"An inadequate black male..."

No seriously, tell us what you really think about us. This is what Ferraro-ism breeds. One good thing about all of this. I didn't see a single person in all of the footage of the protest who looked a day younger than, uhm, thirty. This is like the last stand for the bitter bigots. Jed says he smells Roger Stone.

Obama leaves Trinity

I'm not a Christian, but count me as deeply saddened by this move. I hear a lot of people talking smack about Trinity, mostly the same people that wouldn't walk in the neighborhoods Trinity serves without bodygaurds. I don't always roll with the message, but there's no dispute that Trinity does great work on behalf of the sort of people who I think would benefit most from an Obama presidency. That said, I don't think this equals the vaunted Sista Souljah move which the cynics have been calling for from Obama. The brother held out for as long as he could. And I don't think he thinks that this resignation will when him many votes from people who think he's a Muslim anyway. Still, it's sad.


UPDATE: Video guys. I think it backs up what commenter Matt was saying below

The sexism that is Ta-Nehisi

Uhm, yeah. So I just found out one of my favorite bloggers--Hilzoy over at Obsidian Wings--is a woman. Not that there's anything wrong with it...Of course as someone's who's often referred to as a "she," I should have known.

Black Power

From a truly fascinating analysis of the Obama campaign:

A more subtle change was the distribution of delegates within each state. As part of the proportional system, Democrats award delegates based on statewide vote totals as well as results in individual congressional districts. The delegates, however, are not distributed evenly within a state, like they are in the Republican system.

Under Democratic rules, congressional districts with a history of strong support for Democratic candidates are rewarded with more delegates than districts that are more Republican. Some districts packed with Democratic voters can have as many as eight or nine delegates up for grabs, while more Republican districts in the same state have three or four.

The system is designed to benefit candidates who do well among loyal Democratic constituencies, and none is more loyal than black voters. Obama, who would be the first black candidate nominated by a major political party, has been winning 80 percent to 90 percent of the black vote in most primaries, according to exit polls.

"Black districts always have a large number of delegates because they are the highest performers for the Democratic Party," said Elaine Kamarck, a Harvard University professor who is writing a book about the Democratic nominating process.

"Once you had a black candidate you knew that he would be winning large numbers of delegates because of this phenomenon," said Kamarck, who is also a superdelegate supporting Clinton.

More evidence of the stupidity of a race-baiting strategy. We give the racists too much effing credit. Clinton is going to lose this primary, in large measure, because of some of stupidity that her surrogates seemed intent on spewing. Justice, oh lord. Sweet justice. Peace to Sullivan for the link

Dispatches from the hinterlands

Courtesy of Hilzoy, here's Eve Fairbanks giving us a good look at what Hillary Clinton's most fanatical supporters. Incredible. And they calls us the nuts. Fear not folks. It'll soon be over.

On a much more serious note

Hilzoy--guesting for Kevin Drum-- brings it on Ferraro's latest stupid rant. He points out that she really doesn't give a good reason for "Reagan Democrats" to oppose Obama, leaving one with the distinct impression that it, in fact, is race. Of course there's also the irony of the woman who helped invent the "Reagan Democrats" now giving advice to Obama on how to court them. Anyway it's a great post, and not because he quoted me. Here I am speaking on it, in my last post over at Matt's.

Guess who's back...

Back on the block with the O, taking on Geraldine and foes
Don't make me relapse, and air-out BET Negroes
Cause the street talk is all I know....

Anyway, Scarface and Jigga fans will get it. To everyone else, it's good to be home. Props to Matt for hosting me for a week. But seriously, it's good to be back. Miss me much?

Today And Tomorrow

Guys I'm mostly posting over at Matt's. Gotta couple interesting threads going over there. Please feel free to hop in. Things will resume as normal this weekend, and next week.

Is The Criminal Justice System Racist?

Crossposted from Matt again, guys.


The news that Virginia has performed it's first execution in two years got me thinking about a topic that seemingly fallen off the radar this season--criminal justice reform. The death penalty, sadly, seems here to stay. But one of the reasons I so emphatically fell for Jim Webb (before Kathy took him apart) was because in addition to being outspoken about veterans issues, he's probably the most prominent senator i've heard speak on reforming our prisons. I could be wrong on that, and would love to be corrected. That said, I have heard very little about this issue out on the campaign trail. Frankly, this is as it should be--you don't win elections by talking about shortening the sentences of criminals.

Still, I hope this issue is a priority, should Obama win. Indeed, to me, one of the promises of an Obama administration would be that he could (hopefully) deracialize certain issues that really occur to me as matters of basic fairness and justice. Heather Macdonald has had a field day dismantling those who claim that the criminal justice is racist. But I think that's a strawman. Frankly, I don't much care about whether the law was intended to hurt black people, nor do I care whether it's called racist or not. To the extent that the "racist" label is a distraction, it should be jettisoned. It seems like the real question should be, Does our drug policy make sense? Are we helping or hurting the situation in our inner cities?

