President Obama Doesn’t Care About White People
Iowa Rep. Steve King, America’s craziest Congressman, feels put down by the man.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) leveled a somewhat startling charge against President Barack Obama on Monday, saying the president instinctively “favors the black person.”
King made the comments during an appearance on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show.
“When you look at this administration, I’m offended by Eric Holder and the president, also, their posture,” King said, as captured by Media Matters.
“It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race. And I don’t know what the basis of that is, but I’m not a coward when it comes to that, and I’m happy to talk about these things and I think we should. But the president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race — on the side that favors the black person.”
Well, you do have to hand it to Rep. King, he isn’t a coward. He’s unafraid to say whatever crazy thing that comes into his mind, even if it makes him look like an idiot.
P.S. It’s probably not a good idea to read the comments on the linked post.
Tags: President Obama, racism, Republican Crazy, Steve King
Remember when Kanye West said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”?
I believe the Congressman was sort of parodying what West said.
The Hollywood wack jobs have been sort of quiet on this disaster though. What a surprise.
That wasn’t a parody, but I guess the latest stupidity from your party wouldn’t be complete without you to defend it. King was just as serious about his comment as West was.
Bush and Obomba care about rich people. period.
well, delrat. guess we should start makin some money.
Holder never said “that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race.” King filtered what Holder said through his racist brain. Here is what Holder actually said:
“”Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial.
This is truly sad. Given all that we as a nation went through during the civil rights struggle, it is hard for me to accept that the result of those efforts was to create an America that is more prosperous, more positively race-conscious, and yet is voluntarily socially segregated.”
I think Holder is right.
I confess I don’t understand what King is talking about. In what way have Obama’s decisions “favored the black person”? Maybe one of our conservative visitors could help us out here.
If, on the other hand, he means that minorities have far more awareness of race than whites do, well, duh. Let him live in a black neighborhood for a year and see if he doesn’t develop more awareness of his otherness.
he has gone out of his way to ignore black people so Klansmen like King have no argument. Obama’s biggest failing so far… not realizing he can never win with the right.
Go read the comments of the Hill post, Geezer. It’s pretty clear to me that any attempt to rebalance the wealth distribution is seen as a racial issue to some people.
“Obama’s biggest failing so far… not realizing he can never win with the right.”
100% correct.
Basing off the comment A1 Steaksauce provided at 10:28, I agree 100%. To some, it’s small stuff, too small to worry about, but I think all racism has a fertile breeding ground within the subtle or unintential forms of racism. Most Americans scream or cringe in horror over blatant racism. That’s wonderful that most people will not accept that racism. It’s the small stuff that’s swept out of view, or accepted as norm (in some cases), though and that is a real problem.
I did a post on this subtle racism a couple of weeks ago. As expected, although still disappointingly so, I had to defend my view that this subtle or unintended racism is very real and needs to be dealt with.
So, if A1’s quoting of Holder is accurate and complete, then I agree with that quote.
“Obama’s biggest failing so far… not realizing he can never win with the right.”
Spot on.
I don’t get the current buzz that Obama is getting blamed for the BP leak. Is this another example of a reality created by media? Nobody is more tightly associated with coddling Big Oil than Republicans.
There really is no way for Obama to win on BP. The wingnuts are now simultaneously blaming Obama for being both too strict and too lax on BP. It is just another excuse to hate on the black guy.
The Obomba voter’s biggest failing is not realizing Obomba is not one of them.
“Obama’s biggest failing so far… not realizing he can never win with the right.”
I’ll stick with Obama for this go-round, but… this is why we shouldn’t elect Senators to the White House. We need an executive, not a compromiser more interested in collegiality with his Senate buddies. It is no coincidence that Obama is allowing the conservative Senate to set the nation’s agenda.
Any kick-ass Democratic governors out there?
delacrat that was just stupid. Don’t make me go on another cussing jag. Whatever you don’t like about Obama flows out of his unwillingness (inability) to view the Republicans for what they are. Is there time for him to turn it around? I doubt it.
For a while I thought he was setting up some long story arc that I could not see. I’m willing to say that there is not going to be some big game changing reveal.
