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	<title>Comments on: What is Obama&#8217;s Core Worldview?</title>
	<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770</link>
	<description></description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:22:19 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>By: phil</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8168</link>
		<dc:creator>phil</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:37:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8168</guid>
		<description>&#34;&#160;I&#8217;m someone who would&#160;be proud of Obama if he actually&#160;&lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt;&#160;a black nationalist.&#34;When did racial nationalism become a good thing, let alone something to be proud of? I thought we put paid to that in 1945.&#160;It's important to remember that Obama is not black, he's biracial. Other countries have been more sophisticated in their terminology and have a word for this and it is time that we recognize this too. There are a lot of Americans of mixed-race backgrounds and our terminology is outdated and inappropriate to our social reality.&#160;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&quot;&nbsp;I&rsquo;m someone who would&nbsp;be proud of Obama if he actually&nbsp;<em>were</em>&nbsp;a black nationalist.&quot;When did racial nationalism become a good thing, let alone something to be proud of? I thought we put paid to that in 1945.&nbsp;It&#8217;s important to remember that Obama is not black, he&#8217;s biracial. Other countries have been more sophisticated in their terminology and have a word for this and it is time that we recognize this too. There are a lot of Americans of mixed-race backgrounds and our terminology is outdated and inappropriate to our social reality.&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>By: democratic core</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8162</link>
		<dc:creator>democratic core</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:34:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8162</guid>
		<description>I suspect that Obama's &#34;core worldview&#34; is essentially indistinguishable from that of Bill Clinton - centrist/liberal, internationalist, moderately pro-business&#160;but&#160;not&#160;libertarian.&#160; Like Clinton, his principal focus is on gaining and holding political power, which means that he is flexible within a very broad ideological range.&#160; I think the principal difference is a procedural one.&#160; Clinton was given to interminable debate and vacillation on policy issues, generally culminating in an attempt to straddle all sides, often without success.&#160;&#160;Obama seems to be far more decisive.&#160; Take for example the&#160;recent FISA legislation.&#160; I had assumed that Obama would oppose it, but let Feingold and others on the left attempt a filibuster,&#160;and count on there being enough votes for cloture to allow the legislation to pass, thereby minimizing it as a&#160;campaign issue.&#160; That would be the classic Clintonian approach - try to please the left without having to suffer the consequences.&#160; Obama didn't do that - he cut through the BS, said the law wasn't perfect but he's supporting it anyway.&#160; It's the difference between&#160;smoking dope&#160;and admitting it&#160;and smoking dope but claiming&#160;not to have&#160;inhaled.&#160;&#160; Obama's personal story and the role of race make him a very interesting political figure, but at the end of the day, I think he's a pretty mainstream Democratic politician.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I suspect that Obama&#8217;s &quot;core worldview&quot; is essentially indistinguishable from that of Bill Clinton - centrist/liberal, internationalist, moderately pro-business&nbsp;but&nbsp;not&nbsp;libertarian.&nbsp; Like Clinton, his principal focus is on gaining and holding political power, which means that he is flexible within a very broad ideological range.&nbsp; I think the principal difference is a procedural one.&nbsp; Clinton was given to interminable debate and vacillation on policy issues, generally culminating in an attempt to straddle all sides, often without success.&nbsp;&nbsp;Obama seems to be far more decisive.&nbsp; Take for example the&nbsp;recent FISA legislation.&nbsp; I had assumed that Obama would oppose it, but let Feingold and others on the left attempt a filibuster,&nbsp;and count on there being enough votes for cloture to allow the legislation to pass, thereby minimizing it as a&nbsp;campaign issue.&nbsp; That would be the classic Clintonian approach - try to please the left without having to suffer the consequences.&nbsp; Obama didn&#8217;t do that - he cut through the BS, said the law wasn&#8217;t perfect but he&#8217;s supporting it anyway.&nbsp; It&#8217;s the difference between&nbsp;smoking dope&nbsp;and admitting it&nbsp;and smoking dope but claiming&nbsp;not to have&nbsp;inhaled.&nbsp;&nbsp; Obama&#8217;s personal story and the role of race make him a very interesting political figure, but at the end of the day, I think he&#8217;s a pretty mainstream Democratic politician.</p>
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		<title>By: Lexington Green</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8161</link>
		<dc:creator>Lexington Green</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:39:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8161</guid>
		<description>&#34; If someone sits in a black nationalist church for 20 years, then its safe to conclude that they find spiritual inspiration from this ideology.&#160;&#34;

