What A Wonderful Country; What A Wonderful World

The Times, writing without apparent irony, surprises us with the news that black Americans are reveling in Obama's triumph (even though he is not just a black candidate!).  Their lead is written with no apparent irony:

Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough

By MARCUS MABRY

Kwabena Sam-Brew, a 38-year-old immigrant from Ghana, doubted that Nana, his 5-year-old American-born daughter, would remember the rally that effectively crowned Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee Tuesday night.

But Mr. Sam-Brew said he would describe it to her: “I will tell her, ‘Tonight is the night that all Americans became one.’ ”

Mr. Sam-Brew, a bus driver living in Cottage Grove, Minn., said Mr. Obama’s achievement would change the nation’s image around the world, and change the mind-set of Americans, too.

“We as black people now have hope that we have never, ever had,” Mr. Sam-Brew said. “I have new goals for my little girl. She can’t give me any excuses because she’s black.”

What a wonderful country, and I can almost hear Mr. Sam-Brew explaining it to his daughter:  Littlest darling, because of the Obama Ascendancy, you will never have to endure the institutionalized racism in America that I never actually endured either, seeing as how I was born in a different country in 1970.  But after I arrived from never-prosperous Ghana the race hustlers here in America assured me it was awful, and I have no reason to doubt them.  But let's not look backwards - let's look towards a brighter future, in which you have a great shot at being accepted into a top school or getting preferential treatment in hiring because you, too, are a once-oppressed minority.  It's a wonderful world.

OK, once I stop laughing I am going to see whether the Times reporter eventually acknowledges any of the absurdities they have introduced with this particular lead endorsement.  Right now I am just enjoying the moment.  [Here is a flashback to 2004, when the Times was still aware of the division between immigrant and native blacks.]

STILL ENJOYING:  A deeply embittered Prof. Althouse musters enough will to go on and notes another of the many ironies.

STILL NOT TAKING IT SERIOUSLY:  The next endorsement brings us down a bit, but only to a low Earth orbit:

In his remarks Tuesday, Mr. Obama did not mention becoming the first American of color with a real chance at being president of the United States, and, of course, most of the Democrats who had voted for him were white. But for that very reason, many African-Americans exulted Wednesday in a political triumph that they believed they would never live to see. Many expressed hope that their children would draw strength from the moment.

“Not that we’re so distraught, but our children need to be able to see a black adult as a leader for the country, so they can know we can reach for those same goals,” said Wilhelmina Brown, 54, an account representative for U.S. Bank in St. Paul. “We don’t need to give up at a certain level.”

How Japanese kids, Chinese kids, or Jewish kids ever make it out of bed in the morning, and why they bother, is left unexplained.

IT'S A FEEL GOOD MOMENT.  AND GOOD FOR THE HICKS!  Sorry, I'll stop when the Times does:

Alison Kane, a white 34-year-old transportation analyst from Edina, Minn., said Mr. Obama’s success as a biracial politician would have a similar effect on her 21-month-old biracial daughter, Hawa.

“When she’s out in, God knows where, some small town in rural America, they’ll think, ‘Oh, I know someone like you. Our president is like you,’ ” Ms. Kane said. “That just opens minds for people, to have someone to relate to. And that makes me feel better, as a mom.”

Edifying the rubes and making moms feel good - it's a double-play, and what better way to pick a President?

BACK TO EARTH, BRIEFLY:  Ward Connerly appears:

Mr. Obama’s moment seemed to unite blacks across the political spectrum, even those who had no intention of voting for a Democrat for president.

For example, Ward Connerly, a conservative anti-affirmative-action crusader and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, watched a replay of the announcement of Mr. Obama’s victory on Fox News early Wednesday “and I choked up,” he said. “He did it by his own achievement. Nobody gave it to him.”

Mr. Connerly expressed hope that Mr. Obama’s rise would boost his own efforts to end affirmative action.

“The entire argument for race preferences is that society is institutionally racist and institutionally sexist, and you need affirmative action to level the playing field,” Mr. Connerly said. “The historic success of Senator Obama, as well as Senator Clinton, dismantles that argument.”

Mr. Obama has said that affirmative-action programs should become “a diminishing tool” in achieving racial equality, and has asked blacks to understand why such programs might engender resentment among whites, suggesting that poor white children also need a boost. Although he did not cast his victory in racial terms on Tuesday, he acknowledged on Wednesday that it might be having an effect on other African-Americans.

“Probably the most powerful story I heard was today at a conference, a woman came up to me,” he said in an interview on NBC News. “She said her son teaches in an inner-city school in San Francisco and said that he has seen a change in behavior among the young African-American boys there in terms of how they think about their studies. And, you know, so those are the kinds of things that I think make you appreciate that it’s not about you as an individual. But it’s about our country and the progress we’ve made.”

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

How do women make it out of bed, too?

[bgates]

Mr. Obama’s achievement would change the nation’s image around the world Gee, maybe if we can fix the nation's image, some people would even be willing to move here!

[kim]

"God knows where." She doesn't know what she said.
=============================

[Neo]

first American of color

Was George Washington transparent ?
Did I miss that history lesson ?

Oh .. wait .. the gas prices are back to $1.29 a gallon .. NOT.

[MayBee]

Europe, Asia, and South America look down on us because we've never elected a racial minority as leader.

[kim]

Neo, please don't forget that Obama has seized on stopping the tide as his myth making moment. They'll wonder in the future how we could ignore that Giants Walked the Earth.
==========================

[Neo]

I see that a scientist at the Pentagon is going to report today that global warming is a function of the sun, just in time to avoid the new legislation in the Senate.

"He who has eclipsed the Goracle" manages another accomplishment without even a voice vote.

[bgates]

When she’s out in, God knows where, some small town in rural America, they’ll think, ‘Oh, I know someone like you. Our president is like you,’ -and he's a jackass! Let's get her!
I guess it is nice that biracial kids will no longer be picked on by everybody who's never heard of Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Halle Berry, the Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Tony Parker, etc.

[Neo]

Oh .. here's a real bummer for Obama ..

Hamas unendorses Obama after speech to pro-Israel lobby

[Neo]

There goes world peace.

[syn]

Does this mean Oprah Winfrey just wasn't the correct gender for black America to notice achievement?

Poor woman, if Obama's manics are not sexist then there is no sexism which means feminism is a myth.

[GMax]

OT

Marine acquitted in the Haditha trial. Seems like Haditha was a media cooked event.

[GMax]

OT

Marine acquitted in the Haditha trial. Seems like Haditha was a media cooked event.

[bgates]

syn - No, it means the only kind of achievement that counts is political achievement.
Rice? Powell?
-by Democrats, of course.
Thurgood Marshall?
In elected office, naturally.
Rangel?
To the executive branch.

[GMax]

When does fat assed Murtha give these Marines the apology they deserve? Only two Marines remain facing any charges at all, and only one faces charges related to killing Iraqis.

[Neo]

And now we know why gas prices are so high ..

So Schumer, according to Schumer, is complicit in taking $10 away from every American who buys 20 gallons of gasoline. "Democracy," said H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." The common people of New York want Schumer to be their senator, so they should pipe down about gasoline prices, which are a predictable consequence of their political choice.

[Hoosierhoops]

I see that a scientist at the Pentagon is going to report today that global warming is a function of the sun, just in time to avoid the new legislation in the Senate.

that may be true.. But as reported at universe today blog the suns output has been down the last couple of years.

[GMax]

Well so have the average temperatures. Last ten years we have been cooling not warming, where have you been?

[Danube of Thought]

Will's column (linked by Neo) only reinforces that sinking feeling about John McCain. Imagine if we had a GOP nominee who would say two things: (1) I believe that the evidence of man's contribution to climate change is so flimsy that I will sign no legislation costing a single job in an effort to reduce that contribution; and (2) I will introduce legislation to permit immediate drilling in all areas available to US oil producers.

But he's indistinguishable from Obama on these issues. He's a cap-and-trade enthusiast. Ah, hell...

[steveaz]

This guy from Ghana got my goat! It's "Expatriat-Africans for Obama" now.

Is 'Black' the new 'Foreign?'

I mean, along with connoting skin color the slang signifier 'black' appears to attach to any person on the Earth other than to franchised, naturalized Americans.

Where do Peninsula Arabs, Russian Slavs and The Han People fit into this color scheme? To the practiced, 'color-blind' Obama voter, perhaps they all look 'black,' too.

[Pofarmer]

Last ten years we have been cooling not warming, where have you been?

