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Obama, Trump and the Great Unravelling

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Submitted by Pachamama

 

President (elect) Trump (l) and President Obama (r)
President (elect) Trump (l) and President Obama (r)

Dr. Anthony Monteiro has recently delivery a magisterial analysis of our current circumstances, the way forward. He has concluded that we are in the 5th major crisis of capitalism; sees the generalized failure of the capitalist elites; believes there is no way to prevent a total, systemic, collapse; sees these global crisis as beyond fascism, beyond neo-fascism, in severity. However, he thinks that broad, grass root political formations may have a chance of charting a new way for what ‘future’ there could be. That analysis starts about 15 minutes in.

http://prn.fm/black-agenda-radio-01-16-17/

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324 responses to “Obama, Trump and the Great Unravelling”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    The following article was submitted to share with the BU family:-

    This article titled “The Death of Post-Racial America” by Ibram X. Kendi, PhD captures very well Barack Obama’s tenure related to race in America. It is well worth the read and debate.>>>

    In the racial portion of his farewell address to the nation, President Obama wisely led off with the topic — the historic idea — that shadowed his historic presidency.

    "After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America," he said Tuesday. "Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic."

    Indeed, the post-racial idea, always a pernicious fiction, trailed Obama into the White House, and now, it is trailing him out of the White House. Just as the election of Obama birthed the post-racial idea, the election of Donald Trump has seemingly put the same ailing idea on life support.

    For a moment there in 2008, the fact that America had chosen its first black President eclipsed everything. It literally eclipsed reality.

    But Obama’s election did not suddenly alleviate the disproportionate amount of black poverty, or the disproportionate number of black people in prisons and schools and neighborhoods and jobs that racist policies and ideas transformed into virtual prisons.

    Read full article

  2. nineofnine Avatar
    nineofnine

    Obama should have address the Constitution as it relates or rather eliminated the blacks.

  3. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    @ David7;46PM

    I do not recall Obama’s election program promising changes in the distribution of poverty along racial lines or changes in the ethnic ratio of the prison population. These would have been undeliverables . I have no doubt that they would have been desirable but almost impossible to deliver from his political position in the system of governance in the USA. Any reasonable man who expected these would have had to be dumber than dumb.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Bernard

    What was the thesis of Obama’s book Audacity of Hope?

  5. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    @! David at 8:38 PM

    You are shifting the goal post. His book was not his campaign manifesto. The book is his autobiography. What did he promise the American electorate,black, white and Latinos?

  6. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/apprentice-contestant-sues-president-elect-trump-defamation-article-1.2948571

    Hahaha…such good news 3 days before inauguration.

  7. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    The feminist brigades have a one-note strategy against men: Accuse them of sexual assault. Make it up if you have to.

    Trump will crush these insects like the cockroaches they are.

  8. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Many weeks ago we estimated that Obama would pardon Bradley Manning.

    He calls himself Chelsea Manning but we can’t, and will not.

    Obama, the ‘man’ who brought more criminal charges against more whistle-blowers than all other presidents combined, now commutes this ‘person’.

    The only difference between them is that this Manning is a whistle-blower-buller, as is Obama.

    Dey say that even Michelle is a ‘tranny’. We remain unsure.

    More fundamentally we have over 80 political prisoners, including Leonard Peltier who have been rotten in Obama dungeons for 50,60 years, maybe more, but this SOB could not see it fit or proper to free them but a buller like Manning after 3 to 5 years could be commuted.

    At least under Trump the bullers will be out of power. And that’s a good thing. A very good thing.

  9. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Bernard Codrington,
    Anybody with an inkling of how the American political industrial complex works, would not have expected Obama to be more than just an American president. You are very correct when you state that Obama did not run on any platform of radical change and therefore he cannot be blamed for failing to address issues that others thought he was supposed to advance.
    Obama made history by becoming the first African American president. This achievement will continue to have a very positive impact on Black Americans because many of them/us never thought it possible. Obama’s legacy will be for a large par,t more profound outside of the narrow confines of politics.
    To this day there are many who cannot understand that Sir Garry Sobers’ achievements went beyond cricket and they would also have difficulty understanding that Usain Bolt’s incredible success on the track goes beyond just athletics.
    Sometimes in a haste to put others in some box , usually by spurious intellectual argument, we end up missing the big picture !

