Serious about fighting the biggest enemy?

Barack Obama likes to talk about cynicism, and in a very critical way. In the following speech before AIPAC in March, he expresses gratitude for having so many young people in his campaign, and describes "cynicism" as the biggest enemy we're going to have to fight. Presumably, he thinks young people are less "cynical" than old people, and those who are skeptical about his central message that the world can be changed are the ones who are being "cynical":

OK, I'm cynical. I freely admit it.

Some of that is because I'm not young enough. I've lived long enough to be skeptical. (Something I see not as cynicism, but as a form of wisdom.) Seeing a complete absence of skepticism among young people who are taught that believing in socialism constitutes "critical thinking" makes me very cynical about their false claim of skepticism. Many of them will eventually learn that they've been had, but by then it may be too late.

Anyway, right now I'm more cynical about Barack Obama than ever before. Mostly because he's riding into the White House as a result of an extremely racialized campaign, in which his opponent and his opponent's supporters find themselves falsely demonized as racists. My response has been to have a lot of fun in this blog ridiculing nonsensical accusations of racism -- yesterday's "mammoth racist waves" post being the most recent example.

The irony is that while we are poised to elect the nation's first black president, I'm more cynical about race relations than ever before.

However, as I said in an email to Glenn Reynolds, I didn't start that way. I once liked Obama, because I thought he meant it:

"Oddly enough, Obama started out as a nice guy, and I remember liking him. It was refreshing the way he tried to de-racialize things, but I think he's so wedded to the left and they're so wedded to these things that he's hamstrung. "
To which Glenn adds,
Yes, if the Obama running now were the Obama I saw when he started his campaign, I wouldn't be terribly interested in the outcome of this election. I'm most troubled by the thuggish attacks on critics.
I think the thuggish attacks on critics include the now numbingly routine charge that any criticism of Obama is either racist, or "tinged" with racism. This is not to say that the Obama campaign is behind the "vote for Obama or you're a racist" meme (after all, his campaign can no more control liberal pundits than McCain campaign can control conservative ones), but has he denounced it?

Has he gone on record as saying that if he does lose (a very unlikely prospect), it will not necessarily be because of racism?

Maybe he has, but I have not seen the denunciations.

This is not to say that he'd win my vote by denouncing the meme, but I'd be less cynical about his attacks on "cynicism," and more comfortable with him as president.

I realize he might not win any votes by doing this, but he has the pulpit right now.

As things stand, I can think of few ways to engender cynicism than to falsely charge people with racism. For whatever reason. But when false charges of racism are made in order to advance a political campaign, the cynicism is heightened, because of the sheer opportunism and demagoguery involved. When the candidate involved does not denounce it, the cynicism is heightened further.

That's why I'd feel a lot less cynical had Barack Obama not described cynicism as the "biggest enemy."

And a lot more comfortable if he denounced the phony racist meme.

posted by Eric on 10.20.08 at 12:36 PM





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Eric

A sincere non-snark question for you:

Do you think the number of people who support Senator Obama based primarily on his race is larger or smaller than the number of people that oppose Senator Obama based primarily on his race?

Dr. Nobel Dynamite   ·  October 20, 2008 01:21 PM

Dr. Nobel, I'm sure you're bright enough to know the answer to that. A large minority of Sen. Obama's support is a direct result of his race. A vast majority of his support is an indirect result of his race.

Geraldine Ferraro was exactly right when she said if Obama was white, he'd be a no name state senator and wouldn't even be on the national stage, let alone at the top of it.

tim maguire   ·  October 20, 2008 05:02 PM

Tim, you didn't answer the question. Do you think the number of people who support Senator Obama based primarily on his race is larger or smaller than the number of people that oppose Senator Obama based primarily on his race?

Dr. Nobel Dynamite   ·  October 20, 2008 05:12 PM

As things stand, I can think of few ways to engender cynicism than to falsely charge people with racism.

Certainly. It strips the term of meaning, weight and impact, making it easier for racists to operate in the open. The Left engages in this "conceptual inflation" for the purpose of allowing their own racists to operate openly, but don't think for a moment that the David Duke sort won't learn to capitalize on it.

Seerak   ·  October 20, 2008 08:26 PM

No one is more cynical than the Progressive, who thinks individual liberty through limited government is simply out of fashion.

Brett   ·  October 21, 2008 08:15 AM

Dr. Nobel,
Well, 95%+ of blacks are voting for Obama because he's black, and I think that some white liberals are voting for him because he's black (I work with quite a few that have openly declared that, although it's probably impossible to tell how many there are nationwide), so I think certainly their combined numbers far exceed the supremacist fringe who are going to vote against him because he's black.

Personally, I think voting for or against someone on the basis of race is incredibly shallow and short-sighted, but then, that description applies to a vast majority of the electorate, so I'm not really surprised.

jlbussey   ·  October 21, 2008 11:04 AM

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