No way you would know that if you haven't been reading some climate related blogs.

But, wait, it gets even better, it seems that with the current dip from january through may, that we don't have any warming since-----are you ready for it--------1988 at least.

[Barry]

When does fat assed Murtha give these Marines the apology they deserve?

Murtha will never apologize. When will the Marine Corp and the current administration that actually prosecuted these young men apologize?

Murtha is an asshole. It does not excuse those that chose to pursue prosecution, a political prosecution. The investigation itself was enough to show this was a planned and staged jihadi event. I have thought highly of our armed service's my entire life. This prosecution is evidence the leftist culture has penetrated the military at the highest levels.

I'm sure the Obamanation will straighten it all out.

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

I guess Mrs. Kane better hope those hicks in the sticks concentrate on her daughter's skin tone, and don't go all giggly when the daughter tells them her name... "Hi! I'm Hawa; Hawa Kane."

Really, the number of orally-driven jokes that leapt into my head when I read that little girl's name went right off the scale.

[kim]

I think this legislation will founder this year on a real debate in Congress. By this time next year, the cooling will be so unmistakable that there is a chance for a rational energy bill, once the problems confronting us are divorced from the delusion that is the exaggeration of the effect of CO2 on climate.

We are cooling, folks, for how long even I don't know. If I did know, I could estimate the number of the world's poor who can be saved by not encumbering carbon, at this time. Saved, that is, from death by starvation, freezing, and the attendant war and plagues that will follow just as surely as cooling spells follow warming ones.
=================================

[kim]

OK, Huwa Kane Katwina.
===============

[kim]

Murtha will apologize when Hell freezes over, which may be sooner than that former Marine can imagine. Would you welcome his particular spot in the Pantheon of Marine Honor? Come, time for a hymn. He'll be forgotten when there are no more Marines.
=========

[MayBee]

I will admit I thought it was really cool when Colin Powell was made Secretary of State, and I firmly believe he could have been the first black President (or nominee from a major party).
However, it seems the usual people that are happy when barriers are broken weren't all that excited about Powell, and they double super weren't interested when a black woman followed in his footsteps.

Just as I would have had no joy as a woman to see Hillary get the nom.
It is all about the politics, which is the greatest proof of equality at all, I suppose. If only all these boosters would see it.

[JM Hanes]

Huwa Kane and Little Black Sam-Brew. On my.

[cathyf]

The investigation itself was enough to show this was a planned and staged jihadi event.

I thought that was still pretty much unknown -- whether it was staged and planned, or whether the jihadi propagandists siezed the opportunity after the events. Maybe I missed something, but I thought it was pretty much agreed upon that at least some innocents had been killed by the marines' fire, and the dispute was whether these were innocents that the jihadi sniper(s) had put in harm's way by shooting from civilian-occupied houses (the marines' version) or the marines shot up civilian houses for no good reason (the jihadi/Murtha version.) But claiming that the jihadis "planned and staged" this is a bit overmuch -- the actual unfolding of events had a lot to do with luck and chance, and the jihadis couldn't plan that the marines were going to react in any exact predicatable way.

I think that it is far more likely that the Haditha Operation was an opportunistic after-the-fact hoax. If I remember correctly, it took some time for the story to "develop" which is consistent with ginning up the "evidence" after the fact.

[PeterUK]

A truly momentous occasion,a smile on every face,"a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage", a yard for every garage and a politician in every pocket.
"This is the dawning of the Age of Obamius".

[Hoosierhoops]

Last ten years we have been cooling not warming, where have you been?

No way you would know that if you haven't been reading some climate related blogs.

But, wait, it gets even better, it seems that with the current dip from january through may, that we don't have any warming since-----are you ready for it--------1988 at least.

So i said that the universe today reports that sun output has been down and gmax say's it's been cooling down and our profarmer says there is a current dip in temps from jan. through may since 1988.
So i think we pretty much are in agreement..right? or am i missing something? ( like the last 10 years but that's another story. )

[bad]

from Jim Geraghtry:

I can hear it now. "But Jim, this isn't a donation from Rezko to Obama," because the senator bought the land for a lot more than it was worth — "an appraiser valued the slice of land Rezko sold at $40,500, Obama decided it would be fair to pay Rezko substantially more: one sixth of his original purchase price, or $104,000

No wonder MO has struggled to make ends meet- BO sucks at financial management.