The Chronicles Of Epic Fail: The Clinton Henchmen Edition

Heh, shorter, and less lame, Lanny Davis: How dare Barack Obama defeat us in the primary!

The Logic Of "I Ain't No Punk"

Crossposted from Matt

The phrase “I ain’t no punk” has probably led to more renditions of “Blessed Assurance,” more grandmothers in big hats and dark dresses, and more black boys laid out in closed caskets than any other four words in the English language. “I ain’t no punk,” is of course corner-talk for “I am foolish enough to mortgage my life on even the pettiest act of perceived disrespect.” I grew up in West Baltimore during the late 80s, a time when being seen as a chump was basically the worst thing that could happen to you. So I’ll admit to throwing out that line once or twice in my younger days, though I can’t think of one instance where the "slight" was actually that bad.

Having seen the cost of living by the “I ain’t no punk” credo, I have an instant distaste for posturing. This runs the gamut from rappers who threaten each other with great bodily injury (often mere months before doing a press conference, and recording a song together) to Democrats attempting to show that they're tough on the various annoying phenomena of the day. (crime, defense, obscure black people etc.) So I’m going to whole-heartedly back John Dickerson’s call for Obama and McCain to kill the “I’m more macho than you act.” I like seeing Obama get after McCain as much as the next vino-sipping, Claritin-popping, trust-fund dipping lefty. (It’s been told to me that you can put virtually any string of adjective in front of “lefty” now.) But I’m now seeing how much more I enjoyed watching Obama mix it up with Hillary. I think maybe because he was running against a woman, or a fellow Democrat, Obama basically didn’t get into a competition of brass balls. Instead he responded with the jujitsu of humor, which repeatedly exposed the stiff, stilted nature of Hillary’s whole campaign.

Much has been made of gender’s role in this race. To me, its most insidious effect was that Hillary always had to show she “wasn’t no punk.” In debates she was always solid on the issues, but then she’d throw these wild haymakers which would leave her open to some brutal counterpunches. It began with her yucking it up during an Iowa debate at a tough question about Clinton advisors on Obama's team, and Obama catching her flush with that "I look forward to you advising me Hillary" line. In the Ohio debate, she allowed Obama to get in the last swing (“I would reject and denounce.”) when Tim Russert had him in a tough spot on Farrakhan. What I remember most about her “Shame on you” rant, is how Obama turned it on its head with that Annie Oakley riff. Her woefully scripted “change you can xerox” line only served to highlight Barack’s earlier “silly season” response to the whole plagiarism flap.

But the jujitsu period of this campaign seems to be over, and now its Obama who has to show that he “ain’t no punk.” Of course, war hero John McCain is going for the gold in the "ain't no punk" olympics. So now we reconcile ourselves to a long hot summer of dueling press releases, miscellaneous rants, and feigned rage. Yay. Obama really shouldn't drop the humor from his pitch--it's one of his best qualities. McCain may not need to show toughness because of gender, but he can’t help himself, and does it anyway. I’m hoping Obama doesn’t leave me thinking he deployed his humor, strictly, against the only woman in the room.

Kathy vs. Webb

Kathy calls out those of us who've pushed a Webb/Obama ticket. She list several reasons why Webb shouldn't be on the ticket. I'm not particularly concerned with his dismissal of Affirmative Action as "state-sponsored racism." That's over the top, but AA isn't really a do or die issue for me. Plus I'm kind of "meh" as I've said on AA for diversity's sake. That said, I think here is the bigger problem:

Stepping away from all that high-minded rhetoric, I'll add that, in practical terms, selecting Webb would be a slap in the face to the Hillary Clinton supporters. I'm not saying that Obama has to pick Hillary as veep (and indeed, I think that would be a bad idea). I'm not even saying that he needs to pick a woman.

But Hillary was the first woman to ever have a serious shot at the presidency, and she came so close. So the Hillary supporters (of whom, to be clear, I am not one) will feel frustrated enough that their candidate didn't win. But for Obama to choose -- out of all the well-qualified candidates out there -- the one person who has a really awful record on gender issues would be like rubbing salt in the wound. It would be seen as a big "screw you" to Hillary's supporters and to feminists in general.

How would Obama supporters feel if their man lost a closely contested fight, and then Hillary turned around and picked as veep someone who, into the 1990s, was an outspoken critic of civil rights? It would seem tone-deaf and incredibly insensitive, to say the least.

