So there I was at 11:37 AM, settling in,

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

getting comfy, reading some Peanuts cartoons, getting ready to take a big ol' Glen Beck, when I had to give a nod to all my fellow DUers who have defined this town hall craziness succinctly: it's because Obama's black. That's it. Everything else is secondary. So I went back and looked stuff written during the primaries, some Youtube clips, etc., and, yep, it's because he's black. Yes, there are other anti-gov. gripes, but the intensity is because he's black. Then I saw the clip of David Scott on Youtube, and this confirmed it.

So while I didn't buy it at first and saw race as one of many factors, I think I've convinced myself that, yes, it's because he's black. I think 80% of the public (I'm an optimist) isn't even conscious of their propensity to fear all this "change" because of his blackness. They really think that his race makes no difference. But I think it's more than they can handle. It's all fear, pure and simple.

I'd love to hijack Faux News and play Chuck D all day.

[DesertFlower]

1. i agree with you.

i knew there would be some problems when he was elected, but this is worse than i expected.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Agree - absolutely -----

During the campaign, I told my young (under 40) friends that they were going to see racism in ways they'd never even imagined - racism that would arrive in a pretty red party dress, but which was all ugliness and filth underneath; racism that sent you around many, many corners before you arrived at the only viable conclusion - that the speaker/actor was a racist; that people we'd never seen before would come crawling out from under the scum that is found under the garbage pail, and they would bleat about this and that, but it would all be racism.

Sadly, I was right, and I take absolutely no pleasure in that. Having lived through all of it before so much went underground and stayed silent - at least among people who weren't bigots - I know that Obama's success had to drive the haters completely nuts. They are constantly reminded that he's better than they are, has done more than they ever will, and is adored by people who don't even see the haters.

It's all undermined by fear, yes. Fear that translates almost instantly into anger. Fear that that black man (so what if he's half-white?) will treat them they way they want to treat him. The fear that they'll be found out, shown up for the belligerent, ignorant, mean beings that they truly are.

On every level, his presence in the White House reminds them that they are inferior, and that - even though they're not aware of it, alas - drives them, sustains them, and will, I fear, lead them to do things that are irreversible.

It's not the names that will never hurt me, but it's the sticks and stones that I fear, the ones that conceal guns and bombs....................

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

3. Ding, ding, ding.

"I know that Obama's success had to drive the haters completely nuts. They are constantly reminded that he's better than they are, has done more than they ever will, and is adored by people who don't even see the haters."

Yes, perfect synopsis.

I didn't get to tell you last night, as I was too busy making an ass of myself (what do they say about holes and stop digging?), I am a big fan of Percy. I think most of the critical/academic reception of _The Thanatos Syndrome_ is a crime. Just sayin'.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. For what it's worth,

he never read reviews, and the only time I ever heard him voice anything remotely resembling dismay that something he'd done hadn't been well-received was when he wrote a fan letter to Bruce Springsteen and never got an answer.

I learned from my dear old friend never to read reviews, and so, today, as a novelist, I don't read mine, either. So, enjoy the book, and screw the opinions of those who can carp at what others do, but who are unable to do it themselves.

You were good last night - just lonely.

And I enjoyed you quite a lot........................ (<-------------- not ellipses)

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

12. So lonely.

If you ever wish to break anonymity and give me the name of your novel, I'd be delighted to read it.

And I won't tell you what I think--unless it's really, really bad. Then I'll just quote the shittiest passages to you.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. Oh, if only I could,

but my emotional fragility forbids me from giving anyone that kind of ammunition.................

[malaise]

4. Fear that that black man

(so what if he's half-white?) will treat them they way they want to treat him.

You mean fear that the black man will treat them the way they treated Michelle's ancestors? Their ancestors did it already - and that's why they're scared.

Great post. They'll fail - the country has gone past them.

[Fire1]

7. Michele has 'white' ancestry, also. n/t

[csziggy]

15. That seems a little backwards - all humans have African ancestry is better

:think:

[Fire1]

17. True but some ancestry goes back further than others.

White ancestry for AA is just a little more recent.

[csziggy]

20. Yes, we're talking about people who barely believe the earth orbits the sun

And believe that Black people were somehow cursed by Gawd to be slaves.

Although I have lived in the South all my life I really don't understand these people - and I am related to some of them. :wow:

[Fire1]

29. Agree but that really wasn't my point to the previous

poster.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. I don't agree, sis -

although I hope I'm wrong and you're right.