Probably, it is just as safe to conclude that (1) there was political utility to going there, (2) his wife liked it there.&#160; He probably made a lot of good contacts there.&#160; As to 2,&#160;women set the religious tone in many families, with husbands going along with it.&#160; I suspect the Obama family is that way, based on Michelles' comments and demeanor.&#160;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&quot; If someone sits in a black nationalist church for 20 years, then its safe to conclude that they find spiritual inspiration from this ideology.&nbsp;&quot;</p>
<p>Probably, it is just as safe to conclude that (1) there was political utility to going there, (2) his wife liked it there.&nbsp; He probably made a lot of good contacts there.&nbsp; As to 2,&nbsp;women set the religious tone in many families, with husbands going along with it.&nbsp; I suspect the Obama family is that way, based on Michelles&#8217; comments and demeanor.&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>By: Seerov</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8158</link>
		<dc:creator>Seerov</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:34:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8158</guid>
		<description>CurtisGale Weeks,

the idea&#160;of blacks (and other minorities)&#160;being allowed to pursue their ethnic interests because of &#34;past injustices&#34; is no doubt a successful racket.&#160; Its success is largely due to the fact that no one can produce a metric which can tell us when everyone is &#34;equal?&#34;&#160; 
.
Because of this, people of European descent are supposed to accept a lower standard of living.&#160; This is exactly why I support Obama.&#160; After&#160;electing a&#160;black President, the civil rights racket will no longer be able to claim that they are in some way being &#34;discriminated&#34; against.&#160; Of course I have no doubt that they will.&#160; But the important thing is this will give the green light to&#160;European Americans&#160;to start pursuing their own ethnic interests.&#160;&#160; 
.
Affirmative action, racial quotas, negative portrayals of people of European descent in the schools and media, black (and other minority) on white crime, forced busing, illegal immigration, and forced diversity are all issues that need addressing, and a black president will make it all the easier.&#160; 
.
Its&#160;unfortunate that Africans sold other Africans to Europeans 400 years ago as slaves.&#160; You have no idea how much I wish this didn't happen?&#160; But&#160;since its obvious that this excuse will always be used to further black&#160;interests,&#160;it only makes sense that&#160;whites start taking measures to protect their own interests.&#160;&#160;&#160;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>CurtisGale Weeks,</p>
<p>the idea&nbsp;of blacks (and other minorities)&nbsp;being allowed to pursue their ethnic interests because of &quot;past injustices&quot; is no doubt a successful racket.&nbsp; Its success is largely due to the fact that no one can produce a metric which can tell us when everyone is &quot;equal?&quot;&nbsp;<br />
.<br />
Because of this, people of European descent are supposed to accept a lower standard of living.&nbsp; This is exactly why I support Obama.&nbsp; After&nbsp;electing a&nbsp;black President, the civil rights racket will no longer be able to claim that they are in some way being &quot;discriminated&quot; against.&nbsp; Of course I have no doubt that they will.&nbsp; But the important thing is this will give the green light to&nbsp;European Americans&nbsp;to start pursuing their own ethnic interests.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
.<br />
