Michele Bachmann Says President Obama ‘Waving A Tar Baby In The Air’

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by Tommy Christopher | 

» 120 comments

In an interview with Florida conservative political website Shark Tank, former GOP Presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann deployed an unfortunate (and confusing) metaphor, saying ofPresident Obama’s recent remarks on oil speculation that “This is just about waiving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem.”

Aside from the offensive racial connotations, Bachmann doesn’t even seem to understand the “tar baby” metaphor.

There have been many politicians who have touched this metaphor and regretted it, including current presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney (and, yes, Democrats like Sen. John Kerry), and while the inherent racism of the term is the subject of some debate, enough people have expressed displeasure over its use to warrant retiring it.  John McWhorter argues that to the extent the term isa slur, it is an obscure one, but that claim holds less and less water after each well-publicized incidence of it.

The first time I heard the term was when I went to see Song of the South in its last-ever theatrical run, and I was too young to understand any of the not-so-subtle subtext. The next time I heard it was as an adolescent, after I moved to a white, working-class suburb. In those days, the racism was both casual (when there were no black people around) and creative. A white acquaintance once whispered in my ear, of a black kid whom I knew, but he didn’t, “How now, brown cow?”

So, “tar baby” was one of hundreds of racial slurs that I was exposed to growing up, and I never heard the term used as a metaphor until Bush White House Press Secretary the late Tony Snowused it in a briefing in 2006. Since then, it has caused several other media flaps, and while I don’t doubt that most of these were unintentional, aren’t there plenty of better metaphors that express the same thing? Depending on the situation, you could use Pandora’s Box, or quicksand, or a spider web. Hell, if you need a new metaphor for a sticky problem, how about “blue dress?”

What’s funny about Bachmann’s usage is that she seems to want to express the opposite of a tar baby. “This is just about waiving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem,” she said, adding “I have never seen a more irresponsible President who is infantile in the way that he continually blames everyone else for his failure to first diagnose the problem and second to address the problem.”

If the President is deflecting, shouldn’t it have been a Teflon™ Baby, or a Baby Starship With Shields Deployed? And why would you wave a tar baby in the air? It doesn’t make any sense.

It’s hard to tell what was going through her mind, but she prefaced her “tar baby” remark by saying that the President has proven his lack of knowledge about the economy “in spades.” Maybe there’s something subliminal going on here.

Ironically, Bachmann went on to make one of the few decent points I’ve heard from her, which is that, if oil speculators are such a big problem, why are we only dealing with this now? The President rightly blames Congress now, but this same problem was plaguing President Bush while Obama was running for president, right before he enjoyed a (brief) bulletproof majority in both Houses.

Here’s the clip, via Shark-Tank.net:

Blair Underwood rides a new "Streetcar"

 

by CBNews.com

(CBS News) In the 1951 film "A Streetcar Named Desire," Marlon Brando played Stanley Kowalski, the role he created on the Broadway stage four years earlier. Now, as Rita Braver tells us, a new "Streetcar" - and a new Stanley - have arrived on Broadway:

"I'm a firm believer in you just gotta go for it, and let the chips fall where they may," said Blair Underwood.

He has been going for it for more than a quarter of a century.

We first got to know him in 1987 as Jonathan Rollins, the brash young associate on the hit series "L.A. Law."

Since then he's had scores of roles in television and film, playing everything from doctors to patients, soldiers to thugs . . . and even a president.

But now he's taking on one of the most iconic roles in American theater: Stanley in the Tennessee Williams play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."


(Credit: CBS) "I'm nervous and I'm scared, therefore I'm more excited than I have ever been in a long time," Underwood said.

That was clear just walking outside the theater with him; it was clear when he proudly showed us around the set: "Welcome to our home - the home of Stella and Stanley, in the French Quarter in New Orleans."

Underwood (who keeps a photo of his friend and mentor, the actor Sydney Poitier in his dressing room) has long dreamed of playing Stanley.

"There's so much to mine and excavate," he said. "All the riches in these words."

And he's about to make theater history. It's the first multi-cultural production of "Streetcar" to run on Broadway. And along with the usual class distinctions, there's another stark contrast here between Stanley and the two main female characters - his wife, Stella and her Sister, Blanche du Bois, the faded southern vamp.

Wood Harris (Mitch), Nicole Ari Parker (Blanche DuBois), Blair Underwood (Stanley) and Daphne Rubin-Vega (Stella) in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire."
(Credit: streetcaronbroadway.com) "So you have that aesthetic on the stage, these two light-complected women, this one married this dark-complected man, Stanley. And there's a sense of looking down on this man just based on that, purely based on that."

Underwood says that doesn't excuse, but helps explain Stanley's violent side.

When asked whether it was more fun for him to play a good guy or a bad guy, Under wood said, "Oh, a bad guy's always better to play! Bad guy's always better!" he laughed.

But Blair was a good guy growing up, so beloved in Petersburg, Va., where he went to high school that a whole busload of fans came to wish him well on the play, including his father, a retired Army colonel.