Kathy has assembled quite a bit of damning evidence, but from the perspective of cold hard politics, this really stood out to me. When people figure out that John McCain will appoint judges who will reverse Roe vs. Wade, I think that Obama will be doing a lot better among women. That said, I think Webb's issues could make things a lot harder. Maybe women won't vote for McCain. But they could stay home.

Hill Up In Harlem

So. I've done my share of measured cackling at the fact that black folks have played a decisive role in the ending of Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions. I go back and forth on whether the campaign race-baited or not. As this thing winds down though, I begin to lean on the old rule that incompetence is more common than conspiracy. Racebaiting or not, I think the racist fool Geraldine Ferraro was/is poisonous, and I wish Hillary had said something close to that. I think her hard-working, white people remark was something of a slip and I wish she could have acknowledged as much. I think Bill meant what he said in North Carolina, but the worst part is his insistence that Obama was, in fact, race-bating him. I think her recent charge that sexism is widely accepted, while racism isn't, is, as I've said before, akin to a welder opining on carpentry. Like all competitors in the Oppression Olympics, she's unqualified. But in that, she's got a lot of company.

Still, in general I don't buy a campaign of race-baiting for a couple reasons: 1.) It's not a particularly great strategy in a Dem primary. You essentially trade blow-outs across the South, for single to low-double digit wins in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which you likely would have gotten anyway. 2.) I know this is naive, but I give some credence to the fact that there are several black people supporting--and running--Hillary's campaign. I'd like to think they wouldn't go along with such a thing. My cackling is more based on black voters DQing someone who shared many of George Bush's worse managerial qualities--confusing loyality with competence, an inability to say I'm sorry, changing the rules to suit your needs. It almost redeems our shameful role in that 2004 roll-out of gay marriage bans across the states.

Alright so I'm rambling. My point is that there's been some speculation that Hillary's beef with black voters will follow her home. Black New York pols--most of whom back Obama--are claiming that she's going to have some bridges to repair here in Harlem, in Bed-Stuy etc. Let me be the first to step up and say that I don't see it. Begin with the fact Hillary doesn't even have to run again until 2012. I expect that she will, indeed, go all out and campaign for Obama. If he wins, than people will more remember her helping him get elected. If he loses, well she won't be running for Senate then anyway. Moreover, I just don't think the wounds are that deep. I desperately don't want her anywhere near the White House or the Naval observatory. But she's been a fairly decent senator. In fact, I'm more pissed at Schumer for rolling over for Mukasey. Call me daft, but I think the politics of the moment are just that. A year ago, no one expected Obama to be getting nine out of ten black votes.

P.S. All this week I'll be cross-posting over at Matt Yglesias's place.

P.P.S. And of course, peace to Matt for allowing me this platform to publish my various screeds, fulminations and love notes. I'll try not to lower his stock too much.

Sorry, More On Hitchens And Michelle

So I wrote this long drawn out post a few weeks ago, attempting to refute Hitch's insinuation that Michelle Obama had induced Barack into joining Trinity. But commenter Rhondacoca offers a much shorter version for why Hitchens is off his rocker:

Yo New York: Ta-Nehisi Live

So I'll be doing some public stuff this week. First I'll be at McNally Robinson in Soho, on Tuesday, reading from my new memoir The Beautiful Struggle. The reading starts at 7:00. Click here to see the trailer and publicity.

Second I'll be chatting it up on Wednesday with a some very distinguished folks about the state of Black/Jewish relations. Personally, I think it all goes back to an anecdote in Nicholas Lehmann's book The Promised Land. Lehmann talks about how during the Civil Rights Movement, SNCC had a lot of Jewish cats in its ranks doing great work down South. Of course spending so much time around each other inevitably led to relationships, a lot of which apparently were Jewish women and black dudes. This pissed off a lot of the sisters in the organization, and a few years later SNCC rebranded itself as radically black nationalist and told all the whites--many of whom were Jewish--to take a hike.

So you see, like so much of what's wrong in America, the black/Jewish schism is really the fault of black women. Anyway, if you think that theory is particularly brilliant come out on Wednesday. I guarantee that I'll be armed with other such penetrating insights. Seriously though, come out if you can. It should be really engaging.

The Michelle Obama "Whitey" Video

Kathy seems to have a pretty trustworthy source who claims that this video does exist. But there are two problems. 1.) "Whitey" seems really really archaic. These days, black folks don't even have a real slur for white people. "White folks" or "White people" seems cutting enough. 2.) If this video does exist, it stands to reason that McCain wouldn't be the only one who had it, no? There must be reporters and bloggers hunting this thing down. Furthermore, at the very least, it would seem that the Obama campaign would have the video, and would just release it themselves. The likely scenario, I think, is that there may be a video of Michelle that's in the "first time in my adult life, I'm proud of America" category. I just can't see it being much bigger than that.

