The Audcity of Rhetoric

[ViRedd]

The Audacity of Rhetoric
By Thomas Sowell
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

It is painful to watch defenders of Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious.

Some are saying that Senator Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time -- and a bunch of mean-spirited people are trying to make something out of it.

It makes a good story, but it won't stand up under scrutiny.

Barack Obama's own account of his life shows that he consciously sought out people on the far left fringe. In college, "I chose my friends carefully," he said in his first book, "Dreams From My Father."

These friends included "Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk rock performance poets" -- in Obama's own words -- as well as the "more politically active black students." He later visited a former member of the terrorist Weatherman underground, who endorsed him when he ran for state senator.

Obama didn't just happen to encounter Jeremiah Wright, who just happened to say some way out things. Jeremiah Wright is in the same mold as the kinds of people Barack Obama began seeking out in college -- members of the left, anti-American counter-culture.

In Shelby Steele's brilliantly insightful book about Barack Obama -- "A Bound Man" -- it is painfully clear that Obama was one of those people seeking a racial identity that he had never really experienced in growing up in a white world. He was trying to become a convert to blackness, as it were -- and, like many converts, he went overboard.

Nor has Obama changed in recent years. His voting record in the U.S. Senate is the furthest left of any Senator. There is a remarkable consistency in what Barack Obama has done over the years, despite inconsistencies in what he says.

The irony is that Obama's sudden rise politically to the level of being the leading contender for his party's presidential nomination has required him to project an entirely different persona, that of a post-racial leader who can heal divisiveness and bring us all together.

The ease with which he has accomplished this chameleon-like change, and entranced both white and black Democrats, is a tribute to the man's talent and a warning about his reliability.

There is no evidence that Obama ever sought to educate himself on the views of people on the other end of the political spectrum, much less reach out to them. He reached out from the left to the far left. That's bringing us all together?

Is "divisiveness" defined as disagreeing with the agenda of the left? Who on the left was ever called divisive by Obama before that became politically necessary in order to respond to revelations about Jeremiah Wright?

One sign of Obama's verbal virtuosity was his equating a passing comment by his grandmother -- "a typical white person," he says -- with an organized campaign of public vilification of America in general and white America in particular, by Jeremiah Wright.

Since all things are the same, except for the differences, and different except for the similarities, it is always possible to make things look similar verbally, however different they are in the real world.

Among the many desperate gambits by defenders of Senator Obama and Jeremiah Wright is to say that Wright's words have a "resonance" in the black community.

There was a time when the Ku Klux Klan's words had a resonance among whites, not only in the South but in other states. Some people joined the KKK in order to advance their political careers. Did that make it OK? Is it all just a matter of whose ox is gored?

While many whites may be annoyed by Jeremiah Wright's words, a year from now most of them will probably have forgotten about him. But many blacks who absorb his toxic message can still be paying for it, big-time, for decades to come.

Why should young blacks be expected to work to meet educational standards, or even behavioral standards, if they believe the message that all their problems are caused by whites, that the deck is stacked against them? That is ultimately a message of hopelessness, however much audacity it may have.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.

 

[medicineman]

When Thomas Sowell lives in a ghetto for a couple of years and "walks a mile", then he may be entitled to an opinion on blackness, otherwise he needs to shut the fuck up. This is the typical hate rhetoric espoused by ViRedd and his compatriots, Right wing extremests.

 

[ccodiane]

Unreal, yeah Vi.........

 

[shamegame]

So basically, this man that Obama has been confiding in and looking up to is the black equivalent of David Duke. I love it.

 

[hom36rown]

McCain associates himself with people like Jerry Falwell and has for years despite the outrageous shit he says...like for example katrina and aids being the result of god being mad at all the fags and pagans in america, does McCain believe this?

 

[ccodiane]

Barack Hussein Obama associates himself with people like Jeremiah Wright and has for years despite the outrageous shit he says...like for example katrina and aids being the result of Bush being mad at all the poor and blacks in america, does Barack Hussein Obama believe this?

Fuck if I know........ We should look into it though.

 

[medicineman]

Barack Hussein Obama associates himself with people like Jeremiah Wright and has for years despite the outrageous shit he says...like for example katrina and aids being the result of Bush being mad at all the poor and blacks in america, does Barack Hussein Obama believe this?

He may not, but I do.

 

[shamegame]

Barack Hussein Obama associates himself with people like Jeremiah Wright and has for years despite the outrageous shit he says...like for example katrina and aids being the result of Bush being mad at all the poor and blacks in america, does Barack Hussein Obama believe this?

He may not, but I do.

You do? Really? You honestly don't think that Katrina just exposed our politicians and emergency response system to be flawed? You honestly believe that? You don't believe that idiots like Mayor Nagin of New Orleans were just as much to blame? The man that let hundreds of buses that could have been used to evacuate people just sit there unused until they were filled with water? OR how about the governor of LA, who was fighting with the mayor over who was in charge?

Wow.

