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Barack to Reality Obama's victory didn't magically eliminate America's problems and enemies.
Slate ^ | Nov. 10, 2008 | Christopher Hitchens

Posted on 11/16/2008 8:14:32 PM PST by Lorianne

Well, as it happens, our new president has no slave ancestry, and neither branch of his parentage could have been owned by anybody, or at least not by anybody American. (Muslim-run slavery, though, is an old story in Africa as well as a horribly contemporary one.) And there were not a few elected black American representatives 40 years ago, even if mainly in Northern states. The objection I make is therefore twofold. First, the election of Obama is the effect not the cause of the changes. (One of my questioners appeared to think that our president-elect had been responsible for the decision in Brown v. Board of Education.) Second, a Republican victory would have had absolutely no effect on the legal or political standing of black Americans, which is a matter of our law and our Constitution and cannot be undone by any ephemeral vote or plebiscite.

The recognition of these obvious points should also alert us to a related danger, which is the cousinhood of euphoria and hysteria. Those who think that they have just voted to legalize Utopia (and I hardly exaggerate when I say this; have you been reading the moist and trusting comments of our commentariat?) are preparing for a disillusionment that I very much doubt they will blame on themselves. The national Treasury is an echoing, empty vault; our Russian and Iranian enemies are acting even more wolfishly even as they sense a repudiation of Bush-Cheney; the lines of jobless and evicted are going to lengthen, and I don't think a diet of hope is going to cover it. Nor even a diet of audacity, though can you picture anything less audacious than the gray, safety-first figures who have so far been chosen by Obama to be on his team?

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 111th; bho2008; duplicatepost; hitchens; issues

1 posted on 11/16/2008 8:14:33 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne
commentariat

I'm stealing that word, I am.

2 posted on 11/16/2008 8:17:06 PM PST by null and void (Hypothetically speaking, how do you make Molotov Cocktails when everything comes in plastic bottles?)
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To: Lorianne

Where is the “Change” if all he is doing is recycling the Clinton era with his appointments. And adding some more lefty etremists to these?


3 posted on 11/16/2008 8:17:09 PM PST by fishhound (Church, guns, a fishing rod and a hat light.)
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To: Lorianne

***Obama’s victory didn’t magically eliminate America’s problems and enemies.***

WHAT?! Are you sure? That’s not what everyone keeps telling me... Does this mean no skies of blue, rainbows, meadows of gumdrops, or rivers flowing with milk and honey?


4 posted on 11/16/2008 8:17:46 PM PST by djsherin (The federal government: Because your life isn't screwed up enough!)
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To: djsherin

He’s not gunna torture.

So the terrorists are pretty chuffed.


5 posted on 11/16/2008 8:21:29 PM PST by thesetruths
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To: Lorianne
Muslim-run slavery, though, is an old story in Africa as well as a horribly contemporary one.

All African tribes and groups, not just Muslim ones, practiced slavery until forced to stop doing so by evil white colonizers.

However, only Muslims and Europeans succeeding in making slavery a thriving export trade.

6 posted on 11/16/2008 8:24:17 PM PST by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: Lorianne

I put in for a pony. This article makes it sound like I may not get one.


7 posted on 11/16/2008 8:27:19 PM PST by jennyjenny
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To: null and void

That’s a GREAT tagline! It should cause us to reflect a bit...


8 posted on 11/16/2008 8:27:58 PM PST by brushcop (We remember SSG Harrison Brown, PVT Andrew Simmons B CO 2/69 3ID KIA Iraq OIF IV)
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To: Lorianne

Well, all very well, but as he admits, Christopher Hitchens voted for Obama, mainly because he couldn’t stomach the idea of voting for a Christian like Sarah Palin, apparently.

So, now he’ll get what he voted for.


9 posted on 11/16/2008 8:30:51 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Lorianne

He was elected by 27% of registered voters. Hard to get euphoric over that.


10 posted on 11/16/2008 9:42:47 PM PST by gotribe (obama just sucks - your wealth away)
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To: Lorianne

bmflr


11 posted on 11/16/2008 9:45:14 PM PST by Kevmo (Palin/Hunter 2012)
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To: gotribe
He was elected by 27% of registered voters. Hard to get euphoric over that.

Are you referring to Reagan in 1980? Because that is what he got. Turnout in 1980 was about 53%, and Reagan got about 51% of the vote, which equals 27% of registered voters.

Obama got about 32%, not 27%. Still nothing to write home about, of course.

12 posted on 11/16/2008 10:37:02 PM PST by Dick Holmes
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To: Lorianne
"Well, as it happens, our new president has no slave ancestry, and neither branch of his parentage could have been owned by anybody, or at least not by anybody American."

The same can't be said for the new First Lady, of course.

13 posted on 11/16/2008 10:59:59 PM PST by Dick Holmes
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To: jennyjenny

I asked for a unicorn.

*sigh*


14 posted on 11/16/2008 11:43:16 PM PST by Salamander (Welcome to Obamageddon! The best apocalypse foreign money can buy!)
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To: fishhound

He is adding the Chicago Daly mafia too which is probably what put him into office. The Clintonistas are to calm us down (cough cough) and then he thinks he will get a second term and go wild. Remember, his people said it wouldn’t go socialist overnight allegedly


15 posted on 11/16/2008 11:53:23 PM PST by volslover
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To: Dick Holmes

I was using total registrant numbers from the NY Times. There is no official count that I know of just yet. But as you say, whether it’s 27% or 32% there’s little floor there.


16 posted on 11/17/2008 5:22:11 PM PST by gotribe (obama just sucks - your wealth away)
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It is going to be fun watching Hitchens, and maybe even Matthews, watch a rerun of the Clinton years. Hitchens hated the Clintons, it will be interesting to see if he grows to despise Obama.


17 posted on 11/19/2008 9:25:06 AM PST by Crimson Elephant
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