Here It Comes...

Didn't plenty of us suspect that we'd soon be hearing cries of "racism!" when voters overwhelmingly reject the performance of the Obama administration and the policies he's chosen to push?

Not like to talk about it? Heck, in the days to come, I suspect this will be a bread-and-butter meme for publications like Mr. Rosenthal's, who have papers to sell and no substantive or expert analysis by their diverse staff of pundits to offer us instead.

Despite the black skin, perhaps because of it, Barack Obama got elected as President of the United States... Funny how that could have happened in a country of bigots and racists, eh?

Why oh why must the liberal white elite turn the current rejection of the man's policies -- not his family, not him personally, not his race -- into cries of racism? For the same reason they insist the corn in Iowa is green. They simply know better.

If it makes you sleep easier at night thinking your fellow countrymen (and women, for those who don't see us already included in that non-pc term) are bigots voting out of fear or nonsensical hate, go for it.

But one day, we'll have to have that honest conversation: Will black Americans ever be measured solely on performance-neutral grounds and not through the prism of race, or because of the slavery legacy -- even for those who immigrated well after it was illegal -- will their skin color always afford them special exceptions, affirmations, and a way of viewing ... everything based on who they are as creatures of color?

Will we ever have a critical mass of black scientists, engineers and mathematicians again? Or will they drop out and gravitate to the "black studies" of such race-neutral fields? Will there ever again be strong independent black communities in America, with their own businessmen and professional class serving them? Or will the legacy of special asides, forced integration, and viewing all blacks (not just African-Americans) as somehow ... different be the long-lasting legacy bestowed by well-meaning liberals who simply can't see that sometimes, a man is just a man. (Which can be a very good thing, in a freeing way, dumping that racial baggage -- not having to "represent".)

And a junior senator with no executive leadership experience, despite his color and personal appeal, simply might not be up to the job of running a complex country, and an economy, in troubled times. Simply no time for "learning on the job" how things really work. Or don't.

That's not racism.
That's realism.

And I hate to see where aging liberals like Mr. Rosenthal (he for real this time) will drag the country once they see that their paternalistic ways of thinking are indeed in the minority, and the rest of us want results over identity politicking, no matter our race, class or ethnicity. They can't turn the clock that far ahead it seems, saddled with the baggage they were raised with. Sad really.

Time for a new generation to step it up, it seems... and reject all this race-based nonsense that skews the game, tilts the board, and helps mediocrities artificially flourish. (and if you read that as thinking that no racial minorities can compete honestly without the liberal elite paternalistic ways, shame on you for having such low standards.)

------------------------------

ADDED:

as Mary C. Curtis put it on the Washington Post’s new blog She the People: “Can you imagine how the incident would play out if an African American congressman made a crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush’s body? It certainly would have taken more than an insincere apology to wash that sin away.”

It was crude, surely. But then again, I don't remember Laura Bush wiggling her tushie to an "I Carly" episode on Nickelodeon*. Ah, those were the days!

* In an honest effort to ... help the kids see how to lose weight, I guess. (???)


FINALLY:

Is Mr. Romney playing the same chords when he talks about how Mr. Obama wants to create an “entitlement society?” The president has said nothing of the sort, and the accusation seems of a piece with the old Republican saw that blacks collect the greatest share of welfare dollars.

Ask yourself: do you really think that if a popular white president had rammed through such a healthcare bill, that the American public would be accepting? If you think that, boy oh boy are you out of touch with the rest of us.

I think it's safe to say, most of us alarmed at the entitlement spending are concerned with dependence. Remove the stigma from food stamp programs, the idea that there's something very, very, wrong -- long-term -- with having to rely on government help to feed your family, and you'll see more and more that are on now will not be getting off the public dole any time soon.

Ditto the idea of public-funded, out-of-wedlock births.

Black, white, brown, yellow, pink or purple -- this is not healthy for society. It's a shame really. And those numbers have simply taken off in our tougher economic times. Entitlement is not about black people -- plenty of whites, bi-racials, ethnics and WASPS might find it easier -- in the short term -- to surrender some of their privacies, pride and freedom and accept the easy dollars. Whether for food programs, mortgage bailouts, student loan reimbursements or whatever.

But everytime the government gives, they also take. If you need them to live, they're taking something from you too. I guarantee Mr. Rosenthal 100% that racism is not behind America's rejection of this proposed healthcare overhaul where "everyone is equal, premiums for the sick users are the same as healthy" with no distinctions made for those with expensive pre-existing conditions vs. those who have been blessed, and worked for, good health.

If we start trying to "equalize" the end games there, I tell you what: I want to drive a better car. I deserve it. Somebody else has a better body ride than me, so please: take from them, and up my portion. Make it all more ... artificially "fair" please. Why should he, or she, have better health rides than other Americans, and why should how much we can pay determine what we end up with??

Ditto with talent. Why should those who have studied, and been blessed since birth, with strong verbal aptitude be placed in the same league as those writers who are still struggling (a beautiful struggle, at that ;-) to remember when to use you're and when to use your? We see it -- you can try to artificially empower it, but the distinctions obviously remain. Who exactly is helped by all this ... pretending?

(slippery slope ... and again, it has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how the game is played, and the rules governing what we can and can't do with our individual choices, regardless of how other members of society are faring... Get it yet? The results are what they are -- we can keep pretending, for the sake of liberals like Rosenthal, that there's an easy fix to all this: dump enough money into HeadStart and dietary education info to replace the favored home conditions some babies are simply blessed with at birth, and better breeding (yep I said it: physically, some women are ready to be moms, and have better physical conditions to pass on, since so much of our physical makeup is indeed genetic. How about ... if nature tells an obese woman she cannot successfully conceive, and that her child(ren) are likely to share her poor health, we don't override that with medical miracles and state-sponsored dependence help -- ie/WIC food, and childbirth expenses paid for. Parenthood is a privilege, not a right. And sometimes, Nature wisely says ... No. Or, No More. Maybe we should all be listening, instead of thinking we know better who to breed, especially when the offspring immediately fall on the public dole for survival. Black or white, this is not the sign of a healthy society, Mr. Rosenthal. Don't you understand that, sir?)