I suppose you think the idiots that were shooting at the rescue choppers that were trying to save them were justified also..

 

[ViRedd]

When Thomas Sowell lives in a ghetto for a couple of years and "walks a mile", then he may be entitled to an opinion on blackness, otherwise he needs to shut the fuck up. This is the typical hate rhetoric espoused by ViRedd and his compatriots, Right wing extremests.

Of all the ignorant posts you've made over the past couple of years, the one above has to be among your best efforts at ignorance, Med. Here's a little info about Dr. Sowell for ya:

Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell is one of the most important and respect writers on politics and social policy in America. He is also a popular and widely-syndicated columnist. Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem. As with many others in his neighborhood, he left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Sowell entered Harvard University, worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (195, he went on to receive his master's in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (196. In the early '60s, Sowell held jobs as an economist with the Department of Labor and AT&T. But his real interest was in teaching and scholarship. In 1965, at Cornell University, he began the first of many professorships. His other teaching assignments included Rutgers University, Amherst College, Brandeis University and the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught in the early '70s and also from 1984 to 1989. Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His many books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Moreover, much of his writing is considered ground-breaking work that will outlive the great majority of scholarship done today. Though Sowell had been a regular contributor to newspapers in the late '70s and early '80s, he says did not begin his career as a newspaper columnist until 1984. George F. Will's writing, says Sowell, proved to him that someone could say something of substance in so short a space. Sowell says he enjoys writing for the general public because it enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing. In 1990, he won the prestigious Francis Boyer Award, presented by The American Enterprise Institute. Currently Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, CA. His writing is always strongly in favor of free-market economic policy and a libertarian social policy. Books by Thomas Sowell include: Choosing A College Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? Classical Economics Reconsidered Compassion Versus Guilt A Conflict of Visions Education: Assumptions Versus History The Economics and Politics of Race Ethnic America Inside American Education Is Reality Optional? Knowledge and Decisions Late-Talking Children Marxism Migrations and Culture: A World View Preferential Policies Race and Culture: A World View Say's Law: An Historical Analysis The Vision of the Anointed A Selection of Quotes from Thomas Sowell: "Freedom...refer to a social relationship among people -- namely, the absence of force as a prospective instrument of decision making. Freedom is reduced whenever a decision is made under threat of force, whether or not force actually materializes or is evident in retrospect." "Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days." "No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: 'But what would you replace it with?' When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?" "What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race." "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what has worked with what sounded good. In area after area -- crime, education, housing, race relations -- the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them." "Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized. "What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long." "The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer's money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse. The black family -- which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions -- began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to 'help.'" "It is precisely those things which belong to 'the people' which have historically been despoiled -- wild creatures, the air, and waterways being notable examples. This goes to the heart of why property rights are socially important in the first place. Property rights mean self-interested monitors. No owned creatures are in danger of extinction. No owned forests are in danger of being leveled. No one kills the goose that lays the golden egg when it is his goose." "What is politically defined as economic 'planning' is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by government officials.” "Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."

 

[ccodiane]

Of all the ignorant posts you've made over the past couple of years, the one above has to be among your best efforts at ignorance, Med. Here's a little info about Dr. Sowell for ya:

Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell is one of the most important and respect writers on politics and social policy in America. He is also a popular and widely-syndicated columnist. Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem. As with many others in his neighborhood, he left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Sowell entered Harvard University, worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (195, he went on to receive his master's in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (196. In the early '60s, Sowell held jobs as an economist with the Department of Labor and AT&T. But his real interest was in teaching and scholarship. In 1965, at Cornell University, he began the first of many professorships. His other teaching assignments included Rutgers University, Amherst College, Brandeis University and the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught in the early '70s and also from 1984 to 1989. Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His many books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Moreover, much of his writing is considered ground-breaking work that will outlive the great majority of scholarship done today. Though Sowell had been a regular contributor to newspapers in the late '70s and early '80s, he says did not begin his career as a newspaper columnist until 1984. George F. Will's writing, says Sowell, proved to him that someone could say something of substance in so short a space. Sowell says he enjoys writing for the general public because it enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing. In 1990, he won the prestigious Francis Boyer Award, presented by The American Enterprise Institute. Currently Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, CA. His writing is always strongly in favor of free-market economic policy and a libertarian social policy. Books by Thomas Sowell include: Choosing A College Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? Classical Economics Reconsidered Compassion Versus Guilt A Conflict of Visions Education: Assumptions Versus History The Economics and Politics of Race Ethnic America Inside American Education Is Reality Optional? Knowledge and Decisions Late-Talking Children Marxism Migrations and Culture: A World View Preferential Policies Race and Culture: A World View Say's Law: An Historical Analysis The Vision of the Anointed A Selection of Quotes from Thomas Sowell: "Freedom...refer to a social relationship among people -- namely, the absence of force as a prospective instrument of decision making. Freedom is reduced whenever a decision is made under threat of force, whether or not force actually materializes or is evident in retrospect." "Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days." "No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: 'But what would you replace it with?' When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?" "What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race." "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what has worked with what sounded good. In area after area -- crime, education, housing, race relations -- the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them." "Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized. "What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long." "The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer's money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse. The black family -- which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions -- began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to 'help.'" "It is precisely those things which belong to 'the people' which have historically been despoiled -- wild creatures, the air, and waterways being notable examples. This goes to the heart of why property rights are socially important in the first place. Property rights mean self-interested monitors. No owned creatures are in danger of extinction. No owned forests are in danger of being leveled. No one kills the goose that lays the golden egg when it is his goose." "What is politically defined as economic 'planning' is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by government officials.” "Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."