UPDATE: The more I think about this, the fishier it sounds. First off, even in the worst Jeremiah Wright videos, there is no evidence of "denouncing whitey." If we remember his worse offenses are denouncing America. But there is no "kill whitey" or "goddamn white people" talk in any of the tapes. Contrary to popular belief, black people do very little denouncing of whitey. In fact this sounds like the sort of thing that would be ginned up by --and for--someone who doesn't actually have much substantive contact with black people.

It also doesn't square well with  what we now about Michelle Obama. I'm not saying we know much, but isn't it convient how the tape more stands in line with some of the more baseless whispering which has held Michelle to be black rage incarnate? Meanwhile the real Michelle Obama's children have a white grandmother, and her and Barack have long moved in very integrated circles. I'm not making the "I have white friends too" argument, but taken as a whole, this thing sounds highly, highly suspect. The worst part about it is, much like the Muslim rumors, it doesn't need to be true. No tape ever need be discovered, for the idea that Michelle said this to take hold in the popular conscience. I think that's why we haven't heard this in the MSM. It's also probably why I should just shut up now.

Managing My Blogroll

And now for a post that has nothing to do with Obama. I'm gonna adjust my blogroll in the next couple days--mostly, I'm gonna add some folks (Balloon Juice, Kathy G, Amptoons, Jed Report...). FIrst, taking my que from Balloon Juice, I wonder if you guys have any reccommendations for blogs I should be reading, that I'm not. Also, what are the online ethics of pruning your blogroll? I mean, I read--and when lucky, write for--Slate, but they don't need any help from me. I'm more concerned about blogs that I don't read much anymore. Any thoughts?

The Gaffe-Obsessed Press

I basically agree with Greg Sargent that the press--in the absence of any real story--seems to have become completely enthralled with every little verbal screwup that a candidate makes. But the beef with Clinton's RFK remarks are only halfway about the gaffe. The fact is that part of Clinton's argument has been that Obama is a neophyte and she's a pro--"Ready On Day One," this idea inevitability etc. But she's consistently done things that have shown that she has a limited understanding of the political landscape. It's true, and unfortunate, that the press is gaffe-obsessed. But if you know that, then you adjust your game accordingly. Given that she'd repeated the RFK line at least twice, you have to wonder why someone hadn't pulled her aside and said, "Maybe you should discontinue that one."

But more than tactics, this latest contraversy goes to why Obama simply can't put her on the ticket--Hillary is evidently never wrong. It's been noted that she apologized to the Kennedy family, but not Obama. In fact, she didn't even do that--she gave this half-hearted, mealy-mouth, passive aggressive "If I've offended anyone" line that's national code for "I was in no respect wrong."Someone who believes she/he is always right is the last thing we need right now. We've had eight years of that.

Veepstakes Continued

Commentor BillW speaks on his experience campaigning on behalf of Webb in the '06 Senate race:

Jim Webb's Sexist Past

Regrettably, it's pretty bad:

In the Washingtonian magazine article, "Women Can't Fight," the ex-Marine Webb wrote of the brutal conditions during the Vietnam War and argued against letting women into combat...Webb described one of the academy's coed dorms as "a horny woman's dream" and said that he had never met a woman he "would trust to provide . . . combat leadership."

Yeah, not cool. I was thinking about this though. If Webb had defended segregation in the 60s, or opposed school busing in the 70s, but I felt he was right on the issues today, I think I'd still be for him. For the record, Webb is pro-choice. It's hard for me to believe that with Roe v Wade hanging in the balance, Obama won't do well among women. That said, I can see why this would make some people uncomfortable.

Kobe And Jackass

Yeah, I'm more of a Duncan fan, but damn this is great.

Veepstakes Blogging

Here's a very nice couple of posts on the VP slot. Neil Sinhabau actually makes a good case for Edwards and a good case against Webb, I'm sorry to say. I'm starting to think that Edwards may be the best choice, but last week I thought it was McCaskill, so who knows with me. Check it out.

Because, you know, I'm an elitist

Heh, John Cole responds:

I have to confess- I am celebrating Hillary’s implosion today. I went out earlier and had two glasses of wine, a spectacular grilled romaine salad with avocado and a raspberry vinagrette, and then a splendidly rare filet mignon in an oyster demi-glaze on a bed of asparagus. Because, you know, I am an elitist. And then I had a fat cigar. A few months back I was defending her, and was ready to vote for her, even after years as a Republican. And then I watched her campaign and I realized once again how repellent she is.

Yeah, I really wish I could be more graceful about this, but since dinner, I have had a couple more drinks and I keep getting more ecstatic. In my defense, you know what you get when you come here, so deal with it. All praise the Giant Spaghetti Monster, please give us another pervert Republican this weekend and the week will be complete.

