GETTING OBAMA

by Malik Isasis























The corporate media had delicately set presidential candidate Barack Obama on a pedestal. He was not Jesse Jackson. He was not Al Sharpton. He was not Shirley Chisom, nor Carol Moseley Braun. While Jackson and Sharpton had a generation of media propaganda to discredit their message and treat them as national jokes, Obama transcended what the media saw as “civil rights” baggage. Moseley Braun and Chisom had an additional anvil aside from their African heritage, they were women, so instead of humiliation, they would be completely ignored by the media, but not Barack Obama. He rose to become a media superstar.

The corporate media wouldn’t dare knock Obama off his pedestal with tricks of old like with Jackson and Sharpton, maybe that isn’t true—the gimps in the basement like Rush Limbaugh frequently race-bait their obtuse listeners into a lather (listen here). It is a two-prong campaign. The Republicans and Democrats and their operatives in the corporate media attack Obama obliquely with such adjectives as “inexperience” or “naïve.”

Question.

Where was all this healthy skepticism during the presidential run of the current occupier of the White House?

The inexperienced and naïve narrative is code for both parties--Republicans and Democrats. It is a great substitute for sinking Obama without revealing the racism. But it’s racism, which drives this narrative. It appears more sophisticated on the surface, not really, but for the sake of argument; it makes those white political operatives feel good as they sell this shit to the American people. We need an experience person in a time of war they say, because as Obama said, it was experience that got us into the occupation. It's a ruse.

Although the corporate media isn’t that kind to Obama’s colleague, Hillary Clinton, they the corporate and political establishment have apparently crowned her winner.

True Colors

A dear friend of mine (who’s Caucasian) stated that he wouldn’t support Obama if he were to win the Democratic nomination.

“Why’s that?” I asked.
“’Cause he’s Muslim.” He answered.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yeah I’m serious.” He answered.
“Really?” I checked again. He could’ve been joking.
“I’m not voting for any Muslims to run America.” He said.
“Obama’s not Muslim though.” I said.
“I’m still not voting for him.” He said.

I would like to throw my friend through a window over this, but luckily we have nearly a 20-year relationship, and I know that he is a good man. But this is the problem isn’t it? When good people do nothing. When good people make decisions out of fear and are possessed by dormant racism and prejudices.

Fox News campaign of referring to Barack Obama as a Muslim and attending a Madrassa (means school in Arabic) in Indonesia as a child has apparently worked.

This gets at the heart of white supremacy doesn't it? The idea that someone who shares characteristics of a perceived enemy will be incahoots with that enemy. Of course this only refers to people of color.


Watching Tucker


Last month, over many months as I watched MSNBC, I noticed one of its worthless hosts, Tucker Carlson, becoming increasingly disparaging about Obama. The comments usually seemed out of context and grounded only in ideology. So, for most of August, starting August 1, 2007 I began tracking Carlson’s obsessive coverage of Obama. Below are quotes taken from his show Tucker from the periods of August 1 – August 23, 2007. I used MSNBC’s transcripts to back up these quotes.

In every show through August 1 – August 23, Barack Obama was mentioned in a negative light following the guidelines of the “inexperienced” narrative mentioned earlier. Tucker, and his guest provided very little to no context for their disparaging remarks. The only other Democrat to receive such negative coverage was Hillary Clinton.

The corporate media and its political operatives are looking to kill Obama’s bid for the presidency with a thousand paper cuts without having to overtly use racist propaganda. As for sexist propaganda, the corporate media seems to openly despise the idea of a woman as president, even if she's a corporatist.

Wednesday (August 1)
TUCKER CARLSON, MSNBC HOST: Welcome to the show. Like the kid who has had sand kicked in his face one to many times, Barack Obama announced to the world he is no weakling when it comes to foreign policy. Obama laid out his vision for a new and more effective war on terror during a speech this morning in Washington.

Thursday
(August 4)
CARLSON: That looked like Barack Obama and as of yesterday, it sounded like him too. Obama gave one of the most remarkable speeches of the 2008 campaign so far yesterday, in which the former peace candidate advocated sending troops into the sovereign nation of Pakistan. Pakistan wasn‘t impressed, they said today. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton though didn‘t object to Obama‘s unilateral military strategy, but fellow candidate Chris Dodd did, and the “Quad City Times” newspaper in Iowa reported that local Democrats weren‘t impressed by Obama‘s bellicose turn either.