Chicken skin, great stuff.........just like when reading Condi's credentials, overwhelming. Thanks Vi.

 

[ViRedd]

Chicken skin, great stuff.........just like when reading Condi's credentials, overwhelming. Thanks Vi.

Thanks, ccodiane.

Its simply amazing how racist the left is. Racism lives on in the minds of the Uber-Left ... and THEY are the racists. They have become so transparent in their efforts to garner the Black vote through their phony race-card rhetoric. When a Black person struggles to get off of the Liberal Plantation, and succeeds in his/her efforts, how soon they become the enemy of the Left. Its pathetic.

If the Clinton Sleaze Machine somehow steals, or is only percieved to steal the nomination from Obama, the civil war within the Democrat Party will be something to behold. The Black population will finally come awake and realize that the Democrat dream they've been spoon-fed through all these past generations has been nothing but a lie.

The time may be drawing near for a Black person to run for president on the Republican ticket. Who knows ... he/she may get the support of the majority of the Black folks in the country after the Clinton's have thrown them to the wolves.

Vi

 

[ccodiane]

Thanks, ccodiane.

Its simply amazing how racist the left is. Racism lives on in the minds of the Uber-Left ... and THEY are the racists. They have become so transparent in their efforts to garner the Black vote through their phony race-card rhetoric. When a Black person struggles to get off of the Liberal Plantation, and succeeds in his/her efforts, how soon they become the enemy of the Left. Its pathetic.

Vi

If they were serious, everyone, and I mean everyone, in the Democrat party would be in lockstep supporting Obama. And yet you had Edwards and Clinton, among others, fighting with Obama for the nomination. What ever happened to affirmative action?

 

[kronicsmurf]

I wouldn't doubt what mCcain or Obama believe in like all politicians they have their own agenda. i'd be much more likely to believe in santa clause before i'd trust the sewage comming out of a politician.

 

[hom36rown]

Barack Hussein Obama associates himself with people like Jeremiah Wright and has for years despite the outrageous shit he says...like for example katrina and aids being the result of Bush being mad at all the poor and blacks in america, does Barack Hussein Obama believe this?

Much more plausible than god being mad at fags

 

[medicineman]

Yeah.......The rascist left is the party of affirmative action, the party of social reform in the 60s (Johnsons Great Society) that has been steadily dismantled by the right. The rascist left promotes equal rights for all citizens, not just the priveledged. College entrance for underpriveledged that has created a black middle class, the rascist left, of course. It's funny how idiots can spin something like rascism to fit their warped minds, The leftist as rascists, HAHAHEHEHOHO~LOL~.

 

[jomal206]

I wouldn't doubt what mCcain or Obama believe in like all politicians they have their own agenda. i'd be much more likely to believe in santa clause before i'd trust the sewage comming out of a politician.

+REP

 

[medicineman]

+REP

Being cynical has it's place. Saying there is no hope because all politicians are evil is a copout. At least try and find the best of the two running and present your vote. That way you can say you tried. Will any politician ever do all we want him to do, Hell no, but the one you choose may do more of what you want than the other guy. That's the only choice you have, that or don't vote. By not voting you give up your right to bitch.

 

[jomal206]

Being cynical has it's place. Saying there is no hope because all politicians are evil is a copout. At least try and find the best of the two running and present your vote. That way you can say you tried. Will any politician ever do all we want him to do, Hell no, but the one you choose may do more of what you want than the other guy. That's the only choice you have, that or don't vote. By not voting you give up your right to bitch.

So basically....if you vote....'at least you tried but unfortunately, you're still getting fucked in the ass by your government'


If you don't vote....'You're still getting fucked in the ass by your government, you just didn't choose who is doing the stroking'





It's so clear to me now; how dumb of me

 

[medicineman]

So basically....if you vote....'at least you tried but unfortunately, you're still getting fucked in the ass by your government'


If you don't vote....'You're still getting fucked in the ass by your government, you just didn't choose who is doing the stroking'





It's so clear to me now; how dumb of me

You never know. Your guy may just do something wonderful, like stop the fucking war whereas the other guy wants to continue killing thousands, start a war with Iran and re-institute the draft to fill the ranks for cannon fodder. Maybe you want to think it over. The better choice sometimes makes your life better. Not perfect, but better. Or to put it a way you may understand, the other guy may make your life a lot worse.