Affirmative action, racial quotas, negative portrayals of people of European descent in the schools and media, black (and other minority) on white crime, forced busing, illegal immigration, and forced diversity are all issues that need addressing, and a black president will make it all the easier.&nbsp;<br />
.<br />
Its&nbsp;unfortunate that Africans sold other Africans to Europeans 400 years ago as slaves.&nbsp; You have no idea how much I wish this didn&#8217;t happen?&nbsp; But&nbsp;since its obvious that this excuse will always be used to further black&nbsp;interests,&nbsp;it only makes sense that&nbsp;whites start taking measures to protect their own interests.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>By: zen</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8156</link>
		<dc:creator>zen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8156</guid>
		<description>This has been a very interesting discussion.
.
For my part, I do not think Senator Obama is &#34;Afrocentric&#34; nor does he aspire to be perceived as such though he&#160;may have associates with Afrocentric sympathies as he clearly&#160;does with&#160;white radical Marxists like Bill Ayers.&#160;Obama's political actions have not been of the kind that an Afrocentrist politician would take.
.
Nor do I think a genuinely Afrocentric candidate, representing a loose&#160;philosophy that is historically and politically&#160;heterogeneous and unified mostly on the point of radical rhetorical resistance to white supremacy, going to have wide electoral appeal.&#160;Afrocentrism is&#160;a subcultural niche in American life, not a panoramic vision. Unlike Jeremy, I think such a hypothetical president would be&#160;likely to fail&#160;as they would start from a position of political isolation from and presumed hostility toward the mainstream of American society. That's not a strong hand to bet on.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This has been a very interesting discussion.<br />
.<br />
For my part, I do not think Senator Obama is &quot;Afrocentric&quot; nor does he aspire to be perceived as such though he&nbsp;may have associates with Afrocentric sympathies as he clearly&nbsp;does with&nbsp;white radical Marxists like Bill Ayers.&nbsp;Obama&#8217;s political actions have not been of the kind that an Afrocentrist politician would take.<br />
.<br />
Nor do I think a genuinely Afrocentric candidate, representing a loose&nbsp;philosophy that is historically and politically&nbsp;heterogeneous and unified mostly on the point of radical rhetorical resistance to white supremacy, going to have wide electoral appeal.&nbsp;Afrocentrism is&nbsp;a subcultural niche in American life, not a panoramic vision. Unlike Jeremy, I think such a hypothetical president would be&nbsp;likely to fail&nbsp;as they would start from a position of political isolation from and presumed hostility toward the mainstream of American society. That&#8217;s not a strong hand to bet on.</p>
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		<title>By: CurtisGale Weeks</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8155</link>
		<dc:creator>CurtisGale Weeks</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:03:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8155</guid>
		<description>Ah the link:&lt;a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-06-26-will-smith_N.htm" rel="nofollow"&gt; Will Smith has found the magic formula&lt;/a&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ah the link:<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-06-26-will-smith_N.htm" rel="nofollow"> Will Smith has found the magic formula</a></p>
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		<title>By: CurtisGale Weeks</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8154</link>
		<dc:creator>CurtisGale Weeks</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:01:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8154</guid>
		<description>Seerov,

