Tuesday, December 2, 2008

OBAMA'S PLAYING POLITICS WITH RACE AND THE UNTHINKABLE. BRIE AND SYMPATHY.

Amid all the turmoil surrounding the economy, a few days ago there was an interesting news release. The release read: "Law enforcement sources have said that President-elect Barack Obama has been the target of more threats than any President-elect in history."

What's most telling about this release is that this information would never have been released without Obama deciding that he wanted it released. Law enforcement would never issue such a press release on their own. It would not be in their interest to do so. But Obama obviously felt it was in his political interest to do so. And so he ordered it to be disseminated.

Even amid a financial crisis, it seems that Obama can't help but continue to play the kind of cheap politics reminiscent of Richard Nixon. In this case, before he is even inaugurated he is looking for brie and sympathy.

But even Nixon never stooped to the level of trying to play on public sympathy by using threats of bodily harm against him,threats everyone knows are mostly insignificant since 99.99% of them come from harmless but deluded crackpots who pose no real threat at all. Which is not to say each threat shouldn't be investigated by the Secret Service and the lunatics arrested. After all it is a federal crime to make such threats. But it is telling and very much in character that Obama would want that information released when no President before him thought it mattered much.

But releasing that information gave him the political pretense to do his scheduled TV interview with Barbara Walters and play the tin hero, making sure the subject was brought up and then showing that he is oblivious to the mounting threats and danger around him, showing the world that he is not afraid, that he is a person of courage who will do his job despite the threats. That is pretty much what he said. Whatta guy. Even before taking office Obama thinks that being President is all about him. I wonder if it gave Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann goosebumps.

Another aspect of how cheap a political play this really was, is the unintentionally revealing use of the word"more". The release said Obama has received "more" threats than any other President-elect in history, What that word tells us is what we already knew. That every other President-elect in history received threats like these from the usual collection of unhinged lunatics around the country. They always do.

But none of them, not Bush, not Clinton, not Bush 41, not Reagan, not Carter, none of them decided to use these threats for PR or political purposes by releasing news of them to the public. Not saying anything in the face of these lunatic threats is real courage. Instead Obama decided to prey on public sympathy by having that information released and in the process went one step further by playing the race card while at the same time being able to say "who me"?

Because " more threats than any President in history" translates into only one thing -- "because I'm black". (Actually half black) And everyone, including Obama, knows it.

In wanting to play hero before he even takes the oath of office, Obama seems to have no problem with suggesting to people that despite the fact that the country elected the first person of color in history to the Presidency, we are still a racist society and he is still a victim of that racism even though he happens to have been elected President of the United States. Again, whatta guy.

Underhanded Nixonian politics is not new for Obama. What is new is that he is playing it as President-elect.

One always hopes, politics being the dirty business that it is, that once a politician gets elected they stop being a politician and start being a statesman. Very few rise to that level and Obama, Mr. Change, is no exception.

Except to use threats against him, most of them meaningless, for his own political use is somewhat lower than any President has gone before. No President before him felt it necessary to release information about threats against them. Law enforcement would never do it on their own. Obama instructing them do it so he can play Braveheart is just more political games at a time when that is the last thing the country needs.

Whatever time Obama spent with his advisers discussing this and then making the decision to go ahead and issue the press release was time wasted.

The one bright spot so far is that he is appointing capable people to fill his administration. One can only hope that when it comes to actually governing, he does what he knows how to do best - get out of the way and allow people who actually know what they are doing to formulate and follow through on policy. And so far it looks like he may be doing just that while he handles being the front man and doing what he does best. Nothing.

For those who havent seemed to be able to find any of the articles related to these stories about the rise in threats to Obama, here is one from the Associated Press. The release was also read on CNN and was talked about as mentioned in the interview Barbara Walters did with Obama.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and write something like this ..... and totally redeem yourself!!

Anonymous said...

The release read: "Law enforcement sources have said that President-elect Barack Obama has been the target of more threats than any President-elect in history."

Marc - would you please present a link to the source of this statement? I googled the line in quotes and the only link came back as your blog.

Anonymous said...

"Law enforcement sources have said…” that really sounds like Obama’s official statement. Yes, news about life threats against president-elect life should be censored, because they might sound like a race baiting.

No way that could be associated by unproven, paranoid slanders about him being a communist, elitist, muslim, radical black Christian, terrorist, illegal immigrant, puppet of corporations etc. being thrown against him inside of a rightwing blogosphere as to no presidential candidate before.

Citizen Cane

Anonymous said...

Like Gehrig's consecutive game streak, they always said that the previous record of death threats recieved by a President-Elect, held by Rutherford Hayes, would never be broken.

