Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Last night, at a youth town hall, a graduate student from Johns Hopkins asked President Obama why his presidency hadn't created the post-racial era everyone thought it would. Here is how the president responded:
President Barack Obama thinks that the recession has caused a temporary increase in racial tension by stoking “tribal attitude” among people in economic distress...
“Oftentimes misunderstandings and antagonisms surface most strongly when economic times are tough and that’s not surprising,” said Obama, citing some “slippage” in racial understanding.
“When you’re out of work and you can’t buy a home or you lost your home and you can’t pay your bills… sometimes that organizes [people] around kind of a tribal attitude and issues of race become more prominent.”
Tribal attitude? Is that a sly dig at the tea party?
We know that the tea party has been unfairly pilloried as racist before--by the NAACP, the mainstream media, and Jimmy Carter, who suggested that opposition to health care reform was motivated by racism. The tea party has also been criticized for its "mob mentality," while Fox News has been denounced specifically for creating a "tribal identity"--so who was Obama talking about when he cited "tribal attitudes"?
Earlier this month, Rasmussen conducted a poll showing that voters are growing more and more pessimistic about black-white relations in this country.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 36% of voters now say relations between blacks and whites are getting better. That’s down from 62% in July of last year at the height of the controversy involving a black Harvard professor and a white policeman. That number had fallen only slightly to 55% in April of this year.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) now say black-white relations are getting worse, up 10 points from July 2009, while 33% think they’re staying about the same...
African-Americans are much more pessimistic than whites. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of whites think black-white race relations are getting better, but just 13% of blacks agree.
Confidence in the nation’s course among African-Americans soared after Barack Obama’s election. But then several prominent Democrats, perhaps most notably former President Jimmy Carter, suggested that opposition to the president’s health care plan was motivated in part by racism. Only 12% of all voters agreed in September of last year, but among blacks, 27% felt that way and 48% were undecided.
Having a president who incites racial tensions doesn't exactly help.
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Aug '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
With a capital "B" for BUNKER . Of course, other applications of the letter come to mind, But there are rules here.
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Well if tea partiers constitute a "tribe" then we should at least be able to operate a casino.
Once again, our allegedly eloquent President puts his foot in it. A couple of years ago, his opponents were "bitter" no-hopers clinging to guns and religion. Now we're "tribal."
Jun '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Okay, so we're stupid, uninformed, small-minded racists with limited attention span who make too much money while radically clinging to our guns and religion, and now we're "tribal."
It sure is hard to be conciliatory while you are getting poked in the eye and having your pockets picked.
I will say this though. I don't recall the President promising racial harmony (someone can correct me) - instead, I believe that was a hope imprinted upon him by his supporters during the 2008 campaign. This is small potatoes, but it is yet another reflection of the mindset that reveals what he thinks of everyday Americans. He is a divider.
Aug '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Adam, I now officially love you. This nearly made me spit out my coffee, I was laughing so much.
The truth is that any time a group of people bands together for a purpose, there is a tribal component. Think of sports fans, or PETA activists. You gonna tell me they don't have tribal attitude?
Think even -- and I'm really not joking about this -- of the posse of little old ladies that constitute my grandma's Red Hat Society. Now that is tribal attitude. It's Hell's Grannies all over again.
Edited on Oct 15, 2010 at 9:28amJun '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
The president evidently thinks that the sooner he gets us all sorted out into our "tribes" the sooner he can figure out what spoils we need to stay on the reservation. "American" is just too ambiguous to get some good community organizing going. He has to get to the divide part before the conquer will work.
Jul '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
So much for the delusion that Obama will grow in office. This speech is a simple variation on "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." He has been reading from the same prayer book for years and no, he will not change.
Oct '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
We cave-people here in the American south can get kind of "tribal," I guess. What liberals fail to grasp, though, is that our "tribes" are usually composed of equal portions of blacks, whites, and hispanics.
While the chattering classes talk endlessly about what sort of laws and regulations and government programs will be required to create a post-racial society, most of us unwashed neanderthals here in SC just went ahead and started acting like one.
Yes, most African-Americans down here still support Obama, but guess what? We don't talk about that! Now that's got nothing to do with cowardice, as Holder would tell us: instead it's about manners and respect.
We focus on what we have in common: like the fact that we're all Americans, trying to preserve our children's innocence in the face of Babylon: that which liberals and their stooges in Hollywood have inflicted upon this country.
Sep '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
The Tea Party will prove to be a transforming influence when it comes to race in the U.S. There are 14 black GOP house candidates. Nine of them receive substantial support from the Tea Party. The Tea Party is giving black conservative something to get excite about. Something the GOP has not done.
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake Adam, I now officially love you. . . .
The truth is that any time a group of people bands together for a purpose, there is a tribal component. Think of sports fans, or PETA activists. You gonna tell me they don't have tribal identity?
But Midge, I'm a happily married man! Anyway, I agree that there's nothing necessarily sinister about tribes, clans, cliques, what-have-you. And isn't it odd that after creating "identity politics" and sponsoring umpteen different "pride" days for this or that ethnic group, the Left is suddenly concerned about "tribalism?"
Edited on Oct 15, 2010 at 9:07amJun '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Seeing the quality and tenor of the comments here in response to the President, its a good thing he went for a selected audience on MTV's Townhall. He wouldn't fare so well at a Rico Flambé
Edited on Oct 15, 2010 at 9:51amAug '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
This is classic Projection, as described in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. By accusing and blaming Tea Partiers for the very thing Obama himself is doing, he's hoping to escape scrutiny and discovery. It's the product of guilt and hypocrisy.
"Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue". - Matthew Arnold.
Rasmussen's Daily Tracking Poll shows that 27% of Americans "strongly approve" of the job he's doing. Fortunately, 46% "strongly disapprove" of him.
Aug '10
Re: Did Obama Call the Tea Party Racist for its "Tribal Attitude"?
Boom chaka laka laka Boom chaka laka laka ! Thankyoufallettinmebemiceelf again !
Is that a tribe ? Or just a family stone.................