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Since when does Obama have to support someone in a position he doesn't think s/he should be in simply because s/he is Black?
The economy is still in the toilet and many states have Govs that are acting like fools right now or have ruined their state's infrastructure. Take one Mark Sanford. Take one Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't see Obama asking them to go away. Oh yeah I'm supposed to dismiss them because they're Republicans. Does that mean I'm also supposed to ignore the fact that Paterson is African-American? He's not half-African and half-white like our president. He's not a post-racial crossover politician either. He's part of the bonafied black elite in fact. His family is well-established along with the Dinkins, the Suttons and many others. So am I expected to ignore the blatant disrespect the Obama administration (or is it the "Rahm & David Show") have shown by PUBLICLY doing this? I don't think so. Two wrongs don't make it right.
No, you don't see Obama saying anything about the Republican Governors because he's not a Republican. He doesn't care if Republicans get re-elected or not. Wrong or right, that's the truth of the situation. No one can ignore the fact that Paterson is an African American, but the fact that he's an African American doesn't mean Obama shouldn't feel free to voice his own opinion (if he even did, because there is some evidence that Obama himself hasn't spoken on the matter). Also, no one with any sense is claiming Obama is a post-racial anything. Simply because most Blacks are proud that Obama has been elected as President doesn't mean we think racism is over. A non-elite Black man couldn't have done what Obama did with his campaign.
And crying about "disrespect" considering how Paterson and his administration treated Caroline Kennedy (whether he was actually considering appointing her to Clinton's seat or not).
Right now the signs are saying that Paterson is not in a good position to get re-elected.
Governor David Paterson can’t catch a break from registered voters in New York State. Only one-fifth thinks he is performing well in office while 34% say he is doing a poor job. Paterson has had no luck climbing out of the political basement. In Marist’s June survey, the governor garnered a 21% approval rating. One month prior, he chalked up 19%.
He's getting close to Bush 2008 territory with those poll numbers.
And while the author of the Obama Hates Black People post I'm responding to is talking about Obama disrespecting Paterson, President Obama had every intention of keeping the conversations private:
The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.
“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”
The administration officials and the Democratic operative spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions with the governor were intended to be confidential.
Unfortunately, President Obama doesn't have time to make sure random "democratic operatives" keep their mouths shut. Even if Obama had taken the time to call Gov. Paterson himself, it would have been leaked. That's the nature of politics these days.
This latest move by Obama gives me the creeps. If he wanted to humiliate Paterson this very public chastisement should do that. It has the air of a personal beef and Obama thinks it's okay to treat Paterson poorly in retaliation but rewarded Hillary Clinton with the Secretary of State position?!!! SMH. What of the unforeseen ramifications of such an action? While it's true that blacks are not a monolith and not in lockstep with each other on every issue this is still a bad look. Obama is very calculated and cautious in his moves. He's trying to deny he's black right now so this obvious lack of faith gesture is especially galling to me. Yet I already hear the deniers discussing how he "needs" to do this because of blah blah blah.
Personal beef? If President Obama has a personal beef with Gov. Paterson, he STILL wouldn't do a "very public chastisement", in fact, he didn't do a "very public chastisement" in this case. I'm not understanding what Acts of Faith in Love is trying to prove with her post. It seems to me (based on this blog post) that she has a beef against President Obama and is hardly looking at this through a non-biased lens.
What good does it do the Black community to have people in high positions that are performing poorly? Should we just continue to try to get these people elected because it's better to have a Black person in the position doing a bad job than it is to have a Whtie person in the position doing a good job?
It's a betrayal plain and simple. Oh wait...I retract that. It can't be a betrayal because Obama is not a real ally of blacks to begin with. Not the collective anyway. I could mention that black voters are a fickle bunch who don't exercise any discretion or build coalitions to wield power effectively. I could mention too many focus on pulling a lever or punching a hole during a national election and remain silent and uninvolved the remainder of the time. I could mention too many have treated this president as some sort of prized calf where any criticism is taken as an invitation to fight. There's a huge lack of discernment in effect. He's not going to hitch himself to a wagon that could very well fall off the side of a cliff. Yet it's still a slap in the face with the relative ease by which Obama abandons those blacks who are not "useful" to him but says nothing of the blatant disrespect heaped upon him by the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs, etc.
How exactly is President Obama NOT a real ally of Blacks? What has he done to show that he doesn't care about Black people? Sounds to me, what I just block quoted is saying that Black people aren't real allies of themselves. They go vote, but they don't stay involved? They don't know how to build coalitions or wield power? That doesn't sound like something Obama can fix. And no SANE person will hitch him/herself to a wagon that "could very well fall off the side of a cliff." And Obama DOES talk about the blatant disrespect heaped on him by Right Wing Smear Artists, but as the President of the United States of America, he can't spend all of his time complaining about people who don't like him. He calls out FOX all the time, and just slapped them in the face yesterday by refusing to give them an interview when he gave one to everyone else (even Univision). if Obama called out all of the people we'd like him to call out by name he'd only given them "credibility" which wouldn't help his case at all. Sometimes it's really just better to ignore the ignorant people and continue trying to reach those who approach debate respectfully and make arguments in good faith.
The situation in New York isn't a "black vs white" situation, it's about electoral viability. Looking at that blog post the author seems to be a resident of NY, well instead of whining about some perceived disrespect being heaped on Gov. Paterson by President Obama, maybe she should go volunteer for Paterson's campaign, since he's probably going to get primaried since he's determined to run for a full term.
Also, based on this NYT article, Gov. Paterson hasn't done much (if anything) to earn any "loyalty" from President Obama:
Mr. Paterson, who was elevated to governor from lieutenant governor in March 2008, in the wake of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation after a prostitution scandal, announced in October that he would seek a full term.
But in the intervening months, White House officials have watched the deteriorating political fortunes of Mr. Paterson with growing alarm, as his popularity plunged and he committed a series of missteps that raised questions about his ability to govern.
In addition, the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Paterson has been shaky, dating to the governor’s selection of a replacement for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who resigned from the Senate to become secretary of state. White House officials had received assurances from Mr. Paterson that he would not pick Kirsten E. Gillibrand, then a little-known Democratic congresswoman from a heavily Republican district outside of Albany, according to a prominent Democrat who discussed the matter with a senior White House official.
The White House and Democratic House leaders were concerned that her sudden departure from the House would give Republicans a prime opportunity to reclaim the seat. Aides to the president conveyed those concerns to the governor, according to Democrats who have discussed the matter with Mr. Obama’s aides.
In the end, Mr. Paterson selected Ms. Gillibrand anyway, infuriating White House officials and Democratic leaders in Washington. Making matters worse, the governor also publicly snubbed Caroline Kennedy, a close personal friend and ally of Mr. Obama’s, who announced in December her wish to be chosen as Mrs. Clinton’s replacement, but then withdrew her name from consideration in January, citing personal reasons.
The concerns of Obama aides deepened last month, when the governor, speaking on a radio talk show in New York, suggested that criticism of him was racially motivated and that Mr. Obama would soon suffer similar attacks. Mr. Obama’s advisers, who have long sought to defuse the issue of race, found the comments inflammatory and expressed their displeasure directly to the Paterson camp.
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