Thirty Years Ago

Do you think that Reagan, if he were alive and well today (granted, he would have been deep into his nineties, so it would have been a longshot anyway) would look over what his party has become, step to the microphones and say that the people running the party right now were total morons, and that the Islamophobia was not helping, and that the Latinophobia would doom them to the political boonies for a generation or more?

Me neither.

@chicago bureau: He’d hem and haw and do whatever it took to win … it’s what the GOP does. Demonize … whatever. They will shit on anything ….

@chicago bureau: “Mister Mayor, TEAR DOWN THIS MOSQUE.”

We are talking about Preznit Evil Empire, after all.

General question: How does Obama identify? Does he identify as black, white, or biracial? Does anyone think we should respect his choice of racial identity instead of always calling him a black man or the first black president, that is, if he identifies as something other than black? We’re falling into One-Drop Rule World if we keep calling him black, and we’re not seeing the whole picture.

@JNOV: He put down “Black” on the 2010 census, and eschewed the multiracial option on the check list.

Parse that as you will.

What? There’s no ‘Happy Mongrel’ box to check on the Census?

@JNOV: Not to be glib, but I think he identifies as “American”. Or, if he’s in a light-hearted mood, he’s on record calling himself “mongrel”. (Which happens to be how I describe myself.)

It’s even more complicated than usual, what with him growing up in Hawaii, which has a much different take on these things. And, you’ll recall, he had to work some to be accepted by the Black Establishment, which didn’t trust his — shit, there’s no delicate way to put this — his non-slavery roots. Even the Nice USDA Lady brought that up after she was smeared and fired.

However he self-identifies, and however much we might like to respect his decision, you know much more than I that he still has to Deal With It. I don’t see Bush ever worrying about being pulled over for DWB.

@SanFranLefty: Or … How about not parsing it because it’s a deeply personal decision that most of us here couldn’t begin to understand?

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: I agree that it’s deeply personal, and that’s why I asked how he self-identifies — for me, it’s a matter of respect, but we all deal with labels of some sort. And I’m not just talking about racial or ethnic labels, either.

I’ve got a comment about as long as my arm written in my head, but I’ve got to to other stuff right now. I hope to revisit this thread later and continue the discussion.

@JNOV:
good morning darling…i too have a very long thought to post. for now, i’ll leave it at: TOLERANCE. i would make it a mandatory class from pre-K on up.

@baked: Good morning, Starshine. The Earth says, “Hello!”

And then we can spin off the discussion into the difference between tolerance and acceptance or between tolerance and respect. Semantics! Woot!

Okay, going underground (hopefully) for a little while.

@JNOV:
a great discussion to have in manayunk, right before we start a bar brawl……MWAH!

are you skype available? so i can babble at you and stop bothering these nice people?

@baked: [So much for going underground… ;-)]

I’ll Skype you right now. Just know that my firewall hates Skype and boots me from time to time as other computers try to access mine.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: I don’t give a shit what the man checks off or doesn’t, but I seem to recall that at the time it set off another mini-round of head asplosions that it was more proof that the Kenyan Mooslem hates white people because he didn’t self-identify as biracial.

@JNOV: I know you know, love. You don’t ever have to explain to me. *holds hand out for multiracial fist bump*