[bgates]

Oh, come on, bad, you'd object if Rezko sold the land for less than fair market value too.
It's as if you don't want Obama to do business with felons at all.

[MayBee]

Here's the only math you need:

104,000 < 624,000

The fact that he paid more than the appraiser asked shows that he recognized there was a problem there.

[glasater]

Republican National Committee: Rezko: Obama's Longtime Friend and Money Man

The RNC is at work:-)

[Thom]

Two more Marines are still awaiting trial, and several of those who were acquitted were given deals in exchange for testimony. They made deals. For those too slow to understand what that means, it means they admitted to some degree of guilt and gave testimony against others so they they wouldn't be prosecuted. Otherwise they wouldn't need a "deal". I see sites scream "Charges dropped!" all the time - and they never mention when it is in exchange for testimony. Do they realize how dumb that makes them look?

Silly question.

Best of luck and more for those in harm's way.

[Thom]

Check "several." I think it was two. (My point stands.)

[Clarice]

No kidding. BUT the deals produced no evidence sufficient to convict anyone. One of those who made a deal as I recall was typical--a bum nowhere near the events who made the deal after being caught DUI..not very credible.

I was the first, I think, to call Haditha what it was--a media hoax at least as bad as the TANG memo one was.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/06/haditha_is_mcgirk_the_new_mary.html>Haditha Hoax

[BET]

Laughing my white American ass off! You're go right...Mr Sam-Brew IS NOT AN AMERICAN!! Duh!

Reminds me of those "hard working, illegal amigos" who after sneaking into our country and getting an illegal job, succumb to the propaganda espoused by La Raza, LULAC, MALDEF, etc. - that because they are "Hispanics", they have been discriminated against.

They only just sneaked into this country 3 years ago - how can they have been discriminated against? Answer that one, Ruben Navaratte!

[bad]

bgates

My bad. People who need felons are people too.

[Maddie (formerly Anon1)]

Okay, this belittling of people in flyover (comment by Alison Kane in Times article above) is getting old.

I immigrated to this country forty years ago, to flyover, and people were perfectly nice to me and my family. Were there some racist jerks? Yes, but nowhere near the majority; they were microcopic compared to the majority. Are there fewer such racist jerks today? Yes, and still nowhere near the majority.

You know what? After being 'educated' by various blogs and writers in my diaspora community about how clueless I was regarding racism against 'brownz', I asked my mother, "was it bad when you first came here?" No, she said. "We would have left if it was that bad. Your dad has a lot of pride. He wouldn't have stayed if it was like that."

Okay, n = 1, but it is still irritating to hear that kind of mush. Maybe your kid will grow up more likely to feel insult if you tell them constantly they will be insulted. You don't need to instruct them in false insults; the real ones will come right on through.

This constant slurring of a group of people who are generally decent, hard-working and kind! I'll never understand it.

[cathyf]

For those too slow to understand what that means, it means they admitted to some degree of guilt and gave testimony against others so they they wouldn't be prosecuted.

In Chicago, the term is "logrolling perjury." You start with someone who is guilty, of something, anything will do. Then you give him a choice: deliver a bigger fish in return for immunity, or you're going to prison. Then when he delivers the bigger fish, that guy gets the same choice. Inevitably, you end up with someone who doesn't have any worthwhile evidence against anybody, so he is forced to invent a story. That person faces the same incentives: invent a story implicating somebody else in something or go to prison.

What the system virtually guarantees is that, as you work your way up the food chain, the crooks will all get immunity, there will be some folks who get immunity from false charges at the price of making false charges against others, and eventually you top out at someone who fights back and demands a trial and a chance to clear himself. That person is almost always innocent, because the crooks don't think it's a big deal to commit perjury since they're, well, crooks. It's the innocent who stand on principle.

[bad]

Drudge has this linked:

New Zealand scientists claim to have developed a "flatulence inoculation" aimed at cutting down on the massive amount of methane produced by its sheep and cows.

There are just too many possibilities here.

[Rick Ballard]

"I'll never understand it."

No one does without examining the idiocy encompassed by the noxious blend of Rousseau and Hegel which, when fermented properly, distills to various brands of "progressivism" running the gamut from Jacobinism through communism in a truly endless loop.