So that raises a legitimate question. At what point will it be okay to bail on this President? If the alternative is the current iteration of the GOP – my answer is (sadly) NEVER.
As bad as Obama is, the alternative is far worse.
I dunno. Lincoln was a senator and he sure didn’t let the conservatives get what they wanted.
It is just another excuse to hate on the black guy.
Are you alleging racism or is that just a way for you to describe Obama because it adds flair to your comment?
Do you think they’d react to a white Democrat any differently in this disaster? Likewise, I’d expect the same partisan sniping if it were all reversed. Blaming Obama for the spill is all about the sad, pathetic, immature attempts to one-up all others in the name of political gamemanship. Here’s a theory: in typical partisan shit-flinging, this is a chance to respond to the Katrina criticism heaped upon Bush and Republicans in general. Don’t sell wingnuts short on this, either. Both sides have them and regardless of the outcome, even if it’s the perfect outcome, it will never be right to them.
Here’s the deal. BP has been woefully and dangerously incompetent in dealing with this. The long-debated question is if the government should have ever given BP any rope to fix it at the beginning, but that moment has passed long ago. At this stage, though, BP has already hung themselves with that rope and we should stop giving them more. Does anyone, aside from wingnuts, disagree with that sentiment? So, and I’ve seen this said here, too, I think many of us agree that BP still at the healm is maddingly curious. Who takes culpability for that? Do we isolate each department down and pick a, b, and c; or, do we go to the person in charge? In case you missed it, Obama himself has said that point of criticism goes to him and I agree. Every president before him also took that charge. The precise blame-game commences once the crisis is averted.
Screw the wingnuts and their rants, though, ALL OF THEM FROM ALL SIDES. They wouldn’t know how to stop a leak in their own shorts, without first blaming political opposition for the lack of their own self-control.
whatever the republicand “really are” represents what enough of the rest of the country “really is” to keep re-electing them. I dont think obama would get re-elected if he went to the left. It might even get him shot. The conservatives in this country are stupid, reactionary, xenophobic, and quick to turn violent. They are also backed up by a VERY large media-propaganda machine with a serious victem complex. That kind of enemy really cant be beaten. It can only be held at less than 50%.
Honestly, Delcrat. You will NEVER get the president you want.
“Never?”
no. NEVER. As long as there are conservatives in this country, a truley progressive government will never happen. The only choice you have (unless you want Palin-land just to spite everyone else) is to support the opposition to the Conservative dictatorship that would happen were the Bagz allowed to get their way.
R, i think since the begining Obama has been disrespected. During his first address to congress, R’s were saying he better show “humility”. He is the damn president. what they were really saying is “that boy better not think he can tell me what to do”.
There is the SC state senator who still calls him a “rag-head”
Not every republican hates Obama because he is black… but everyone who hates Obama because he is black is a republican.
There is the SC state senator who still calls him a “rag-head”
As well as Nikki Haley, don’t forget. That guy needs to get the boot, but the voters are the ones who need to do it, since he apparently can’t see that he’s an indefensible asswhipe.
…but everyone who hates Obama because he is black is a republican.
I’m going to venture a guess, as you did, that your generality is not accurate. I get your point and desire to stereotype, but I will never buy-in that Republicans have a complete monopoly on racists.
BP has been woefully and dangerously incompetent in dealing with this.
They haven’t been nearly as bad as advertised — but you can count me as woefully tired of 1) people who think that there is some magic or quick fix to this when every bit of evidence there is says otherwise and 2) woefully tired of people doing the everybody does it BS as a way to simply not follow the ball.
EXXON was in charge of the Valdez cleanup, which I’m sure no one remembers.
Even though I do this work for a living, I guess that won’t mean much in the effort to assign blame for not having the quick fix for this Gulf problem. There just isn’t one as I’ve been trying to explain. You can see from the Ixtoc incident (shallow drilling) and Timor (deepwater drilling) that BP followed a pretty established path which was to try lots of stuff until it worked. Months later. Cleanup of oil-fouled environment is exactly the same as that from the Valdez cleanup. A thing I spent a season on, BTW. This thing is a mess and it gets worse before it gets better. And the long term path to fixing this so that the risk gets closer to zero is no where on the table.