My last comment wasn't strictly addressed to you, but a conglomerate of the various criticisms I've heard.&#160; For instance, Dan tdaxp has used the term racist in reference to Obama's church or minister or message (will have to refresh my memory on that), others have well or have outright called him a racist; others have given the 20-years membership to suggest he must agree with the church's messages (although they like most who comment have 1 or 2 video clips to attest to the 20-years of messages); and so forth.

.


On the pro-black and pro-white analogy you are making:&#160; false.&#160; For this reason: a long history of oppression and suppression exists against blacks in America unlike against whites, despite the fact that some unapologetically white critics would call affirmative action a suppression of whites.&#160; Of course race relations have improved greatly and blacks have more real opportunities now than ever before in America, but the history and the memory still exist.&#160; We might even say, as Obama said in his speech on race, that the backward-looking philosophy that holds a fixed eye on past grievances and oppression/suppression is out-dated or ought to be.&#160; Nonetheless, whether from the culture in general, or from some within the culture, or from within the family histories or black culture, the negative messages still exist.&#160; To be &#34;unapolegetically black&#34; is quite similar to something else I read today in an article on Will Smith in USA Today [1]:

&lt;blockquote&gt;&#34;When I was doing &lt;em&gt;Ali&lt;/em&gt;, I realized that he kept saying, 'I'm the greatest, I'm pretty,' to make himself believe it,&#34; Smith says. &#34;He doesn't believe it, but he was dealing with racism. He was reacting to pain and rejection. He said it so much that he started to believe it. That's what I've tried to do for myself.&#34;&lt;/blockquote&gt; Now, we may interpret the pro-black message differently of course.&#160; Nonetheless, the &#34;pro-white&#34; comparison you are trying to make is false because quite simply, whites in this nation have never had to deal with the same history.&#160; Being &#34;pro-black&#34; is similar to the whole &#34;gay pride&#34; thing, which I think is a silly thing (being PROUD of it), but I do understand it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Seerov,</p>
<p>My last comment wasn&#8217;t strictly addressed to you, but a conglomerate of the various criticisms I&#8217;ve heard.&nbsp; For instance, Dan tdaxp has used the term racist in reference to Obama&#8217;s church or minister or message (will have to refresh my memory on that), others have well or have outright called him a racist; others have given the 20-years membership to suggest he must agree with the church&#8217;s messages (although they like most who comment have 1 or 2 video clips to attest to the 20-years of messages); and so forth.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>On the pro-black and pro-white analogy you are making:&nbsp; false.&nbsp; For this reason: a long history of oppression and suppression exists against blacks in America unlike against whites, despite the fact that some unapologetically white critics would call affirmative action a suppression of whites.&nbsp; Of course race relations have improved greatly and blacks have more real opportunities now than ever before in America, but the history and the memory still exist.&nbsp; We might even say, as Obama said in his speech on race, that the backward-looking philosophy that holds a fixed eye on past grievances and oppression/suppression is out-dated or ought to be.&nbsp; Nonetheless, whether from the culture in general, or from some within the culture, or from within the family histories or black culture, the negative messages still exist.&nbsp; To be &quot;unapolegetically black&quot; is quite similar to something else I read today in an article on Will Smith in USA Today [1]:</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;When I was doing <em>Ali</em>, I realized that he kept saying, &#8216;I&#8217;m the greatest, I&#8217;m pretty,&#8217; to make himself believe it,&quot; Smith says. &quot;He doesn&#8217;t believe it, but he was dealing with racism. He was reacting to pain and rejection. He said it so much that he started to believe it. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve tried to do for myself.&quot;</p></blockquote>
<p> Now, we may interpret the pro-black message differently of course.&nbsp; Nonetheless, the &quot;pro-white&quot; comparison you are trying to make is false because quite simply, whites in this nation have never had to deal with the same history.&nbsp; Being &quot;pro-black&quot; is similar to the whole &quot;gay pride&quot; thing, which I think is a silly thing (being PROUD of it), but I do understand it.</p>
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		<title>By: Seerov</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8153</link>
		<dc:creator>Seerov</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8153</guid>
		<description>&lt;em&gt;&#34;you get to bash him for being a black nationalist, while I don&#8217;t get to have a black nationalist&#34;&lt;/em&gt; &#160;(-Jeremy Young)
.
I'm not bashing anyone?&#160; Not once did I say that its wrong to be a black nationalist.&#160; Look, I want Obama to win too.&#160; In fact, I'd like Obama's friend Louis Farrakhan to be his vice President.&#160; So be happy, we're getting what we want&#160;:)
.
&lt;em&gt;&#34;Those hyper-negative &#34;Obama is a racist!&#34;&#160; &#34;Obama is a Marxist through and through!&#34; critics have some special knowledge of him that the vast majority of people studying the race do not have.&lt;/em&gt;&#160;&#34;&#160; (CurtisGale&#160;Weaks)