I really think this is the end of any unity ticket talk. Not because Obama's feelings are hurt, but because Clinton is being exposed in these last days as a really mediocre candidate. This is worse than Joe Biden's "clean" remark--at least Biden had the decency to apologize to the person he offended, plus, he hadn't said it like three other times. Some folks in the comments referenced Olbermann's comment. I've got it below. It's a bit over the top for me, but worth watching.

Is Barack Obama A Muslim?

As per Matt Yglesias's instructions, linking to this wonderful new site. Please do the same my blogging brethren.

Class

Another reason I back Obama. Watch how Axelrod handles the Kennedy business.

About That Assasination Remark

I'm gonna disagree with a lot Obama-ites and say that it was a mistake. I say that, not out of any love for Hillary Clinton, but because I can't see how this remark helps her at all. It's inconceivable to me that this would be a strategy. More likely she's tired and said something stupid.

But this brings me to two points. 1.) Hillary Clinton is an overrated candidate. For all the talk about toughness, in the waning days of the campaign, she has become a gaffe-o-matic. Why should we believe she would be stronger in the general.

2.) This is why it's foolish to compare racism and sexism. Hillary and some her blind-ass feminist supporters have asserted that there has been no racism in this campaign, or none when compared to racism. But Barack Obama had to get Secret Service protection before any candidate in history. I wonder if that has to do with racism. Part of this is our fault as we've allowed the definition of racism to devolve into the spectacular--the Rodney King tape or a Don Imus rant.

But the ugliest aspects are the things you don't see, or don't care to see. There is no American tradition of assassination in the feminist community. The sort of violence that consistently hung over Civil Rights workers, and ultimately got Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, never hung over Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. Again I think Hillary simply made a mistake. But I also think were she from my side of the tracks, a place where the assassination of black public figures has altered whole lives, she wouldn't have said something that stupid. Ditto for Steinem, who if she'd ever spent any significant time around black folks, would know that there are forces which are just as restricting as gender. I still don't think Clinton realizes what she said--she apologized to the Kennedy's, but not to Obama. The blindness is strong in that one.

Nice Little Campaign You Got Here. Be A Shame If Something Happened...

Courtesy of my friends over at TPM. Clinton really has the worse sort of power here. Her threat isn't based on holding out any sector of the voting populace, it's based on simply making things hard for Obama. I think he has to resist. Seems like he is too, given that folks are describing the talks as "difficult." Especially with threats like this in the air.

Don't Do It

So the word is out that Hillary's people are lobbying for the VP job. It's a terrible, awful idea. First of all I don't buy that Hillary actually has a country. She brings nothing geographically, and the idea that she will bring in white, working class voters is delusional. Winning Kentucky and West Virginia, while running against a black dude, who many people believe to be a Muslim, in a Democratic primary is one thing. Winning against a war hero and former POW, while running as VP alongside said Muslim black dude is another thing.

One other thing--I want to warn people against the what Chris Matthews calls below, the "Al Sharpton strategy." The basic idea is that you need Sharpton's endorsement in order to get the black vote. Of course Sharpton couldn't even secure the black vote for himself in the Democratic primary in 2004. While Hillary has dominated the votes of older white women voting in primary, I find the notion that she would add significant women voters--who wouldn't vote for Barack anyway--unfounded. Just as people shouldn't confuse "black leaders"--hell, or even "black bloggers"--with actual "black people," "white women leaders" shouldn't be confused with actual "white women." Whenever I hear people pitch this idea of Hillary as some sort of national candidate, I'm reminded of one particular section of Jeff Goldberg's beautifully reported piece on the 2006 midterm elections:

In states like Missouri, coolness toward Hillary Clinton puts many Democrats in an uncomfortable position. Harold Ford, Jr., is close to both Clintons. He is running a strong race in Tennessee—if he wins, he would be the first popularly elected African-American senator from the South. When I asked Ford if Hillary Clinton would be campaigning with him, he said, “I’m not running away from her position on the war or her position on energy independence. I’m doing events with her.” When I asked him where, he said, “In Washington.”

Some Democrats fear any association with national Democrats, who are perceived to be too liberal. “I had this notion that I could convince people who were skeptical of national Democrats to vote for me because I could bring home the bacon, or because I could find some personal pitch to them,” Brad Carson, the former Oklahoma congressman, said. “But it was very hard for people to separate me out from Hillary Clinton. All their ads were Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, and me. They said I was more liberal than these guys, and that if I went to Washington I’d be supporting their agenda. I found that extremely difficult to overcome.”

