YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMING
Former Los Angeles Rams head coach Chuck Knox used to love to taunt the opposing team by saying "we're going up the middle with McCutcheon and if you can stop us, I congratulate you."
Well, we're going to hit Barack Obama hard again and if you can stop us, I congratulate you. Nobody has yet. Not a single person has EVER pointed to a single thing this cretin has ever done well or GOOD. Oh sure, every now and then we get a remark in response to one of our attacks on Obama about "disappointment." Oh sure, the Hillary Clinton post was greeted with some skepticism. And the comments were all on point. No disagreement with anything anyone wrote about her. It's all true. She's right-wing. Agreed. She's overly political. Agreed. The comments about the Edwards post were thoughtful and well-reasoned. There must have been 20 posts already here about Obama. It's fun to trash him. But what's it going to take for everyone to wake up to the real fucking asshole running for presdient? Does this guy have to personally drag you out of your house in front of your kids and ship you to Guantanamo?
OK. We're going to try reason once again in the hopes that someone, anyone, will either give a persuasive argument that Obama is somehow "more progressive" than Clinton or just fucking wave the white flag and concede Kelso the point. Readers must be warned in advance, however, that after "reason" we're not going to be very nice about things. Bit of a preview. Couldn't fucking find that O.J. Simpson story on the front page of La Prensa today. Just more -- yawn -- economics. Couldn't fucking find that O.J. Simpson story on the front page of La Prensa's sports section. Just -- double yawn -- boxing and baseball. Small item on page 4 of sports section about O.J. Simpson. But just for the sake of science, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for this blanco to take a little stroll down Calle 50 and find a negro to ask about O.J. and Obama. Then, for the control group Kelso will also ask a mono and trigueno. What do you reckon? Kelso's money is on blank stares.
This from a comment on OpenLeft following the disgraceful Lieberman's plea to General Petraeus to invade Iran.
Isn't it comforting to know that Mr. Obama did what he could to insure Lamont's defeat and Lieberman's victory.
During the Patraeus hearings, Obama reiterated that he had "opposed the war in 2006." Actually, in 2006 he was in Connecticut stumping for Lieberman.
Obama's words re: Lieberman's reelection:
"Joe Lieberman's a man with a good heart, with a keen intellect...I am absolutely certain that Connecticut's going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the United States Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf."
- Obama - March 2006
Every time a vote falls short, thanks in part to the unwavering warmongering obstructionism of Lieberman, I think of Obama's part in undermining the Lamont candidacy instead of using his largely undeseserved star power to help him.
When I read the blogs puffing up Obama - searching for little nuggets of meaning in his carefully timed pronouncements - I am consistantly aware that Obama's betrayal of those who took a strong stand against the war means little to them. It's just a blip they can ignore while they search for meaning elsewhere.
by: lentinel @ Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 06:12:59 AM CDT
Very nicely put. And to be brutally honest Kelso has yet to see proof that Obama ever opposed the war in Iraq even though his position as Illinois State Senator at the time was pretty fucking meaningless to the question.
Now, we're going up the middle with McCutcheon and if you can stop us, we congratulate you. About 15 years ago Jimmy Breslin wrote a column in New York Newsday saying that America's two biggest problems were race and loneliness. It was a pretty thought-provoking column and had Kelso been reading with his capitalist ears he might have made some money off of the LOV IPO. But that's the loneliness part. The race part? Fuck it all, Laura Ingraham and Chris Matthews and Lou Dobbs have done one hell of a job proving that the USA's race problem isn't going anywhere anytime soon and this is so very key to why nobody's going near this Obama thing no matter how hard Kelso hits it.
It is important for anyone reading this to realize why this is so galling. Kelso lives in a pretty color-blind country. Just having to explain the Negro Leagues to friends was fucking embarrassing because people were either laughing their asses off or incredulous. Kelso didn't even try to explain why it's somehow discourteous in the US to identify someone by their skin color or religion or ethnicity or sexual orientation because of all the fucking complications. In a color-blind, tolerant, modern capitalist republic it is not discourteous to describe someone that way because no one cares. Do you see where this is leading?
Kelso is going to make this hard shit easy on everyone. Right out front. Joe Lieberman is a despicable kike rat-fuck. And any gentile may feel free at any time to use exactly those words in the comments if they fit. OK. Are we on the same page now?
