The hidden dangers of Obama!

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Iconoclast
by Iconoclast
08-Jan-2008
 

Slate: fighting words

 

Identity Crisis. There's something pathetic and embarrassing about our obsession with Barack Obama's race. By Christopher Hitchens on Slate. Posted Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, at 12:04 PM ET.

To put it squarely and bluntly, is it because he is or is it because he isn't? To phrase it another way, is it because of what he says or what he doesn't say? Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is the current beneficiary of a tsunami of drool. He sometimes claims credit on behalf of all Americans regardless of race, color, creed, blah blah blah, though his recent speeches appear also to claim a victory for blackness while his supporters—most especially the white ones—sob happily that at last we can have an African-American chief executive. Off to the side, snarling with barely concealed rage, are the Clinton machine-minders, who, having failed to ignite the same kind of identity excitement with an aging and resentful female, are perhaps wishing that they had made more of her errant husband having already been "our first black president."

Or perhaps not. Isn't there something pathetic and embarrassing about this emphasis on shade? And why is a man with a white mother considered to be "black," anyway? Is it for this that we fought so hard to get over Plessy v. Ferguson? Would we accept, if Obama's mother had also been Jewish, that he would therefore be the first Jewish president? The more that people claim Obama's mere identity to be a "breakthrough," the more they demonstrate that they have failed to emancipate themselves from the original categories of identity that acted as a fetter upon clear thought.

One can't exactly say that Sen. Obama himself panders to questions of skin color. One of the best chapters of his charming autobiography describes the moment when his black Republican opponent in the Illinois Senate race—Alan Keyes—accused him of possessing insufficient negritude because he wasn't the descendant of slaves! Obama's decision to be light-hearted—and perhaps light-skinned—about this was a milestone in itself. But are we not in danger of emulating Keyes' insane mistake every time we bang on about the senator's pigmentation? If you wanted a "black" president or vice president so much, you could long ago have turned out en masse for Angela Davis—also the first woman to be on a national ticket—or for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. So, why didn't you? Could it have been the politics?

Last week happened to be the week that the nation of Kenya—birthplace of Obama's father—was convulsed by a political war that contained ghastly overtones of violent and sadistic tribalism. It would sound as absurd to a Kenyan to hear praise for a black candidate as it would sound to most of my European readers to hear a recommendation of a "great white hope." A white visitor to Kenya might not be able to tell a Kikuyu from a Luo at a glance, but a Kenyan would have no such difficulty. The time is pretty much past, in our country, when a Polish-American would not vote for a candidate with a German name or when Sharks and Jets were at daggers drawn, but this is all because (to borrow from Ernest Renan's definition of a nation) people agreed to forget a lot of things as well as to remember a number of things. So, which are we doing presently?

Sen. Obama is a congregant of a church in Chicago called Trinity United Church of Christ. I recommend that you take a brisk tour of its Web site. Run by the sort of character that the press often guardedly describes as "flamboyant"—a man calling himself the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.—this bizarre outfit describes itself as "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" and speaks of "a chosen people" whose nature we are allowed to assume is "Afrocentric." Trinity United sells creationist books and its home page includes a graphic link to a thing called Goodsearch—the name is surmounted with a halo in its logo—which announces cheerily that "Every time you search or shop online! Our Church earns money." Much or most of what Trinity United says is harmless and boring, rather like Gov. Mike Huckabee's idiotic belief that his own success in Iowa is comparable to the "miracle" of the loaves and fishes, and the site offers a volume called Bad Girls of the Bible: Exploring Women of Questionable Virtue, which I have added to my cart, but nobody who wants to be taken seriously can possibly be associated with such a substandard and shade-oriented place.

All this easy talk about being a "uniter" and not a "divider" is piffle if people are talking out of both sides of their mouths. I have been droning on for months about how Mitt Romney needs to answer questions about the flat-out racist background of his own church, and about how Huckabee has shown in public that he does not even understand the first thing about a theory—the crucial theory of evolution by natural selection—in which he claims not to believe. Many Democrats are with me on this, but they go completely quiet when Sen. Obama chooses to give his allegiance to a crackpot church with a decidedly ethnic character.

The unspoken agreement to concede the black community to the sway of the pulpit is itself a form of racist condescension. The sickly canonization of Martin Luther King Jr. has led to a crude rewriting of history that obliterates the great black and white secularists—Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph, Walter Reuther—who actually organized the March on Washington. It has also allowed a free pass to any demagogue who can manage to get the word reverend in front of his name. The white voters who subconsciously make the allowance that black folks sure love to hear their preachers are not only patronizing their black brothers and sisters but also helping to empower white ministers or deacons who make the same pitch, from Jimmy Carter to Mike Huckabee. The Iowa caucuses of 2008 were not the end of our long national nightmare about race, but another stage in our protracted national nightmare of piety, "uplift," and deceptive optimistic windbaggery.

Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and the author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Article URL: //www.slate.com/id/2181460/

Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

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more from Iconoclast
 
Iconoclast

Interesting article. Thank you.

by Iconoclast on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:57 AM PST

Very Helpful.  Merci. 

See my reply to Curious Joe's "Welcome to the site..." 

Justice, Love & Peace for All


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Iconoclast

I changed the title for you,

by Iconoclast on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:53 AM PST

Merci. 

See my reply to Curious Joe's "Welcome to the site..." 

