Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

We Just Had a Class War. And one side won. (The View from the Left)
New York Magazine ^ | 11/11/2012 | Jonathan Chait

Posted on 11/12/2012 11:44:35 AM PST by mojito

When President Obama took the stage at McCormick Place in Chicago well after midnight, we were all too wiped out with joy or depression or Nate Silver auto-refresh fatigue to pay careful attention to the speech the newly reelected president delivered. The phrase that lingered in most of our sleepy ears was the reprise of his career-launching invocation of the United States as being more than red and blue states. So soaring, so unifying. But those words were merely the trappings of magnanimity draped over an argument that was, at its core, harsher than the one he had regularly delivered during the campaign.

The telling phrase came when Obama turned away from the thank-yous and patriotic hymnals into the guts of his remarks. “Despite all our differences,” he transitioned, “most of us share certain hopes for America’s future.” The key term here is “most,” as opposed to “all”—“most” meaning less than 100 percent and possibly as little as 51 percent. He attributed to most Americans a desire for great schools, a desire to limit debt and inequality: “a generous America, a compassionate America.”

Obama then proceeded to define the American idea in a way that excludes the makers-versus-takers conception of individual responsibility propounded by Paul Ryan and the tea party.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012analysis; 2012electionanalysis; classwarfare; obama
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last
Chait's argument is typically dishonest when it comes to characterizing conservatives or the tea party, but remarkably frank in its admission of what the left wants (your money, your freedom) and why they they are going after it.

Read the whole thing for a candid description of the left's thinking after Zero's victory.

1 posted on 11/12/2012 11:44:41 AM PST by mojito
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: mojito

The state of New York has petitioned to leave the Union.

Think about that while you’re reading this New York Magazine article.


2 posted on 11/12/2012 11:51:47 AM PST by Tzimisce (Will there be anything to fight for in 2016?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

The people who take won.
The people who produce and work their ^%$##@( a$$es off lost. Get up in the morning, brush your teeth, get dressed and go to work and they take your money.
Lay around like a lazy slob and pick up your obamaphone and watch the View and collect money from the fools who work.


3 posted on 11/12/2012 11:53:55 AM PST by I want the USA back
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

It was a difficult read for me. The blatant “progressive” thinking nauseates me. Obama’s “mandate” is going to help him use power and leverage. It all just sounds ominous.


4 posted on 11/12/2012 11:55:36 AM PST by BipolarBob (As long as Bronco is in office I'm on strike.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

CHURCHILL:

“In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnaminity
In Peace: Good Will.”

DEFY THEM!


5 posted on 11/12/2012 11:59:22 AM PST by roses of sharon ("Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

Basically, Obama won with his ‘tax the rich’ theme.

Money quote:

“The harsh truth that fend-for-yourself economic libertarianism is a worldview mainly confined to the shrinking, aging white electorate is a reality Republicans prefer not to acknowledge.”

He also says that latinos were not voting for Obama over immigration, but because they support big government.


6 posted on 11/12/2012 12:00:00 PM PST by WOSG (REPEAL AND REPLACE OBAMA. He stole AmericaÂ’s promise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito
If Obama's vision for America is what the country is all about, how come the Founding Fathers forgot to include 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, affirmative action, universal health care, special rights for unions, and gay marriage in the Bill of Rights?

Obama had a few words which were vaguely conciliatory right after the election, but he's likely to be as uncompromising and hyperpartisan in his second term as he was in his first. He can't run again, and other ambitious Democrats won't like it if Michelle Obama pulls a Lurleen Wallace in 2016.

7 posted on 11/12/2012 12:00:15 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

I did not leave America. America left me.


8 posted on 11/12/2012 12:02:09 PM PST by llevrok (In comparison to Obama, at least Nero could play the fiddle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: I want the USA back

They can’t MAKE us produce.


9 posted on 11/12/2012 12:02:39 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: WOSG

Let’s not beat around the bush with the terms like “they support big government.”

Cut to the chase:

0bama voters are a bunch of lazy thieves who are too cowardly to steal for themselves but get the gov’t to do it for them.


10 posted on 11/12/2012 12:04:06 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Tzimisce

The state of New York has petitioned to leave the Union.


Get serious. A few people in that state have petitioned.


11 posted on 11/12/2012 12:05:06 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Hold My Beer and Watch This!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: roses of sharon

CHURCHILL:

“In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnaminity
In Peace: Good Will.”

OBAMA:

“In War: Vacillation,
In Defeat: Resentment.
In Victory: Revenge,
In Peace: Oppression.

Magnaminity has no place in the liberal pantheon.


12 posted on 11/12/2012 12:07:14 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: mojito

From the article: “The outcome was plain. The 47 percent turned out to be the 51 percent.”

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.


13 posted on 11/12/2012 12:11:15 PM PST by RKBA Democrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB

“They can’t MAKE us produce.”

Exactly; if you keep stealing what I make, I’ll stop making it.

Or better, I’ll stop telling you what I make. Since we are going to be a Soviet command economy, we might as well adjust to getting by as the Soviets did; “na levo” or “on the side.” It will become a barter economy, where people trade goods and services under the radar. The public officials will not police it, they will willingly be a part of it. If you want a bureaucrat to do anything, you have to bribe them with some whiskey, hookers, or some frozen steaks. It’s not “what does it cost” it’s “what do you have?”

Look at how the USSR turned out. When push came to shove, it collapsed from within because nobody had any loyalty to a system that stole from them and lied to them. Most Americans just haven’t figured out that its a new game. Also, when the USSR collapsed, look at how quickly the “Russian mafia” appeared. And who comprised the Russian mafia? Ex-KGB agents. In reality, the Russian mafia and the KGB were the same thing. And so it will be here with our “Homeland Security.” To get by, you will have to bribe the Homeland Security people with tomatoes or a new deck or whatever goods or services you provide “na levo.”

People with real skills that are necessary to getting by in life, like building trades, will do well. The 0bamaphone owners...well, they will just have their 0bamaphones. They don’t have anything to offer.


14 posted on 11/12/2012 12:22:53 PM PST by henkster ("The people who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: MrB
They can’t MAKE us produce.

No, but most of us will produce as long as it's in our own best interests, until it isn't.

15 posted on 11/12/2012 12:29:43 PM PST by AZLiberty (No tag today.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: MrB
It's true ... they can't make us produce. But what the takers/Democrat Socialists/the Left count on is that we're so comfortable with our lifestyle that we'll put up with just about anything to preserve it. And in many respects they are correct -- that is, we have far more to lose than do the slugs of our society if (when) everything comes crashing down.
16 posted on 11/12/2012 12:33:13 PM PST by glennaro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: mojito

Let’s just sit back and watch the Smart People fix everything...


17 posted on 11/12/2012 12:37:09 PM PST by bigbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: glennaro

I’ve even heard some academic leftist crow that taxing producers heavily makes them work even harder to maintain their lifestyle.


18 posted on 11/12/2012 12:43:16 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: MrB

This is not even a class war; it is class pot-shots.


19 posted on 11/12/2012 12:44:05 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: WOSG

It doesn’t make it any less stupid, though.


20 posted on 11/12/2012 12:45:45 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson