When all you have is a hammer, every problem you encounter looks like a nail

[MadHound]

Melissa Harris-Perry has written a piece in the Nation damning white liberals for thinly disguised racism in their criticism of Obama. She has followed that up with a piece damning those who would would criticize her for her opinions.

I think that the problem that Perry is encountering is best expressed by my subject line, when all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. She writes passionately and proliferately about race, and this is a good thing. However, it seems to me that she has lost the ability to look at any problem or issue without using the lens of race as her guide. Thus, every problem is about race. She writes about how white liberals are abandoning the President, and looks at the "white" part and sees a racial problem. She ignores the "liberal" part, which is a political problem.

I think that she needs to take a step back and reflect on her writing. Not everything in this world is about race. Clinton lost support among white liberals when he was in office, and it certainly wasn't about race. Obama is losing support among blacks as well, is that also about race?

Race, while still an overarching problem in this country, is not the be all and end all root of every single issue. There are issues, including political criticism, that are entirely divorced from race.

Furthermore, by the very definition of the word, one is not a racist if one is truly liberal. Yes, liberals have, and continue to criticize the President, for good reason. If Perry thinks that liberals are criticizing Obama more than they did Clinton, then she forgets her history. Clinton has been damned from the left since his failure at healthcare, a cry of anger that only rose as his tenure in office continued. He left office being known on the left as the best Republican president we've ever had.

Ms. Perry needs to take a step back, and needs to reflect on her words. Not every problem in our society, in our politics, revolves around race. Perhaps it is time for Ms. Perry to find another tool in the toolbox.

[MadHound]

1. kick n/t

[CANDO]

2. Oh hell yes!

Thank you for your eloquence on the topic. I about went ballistic in another thread over this crap of criticism equaling bigotry.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Is no value given to civil discourse?

This isn't aimed at the OP, it's a general observation and question in response the totality of posts about the Melissa Harris-Perry/Joan Walsh incident.

Everyone is so insistent upon being right and proving their point that they don't LISTEN TO WHAT THE OTHER PERSON IS TRYING TO SAY.

If liberals devolve into "don't play the race card," in the exact same way the Limbaugh's of the world use it ("criticizing Obama doesn't equate to racism, so how dare you play the race card"), once again we are no better.

The fact that anyone may view what is happening as having a racist element is reason enough to have a civil discussion about it. No accusations, no defensive posturing, but a discussion as to why people feel this perception may exist.

I'm white. I have never experienced racism. I've most definitely witnessed it, and various forms of bigotry and the dehumanization that accompanies it, throughout my life having grown up in a horribly racist family. I've since severed ties with that family.

I don't think racism and bigotry are responsible for every action or inaction people take in this country, but without a doubt I believe racism and bigotry are widespread and institutionalized. So when someone such as MHP -- a very intelligent, reasonable person who has had a different life experience than I have -- raises this as an issue, I want to have a discussion about it.

I want to hear what she has to say, and I want her to listen to calm, rational responses.

A civil, thoughtful, mindful discussion.

The end result may be that very, very little racism is in play as it concerns Obama, coming from the left, that is.

But ending the conversation here...with these charges and insults and "sides" being taken in really harsh, destructive ways...serves no positive purpose whatsoever.

We need to let these huge issues find all the sunlight they can. When the words racism and bigotry enter into a discussion, that should be the true beginning of conversation, not the end.

:shrug:

[MerryBlooms]

4. Beautiful. I wish I could rec your post. n/t

[mcar]

6. Absolutely

There have been so many defensive posts just knee jerk rejecting MHP's thesis, that I can't help but wonder if she's hit something.

[MadHound]

9. The same could be applied to Perry herself

Instead of throwing out the charge that white liberals who criticize Obama are racist, why not listen to what the critics are actually saying, and respond to the words and thoughts rather than trying to find some sort of motivation and impuning countless numbers of people?

Worse, she does this by twisting history, stating that white liberals didn't go after Clinton with the same ferocity that they go after Obama. If she had bothered to perform a modicum of research, she would have found that what she believed simply wasn't true.

I'm all for civil discourse and reflective thought, and I welcome any invitation to engage in either. The trouble with Perry's piece was that it wasn't an invitation, it was a baseless and harsh accusation, and nobody responds well to that.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. I agree...

I don't perceive what she wrote as starkly as you and others do (though the "friend" comment was unnecessary, imho).

My perception after reading her article was that she believes racism may be a factor. I'll read it again, but my first take-away wasn't that she was accusing anyone. She laid out how she perceives things. I disagree with the Obama/Clinton comparison for many reasons (namely that we're simply in a different time and respond to everything differently now), but if she feels racism may be involved, that's a discussion that should be had.

Just because it started off rocky and awkward (mainly because of the "friend" comment), they have a great basis to continue discussion and allow others to join them.

No, people don't respond well to emotional one-liners and overt or veiled accusations, and nearly everyone is sensitive to some degree, so it is so damn easy for miscommunication to take place. But we need to suck it up and deal with it, and cultivate the lost art of civil discourse.