Justice, Love & Peace for All.


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Iconoclast

Welcome to the site ...

by Iconoclast on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:46 AM PST

Article is not by me but by the well-known Chrisopher Hitchens. It states so at start and end. Check out the always brilliant, witty and iconoclastic articles and exposes of the widely-followed and respected (ex-British now DC-based) Hitchens on the internet and on youTube.

Unique Hitchens, is as fearless and as he is original. I first discoverd Hitchens when he was the first to write a long daring article in Vanity Fair in the mid 90's exposing the devastating war crimes (including in Iraq/Iran/Kurdistan) of the (still) popular Henry Kissinger, proving that Kissinger is the largest war criminal still on the loose. Rent a DVD doc film called "Trials of Kissinger' based on Hitchen's expose. (He disassociated his name from the film because he thought the Jewish directors/producers did not go far enough!)

How about Hitchens most recent top seller book mentioned at the end of his article, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything? That and his university talks now on YouTube has caused death threats against him and his family from all the three popular religions.

As for 'Tsunami drool' not understood by Iranians, not every word or phrase has to be understood. The media is not school class. Anyway Iranian.com is followed by non-Iranians, too. Plus, given Hitchens is widely followed, I noticed now on TV the 'experts' use Tsunami to explain Obama's current wave of over popularity. If anyone does not understand any word or phrase, they can ask friends or search the internet.  Merci. 

Justice, Love & Peace for All


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default

Curious Joe... Take it easy dude!!

by an observer (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:05 AM PST

Although some of the points that you made were very valid, I found your criticism of the article very unfair. It even seemed that you are holding the perfect english and the writing skills against the author.
This article is one of the best written on this site. It has references, links that provide proof and back-up and it's very easy to read and interesting.
Now you are dismissing it because this is iranian.com and we don't care how well-written it is? it only should have the iranian angle?
what is that? and since when is that a requirement?

Please DUDE! take it easy and allow new-comers to feel welcomed.... isn't that part of being Iranian? instead of nit-picking at their article and their much better than average writing skills, a little constructive criticism can go a long way...


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Curious Joe

Welcome to the site ...

by Curious Joe on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:31 AM PST

Sorry Iconoclast.  I regret to inform you that you are not posting your article to New York Times, nor Salon, nor the Nations Magazine.  You are posting it to IRANIAN.COM

 

While you are exercising your English writing skills, would you please explain what is the relationship of your diatribe to the Iranian community’s concerns? 

Hey, our Norooz is coming up on March 21st. We’ll have “Haaji-Firoozeh, Saali-ye-Rooseh” with an Aryian/Muslim white faces colored in black, acting as clowns/slaves.  Is that a sign of an identity crisis by a bunch of pathetic and embarrassing Persians, obsessed with race/”nigers”?  Can you explain what is your bean with Obama?

 

Remember Iconcoclast, you are not in the company of the Saturday Night Live audience when you talk about the “tsunami of drool”. Please try to translate that to an Iranian audience such as HajiAgha.  Good Luck!!

 

One wonders if you’ve even bothered to read Obama’s “Dream from my Father”, or “Audacity of Hope” before having the audacity of talking about the guy and his blah blah blah.  Snarling with barely concealed rage, I am delighted to see you aging as a resentful person that makes a fool of yourself  via  JJ’s grant to the “Freedom of Speech”.

 

I clicked on your name and saw your new arrival to this site in 2008. I also read your 3 articles published since last week, mostly related to Assyrians, Turks, Greeks and Israel.  I have a feeling that you are too young and excited to take any criticism about your thoughts and writings -- like many newly-arrived wild “Turks” on this site.  But if you stick around and listen and learn, you may start to shed some of your huge ego. 

 

Since you are obviously a well-educated young person, may I ask what you meant when you referred to the “identity excitement of an aging and resentful female, wishing to have had more of her errant husband”.  Are you talking about Cecilia Sarkozi in France, or the news/soap operas on American TV?

 

Shit.  I thought I had a huge job in front of me to try to educate a generation of young Iranians who have been brought-up/brain-washed for 30 years under the ignorant teachings of Mullahs.  Hey, no point to go back to Iran.  There are plenty of them right here -- in the west.


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admin

I changed the title for you,

by admin on Wed Jan 09, 2008 01:14 AM PST

also, next time, make sure you only paste in TEXT in the "summary" portion. The pictures and other html won't render.

-foaad


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David ET

Interesting article. Thank you.

by David ET on Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:34 PM PST

1- login, my account, edit and you will see blog title at the bottom to change.

2- As for the spelling etc, If you change anything in this article it will disappear from featured blogs, so don't edit until it drops from featured blogs

best


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Iconoclast

The Hidden Dangers of Obama: Out of the Bush Into the Barak!

by Iconoclast on Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:14 PM PST

I'm new to the exciting and liberal Iranian.com. 

Sorry about the misspelling of Ubama- just a clumsy late night mistake.

Does Iranian.com allow one to change Titles of Blogs? If so, plse let me know how. Then I shal change it to:

THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF OBAMA: Out of the Bush Into the Barak!

Also, how do I change the master Title of My Blog from "Turkey and Israel, Again!" to "Justice, Love & Peace for All!"  That 'Turkey' Title was meant only for my first blog, not to be repeated above future blogs.  Help! Merci.


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