January 22, 2011

"It is clear that the moment we now face demands a vision for how we as a people will win the future."

Says Obama in an email titled "Winning the future." It came with this video previewing the State of the Union address (he's "still workin' on it"):



ADDED: No sooner had I watched that than I got an email from an anti-Obama group with this picture:



What a crappy graphic! I don't know what primal emotions that was supposed to stir up or what it stirs up in other people, but it makes me feel: These people are mean-spirited and unfair.

129 comments:

HT said...

He has gray hair again. How can that be? Wasn't it just last week that someone here was saying: "gray hair for the service for the Tucson meetings," and vamoosh! gray is gone for something else? Does gray hair really grow back that fast, or could it possibly be something else? Is that an old video?

coketown said...

I love how his speech devolves to populist colloquy when he's talking to us normal folk. I haven't seen so many dropped G's since Marlow started dropping mopes in the western district. Shiiiiiiiit.

Anonymous said...

Sincerely, Althouse? A crappy graphic?
Please analyze it for us.

I don't see anything wrong...seriously. Looks good to me.

coketown said...

@HT: I didn't notice that, but holy cow! He took my advice from Althouse's last post about his hair color and started using Touch of Gray by Just for Men! You know, "My hair says experience. My hair says energy. Why not have the best of both worlds? Now I look like I know what I'm doing, and can still do it."

Ann Althouse said...

"Please analyze it for us."

It's grimy and dark. They've chosen a particularly ugly picture of the President, assuming we must already hate him. The fonts are really bad. The colors are terrible. The fonts have an ombre effect that makes them hard to see. The whole thing feels scurrilous. It makes me feel like defending the President. I'm suspicious of people who have chosen to present him like that. What are their ideas? They just seem to want to tear down the President and make him look angry and ugly, which feels mean and unfair to me.

Beldar said...

"Mean-spirited" and "unfair" aren't synonyms. If they chose an unflattering picture of Obama, that might be mean. But if it's not photo-shopped or fraudulent -- and I don't see anything to suggest that it was -- then it's not unfair, even though it was almost certainly chosen because it was unflattering.

So I respectfully dissent.

HT said...

I don't think that second picture is particularly bad.

Palladian said...

I'm all for being mean-spirited and unfair to politicians, but I agree with Althouse: that's a horrible graphic, for all the reasons she mentioned. I would be happy to make a good graphic for this organization (or indeed any organization, pro- or anti-Obama) for the right money. Y'all know where to find me.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Professor.
I can't really disagree with your take on this graphic. But my feeling is that the graphic is meant to reach those people who have already arrived at the same dark conclusions of this president and seeks to motivate them to action by joining up.
Why would someone who feels that Barack Obama is threat to our nation want to join a club that depicts him as even-handed?
I would agree with you, however, if the graphic showed a gun crosshairs set upon Obama's person.

campy said...

One million people to defeat Obama? I think the GOP nominee will end up with at least twice that.

Anonymous said...

You got my analytical juices flowing a bit, Professor. Another thought:
Is the title: ":One Million" an echo of the Million Man March?...that black male event that is hosted by Louis Farrakan and Nation of Islam?
That image would sync up nicely with the picture of an angry Obama.
Not saying that it's insidious...but just wondering.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

He looks too shaky.

The most important lesson he should have taken from the Baggers, from the Reagan-o-maniacs and from the right generally is that optics are everything to them. It's all about image. It's all about the right symbolism and the only thing they respect resoluteness, no matter how unstable the idea, how shaky the plan, how haphazard the implementation. That's all that does it for them.

Fortunately, his favorable ratings with independents are higher now than they were in '08, so all this might become moot in time for the next election. But it's a race against time at this point, and the youth vote and other core constituencies can't entirely counteract the effects of the Great Republican Recession. OTOH, you never can tell how bad a nominee the righties will decide to run. Oh well, it all makes for a more interesting narrative.

Anonymous said...

Rhetoric that leads nowhere and says nothing. How does one "win the future" exactly? What is the prize for winning the future? What's the prize for coming in second? Is it the silver Nobel Peace Prize? Who won the past? Who won the past participle?

Obama definitely has his mojo back. This is precisely the kind of "nothingspeak" that won Barack the nomination in 2008 against Hillary. It's designed to offend nobody and to say nothing that anyone could possibly object to because it has no substance or meaning.

What kind of government is it when words have no meaning?

Obama is launching a thousand Jared Loughner's.

Anonymous said...

"...all this might become moot in time for the next election."

All of this might be enough to dupe the indupendents again at the next election.

Obama thinks Lincoln was wrong. Obama believes he can fool all of the people all of the time.

Ritmo is proof of that.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Re: the lame oppo pic -

Don't forget, not only is he angry, but he is black! And it's bad enough to have a black president, but the fact that he's angry AND black... why, that's just an intolerable combination.

Anonymous said...

NB: You linked the wrong video, Ann.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Thank you for believing that I, alone, constitute "all of the people", Florida.

Was that your typical narcissism at work or were you just not thinking? Again.

Anonymous said...

"... the fact that he's angry AND black... why, that's just an intolerable combination."

We don't care if he's black. Even though he's not black.

But even if he was black, nobody cares, dude.

We care that he's a fucking moron. And the Democrat Party proves that their brand of moron comes in many flavors of race.

Democrat moron is multi-culti.

We're beyond race, Ritmo.