The "progressive" fairy tale requires a villain and at this moment in the cycle, white folks fill the bill. Nonwhites should be remarkably happy about that fact. A little study of "progressivism" reveals that when nonwhites (or "substandard" whites) are cast as the villain the outcome goes far beyond simple name calling.

Dig up Woodrow Wilson, prog hero, and ask him about that. Don't stand to close - it can make you sterile.

[bgates]

several of those who were acquitted were given deals in exchange for testimony. They made deals. For those too slow to understand what that means, it means they admitted to some degree of guilt and gave testimony against others so they they wouldn't be prosecuted.
You should figure out the difference between "acquitted" and "charges dropped" before you suggest other people are slow.

[Jane]

LOL

[JM Hanes]

glasater:

Somebody at the RNC needs serious remedial work in basic formatting! That press release was almost unreadable, alas.

[Thom]

You're right. Should have said "Several of those who had charges dropped..."

Good catch.

Do you want to keep avoiding the point? It won't surprise me or anything.

Clarice: Thanks for that unbiased account of witness's testimony. And remember those are Marines prosecuting this case.

[bad]

Perhaps some of the DC criminal element will CHANGE their ways due to OBAMA JOY.

[Barry]

Thom, you are just another left wing "Marines are baby killers" twits that has no idea what he is talking about. You know nothing about the facts of the case and prefer only allegations to the actual facts. You're too lazy/incompetent/don't want to know to actually find the truth. Please show us any evidence you have that deals were made.

And remember those are Marines prosecuting this case.

So is Murtha. What's your point? As I said earlier, it was a political prosecution, and those that participated, after the investigation made the relevant facts clear, are just as bad or worse than Murtha. As are you.

[bgates]

Thom, the point appears to be that, as Barry said, you're a leftist jackass who equates "awaiting trial" with "guilty as hell". Better people than either of us died so I could tell you you're an asshole. Makes you feel all tingly, doesn't it?

[kim]

Thom thumbs his nose at the violent diplomats carrying on by other means.
======================

[Clarice]

From my article on Haditha--here is what was known then about the 2 "eyewitnesses" the prosecution was relying on:
"3) The American eye witnesses.

There are two American witnesses who have spoken out. Despite the press spin, neither has a first hand account of the events.

Lance Cpl. James Crossan is the source of some very selective quotes on the incident. He, however, was wounded in the IED explosion which killed the US Marine Martin Terrazas. He was evacuated from the scene and saw none of the after—action.

And then there is Lance Cpl. Ryan Briones. He helped evacuate Crossnan and took bodies to the morgue. He was not an eyewitness. He claims he took pictures of the bodies at the morgue and has made various statements about what happened to the pictures and his camera. Aside from the fact that he is not an eyewitness, and his claims about his photographs seem unlikely, his story remained unuttered until he was arrested for stealing a truck, driving under the influence and crashing the stolen vehicle into a house. It was then for the first time that he claimed post traumatic distress and pointed to Haditha as the source of that stress. (His report of taking the bodies to the morgue, moreover, seems inconsistent with the first Reuters report that there were 15 bodies left lying in the street the day after the incident.)"

Sounds like the Haditha prosecutors went to the Nifong school of criminal practice.

[glasater]

JMH--I believe it was a press release by the RNC that the SunHerald.com just dumped into the page with no cleanup.

[filmex]

"How Japanese kids, Chinese kids, or Jewish kids ever make it out of bed in the morning, and why they bother, is left unexplained."

What kind of braindead cunt writes such a pissy-ass statement as that. Seriously, what a tool.

[TexasToast]

But let's not look backwards - let's look towards a brighter future, in which you have a great shot at being accepted into a top school or getting preferential treatment in hiring because you, too, are a once-oppressed minority. It's a wonderful world.

Are you seriously suggesting that blacks in this country are a "once oppressed minority"? Are you seriously suggesting that racism is a thing of the past? Someone once said he had a dream that such a world might exist .... someday ..... but stirring the pot of resentment ain't helping.

[glasater]

OK--Since we're taking a look back--re: the previous two comments--here is a link to YouTube from the CNN report on BHO's Bare Knuckle Tactics .

This is a topic I find pretty interesting.

[Jane]

Are you seriously suggesting that racism is a thing of the past?

