I Promise I'll Stop Writing About This Eventually . . .
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | This Campaign Will Self Destruct In 10 Seconds — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
But issues concerning Barack Obama's recent comments just keep springing to mind. Consider his side comment about "anti-immigrant" sentiments that he attributes to people in small towns who "get bitter." Now, to be sure, xenophobia certainly has been known to increase in tenor and pitch when hard economic times come about. But as I and others have argued, if we are talking about the controversy surrounding our current immigration policies, we have to acknowledge the fact that concerns regarding those policies do not merely exist because of hard economic times. Immigration policy has always been a hot-button issue. It was a hot-button issue while the economic expansion was going on in full force during the Bush Presidency. It was a hot-button issue when the Reagan Administration offered amnesty for illegal immigrants if only those immigrants declare themselves (the economy was growing quite nicely then too and people felt very good about the direction of the country and their own personal fortunes).
Moreover, as with the issue of trade, Obama shows a strange tendency to accuse others of sins he is primarily guilty of. He decries as most unfortunate the fact that the unwashed masses might become protectionists in hard economic times, even as he opposes free trade in general and NAFTA and the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement in particular. And when it comes to the issue of immigrants--or more generally, the Other--Obama is more than willing to stoke resentments even as he pronounces the existence of those resentments as sorrowful and regrettable.
Remember this? It contained the following passage:
. . . This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
Just out of curiosity, if a candidate for the Presidency goes out of his way to rhetorically stoke fears that the foreigners are out to get your livelihood, would said candidate be rightfully described as "bitter"?
Or is it all right for Barack Obama to play on fears of the Other even as he (rightfully) decries such fears when it comes to our attitudes towards immigrants?
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I Promise I'll Stop Writing About This Eventually . . . 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
as the previous poster said, it's not the immigrants who are coming here legally. The problem is the great influx of illegal aliens who don't want to assimilate. Put on top those of the "reconquista" persuasion & those who automatically denigrate anyone with a concern about the illegal alien influx as xenophobes, & we get the situation in which we find ourselves. I believe that if the illegal alien situation is not adequately addressed in the congressional elections (I have little hope for anything from the presidential candidates) the US may see a larger backlash against the illegal aliens & those who enable & support them.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/04/returning_soldiers_ge...
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
Obama is, as usual, trying to bridge two different constituencies:
To win the election, he needs to reach out to moderate Democrats and Independents, to whom he cannot afford to appear too radical or frightening. These voters, while they aren't happy with the Bush Administration (is anyone anymore?), are not down on the country as a whole. For them, Obama preaches hopefulness, consensus, unity, optimism.
But Obama's base consists of truly angry, truly bitter, hard-core Leftists. Reverend Wright isn't the only one. Some of the stuff I see coming out of some of the left-wing blogs is truly virulent. Many of these folks, based on what they have said and written, believe America is so fundamentally flawed that only radical change can make it into a place they would like to live in.
When Obama was speaking in San Francisco, he was addressing this latter group. And they want to hear red meat--how awful most of America is, especially heartland America-- except for them.
but I think it is not "immigrants" that really concern Americans as much as it is "illegal immigrants." Obama's slip of the tongue is more revealing of the mindset that is driving his own ambition.
http://samuelatgilgal.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/progress-without-evidence...