.
First of all, I would never call Obama a&#160;&#34;racist&#34; because I don't call anyone a&#160;&#34;racist.&#34;&#160; I don't even really understand what the word means?&#160; And just because someone is a black nationalist (like Obama) doesn't mean that he is a racist. (I use the word &#34;racist&#34; here as our society uses it, but I must point out that I still&#160;don't really understand what the term even means?)&#160;&#160;
.
I certainly don't claim to have &#34;special knowledge?&#34;&#160; I'm just using the same standard that our society uses when describing white political leaders with similar backgrounds.
.
&lt;em&gt;&#34;As for the UCC, having attended meetings of a UCC congregation in which no African-Americans were present, I find it baffling that you would describe the entire religion as black nationalist.&#34; (Jeremy Young)
.
&lt;/em&gt;Where did I say that the &#34;entire religion in black nationalist?&#34;&#160; There are Baptist churches that have a black nationalist ideology but I wouldn't call Jerry Falwell a black nationalist.
.
&lt;em&gt;&#34;Or is Obama indeed a blank slate upon which bigoted or biased or politically motivated opponents can paint their worst demonic images?&#34; (CurtisGale Weaks)
.
&lt;/em&gt;Well it can't be &#34;politically motivated&#34; because I want Obama to win.&#160; As far as &#34;bigoted&#34; or &#34;biased&#34; I don't know what these words really mean.&#160; If they mean I hate blacks, then no,&#160;I am not.&#160; 
.
But please answer this question:&#160; If a white man in America belonged to an organization that was &#34;unapologetically pro-White&#34; what do you think the establishment would call him?&#160; All I'm doing is applying the same standard as our media establishment.&#160;I doubt they would even call him a white nationalist, instead, like YOU, they would call him&#160;&#34;bigoted&#34; or &#34;White Supremacist.&#34;&#160; Its important to understand that I'm not using the term black nationalist or Marxist as a judgment statement.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>&quot;you get to bash him for being a black nationalist, while I don&rsquo;t get to have a black nationalist&quot;</em> &nbsp;(-Jeremy Young)<br />
.<br />
I&#8217;m not bashing anyone?&nbsp; Not once did I say that its wrong to be a black nationalist.&nbsp; Look, I want Obama to win too.&nbsp; In fact, I&#8217;d like Obama&#8217;s friend Louis Farrakhan to be his vice President.&nbsp; So be happy, we&#8217;re getting what we want&nbsp;:)<br />
.<br />
<em>&quot;Those hyper-negative &quot;Obama is a racist!&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Obama is a Marxist through and through!&quot; critics have some special knowledge of him that the vast majority of people studying the race do not have.</em>&nbsp;&quot;&nbsp; (CurtisGale&nbsp;Weaks)<br />
.<br />
First of all, I would never call Obama a&nbsp;&quot;racist&quot; because I don&#8217;t call anyone a&nbsp;&quot;racist.&quot;&nbsp; I don&#8217;t even really understand what the word means?&nbsp; And just because someone is a black nationalist (like Obama) doesn&#8217;t mean that he is a racist. (I use the word &quot;racist&quot; here as our society uses it, but I must point out that I still&nbsp;don&#8217;t really understand what the term even means?)&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
.<br />
I certainly don&#8217;t claim to have &quot;special knowledge?&quot;&nbsp; I&#8217;m just using the same standard that our society uses when describing white political leaders with similar backgrounds.<br />
.<br />
<em>&quot;As for the UCC, having attended meetings of a UCC congregation in which no African-Americans were present, I find it baffling that you would describe the entire religion as black nationalist.&quot; (Jeremy Young)<br />
.<br />
</em>Where did I say that the &quot;entire religion in black nationalist?&quot;&nbsp; There are Baptist churches that have a black nationalist ideology but I wouldn&#8217;t call Jerry Falwell a black nationalist.<br />
.<br />
<em>&quot;Or is Obama indeed a blank slate upon which bigoted or biased or politically motivated opponents can paint their worst demonic images?&quot; (CurtisGale Weaks)<br />
.<br />
</em>Well it can&#8217;t be &quot;politically motivated&quot; because I want Obama to win.&nbsp; As far as &quot;bigoted&quot; or &quot;biased&quot; I don&#8217;t know what these words really mean.&nbsp; If they mean I hate blacks, then no,&nbsp;I am not.&nbsp;<br />
.<br />
But please answer this question:&nbsp; If a white man in America belonged to an organization that was &quot;unapologetically pro-White&quot; what do you think the establishment would call him?&nbsp; All I&#8217;m doing is applying the same standard as our media establishment.&nbsp;I doubt they would even call him a white nationalist, instead, like YOU, they would call him&nbsp;&quot;bigoted&quot; or &quot;White Supremacist.&quot;&nbsp; Its important to understand that I&#8217;m not using the term black nationalist or Marxist as a judgment statement.</p>
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		<title>By: CurtisGale Weeks</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8152</link>
		<dc:creator>CurtisGale Weeks</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:44:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8152</guid>
		<description>An aside:&#160; Remember when Obama praised Reagan?&#160; Then Hillary jumped on him in a knee-jerk &#34;we hate everything Republican&#34; attempt to paint Obama as a traitor to the cause.