  10. Anonymouse - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymouse – TheGazer

    @Pachamama 12:23
    Pure BS.
    A few names wrapped in BS

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Of course Obama ran a platform of change.

    Whether it was to build a new economy. Change the world through a different foreign policy. Remove gridlock from Washington. Building a more just society etc.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Interesting article how Obama’s Hope and Change message got derailed.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/22/barack-obama-hope-change-ferguson

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Commuting Manning’s sentence is part of a deal for Assange or based on humane grounds given he was on suicide watch and the prison environs struggle with his/her transgender state you think?

  14. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Chadster….then he will crush you, when he starts waxing hot and cold…lol

  15. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/donald-trump-us-dolllar-comment-buck-too-strong-two-month-low-japan-yen-president-elect-a7532616.html

    Can Trump be a bigger idiot…to plunge his own dollar during a transition of power.

  16. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    You are quite right

    Others would like to conveniently forget all the glowing promises made. Normalize Obama, after certain agendas have been delivered. Forget change.

    The only change was bringing bulling to the White House, as official policy.

    Now, let them reap the world wind!

    And his hasty retreats from ‘change’. At least Trump still texting.

    Had it not for Obama, as the eminent professor has agreed, there could not be a Trump.

    In some ways we would have preferred never to have Obama, never to have Clinton.

    For now the scab has been removed from the stinking sore of American society for all the world to see the festering, age old, rot.

    Some other professors at Cave Hill posited that Obama would have been some transformational figure. That the world would change dramatically for the good. When we were warning them that Obama was merely a stinking professional politician, not to be trusted.

    Now, he can’t wait to start ‘thieffing’, receiving, the billions promised by the ‘banksters’ and the ‘buller’ boys.

  17. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Lawson…one gospel singer had to pull out of the Trump inauguration because if she did not, her fan base would stop buying from her and at her age….singing in her birthday suit…would not be an option..lol

    http://ow.ly/1bWp3087ffn

  18. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    “For now the scab has been removed from the stinking sore”.

    Pacha…thatb s what was needed, remember all the lies, pretense, the facade, deceiving the world for 240 years, it all had to be peeled back, so everyone would see the nastiness for the next 4 years. …the real America…in their faces every day, least they forget..again

    You do not understand the magnitude of nastiness unless you have lived in the US AND reached that level of consciousness. …after Hurricane Katrina, people got a glimpse, but quickly forgot.

    Ya dont have to give Trump the acceptance, validation, energy and power he so desperately seeks to remain relevant, but looking at the bigger picture….he is a necessary evil, so wish him the best of the worse….because he cannot and will not try to contain himself…neither him, nor his swamp.

  19. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David at 6:43 AM ,,,Eveything you said about the reasons to commute Bradley/Chelsea Manning is likely accurate. But two other important factoids: Manning’s prison sentence was the longest for any similar case in the Obama period, acc. to the press. So why leave him in his confused state in a jail system not desirous of handling his issues, as you noted.

    And the private had the case COMMUTED only. He was not pardoned. A big difference.

    @Skinner, very well stated re “…usually by spurious intellectual argument, we end up missing the big picture !”.

    We should blame social media really for the intellectual spittle that sprays. The more access to people views the more spittle is available!

    To your point the ascension of Barack Obama and before him Nelson Mandela to the SA Presidency was transformative way beyond the confines of politics. For people of my parents’ generation those seminal moments were a refreshing, never expected breath of air as they went to their final homes.

    And for all the grandchildren and great grands ‘loined’ from my parents’ generation it sets a definitive and refreshing tone of the great successes that CAN be achieved in this ‘racist’ world.

    “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” President Obama said. “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.”

    So we really should move away from the intellectual spittle because as the article above notes:

    “For a moment there in 2008, the fact that America had chosen its first black President eclipsed everything. It literally eclipsed reality…..

    “Obama’s election did not suddenly heal the disproportionate effects of the Great Recession, when the wealth of Latino families declined by over 40%, that of black families by 31%, and that of white families by 11%, according to the Urban Institute…

    “Obama’s election did not stop that Oakland transit cop from killing the already cuffed Oscar Grant on Jan. 1, 2009…

    “Obama’s election did not stop all those politicos from coming together weeks after the inauguration to organize not a Boston Tea Party, but a new national Tea Party to take their country back…

    “Under post-racial cover, Tea Party activists mobilized the racist hostility against Obama and the new Obamacare, allowing them to easily pass the buck from George W. Bush onto Obama for Recession-era unemployment rates, and allowing the Republicans to gain a staggering 63 seats in the House of Representatives, six seats in the Senate, and 680 seats in state
    legislatures in the 2010 midterm election…

    “In one of largest electoral turnovers in American history, Obama Democrats got it worse than Watergate Republicans.”