Electing Barack Obama president would not be some giant sign of progress. Nor regress, really. It would be electing Joe Lieberman. Those Blacks who like the guy can celebrate if they like just as some Jews would have celebrated the election of Lieberman as Gore's VP on ethnic grounds. Fine. But it is NOT RACIST to say that Obama's a phony, a religious freak, a scold, and probably dangerous. It probably is a sign of progress that a Black guy can be a shitheel like that. Sort of in the way Powell and Rice and Thomas are. Nobody has to fit anybody's expectation of anything. Obama does not have to be John Conyers. Nor does Harold Ford, Jr. They can both be just the kind of assholes they are. Lieberman doesn't have to be Michael Schwerner or Andy Goodman. He can be the cunt he is (an aside: Lamont should have called Lieberman out when he pretended to have had Schwerner and Goodman's commitment to civil rights!) But for White people and especially progressives, liberals, whatever, why is it so impossible to say what is plain about Barack Obama. They say it about Clinton. And Obama has not exactly concealed what he is. He's not a religious freak? He's not a hawk? His own book is a manual for Democratic surrender to the Republican party. You don't have to call him dirty racist names. Just open the eyes. Please.
There was a time when a little ersatz political correctness could actually have helped: when Rep. Barbara Lee was the first politician to stand up and say "no" fearlessly to George Bush -- about everything including Afghanistan. Who the fuck knows? Maybe it's not even racial. Maybe Representative Lee would have been every progressive's hero if she looked like Halle Berry. But if you want to feel good about yourself, keeping your eyes closed about Barack Obama is not the answer. Get a kitten or something.
Kelso's Nuts love you
6 comments:
Kelso - excellent post. Like you, I would find that give Lieberman or Obama a "pass" because they are Jewish and black respectively is racist. To hold them to different standards because of their religion or skin color is that soft bigotry of lowered expectations that someone's president likes to go on about.
You, my man, are so prolific in your though and words and so profound in your ideas that you make me feel like a mental midget sometimes. I envy your experiences and success, but not in a way that makes me not like you. Rather you make me wonder why I'm putting up with shit instead of throwing off the things I let keep me treading water.
I'm glad you're back to writing.
As for the color/race thing in the U.S., I think it's moved into the "more acceptable" category in what are deemed polite circles. Where people might be loathe to discuss race and ethnicity, they cloak in talk of legalities such as immigration status.
The United States is such a prize now that we have no room for the tired, the poor, the hungry, ours much less anyone elses. We're so busy convincing and reminding ourselves of our greatness that we don't have time or energy to think about those dark-skinned, pale-skinned people who make the country go, who do the work, pluck the chickens, build the roads, houses, fill the pews, and shelves, clean the toilets and mulch the bushes.
Martinis. Wine. Cigars. Good Kelso post. It's like a jolt of energy and the fingers they just fly. Sorry for the ramble, man.
This, along with your previous post on Adm. Fallon, compels me to echo DCup's well-placed gush in her second graph above. You are now my favourite expat in Blogovia.
Love you writin' and keepin' at it (word to Fran on your compelling sense of flow), but I waver on you remaining my best-kept secret. I don't want to be responsible for sending a bunch of assholes your way, although I have every confidence in your low-key blogger powers to dispatch them with great aplomb.
Kelso - they all think he's a righteous dude.
Puh-leeze, D-CUP. "A mental midget"? Your blog is gin rummy every time. It's well-written and has a consistent thesis and is always mad sexy and I mean that in the nicest way possible.
I've led an unusual life but the success was really produced by hard work and study not by any particular genius. I'm certain no one to envy or emulate. I'm contrary and dark and you've already gotten the overs on me. You have a wonderful family.
I couldn't reconcile my ambitions with those very things, I'd imagine, that keep you treading water. I physically and emotionally COULDN'T visit in-laws or go out to dinner with couples I didn't like. So, I'd just narcotize myself with more work and more ambition and pretend "family life" and "communication" and all of the staples of the middle-class "relationship" weren't there. I was and am a great father but not a terribly great "family man," albeit a responsible one.
None of which takes away the political element of the latest adventure. That sort of falls into the category of the old Chris Rock routine about it sucking so back to be Black in America that none of the audience would switch places with him and HE'S RICH.
All sorts of experiences are out there to be had. All sorts of achievements are well within both your reach and grasp. You certainly have the intelligence but everything comes with a price. How badly do you want an unconventional life? How much ambition do you have? Are you really willing to do what's necessary?
It was right for me because boredom terrifies me. It might not be right for you. That said, if your family's up for something different, the world can be your oyster. Lots of countries out there and they don't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Didn't a wise man say "...you have nothing to lose but your chains"?
Glad you got the "soft bigotry of low expectations" joke in there because I was intending to do it and just forgot.