Friday
(August 3)
CARLSON: Will the 2008 election has its first hot rivally like Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier, the Hatfield‘s and the McCoy‘s, the Yankees and the Red Sox, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. The battle of can-you-top-this continues between senators Hillary are Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Did Obama reveal his inexperience and indecisiveness by saying he would never use nuclear weapons and then backtracking from that statement. Is Clinton making a tactical error by playing ball with Obama and making hem appear to be her equal, or is she just hitting back like all candidates do?

Monday
(August 6)
CARLSON: You mentioned a minute ago, Michael, the kind of musty retro odor that accompanies former Mayor Ed Koch wherever he goes. Big labor—it just seems to me that there really isn‘t a group that is less about the future than big labor. I was at a restaurant in Washington last week, eating dinner outside, and Barack Obama was eating inside with these very famous labor leaders, including some who are often on this network.

Tuesday
(August 7)
CARLSON: Amen. Bill Press, an honest man. Thank you.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama used to get along, but that was many days ago, before Obama decided to run for president. Who is giving who the cold should? I think you know.

Plus, the stands are filling up at Soldier Field in Chicago, not to see the Bears play. It‘s union workers filling the stands. They‘re there to see the Democratic candidates square off in about 33 minutes. We‘ll get a preview.

This is MSNBC, the place for politics.

Wednesday
(August 8)
CARLSON: Barack Obama made the point last night that he would like to pull troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan, in that region to fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But does that mean he not want to fight al-Qaeda any longer in Iraq? I‘m confused and if so, why would he want to fight them in Afghanistan and not in Iraq?

Thursday
(August 9)
CARLSON: …Meanwhile, critics accused Barack Obama of sucking up to the very special interest he claims to be running against. And worse, doing it secretly. Are they right to be outrage or is business as usual not so bad, at least in this case?


Friday
(August 10)
CARLSON: Well, for a group obstensively gay friendly, the leading Democrats , Clinton, Obama, and Edwards seem profoundly conflicted over the one issue that mattered most, gay marriage. Why is that?

Monday
(August 13) Guest Host: Pat Buchanan
BUCHANAN: Top Daschle is going to work for Barack Obama. Are you surprise by that? Is that any kind of negative—is that a slur on Hillary Rodham Clinton? He never served with Obama and he served in the Senate with Hillary Clinton. What does that say?

Tuesday
(August 14) Guest Host: Pat Buchanan
BUCHANAN: Maybe they‘ll get him back.

OK, Barack Obama becomes the first politician to grace the cover of “G.Q.” in 15 years. “G.Q.” obviously recognizes Obama‘s charm, good looks and star power. But could these same qualities end up hurting his campaign?

Wednesday
(August 15) Guest Host: David Shuster
MCMAHON (Democratic Strategist): I don‘t know, but it certainly has that effect. I mean, any time you‘re running for president and you‘re fighting with the president, it elevates you. It doesn‘t elevate the White House. And so, you know, poor Barack Obama is sitting there saying, hey, what about me? What about me? And Hillary Clinton is in a back-and-forth with the White House and with Karl Rove. It couldn‘t be better for her.

Thursday
(August 16) Guest Host: David Shuster
SHUSTER: What do you make of this battle between Hillary and—now for Phil Singer to take it an extra step. Never mind it‘s a battle between Rove and Hillary. Now they are twisting it, and putting it on the Obama campaign, or at least saying it sounds like Barack Obama. That seems to go.

Friday
(August 17) Guest Host: David Shuster
SHUSTER: It does seem like we‘re starting to see a blueprint for how the Obama campaign is going to campaign this fall and that is this idea of change, that Hillary Clinton, the special interest with the Clintons, that‘s part of the same old Washington crowd. And that if you really want to break away from that, you have to go to somebody like Barack Obama. But Ken, will it work?

Monday
(August 20)
CARLSON: How much experience do you need to be president of the United States? It‘s a question Barack Obama has thought quite a bit about, of course. He says change is more important than experience. Will voters buy that?

Tuesday
(August 21)
CARLSON:…Plus, Barack Obama says you don‘t need experience to become president of the United States, it‘s all about change. Or is it? What is his position?

Wednesday
(August 22)
CARLSON: Michelle Obama appears to have taken a potshot at her husband‘s chief rival, Hillary Clinton. But did she really do that? Are we just imagining it here in the fervent press corps?

Thursday
(August 23)
CARLSON: So, Peter, just answer this question for me really quickly if you would.

Barack Obama said today—it was reported in a David Ignatius column in “The Washington Post”—that he would like to withdraw troops, but it‘s going to take at least a year under his vision of it, maybe longer, and troops will remain in Iraq to fight al Qaeda, among many other things. We‘re still going to have troops in there if Barack Obama is elected president.

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