There are so many of them, and all it takes is one lucky headcase to change history. One bullet. One bomb.

Frankly, I'm scared..........................

[malaise]

14. You know it hit me last night that this was why John McCain

wanted Obama to campaign in his town hall meetings last year.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

16. You think?

I'm not sure McPOW's thinking was ever that advanced.

McPOW fancied himself a down-home kind of guy who specialized in the TH format, but when they met in that same format, Obama wiped up the floor with the old fuck, so that one didn't work out too well, did it?

Remember McPOW's infamous "this one" at the TH?

Jesus, the crap Obama's endured, and he's still cool. A far better man than I am, that's for sure..................................

[malaise]

25. No sis remember those shouting loonies

at the McGramps-Palin rallies. They would have loved Obama in joint town halls

[CreekDog]

19. no, i think they think they are superior to him

which is what makes me think they are so crazy...

on what planet could they think they could think they are better than him, while they are wallowing in ignorance and spewing hate...how they could think they are better than him, when they should see him as an example to emulate in many ways.

:rant:

[SeattleGirl]

24. Well said.

I knew what would happen when Obama was elected: The hounds of hell would really be unleashed. It is an ugly, ugly thing we are seeing.

[Fire1]

5. There's nothing more convincing than seeing it for

yourself. I didn't have to, of course. I've been dealing with this a loooooooooooooong time!

[Saboburns]

6. Fo Sho

Racism is big part of it all.

But there's something else I think.

It doesn't have a name that I'm aware of.

It's the Wingnut hatred of their own Government. A hatred no one is born with. But a hatred so fierce it makes cooperation with them impossible.

[wiggs]

9. Disagree. They may be sending racist signals to their base...they may be

playing on fears of exotic background, etc....but if it weren't his color, it would be something else. If it were Kerry, it would be his extreme elitism. If it were Edwards, it would be his socialism. If it were Hillary, it would be her demeanor, her husband...something.

It doesn't matter who it is...they will find something with which to scare their base, something that tells the low information RWrs that our president or our candidate is not like them. They will often find the strength of that person and turn it into dogshit with lies, innuendo, exaggeration, forgeries, and bug-eyed monologues. Kerry was a coward, Max Cleland was a klutz, Obama lies and is an extreme socialist....and he's black.

It may be that his skin color and name makes it easier for RW nuts to do their dirty work, but they would have found something else if that wasn't available.

I can't tell you how disgusted I am with this crap. It is not healthy, not democratic, not fair, not right. Not acceptable.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Selma, Alabama, 1965 -

and this doesn't happen any more in our country, but that doesn't mean that the people who long for those days aren't dreaming their dreams:

[nc4bo]

18. Yep, some racists would say, "Those were the good ole days".

Bunch of cowardly panty wipes the lot of them.

[datasuspect]

26. oh it does still happen in this country

they're just not so public about it.

the prison system is evidence of the profound institutional racism in this country.

they just shifted gears, but that same animus is there.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

30. But in the prison system, oddly enough,

there is more equality, because white guys get the same brutal treatment.

It's not the same as institutionalized and LEGAL bigotry, which is what we saw at Selma in 1965.................................

[BlooInBloo]

21. Shocked white person #3454574573453754

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

22. Indeed

and as we all know (I hope), racism is learned behavior that cannot be legislated out of existence. The positive part of all this the exposure of rascism, similar to pulling up the rock and seeing all the ground crawlers run for darkness. For those on the fence about the worth of one race or group of people versus another they should ask themselves this;
which group comes across looking and acting like animals? The President or the Teabaggers/Birthers etc?
It's a slam dunk. The only way to change this, imho, is experience gained over many decades.We are in the first 6 months.........

[EC]

23. Even worse...think about it.

If violence does break out and Obama sends out the national guard or there's arrests we'll be seeing a lot more violence in answer...Think Ruby Ridge's all over the place..They'll be sure that THIS IS the race war that they've been predicting for the last 50 years or so...

[dorkulon]

27. Well, there's also the foreign/muslim thing.

He's not just black; his dad was a foreign-born Muslim and he spent time in foreign countries. This really amps up the xenophobia factor.

[Mopar151]

28. And more.

"Exotic" name. Talks like a) A teacher b)A diplomat c) one o' them edumacated pricks. Dresses well, as do his wife and children.
Has a huge reservior of cool. Will admit he is wrong, in public, without shame. "Scary" wife - uppity, happy, loved everywhere.
And the worst part for many - He is good at politics!