Like I’ve Been Telling You...

[MrScorpio]

12 Dec Like I’ve Been Telling You
by John Cole

I’ve kind of been telling you this for a while, but it is nice to see it in the NY Times:

What the progressives forget is that black intellectuals have been called “paranoid,” “bitter,” “rowdy,” “angry,” “bullies,” and accused of tirades and diatribes for more than 100 years. Very few of them would have been given a grade above D from most of my teachers.
When these progressives refer to themselves as Mr. Obama’s base, all they see is themselves. They ignore polls showing steadfast support for the president among blacks and Latinos. And now they are whispering about a primary challenge against the president. Brilliant! The kind of suicidal gesture that destroyed Jimmy Carter — and a way to lose the black vote forever.

Unlike white progressives, blacks and Latinos are not used to getting it all. They know how it feels to be unemployed and unable to buy your children Christmas presents. They know when not to shout. The president, the coolest man in the room, who worked among the unemployed in Chicago, knows too.

He’s not alone in these thoughts.

*** Update ***

From the comments:

This thread is a shit show fail parade. Cole puts up a post with reasoned assertions for toning down the rhetoric and is met by the same gaggle of assholes screaming about Obama. The commentariat here has gone precipitously downhill and I can’t put my finger on when it happened. EVERY post becomes the same group whining about how much Obama sucks and doesn’t fight enough. It’s like a dickhead colony sent out a scout to figure out a place where they could argue with people and this was the place they found. It used to be snarky fun. Pointing and laughing at glibertarians and the like. Now, it’s just depressing and repetitive. You people are addicted self righteous arguing, plain and simple. Find a better hobby or a better place to do it. I’m begging you.

I couldn’t have said it better. It is draining. It’s like they have decided to join arms with the Republicans and make everything so unpleasant regarding politics that I just tune out altogether.

The rest: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/12/12/like-ive-been-telling-you/

[Number23]

1. Meltdown beginning in T minus 5,4,3,2...

Here's the best bit:

Just look at this thread. I post a piece telling how a lot of African Americans feel regarding the over the top treatment of Obama. A number of African American commenters chime in and say, “Yes, we don’t think they are racist, but we don’t think other politicians have been treated this way, and we feel that Obama is being treated differently.”

So what do the members of the dickhead colony do?

Loudly scream “Fuck you for feeling that way and fuck you for calling me racist and fuck Obama for being such a weak pussy.” And it is the same five to ten assholes in every single thread. It is getting to the point that reading the comments here is just no fun. I may have to install Cleek’s pie filter to read my own damned blog.

Go get'em, John! :headbang:

[MrScorpio]

2. This stuff is happening all over the net

I don't think that it's a coinkydink

[chimpymustgo]

9. Stooopid columns happening on the 'net? What a surprise! This is totally nonsensical.

[MrScorpio]

10. Did you take the time to read the link to the NYT OP?

That's pretty much the source of discussion for the writer of the op-ed

[Number23]

15. Yep. The president's supporters are getting real sick of the shrill screams and the lies

Glad to see folks fighting back.

[EFerrari]

3. What a pantload. And sure not what my Latino friends are saying, hermanito. n/t

[MadHound]

4. So, since he is black, Obama is feeling constrained to be meek and mild?

If that is the case, then he is ineffective and needs to go.

[bigtree]

5. wow

. . . you really mis-read that.

[MadHound]

6. Really? I think that this is the relavent passage,

"One progressive commentator played an excerpt from a Harry Truman speech during which Truman screamed about the Republican Party to great applause. He recommended this style to Mr. Obama. If President Obama behaved that way, he’d be dismissed as an angry black militant with a deep hatred of white people. His grade would go from a B- to a D.

What the progressives forget is that black intellectuals have been called “paranoid,” “bitter,” “rowdy,” “angry,” “bullies,” and accused of tirades and diatribes for more than 100 years. Very few of them would have been given a grade above D from most of my teachers."

So tell me, how have I mis-read that?

[bigtree]

7. well, I think that those reactions described are real and relevant

. . . though, I do think the President has maintained a tone that's receptive and welcoming. I've also heard him turn up the volume. We've all heard that. One thing I would not say about this President is that he's been 'meek and mild'. I didn't read any of that in the concerns of the writer about having the President hollering like Truman.

[MadHound]

8. The only time this president has stepped up and let loose has been when he is scolding the left

I've yet to see him call out the right in the same fashion that he calls out the left, his base, his supporters.

And if we have a president who feels constrained, for whatever reason, from raising hell with his political opponents, then that is an ineffective president, one who will get walked over time and again, much like we're seeing now with the tax cut extension debate. We don't need ineffective presidents at this point in time, we need fighters.

[bigtree]

11. that's just not true at all

I can't vouch for what you see or look for, but he's made a couple of statements in defense of his record and performance that irked the left. He's made myriads of criticisms of republicans and republican policy. That isn't some point that's up for dispute, except among folks who have chosen to posture as victims of his perfectly reasonable defense of his presidency.

[gratuitous]

12. And it's like I've been hearing

Any criticisms of Obama can be airily dismissed as "paranoid," "bitter," or "angry," and thus the substance of what's been said is discounted until it can be safely disregarded. It gets run through the conventional wisdom grinder to become self righteous, or the rantings of the professional left, or fucking retarded, or whatever else is said behind closed doors that doesn't seep out for general consumption. In any event, the criticism is deemed Not Serious, and the complainers are beyond the pale of responsible dialog.

[walldude]

13. And then they get mad when you just want to give up

and stay home. You cannot possibly win with with these people.

[political_Dem]

14. Succinctly. It exactly describes the phenomenon of this type of criticism.

It's sad, shocking and pitiful that the angry mob takes the place of a civil, reasoned discussion.

[TransitJohn]

16. So I'm disappointed in Obama because I'm used to getting it all?

That article is fail, big time.