In Barack Obama's appearance last month on CBS's "60 Minutes," the conversation turned to the president-elect's long-time love of Lincoln.Let us leave aside the fact that it takes some serious semantic games to turn a comment on Obama's admiration of Lincoln into him making the comparison. Let us leave aside, Politico's "backlash" consists of two historians--one of them being Sean Wilentz. Let us also mercifully ignore that the Politco, in a shocking bit of unwitting humor and irony, headlined their own story"Strawman."
"There is a wisdom there," Obama told interviewer Steve Kroft, "and a humility about his approach to government, even before he was president, that I just find very helpful."
Humility? Obama's frequent invocations of Abraham Lincoln -- a man enshrined in myth and marble with his own temple on the National Mall -- would not at first blush say much about his own instincts for modesty or self-effacement.
And now there are early rumblings of a backlash to Obama's ostentatious embrace of all things Lincoln, with his not-so-subtle invitations to compare the 44th president to the 16th, the "Savior of the Union."
Simply put, some scholars think the comparisons have gone a bit over the top hat.
No, let us focus on the authors. The name of one them--Alexander Burns--rings a bell. I wonder why? Oh yeah, Bell has written about Obama and Lincoln before. Or more to the point, he interview Doris Kearns Goodwin about the comparisons. Surely he would not have insinuated any comparison between Obama and Lincoln in that interview, would he? Certainly he had taken that opportunity to furrow his brow at the such facile, flavor of the moment comparisons, hadn't he? Hadn't he??
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
The arrogance of the political establishment is matched and exceeded only by the arrogance of the media, which is in turn matched and exceeded only by the arrogance of movie stars.
Which is in-turn only exceeded by the arrogance of bloggers who dare point out the arrogance of all others.
I saw this earlier today and found it very funny that the authors included the word straw man in their headline. good stuff. Also, clearly Obama is Lebron. Came from the state senate to the presidency in 4 years. If that ain't King James territory I don't know what is.
The Politico fucking sucks. It's a political gossip rag that only survived for two years because there happened to be an incredibly historic and dramatic presidential race going on. Now, they don't have shit to do but drum up bullshit stories like this or about how Obama doesn't have any southerners in his cabinet. Am I seriously supposed to care that no one from Alabama made it in?
Prediction: the Politico will be gone in two years.
Obama's just getting a dose of the old "BlackTax."
I mean it's not bad enough that the pundits on one side of their mouth demand that he starts acting like he already is president even though he is not. But then, with the other side of their mouth, they claim he is being presumptuous for doing so.
They invent this Roosevelt narrative. I could live the rest of my life without hearing the term "team of rivals again. Then, they call him egotistical for saying he admires Lincoln.
Folks talk about the black tax as being the fact that black folks have to work twice as hard as white folks in order to be respected as equals.
That's all good.
But here's the real black tax I have noticed. And I am definitely noticing it now with Obama's pre-presidency ridicule. And it's the fact that people are simply waiting for an opening, one "chink" in the armor to totally discredit him.
As if to say "I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. You are no different than the rest of them."
I mean if the way folks were salivating over his "knowledge" of what Blagojevich was up to was not enough, then how think back during the general election and the primary for that matter.
Remember the volatility of the polls when even the slightest disparaging affiliation was mentioned in reference to Obama.
McCain's support, even as he completely lost it on stage and sounded like an Alzheimer's patient who had recently been caught trying to escape the nursing home, never saw the same volatility.
This is the real "black tax" Obama is going to have to worry about. Bush was apparently misinformed and mistakenly got us into a War. They accidentally leaked the name of CIA agents to the media.
But mark my words, all Michelle Obama has to do is to walk outside without her hair properly coiffed, or all he's got to do is forget to treat the Republican opposition with enough deference, and Obama will have hell to pay.