You should get beyond it.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Anger and determination are obviously just as ominous, as far as emotions go.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

You're not beyond race, you just ignore it. The same way you ignore evolution, economics, science in general, etc., etc., etc.

To know when or how something is or is not relevant it helps to first acknowledge its existence.

You're about as far beyond race as the guy who put together the Willie Horton commercial. Gimme a break.

knox said...

That graphic may be ugly, but it's "Built Ford Tough"... notice the bolts in the corner?

Anonymous said...

So I weigh in that it's a good graphic because it cleverly taps in to people who already feel threatened by Obama, do not trust the Million Man March and are already looking for some means to stop this evil person from destroying our country.

If it's as good as I think it is, they'll have two million before you can say "largest deficit than all previous presidents combined".

Anonymous said...

"You're not beyond race, you just ignore it."

Precisely. We don't see race. We look at Obama and see a regular old moron. That's all we see.

We measure people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

And Obama has a poor character.

Trooper York said...

Coketown said...
I love how his speech devolves to populist colloquy when he's talking to us normal folk. I haven't seen so many dropped G's since Marlow started dropping mopes in the western district. Shiiiiiiiit.

DUDE!!!!!

A "Wire" referance is never wasted.
Here is a bunch more.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

And Obama has a poor character.

Just like Willie Horton had a bad character, right?

We measure people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Must have been why Pat Buchanan told Nixon that MLK was a dangerous guy who had an agenda that they did not share.

Can you tell me when and how your guys decided to change their tune on MLK? Just curious.

Anonymous said...

"You're about as far beyond race as the guy who put together the Willie Horton commercial."

The guy who put together the Willie Horton commercial was Michael Dukakis ... who let Willie Horton out for weekend furloughs even though he was in jail for murder.

The current Massachusetts governor Cadillac Deville Patrick also let out his own Willie Horton - a guy serving three life sentences.

The criminal wasn't out two months before he murdered a cop.

Democrats endanger our cities and towns by letting career criminals out. Doesn't matter if they're black Democrats or white Democrats ... they're all equally stupid and dangerous to put in charge.

People die when Democrats are put in charge.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Yep, that's exactly what Lee Atwater was thinking, I bet.

Very desperate, convoluted and ignorant thinking there, Florida.

Trooper York said...

This is the one Coketown was talkin' about.

Fairly typical for a big city politican of either party or any race.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Clay Davis must have really learned a lot from that dialogue in Airplane.

Irene said...

knox said, "That graphic may be ugly, but it's 'Built Ford Tough'... notice the bolts in the corner?"

The graphic reminded me of a billboard for a funeral home, so maybe those are "nails."

It's horrible. Beyond the ugly graphics, the "One Million People" seems to be a reminder about the Million Man March.

Paco Wové said...

Mostly it just stirs me to think, "Wow, that's an ugly ad."  Doesn't inspire me to think better or worse of Obama, nor to get either all protective of him, or belligerent and crosshairy.

BTW, I'm glad to see Ritmo has found a little friend in Florida.  Perhaps they can get together for a playdate.

DaveW said...

Yeah it's a crappy graphic. It's designed to play to the angry black male stereotype, obviously, and it's poorly done to boot.

And what's with the one million people thing anyway? It's going to take a lot more than a million people (voters) to turn Obama out of office.

It's going to be awfully easy for Obama to play the injured black guy if the opposition is going to turn out stuff like that. I guess we're about to get 2 years of that act no matter what though.

Hagar said...

I do not like it when the media tells us "what the President is going to say" instead of waiting to report on what he did say, and I do not think I like it any better that the President now is taking to telling us what he is going to say. I do not see why he would do this if this actually is what he is going to say, and anyway, I do not think it is. This sounded like it might have been written by Mitt Romney's speechwriter, and while I do not think that Obama is going to give a SOTUS to match Clinton's of 1999, I do not think Obama's will be this Milquetoasty.

Anyway, a comment yesterday set me to thinking: What if there really is not anything more to Obama than what we see? What if he will be quite content to take his pension and retire to a nice mansion in Hawaii, or wherever? He is of the Left, but is there any indication that he really cares about anything? Maybe it is just all surface?

Consider; in 2004 the Democrats ran John Kerry and John Edwards, and you could hardly find emptier suits than those two.

Trooper York said...

It remains to be seen if he wants to fight for it.

It was basicly handed to him the last time. This time not so much.

Starting in the primary.

HT said...

Some see angry black man others see leader not afraid to look angry. Jesus, what is the big deal? Can't a person show resolve without race factoring in? (As previously stated, I don't think it's a bad photo.)

I'm Full of Soup said...

..".win the future".....cause we sure ain't doing so hot in the present so let's talk about this moment that says we can win the future but only if we double down with more money for schools and green stuff . Jeff Immelt needs the business. [Jeeez who writes my speeches? I am supposed to be a transformational president and this is the same lame crap Dems have been saying for the last 40 years. In my next life, I may come back as a Republican. And heck Clinton says they have the hotter women too].

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Hey! Trooper grew a stache!

I liked the Trooper sans stache, but change is good. For some reason I'm getting a visual of an unusual character or two played by James Franco in my head, but it's no biggie. Everyone reserves the right to change their avatar up every now and then and to do so regularly can be a good thing. A sign of growth, even.

Trooper York said...

Hey you have to mix it up every once in a while. Thanks.

That's Captain Nathan Brittles in tribute to RogerJ and his comrades in arms.