And BP at the helm is something is a legal position. BP did certify that they had the capacity to remediate very large spills when it got its well permit. BP did have some (not many) safety requirements. The day the government takes over the cleanup effort is the day you start paying for this. Because that means that BP then gets itself in a position to negotiate fines and actual costs lower than it would have had to pay if it were actually living up to its Permit requirements. The government does have some authority to take this thing over — but then who makes it work? I’m guaranteeing that there is no one in the government who has better expertise at deepwater drilling ops than BP.
Smitty – sorry, I’m not buying the “enough blame to go around” pablum. Nothing there but yellow paint and dead armadilloes.
Obama inherited a oil regulatory framework created by Reagan and redefined by Cheney/Halliburton.
Obama unfortunately signed up for a portion of moral responsibility when he lifted the moratorium and his administration approved the BP drilling permits. But in no way was he responsible in any practical sense. That is on Republicans.
If Obama last year had denied the BP drilling, extended the offshore moratorium, and required all deep rigs to add the improved blowout preventers and upgraded safety equipment – nobody would give him credit for preventing the disaster. Sarah Palin would be calling him an anti-business socialist round the clock, and all the Republicans would be chanting Drill Baby Drill in unison – and more hating on the black guy.
And I can’t realistically find any fault with Obama’s response to the BP crisis. I could gin up some things to quibble about, but why bother. There seems to be a false assumption out there that the government has some better cleanup technology or capability that is is withholding.
On the Katrina side, Republicans voted against spending on strengthening the levees and other flood control systems, and Bush clearly failed to mount a massive rescue effort in time.
All of the heartbreaking pictures you see on TV, with the agonizing tales of families at risk after this — what you are watching is the logical result of “government getting out of the way of business”. These people were allowed to do deepwater drilling with nothing other than their word that 1) they had the capacity to clean up any problems and 2) that they had the capacity to control all of this extraction technology.
Jason330,
The US with Bush on the throne:
Foreign wars without end, bloated military budgets, Robert Gates as Sec.of Def’, catering to wall street, suppression of civil liberties, no singlepayer, no public option, guantanamo
The US with Bushama on the throne:
Foreign wars without end, bloated military budgets, Robert Gates as Sec.of Def’, catering to wall street, suppression of civil liberties, no singlepayer, no public option, guantanamo
the ditto list goes on …and on…. and on.
THE diff. between Bush and Obomba: STYLE. That’s IT.
anon –
Just in case you or I missed what the other said, I am not blaming Obama for the spill. I also, however, am refuting your claim that the allegation is that he’s at fault because of his race. Political wingbut hacks for generations have flourished in blaming the opposition for anything. I am saying that he called for responsibility to point at himself because he is the President. The responsibility is for putting the pieces in place to mitigate the ever-increasing disaster. I don’t think for a minute he takes responsibility for the disaster happening, nor should he, but I think he allows himself to be a lightning rod in an attempt to get to the next phase, which will be post-stoppage (of the crude-vomit). Most Presidents have done the same, because if they don’t, too many idiots get in the way trying to assess blame rather than getting stuff done.
The blame to go around was from my point was in reference to opposition wingnuts of all stripes, throughout history, always finding fault with those they oppose no matter what they do, right or wrong. To those wingnuts, their opposition will never be right, in spite of how right they can ever be.
Now, there is blame to go around in that BP is to blame, that’s one and it’s obvious; two, our government is also to blame in that it really is time to kick the failure of BP to the bench. I don’t think that the government has a magic wand that BP doesn’t (in response to one of your points), but BP’s rope is exhausted. They’ve (BP) managed this pitifully. Not only has their management of it sucked, but we are finding out almost daily now that they have been fabricating or simply guessing at their status reports of the crisis. Are you going to deny that? If you don’t deny that, then why is the government’s not stepping in further at this point faultless?
