Race a Key component of tea party protests

[formerexpat]

www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/03/02/obama-says-race-a-key-component-in-tea-party-protests?PageNr=3

Or so says Obama:

In May 2010, he told guests at a private White House dinner that race was probably a key component in the rising opposition to his presidency from conservatives, especially right-wing activists in the anti-incumbent "Tea Party" movement that was then surging across the country. Many middle-class and working-class whites felt aggrieved and resentful that the federal government was helping other groups, including bankers, automakers, irresponsible people who had defaulted on their mortgages, and the poor, but wasn't helping them nearly enough, he said.

A guest suggested that when Tea Party activists said they wanted to "take back" their country, their real motivation was to stir up anger and anxiety at having a black president, and Obama didn't dispute the idea. He agreed that there was a "subterranean agenda" in the anti-Obama movement—a racially biased one—that was unfortunate. But he sadly conceded that there was little he could do about it.

If the rest of the Democrat base does not realize that for most of the people that identify with tea party ideals [largely Libertarian], their results in the 2012 and 14 elections will suffer greatly.

Perhaps these middle class citizens don't want the government to help anyone and be involved in every aspect of their lives rather than being upset that one segment of the population is **apparently** being helped over another.

It's a shame that you can't vehemently disagree with this man's policy ideals without being accused of being racist. Sounds like a McCarthy like accusation as a method to silence your opposition to me? I don't know, I wasn't alive during that time.

[ed1066]

This is actually kind of encouraging, because it confirms that Obama and his inner circle actually are as stupid as we think they are. Makes them easier to beat in 2012...

[handyman2]

I guess he never noticed that the tea party is not lilly white. He needs to attend some African American churches and listen to the ministers lambast him and some implying he is just short of un-american.

[Value Buy]

Formerexpat, I see the article is from May of last year.

I think the President received the correct answer in the fall elections loud and clear. He realizes he is in a battle for the hearts and minds of Americans, but he realizes that racism is not really what it is all about......

[formerexpat]

The comment may be from May - the article is from today and the book coming out soon discusses race and his presidency.

He hasn't been clued in to the desires of the American people since the start of his presidency and he and his aides / advisers / etc, continue to blame inherited problems on the problems with his time as President.

Are you sure he realizes that this past November wasn't about race? Are you sure that his rush to the middle is genuine rather than a political ploy designed for the next election so he can shove the rest of his agenda up our collective ass from 2013 through 2016 if re-elected?

Didn't he run as relatively moderate in 2008?

[ed1066]

As I said, two things here are encouraging; Obama still thinks it's about race, and he didn't learn anything from the 2010 elections. Both are good signs that he is OUT come November 2012...

[ameiko]

I wonder why it is that 95% of African Americans voted for Obama and yet it's the whites who are racist.

[workpublic]

I wonder why it is that 95% of African Americans voted for Obama and yet it's the whites who are racist.


leftist logic?

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

It is like trying to convince one's fiancee that "the wedding" is about two people coming together to start a family, and not about one person.

[Mkitty is pro kitty]

Methinks the ladies doth protest too much.

Formerexpat, I see the article is from May of last year.

How long does it take for you to get over something?

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Mar 3, 2011 21:01:56 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

It is like trying to convince one's fiancee that "the wedding" is about two people coming together to start a family, and not about one person.

...so postpone the wedding until they're convinced?

[Tennesseer]

Mar 3, 2011 20:56:22 GMT -5 workpublic said:

I wonder why it is that 95% of African Americans voted for Obama and yet it's the whites who are racist.


leftist logic?

92% of the African-American vote went to Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 national elections.

The African-American vote for presidential candidates has always gone to the democratic candidate. It has been around 90% (give or take a percentile point or two) for each election since 1968.