Trooper York said...

On the other hand I did not change my hair color. Just sayn'

Alex said...

The whole thing feels scurrilous. It makes me feel like defending the President.

LOL. Thus the professor is exposed. You were just begging for an excuse to defend Obama. Admit it, you're an Obama-tard and you always were.

Alex said...

The first person to mention the Massachusetts furlough program in the 1988 presidential campaign was Al Gore. During a debate at the Felt Forum sponsored by the New York Daily News, Gore took issue with the furlough program. However, he did not specifically mention the Horton incident or even his name, instead asking a general question about the Massachusetts furlough program.[6]

Al Gore, your hero.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

The clip about Coketown got me to thinking about Black Dynamite. I've only got a few minutes left to search the clips, but one of my favorites is where he announces that he's going to war against anyone who sells drugs in the community.

To this, one of the gangsters responds, "But Black Dynamite! I sell drugs in the community!"

Screen transition to Black Dynamite slowly withdrawing pistol, taking aim...

Good times.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Here it is. At 1:17! Yes!

Unknown said...

Wow, I vote for him! Is this The Apprentice?

PaulV said...

Compare the picture "non partisan"
Politico used for new chair of NH Republican party.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47994.html

Via Instapundit. No relief in equity under clean hands doctrine

WV: polets. No relief in equity for the polets

chickelit said...

I just finished watching "Alice In Wonderland" (2010) with my family and decided to lay off Obama for as long as the WaPo lays off Palin.

Meanwhile: Touch Of Grey.

Anonymous said...

For RItmo and the race-mongering Democrat Party no photo "critical" of Obama can be anything except an appeal to his blackness.

If you criticize Obama ... you are ipso facto a racist. That is the paradigm they wish to create. Unfortunately, it's blowing up in their faces (oh noes ... violent rhetoric!!!11enty!!!111!!).

Any photo of Obama that accompanied any criticism of him would be "proof" that the criticizer is racist because he's "appealing to the angry black man."

In this way, Ritmo and the RaceMongers hope to shut down all speech critical of Dear Leader.

But Americans aren't falling for it. They don't like Obama and it has nothing to do with the fact that he has a white mother. They'd dislike him even if he wasn't white.

It has to do with the fact that he is spending their children into the poorhouse and turning America into a socialist country by forcing Americans to buy products from his campaign donors.

He's a fucking crook ... doesn't matter that he's white.

Anonymous said...

Ritmo ... you look at Obama and see a person who has a white mother.

Why do you see a black person?

jr565 said...

Mean spirited was someone painting fangs on John Mccain. THis is just a picture of Obama pointing. Don't even think it's necessarily a bad picture. As for bad fonts, not everyone is blessed with typography talent. This could simply be a logo that Ann doesn't think is appealing. Nothing unfair in it.

Anonymous said...

"Why do you see a black person?"

Ritmo, do you see black people everywhere you go?

Alex said...

Ritmo has black on the brain. Everything is black.

HT said...

Love it!

Oh well, a touch of grey
Kind of suits you anyway
That was all I had to say
And it's all right

I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive

We will get by
We will get by
We will get by
We will survive

Obama 2012

jr565 said...

C4BDH wrote:
You're not beyond race, you just ignore it. The same way you ignore evolution, economics, science in general, etc., etc., etc.

To know when or how something is or is not relevant it helps to first acknowledge its existence.

So you're not for a color blind society eh? People have moved past matters of race and simply don't care, yet you have to keep going back to point out differences based on race. I don't know why you're touting your racial fixation as a virtue.
Color blindness means race doesn't matter You know - people being judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin and whatnot. Maybe someday you and the libs can get to the mountaintop.

Anonymous said...

"Tis is just a picture of Obama pointing."

Precisely.

All I noticed were the rolled up sleeves and his signature trademark: not wearing a tie befitting his office.

And yet, Ann see's "angry black man." Who is the racist here? How many black people live in Madison, Wisconsin? 5.84% (less than one third the national average)? Maybe Ann isn't used to seeing black people.

Can't she look at Obama and see "socialist pointing finger." Why does Ann see Obama in terms of his blackness?

I don't even see him as black. To me, he is of no color.

He's just a douchebag. Can't he just be a douchebag?

Why must Democrats insist that he has to be a black douchebag? His mother is white. To me, he's white.

jr565 said...

Libs attack Palin for being complicit in murder. Conservatives attack Obama by using a grimy font and a grainy picture. One of these is worse than the other.

Unknown said...

I wonder when the part about spending more millions on green initiatives was supposed to slipped in.

Conservatives 4 Better Dental Hygiene said...

Fortunately, his favorable ratings with independents are higher now than they were in '08, so all this might become moot in time for the next election.

Sure they are.

And they'll be higher when gas hits $5 a gallon.

Hey! Trooper grew a stache!

Ritmo doesn't miss a trick. Unfortunately, it's not only trickling down his leg, but out his ears, as well.

Trooper York said...

That's Captain Nathan Brittles in tribute to RogerJ and his comrades in arms

More distinguished. Colonel Yorke may have gotten Maureen O'Hara, but Mr Brittles was appointed Chief of Scouts.

Anonymous said...

"Mean spirited was someone painting fangs on John McCain."

Yes. Let's take a trip down memory lane and look at how Democrats portrayed John McCain ... a person who served his country honorably and was a tortured prisoner of war in Vietnam for four years.