Obama drawing blame upon himself (which he said to do) is what leaders do in the midst of a crisis. They publicly take the heat of the blame while managing the mitigation on the other side. Unfortunately, wingnuts feel wholly justified at that point with whatever they can fling (wait, they always feel justified, maybe it’s why they are always wingnuts). When the day comes that this gets to the other side (the vomiting being contained), then we will see culpability get to a specific level and it won’t be Obama, that being my opinion. Until then, he is the lightning rod, and rightful for literally calling it upon himself. Wingnuts be damned, Obama is doing what he can, as he can, but it’d be better if BP was benched. That is my lasting criticism: that BP still makes some…ANY…decisions.
To Cass’ comment – Government shouldn’t be overly involved in business, except where regulations exist. This industry, however, screams for regulation, at the minimum in the safety realm for humans and environment. This was an example of both behaving poorly (no, anon, I do not blame Obama): BP taking extreme advantage of overly lax regulators (those specifically tasked with seeing it through). The regulations in place were poor to begin with, but when even those are poorly utilized, greed tends to take control.
BTW, anon, did I mention that this is not Obama’s fault?
Polls confirm, Louisiana white folks find the BP crisis a good opportunity to hate on the black guy:
PPP poll via dKos
The perfect opportunity for the Fair and Balanced network to manufacture opinion by putting frustrated white Louisianans on TV as if they represented national disapproval of Obama.
I disapprove of his action. Anyone want to call me a racist? Could it be that he is getting positive racism from blacks in NO? that speech was alsmost it for me. It was awful. He showed no plan, no indication that he was really willing to go after BP. It would have beena bad speech on day one of the crisis, it was a disaster on day 50whatever.
anon – all the whities I see on Anderson Cooper (another whitie) are all pretty solid in blaming BP. They’re frustrated with the administration, yes, but blame BP.
So, if you can say it’s simply knee-jerk racism for all those whites to hate on the black guy (your quote not mine), then one can use your logic and say that the 82% of African-Americans approving of Obama are doing so simply due to race. It’s your logic being applied from a different direction.
I don’t disagree that racism exists, but if that is your bland dismissal of the entire response, you’re naive and blindly loyal [and partisan].
EDIT: I just saw a.price’s reply, too. Apparently, I am not alone in assessing your logic from a different direction.
He showed no plan, no indication that he was really willing to go after BP.
What’s your plan?
Im not the freaking president. It isnt my JOB to come up with the solution. BUT if i could make the call, i would send BP into recievership and force all of their funds they have been spending on PR to oil skimming and boom deployment.
I would also stop the empty rhetoric and stop using this as a political football to gain an advantage in the energy reform bill. If he handles this disater the right way, the nation will trust him on energy reform. If he tries to move on before this is taken care of, I will be voting for someone else in november.
and i have defended this guy at every turn when the left has bichted about him not doing enough. There is only so much that can be done legally to BP. I know that. MY problem is that there isnt enough being done from a leadership standpoint. Why arent we accepting help being offered by other nations? He is really striking out on this.
Although the left all too often uses it as a crutch to dismiss criticism of our President’s poor performance (to the point that the term is losing any valid impact), I don’t think the poll demonstrates racism, by either group. I’d be interested in a demographic of those polled who are most likely to be affected by the oil spill, such as businesses, property owners, service industry workers, etc.
So what should be done from a leadership standpoint? What can be done — exactly — that will stop this and cleanup these beaches? And you will need to be specific here — take into account logistics, weather and the very real difficulty of rounding up and cleaning up oil. They are accepting foreign aid — at least the foreign aid that is suitable. There are skimmers from Europe that are in operation there now.
One more time — there is no magic to clean this up. There is no whizbang technology that gets rid of this. You can put out boom, but that works on water that is calm. Get yourself a storm or even a good wake from a large ship and it overtops. You can skim (which is largely superficial) all you want, but that doesn’t address the underwater plumes that are feeding the surface contamination. Cleanup of beaches is manual — you are wiping down surfaces, shoveling up sand, or power washing rock.
There were 3 seasons of organized cleanup up at Prince William Sound and that ended because there wasn’t much point in the LOE, not because the oil had gone away.
You can send more down there, but there are lots and there are more on the way. But there is a point where even that isn’t useful — you can’t overrun this thing and really you’ll be redoing all of this cleanup for quite some time.
