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.
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.