Across Missouri, I heard similar fears. At a breakfast fund-raiser for McCaskill in Kansas City, Katheryn J. Shields, a Democrat who is the chief executive of Jackson County, which encompasses Kansas City, said of Hillary Clinton, “She’s great.” But when asked if Clinton should be the Party’s nominee, Shields said, “That would be a hard one.” The outgoing executive director of the Greene County Democrats, Nora Walcott, was more direct. Though she said she was to the left in the Party, she feared that Clinton’s liberal credentials would alienate Missouri voters. “You’ve got to tell the people in Washington not to nominate Hillary,” she told me. “It would do so much damage to the Missouri Democratic Party.” Clinton’s obvious shifts to the center frustrate Walcott on two counts, she said: “I disagree with the way she’s going to the right, but my biggest problem with it is that it’s not working. People don’t believe she’s a moderate.”

I've made my preference for Jim Webb clear, but there are some very qualified women candidates out there. Kate Sebilius has actually been a uniter in Kansas, inducing her lieutenant governor to switch parties. Claire McCaskill hails from Missouri, a state that has voted for the winner of every presidential election since 1904. There's also another reason. From jump, Obama insisted on a campaign with a low-drama quotient, and that's basically what he's gotten. If he wants to see a flurry of outrageous memos, suicidal bullying of the press, and prolific backbiting, he should pick Clinton.

UPDATE: Sorry guys, forgot the Matthews video. It's below. Peace to all the folks from The Dish making their way over. Stay awhile.

Props To McCain

I'm an Obama guy, but this strikes me as the right move. People can say it's opportunistic and politically savvy, but I don't think Mitt Romney or George W. Bush would have done it. Huckabee maybe. Anyway, he deserves at least some measure of credit.

A Post For Fools Who Mistake Thier Limited Knowledge For ALL Knowledge

A devastating post over at No More Mister Nice Blog which pretty much exposes this idea that Obama has been free from the taint of racism. Check it out.

Jewish Racism

One of the things that I don't think folks get is when it comes to the perspective of blacks on Jews/Italians/Irish/Scott-Irish/Germans/Polish, very few black people actually differentiate. I know that there is a legacy of singling out Jews among black Muslims (I wonder why...) and some black nationalists, but people who think that black power was ever a mainstream ideology among black folks, need to read some history. And I say that as someone who was, and still am, heavily influenced by black power/nationalism. Obviously James Baldwin and Chris Rock have made this point before. I understand why different tribes of white people don't completely see it that way also. I agree with much of what Jim Webb said about Appalachia, for instance, though I think he slightly downplayed racism.

Anyway, here is a great example of why black people don't make ethnic distinctions among whites. I have problems with this piece as a journalist, in that it basically surveys a bunch of people (Jews in Florida, most of them elderly) and reaches a broad conclusion (Obama has a Jewish problem). Of course the piece either ignores, or just dismisses complicating evidence. Indeed:

Continue reading "Jewish Racism" »

Keep Digging Geraldine

As one of my commenters noted, Geraldine has now accused black journalists, the world over, and Bob Herbert in paticular of engaging in a sexist plot against Clinton, and refusing to discuss sexism and misoginy. There's just one problem--BOB HERBERT, HIMSELF, SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSED SEXISM AGAINST CLINTON IN THE MEDIA BACK IN JANUARY. This is getting sad. It is a great lesson to me about how nothing good comes from anger. I just don't know who she thinks she's ingratiating herself with.Peace to Jezebel for the link.

Especially The Racists And The Antisemites

My beautiful spouse just made a brilliant point about John Hagee's claim that Hitler was doing God's work, and some of the more odious relations black nationalists enjoyed with hardcore racists. But first let me get to what Hagee actually said:

"Theodore Hertzel is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said 'I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.' So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust. "Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says -- Jeremiah writing -- 'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,' meaning there's no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don't let your heart be offended. I didn't write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

Hagee is one of these dudes who actually backs Israel because he thinks it will usher in the end-times and the mass slaughter or mass conversion to Christianity of all Jews. This idea of people supporting you because of your part in their delusional grand-plan looks familiar. Black nationalists--like Jewish nationalists--frequently flirted with people who had no love for them, but greatly endorsed their desires to return to Africa. This goes back to Garvey meeting with the Klan, and Elijah Muhammad dancing with George Rockwell (see above picture). In fact, Rockwell's meeting with the Nation was one of the main things that pushed Malcolm X out of the Nation. Man, ideology can be blinding.

Strange Bedfellows: Blacks And Applachian Whites

More Webb. Pay Attention, now. Watch him, at once, shut down Pat Buchanan, but at the same time give Appalachia the humanity it deserves. Check out his pitch for the real dream ticket--blacks and screwed over whites (Isn't that a page out LBJ's book?). Listen to his nuance critique of Affirmative Action, which he defends as a matter of historical redress for African-Americans, but attacks as a means to multiculturalism. I find him pretty convincing.