To be fair, although they usually involved the use of tar and feathers, the death threats against Rutherford Hayes were much more meaty. Yet, as you so eloquently stated in your post, most of the so-called "death threats" against Obama aren't even good ones. I hope they at least place an asterik next to his name in the record books.

Anonymous said...

Bush 43 got death threats too but not because he's half black, but because he's full stupied!!

Marc Rubin said...

"..Marc - would you please present a link to the source of this statement? I googled the line in quotes and the only link came back as your blog."

Hmmm you know googling is a pretty easy thing..I dont know how you missed it but here is one..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081115/ap_on_el_pr/obama_threats


I could give you a lot more but this should do it. So should the Barbara Walters interview which you can probably see online where they talked about it.

Marc Rubin said...

Marc - would you please present a link to the source of this statement? I googled the line in quotes and the only link came back as your blog.

Here is the complete link -- the copy and paste left off the last of it. I still dont know how you have googled this and missed all the links..but here is all you need

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081115/ap_on_el_pr/obama_threats

Marc Rubin said...

For some reason the complete web address isnt completely pasting..I will put the link on the blog.

but here is a lesson in googling..try putting in "Obama threats" and see what comes back..including the article Im trying to paste.

Marc Rubin said...

"...No way that could be associated by unproven, paranoid slanders about him being a communist, elitist, muslim, radical black Christian, terrorist, illegal immigrant, puppet of corporations etc. being thrown against him inside of a rightwing blogosphere as to no presidential candidate before. .."

Do you want to try this one again in English?

Anonymous said...

Once again, he pulls the race card and I am not surprised. Did anyone mention how many death threats the previous record holder had? And by comparison, how many Obama had? (if it's in the article- I haven't read it yet but I will)
Nothing he does surprises me. But I wonder Marc, why are you surprised that he stoops even lower than Nixon?
As far as I can see, he has stooped this low his entire political career. I am certain Alice Palmer would agree.
I am certain anyone who has driven through the south side of Chicago would agree.
The race baiting that went on during the primaries was pathetic and not one person called him out on it.
So quite frankly my only surprise is your surprise.

Anonymous said...

In my view, it's an overstatement to say he's appointing good people. Look a bit more closely and you'll see some distressing names, at least from a Jewish/Israeli security perspective. I'm not so convinced about many of the folks he's gathering around.

Marc Rubin said...

"In my view, it's an overstatement to say he's appointing good people. Look a bit more closely and you'll see some distressing names, at least from a Jewish/Israeli security perspective. I'm not so convinced about many of the folks he's gathering around."

Clinton is committed to Israel's security and there is no doubt its going to be her foreign policy not his. Her appointment to State was the price Obama had to pay for her support and there is no way she would have wanted State if she had to carry out an Obama policy she didnt believe in. Except for Gates which is another renegging on an Obama promise to start bringing troops home from Iraq within 60 days, ( no small reneg) the people are qualifed for their jobs and Biden is having tremendous input. But it does remain to be seen if anything he does will work.

Marc Rubin said...

For Harry and anyone else who hasnt been able to find links to articles that talk about Obama receiving more threats than any other President elect here is another link.This one from MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27724965/

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Marc. Maybe oblabla is preparing us for the possibility that he may be defrocked by one of the pending lawsuits in regard to his eligibility. Every little bit helps when someone is attempting to build a case for victimization. He certainly has played the victim card all along in many ways other than simply race- remember the food stamps and single mother spiel? It is a never ending meme. What a role model for our youth.

Anonymous said...

Lee Harvey never threatened Kennedy.

No would-be assassin would make threats first.

1950 Democrat said...

marc, great point.

myi, good point. I don't know whether it's true that people who threaten suicide don't do it, but certainly people who threaten assassination are less likely to succeed at it.

Pamela of the Poconos said...

Thanks for your perspective I could not have achieved it on my own, but concur. Knowing as much as possible about PEBO is key to restoring honor to this troubled land. Those complaining here that they had not seen the 'more threat' articles are of course, trying to pour more KoolAid. The articles are everywhere. Thanks for your total effort here, including excellent response to critics.

Anonymous said...

The election is over!

YOU people need to get a life!

Anonymous said...

"No would-be assassin would make threats first."

So true! Consider the fact that since Bin Laden began publicly releasing audio and video tapes threatening to bring destruction to the US there hasn't been an attack on US soil. This also explains why Condi would have ignored the "Bin Laden determined to strike US homeland" intelligence report.

Anonymous said...

"No would-be assassin would make threats first."

