Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama's Historical Comparisons"

it's the ridiculous claim that Obama "directly" compared himself to great movements which is hype

Sorry, it was MoJo editor MoJo editor Monika Bauerlein who made that claim on Jay Rosen's blog: "Obama makes that comparison very directly". Jay said Ms. Bauerstein was engaging in hype; I would say she was flat-out lying.

Obama does indeed put himself in a historical context alongside the great progressive movements of the last century.

True, but that's not hype, or anything like it. So ok, maybe Ms. Bauerstein isn't lying, maybe she's just too stupid to understand such distinctions. But in my experience, stupidity with a political consequence strongly suggests an agenda.

But do I think Obama sees his candidacy as sparking hope and a renewed sense of empowerment that could be historical in scope by the time he is elected? Yes. Do I think he believes that if enough Americans trust their government and believe in the process of politics that something amazing could happen? Yes.

Uh, and that's "hype" from Obama??? It of course isn't. As Jay Rosen pointed out, it's the ridiculous claim that Obama "directly" compared himself to great movements which is hype. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing the things that you say "Yes", Obama has done. Why, then, is MoJo attacking him for it and accusing him of hype? You people are aware that there's an election on between two candidates, right? And that the primary Republican strategy is to make the election a referendum on Obama, right? And that the corporate media has played right along, right? And now Mojo is doing the exact same thing, RIGHT?

"A half-black man"? WTF? Obama has as much African genetic heritage as many if not most African-Americans.

Indeed, that description, which is so ignorant of the facts about racial identity as to count as racist, perhaps explains a lot.

As a non-profit, MoJo legally can't explicitly express support, no matter how blatant, for any political candidate.

Debra Dickerson said on the Colbert Report that Obama isn't a Black American at all.

Check her out:
www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=81955

Colbert: "Is Barack Obama Black?"
Debra: "No, he's not."

Damned funny bit, as you might expect.

"A half-black man"? WTF? Obama has as much African genetic heritage as many if not most African-Americans.

"Do I personally think that Obama sees his candidacy as on par with the civil rights movement or Revolutionary War soldiers? No."

So why publish a forum that makes exactly that comparison? We haven't seen that justified.

But this was quite funny:
"Nothing we write is in service of the Obama campaign and its goals."

Hee hee. I think everyone here knows that you, JS, are an extreme Obama supporter. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. We expect MJ to have a certain editorial viewpoint. But it would be more honest to write "As an Obama supporter..." rather than misclaim a neutral position.

Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama&#039;s Historical Comparisons"

Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama's Historical Comparisons"