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Every Critic a Racist
08/24/2009 10:23 PM
John Stossel-->Share this story with friendsStumbleUponThe Boston Globe: "Obama shows an ability to transcend race”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Obama's success suggests we can transcend race”
But of course that hasn’t happened. Jonah Goldberg writes:
It was Obama’s supporters who hinted, teased, promised, and prophesied that Obama would help America “transcend race.” But now, it is they who shrink from their own promised land…
From Day 1, Obama’s supporters have tirelessly cultivated the idea that anything inconvenient for the first black president just might be terribly, terribly racist.
Goldberg has plenty of examples:
For instance, actress Janeane Garofalo summed up the tea parties thusly: “This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.”
In an ABC News story about how racist white militias are somehow connected to town-hall protests, Mark Potok of the dismayingly left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center insists Obama has “triggered fears among fairly large numbers of white people in this country that they are somehow losing their country.”
Come on. Every president eventually is criticized by the media – even one as “transcendent” as Obama. The President’s supporters should engage his critics with facts, not charges of racism.
August 24, 2009 in Race | Permalink | Share | User Comments (432)
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There are probably at most 5% that don't like the fact that Obama is black. The rest of the protesters are angry at an out of control government. This anger didn't start with Obama, but couple his insane spending with the horrible economy and there you go.
Posted by: Huh | Aug 24, 2009 11:24:41 PM
As I recall, Martin Luther King Jr. famously dreamed that his "four children [would] one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." In large part we have lived to see his dream.
We have seen the content of Obama's character, and we have found it wanting. His utopian vision of society -- a socialist vision -- is antithetical to American values.
The "at most 5%" of Americans who don't like Obama's skin color are on the wrong side of history, and they can go to Hades. And if there is a just God, those 5% will be joined by the likes of Garofalo, and all others of her ilk who cannot articulate reasoned arguments to defend their positions, responding only with charges of racism.
Obama is half white; therefore, I will direct any further criticisms of Obama to that half. But then, the racist epithet just doesn't work anymore -- the times, they are a changin'.
Posted by: Wayne | Aug 24, 2009 11:59:32 PM
Amen.
Posted by: Lucia W. | Aug 25, 2009 12:15:46 AM
Wayne, it couldn't have been said any better.
Posted by: Dallas | Aug 25, 2009 12:55:13 AM
as “transcendent” as Obamaha!gimme a break he can't even look a person in the eye
Posted by: dintvote4o | Aug 25, 2009 1:04:11 AM
John, you've hit it on the head. People who are so surprised and aghast at the claims that Obama's policies and direction are moving in a strikingly wrong direction - one that uses many of the same tactics, hype, symbolism, and ideology as naziism, marxism, socialism... a strange hybrid blend with the government being the dominating and dictating force - need to read history and wake up instead of lazily being entertained by hollywood.
Posted by: commonsense247 | Aug 25, 2009 1:12:43 AM
I disagree with Barack Obama because he is 100% liberal, not because he is 50% black.
Posted by: Paulie | Aug 25, 2009 1:37:33 AM
Those who scream racism when anyone disagrees with a black person are in so doing, saying that black people are only defined by skin color. (don't their thoughts/actions have any significance?)Isn't that in itself, "racism?" It should be insulting to them, not used as an excuse never to be challenged.
Posted by: Captain Obvious | Aug 25, 2009 1:57:05 AM
Your overall theme is correct, however, the examples you cite are largely related to the issues of race in this country! We as a country, not just Mr. Obama, have a long way to go to become racially trancendent!!!
Posted by: Centurion | Aug 25, 2009 5:46:09 AM
I personally am sick to death of being called a racist for disagreeing with O's policies...it has been used WAY to often. Sort of like Gov Patterson blaming all his problems on race. Why can't they just consider for one second that it has more to do with being competent than race. The shame of the whole issue is that there is still real racism out there and stupid people and their stupid claims of racism at every turn draw attention from where it should be...on the real problems of racism. If I were REALLY a victim of racism, I would be so ticked at these people throwing the word around like confetti...
Posted by: samhiguchi | Aug 25, 2009 5:52:21 AM
"The President’s supporters should engage his critics with facts" - Stossel, perhaps you should direct the same criticism to those who lambast the public option as "socialism" while defending the government run Medicare or those who those who promote end-of-life counseling one year but then decry it as "death panels" the next year. Your column (or whatever you call this) is short on journalism and long on extreme ideology.
Posted by: Mark from atlanta | Aug 25, 2009 8:13:57 AM
Mark, I think John would if the critics of health care reform were calling the proponents "racist" rather than putting forth legitimate concerns on the scope of American government.
Posted by: not the real jb | Aug 25, 2009 8:21:07 AM
Obama is black?
Posted by: ronam46 | Aug 25, 2009 8:32:30 AM
Give me a break. He proved his bias in the Gates case. Race is an issue, but only to HIM. It is ironic that it is a black president who wants to enslave the whole country to government with his Marxist laws...
Posted by: Staushoo | Aug 25, 2009 8:33:47 AM
The "public" option of healthcare IS Socialism. If the government is running it, it's Socialism.
Posted by: winston | Aug 25, 2009 8:35:52 AM
Left off the story about MSNBC claiming racists were bringing guns to Obama rallies. (The problem was, of course, that the cropped video they showed was a black man carrying a gun, not a white man.)
http://community.marketwatch.com/groups/us-politics/topics/msnbc-gun-toting-protesters-white-racists
Posted by: Matt | Aug 25, 2009 8:37:36 AM
Stoessel, you racist! RACIST!!
Posted by: James O'Sullivan | Aug 25, 2009 8:38:20 AM
I believe government run health care is unsustainable = I am a racist
I believe government spending is out of control = I am a racist
I believe Obama's social engineering goes against the US Constitution = I am a racist
Posted by: Nate | Aug 25, 2009 8:39:03 AM
Ah but John, you know how the game works. Talk to Frank Luntz. They are simply using words that work. How do you make your opposition retreat or pause? Use terms like "racist", "extremist", "hatemonger", "bigot", "swastikas", "brownshirts" -- if you can't win on facts, win on emotions and the influencing of behavior.
People like Mark Potok are jedi-masters of putting their opposition on their heels. Glenn Beck spends more time defending himself against these spurious attacks that are doing exactly what they're designed to do -- to keep people from hitting the real ideas.
Give it to these people. They're brilliant at what they do.
Everytime they smack you with one of these labels, you need to double your resolve and fight back twice as hard.
Posted by: Charlie | Aug 25, 2009 8:39:48 AM
Please...many of the protesters aren't Republican or Democrat. They are from the Constitution Party of Libertarian Party and are against big government. Obama has created his own problems by being perhaps one of the most partisan Presidents in history. If anyone has been racist, it has been Obama and his Administration, which proved it in the Gates case and in some of Obama's supporters who defend his policies.
Posted by: Steve S | Aug 25, 2009 8:39:57 AM
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Stossel hits the nail on the head. More proof that Obama is filled with pleasing platitudes rather than truth. Remember where the accusation of racism is coming from and it isn't from conservatives. The more Obama and his allies are running around talking to their lapdog media allies (Katie Curic, Jon Stewart, et al.) the more these people are beginning to look like the emperor without any clothes.
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