I am. Along with sexism. At this point both are tools to be used to ones advantage. Altho I will say, given the black Obama vote, African Americans have some work to do on that score.

[Jane]

(Not the tool score, the racism score)

[davod]

CathyF:

But claiming that the jihadis "planned and staged" this is a bit overmuch -- the actual unfolding of events had a lot to do with luck and chance, and the jihadis couldn't plan that the marines were going to react in any exact predicatable way.

I have followed this for some time and as I recall, the staging started about six months after after the ambush. An Iraqi docor returned to the area from Baghdad (A guy who had previoulsy been detained as a terrorist suspect). This guy contacted the Newsweek/Time? guy and things moved from there.

It is not a matter of some civilians were killed. It is a matter of how, and whether the Marines were working to the Rules Of Engagement.

Where things start to get complicated is that the second investigation was carried out by the Army and the Army has different ROE.

For those of you who talk about the plea deals, I think Clarice covers these matters. However, I will say that from what I have read, and some of it may have come from defenders of the Haditha Marines, the enlisted Marines were locked up in solitary for a good long time when they got back to the US. They were subjected to continuous questioning and were not allowed to see their families.

Imagine fighting a war and then being locked up in solitary.

[davod]

Obama and Black pride. In the language of the MSM - Let's see, someone who represents 12 percent of the population trumps someone who reprsents 51 percent of the population (2000 figures).

My, women in this country have come a long way.

[bgates]

TT - what are you counting as "oppression"? Disproportionately high dropout and crime rates? Racism will never go away, but racism against non-white people in America is as socially unacceptable as racism against any minority group has ever been anywhere. And hearing complaints about "stirring the pot of resentment" from a supporter of Trinity UCC's best known congregant - that's the pot calling...well, let's just say you're not in the best position to make that accusation.

[kim]

One of the reasons that Obama had poor support among white working class people is not the one seemingly obvious to many pundits, and that is that many of those laborers are more beyond racism than Obama is. They have worked with black people who are upstanding specimens of the human race, and they've worked with scumbags. It is now apparent to hoi polloi that the contents of one's character are more important than the color of his skin. Now along comes Obama, stirrer of racial resentment, to appeal to the unresolved guilt of the white elite.

TT, you just don't get it. We have changed beyond Obama's hopes. He is so last century.
===================

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

The Black Folk are happy; obviously this is a Very Bad Thing.

May your bitterness stead you well these next 4 years.

[Aaron Baker]

I think Hilzoy at washingtonmonthly.com says all that needs to be said about this post:

TOM MAGUIRE'S WONDERFUL WORLD ...

Here's part of a New York Times story called "Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough":

"In his remarks Tuesday, Mr. Obama did not mention becoming the first American of color with a real chance at being president of the United States, and, of course, most of the Democrats who had voted for him were white. But for that very reason, many African-Americans exulted Wednesday in a political triumph that they believed they would never live to see. Many expressed hope that their children would draw strength from the moment.

"Not that we're so distraught, but our children need to be able to see a black adult as a leader for the country, so they can know we can reach for those same goals," said Wilhelmina Brown, 54, an account representative for U.S. Bank in St. Paul. "We don't need to give up at a certain level.""

This seems like something no one could take exception to. People are happy, and happiness is a good thing, right?

Not for Tom Maguire. He calls this "absurdity", and responds to the passage I just quoted as follows:

"How Japanese kids, Chinese kids, or Jewish kids ever make it out of bed in the morning, and why they bother, is left unexplained."

Read his whole post; it's all like that.

Why? One possibility, I suppose, is that Tom Maguire is one of those people who has a heart the size of a turnipseed, and as a result just enjoys raining on other people's parades. Perhaps if I looked through his archives, I'd find lots of posts like this, about all kinds of people:

Newspaper: Charles DeLuca, 78, of West Roxbury said: "Now that the Red Sox have finally won the World Series, I can die happy!"

Tom Maguire: This guy can't die happy unless his favorite baseball team wins the World Series? Call the waaahmbulance!

Or:

Newspaper: But the armed robbery hasn't spoiled the family Christmas. The people from the Gustavson's church pitched in to buy their children presents, and Santa himself came by to deliver them. "We're so grateful", Mr. Gustavson said. "Thanks to our church, my little girls won't have to go without presents this year, and that means the world to me."

