How To Criticize Obama
Juan Williams, writing in The Wall Street Journal, offers good advice on how to treat Barack Obama in the coming months and years: Exactly the same as one would any other politician. If his policies, decisions or behavior merit criticism, he deserves no less than the same treatment any other politician can expect. To do less is to carry “an implicit presumption of inferiority.”
Yet there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist.
This is patronizing. Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority. Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.
During the Democrats’ primaries and caucuses, candidate Obama often got affectionate if not fawning treatment from the American media. Editors, news anchors, columnists and commentators, both white and black but especially those on the political left, too often acted as if they were in a hurry to claim their role in history as supporters of the first black president.
It is an important point, one that Williams understands even if an overtly fawning media does not. Treating Obama with kid gloves is not supporting the man. It is patronizing at best. Williams also points out that the media’s current treatment of Obama is actually setting him up for failure:
There is a dangerous trap being set here. The same media people invested in boosting a black man to the White House as a matter of history have set very high expectations for him. When he disappoints, as presidents and other human beings inevitably do, the backlash may be extreme.
I have personally never seen anything like the media prostration before Obama in all my years watching politics in this country. It is nauseating. The majority of the current coverage reeks of a cult of personality. Something more suited to the controlled press of a dictatorship than to a robust republic. Only a few media outlets are raising any questions or making any negative points about Obama. Sure, most Presidents get some sort of “honeymoon” from the press. But this is over the line into disturbing.
I fully intend to criticize Obama’s decisions, his administration and his policies when I feel they deserve it. I have no intention of doing so based on the color of his skin. I will treat him the same way I do any politician I disagree with. To do less than that is to presume that Obama is simply too delicate to lead.
That presumption is what is truly disrespectful of Obama. He got to where he is by playing the political game well. He deserves to be treated as a politician of some skill. Not as a fragile flower who must be protected. That is what is particularly offensive about the likes of those who are publicly swearing personal loyalty and obedience to Obama. That is also not democracy. I have no intention of swearing fealty to any politician. I’m disturbed that any American wants to do so.
By Mwalimu Daudi, January 21, 2009 @ 7:06 am
Williams could not be more wrong. The public may lose faith in the Chosen One, but it will not make a difference. In the time since November 4 we have had a election that was openly stolen (Minnesota) and one that never took place (Illinois).
From now on, it will be a three-way war between Obama, the Democrat Congress, and the government-run press. The 2008 elections – which were none too clean thanks to ACORN – will (I predict) be the last gasp of American democracy. Under the Holder Justice Department the process of taking government out of the hands of the people will accelerate rapidly. The fraud that was so evident in 2008 will become the law of the land in 2010 and beyond.
By feeblemind, January 21, 2009 @ 8:13 am
If the public loses faith in Obama, I doubt it will be the fault of the media. I think the media will forever blame any Obama failures on others.
By Sam L., January 21, 2009 @ 8:27 am
It ain’t the Main Stream Media any more–it’s the Lap Dog Media.
By Rich Horton, January 21, 2009 @ 8:43 am
Mwalimu, I understand the frustration (really I do), but it doesn’t do any good to let that change us. I, for one, am not going to spend the next two years (until the 2010 elections) or four years sounding like those lunatics over at the Daily Kos.
Besides, there is too much constructive work to be done rebuilding the GOP.
By Larry Sheldon, January 21, 2009 @ 10:02 am
“This is patronizing.”
No it isn’t.
Well, maybe i8t is.
But more importantly, “this” is Affirmative Action, in action.
By Mwalimu Daudi, January 21, 2009 @ 10:22 am
Rich:
I was making a prediction. And like all predictions, it may or may not come true. But I have little doubt that I am right. Sadly, I believe that history is on my side, or I would not have said what I said.
Perhaps my political experience is shaped too much by what I saw when I lived in Africa. And what I saw was something weirdly similar to last November’s elections. A messianic leader promoting a creepy cult of personality, worshiped by millions who viewed opponents as the racist spawn of Satan, a lazy and dishonest press in bed with the ruling party/leader, a confused, demoralized and divided opposition, a sleazy voting process, an adoring international community that was too blinded by its own prejudices to notice what was going on, a wave of popular discontent that throws the political system out of balance – that is the hallmark of many failed post-colonial African nations which have held a “one man, one vote – one time” elections. To an alarming extent it also describes America.
I am not suggesting that last November’s elections were as bad as anything that we currently see in, say, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, etc., where the Big Man/ruling party racks up astronomical percentages of the vote in what are laughingly called elections. But I am arguing that all of the elements for dictatorship in America are now in place. It is just a matter of Obama and the Democrats being able to take advantage of them.
The only major institution that might successfully oppose Obama and Congress is the judicial system. But here I am not hopeful for a successful outcome. For one thing, the legal profession is a hotbed of left-wing extremism in sympathy with the Chosen One. If nothing else, with elections becoming less of a worry for Obama and the Democrats it may be possible to simply wait out any judges who get in the way of “hope and change” until they retire. Then there are also more direct methods. Remember FDR’s court-packing scheme, and how it threw a scare into the Supreme Court even though it was never enacted? Also, it’s been a long time since a President has said, “The Court has made its decision, now let the Court enforce it.” I suspect (but do not know) that the current one more than others will be tempted to do likewise.
In short, I believe that a perfect storm is brewing – a storm that threatens to blow away democracy in America.
By martian, January 21, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
“Williams also points out that the media’s current treatment of Obama is actually setting him up for failure.”
No one could possibly live up to the hype that the Obamessiah’s worshipers in both the public and the MSM have put forward for him. He is the Chosen One who is going to lead us all into the Promised Land of Milk and Honey. The problem is that now that they managed to put him there, and in a very real sense the MSM did put him there, they don’t dare to let any failure be attributed to him. Thus, keep an eye out for scapegoats and for the press to regularly blame any failure whatsoever on the “obstructionist” Republicans in Congress. The media and Hollywood have created a personality cult around the Chosen One and they have no choice but to support him or look stupid.
By tarpon, January 21, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
The public is not going to be fooled, no matter how much the DNC parrot media tries. When the improvements don’t come, everyone will know. The failed ideology of Communism has been proved. The latest to fall over is the guy who was going to run his Communist state on the oil revenues — Hugo Chavez.
The one fact that remains immovable, the end point of government, when the money runs out, is the unemployment line. Ask failed Democrat President FDR for details.
Has anyone paid any attention to how bad it’s getting worldwide?
By Mockingbird, January 21, 2009 @ 3:26 pm
“He’ll heal the sick,
Heal the sick, raise the dead,
Make all the girls go out of their heads!
He’s the One!
He’s the Hootchie Coochie Man!
By martian, January 22, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
tarpon, if the public couldn’t be fooled the Obamessiah wouldn’t be residing in the White House right now. Of course the public will be fooled. The vast majority will believe whatever the MSM tells them to believe. That way they don’t have to think for themselves. The vast majority of people are much happier when someone else is doing their thinking for them.