Barack Obama, Affirmative Action Candidate for President

I've been stewing about this since I first saw it on Patterico late last night -- Obama's boosters in the media yet again crying racism, this time over the fact that a McCain ad actually dares to associate Obama with his, um, associate Franklin Raines.

Who is black, as we all now know.

Cuffy Meigs is all over this. So is Hot Air.

I've been mulling how to put this, or if I should even try putting this at all. I don't want to be called racist, or play into the Boy Who Cried Racism narrative of The One.

But I think it needs to be said.

The provocative headline is maybe too provocative. What I'm getting at is not the good side of affirmative action, of course. Expanding recruiting and candidate searches to include minorities who might be otherwise overlooked; attempt to compensate for possible unconscious racism in a company or college, etc.

What I'm talking about is of course the bad side of affirmative action. The notion that is sometimes put forward that someone is owed a position simply because he is black (or, rather, is not white), and that no criticism of him can be tolerated -- again, simply because he is black.

Barack Obama continues to play this disgusting card. This isn't merely Karen Tumulty making the charge. It's quite possible she came up with this silly fart of an idea on her own.

However, we know that Barack Obama's surrogates are constantly calling the media to play the race card whenever an attack line rises that Barack Obama 1) views as a real threat and 2) does not wish to confront directly. He doesn't wish to confront it -- often because he has no good defense -- and so calls the media to peddle his tales of racism! to get his buddies in the media to bury the story. He has no answer to the charge, so he demands the media embargo the charge entirely.

Because, you know, questioning the qualifications, judgments, and longtime associations of a candidate is racist. Certainly we've never done so with any white candidates for that office!

Whether this will work as a campaign strategy, I don't know. I do know for a fact that it cannot work as a governing strategy. Presidents are pilloried on a daily basis; for god's sakes, one sixth of the country demands that George W. Bush be put on trial for murder.

And how will Barack Obama handle criticism once in office? Based on his performance so far, we can guess:

Unemployment Rate Rises to 6.3%; Barack Obama Charges It is Racist to "Associate" a Black President with a High Unemployment Rate
Slams Critics for Stirring "Age Old" Stereotypes of Black Unemployment

Vladimir Putin Flatly Rejects Obama's Call to Withdraw Troops from Lithuanian Border
Secretary of State Hints Putin Just Doesn't Like Black Men in Positions of Power

Barack Obama's Hand-Picked Head of the Resolution Trust Corporation Indicted for Embezzlement, Self-Dealing
Obama Roars Back: "This is nothing but a racial witch-hunt playing upon old fears of black presidents and white collar crime"

Senate Panel Faults Obama for "Anemic" Response to Coordinated Al Qaeda Bombings of European US Embassies
Issues Four Page Rebuttal Titled, "Is This Because I'm Black?"

Al Qaeda Acting Head Ayman al-Zawahiri Blasts "Arrogance" of US
Obama Spokesman: That's Just Using Another Word for 'Uppity'"

I can see the future, and I see nothing but excuse-making and attempts to silence critics for Obama's coming miscues and incompetencies. Franklin Raines was a Barack Obama adviser of some capacity. Franklin Raines said so himself. The Washington Post reported it-- after fact-checking, as they say they always do, with the Obama campaign itself. Franklin Raines is a corrupt bastard who lined his own pockets at the expense of the taxpayers and only barely escaped prosecution.

It is not only legitimate for McCain to mention this as Fannie may disintegrates -- it is obligatory. It would be political malpractice to not mention Obama's adviser Franklin Raines. And for Obama and his campaign surrogates and his media allies to suggest noting Obama's chummy relationship with the Marauders of the Mortgage Market is racist is intolerable. And cannot be tolerated.

And, goddamnit, will not be tolerated.

Mr. Obama, you claim we should look past the fact you don't "look like other presidents." I strongly suggest you begin looking past that too, and stop trotting out the accident of your race as an all-purpose get-out-of-jail-free card to be played whenever you're caught out in a lie, a hypocrisy, or a 20 year association with a radical hate-preacher.

Obama says that his 19 months of campaigning are a good surrogate for actual experience as President. I'm willing to accept that notion, provisionally. And what I see of Obama's "first nineteen months in office" is a nonstop stealth campaign of media spin attempting to shut down every legitimate line of questioning or criticism by crying racism.

You want to be The Man in the Arena, Obama? Stop making excuses for yourself and demanding you be graded on an Affirmative Action Curve. It's time to stand on your own two feet, whatever color they are.

posted by Ace at 02:54 PM

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