Jack & Jill Politics

Damn, did POTUS have something to do with this? The last two weeks have been so fishy.

Hi Suprk,
I finally had a chance to listen to that 24min interview. It was vintage West…'mybrother' 'imperialist empire' oligarchs vs. plutocrats and neoconservatives vs. neoliberals verbage.

It is fascinating how he tried to frame Obama as leaning towards the strong vs. the tradition liberals who lean toward the poor and working class as opposed to the GOP. It was even more intriguing that he used the example of the deal with PHARMA as being oppositional to the public option which was the piece of HCR West saw as the strength for the poor.

While I agree that the public option is a strong component of HCR for the uninsured and working class…it does not fit the framework West uses as Obama making it negotiable vs. the deal with Pharma. After all, the public option had it's greatest impact on health insurers not the drug industry, so for West to use that as an example of Obama not supporting the working class/poor as traditional liberal would and 'leaning toward the strong' is extremely misleading and basically doesn't hold water.

IOW's, without a deal with big pharma, there would be no HCR whatsoever for the working class. Thus West's thinking is off base on that.

I did like how West framed the racist forms of populism and characterized talk radio as 'increasing polarization on a racial axis” I liked that context especially when he elaborated that while he can not ascribe racial motivation and intent by calling those folks racist, he can identify the racist elements of their discourse in turns of effect and consequence. That was very eloquent statement and one that should be continually repeated.

I was also impressed with him describing the version of white terrorism as 244 years of slavery and 90 years of Jim Crow that contribute to the rise in white supremacy today, even as they try to dilute the message of MLK by spinning 'content of one's character vs. color of skin' into a color blind abstract. West clearly identified that as tolerance vs acceptance. Noting that being color blind is abstract and is a denial of an individual's humanity as all people come in bodies with a culture and you have to embrace that to be accepting and not use hide behind the color blind tolerance phrasing.

Great interview…but West is pushing the black talk radio conflict with his Obama is leaning toward the strong rhetoric.

Thanks for the link