All i saw last night was empty rhetoric… not even delivered well.. and broad general plans for some undefined change at some undefined point. The issue RIGHT NOW is protecting the coastline and he missed that mark. They need more people laying more booms. we need fleets and fleets of ships skimming oil. I dont want to hear one more damn word about the comming energy bill fight… because you know it will be a bitter teabag filled fight… untill this mess is cleaned up. It is all that matters right now.
.
What are you doing this summer, a.price? It looks like I’m going to have an opportunity to send some guys to this thing and perhaps you’d like to don some tyveks and get to learn something.
I’m sorry, but there is no RIGHT NOW solution. I wish there was, but there isn’t. My biggest disappointment in the speech last night was that he was forced to make it. Basically, he could have just come on and said, “we’re screwed.” Because that’s the truth. You want a solution to fixing this mess? Fine. Step One: Build a time machine.
Cassandra – do you really have opportunities to work on this?
There isn’t anything concrete yet, but it is entirely possible. A neighbor of mine (who works for another company) is flying down now and I have other colleagues who are there or mobilizing now. Just like Valdez, theres a big effort to inventory resources and how to get to them and they call you in.
It’s one of the reasons why I’m so mad at this thing — 20 years later you still send people out with absorbent material, shovels, rakes and power washers. Stupid and stupid.
cass, lucky for me i am no longer unemployed. If my situation were different… that is were i able to take a few weeks off without losing my job, i wouldnt be wasting my time talking about how bad i think everything is. Interesting you should make that comment. Part of my job is knowing how to clean up hazmat spills. including oil. But again, i was not elected by the American people to lead us out of this crisis. What i needed to hear was Obama telling us EXACTLY what he plans to do about the oil spill. i couldn’t possibly care less about an energy bill right now and all he cud talk about was “we can do it!”
Yeah i know. we put a man on the moon and beat Hitler. How is this president going to recognize the FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW and take command of this problem. I dont want to hear about his Nobel winning point man… esspecially comming from a guy who freely says he didnt’ earn HIS OWN nobel prize. Touting academic cred while the problem has not even begun to be solved only plays into the narrative that education is not something we need in america.
yes, i know they are doing a lot. But this is politics, kids. You cant just do stuff and expect people to notice. You have to be good at the image game and this White House lets everyone else control the message. Republicans have no interest in solving this problem… it might make Obama look good. They are prefectly happy to let him let BP make all the calls….
And btw, anyone who calls him a socialist after this is a total idiot. A REAL socialist would have deployed the navy, and created tons of new departments just to train people and mobilize a response. He is CLEARLY letting .. at least letting it LOOK LIKE .. the all powerful and Holy Free Market (praise be to adam smith) run the show.
Obama said long ago in this disaster that he was responsible… well, the leak still isnt plugged, the clean up and containmenbt response is a joke, and it looks like BP can use Marshall Island law to get out of paying a freaking cent. He’s done a lot of things right in this first year and a half… but this is a fail.
still time for a mid course correction.
Part of my job is knowing how to clean up hazmat spills. including oil.
So is mine. And I’ve had to put tens and hundreds of people including equipment to get it done too. Wonder, though, if you’ve done a coastal emergency response? In the Gulf, you work 30 minutes and rest 20. Everywhere you will cleanup one stretch of beach or wetlands and come back in a few days because the tides have brought more up. You can watch the damage you do to certain wetlands just by walking across them, or even see grass damage after you’ve wiped your absorbent towel across it.
So basically you are looking for better optics then. Because there isn’t much else to be had for fixing it. And more bluster, more yelling won’t fix it, either. More people are definitely going, but you won’t have people on every 10 feet of beach or wetlands. In many ways, Obama is left cleaning up one more mess that isn’t exactly his and cleaning up this mess without alot of good options.
People are going to be out here cleaning up this mess for years.
Im not saying he isnt doing anything, but you cant deny that he gave a shitty, much-hyped speech. Another Obamastock is not what we need right now, but if he is gonna give apep rally, DONT TANK. Public image is 75% of the game. It is a shame, but thats how it is, and if he is not good at the message, he wont be good at his agenda.
Enjoy:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/06/why-obamas-epa.html