"We were raised to carry ourselves with that understanding that when you walk out this door, you represent your family name, you represent the United States Army, you represent your country," Blair said.

Underwood said he was four or five when he realized he wanted to be an actor: "It seemed like such a cool thing to do, that they would actually pay you to be on TV, they would pay you to be in the movies," he said. "Everybody I knew wanted to be on TV, so I figured if they paid me, that's what I gotta do."

Alzheimer's Disease: Music Brings Patients 'Back to Life'

Michael Rossato-Bennett

By KATIE MOISSE

Henry Dryer sits slumped over the tray attached to his wheelchair. He doesn't speak, and rarely moves, until a nursing home worker puts his headphones on.
Then Dryer's feet start to shuffle, his folded arms rock back and forth, and he sings out loud in perfect sync with his favorite songs.
"I feel a band of love, dreams," said Dryer, 92, who has dementia. "It gives me the feeling of love, romance!"
Henry is one of seven patients profiled in the documentary "Alive Inside," a heartwarming look at the power of music to help those in nursing homes.
"There are a million and a half people in nursing homes in this country," director Michael Rossato-Bennett told ABC News. "When I saw what happened to Henry, whenever you see a human being awaken like that, it touches something deep inside you."
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting 5.4 million Americans. The disease swiftly robs patients of their memories and other brain functions, forcing most to live out their final years in nursing homes.
Rossato-Bennett said he took on the documentary project to promote Music & Memory, a nonprofit organization that brings iPods with personalized music to dementia patients in nursing home care.
"When I end up in a nursing home, I'll want to have my music with me," said Dan Cohen, executive director of Music & Memory. "There aren't many things in nursing homes that are personally meaningful activities. Here's the one easy thing that has a significant impact."
Cohen said the personalized playlists, chosen by loved ones, make patients light up.
"They're more alert, more attentive, more cooperative, more engaged," he said. "Even if they can't recognize loved ones and they've stopped speaking, they hear music and they come alive."
Seizures landed Dryer in a nursing home 10 years ago. But he's always loved music, according to his daughter, Cheryl.
"He was always into music; always loved singing, dancing," she said. "He used to walk us down the street me and my brother and he would stop and do singing in the rain. He would have us jumping and swinging around poles."
Dryer's favorites: Cab Calloway; and Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home for Christmas," which he sings in a soulful voice.
Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and author interviewed in the film, said music can have a powerful effect on people with dementia.
"We first see Henry inert, maybe depressed, unresponsive and almost unalive," said Sacks, whose account of music therapy in treating Parkinson's disease inspired the book and film "Awakenings." "Then he is given an iPod containing his favorite music. ... And immediately he lights up."
Geri Hall, a clinical nurse specialist at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix, said music activates a part of the brain that stays active despite dementia.
"There's something about music that cuts through right up until the very end of the disease," she said, adding that familiar music from the past can help people with dementia feel at home. "It calms them, it increases socialization, and it decreases the need for mood controlling medications."
But an iPod for every nursing home resident is no easy feat.
"That's a lot of money when you're talking about 200 people in a long term care center," she said.
Cohen's charity accepts new and used iPods and distributes them to nursing homes. He hopes "Alive Inside" inspires more people to think of music as a simple start for improving care for dementia patients.
"It's hard to see people idle," he said. "But we're all heading there, and I want to help create an environment that, when we get to a nursing home, feels like home."
"Alive Inside" premieres Wednesday April 18 at the Rubin Museum in New York City.

Why Won’t the Obama Campaign Hire Black People?

Charles Ellison

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2 days ago | Also Featured in Insider

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“What’s wrong with this photo?”

Quite a few folks are asking that question, among them Daily Beast writer Mansfield Frazier who bluntly describes it in a recent title as a “Young Republican Rally” (ouch):

Our first sitting president of color is so afraid of being labeled “president of the blacks” by his enemies that he goes in the other direction and earns a reputation for stiff-arming citizens of color.

In terms of the basic optics, that’s a good, first assumption to reach.  The President does leave himself open to some harsh criticism about that, and the photo is no justice to his bi-racial, bi-partisan, Beer Summit cause.

But, it’s a very lazy analysis, a missed opportunity to get into some harsh realities about people of color and their economic realities that many Whites, namely Frazier and others like him, don’t want to think about at the moment.  Just like they don’t want to think or talk about the Trayvon Martin case.

The photo is significant on a number of levels, but not from the perspective of political opponents looking to dent Obama’s organizational armor.  Republicans might be the first to cry foul about it as a way to shift criticism away from the fact that, to date, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney has no Black people on his staff – so, they’ll say it’s (ironically) the pot calling the kettle black.  Haha.

True: it’s problematic on first glance because the optics are troubling for the “first Black president” as his campaign may come off as looking less diverse than assumed or desired. And it is true that Obama’s inner circle of advisers suffers from an overwhelming presence of White male political junkies like David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina.  These guys are as White as they come. And, as many unemployed Black folks as there are out here, it would be nice to hire a few, right?

