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Showing posts with the label four dimensional chess

Melissa Harris-Perry Thinks I'm A Racist (Continued)

In my previous post on this topic, I explained that a Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry had penned a column for the Nation magazine called " Black President, Double Standards: Why White Liberals Are Abandoning Obama " in which she claimed that white progressives who had given Clinton a pass on his centrist tendencies were unwilling to extend the same courtesy to Obama due to racism. I found this pretty preposterous, and pointed out many variables other than race that could account for Obama's dwindling support (Obama has continued our endless, mindless "war on terror" on two fronts and expanded our military commitments to include the NATO action in Libya as well, Obama has failed on most of his major campaign promises to progressives including closing GITMO and the CIA's black sites, Clinton ran as a moderate while Obama ran as a liberal, &c. &c.). Gene Lyons, an old hand when it comes to anything Clinton, also expressed his outrage over Dr. Harris-Perr...

Melissa Harris-Perry Thinks I'm A Racist

Quite a hubbub has been sweeping the liberal/progressive media outlets lately regarding a column by Melisa Harris-Perry entitled “ BlackPresident, Double Standard: Why White Liberals Are Abandoning Obama .” Harris-Perry attempts to measure the electoral “roll-off” that can be ascribed to racism in the 2004 Senate race between then-State Senator Barack Obama and perennial wingnut candidate Alan Keyes, the 2008 general election, and the 1994 re-election of President Clinton. Her thesis, which is a bit murky, seems to be that by comparing the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, we can conclusively establish that the variable at play is racism on the part of white liberals (which is a political category that fits me pretty well, so I might as well kick someone).  Astonishingly, my first and most major objection to Harris-Perry's column ("wait, Clinton wasn't a liberal") is contained within the column itself, written by the author as though it suppor...

Four Dimensional Chess

There's an ongoing debate among both people who voted for Obama and people who loathe Obama as to how cagey our president is. When Obama does something that boggles one group or the other, the question is often addressed in shorthand using the phrase "four dimensional chess:" as in, is Obama actually five steps ahead of his opponents strategically? Or is he flying by the seat of his pants? This question has been bothering me all morning, as Obama has apparently been goaded by professional jackass Donald Trump into addressing the Birthers by providing a long form birth certificate. As I write this, Trump is live on CNN gloating about his role in the release of Obama's documentation. The fact that the initial Birther response seems to be "well why didn't he release this sooner? What is he hiding, HMMMMM?!" is both obnoxious and predictable. Will this satisfy the Birthers? Oh my good God no. At WND, also known as Crazy Corsi's House of Clinically Insan...