Obama plays the race card yet again

[Hayabusa Rider]

I have no problem with what he said, but as an explanation for his low approval numbers it's playing the race card. ElFenix did make a good point though; this may well have been Obama's answer to a question about racial politics and merely appropriated as this writer's explanation for Obama's low approval numbers.

What seems to be missed is that Obama isn't giving a speech. This is selective quoting by the New Yorker who wrote a piece for their own purposes. As such no motivation can be attributed or implied. If "do you believe some whites disapprove of you because of race?" what should he have said? Again this isn't a report on a speech Obama gave but another thing entirely and whatever blame or merit belongs to the New Yorker.

 

[zinfamous]

My life, I can make up my own rules.

So, again reiterating that you have precisely zero interest in engaging in real discussion and fostering any sort of logical debate?

When you are out of your element, just change the rules, I guess.

Worked for Captain Kirk, but then again, he is a fantasy.

 

[werepossum]

My life, I can make up my own rules.

You are splitting hairs.

As I also mentioned, did obama say some people like/dislike him because of the nsa? What about gitmo?

No he did not.

obama avoided his policies all together and played the race card.

The "only" reason why some people do not like obama is solely because of his race? His popularity does not have a single thing to do with his policies and lies does it?

That is also how I took it, but ElFenix made an undeniable point that we do not know the question. Not knowing the question, we cannot really judge if it was an acceptable answer. It could well be just the writer's spin. We don't even know there WAS a question, really.

For that matter, we cannot even rule out the possibility of Obama being asked if racism explained his approval decline and saying no, following that with his statement which in that context would be perfectly reasonable. In which case the writer really did him a disservice.

 

[werepossum]

What seems to be missed is that Obama isn't giving a speech. This is selective quoting by the New Yorker who wrote a piece for their own purposes. As such no motivation can be attributed or implied. If "do you believe some whites disapprove of you because of race?" what should he have said? Again this isn't a report on a speech Obama gave but another thing entirely and whatever blame or merit belongs to the New Yorker.

Agreed. There are some contexts in which it is a perfectly reasonable statement. I took it as the New Yorker presented it, but that could well be fatally flawed.

 

[Texashiker]

So, again reiterating that you have precisely zero interest in engaging in real discussion and fostering any sort of logical debate?

Yes I will debate.

What was the question agian?

That is also how I took it, but ElFenix made an undeniable point that we do not know the question. Not knowing the question, we cannot really judge if it was an acceptable answer. It could well be just the writer's spin. We don't even know there WAS a question, really.

If the author asked obama a question about race, then yes I see his reply in context.

We have no way on knowing the exact conversation unless obama or the author makes it known. But then again, race is an issue that needs to be left alone.




My personal feelings on the issue, nothing good can come from a discussion on race. There are bad feelings on both sides of the line. Regardless of what is said someone is going to be offended.

Racial tensions are like a beast rearing its ugly head. Its a beast that is best left alone.

 

[WelshBloke]

My personal feelings on the issue, nothing good can come from a discussion on race.

That's interesting given you just started one.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

My life, I can make up my own rules.





You are splitting hairs.

As I also mentioned, did obama say some people like/dislike him because of the nsa? What about gitmo?

No he did not.

obama avoided his policies all together and played the race card.

The "only" reason why some people do not like obama is solely because of his race? His popularity does not have a single thing to do with his policies and lies does it?

Actually you have no idea whatsoever what was said or the context thereof. For that you'd need a complete unedited transcript. Present that and there's a basis for discussion.

 

[fskimospy]

That's interesting given you just started one.

It is also funny that he thinks discussions are so bad that people shouldn't even say things that are undeniably true because someone might feel bad.

The same people complain about political correctness.

 

[zinfamous]

Criticizing someone's reasoning on a forum is not bullying. I don't think you really know what bullying is.

remember, this is the guy that claims to have been bullied and tormented by the 3 decades-long memory of a high school teacher showing him a video of an abortion.

to be fair to Texas Hiker, he seems very sensitive about things

 

[Victorian Gray]

My personal feelings on the issue, nothing good can come from a discussion on race. There are bad feelings on both sides of the line. Regardless of what is said someone is going to be offended.

Racial tensions are like a beast rearing its ugly head. Its a beast that is best left alone.

Says the person who took a large club and whacked the beast on it's head with all the force they could muster.

You funny.