Longtime NYC photographer Jill Greenberg shot John McCain for the October cover of the Atlantic Monthly. Then she stirred up controversy by photoshopping McCain into a bloodsucking vampire and posting the ghoulish images on her blog - bringing shame onto the entire Jewish media community in New York.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/pagesixmag/issues/20080928/Trend+Vampire+Style#ixzz1BoxnONxP

Do Democrats think we don't remember this image?

Or what the rules are that they set?

Jason (the commenter) said...

These people are mean-spirited and unfair.

Well, I can't read their minds, but since Althouse called them an anti-Obama group I would assume the graphic would be meant to show that they don't like Obama. And they're probably looking for like-minded people.

If Althouse wants to say they are "mean-spirited" and "unfair" that's her business, but the group probably isn't depending on the support of people who always think kind thoughts and never falsely blame anyone for anything.

Her comments are pretty ridiculous. No?

jr565 said...

C4BDH wrote:
Must have been why Pat Buchanan told Nixon that MLK was a dangerous guy who had an agenda that they did not share.

Can you tell me when and how your guys decided to change their tune on MLK? Just curious.

MLK was a great historical figure and the preeminent pacifist of our day. But there were also things that were unnapealing about him. Primarily he had many communist tendencies,
And it wasn't just Nixon and Buchanan that had such fears. JFK and RFK the liberal darlings also were worried about his associations and BUGGED HIS HOTEL ROOMS.

"The FBI had observed his alienation from the Party leadership, but it feared he had taken a low profile in order to work as an "agent of influence" in order to manipulate King, a view it continued to hold despite its own reports in 1963 that Levison had left the Party.[157] Another King lieutenant, Hunter Pitts O'Dell, was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).[158] However, by 1976 the FBI had acknowledged that it had not obtained any evidence that King himself or the SCLC were actually involved with any communist organizations.[159]
The Bureau received authorization to proceed with wiretapping from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in the fall of 1963[160] and informed President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison.[161] Although Robert Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones "on a trial basis, for a month or so",[162] Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.[163] The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country".

Anonymous said...

"Her comments are pretty ridiculous. No?"

Yes, they are.

Are we required to show only flattering White House approved photographs of Barack Obama while we criticize him?

Is that the new civility?

Barack Obama frequently appears in an official capacity as President without wearing a tie. That is unseemly and demeans the office that he holds.

That is what makes this photo interesting ... it demonstrates the utter disdain he has for America and its institutions and his own presidency.

It's ugly.

But it's not ugly because Barack Obama is white. It's ugly because he is unprofessional and is demeaning America and its institutions of Democracy.

Has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Barack Obama has a white mother.

Anonymous said...

"I wonder when the part about spending more millions on green initiatives was supposed to slipped in."

About the same time General Electric - largest manufacturer of windmills in the world - took over the White House.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/obama-picks-jeffrey-immel-ge-jobs-overseas_n_812502.html

GE is now running things at the White House at the exact same time they are shipping thousands of jobs overseas and not paying their fair share of taxes.

And that's just how the liberals feel!

jr565 said...

I figured it was just a picture of Obama finger pointing and demagoging the evil republicans who "drove the economy into the ditch" or the evil bankers and wall street execs and their evil deregulation ideas, that he needed to villfy on a nightly basis.
Or maybe it was the energy industry and their evil coal plants that he wanted to put out of business and bankrupt. Or maybe he was pointing his finger at the racist tea baggers (straight up) or the people clinging to their guns and religion.
As a follow up, they should use the picture of Obama where he subtly gave Hillary CLinton the finger to show what they think he thinks of the american people.
So unfair I know.

HT said...

Much of the boots on the ground work done to protest and try to overcome extremely brutal practices (racial division) that happened in factories in the south was done by members of the communist party. To many in the civil rights movement, they are heroes. That does not mean that all in the movement agreed with the lengths they would go to, but they moved the ball FORWARD during an extremely dangerous and volatile time. They took chances, risked their lives, saved lives too. I suggest some reading on Southern industrial cities to understand the atmosphere in which they lived and worked and died.

That said, I'm not convinced that it was fear of the red menace that motivated the Kennedys. Could it have been just power?

traditionalguy said...

This propaganda's goal is a pledge of loyalty to The One. He is shown as worthy of being followed...but to where? The Angry Obama is unworthy. We want only a dream of having a worthy High priest imposing a new Governmental Religion. See the smile and the earnest demeanor...He is worthy and must not be spoken ill of. But again, what does the new Governmental Religion plan to do to us?? And what does the First Amendment mean if it does not prohibit this new Governmental religion?? Oh well, he has that smile.

Anonymous said...

"MLK was a great historical figure and the preeminent pacifist of our day. But there were also things that were unnapealing about him."

Yes, he was a plagarist (confirmed by Boston University) and he fucked around on his wife.

Any man who fucks around on his wife is an evil man.

Think for a moment about the state of mind required to cheat on your wife ... how you have to disrespect her (and all women, really) in order to do it.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/mlking.asp

Great speech though.

Too bad the Democrat Party has denied his dream of a day when people like Barack Obama could be judged on their lack of character instead of just their dad who happened to be Kenyan.

Ann Althouse said...

"NB: You linked the wrong video, Ann."

No, I didn't.

Anonymous said...

"No, I didn't."

In your original post, the previously linked video of the photographer Vivian Maier appeared in this post (at least in my browser - Firefox).