    So make the argument, why don’t we, that MLK spawned a Gov Wallace or an AG designate Jeff Sessions….or Obama spawned the racist actions of a Trump. Sounds perfectly logical to me!!!

  20. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David

    I thought that Trump would commute the sentence as part of the deal with Assange just shows how wrong I was.

  21. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    Obama is a joke and a big disappointment who pretends to know what he is doing, but all he is good at is talking a good game. And one thing is true of Obama as does every politician today, and that is: he came into the White House a poor man and will leave a millionaire when he return to his million dollar mansion in Hawaii.

  22. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    There is a theory that latent homosexuality expresses itself in rabid homophobia.

  23. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    President Trump – The Trap is Set (And the show is about to begin.)

  24. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://ow.ly/uBX43087lIe

    Chadster…….There he goes, blowing hot and cold.

    http://ow.ly/84Ur3087m5g

    Chadster.., hope ya have ya suitcases already packed.

  25. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    @William Skinner at 12:51 AM

    Thanks for the support in bringing some light to the rather constrained thinking of some of our fellow bloggers. Example is far more important than precept. These heroes show the way. They demonstrate that it is possible. And they have done so spectacularly. The youth need no better source of inspiration.

  26. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Dompey…you are lying…Obama and his wife entered the white house as millionaires…he wrote a book and paid of his college debts, his wafe was a cprporate attorney, even befpre Obama was…it’s one thing to critize, but you are outright yying.

    Let Google be your friend.

  27. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    “his wife was a corporate attorney, even before Obama was…it’s one thing to critize, but you are outright lying….Dompey.

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    Many are of the view (including BU) the perceived failure of Obama to lead ‘real’ change in America has led to the rise of Trump. Where there is a vaccum we know what is likely to happen.

    Worthy of discussion but only possible with an objective mind?

  29. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    David, yes, objectivity is vitally important.

    The argument that Obama begot Trump is an intellectual ‘cornucopia’: an abundance of stuff for any and all to feast.

    The fact that the feast was long in the making – well before this chef – and that the vitals were not grown by him but merely harvested seems to be lost in this feasting.

    There can be little doubt that ‘make america great again’ is a racist backlash to the ascension of a Black president.

    YET, to argue that Obama’s ‘failures’ perceived and real have in themselves led to that Trumpian racist backlash is in my little world, abjectly overly simplistic.

    As the author suggests above, the apparent expectation that this one man would ‘change’ centuries of ingrained habits and behaviors is to ‘eclipse reality’.

    He made awesome change…he also failed in areas and made mistakes (as all the great Presidents did). In the main he was absolutely outstanding!

  30. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David
    Many are of the view (including BU) the perceived failure of Obama to lead ‘real’ change in America has led to the rise of Trump. Where there is a vaccum we know what is likely to happen.
    +++++++++++++++
    Obama did lead to change, change in the environment outlook, climate change, prevented a second Depression and many other achievements; what he hasn’t been able to accomplish is change racial attitudes that hearken back to slavery and are still prevalent. MLK King Day this year fell on the same day that as Confederate Heroes Day guess which holiday took precedence in some States? Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States) day is a public holiday in some States and observed in others.

    Trump was able to build on the antipathy that some of those elements had for a Black man in the WH by persistently raising the spurious assertion that he wasn’t a natural born American and therefore his Presidency was illegitimate (you will note that not one prominent Republican dismissed Trump’s lies) and although Trump grudgingly admitted in September 2016 that Obama was born in the US he never uttered a word of apology.

    If a vacuum exists it is not apparent to me but his opponent didn’t inspire people to vote for her.

  31. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Sargeant you have to cast your net a little further,
    you dont tug on supermans cape
    you dont spit into the wind
    you dont pull the mask off the lone ranger
    and you dont play around with jim
    The liberals were kicking sand in the face of the people that actually fight and make america safe so they can slither around like a bunch of puff adders and they had enough.

