Posted on 02/22/2008 8:58:10 AM PST by Robbin
His problem was, is, his wife's words, not his, the speech in which she said that for the first time in her adult life she is proud of her country, because Obama is winning. She later repeated it, then tried to explain it, saying of course she loves her country. But damage was done. Why? Because her statement focused attention on what I suspect are some basic and elementary questions that were starting to bubble out there anyway.
* * *
Here are a few of them.
Are the Obamas, at bottom, snobs? Do they understand America? Are they of it? Did anyone at their Ivy League universities school them in why one should love America? Do they confuse patriotism with nationalism, or nativism? Are they more inspired by abstractions like "international justice" than by old visions of America as the city on a hill, which is how John Winthrop saw it, and Ronald Reagan and JFK spoke of it?
Have they been, throughout their adulthood, so pampered and praised--so raised in the liberal cocoon--that they are essentially unaware of what and how normal Americans think? And are they, in this, like those cosseted yuppies, the Clintons?
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Ironically, both Mrs. Clinton and Mrs. Obama are from the Chicago area.
Absolutely! He is the most liberal Senator in the US Senate. Everyone is tip toeing around that...but the fact is he makes Teddy Kennedy look (on some votes) conservative. That is the point that needs made over and over and over again.
I think Obambi has a catastrophic psychological profile: divorced, abandoned, bi-racial, evidence of drug and alcohol abuse, ambiguous sexuality...and on. I think he’ll crack during the first crisis.
Right. The Obamas are among those Americans who would like America to be more like France. Nothing wrong with that—most Germans wish that Germany were more like France, since they think the French really know how to live. Except that France is a medium-sized power now safely tucked into a continental union with her past behind her, having flamed out in 1968 when DeGaulle was forced from office. I can see Obama’s vision of America: a disarmed, socialized, and disengaged. He sees the world as they do from Davos.
And if there weren’t affirmative action, we could attribute the success of a black person to what?
“So Obama grew up in the tropics and Bill grew up in the south. I don’t know where the wives grew up, but frankly I don’t think anyone who has not experienced northern winters on a limited budget knows what real life is like’.
James J. Hill, the old railroad magnate, said it best: “I’ve got no use for a man that’s never been snowed on”
That would be interesting....
The poster child of America's Woodstock generation. No wonder he's so popular. He appeals to most of the Baby Boomers, some of their parents and most kids who are so easily swayed by his rhetoric.
My agreement was with his remarks about the "affirmative action syndrome," not about Obama in particular. Obama seems bright enough, although I have never been "wowed" by his rhetoric. I find most of his speeches boring. I see almost nothing new or innovative in them. He has the patois of the chattering classes down and expresses liberal ideas with a certain fresh vigour, but I don't find any of it very insightful. I consider some of his talk downright dangerous (For example, yesterday he said that Bush hasn't led well in relations with Mexico--he should be more accomodating of Mexican demands!)
Then again, anyone running for office has to speak at the level of the audience, and audiences are dumbed down nowadays. Maybe it is unfair to judge him on what he says in public; political speeches are by nature full of cliches and platitudes. He probably comes off smarter in person than when he appears on the stump.
Michelle, OTOH, does strike me as an AA product and that was the focus of my agreement. There's a certain belligerence and stridency in her manner that indicates a lack of confidence. She does strike me as having been promoted way beyond her level. People like this tend to be haunted by a sense that they haven't really deserved their accomplishments. They don't know whether they could have made it on their own. They make up for by heaping scorn on the environment around them and trying to stifle any criticism of their own performance. That was what I had in mind and what I think Noonan was hinting at in the article.
This issue is going to come up more often as Obama gets more scrutiny. That may be unfair, but as you know, race questions are going to interject themselves into the campaign. That is lamentable, but it's reality.
Unfortunately all high achieving Afro Americans are stigmatized by Affirmative Action. That was Clarence Thomas’ point.
:I’ve got no use for a man that’s never been snowed on.”
Of course, I probably should have pointed out that people who have grown up in the south without the money to pay for air conditioning, working outdoor labor, also know something about hardship
Just face it. AA is a tool that many use to discredit any achievement by a black person. If it didn't exist, they would find some other means to discredit such achievements.
Right. It is difficult to understand simply why we just can’t oppose his highly liberal views as opposed to playing the “affirmative action card” (which is another form of the race card).
It’s because it is often true. I work as a government contract. We just lost our contract, not because we were under bid, or because the winner was better qualified to provide the service. They got it because they are a minority owned company. And by the way, they can’t provide the service and are subbing the contact back to us. All the government did was add an additional layer of bureaucracy that the tax payer is paying for! All in the name of affirmative action.... It’s alive and well and you are paying for it with your taxdollars..
AA is a tool that many use to discredit any achievement by a black person. If it didn’t exist, they would find some other means to discredit such achievements.
By all means, remove the excuse to discredit.....
And personally, I don’t put much stake in Internet claims of personal experiences.
Barack and Michelle Obama are clearly intelligent people. They both attended quality secondary schools and prestigious colleges. If Affirmative Action programs had anything to do with this, I'm not aware of it. They seem to have proven themselves academically, so it becomes a moot point, 25 years later.
I concur with Noonan (who never states it as a fact, only a perception) that Barack and Michelle Obama, as achievers and products of elitist Ivy League schools, live in a cocoon of liberal-leftist attitudes and (false) assumptions. They likely have little-to-no grasp of what life is like for the 'average' American who isn't at the top of his or high school class, doesn't go to Harvard and become a lawyer, much less grow wealthy and by age 46 aspire to the presidency.
The Obama's are as much elitists as the Kennedy's ever were, except they are demonstrably much smarter than Trust-fund Teddy. Unfortunately, as elitists, they share the same disdain for the things that helped make and keep America great, like our capitalistic economy and strong military. Our religious traditions probably amuse them, being so smart and all. Our patriotism must really bore them.
These well-educated elitist leftists tip their hand when they indicate, as Michell Obama did, that they generally find America sorely lacking. Sadly, I suspect that millions of Americans that the Obama's probably sneer at (in private) will place votes for Barack Hussein Obama in November and hand him the kind of power that will either destroy him or the country - or both.
The essence of AA is that objectively less qualified applicants are accepted to colleges or hired to positions solely because of their race. The program has morphed into racial quotas and a spoil system.
As I said. all AA beneficiaries are stigmatized by this fact of life. Good luck convincing people otherwise.
Thanks for the heads up. Beautifully written, Noonan at her eloquent best, she nails Michelle, doesn’t she? I’ve thought before Mrs. Obama will make Hillary’s ashtray throwing, screaming temper tantrums look mild in comparison. That Ms Michelle is one mean dame, used to getting her way, and weighted down by the heavy chip permanently emplanted on her shoulder.
One thing certain though, Obama will never cheat on her...who would dare?
I do have a question. Where is Obama’s Mother? Where is his Father? I saw a tv segment on his African grandmother & uncle, but nothing on the whereabouts of his parents.
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