Folks, I have to tell you, this campaign has made me a better person. I was never a Farrakhanite or a "Kill Whitey" dude. But in my writing, in my personal life, and probably on this blog, I've been quick to deal in generalities. It's knee-jerk response to watching other people do it to black folks, but its wrong, dehumanizing, and intellectually lazy. It's a weak man who deals in broad stereotypes in order to avoid the complexities of actual human beings. Listen to what the man is saying about the commonalities between Appalachia and black America.  I was half-joking about the endorsement before. Now, I don't know how Barack doesn't chose Webb. It would be a beautiful union between two thinking people, two intellectuals, two writers, both of them representing two communities that this country really needs to come to terms with.

Jim Webb: Endorsed By Ta-Nehisi (Like It Matters)

I came away from this interview with Jim Webb incredibly impressed. He seemed sort of gruff toward Terry Gross, which brings me to a quick aside. Terry Gross is the best interviewer I've ever heard in my life. She has an ability to talk to people in a polite respectful way, challenge them when they need to be challenged, but at the same time, not come off as petty or lost in the throes of celebrity worship. I think it has something to do with her voice--it could lead you to underestimate her, and yet her questions are always so probing.

Anyway, I love Clair McCaskill. I think Katherine Sebelius or John Edwards would be great. But I really really really really liked Jim Webb's take on the Dems. His point about being anti-war, but not anti-military was a very nuanced. I love that he considers himself a writer first and a politician second, and I especially love his willingness to talk about prison reform. I haven't heard Obama speak much on this, and it'd be great to have someone on the ticket who was willing to deal with what is, for my money, the most important civil rights issue of our time. Anyway, check it out. lemme know what you think.

How To Deal With Police Brutality

This seems smart to me:

Four police officers who were caught on video beating three suspects in a drug-related triple shooting will be fired, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Monday.
Three other officers have been suspended, Commissioner Ramsey said at a news conference, and one officer has been demoted.

As some of you know, I think we need to take a new approach to police brutality cases. I think making prosecution the highpoint of an attempt to punish cops gone thug, or cops simply gone negligent is the sort of strategy that leads to community disappointment, mostly because people are loath to convict cops. I'm not saying that cops shouldn't be prosecuted--these guys especially should be--but to me the more important factor, the more forward-thinking concern, is getting these bums off the streets and removing their right to police my son. At the very least, they have forfeited that.

Then You See Something Like This...

...and you kinda understand.

And now for some reconcilliation

So I've spent most of today railing depressed, bemoaning the "gender/race" debate. But here's something I've been meaning to highlight for a while now. Megan McArdle offered up one of the most thoughtful posts on racism that I've seen in quite sometime. I can't really do it justice, but here's a beautiful graff from someone who "gets it."

...I saw Obama's speech as trying to bridge that divide--to say, as someone who had one foot in each community, "This is why the way they do things you don't like--not because they're different, but because they're very much like you." To be sure, he did it in a hamfisted way. But the grandmother example was, I thought, less an attempt to throw Grandma under the bus then to say that "racism is not the same thing as being an evil person". I'd venture to say that most white people know at least one older person who is both an extremely good, moral and virtuous person, and a racist. When it is a grandmother, a beloved teacher, a longtime employer, or a friend's parent, we discount their unacceptable beliefs, because we have personal proof of their general goodness. Thus we come to understand that good people can have very bad ideas. I think it was perfectly fair of Obama to extend that same charity to Reverend Wright.

What I love so much about Megan's post is that it rejects ideology and offers some humanity to this whole debate over this whole "state of racism" business. It's a great post. By all means check it out.

For Racists Who Like Telling People Who They Are Racist Against That Racism Is Dead

Eight out of ten Hillary voters in Kentucky say they will not support Barack Obama. I wonder why that could be...

Depressing...

I'm trying to be optimistic about this and stick with my standard, "we are the future" line. Very difficult when you read things like this:

Later, when asked if she thinks this campaign has been racist, she says she does not. And she circles back to the sexism. "The manifestation of some of the sexism that has gone on in this campaign is somehow more respectable, or at least more accepted, and . . . there should be equal rejection of the sexism and the racism when it raises its ugly head," she said. "It does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by the comments by people who are nothing but misogynists."

This is the same woman who, only a week ago, equated "white" with "hard-working," whose surrogate claimed that Obama would not be in the race if he weren't black. When I read things like that, it brings forth some really dark thoughts about race in this country, and how black people should proceed. This is the case for Malcolm X and Jeremiah Wright, the case for a complete blindness to a nation of black men toiling in prisons, to black girls growing up fatherless. This is the case against Barack Obama--that his compassion for people who step on his wife and kids for power, is in fact a compromise of black people. I know that this a short-sighted way of seeing the world, that the great tragedy of African-American life is that the only way forward is jettisoning of our anger. But of course it can't truly jettisoned, it can only be hidden and in moments like this it returns.