  32. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Bernard Codrington,

    Appreciate your comment.

  33. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    To be fair to Obama, he could not achieve the change he sought because his policies were met with resistance.

    The only group of people that are vigorously pushing the agenda Obama was an abysmal failure, are the hosts on FOX News and the biased individuals they interview.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    Artax, good leaders are able to command support if not the title is undeserved. It does not mean Obama is not a good person. His legacy will likely be he was unable to command support from the other arms of government.

  35. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Lawson….there are a whole pit of ultra consevatives posing as liberals in the Democratic party, they infiltrated early or just switched clothes.

  36. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    what good thing has he done in middle east except kill bin laden, everything else has been crap. Dont be drawing lines if you dont mean it.

  37. ndtewarie Avatar
    ndtewarie

    YOU GET THE GOV’T
    YOU’VE CHOSEN

    Some say the white man came from above oh oh!
    That is if you believe that supernatural stuff…UFO
    The locals treated him not like a beast
    Like the three wise men from the East
    Like how Columbus founded the West Indies
    Then try to convert the poor Indians! Please!
    When that failed they went buffalo butchering
    Leaving the Red Indians starving and cowering
    Coveting land from humble folks with their flags unfurled
    Settling up their own towns and villages all over the world
    But in their wake they left many in tears day after day
    All over the good land which was never theirs any way
    They maltreated many a people who cried long tears
    Someone got to be punished for we know God cares

    You can sing, and run and jump with all your might
    For karma is bitter sweet when it comes back to bite

    When some countries got their freedom
    Their governments thought they’re dumb
    They too tried to do like the Caucasians
    Who maltreated the local Amerindians
    They built cities and made kingdoms
    Living it up drinking coke and rums
    They lived the good life like the imperial master
    As they too put the little man on the back- burner
    As their own folks live in poverty
    Amidst their masters’ proclivity
    For years the people took it and did nothing
    The doers willfully neglecting them sneering
    The reapers of the ill gotten gains in their castles in a moat
    You take it staying quiet for you don’t want to rock the boat

    Tears have been shed every day many going insane
    And someone has to pay, here comes karma again
    Living the likes of a hog as they shed tears of joy
    As they plot and scheme to carry out their ploy
    Wives, mothers and children became high brows
    Covered from head to toe as their belief allows
    But the poor farmers keep toiling and trod on
    Eking a miserable living to bring in the bacon

    And months became years and fades
    And decades ran into more decades
    Until the people ran out of tears
    They swear and shed their fears

    Their anger reached every man, child and wife
    For all they ask for is just to live a simple life
    Their anger reached a pitch they want to get even
    They were ready to face torture of even an AK47
    The cry for freedom and democracy was in the air
    And every man in South East Asia wanted a share

    And so in Tunisia, one day in a little town called Tunis
    Using a format called Facebook the locals found bliss
    The folks sent messages to one another
    Innocently talking and in serious chatter
    When Muhammad Bouazizi, a farmer doused himself in kerosene
    Which was seen all over the world to show his wrath of that mean
    Ben Ali, dictator who lived like a hog for over 27 years
    As unemployment grew, people die shedding long tears
    All about their welfare and hardship in rage
    Actually, bottom line they wanted a change
    Citizens were called to silent arms and demanded democracy
    Ben Ali trembled in his boots but stuck to his despotic policy
    And when the smoke cleared the dictator was kicked out
    The people rejoiced as they sang tears of joy and shout
    As they pray and hope for a better tomorrow
    But the fires were burning all the way to Cairo

    Hundreds and thousands were alerted who care
    And they all met at the famous Tahrir Square
    And the words that went out were “We have taken up
    Enough of this, we’ve to bring this nonsense to a stop”
    The news spread like wildfire all the way to Benghazi
    But was trampled by tanks, guns of an insane Hosnie
    And Mubaruk refused to budge as the people persevere
    Strengthened by the victory in Tunisia they didn’t care
    T‘was do or die they made up their minds shouted out their demands
    To oust Mubaruk after 30 years of stealing the wealth of their lands
    Eventually he packed up his bags and left after 30years of conniving
    As the Muslim Brotherhood stood silently on the sidelines watching
    The fires had already spread to Libya a kettle of a different brand
    Democracy was a word Muammar Gaddafi could never understand
    As he dined with prostitutes in Cannes in Europe like a leech
    At home he ruled with an iron hand banning even free speech