:hi:

[Solomon]

5. Oh No You Didn't! I respectfully disagree with this post.

I'm glad this issue is coming up because until it did, those of us who see the racial bias on the left, something that is constantly and totally denied by virtue of the fact that no left wing person is ever viewed as having racial biases, always have to keep our mouths shut about it.

When Obama was elected, I told my wife that all the poison in the American character was going to come seeping out and that people who finally see how deep race goes in this country. I welcomed the fact that people would see how ugly it is. I fully expected the right to be exposed.

What I did not expect, and what opened my eyes, was the bias that gets exhibited by the left.

Made all the worse by the holier than thou attitude that the left always takes when it comes to race issues.

This society is so saturated in white supremacy, that even I, as a black man, have to fight what's been ingrained in me (and you) to not be prejudiced against my own kind.

Rather than get into a long dissertation about it, I'll just sum it up with a well=known saying in the black community:

The White Man's Ice Is Colder.

[MadHound]

11. Do you agree with Perry's statement that Clinton didn't come in for the same criticism

That Obama's received?

[AverageJoe90]

7. I do agree with you...

But I STILL like & respect her, though. =)

[TeamsterDem]

8. I could try, but I don't think I could agree with you any more than I already do

I will vote for Obama next year. But just like I did in Clinton's second term, I will hold my nose when I do it because neither are liberal enough for me. Their race means absolutely nothing to me (although I am proud that our country FINALLY elected a black man as president. That matters). What decides my vote (and my enthusiasm) is policy.

Normally I love Melissa. Well I still do, just respectfully disagree with her on this one. I'm surprised that she wrote what she did, and to some extent it offends me because I am one of the white people who's less than pleased with Obama. But to assume I'm a racist because he's not liberal enough for me is wayyyyyyyyyy over the top and altogether wrong.

Are there some whites who don't like Obama because of his race? Regrettably I'm sure there are. Sadly she's right about one thing: Racism still absolutely exists in this country. But just because SOME whites are racist doesn't mean we're all racists. In fact that's a racist thing to say. Some of us make our voting decisions based entirely upon the policy prescriptions of the candidate, and some of us whites want the government to be more racially (and gender) diverse. That's right, some white men actually want more people of color and more women in the government. Shocking!

I'm a white man and I'd like to see a government which reflects the people it governs. That would include many, many more women, many more Latinos, and of course more African Americans. I'd also like to see more openly gay candidates. (I left out a bunch of groups NOT because I don't want to see them in government, but only because listing every group I'd like more represented would take forever.) I don't want a country governed by rich old white men. In fact, the biggest disparity between our government and the governed is the astounding lack of poor/middle class folks in the government. They're almost all rich, save a few.

I'm a heterosexual, white male, and I want a much more diverse government. We're not all racist homophobes, Melissa. And don't tell me I'm the exception to the rule because many of my friends are also white and feel exactly the same way.

[Major Nikon]

10. How did Obama manage to get elected if there are so many liberal racists?

The piece just doesn't pass the smell test.

[TheKentuckian]

13. K&R I don't get the logic that Perry was going on.

She seemed to be making the slackjawed case that Clinton got a pass on his shitty policies so Obama should too.

Perry is usually as far from stupid as I can imagine but this tact is fucking dimwitted.

1. It assumes Clinton got a pass from liberals. This claim is made without support other than anecdotal from very different times as far as media is concerned. The blog traffic, access to information regarding policies and proposals, and wide spread access to liberal pundits, particularly non-establishment pundits.

2. Her critique seems to indicate that if bad policy is tolerated in the past then it should be further tolerated or essence, if one makes grievous errors they must not be learned from.
Once bitten, never shy.

3. She stunningly forgets that if liberals wanted a rehash of the Clinton White House they would have supported Hillary Clinton rather than throwing in their lot with Obama. The Clinton fans have largely warmed up to Obama because he has embraced their SOP, a few racist PUMAs aside.
Why is she pretending people aren't happy because they got exactly what they were trying to avoid?

4. I'm not white. Am I exempt or just some kind of self loathing Uncle Tom because I'm not happy with the President?

[Raine]

14. K&R nt

:kick: :thumbsup:

[saras]

15. So how is he doing with people who aren't white and aren't black?

That seems like a simple enough, if imperfect, way of removing that particular racism from the picture.

[MadHound]

17. Not good,

"In recent Gallup polling, his approval rating among Latinos dipped to 48 percent — the lowest mark of his presidency and a significant drop-off from the 60 percent approval among the group he carried as recently as January. Obama’s approval rating among Hispanics is now just seven points higher than it is among the general public in Gallup data, a major decline from earlier in his term."
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-hispanic-support-for-obama-waning-could-latino-vote-be-up-for-grabs-in-2012/2011/09/18/gIQAG9KUdK_story.html>

[Bozita]

16. A reminder from Jim Hightower in one of his book titles...