Sunday, July 3, 2011

Barack On the Mark

Barack Obama finally got his Irish up (and he does have Irish blood in him, folks) sternly scolding Republicans for refusing to do anything about the debt ceiling without safeguarding tax breaks for the rich and pointing out that his daughters worked to get their homework done when they knew their assignments were due at a specific date - like the due date for raising the debt ceiling (August 2).
So the President finally shows some backbone and takes a hard line against the Republicans and, naturally, the Republicans complain about him being so damn harsh. ("That uppity Negro!") That did not surprise me. What surprised me is that Mark Halperin, a respected and respectable journalist, called him a "dick." He said so on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," with some relish and with more self-consciousness than he was willing to admit. He actually preceded his remarks by saying that he hoped there was a seven-second delay.
Halperin's comments sparked an aghast reaction from many people in less time than that - not so much for what he said, but his choice of words. People didn't necessarily have a problem with Halperin parroting the Republican talking points. Halperin himself apologized, but the fact that he said such a thing at all reveals just how difficult it is for Obama to take a stand. The media - even supposedly Democratic-friendly MSNBC - keep dismissing in a cavalier fashion Obama's attempt to stand up for anything, as if they're encouraging him to be conciliatory with the fat cats who run this country and give them their tax cuts and corporate jet write-offs. Of course. Many media people work for some of those same fat cats.
Now that Obama is finally standing firm, we should encourage him to keep do so, and not let Republicans scold him as if he's an inferior pol who should stay in his place. Both they and Mark Halperin came across looking like, well, dicks. Those uppity Caucasians. :-O

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