    Bucket a guh a well everyday, one day
    Eh battam guh lef my Nannie used to say
    As Tripoli seethed and the people protested
    As men women and children were slaughtered
    Using jet fighters, tanks and mercenaries from Africa
    As his own soldiers refused to kill their own in Libya
    Hiding behind his high walls madly raving
    With his two evil sons aiding and abetting
    After 42 years of wallowing in the Libya’s troughs he can
    He said he’d kill any opposer to the last woman and man
    The world is shouting that this is a crime against humanity
    But all words fell on the mad ears of a man bent on insanity
    As the UN and the USA threatened and warned
    That no more innocent Libyans should be harmed
    Gaddafi answered by sending planes to shoot at oil rich
    Brega
    Threatening before he goes he’d burn the oil wells of
    Libya

    I said we get the Gov’t. we’ve chosen
    Sometimes the voters are left frozen
    And they have to put up and abide
    Their time and flow with the tide
    Cause they’re evil forces at work out there
    And the innocent are cornered in dire fear
    Like what happened in the 1960’s in Guyana
    When the British stealthily agree with the USA
    To stifle the PPP and oust Dr.Cheddi of Guyana
    For they thought Guyana would be another Cuba
    History has proved after 28 years Cheddi was not
    But Burnham was and that was what Guyanese got
    In Africa and Europe dictators arose
    All eventually got the peoples’ blows
    Those who don’t have it want it
    But really can they handle it?

    Democracy is what they want
    They shouted give us in any slant
    In the garage we want a good motor
    An oven, a stove and the refrigerator
    A detached home is so so
    A townhouse or a condo
    A job in the bank and money inside
    No matter what they promise to abide
    We see water it’s not a mirage
    We also want a car in the garage.
    Many times we have seen great incorporations
    And the architects ending up in incarcerations

    Look back in History with the great Mahatma
    When he and Jinnah were fighting for one India
    Jinnah caused India to split is a fact
    He was the brains of the Luknow Pact
    Jinnah never wanted an Independent India
    He was too violent even rejected satyagrah
    Every time Gandhi preached cooperation
    It was met with the Lahore Resolution
    The same thing happened in Guyana’s PPP
    When the Muslims rejected the Jagan’s Party
    In that case the CIA’s puppet Mr Langley
    Gave Richard Ishmael $2.08M for perpetuating the 80 day strike
    Also to the Muslims and the Trade Union Council and their like
    The Muslims split the Indian vote and formed a PNC coalition
    Joined with Burnham who later kicked them out in
    jubilation

    Greedy rulers from Stalin  to Mussolini
    From Ben Ali to Mubharak to Gaddafi
    And the others in poor Africa
    Even Burnham from Guyana
    All have one common denominator
    And that is the built in greedy factor
    Their coffers are bare yet they spend much on war
    Their people go hungry as the leaders dine on caviar
    Even the educated started our good then made a mess
    This shows greedy rulers can’t rule I have to confess
    How can these so-called leaders sleep deep at night
    When their people sleep with a bug infested plight
    When they practice the opposite what’s preached in Mecca
    Covering their women from head to toe sheltered by Sharia
    Laws as they defile and use other women like play things
    Paying top dollars for sexy women who party and sings

    They pray 5 times per day pointing towards Mecca
    As they bank the people’s money to be used later
    At the Cayman Islands, Swiss or the country they all hate
    Or just invested it in stocks and bonds and in real estate
    Since the last time we spoke
    Some thought it was a joke
    Since then we saw the fall of the South East Asian Empire
    A dire land of totalitarians and some secular pundits for hire
    Tempered by monastic vows
    Treating their women like cows
    Governing wretched peoples yet who sneered and
    applauded
    Praying to their God when the Twin Towers fell and were
    bombed
    A people who always want the green US dollars
    But funneled the money for domestic owned wars
    And sat and took it decade after decades
    As that part of the world became Hades

    Fast forward to Toronto in Ontario, to live
    With the Liberal Party vs the Conservative
    You would never believe politicians can be so sick
    One would surely think one is in a Banana Republic
    Wasting and covering it up is the order of the day
    And all the poor taxpayers don’t have a darn say
    Billions of dollars wasted to save their party some seats
    As erasing tapes and emails done secretly at their meets
    The fists would fly and guns would be drawn
    But all dumb Ontarians do is smile and yawn
    But really you have to blame it on the naive lesbians
    Pride has voted as a block maybe they got the billions
    When the people put party before sound economics
    It always come back to bite them where it ticks
    Only time would tell in the next few years
    But then it may be too late for long tears

  38. Anonymouse - The Gazer Avatar
    Anonymouse – The Gazer

    Some of the same forces that reined in Obama’s plans will also exhibit a similar effect on Trump policies.

