

Thoughts About Depressed Americans

Bush Did It. What a difference an election makes [Brilliant Parody]

Our Battered American [gets angrier - Must Read Rant]

Just a partial list. Much more at the link:  http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index

[Tolik]

 

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Links:   

FR Index of his articles:	http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index
NRO archive:	http://author.nationalreview.com/?q=MjI1MQ==
Pajamasmedia:	http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/
His website:	http://victorhanson.com/

[listenhillary]

Rather the mood is weariness.

I long for the days when I didn't wake up and wonder "What constitutional right will they try to erase today?"

[driftless2]

One of the main lies told during Obama’s prez campaign was that all the old radicalism and associating with leftist nuts was a thing of the past. When elected he would be mainstream and seek advice from conservatives as well as liberals. So he gets elected and what does he do: he appoints an endless stream of leftist wackos and assorted weirdos. I thought this guy was supposed to be so politcally adept. Instead he’s doing everything those nasty conservatives said he was going to do. In short, he’s being himself. The real Barack Obama is himself a leftist nut.

[Senator Goldwater]

"Van Jones can do his “whup ass” through corporate benefactions, but not on Joe Sixpack’s weekly tax deductions. At least I think that is what the controversy is all about. Had Jones been white, Asian, or Hispanic, and in his many diatribes just substituted the word “black” when he employed “white”, and replaced “Bush” with “Obama,” then the Left would really have conducted a smear campaign. But such are the times we live in, that a Jones feels he can abuse the public discourse and insult the intelligence of the public, confident that when called on it, the refuge of “racist”! is always there."

This is quality commentary.

[Senator Goldwater]

"One of the main lies told during Obama’s prez campaign was that all the old radicalism and associating with leftist nuts was a thing of the past. When elected he would be mainstream and seek advice from conservatives as well as liberals. So he gets elected and what does he do: he appoints an endless stream of leftist wackos and assorted weirdos. I thought this guy was supposed to be so politcally adept. Instead he’s doing everything those nasty conservatives said he was going to do. In short, he’s being himself. The real Barack Obama is himself a leftist nut."

I'm having this laminated.

[PGalt]

OUTSTANDING article by VDH! Thanks for posting.

Inspecting the con-game of these chameleon-like neo-marxists and their enablers.

“Everything about socialism is sham and affectation” - 23.11 Evil “Economic Harmonies” - Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

[ClearCase_guy]

the refuge of “racist”! is always there.

We've got to change that. Personally, I recognize black racism as an ongoing problem. But I laugh at anyone who suggests that white racism is a problem worth talking about. It isn't. I don't tolerate anyone who wants to make race a big deal.

[Rummyfan]

...and they can do all this in the classical delusion that one who creates inauthentic identities at opportune times, will not himself finally be disbelieved by all. In short, I think Obama has become Geraldo at month nine of his four-year term.

Wow!

[Dudoight]

Does anyone know if Van Jones passed the bar in any state? He may have gone to law school, but is he an attorney?

[Dudoight]

I have done a google and it seems no one can find evidence that he passed the bar anywhere.

So much for Howard Dean’s comment that Jones is ‘brilliant’ and a grad from Yale Law School....I understand Yale Law School does not give grades to their students.

So much for ‘brilliant’.

[wizr]

Thanks for your ongoing service to truth.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I’ll bet you are correct (about him not passing the bar)...which is why he turned to the lucrative business of racial and radical opportunism.

[bcsco]

...and they can do all this in the classical delusion that one who creates inauthentic identities at opportune times, will not himself finally be disbelieved by all. In short, I think Obama has become Geraldo at month nine of his four-year term.

Lest we forget Geraldo's vaulted leap to irrelevance...

[bobsatwork]

See this footnote to VDH's piece: - *Here is Jones on his Yale Law education, a version of the Jason Blair post facto trashing of the New York Times: I was accepted to both places, and decided to go to Yale because Yale didn’t have any grades and was smaller than Harvard. I figured, once I enroll I’m guaranteed to graduate, so I can just go and be a radical hell raiser student, and they can’t do anything about it. Which is pretty much what happened.

[old curmudgeon]

I have one disagreement with Hanson and that is in regard to his belief that Jones was a minor player who was of so little import that he really did no harm. That the main thing he did was inflate his own image for gain.

He surely did inflate his own image for gain, but on the way to fame he supported, in some cases created organizations that drew together and encouraged people who he then agitated to the point that they became dangerous.

The Rodney King riots certainly were not insignificant and toothless. Real people died.

Jones was not a blowhard. He was and is an agitator; a race baiter; a hate monger of the worst kind.

That he conned the liberals and filled his pockets as a con man, I agree.

But on the way up, he did a lot to increase the climate of class warfare and hatred for “whitey”.

[Dr. Abulafia]

VDH is, as usual, excellent and on point. While he’s right about Jones, Obama, et al playing a double game, I think he’s underestimating the danger to our republic that could result from that game. If revolutionary rhetoric brings us to flame and rubble, it won’t matter much whether the revolutionaries were just trying to cash in on liberal guilt to make a buck or to actually radically transform society.
Take a look again at Yugoslavia in the early 90’s: Milosevic rose to power by embracing Serbian nationalism. He wasn’t really a nationalist; he just wanted the power that came with the popularity nationalism can bring. Tell that to the survivors of the now-vanished villages all over that former country. The original intentions have no meaning to them.
Obama himself doesn’t engage in inflammatory speech, but many around him do. We shouldn’t discount the potential harm they could cause simply because they’re making money now.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"What we are now seeing with Obama’s coterie is a sort of Billy Carterism—after a while what seems at first outlandish gradually becomes repugnant. Half of the country is now furious at Obama because they are starting to see that Ayers, Khalidi, Meeks, Pfleger, and Wright were representational, rather than aberrational; that is, the associates that for 30 years were the natural friends and role models of Obama proved hard to shake and appear buffoonish 24/7. And stranger still, Obama himself seems surprised that they keep reappearing, as if one so easily can throw under the bus decades of choices, attitudes, and second natures."

It's the final act of a satyr play. Obama & friends are playing the roles of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.And Billy Carter. Fred and Lamont Sanford and Urkel. The revival of Aristophanes and the Satyricon should bring back discussion of classical comedy.

[mtntop3]

Excellent VDH article—gets to the core(s) of it all......Thank you.