But, the trained political third eye will see a bit more into that. Campaign gigs, especially big national campaign gigs, require a level of commitment and intestinal fortitude that is unbelievably grueling for the novice.  Campaigns jobs are not really jobs.  They are lifestyles.  Watch movies like Primary Colors and Ides of March to get a sense of that. The same goes with any political job – state, local or federal.

It’s a lifestyle that, frankly, will comport more with a middle class White college grad who has greater socio-economic flexibility to immerse him/her self in a low-paying, internship-level, grunt-work style job.  Because they have the privilege of good credit, well-to-do parents, some savings and a world of no institutionalized racism whatsoever to deal with.  Most Black folks, even college grads, don’t have that kind of flexibility and cannot begin to imagine the financial sacrifice that comes along with it.  In summation: Being Black is already sacrificing every day.

Here, you have a situation of conflicting economic realities coming to a head.  Frazier won’t talk about the 15% Black unemployment rate (which is really near 30% unofficially) and the poverty that ravages the community.  That could be a culprit to Black hiring – who’s lining up for this type of gig.  Few that are Black and unemployed are looking to “volunteer” for a national campaign; few that were a part of the Black middle class (before a quarter of it evaporated during the recession) are looking for a restart in an entry-level campaign position.

On top of that is what most observers agree is a very low fundraising election cycle for the Obama campaign compared to 2008.  Republicans keep blabbering on about this $1 billion Obama war chest – but, where is it when the President only managed to raise $45 million in February rather than the $57 million he raised at the same time in 2008?  You now have a situation where, to date, the Obama campaign is burning a massive amount of money on primarily staffing, to the point where Obama ’12 staffers are among the lowest paid.

Not to mention the instability of a campaign job that is only for a year or less.  Most Black workers want stability. And some guarantee that a campaign job will translate into a full-time administration gig.  There’s no guarantee on that.  Some – contrary to bigoted public opinion – have families and are taking care of them. Some are looking to start families. And, there is that work-life balance Zen we all want. The job description, once you look a bit deeper into it, is not all that attractive.

One argument you can make is that African American political leaders and organizations, while stressing voter registration drives and hoodie protests, should also do a much better job of encouraging young Black adults to take on political campaign work.  It’s the first stage into becoming a true political insider, strategist, consultant and adviser.  Becoming a political insider is the real talk of politics – it’s one major path to true political power and control in the 21^st century.  And, all too often, our community is missing out on a major multi-billion dollar business called politics. This photograph is a good reason to think about that.

Secret Service Says They Are Investigating Ted Nugent’s Remarks Towards Obama

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by Noah Rothman | 

» 119 comments

According to a report on Think Progress, rockerTed Nugent is in the Secret Service’s crosshairs after making comments about President Barack Obama and members of the Democratic party up for election in 2012.

Via Think Progress:

Ted Nugent’s remarks about President Obama at the annual National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis have earned him a follow-up conversation with the Secret Service. On Sunday, the singer remarked that “if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” The Secret Service, which investigates all threats against the President, confirmed to New York Magazine’s Daily Intel blog that they have in fact flagged Nugent’s comment. “We are aware of it, and we’ll conduct an appropriate follow up,” the agent told the magazine. Nugent endorsed Mitt Romney — albeit reluctantly — via Twitter last month, and at least one Romney, middle son Tagg, was excited about the news.

Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher recently asked why President Obama and many prominent members of his reelection team had to defend or disavow comments made by a Democratic strategist, Hilary Rosen, who has only loose ties to the Obama White House but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who actively sought Nugent’s endorsement, has not yet been asked to respond to the rock star’s remarks.

RELATED: Ted Nugent: Obama ‘Vile’ And ‘Evil,’ Voters Should ‘Chop [Democrat's] Heads Off In November.’

With the Secret Service’s entry into the scandal, it is unlikely that Romney will escape the gravity of this snowballing controversy without having to comment on it. Romney will be asked to repudiate the endorsement, but given the former Massachusetts governor only recently secured the Republican presidential nomination and still faces residual resentment from within his party’s base, it will be politically challenging for Romney to throw Nugent under the bus.

Watch the offending remarks below via Right Wing Watch:

Obama at Harvard in 1990: 'For a lot of kids, the doors that have been opened to me aren't open to them'

By theGrio 3:05 PM on 04/11/2012

READ MORE: Barack Obama, Harvard Law, Harvard Law Review, Obama Law School, Obama Speech

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Barack Obama at Harvard in 1990

His election as the 44th president of the United States certainly wasn't the first time Barack Obama had broken down racial barriers. In 1990, Obama became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in its 103-year history. Buzz Feed has unearthed a short video clip of Obama commenting on his historic election more than 20 years ago.

"I think it's real important to keep the focus on the broader world out there," Obama said then of his election victory. "For a lot of kids, the doors that have been opened to me aren't open to them."

WATCH PRES. OBAMA SPEAK ON HIS ELECTION TO THE HARVARD LAW REVIEW BELOW (1990):