    Factional politics, interest groups, lobbyists, and outright racism are among the many factors that placed a severe limitation on what Obama could achieve ( or do).

    Despite the majority Trump has in both houses, he will find some of these same components will place a restriction on his plans and that his powers are more limited than he imagined.

    At this time, comments about sexual orientation of the Obamas are only malicious gossip (or fake news) and does not add to the quality of the discussion. A few need to call it when they see it…

  39. ac Avatar
    ac

    Putin continues to stuck his big nose in Americas politics. Why does he continue to defend Trump victory yesterday taking a swipe at John Lewis comments referencing The legitimacy of Trump . Not ut seems rather strange that Putin would come forward as a leading defender of Trump and to attack a civil rights leader in doing so
    However it does not go unnoticed that Putin had never said any thing when Trump was questioning the legitmacy of Obama
    This relationship between Trump and Putin deserves answer which might be found in Trump taxes which Trump has refused to release.

  40. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    To mention “good leaders are able to command support if not the title is undeserved,” is a bit unfair, especially without taking into consideration he began his tenure with the disadvantage of being a Negro and the resistance meted out to him by a bunch of white racists in the Republican and Democratic parties.

    Some of these racists have been chosen by Trump and are now undergoing confirmation hearings to ratify their nominations. For example, Tom Price has been nominated by Trump as Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.

    When Price was a member of the Georgia legislature, he was supportive of retaining the Confederate battle flag as part of the Georgia state flag and sponsored resolutions to make April ‘Confederate History Heritage Month’ in Georgia, while urging schools to commemorate the time of Southern independence.

    I also believe it was an unreasonable expectation for Obama to reverse, in 8 years, 398 years of acts of racism perpetrated against Negroes and its effects to this day.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    Criticism of Obama is wider than the issue of the racial divide that has worsened under his watch. Yes he defied the odds to become President but he has to be evaluated based on his performance in the context of current state of play and what was his mission at the start of the journey. Was he able in a material way to deliver on his message of hope and change?

    NO!

  42. Anonymouse - The Gazer Avatar
    Anonymouse – The Gazer

    I am not certain that the “racial divide worsened under his watch”. Obama presidency gave hope to the average black man; others saw his presidency as a diminishing of their privilege. Under these two different visions cracks that were papered over became more visible to all of America.

    Under Trump, the racial divide may be even wider, but now that Trump “make America great again” (whatever the hell that means) those who felt threatened at the loss of privilege will be less vocal. The racial divide in the US will now be even greater, but having regained their privilege status, some will now be silent.

    “His legacy will likely be he was unable to command support from the other arm of government”. True, but the other arms of government made it clear that they would run an obstructionist course. Viewing Obama legacy without thinking of the obstacles placed in front of him is u tantamount to completely ignoring the political landscape of the US.

    We cannot allow others to define Obama’s legacy as we would in fact be allowing others to continue to write our history.

  43. Anonymouse - The Gazer Avatar
    Anonymouse – The Gazer

    I thought Artax was based in Barbados, but he seem to have a grasp of American politics that was obtained from direct observation.

  44. Anonymouse - The Gazer Avatar
    Anonymouse – The Gazer

    “Had there not been an Obama, there would not have been a Trump”. I agree with this statement, but approach it from this perspective.

    All of America was surprised at the election of PBO as president and a segment of the population saw their position of privilege rapidly vanishing. Realizing that their ship was sinking they huddled together with the intention of stopping PBO and the advancement of people of color.

    Along came Trump, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, playing a tune of soft racism. Not the virulent racism that is obvious and would be rejected by both black and whites. One so soft and sweet that many whites (and some blacks) voted against their self interest.

    Trump was seen as an antidote to Obama. A man who “would make America great again” and who would take us back to an earlier time.