.


Re: Seerov.&#160; It is funny, and apropos of the main question and theme of Mark's post, that on the one hand some will call Obama a blank slate upon which fanatical fans (redundancy) can see whatever they like....yet somehow certain opponents can be 100% sure that Obama is this or that (whatever is negative.)&#160; This tells me that

.

1. Perhaps certain hyper-negative critics are writing their own particular biases upon the blank slate, whether because they believe those biases or for merely political/spin purposes, or

.

2. Those hyper-negative &#34;Obama is a racist!&#34;&#160; &#34;Obama is a Marxist through and through!&#34; critics have some special knowledge of him that the vast majority of people studying the race do not have.&#160; 

.

But it seems that every time these questions are put forth, most of the proof offered by those critics is not special knowledge but assumptions and highly abstract permutations of the &#34;Anyone who spends 20 years yadda yadda MUST be yadda yadda.&#34;

.

Mark has mentioned some verifiably votes, Eddie has offered some links and more info.&#160; But where is the proof of anything Seerov et. al. try to paint onto Obama?&#160; Or is Obama indeed a blank slate upon which bigoted or biased or politically motivated opponents can paint their worst demonic images?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>An aside:&nbsp; Remember when Obama praised Reagan?&nbsp; Then Hillary jumped on him in a knee-jerk &quot;we hate everything Republican&quot; attempt to paint Obama as a traitor to the cause.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Re: Seerov.&nbsp; It is funny, and apropos of the main question and theme of Mark&#8217;s post, that on the one hand some will call Obama a blank slate upon which fanatical fans (redundancy) can see whatever they like&#8230;.yet somehow certain opponents can be 100% sure that Obama is this or that (whatever is negative.)&nbsp; This tells me that</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>1. Perhaps certain hyper-negative critics are writing their own particular biases upon the blank slate, whether because they believe those biases or for merely political/spin purposes, or</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>2. Those hyper-negative &quot;Obama is a racist!&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Obama is a Marxist through and through!&quot; critics have some special knowledge of him that the vast majority of people studying the race do not have.&nbsp; </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>But it seems that every time these questions are put forth, most of the proof offered by those critics is not special knowledge but assumptions and highly abstract permutations of the &quot;Anyone who spends 20 years yadda yadda MUST be yadda yadda.&quot;</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Mark has mentioned some verifiably votes, Eddie has offered some links and more info.&nbsp; But where is the proof of anything Seerov et. al. try to paint onto Obama?&nbsp; Or is Obama indeed a blank slate upon which bigoted or biased or politically motivated opponents can paint their worst demonic images?</p>
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		<title>By: Eddie</title>
		<link>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8149</link>
		<dc:creator>Eddie</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:44:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://zenpundit.com/?p=2770#comment-8149</guid>
		<description>Ah, I forgot negotiating with Iran. &#160;When he proposed this last year, it was viewed as a terrible gaffe that his Democratic&#160;opponents&#160;would pounce on. Yet he stuck with it in the face of withering criticism, and now, a year later, most of the foreign policy establishment (even McCain's neocon adviser Robert Kagan) supports his view of negotiations with Iran, rather than that of McCain or Clinton. Polls since then have shown the majority of Americans agreeing with Obama's position. Did he know that before he made the &#34;gaffe&#34; or? A fair question.Jeremy,&#160;As a believer in the idea of judicial minimalism as well as his testimony in support of numerous conservative judges and officials Bush appointed, I find it hard to see Sunstein as a liberal. &#160;I guess the country has shifted considerably to the right (a good thing IMHO) in the past 25-30 years that he may have been considered a moderate then but now would be construed as liberal. The FDR 2nd Bill of Rights he wrote and some of his subsequent writings in support of that perhaps have him painted as a liberal, but I don't see it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ah, I forgot negotiating with Iran. &nbsp;When he proposed this last year, it was viewed as a terrible gaffe that his Democratic&nbsp;opponents&nbsp;would pounce on. Yet he stuck with it in the face of withering criticism, and now, a year later, most of the foreign policy establishment (even McCain&#8217;s neocon adviser Robert Kagan) supports his view of negotiations with Iran, rather than that of McCain or Clinton. Polls since then have shown the majority of Americans agreeing with Obama&#8217;s position. Did he know that before he made the &quot;gaffe&quot; or? A fair question.Jeremy,&nbsp;As a believer in the idea of judicial minimalism as well as his testimony in support of numerous conservative judges and officials Bush appointed, I find it hard to see Sunstein as a liberal. &nbsp;I guess the country has shifted considerably to the right (a good thing IMHO) in the past 25-30 years that he may have been considered a moderate then but now would be construed as liberal. The FDR 2nd Bill of Rights he wrote and some of his subsequent writings in support of that perhaps have him painted as a liberal, but I don&#8217;t see it.</p>
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