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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Obama has not been able to connect at all with working class folks and not well with middle class folks. Although Obama's ardent supporters hear John Kennedy when he speaks, I hear Michael Dukakis. That is why he is not connecting. Also, McCain solidified conservative support by naming a running mate who set off the culture war A bomb. They see her and GooberW as tough and combat veterans like John Kerry as weak (they would use a different word than weak and that word starts with a p).
The culture was says - Democrats weak - Republicans strong.
The masses will not take the time to research, listen and make their own judgements.
isn't whether the USA can accept/elect a black president.
It's whether we can accept/elect a smart president.
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Way back in the 1970s, Firesign Theatre did a routine where it was revealed that The President did not really exist at all, but was simply a computer-generated hologram, manipulated by unseen folks who actually ran things. And the people were completely deceived by the whole arrangement.
Except for the hologram part, they got the post-1980 future right.
Obama & Co. are "Worker" who have been trying to convince folks that the Future Fair is not what it seems.
"I think we're all Bozos on this bus"
As unbeleivable as it may sound, I am in the Chicago exurbs and felt the same way 10 years ago. I was never afraid of being vandalized, but certainly I was in such a Republican area that the Republican primary WAS the local election, and I just didn't want to deal with the bad vibes from my almost 100% Republican neighbors....
or were they?
I think I was the first one who started with the Dem signs. A couple people told me how glad they were to see them....
Last Presidential race, the kids were so vicious to my daughter on the bus they made her cry. Some parents of Republicans really pound some nasty aggressive attitudes in their children. But, well, she survived and learned a lesson. (Now that Obama is running for President of course, all the kids are on board because he is from Illinois, parents be damned.)
I am sorry for the fear you have. That sort of intimidation is exactly what makes people feel alone when they really aren't. There are others around you, I guarantee it. Good luck!
Totally agree that the Republicans dumb down when they run for office. And this is what bothers me so much: it shouts their disrespect and disregard for the American people. I do not believe that the American people are universally stupid (I also believe that as individuals we are each smart or stupid in different ways) but the Republicans sure do. Whenever Republicans dumb down their message, when ever they call the Democrats "elitist" for talking to the American people as if we were capable, intelligent people - they demonstrate their disdain for the American people. Republicans are the true elitists. Republicans disrespect the American people when they believe Americans can't understand anything longer than a 30 second sound bite or banal slogan. Democrats are the ones who truly respect the American people because they do not dismiss them as "stupid" and, instead, talk to them as adults.
This was the best article that I have ever read regarding this election. As an educated black male, I found these same tendencies while searching for a job for the last year and a half. Eventually I found someone that needed my skill set and experience, and my "likeness to them" did not matter as much as my ability to articulate the issues, and suggest viable, insightful, and useful resolutions to job related problems.
Uneducated masses
We're having the same problem as the founders did when they founded this great experiment - uneducated masses. They were afraid that uneducated masses would pick terrible leaders. Even with all the technology and information overload that we have today - people still go with their gut. Damn common sense or their own best interest, it's all about the hype.
-- roymathew
so true, i have often thought that the reason education is so underfunded and undervalued in the USA is that the republican hierachy is afraid that if the electorate had a little education they would never put up with the foolishness that has been foisted on us for the last 7 and a half years. if they keep them uneducated and stupid, they won't be able to think for themselves and will keep on believing everything as reported on fox news.
i can't wait for a democratic presidency again, i would love to see a balanced budget, and for any raises i get to actually show up in my paycheck.
American is an immigrant country -- it was built and has grown strong because of the immigrant values and mindset. The mindset of immigrants is "If I go there and work hard, I can make a better life for me and my family." The one major exception is those who were brought over as slaves. They didn't choose to come, and if they worked hard, they didn't get a "better life for their families." They just got to work harder. This is the shameful legacy of slavery. Success was measured differently.
The field of Epigenetics studies the generational effect of environment and emotional stress. It reveals how cultural stress (such as the potato famine and the Holocaust) impact future generations and how it shows up in their genes and in their reactions to life. Slavery in America produced a significant Epigenetic impact that was reinforced through segregation.
Of course time, education, experience and the blending of blood lines modifies mindsets and resultant values. No longer can skin color be used to profile or qualify a person’s mindset and sense of values. Further, modern immigrants from Africa, even the immigrants from the Islands who have a longer history of self-determination than America's former slaves, find that the mind-sets are different.
Obama has an IMMIGRANT heritage and an immigrant mindset. His roots are the same as so-called “white” Americans.
Now Obama needs to connect with the mindsets and gut-reactions of working-class people who still use skin color and vocabulary to profile others.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
