Race War?
- 09.02.2008 - 4:32 PMAt the Philadelphia Daily News, Fatimah Ali warns:
If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness – and hopelessness!
Sounds like a pretty enfeebled bunch of warriors to me. Deflated, depressed, homeless, and hopeless. What makes Ali so sure this gloomy mob will be able to rally themselves and rise up against the rest of the country? Oh yeah, that’s right: hope.
At the core of the Obama phenomena, deep inside that bubble of hope, change, and the newest iteration “American promise,” there’s a frenzy of bitterness and cynicism that won’t cease on account of something as inconsequential as the truth. Crime is not on the rise, the economy is mending, and George W. Bush reduced chronic homelessness by a third. But don’t tell Fatimah Ali because she has hope. Hope that Barack Obama will enter the White House and start slaying fictional dragons.
To be clear, Barack Obama has never advocated race wars. He’s a smart, sane man with some deeply flawed politics. But every time he makes yet another speech about America’s failed promises, jobs shipped overseas, and the choice of gas or chemotherapy he’s selling an idea of America as wasteland. And we know from his poll numbers, there are a lot of buyers. If anything “fuels” the potential violence Ali pretty much threatens, it’s having the world’s most talented speaker telling people day-in and day-out that without him all is misery.
But I suspect Ali is wrong about there being any race or class wars. The reason I suspect this is because, unlike her, I have faith in America with or without a President Obama. It will take more than a thousand downer speeches to drive Americans to armed revolt. Though for her effort in trying to legitimize such a catastrophe Fatimah Ali should be deeply ashamed.
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