Anonymous said...

And not for nothing, Ann, but you missed the most amazing thing about this video.

And that is how Barack Obama appeals to the out-sized egos of his legion of unthinking butt-munchers.

He claims he's working on the State of the Union Address (as if he writes that shit) and that he's not finished yet (as if he writes the actual speech instead of reading what somebody else wrote off a fucking teleprompter) and he's giving them a "preview" that only they can see since they helped him win the White House, and that nobody else will see this "inside info." That they're somehow getting "inside information" that Obama plans to focus "like a fucking laser" on "creating jobs" for the 21st Century!

It's positively masturbatory. It drips with the pre-cum of self-importance (actual orgasm to happen on the night of the State of the Union ... to be watched bubble-bath style, candles ablaze).

I think it demostrates just how easy it is to get Democrat votes. Just make them seem like they're important and they'll trip all over themselves to suck your fucking cock.

It's masterful, and should stand as an example of how Barack Obama has studied carefully the best methods to get Democrats to worship him.

Automatic_Wing said...

It's a crappy graphic from some PAC no one has ever heard of.

This is all it takes to activate your motherly, protective instincts towards the President of the United States?

Peter V. Bella said...

It is no different than the mean spirited stuff the Dems are putting out.

I would bet both sides are using the same copywriters.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Hmm. Let's see if he says "the era of big government is over."

Anonymous said...

"Let's see if he says "the era of big government is over."

When Barack Obama talks about the "deficit" and how he wants to solve the deficit ... that is Democrat Party code for "we need to raise taxes to cover the money we already gave to ourselves in the form of raises and bonuses."

When Barack Obama talks about creating jobs ... he means government jobs.

When Barack Obama says he created 1,000,000 jobs ... he is talking about government jobs and jobs associated only with government spending.

He's not talking about your job. He's not doing anything to save YOUR job or help you keep YOUR job.

He's talking about THEIR jobs and everything he's doing to ensure they get to keep THEIR government jobs. Obama is speaking to his constituency ... the constituency of government hacks.

He's talking in the code they have previously agreed to and that "progressives" (liberals) understand. It's designed to be opaque to normal Americans.

That's why Jared Loughner thought that words have no meaning.

Obama's words have meaning ... but only if you are a "progressive." Only if you have the "decoder book."

HT said...

Finally! I get it. I can't believe I've missed it.

Florida is code for RUSH LIMBAUGH!!!

Koo!

dick said...

Sounds like Ann is preparing herself for the bit when she writes to tell us how whoever runs against Obama lost her vote and that she is supporting Obama because he is "pragmatic" and will be impartial in who he works with to get the job done. She didn't learn her lesson the first time around so she is going back for a second try at it. Let's hope she wises up.

Anonymous said...

"She didn't learn her lesson the first time around so she is going back for a second try at it. Let's hope she wises up."

She can't do that, dude.

She has a job and a family to support.

She works for a university dependent on Barack Obama and Democrat Party funding.

She cannot become a heretic.

They'll destroy her. If they think for one moment she is not on their team, they will pounce on her.

Leave Ann alone.

She is not to blame.

She is only a working mother.

She is only doing what she has to do. What they demand that she do. What she must do to keep her job.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

It's great to be color-blind when it comes to character. But it doesn't serve any purpose to ignore someone's origins when it comes to the effect that has on their social environment and upbringing. When Obama was born, segregation was still constitutional. I don't think there's anything wrong with considering how being surrounded by that reality affected his ambitions, ideals and character. When FDR was president, being disabled would have disqualified him for the presidency (probably still would have). Only a fool pretends that his ideals are perfectly reflected in the society around him, or that they have no affect on how they see the world. Either that, or he conforms to society's lowest expectations.

I get no more offended by Obama's ancestry than I would by Benjamin Franklin's ancestry, or Cochise's ancestry, and neither should you. I am not offended by trying to understand the impact it had on him either, although I avoid what Dinesh D'Souza did, which was to pretend that his father's Luo ancestry is a reason to belittle him.

Maybe if more people on the right could respect people's family origins, they would feel less threatened, and less of a need to pretend that we all have a common history. We are shaped by different forces and have different experiences, and can learn from that - as much as we can remember and celebrate what is similar about those backgrounds. Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but I think that's a good thing.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Florida: Have you tried getting a life? It is a Saturday night and the obsessive, disgruntled behavior displaced toward a woman who is clearly more sympathetic to what you believe than most is starting to sound a little off-kilter.

Anonymous said...

Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but I think that's a good thing.

Aw... Shitmo gets all noble!

What's with you creep? Will somebody piss on this creep so he can go into his lunatic ranting and raving mode?

He's twice as creepy when he pretends to be sincere.

Anonymous said...

"Florida: Have you tried getting a life?"

And leave the stage to the likes of you? Leave your comment-scat unremarked upon. Leave your propaganda to go unchallenged? Undebated?

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

I don't need a life. I have children. It's their lives that I care about. It's their lives that Barack Obama is ruining by destroying the country I helped create for them.

I will be here as long as there are people like you here. People who must be stopped by any means necessary.

As long as you exist ... I will be here.

That is my life.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

There's no limit to the darkness of Shitting Thomas' gloomy, tortured soul.

Anonymous said...

Florida: Have you tried getting a life? It is a Saturday night and the obsessive, disgruntled behavior displaced toward a woman who is clearly more sympathetic to what you believe than most is starting to sound a little off-kilter.