    We talk of hundreds of years of slavery and its effect upon us. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a man who had hundreds of years of privilege and woke up and saw two blacks in the White House. Trump was their antidote to Obama.

  45. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://ow.ly/R36P3088tpO

    …..only the very ignorant, both black and white, who are willing to see the US returned to this state via legislation would have voted for Trump…….ignorance is a curse.

  46. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    David;

    What do you and some others expect that Obama could have done?

    On day one of his presidency Mitch McConnell and the Republicans declared that they would fight him all the way, ensure that he succeeded in nothing that he attempted and make him a one-term president. Obama tried his best to advance his agenda but he was fighting not only the republicans but a majority of the whites in congress where that agenda went against their innate racist and classist beings.

    Yes! it would appear that criticism of Obama is wider than the issue of the racial divide but it should be recognized that that racial divide pervades everything that is important in America and that the attitudes of the majority race would ensure that any attempt to improve the lot of blacks would be seen as reducing the entitlements of the whites and would be overtly challenged by the GOP and only half heartedly supported by the white Dems. Obama could not convert America to a colour blind society in two terms but I think, despite Trump, he has set the process in train and who knows, perhaps the Trump period was preordained to show America what the backward vision of the Trump administration will lead to and result in a future America that resembles Obama’s clear vision more so than a future framed by Trump’s clouded dark glasses.

    I was critical of Obama’s willingness to apparently back down and compromise on several aspects of his Health Care plan in the face of a fierce onslaught by the GOP but in retrospect perhaps it was the only way for him to survive and have a second term to continue trying especially after the mid term elections made things even more difficult for him to get anything passed by congress.

    Could you really see Obama succeeding in the way that he has if he had interpreted his agenda as being going out of his way to champion totally black causes that would often resonate negatively with the majority of American voters?

    But, by treading a pragmatic, sensible and strategic path, Obama succeeded beyond reasonable expectations in actually accomplishing much despite all the odds he faced. He is ending his presidency with a popularity poll of over 60%, an unprecedented figure in modern times.

    Go figure! Doesn’t that polling suggest that Americans recognize what you and some progressive black naysayers can’t fathom, that Obama is well on the way to being recognized as the best of all modern Presidents in terms of progressive policies first that benefit the black as well as the other members of the middle class and as a Black man secondarily.

    Go and read the statistics that define America in 2008 as compared with 2016.

  47. David Avatar
    David

    @AWTY

    It does not matter what we thought he (Obama) could have done. It is what is promised he would do with his platform mantra HOPE and CHANGE. Even Obama will admit he failed to bring Republicans to his side. Say what you want he failed in this regard.

  48. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    @ David 6:45 PM

    And Mia failed to bring the DLP to her side yesterday.

  49. David Avatar
    David

    @Bernard

    Unlike the US culture of government where there is a history of bipartisanship, no such luck in Barbados.

  50. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    David;

    Yuh can’ be serious!

    Obama promised HOPE and CHANGE!
    Obama promised to bring Republicans to his side!

    What are the verifiable indicators that you or anyone else could use to measure “Hope” or “Change” and the increase or decrease in these nebulous factors in the various publics in the country as related to presidential promises? You can’t measure those factors with any degree of precision.

    Of course you could get a gut feeling that there might have been increased hope of advancement in, say, the african american communities at the end of his terms. THis also applies to meaningful change also. But the terms are so nebulous that you ca’nt really reasonably expect to use those as yardsticks for achievements of any President.

    Similarly, Obama had no control of Republicans and couldn’t reasonably promise that he would bring republicans to his side, especially since they all declared from early to oppose everything that he did and proceeded to do so in a way that was unprecedented in any modern administration prior to his presidency.

    The yardsticks that would apply to any president, even Obama, would be the typical ones of reduction in unemployment, saving the country from the effects of the Bush financial meltdown, reducing the occurrence of wars, increasing the minimum wage, improving housing, improving transportation, improving housing, improving education, mainaining a lead in Space, maintaining the leadership position of America vis a vis other leading countries, etc. Obama did better than most modern presidents, even in the face of the intransigence and downright obstructionism of the GOP people, in most of those yardsticks.

    Obama is not to blame for the ascendency of Trump at this stage. An ascendancy which, at this early stage, promises hope and change for the white majority and despair and retrogressive change for the others.

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