Tom Maguire: Would someone please tell this bozo about property insurance?

Somehow, though, I doubt it. Tom Maguire has never struck me as this sort of grinch-like person. Which leaves me with a second possibility: something about the particular people described in the New York Times article set him off.

I wonder what it could be?

***

For the record: yes, I do mean to imply that the 'something' is race. That seems pretty clear from Tom's post. But I do not mean to imply that Tom Maguire is a racist. (I really don't.) As I have said before, I have no interest in figuring out what counts as racism and what does not. What I am interested in is the question: when does race play a role in people's thinking that it should not play? You need to figure out whether race plays such a role in your own thought if you want to answer the question: does something here need changing? That's the question I'm interested in. It's a further question whether, and when, that fact shows that there is something seriously wrong with you, above and beyond being human and fallible. I'm not interested in that question: I don't particularly want to get into questions of blame, which strike me as less important than changing what needs to be changed.

When the fact that people are black makes you respond to their happiness not with a smile, but with disdain; when you find yourself feigning ignorance of the reasons why blacks might have a harder time than other Americans believing that full equality of opportunity extends to them and their children; when you read into their comments about their children some sort of whiny demand that simply is not there;; when parents' concern that their kids have good role models stops looking completely normal and starts looking like the work of "the race hustlers", then I think that something does need changing.
—Hilzoy 1:06 AM

[Aaron Baker]

Oh, and unlike Hilzoy, I don't feel any hesitation in saying it: Maguire is a racist, and an especially dumb, resentful one to boot.

[Aaron Baker]

Oh, and unlike Hilzoy, I don't feel any hesitation in saying it: Maguire is a racist, and an especially dumb, resentful one to boot.

[Aaron Baker]

Oh, and unlike Hilzoy, I don't feel any hesitation in saying it: Maguire is a racist, and an especially dumb, resentful one to boot.

[boris]

when does race play a role in people's thinking that it should not play?

Ask Rev Wright.

[Rick Ballard]

And Michelle - but make it snappy. She's busy, busy, busy getting that fruit in the house for the kids.

And cashing the checks from the hospital payoff for her husband's set aside.

It doesn't take much to make hilzoy happy - anything with the prog stamp will do.

[bgates]

This seems like something no one could take exception to. People are happy, and happiness is a good thing, right?
Ask Hilzoy at the McCain inauguration whether this statement still holds.

[Davebo]

TMac, p@wned by a girl!

No wonder he can never get his team out of the first round of the playoffs.

[Clarice]

DeLuca and Gustavson are black? Who knew?

No, Hilzoy, TM's not racist nor a grinch--he's just as fed up as most of us are by the ridiculous victimology game the media plays.

[Jane]

"Not that we're so distraught, but our children need to be able to see a black adult as a leader for the country, so they can know we can reach for those same goals,"

I guess she missed Condi Rice , Colin Powell, Micheal Steele, etc etc. I know I haven't been able to accomplish a damn thing in my life because there have been no women presidents. What a joke.

[boris]

"once oppressed minority"? Are you seriously suggesting that racism is a thing of the past?

1. Racism is not oppression, if it were then Wright is oppressing whites;

2. Open racism is openly oppressed.

As a factor affecting life outcome resentment over historical wrongs is more damaging than residual white racism. While it may not be possible to wave a wand and make either disappear, it's pretty obvious that white Americans have put in more hard work on their problem. Ready for some reciprocity. Not interested in a "bargain".

[Rick Ballard]

"What a joke."

The execrable writing (typing, actually) or the sentimental drivel?

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

I predict a November run on redstate SSRI inventory.

And those redstate kids should go into psych and marriage counseling; boom times ahead.

[Jane]

Rick,

All of the above.

[Sue]

And those redstate kids should go into psych and marriage counseling

LOL. That is a liberal thingy. I doubt you find many psych and marriage counselors businesses booming if Obama is indeed president.

[ben]

"it means they admitted to some degree of guilt and gave testimony against others so they they wouldn't be prosecuted."

Thom is a little slow on what this could mean...sometimes you may be innocent but your lawyer could advise you to plea guilty on lesser charges, or you may do so if you feel the deck is stacked against you. The main point is that the facts were not as the prosecution presented them, and that is why the case is unraveling. And regarding Marines prosecuting the case well duhhhh that's what happens in a court martial and military justice. Thom, feel free to apologize if you believed Murtha.