Feminists have expended whole barrels of ink wondering why the fuck they have virtually no following among black women. But over the past week all I've heard is this stupid-ass attempt to raise the profile of privileged white women at the expense of black boys and girls who I see out on Lennox Avenue scrapping in the belly of the beast. Nothing is more irritating than watching people who think they know what beef is because they watched Roots, and took an Af-Am Studies class at Wellesley, tell me that it's now all good. Hillary, and people who support this sort of invective, are loathsome and disgusting. I don't care if they're racist--they clearly find racism useful. The only women who they care about, the only young girls who they truly are concerned about, are the ones from their side of the tracks.

Especially The Blacks And The White Women

A comment below makes the point that we've heard more about racism than sexism in this campaign. That's probably true, but I don't think it's because racism is less acceptable or that it's because no one it's thinking about sexism. More likely it's because no one credible has actually accused Obama of gender-baiting. There is no one working on Obama's campaign who said that Clinton wouldn't be in the race if she were a woman. Michelle Obama was never quoted as saying that it's good Clinton is running for president and then slyly adding, Shirley Chisholm and Elizabeth Dole also ran for president. Barack Obama, himself, was never quoted implying saying that his base of black voters was synonymous with hard-working America.

My point is that racism has been an issue in this campaign, because Clinton and her people have made it one. I'm not sure I see a strategy here--I actually think that race-baiting hurt Clinton much more than it helped. Whites who would be affected by such tactics were going to go for her anyway. But  there was no guarantee that Obama was going to beat her 9 to 1 among black voters. That's really what killed her. But my point is that I don't so much see conspiracy as a see a complete lack of discipline. It's not that the Obama campaign is less sexist than the Clinton campaign is racist. How would we know that? It's that they're a much more disciplined group that, for the most part, understands that sometimes it's best to just shut up. The same can't be said for Hillary's surrogates. Look at Ferraro. Look at Bill Clinton. These fools race-bait and then defend it. They can't stop digging. And, evidently, Hillary can't pull rank and make them stop digging. Does Ferraro really believe she's helping Hillary's cause now? Probably not. It's just foolish pride, at this point.

Barbara Ehrenreich And White People's Ice

Nice piece from the always interesting Barbara Ehrenreich. Once again the parallels between the black struggle and feminist struggle are just stunning. Ehrenreich pillories this idea that it's some sort of noble accomplishment to show that women can be as vile and nasty as men. Pillory is the wrong word. She recognizes that the idea of innate female superiority is a myth which is ultimately destructive, and its good that Hillary is helping to rid us of that. But Ehrenreich rightly points out that she shouldn't be lionized for it. 

Was I saying something about parallels? Oh yes--this reminds me of how people often celebrate Bob Johnson as a black hero because he showed he could be just ruthless, cold, and calculating as any other white capitalist. Or folks who celebrate Frank Lucas because he showed that blacks too could be organized criminals. Yay. It's also the OJ reflex--defending and celebrating otherwise loathsome people, because the people who run the world are allowed thier share of otherwise loathsome people. There's some truth here--a true end to racism/sexism must include an end to noble savagery, or noble femininity. But the people who push such an end shouldn't be confused with people who actually raise the bar for morality for all people.

George Packer On The Future Of Conservativism

Very nice piece in this week's New Yorker. I'm impressed by the breadth of the sourcing. It is worth noting,however, that David Brooks made this point back in 2004. You remember 2004 don't you? That was the year when fools were running around talking a permanent majority. Brooks, to his credit, saw through all of it. His piece was written before the election. I wonder whether he had any second thoughts. Back to Packer. He has some lovely quotes in there especially from Pat Buchanan who once again reveals himself to be two steps from evil incarnate. Anyway my only issue with Packer is that he subscribes to the myth of Obama's problem with white working class which has been pretty well debunked. Otherwise, I loved it.

Keep Talking...

I don't even know if I should be linking this but what the hell. I felt bad for Rachel Maddow in this. I think she was trying to respect someone who's an icon to a lot of women. Ferraro actually goes so far as to say that Obama's Annie Oakley riff and the "dirt off your shoulder" move was sexist. We're getting to the point where some folks are just claiming disrespect because they lost. I know there's a lot of theorizing out there about this hurting Obama's ability to pull the votes of women. I'd be more likely to believe that were it not for the fact that one of the great tragedies of modern feminism is its inability to really get a hold on a broad swath of American women. I no more buy that Geraldine Ferraro represents American women, than I buy that Al Sharpton represents American blacks, or that John Hagee represents all church-goers. Anyway, one of the good things about watching this is it dispersed any anger I hold toward Ferraro. She's just a nut, and for the past twenty years she's been ignored. Here is her fifteen minutes, and she's milking it for all its worth. I wish her the best. As I've said before, she is not the future.