There we go! Shitmo morphs back into the paranoid schizophrenic we know him to be!

Has the FBI been out to check your gun permits, Shitmo?

Nice to see you once again ranting like the schizophrenic masochist of yore.

Anybody want to take a swipe at Shitmo? He won't be happy until you do.

Don't forget to take that lithium tonight, Shitmo.

I've got to rehearse the rest of the night. Boys, give Shitmo the beating he craves.

huh said...

You are 60 and still using feelings as voting criteria?

Unknown said...

Conservatives 4 Better Dental Hygiene said...

It's great to be color-blind when it comes to character. But it doesn't serve any purpose to ignore someone's origins when it comes to the effect that has on their social environment and upbringing. When Obama was born, segregation was still constitutional

Ritmo's taking seriously what I said about it trickling out his ears as well as down his leg. He obviously never heard of the 14th Amendment.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

As long as you exist ... I will be here.

That is my life.


Lol. Feel free to call that a life if you wish. Living for pseudonymous combat (under the place-name of a state, how original!) with people you don't know over the internets. Too funny.

BTW, your kids are already screwed, in your book. The youngest adult generation is way further to the left than you are, and won't be convinced to change views on account of your crotchetiness, meanness, and ignorance.

And that's a good thing.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Is Shouting Thomas still yearning for the dirty bomb attack that he wished for months back?

For someone worried about the mental stability of others, he's certainly one violent, and unhinged motherfucker!

Unknown said...

PS

Ann Althouse said...
"Please analyze it for us."

It's grimy and dark. They've chosen a particularly ugly picture of the President, assuming we must already hate him. The fonts are really bad. The colors are terrible. The fonts have an ombre effect that makes them hard to see.


I thought ombre was like hombre, a marketing thing, something like macho.

I look it up and it means shaded.

So The Professor instructs as well as illuminates.

Anonymous said...

Lol. Feel free to call that a life if you wish. Living for pseudonymous combat (under the place-name of a state, how original!) with people you don't know over the internets. Too funny.

Did you say that, Shitmo!

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Hearing voices, Shitmo! Oh, oh!

Who's that talking in your head, little Shitmo?

Look out. Somebody's behind you.

Harry said...

If the president wants to put Americans back to work, why not start with an immigration moratorium until unemployment drops below five percent. Not only should we close our borders to illegal immigration, but halt legal immigration as well. After all, we keep hearing things like "the economy needs to create 100,000 new jobs a month just to stay even," yet we're admitting nearly that number of immigrants a month. Why not give it a rest?

I know, it's a question we're not allowed to ask because only a horrible person would even consider it.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I think it's actually called a "quotation", Stifled Thomas. If you were literate, you'd know what that meant.

Anonymous said...

"Maybe if more people on the right could respect people's family origins ..."

You don't respect his family origins.

His mother is white, and yet you only see a black guy. Do you see negros everywhere?

We could care less.

There's plenty to not like about Barack Obama:

* his refusal to close Gitmo
* the fair trials he suspended
* his two wars
* the 30,000 more killing machines he sent to Afghanistan to murder brown people with robot drones flown from Florida.
* the millions he pays his Wall Street banker-donors.
* the millions he pays AIG's board of directors
* the billions his donors get from ObamaCare
* the plans he has to bust up the unions and steal their hard-won pensions by letting states go bankriupt.
* the two-year tax break he gave to his billionaire friends like Warren Buffet and Jeff Immelt.
* the jobs he's giving to Warren Buffet and Jeff Immelt and all his other billionaire buddies.

Plenty of things to focus on without even noticing that his mother is white.

Race isn't a factor.

Except to you.

Because you are the racist.

woof said...

The reason is Wall Street wants to keep wages low to increase the bottom line.

Anonymous said...

Is Shouting Thomas still yearning for the dirty bomb attack that he wished for months back?

Shitmo! The lithium is wearing off.

I'm about to play Helter, Skelter, crazy little Shitmo.

Oooga Booga!

Sorry, I can't continue to play crazy with you, but I'll be casting a little spell.

There only one possible antidote to the spell.

It's a reverse application of a famous mathematical equation, Shitmo.

Figure it out or your mommy will come back to haunt your dreams again tonight.

Da boogey man comin' to get you, Shitmo!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

What's the matter, Lonely Thomas? Doesn't the shrine need tending to? Are the listings in your catalog of mail-order brides not good enough?

Anonymous said...

Da boogey man comin' to get you, Shitmo!

Look out, Shitmo!

Da boogey man comin' to get you, Shitmo!

I say, da boogey man, Shitmo.

Da boogey man.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Clearly the adage of acquiring wisdom with age does not apply to Squealy Thomas.

But luckily, all the bad stuff that comes with it seems to have gotten to him.

Anonymous said...

Your mommy's calling, Shitmo!

It's your mommy. Can you hear her in your head?

Helter Skelter!.

Da boogey man, Shitmo!

Careful or da boogey man gonna get you.

Your mommies calling you, Shitmo.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

From Tommie Boy's Greatest Hits:

I can't wait for the day... of a dirty bomb attack on Manhattan. I'll be cheering on the sidelines

Anonymous said...

See, it's crazy, Shitmo!

Completely crazy.

Yes, I am the bogey man, Shitmo.

Be very afraid. Oooga Booga!

You are under my spell now. There is no hiding.

