Barack Obama Quote Of The Day
“Is it foolish to think that a nation stained by centuries of slavery and racism is prepared to elect a black president? Rarely phrased so bluntly, that’s the central question posed by Barack Obama’s candidacy — especially for many African-American voters, whose doubts are informed by having seen many an oasis turn out to be a mirage.” – Eugene Robinson, writing in the Washington Post, Dec 11, 2007
This quote, from the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, I think accurately portrays the skepticism that many black’s had to the possibility of a black president being elected. This is why so many black’s at this point were Hillary Clinton as opposed to Barack Obama supporters. They seriously underestimated how badly white America wanted to vote for a black president.
On a side note I’m debating whether to use the term ‘African American’ more instead of ‘Black’. To me it is a somewhat silly term. Is there anything wrong with being called ‘Black’ or ‘Brown’ or ‘White”. Further, how would you describe someone like Nelson Mandela? A little heavy on the ‘African’, light on the ‘American’, if you ask me.
Barack Obama Quote Of The Day
“I want Barack Obama to be president,in 2016. It’s not a matter of being inexperienced. It’s a matter of being young … there’s a certain level of maturity … you’ve got to learn to take a certain amount of (expletive) … There are more black people that Bill and Hillary lean on, you cannot be president alone. … To put a brother in there by himself is to set him up for crucifixion. His time will come and the world will be ready for a visionary leadership.” – Civil rights icon Andrew Young, explaining why he doesn’t believe Obama’s time is now, largely due to his lack of a support network, Dec 10, 2007
I think this quote showed some prescience on Andrew Young’s part. Due to his inexperience, Obama didn’t have a support network of any kind coming in. Reagan had Reagan people, Clinton had Clinton people. Who did Obama have? This is the reason there were so many leftovers, particularly from the Clinton years, in his administration. The line about learning to take a certain amount of (expletive) is noteworthy as well. If you’re going to pass legislation in a truly bipartisan way you have to learn to take some hits. I was never a John McCain fan as a politician, but this is what he did constantly. When he worked with Kennedy on immigration reform it nearly cost him the nomination. Obama initially supported this effort, but bailed when the temperature got too hot. Obama never learned what it takes to get things done, as he never got anything done.
Obama Quote Of The Day
“If, as president, I travel to a poor country to talk to leaders there, they will know I have a grandmother in a small village in Africa without running water, devastated by malaria and AIDS. What that allows me to do is talk honestly not only about our need to help them, but about poor countries’ obligation to help themselves. There are cousins of mine in Kenya who can’t get a job without paying an exorbitant bribe to some midlevel functionary. I can talk about that.”
“I have lived in the most populous Muslim country in the world, had relatives who practiced Islam. I am a Christian, but I can say I understand your worldview, although I may not agree with how Islam has evolved. I can speak forcefully about the need for Muslim countries to reconcile themselves to modernity in ways they have failed to do.” – Obama, speaking on why his biography will allow him to deal differently with the world, Dec 10, 2007
I think this quote really demonstrates Obama’s overestimation of the value of his story in relation to the rest of the world. Saying “I can relate to you” may help in an AA meeting, but nations often have competing interests. Saying “I can relate to you” isn’t going to convince Iran give up its nuclear program, for example. In fact, it is likely to have just the opposite effect as the Iranian leadership would likely find it amazing that the leader of the world’s most powerful country could believe in such touchy-feely notions. If I were the leader of a rogue nation, and Obama said this to me, I would take it as a signal to step on the gas before reality wises him up.
Related articles
- Quote of the day, “Obama’s campaign and metaphors” edition (crushliberalism.com)
- Quote in context (alhittin.com)
Obama Quote Of The Day
“Hillary Clinton is running from the center, John Edwards is running from the left. And Obama is running from above. He wants to be above politics.” – Dennis Goldford, a Drake University political scientist, Dec 8, 2007
Obviously, this is not quote from Brarack Obama, but it is about him. I think this quote goes a long way to explaining the initial appeal of the Obama candidacy. At this point Obama was still considered a long shot over Hillary Clinton, but he was beginning to make some headway. One of the reasons for this was that he spoke to Americans who wanted to be part of something more, something beyond politics. This is why so many of Obama’s early campaign appearances took on the the feeling of a religious revival. He was promising something more than politics as usual, vote for me because Republicans are bad etc. He saw fault everywhere and offered the promise that he could transcend it, much as he transcended race. Hillary was running a conventional campaign from the centre, whereas Obama was above it all right from the beginning.
The Obama Quote Of The Day
“”JFK said, ‘Let’s go to the moon,’” without knowing specifically how to get there”
This was actually in response to a pointed question from a student asking for “concrete examples of action’s you’re going to take.” What is interesting here is that this reasonable question came from a kid, not the press corps. Obama’s glib answer, though, is revealing. It shows that he hasn’t even thought about it. To Obama, there is no connection between words and reality. After all, he’s never had to do anything concrete in the real world, words had been enough to this point. Saying you’re going to the moon at least demonstrates that you have a destination in mind. Obama is even incapable of doing that. He could never articulate just what the ultimate destination was (what does he want to “transform America” into?), never mind outlining a plan on how to get there.