 

[WelshBloke]

The same people complain about political correctness.

That thought did occur to me.

 

[Victorian Gray]

True, it's a simple, factual statement that is undeniable. However, it is equally undeniable that President Obama's race has not changed between his approval being in the 70s and his approval being in the 30s. Ergo his race is immaterial as an explanation of his declining pole numbers. To the extent Obama made this statement as explaining the decline - if, indeed, that was even one facet of the conversation at that point - he was playing the race card. If on the other hand he was responding to a question about racial politics, it's a perfectly valid statement and the article's author has done him a disservice by making him appear to have played the race card.

As an example, let me posit hypothetically that I am a white man married to a black woman who recently threw me out of the house. If asked why and I respond that some black women do not like white men, that's a perfectly true statement, but if that allows me to not mention that I was screwing her sister it's also blatantly dishonest. President Obama did not suddenly change races. Americans did not suddenly start disliking black people. The drop in his approval rating is completely due to his policies and his behavior. To believe otherwise would be to accept that another acceptable explanation for the decline would be "Antarctica is cold", because that too is a simple, factual statement.

You are debating a different issue. The debate has centered around the OP misrepresenting what Obama said and building his argument on the false premise that he created with this misrepresentation.

OP claimed that Obama said that people didn't like him due to the fact that he's an African American while what he actually said was "some" people don't like him based on this fact (as well as the fact that he believes that the reverse is true for some other people). That is quite simply a statement of fact. Nothing more, nothing less.

I casually skimmed through the article paying particular attention to the paragraph the the misrepresented quote came from and I see nothing that indicates Obama is claiming his popularity in general has been affected by his being African American.

Now the author seems to be kind of implying that race is a bigger issue but that's on his head, not Obama's.

Now if I missed a statement by Obama that contradicts what I think I'm reading, please, anybody, show it to me and I'll rethink my position.

 

[CitizenKain]

My personal feelings on the issue, nothing good can come from a discussion on race. There are bad feelings on both sides of the line. Regardless of what is said someone is going to be offended.

Racial tensions are like a beast rearing its ugly head. Its a beast that is best left alone.

What you are saying is minorities should sit in the back of the bus and shut the fuck up then. Can't discuss racism in this country, that would upset racists.

 

[Darwin333]

How many times is obama going to blame racism for his failed policies? This time it is an article for the new yorker.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/01/27/140127fa_fact_remnick?currentPage=all

As per obamas own comments from the article,



There is no mention on people liking him because of what he did, or his qualifications.

According to the article, and his own words, people either like or dislike obama because he is black.

EDIT

Opening post edited to clarify my position on this issue.

That is not what he said. Frankly he was actually telling the truth this time, I see no issue whatsoever with what he said nor should any other sane and rational person who reads it objectively.

 

[werepossum]

You are debating a different issue. The debate has centered around the OP misrepresenting what Obama said and building his argument on the false premise that he created with this misrepresentation.

OP claimed that Obama said that people didn't like him due to the fact that he's an African American while what he actually said was "some" people don't like him based on this fact (as well as the fact that he believes that the reverse is true for some other people). That is quite simply a statement of fact. Nothing more, nothing less.

I casually skimmed through the article paying particular attention to the paragraph the the misrepresented quote came from and I see nothing that indicates Obama is claiming his popularity in general has been affected by his being African American.

Now the author seems to be kind of implying that race is a bigger issue but that's on his head, not Obama's.

Now if I missed a statement by Obama that contradicts what I think I'm reading, please, anybody, show it to me and I'll rethink my position.

This IS the OP's topic. The New Yorker put Obama's quote immediately after noting Obama's free fall in approval and specifically noting that Obama's fall is particularly sharp among older white people. There is no possible way to read that other than Obama using the race card to explain his pole drop. Now, ElFenix raised a good point that we don't know Obama was using the race card here; it is entirely possible that this is entirely the New Yorker's construct. But the OP's point was not misrepresenting Obama's words, he was responding to them as presented. A statement can be perfectly true and still be playing the race card if used dishonestly.

As another example, consider the young lady who sued for reverse racial discrimination over not getting into university. It's absolutely true to say that lower standards for blacks prevent marginally qualified non-blacks from being accepted when they would be accepted in a purely colorblind selection. She used this fact dishonestly because she would not necessarily have been accepted anyway. A statement can be perfectly true without being an honest answer to every possible question.