Devona Walker
theloop21.com
Patagonia, you are indeed correct. It's almost as if Politico "journalist" write all of their stories from their basement. They are not doing *any* interesting original reporting these days. It's all manufactured stories. That piece about Lincoln was obviously cooked up and then they called one historian who hates Obama and had already written a specious hit piece in the New Republic during the primaries. Then, they called up Foner and likely asked generic questions that had nothing to do with Obama, and then spliced them in there to make it seem as if Foner was saying that Obama was comparing himself to Lincoln. It's high school newspaper territory over there.
I thought the article was really weird and it's position as the lead story on The Politico is truly bizarre. I mean, in what sense is speculation about the possible inaccuracy of the equivalence -- and the implied arrogance of an alleged self-comparisson -- between Obama and Lincoln a lead story in these times? I think the MSM is going nuts right now. They are desperate, DESPERATE, to poke a hole in O's utter self-possession and reassuring competence. I mean, that stuff's so boooring, right?
Boggles the mind.
"Obama's frequent invocations of Abraham Lincoln -- a man enshrined in myth and marble with his own temple on the National Mall -- would not at first blush say much about his own instincts for modesty or self-effacement."
First of all, he makes it sound like Lincoln himself constructed the statue on the National Mall, or it was his idea. Second, Whatever!? Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.
And to invoke Sean Wilentz as proof that Obama is risking a "Lincoln backlash." Wilentz elevated disingenuousness to an art form in his defense of Hillary! against the brown hoardes voting for Obama - especially his "Bill didn't play the race card, Barrack did" essay in the spring. Slow news day over at Politico apparently.
The "black tax" pretty much applies to anyone not of the majority in a certain cultural setting. Be it gay people, women, or a host of other designations.
Jackassery.
When Obama was elected, Darryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index had a whole section of political cartoons pairing Lincoln and Obama. It's still there if anyone wants to look - "Lincoln Likes Obama" and "Obama Wins" on www.cagle.com) They'd probably make an interesting essay subject themselves, some are playful, some reverent, some with Lincoln and Obama giving each other the thumbs up, some pairing Lincoln and MLK, many playing with the iconography of the Lincoln Memorial. (One even has the memorial empty, with someone saying Lincoln isn't back from Chicago yet). So, yeah, unless Politico wants to argue that Political cartoonists are on the Obama payroll, this is just silly.
I'm sure the last laugh will be on us, though-- Politico can easily defuse our criticism by giving some examples of the many presidents who didn't admire Lincoln.
I was hoping the neo-confederationists would have shown up by now.
"Humility? LINCOLN??? He started a war over whether The South would have the right to self-determine!"
Now that I think about it, they probably don't show up much except in libertarian circles...
the Politico piece is stupid. Imagine the story if Obama quotes the Bible.
This piece was ridiculous. The Republicans nearly worked themselves into a stupor trying to out-Reagan each other by invoking him over every single thing, but Obama talks about his admiration for Lincoln and somehow that makes him presumptuous? GTFOH.
The whole thing just makes me uncomfortable--there are obvious parallels between Obama and Lincoln--they both are lawyers, they both got their start in the Illinois legislature, and they were both elected President with *relatively* little experience. Maybe I should be arrested for pointing this out. The fact that Obama, gasp, shock, horror may mention some of these parallels in the same breath that he expresses his admiration for Abe doesn't make him presumptuous.
Between this and the Southerners article, Politico really pissed me off today.
Politico is a hothouse for inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom, as if David Broder's brain were mapped and programmed for cyberspace by Rove/Drudge acolytes. This is the Web site, after all, that is breathlessly chronicling how Obama skips church to shoot some hoops. Straw man, indeed.
They do break news on occasion, however. If only their insight were as deep as their contacts.
I was unaware anyone still gave a flying fornication what Sean Wilentz thought about anything. The idea that someone thought he might have anything rational to say about Obama, given Wilentz's history of writing about Obama, is particularly absurd.
Hack, hack, hackety hack.
Politico has some good reporters. What it lacks is any editorial discipline. Some days they're the post-modern NYT. Others, they're Drudge on stilts.
As for Lincoln and BarryO, the real similarity is in their understanding of the power of words. Read Lincoln's Sword while you remember Obama's speeches.
Hackety hack-hack is right.