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- Quote of the Day: Obama Goes Gaga (michellemalkin.com)
Obama Quote Of The Day
“Maybe one day he’ll do something to merit all this attention.”
- Michelle Obama, commenting on the fawning treatment her husband was getting upon being sworn into the Senate.
Buffett, Corporate Jets, and Fair Taxes
In light of the current discussions on the rich paying their “fair share” and Obama’s obsession with taxing corporate jet owners, I found this article from May 13, 2007 to be pretty interesting. It explores a George W. Bush proposal to cut the amount passenger carriers pay like American Airlines pay while increasing the obligation on small-jet operators.
The issue here is that the same amount of work, as measured in attention from air-traffic controllers, is required whether the plane is a Boeing 757 or a Gulfstream. In 2007 the 757 would pay $2015 in taxes vs $236 for a smaller craft. The proposal was almost Obamaesque. Shouldn’t the amount paid by the masses be cut by forcing the corporate jet set to pay more? Under Bush’s plan, the 757 would pay $1298 vs $837 for the Gulfstream.
Opponents of the measure point out that the increased taxes would increase the flight costs for rural areas that depend on small planes and for organizations like the Air Care Alliance, which arranges free flights on small planes for sick people. I don’t recall Obama mentioning this when he lambastes corporate jet owners.
I’m not sure how all this played out, but I’m still looking into it.
Oh, and do you know who one of the big opponents of this measure was? NetJets Inc., a business-jet charter business owned by none other than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Funny that.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=home&sid=a_weVSOX_Ito
Related articles
- FLIP, MEET FLOP: Now Obama Wants To Extend Tax Breaks For Corporate Jet Owners? He was for them, t… (pajamasmedia.com)
- Corporate Jets Face $100-a-Flight Fee in Obama Deficit Plan (businessweek.com)
The Incredible Shrinking President
One of the things I find most fascinating about the collapsing Obama presidency is how President Obama seems to be literally shrinking before our eyes. Bill McGurn, writing in the Wall Street Journal, has a good article on this. Entitled “The President’s Speech Impediment” he explains why the grander the stage, the smaller Obama comes across.
In the past Obama reveled in giving speeches in grand locations. Campaigning in Berlin or giving a speech in front of false Greek columns, for example. The reason why he was able to get away with this is that his soaring rhetoric seemed to match his glorious surroundings. Now that reality has set in it turns out that Obama isn’t some kind of new or transformational character. In fact, in many ways he’s just a regular Chicago style politician. The substance is not living up to the hope. That’s why he is becoming smaller with every speech he gives. What’s worse is that he doesn’t seem to understand this reality. As Maureen Dowd put it in the New York Times:
Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed.
The Speech Illusion is a good way to put it. The illusion of what he promised isn’t matching the reality of what’s he’s done. That’s why he’s shrinking.
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Solyndra Goes Bankrupt
Debra Saunders has written an interesting article highlighting the Solyndra energy debacle. Essentially, this was one of Obama’s examples of “investing in the future” in order to create “green jobs”. I’m sure it all looked good on paper, and solar panels are a sexy technology that politicians love. The only problem is that the firm, which was given a $535 million dollar federal loan, is now bankrupt. The article nicely points on the weaknesses inherit in governments making these kinds of investments. The main one being that these decisions are made for political (solar panels are sexy, investing in a new broom factory isn’t) purposes, not economic ones. What it misses, though, I think, is the real harm to the economy that these kind of decisions cause.
When investments are made like this it uses up resources that might have been used profitably elsewhere. If the $535 million dollars (that amount the feds invested in Solyndra) had been left in the private sector, what new products or services might have been bought or created? If Solyndra had been allowed to go bankrupt sooner, how would its human capital been used? Is it possible that some of its talented engineers etc might have started new companies on their own? Or perhaps help existing companies grow and prosper? We’ll never know, as that money is now gone and that time has been wasted. And people wonder why the US economy is limping along?
Why False Charges Of Racism Hurt Obama
Peter Wehner, as usual, has a good article in “Contentions” this morning. Entitled “A Racism Charge Without Evidence”, it talks about how many media commenters are now routinely and all too casually smearing opponents of the Obama administration with charges of racism. Racism, real racism, is a terrible and horrendous thing, which is why it should only be used against the real thing. When it is used as a baseless accusation against legitimate political disagreements it robs it of any meaning. What’s more I wonder if these commentators understand how much damage they are doing to Obama by engaging in these tactics. One of Obama’s big selling points was that he was “post racial”. That was his brand and a large part of his appeal. By attempting to defend him in this way they are unwittingly undermining one of the great raison d’être’s for his presidency.