I hear your mommy calling you, Shitmo.

Shitmo! Little Shitmo! Time to come home!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Keep polishing that shrine.

WestVirginiaRebel said...

I think Obama's hair is like a mood ring. It detects "Young" versus "Old" vibes.

And the image probably is unecessary-after all, The One doesn't need it to remind people of his arrogant, aloof side.

chuck said...

Blah, blah, blah. Gotta admit, the guy knows his audience.

G Joubert said...

It is what it is: Obama with a mean look on his face and with his tongue sticking out no less. It's only "scurrilous" if it was fabricated. Are you saying that?

Another thing that is what it is: he's black. No getting around that attribute. And if the photograph catches him in the act of being what he indelibly is, that's somehow racist? Hey, I've thought all along he won in the first place precisely because he's black, capitalizing bigtime as he did on the white guilt of liberals and the liberal-minded for votes. Seems to me that makes his blackness an asset, if anything. I'm just not getting the racist thing. It ain't there, except in the minds of those who voted for him because he's black.

And one more thing that is what it is: it's a banner ad. Banner ads are always cheesy. Quick and dirty, aesthetics be damned. If you want Wieden+Kennedy, then ya gotta pay the big bucks for Wieden+Kennedy, but it's not necessary or even called for here. People like Althouse weren't gonna send them any dinero anyway. You may have been on their mailing list, but you aren't who they're appealing to Althouse.

Michael K said...

Did you see the photo Politico chose to show the new New Hampshire GOP chairman ? It's OK though because he is tea party supported.

Methadras said...

"It is clear that the moment we now face demands a vision for how we as a people will win the future."

What the fuck does that even mean? He is a new creature. The Platitudipus.

dick said...

It is a negative ad. But the RNC better get their act together fast. They may have just been outclassed. Patrick Gaspard is to serve as the political party's new executive director. He moved from inside the White House and is a bright dude.

Gaspard is stongly connected to the socialist/marxist New Party, ACORN and SEIU, (SDS) as is Obama. Obama said he was going to paint the USA SEIU purple, Gaspard would not disagree.

The Dims are gone and Progressives are not even trying to hide their socialism/marxism/OSI.

Actions vs talk. Does BHO have America charmed to sleep with a massive shell game?

jr565 said...

edutcher wrote:
It's great to be color-blind when it comes to character. But it doesn't serve any purpose to ignore someone's origins when it comes to the effect that has on their social environment and upbringing. When Obama was born, segregation was still constitutional

Yet you libs always deride southerners as racist to the core. Yet if that is the environment in which they group up you shouldn't ignore their origins when it comes to the effect that has on their social environment and upbringing. If they hate blacks, that's just how they was raised. No big whoop. Also when Obama was born it was more than 50 years ago. THe Beatles hadn't come out yet. Nowadays we have computers, and blackberies and a black president. You'd think that Obama wouldn't have to dwell in the past as if segregation were still alive and kicking.
Again, HE is the president of the US. It's a different world. ANd I would hope that the postmodern racial president and his acolytes would be able to get past race once and for all, since a black guy has won the white house. ANd there hasn't been any major social upheaval (unlike say in the 60's when the libs rioted every other week, or planted bombs in capitol bulldings like Obama's pal Ayers).
Heres the secret that the libs don't seem to get, and sadly that many blacks dont want to acknowledge. IF you are going for a color blind society, you have to put aside the racial baggage. Certainly the racists have to stop being racists but YOU TOO have to stop identifying by color and identifying the responses to you from your oppponents through a racial prism.
Sadly I think a lot of blacks got MLK's point that they want to be treated equally without regard to color, but they dont' want to accept that they should similarly not view themselves through that same racial prism.
And which party is the one that cordons off all its members into their own racial segregated interest groups, and which defines everybody by race? Its the liberals/democrats.

jr565 said...

C4BDH wrote:
From Tommie Boy's Greatest Hits:

I can't wait for the day... of a dirty bomb attack on Manhattan. I'll be cheering on the sidelines


Ok, C4BDH (or should I say Ritmo) I followed your link to see what you were referring to and I've come to the conclusion that you are either a liar or have a reading comprehension, or both.
Youre completely misquoting SHouting Thomas. Now this seems to be the standard modus operandi of libs, so I shouldn't be surprised, but just to lay it out for you. Shouting Thomas was not, despite your quotes assertion going to be cheering a dirty bomb attack in manhattan (and obviously you're trying to assert that that would be the case I guess since Manhattan is a liberal town). No, he would be cheering the crowd beating YOU for being such a dumbass. Because you'd be the guy, in the wake of a dirty bomb attack to immediately blame our lack of tolerance for the attack rather than the terrorists carrying out the attack. And he's saying that the crowd would quickly lose any tolerance for your hateful rhetoric and beat the crap out of you for it. And he'd be cheering on the sidelines. Beucase you'd deserve to get beaten. For being a hateful dumbass. Not because Shouting Thomas would cheer a dirty bomb attack in NY.

jr565 said...

Methadras wrote:
What the fuck does that even mean? He is a new creature. The Platitudipus.


When we speak of Ritmo we speak of the pompitus of smug.

Clyde said...

There is nothing that could possibly make me want to defend Obama, or indeed wish for anything other than for the voters to turn him out of office on January 20, 2013. However, I agree with Ann that the graphic design is ugly. And the picture just makes him look like a goofball without showing the essential arrogance of the man. They would be far better off using one of the numerous pictures of him reading from a TelePrompTer with his chin in the air like Mussolini.

