So here’s a question for John Mearsheimer. As Noah Pollak pointed out not so long ago, John Mearsheimer classified Jews into three categories — new Afrikaner Jews, righteous Jews, and the “great ambivalent in the middle.” In his useful lists, he included one Judge Richard Goldstone among the noble ones. And so, in light of the revelations about Judge Goldstone to which Jennifer Rubin referred earlier on today, one is left to wonder. Where would Mearsheimer now put Goldstone — among the “New Afrikaner” or the “Righteous”? Maybe we should create a separate category — Old Afrikaner but Righteous? Good Ol’ Afrikaner?
Is he a Righteous Afrikaner because he bashes Israel after having hung a few Africans — the bashing makes him righteous, the hanging makes him Afrikaner?
If so, is his righteousness diminished by his little flirt with the white supremacist apartheid? Or is his very practical complicity with it something that his later anti-Zionist righteousness washes away?
Will Mearsheimer continue to be his fan now that he knows what skeletons Mr. Goldstone had in the closet? Won’t he mind? Will anyone mind?
After all, what’s sending a few Africans to the gallows, between us, after you’ve authored a UN-sponsored indictment of Israel and peppered it with a healthy dose of self-righteousness about your Jewish conscience?
“I hope that progressive-minded people will not make a blanket conclusion that if Barack has made it, everybody can make it,”
It seems to me that this encapsulates the basic worldview of the Democratic party. Not just with a successful African-American, but with anyone. The leaders of the Democratic party want you to believe that the fact that someone else managed to make something of themselves has no bearing on whether such an achievement is possible for you. The message is: Everyone who is successful is lucky, or they have somehow cheated someone else to get where they are, or what they have. Individual achievement is impossible because the odds are just stacked against you because you’re a minority/poor/a woman/gay/less educated. Thus, you need the Democratic party to give you what is rightfully yours.
Gross.
Great article, Abe. Great post, Graham. The basic line, the rich need to be punished. Race will always haunt America. There will be no change and no hope.
This is the classic struggle between the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton side and the Clarence Thomas/Thomas Sowell side. Although it should always be conceeded that the disadvantaged will get help, those that achieve should be recognized for their ability and not merely recipients of hand outs.
Some blacks fear that Obama’s ascendancy to the Presidency would mean
the “End of White Guilt”.
Where would they be then?
Oh, the inhumanity!
Having to make it on ones own efforts and merits!
The democratic party: challenging the KKK for the title of
‘Most Racist Organization in history”…
Ah, the unintended consequences of ‘caring, good intentions and feelings’
I actually agree that Obama presidency might be a setback fro the advancement of African-Americans in the US. My reasoning, however, is that Obama presidency would be such a disaster and people might come to consider Obama’s failure as failure of the black people. Hence, The One would actually be a burden for future minority candidates. It is not so different than the burden Bush represents for McCain.
All good points and another reason why it doesn’t matter if The O loses. They’ll be angry no matter what happens.
I just started reading the Times piece. Yecchhhh! Example: “Mr. Harrison, a … black, says he expects to feel chills when Mr. Obama becomes the first black presidential candidate to lead a major party ticket.”
I expect to feel chills, too. Followed no doubt by fever and nausea.
One of the biggest myths of the Obama campaign was that he would put our racial divisions behind us. Some months ago, a number of commenters on this blog made comments to that effect, that he might finally heal past wounds. But Obama’s candidacy is quite the opposite — it plays on racial tensions and has no intention of ever resolving them. The Democratic Party has positioned itself so that its best interest is in never fixing problems, but rather exacerbating them in perpetuity.
This is why John McWhorter, though I usually agree with him, is completely wrong for supporting Obama. He has been flogging the notion that if Obama is elected, the race blackmailers will finally have to withdraw the hands they’ve had out for the past 40 years.
Now that they’ve announced they have no intention of getting out of the racket business, I hope he’ll re-think his support of The One.
I have found the observations regarding the racial narrative associated with Obama’s candidacy a little stupefying, premised as they are on the fact that Obama receives support from 9 out of 10 blacks. Hasn’t the Democratic candidate regularly received that level of support for eons? So a black candidate in the Democratic primaries receives the support of 9 out of 10 black Democrats. This voting pattern strikes me as quite unexceptional.
I’m sure David Dinkins received 90% of the black vote when running for Mayor of NYC–elected, then defeated when running for reelection. And many made similar observations about the assuaging of white guilt, et al. And inasmuch as the media did their level best to cover for him, Dinkins was just over his head as mayor, with a number of racial incidents paralyzing his administration.
There is really no evidence that Obama’s election would make any difference in this regard, as his life has been one long journey to find his racial identity. And that is what is most troubling about Obama, as most Americans aren’t consumed by a search for their identity–they already know who they are.
Me? I’m an American. How about you?
I’m an American.
Actually, as an non-American and outsider, I would suggest that this could be a real possibility. If Obama is elected I would expect the focus will most likely move towards the Latino communities which will make up a signficantly larger proportion of voters than the African-American communities in the future.
The argument would probably be that, as stated, an African-American is President, any African-American can achieve anything they want and the days of slavery/oppression and its lingering effects are over.
Latinos will be seen as the new oppressed – especially those who are considered illegals and liable for deportation, and leftist sympathies will shift to them, with affirmative action policies etc to assist them. Expect those benefits to be whittled from the African-American community, especially after Obama, as they would no longer be considered justified.
How is racial inequality the White Man’s fault? Whites have been bending over backwards and punishing themselves by promoting Blacks and other so called minorities above themselves for decades now. The playing field is tilted heavily towards Blacks and against Whites in every field of endeavor.
The ugly truth is that only Whites are the victims of institutionalized racism in this country, and only males are the victims of institutionalized sexism. Black Americans are hands down the worst racists in the country, but not only are Whites supposed to pretend not to notice, they’re supposed to blame themselves.
This article highlights an important fact about the racial grievance hustlers and parasites: Nothing will ever satisfy them. Nothing. If White slavery became the law of the land, they would still demonize Whites at every opportunity.
Apan,
the Bush Presidency isn’t a burden on McCain because it’s been a disaster. It’s a burden because Bush is a Republican, so the leftstream media have been attacking and smearing him mercilessly since the day he took office. In fact, the more successful a Republican President is, the more abuse he suffers. Look at Reagan and Bush compared to Bush’s father.
President Bush has accomplished a great deal as President. He is the first one to take the islamic problem seriously, much less strike back against the muslim war against humanity.
Forbes,
on average, 80 to 90% of Blacks don’t even bother to vote. They don’t support either Democrats or Republicans, and tend to hate them both. However, close to 99% of Blacks support Obama, even though most of them still won’t vote in the elections. Voter registration among Blacks has soared to record levels this year, and it isn’t because a Democrat is running for President.
Conversely, McCain does not enjoy anywhere near 99% of White support.
Black support for Obama is based on racism. Obama knows this, which is one of the reasons he pretends to be Black.