by Teh Nutroots | That didn't take long. If he were the only Republican who had flipped for Obama---if a gazillion right-leaning newspapers plus quite a few conservatives hadn't flipped for him--- I might find the insistence from the right that this is simply racial ("they stick together, you know") a bit less offensive if not any more credible. As it is, not. Via Huffpost, Notre Dame Professor Darren Davis, "who specializes in the intersection of race and politics," would like to point out:
"There is nothing racially obvious about Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. I have read Colin Powell's comments and he did not at anytime allude to race being a factor in his endorsement. I think what we are seeing is a sense of racial stereotyping of two ostensibly racially transcendent political figures. There has always been a stereotype that all black people will stick together. It seems that this is somewhat in play here, given that they only factor connecting Colin Powell and Barack Obama is race." (HuffPost)
But let's check out what the non-specialists are saying! Or, as Bark Bark Woof Woof puts it: "Put away the dog whistles. The McCain campaign and its supporters are coming right out and playing the whole deck of the race cards."
Well, well, well. How surprised are you to learn that Pat Buchanan thinks it's just the black dudes sticking together?
Taylor Marsh provides a bit of background:
Joan Walsh, from Salon, and someone I've come to know a bit over the election season, was on with Buchanan. It was clear she couldn't believe her ears, breaking into Buchanan's barrage several times, while giving him a lot of leeway, saying "you're better than that" at one point. Of course, Buchanan has been leveling this type of tribal bigotry going back to Nixon, so, no, he's not "better than that," because he sees nothing wrong with the fight he wants to wage. Having read all his books, I can say with certainty that the America Buchanan is fighting for is old western European stocked America, not the melting pot that includes brown and black immigrants we are becoming. Trying to throw him a lifeline, Walsh was clearly stunned, as was Matthews.
Here's what the man said:
Buchanan: Alright, we gotta ask a question, look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal democrat...
Walsh: Oh, Pat, I'm really sorry you went there.
Look, General Powell Started off by saying it would be electrifying an African American and it is naive Joan to suggest it had nothing to do with his decision.
Matthews: He said that if that were his driving motive he would have done it weeks ago because the guy looked African America weeks and months ago.
Walsh: And Obama's been courting him. He's been courting him for months.Buchanan: This is why he threw in the whole kitchen sink. A lot fo things are silly and ridiculous. Economics and Supreme courts justices, it's...
Walsh; That's not silly...
Buchanan: All the motives except for the one everybody is wondering about.
Walsh: Which is what? Race, I mean Pat, you know Pat. this is beneath you.
Matthews: Why don't you go by what he said? Why do you have to attribute motives to people who don't say those things? (Crooks and Liars)
Good on ya, Walsh and Matthews, for calling out this bullsh*t. Meanwhile, John Amato remarks:
Wow, can you image that Colin Powell might consider the Supreme Court and economic policies before he makes a decision on who to vote for? Why would black people care about those issues right, Pat?
No....no, Pat Buchanan evidently cannot imagine it. That's just silly, that's what it is!
Rush Limbaugh:
Rush Limbaugh said Colin Powell's decision to get behind Barack Obama appeared to be very much tied to Obama's status as the first African-American with a chance to become president.
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with." (Jonathan Martin)
Limbaugh isn't going to look up how many inexperienced, white conservatives Powell has endorsed because that's not interesting. Besides, it might lead people to inconvenient reflection....could it be, one wonders, whether Powell has learned from experience and has concluded that after eight years of Bush, we can't---given McCain's age and past health issues---afford a VP who is essentially Bush in a skirt?
Colin Powell: a man who learns from his experiences.
No one expected any better of these two, I imagine. But what about the smarter sort of conservative?
George Will who called McCain....let's see, what was that? "A Flustered Rookie Playing in a League Too High" and compared him to the Queen of Hearts doesn't seem inclined to credit Powell with the same reservations or even with the reservations he specifically expressed on Meet the Press. Via Blue Texan at Firedoglake, here's a bit of transcript for you.
WILL: ....I think this adds to my calculation -- this is very hard to measure -- but it seems to me if we had the tools to measure we'd find that Barack Obama gets two votes because he's black for every one he loses because he's black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jessee Jackson game of political rhetoric. (FDL; emphasis in original)
Blue Texan asked, and he speaks for me:
Huh?
Excuse me, but what the fuck do Al Sharpton and Jessee Jackson have to do with George W. Bush's Secretary of State, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a lifelong Republican endorsing Obama?
Oh, right -- they're all black(FDL; emphasis in original).
Ta-Nehisi Coates marvels at the presumptuousness of pundits---meaning Will---who, while admitting there's no way to know the truth about something like "this country is so eager to feel good about itself by doing this," says it anyway.
It's why I never want to be a pundit. The entry requirement seems to be that you have to act like you have an answer to everything, when sometimes, you just don't have a fucking clue.
Meanwhile....why looky here at what Will---who we know is NOT black and presumably presumes he's objective---said about McCain way back on September 23:
Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.
Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox... (WaPo)
He also said:
For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people. McCain's Manichaean worldview drove him to his signature legislative achievement, the McCain-Feingold law's restrictions on campaigning. Today, his campaign is creatively finding interstices in laws intended to restrict campaign giving and spending. (For details, see The Post of Sept. 17, Page A4; and the New York Times of Sept. 20, Page One.)(WaPo)
And also:
Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either. (More)
But I guess that whereas Will, being white and all, is genuinely and legitimately concerned with the crucial question of judicial appointments and the even more crucial one of temperament, Powell, being black and all cannot be.
Taylor Marsh:
So, get ready for the conservatives, those far right-wing reactionaries to rise up, with the help of people like Rush and Patrick J. Buchanan, trying to stir up an Obama backlash in the last two weeks of this election. Coupled by a little white guilt and a little smearing of shame for any Republican not supporting the war hero. Ahem, sorry, the white war hero.
Powell's going to reap the wingnut whirlwind, but he's clearly ready for this fight. Just make no mistake about it. Colin Powell is a Republican through and through, and the fight he's waging is to change his party. We won't find ourselves on the same side with him very often going forward. (emphasis added)
Lot of stuff up at Memeorandum today. Check it!
RECENT BUCK NAKED POLITICS POSTINGS
Worldwide Economic Meltdown: No Rules = No Responsibility?
Houston Chronicle & Kansas City Star Endorse Obama
Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell Endorses Obama
If Elected, Would Obama Appoint a Bipartisan Cabinet?
Comments