[bgates]

those redstate kids should go into psych and marriage counseling I thought our families were one of the things we cling to in order to get through the difficult times. Was I thinking of bowling leagues?

[TexasToast]

As a factor affecting life outcome resentment over historical wrongs is more damaging than residual white racism.

Both are damaging - I'm not prepared to say which is more damaging. ISTM that Obama's mere nomination is, for the first, far more than a mere salve - it is a signal advance. It wouldn’t be nearly as effective if it were deemed a salve – a hand out – a gift – a reparation.

It is not any of these things.

As for the second, dismissing white racism as “residual” does not make it go away.

[MayBee]

As for the second, dismissing white racism as “residual” does not make it go away.

And calling it "oppression" does not make it so.

[kim]

Who's gonna tell Hilzoy about the mote beam metaphor? That sort of sensitivity is pathological, and the sort of thing that much of the country is already long past. Obama's racism is so Twentieth Century.
=======================

[kim]

I'll keep repeating this 'til I get a laugh: "Everyone born in the Twentieth Century is a racist."
===================

[Porchlight]

What I am interested in is the question: when does race play a role in people's thinking that it should not play?

Great question Hilzoy. With that in mind, how many people have openly stated that Obama should be elected because his blackness will "prove" to American's critics (foreign and domestic) that we are not a racist country? As Maguire said, what better way to pick a President?

[Jane]

Obama's mere nomination is, for the first, far more than a mere salve - it is a signal advance.

I wonder what the net impact will be if the first black president gets us nuked?

[sbw]

Americans can be proud that a person of color and a woman have come so close to the Presidential nomination. Now, to show that we are truly free from the thrall of racism, we should feel free to reject a fast-talking spin jockey.

[MayBee]

Obama's mere nomination is, for the first, far more than a mere salve - it is a signal advance.

But it isn't!
It is evidence that the advance has been happening for a long time now.
The wonderful thing didn't happen the moment Obama got the nomination. It happened, perhaps without all the celebrants noticing, sometime before Barack was born.
All those people that thought they were lying when they told their non-white, non-Christian child they might be President? They weren't lying.

Obama took education seriously, had family that took good care of him, took his employment opportunities seriously, and took his own family seriously. And look what happened.
It could have been Colin Powell about 16 years ago, he was the one that chose not to make that happen.
Some can choose to see this moment as a new day, but to me this is exactly the America I knew as a child.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
I wonder what the net impact will be if the first black president gets us nuked?
---

If the profound stupidity of the last 7+ years didn't trigger a nuclear holocaust, I'm guessing Obama's in the clear.

[kim]

eightnine, you sound a little bitter. May I suggest a passage from the Good Book?
=============================

[Clarice]

Meanwhile Geraghty notes the remarkable similarity between Scary Larry's secret tape and a 2006 novel.
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc3ZWNhNThmM2JhMzliZDUxMWNmMmU5M2ZiNmM1YTY=>Make Believe

I tend to believe this was a Hill inspired rumor to keep the superdelegates off balance and withholding their votes until the convention.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
you sound a little bitter
---

Yeah, no caffeine today, and whites feigning victimization isn't my cup of tea so I better go grab a cuppa joe.

If being black was such a great gig, you'd have whites out there getting skin treatment to darken their skin. They don't do this, but blacks *do* try to lighten theirs.

[kim]

I just had a nightmare thought. With Joe Lieberman bringing a lot of Hillary supporters to McCain, what if Larry, and Joe, and Val come along?
===============================

[kim]

And I thought tanning booths were to darken skin. Who knew they just appear to do so.
=============================

[MayBee]

I just had a nightmare thought. With Joe Lieberman bringing a lot of Hillary supporters to McCain, what if Larry, and Joe, and Val come along

Larry at one time hated Joe Lieberman.
The worse nightmare is to imagine Joe Wilson once again left bored, out of work, and seeking attention.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
And I thought tanning booths were to darken skin
---

George Hamilton is orange, not black.

[kim]

eightnine, are you Joe Wilson? You sure sound bored, out of work, and seeking attention.
=================================

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
out of work
---

Your crystal ball needs an upgrade.

[boris]

whites feigning victimization

Crime stats? You probably don't want to go there.