O'Tim:
I'm very grateful for your continued support. Don't be afraid to tell anyone to drop by the Nuts. I don't think I've ever lost a game of the "dozens" or a pub debate live or in Blogovia (great name which I'm stealing from you). Pretty hard to offend my sensibilities.
Everyone's always free to comment here. I do not censor. I'm more concerned that if you send an asshole my way, I'll be responsible for making someone maybe you sort of like cry. And around here there's no blog mommy like at BlueGal's to tell everyone to play nice. There's only me and I play super-nice and super-gentlemanly with everyone who comments unless they are disrespectful and then I don't play so nice.
You're too pleasant a dude, I'd imagine, to have any friends who are total assholes, so please feel free. I surely don't like to do any self-promoting. So, if I'm going to get more traffic, it's going to have to be by word of TECLADO (keyboard in Lou Dobbs's favorite language).
Well, I'll answer it because I'm not hung over. I'm procrastinating because I have a lot of real work to do.
The answer is pretty simple, really. It sounds corny but it's all just people. Stop SAYING "some of my best friends are Black, Muslim, Gay, whatever..." and MAKE some friends who are. As in friends. Like do normal stuff you do with your White friends. Hang out. Watch a game. Have a meal. Party. This isn't nuclear physics. This is -- or should be -- normal life.
Of course, it's easy for me to have an "amazing perspective". I happen to live in a place which by virtue of some combination of its importance to international trade, it's having been colonized twice, it's agnosticism on the war on terror, it's emphasis on privacy, and it's complete separation from the US has created an environment amenable to let's say "interest group"-blindness. If I wanted to be a total bigot, I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BECAUSE THE POPULATION IS SO DIVERSE AND MIXED.
All I can do is laugh when White American centrist say how Barack Obama represents a post-racial America. No, that's 180 degrees wrong. Barack Obama represents what those centrists would like a post-racial America to look like: where the Blacks are nice people like Obama and Oprah and Bill Cosby and fucking Urkel or whatever the fuck he was called and the "superpredators" are in prison or have been electrocuted.
But the nice thing about a mixed society is that somehow all the PC shit goes up in smoke and all the -isms aren't really applicable. Feminism in America is way cool. Here, it's not a big deal because the hot-button issues -- pay equity, access to contraception and abortion -- are already resolved in way that would be intolerable in America.
Oh my Kelso, my Kelso. My Kels-selah! How I adore you.
You never fail to call it all out and I mean, motherfucking call it all out.
Yes Obama and Schmoe get passes. Our society remains fucked on the topics of diversity and integration. (whch btw is a word that has lost its meaning... so many take it to represent honor. no it is about wholeness.
I am not writing this for my own self promotion, but I hear what you say. Uh-oh, it is a Kelso-like length comment from FranIam on Kelso's blog.
Turnabout is fair play! Hah!
Anyway, my mother grew up dirt poor, white trash poor in Harlem, in the 20's during the Harlem Renaissance. My grandfather was the "super" (superintendent or custodian in places other than NYC) in the nice building.
Their family of 6 lived in a 3 room apartment and did not live well.
They were often cared for and subsidized by the loving middle class black folks around them, who made sure that these little white kids with the drunk ass angry father and detached mother never went hungry.
As a result, my rather ArchieBunker-in-some-ways and not in other ways mom, always taught me to look beyond skill color.
Trust me - she could use the n-word, I hate to admit, with wild abandon. But then again who the fuck do you think I learned my cussin' from?
So my long-winded point is this... I think I was lucky to have her insights. It has changed my world view.
Couple that with my completely screwed up Irish Catholic(mom)/Eastern European Jewish(dad)/Italian(dad again, don't ask it was a shanda!) heritige and I had my own way of looking at things.
In the US, despite all the efforts, as we all know, things are completely divided.
That has to do with fear, ignorance and totally corrupt power. But you knew that already.
I love your last paragraph in the comment above:
"But the nice thing about a mixed society is that somehow all the PC shit goes up in smoke and all the -isms aren't really applicable. Feminism in America is way cool. Here, it's not a big deal because the hot-button issues -- pay equity, access to contraception and abortion -- are already resolved in way that would be intolerable in America."
Intolerable in America. That says it all.
And it would appear to me, with the little that I know, that your neighbors in El Salvador and Nicaragua have chosen to go a more US power inspired route. And that is tragic indeed.
We create these microcosms in countries like that so that the evil ones in power can have a "lab" to test it out on.
So goes the world.
FranIam loves Kelso and you.
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