Ned said...

"These people are mean-spirited and unfair."

Exactly the sentiment and non serious thinking that got obama elected. And we will be years digging out from the mess he leaves.

Alex said...

I guess Althouse thought Barry Goldwater was mean-spirited and unfair. But the Daisy ad, nah that was A-OK!!!

Anonymous said...

Barack Obama has ordered the killing of six more brown people in Pakistan (a nation that the United States Congress has not declared war against).

CNN has the story of Obama's killings
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/pakistan.drone.strike/index.html?hpt=T2

Unknown said...

jr565 said...

edutcher wrote:
It's great to be color-blind when it comes to character. But it doesn't serve any purpose to ignore someone's origins when it comes to the effect that has on their social environment and upbringing. When Obama was born, segregation was still constitutional

You misquoted. That passage was me quoting Ritmo.

Do a search from the top and you'll find him saying it first. It's about 3/4 of the way down.

AllenS said...

I'm suspicious of people who have chosen to present him like that. What are their ideas?

Well, I'm suspicious of people who haven't figured out that the little o has no ideas. All we heard for the first 2 years, was this theme: "the previous administration" this or that. Now we get this bullshit: "we as a people will win the future."

What the fuck does that mean? What about now? How about some ideas to deal with the rising gas and food prices and the continuing and growing unemployed? But, no, he can't talk about those things because he has no idea how anything in life works, so he consistently talks in bullshit phrases. Let's worry about a picture of him. Yeah, that will help.

rhhardin said...

We face a moment.

The moment demands something.

What the moment demands is a vision.

The vision must be of a method.

The method imagined will win something.

What it will win is the future.

This is called temporizing. No beginning, no end, no point, just machinery clanking.

Even upper management talks better.

It's taken from the Obama campaign speech handbook.

The man is a rhetorical disaster.

rhhardin said...

I left out the prefatory "It is clear that."

Mentally add that in.

Anonymous said...

How 'bout this tagline:

2012...No Play for Mr. Gray

Reeee-jected!!!

Hagar said...

He is back to what he does best; a Rorschach blot in which you can see your hopes or your fears as your fancy takes you.

KCFleming said...

Any Obama speech containing the phrase 'Let me be clear'' identifies what follows as a complete and unabashed lie.

It's cousin, 'It is clear', augurs bloviation that obscures the message "More of the same".

It's Obama's tell.
Rhhardin taught me that.

AllenS said...

You can always tell when Hillary Clinton is about to tell a lie, also. She'll start with this: "You know, Bob (or whoever she's talking to), and then a bullshit story will always follow.

The Drill SGT said...

Florida said...
Rhetoric that leads nowhere and says nothing. How does one "win the future" exactly?


Investments

The Won wants to invest money in clean energy, in building roads, and in educationj "for the children.

that stuff that was supposed to have been the reason for Porkulus I, well he wants more of it to do it right this time.

Hagar said...

The more you do "directed" investments, divestments, taxcuts, or taxes, the more you will muck things up.

Mick said...

Ann Althouse said...

"Please analyze it for us."

" It's grimy and dark. They've chosen a particularly ugly picture of the President, assuming we must already hate him. The fonts are really bad. The colors are terrible. The fonts have an ombre effect that makes them hard to see. The whole thing feels scurrilous. It makes me feel like defending the President. I'm suspicious of people who have chosen to present him like that. What are their ideas? They just seem to want to tear down the President and make him look angry and ugly, which feels mean and unfair to me."



Aw, poor Putative President. You want to defend a man who has Usurped the Presidency? which you, a "law prof" helped, and are still helping, him do? He deserves NO respect.

campy said...

You can always tell when Hillary Clinton is about to tell a lie, also.

Whenever she's not actually in the process of telling one?

AllenS said...

You got me there, campy.

WV: sworeven

Fen said...

Ritmo: Must have been why Pat Buchanan told Nixon that MLK was a dangerous guy who had an agenda that they did not share.

I guess thats why the Liberals deep-sixed the FBI file on MLK until 2027. They don't want the public to learn that Nixon and Buchanan were the racists hounding him...

...sure, thats got to be it.

Michael said...

I sat at a table next to a pair who were engaged in a business conversation, a man and a woman. The man was clearly the superior in their corporation and he did most of the talking. He talked for about twenty minutes entirely in platitudes and corporate-speak. It was meaningless jargon, utterly empty. I was reminded of our President and his love of his own voice and his belief that people think nonsense is uplifting.

Methadras said...

jr565 said...

When we speak of Ritmo we speak of the pompitus of smug.


Oh, the internet grand mal seizure epilipesyist known as Schtickmo isn't about the smug at all. He and I have our little round and rounds. His entire tenure here is as nothing more than a thread crapper. Sort of like when a seagull eats bad food and then shits it's way back to health. Everything he types here is dedicated to that. Oh, and also in trying to either emulate or impress upon us that his type of 'reason' is that of his lexiconic god, Chomsky.

AST said...

Ah, the vision thing.
"The moment we now face demands a vision for how we as a people will win the future." Is this anything like "moral imagination?" He has a keen sense for meaningless phrases that sound deeply intellectual. His visions seldom come with any feasible plan for getting to them.

Any vision that entails more government and more taxes, is a nightmare in disguise.