I don't read Politico but recall its smarmy origins. I recall thinking at the time that maybe Jim VandeHei and John Harris, the cofounders, got a little punch-drunk from very spirited media criticism of their work at the Post. That was back when VandeHei was called Pool Boy. Question is: who funded them?
Does anyone remember that Bush press conference maybe three years ago when he actually winked at Mike Allen, then rising to ask him a question? He smirkily invited Allen to advertise his new digs at a new news outlet--Politico. Allen obliged, smirkingly. It was revolting. News as an inside joke. Heh. heh.
This is a stretch and a half. They (the general media) is trying to find anything to put another Black man down but it's not going to work this time. I mean he is confident and to some insecure eyes, that means he is arrogant. Got it all wrong.
The only time PE Obama should worry about a "Black tax" is if he or anyone in his administration starts worrying about a "Black tax." Those who want to will throw undeserved stones, rhetorical and otherwise, no matter what he does. As for the media, once you identify yourself as food for the beast, you don't get to decide when to ring the dinner bell.
Sean Wilentz is a HATER. Plain and simple. Politico is useless.
I'm too lazy to read the comments above, so sorry if this is a repeat, but... wasn't the 60 minutes question something like 'have you been reading about any past presidents for guidance?'
What's he supposed to do? Meditate on the crappy presidents? Oh yes... I've been reading all about Buchanan. No no... Filmore. That's the ticket.
*eyes roll out of head*
"Prediction: the Politico will be gone in two years."
I doubt it. Politico is teaming up with Reuters. Now all newspapers can reprint crappy stories from Politico.
Shorter Politico: Waaaah! Only Republicans can mention Lincoln! And only when they're trying to get the black vote!!
Sad.
I used to call Politico a print blog*, but then I started reading blogs, so now I just call it colorful ass-wipe.
Well McCain did run that weird commercial that compared Obama to Moses. However, I predict that if Obama does quote the Bible 666 TalEvangicals will leap out of James Dobson's ass and screech "The Devil can quote scripture for his own ends!"
Whatever. In one corner we'll have a bunch of cretins yapping about irrelevant shit, chewing on the ropes and punching themselves in the face. In the other we'll have Team Obama getting things done.
That's a TKO you can believe in.
*Sorry, it was snotty journalist thing but now I'm cured.
@htp: That James Dobson reference/quote made my week.
This isn't the first time Obama has gotten crap for supposedly comparing himself to a Republican President. During the campaign, Clinton, Edwards as well as leading lefty bloggers accused Obama of praising Reagan and his ideas when in fact Obama was saying something different.
This is such a rehash of the old "Obama is an aloof celebrity/uppity negro" myth with just the slightest variation. They had to dig this one out of the garbage...
So Obama has a role model. For arrogance, look to the Bush administration.
Anna,
---The only time PE Obama should worry about a "Black tax" is if he or anyone in his administration starts worrying about a "Black tax."---
Yeah...sadly? It doesn't work that way. This isn't one of those "if you go searching for it, you'll get it" type of things. I do agree with the rest of your comment, though.
Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith have been pissin' me off since last January.
Whatever they have in the way of contacts and understanding they more than lose in pompous attitude and sensationalism.
The person who said they were mapping out David Broder's brain made me chuckle. *high five*
Politico is a right-wing rag. Why do you think some of us call it Drudgico? Also, look at the money behind it. A family with a history of contributions to nutters(Glennzilla did a full take down a while back). They aren't going anywhere. They are like Roll Call or is itThe Hill? They survive, just barely, because they give freebies out to all of Capitol Hill, so advertisers will pay for it. They don't make money, but they don't lose a ton(unlike the Washington Times). So yes, you can say it is a form of wingnut welfare.
Saw this on WaPo - I think the Fix:
"Of his job interview with the Illinois Senator, Gaspard [incoming WH political director] recalled Obama saying: 'I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director.'"
Arrogance? Maybe, but from his track record, it seems likely that he might actualy be better than his advisers. I can live with the best at the top, trusting his own judgment, rather than that of his VP or his advisers.