So true! Consider the fact that since Bin Laden began publicly releasing audio and video tapes threatening to bring destruction to the US there hasn't been an attack on US soil. This also explains why Condi would have ignored the "Bin Laden determined to strike US homeland" intelligence report."

No it wouldnt. The PDB was not the report of threats made by Al-Qaeda. They were the product of undercover intelligence gathered without Al-Qaeda's knowledge. Rice and Bush's ingoring that report was one of the worst cases of gross criminal negligence in American history and if they were CEO's of a large corporation ignoring a threat like that they both would be in jail now on 3000 counts of criminally negligent homicide.

Anonymous said...

"Knowing as much as possible about PEBO is key to restoring honor to this troubled land."

I couldn't possibly agree more. However, it would be best to start with facts rather than conspiracy-laced rumors and innuendos from a failed sitcom writer.

Anonymous said...

"No would-be assassin would make threats first."

Under that logic...I guess there's no reason for restraining orders anymore, since no one would ever make a threat they intend to carry out.

Anonymous said...

"Under that logic...I guess there's no reason for restraining orders anymore, since no one would ever make a threat they intend to carry out."

The purpose of a threat is coercion - "do what I say or else."

An assassin's purpose is to kill his victim, which becomes much more difficult if the victim is warned by pointless threats.

Did any successful assassin of a President announce his intention ahead of time by making threats?

Booth? Guiteau? Oswald?

How about the ones who came close but failed? Sarah Jane Moore, Lynette Fromme, John Hinckley Jr.?

What about Sirhan Sirhan or James Earl Ray?

I don't doubt that the election of Obama has stirred up some of our nation's nut-jobs, but most of them would have been stirred up anyway. If not by Obama, then by another politician, or a musician or an actor/actress.

Nut-jobs are like that.

Anonymous said...

OK, so I read the AP article and what I find interesting is they include "internet activity" as threats.
Well, let me be the first to say that I must have a dossier a mile wide because since Hillary suspended her campaign, I have spent most of my time at anti-Obama sites-
And if they are going to include internet activity- how does that even compare to previous President-elects, in light of the internet only being what it is for the past 8-10 years???
At least we should compare apples-to-apples.

Anonymous said...

"And if they are going to include internet activity- how does that even compare to previous President-elects, in light of the internet only being what it is for the past 8-10 years???"

Sue is exactly right! This is why they need to place an asterik next to this so called record. Almost any criticism is now considered a death threat by modern day law enforcement.

True story...I once told my ex-wife that she'd gotten so fat that I was "going to put an apple in her mouth and serve her for Easter." She claimed in court that this made her fear that I was a threat to her safety and was able to take out a restraining order against me. It really is a crazy world we live in.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Marc, very sharp post. I didn't know it was up to BO to approve the release of that info...
How shameful of him...

Anonymous said...

Marc:

About your comment

"Clinton is committed to Israel's security and there is no doubt its going to be her foreign policy not his"

I was relieved by that too (vis a vis US/Israel) until I read that BO might name the former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer might be appointed as "special envoy" reporting "directly" to BO.
www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/1042698.html
That'd be terrible (bypassing the SoS).

Anonymous said...

Marc:

I think that if you leave out the "http" part then the links go through more easily (put them as www....)

Anonymous said...

"" Violet said...

The election is over!

YOU people need to get a life!

December 3, 2008 6:35 AM ""


ROFLOL : and what are you doing here then??

Anonymous said...

The last I heard this is still a free country.

Tom happens to be a great writer!

Anonymous said...

Tom, once again, your words are spot on.

Anonymous said...

I saw the article so the link does work. Of course a lot of the "threats" were chats on message boards.

I'll bet the "threats" against Obama are a tiny fraction of the number of threats made by Obama supporters against those who supported Hillary and John McCain/Palin. Add them up side by side and the Obama threats would disappear in comparison. I clearly recall hundreds, if not thousands of threats against the population of the U.S. in the form of "blood in the streets", if Obama was not elected.

Anonymous said...

We the People have the rights to demand the following!

1) Obama must establish his eligibility to POTUS without question, to be only a natural born U.S. citizen without loyalties to other foreign countries!

2) The fact that Obama has refused is just a criminal behavior to do otherwise. Criminal because his actions are premeditated deception, fraudulent and deceitful of the U.S. Constitution laws!

3) If found to be a illegibility as POTUS, having lied to the entire world, he should be tried for treason!

There should be a FULL investigation of all government bodies and tried for crimes against the United States as well.

No American citizen, should reward or allow our country to be hijacked, by anyone especially as shown by the exploitation of a position of power or trust for personal gain!

Amend…