1. The fact he wore some Somali/Muslim garb
or
2. The fact he has a Che Guevara poster in one of his offices.
(BTW ef Che, he's a loser)
I have a feeling I already know the answer, but I ask for a reason so that I can predict something that would be of significant importance should he lose either the democratic nomination or the presidential election. I would appreciate your truthful and sincere opinion.
His policies disturb me the most. The Che poster is really bad, but does he in fact support Che? If he in fact does, that would be rather disturbing. The Muslim thing not so much (bordering on "I can care less") unless he wants to establish Sharia law. It is all about the level of honesty and the policies when it comes to how I judge presidents and presidential candidates.
ReplyDeleteNeither bothers me that much...
ReplyDeleteSeriously?
I would *expect* him to wear the Somali/Muslim garb on occasion. (See GWB here in My "National Dress" - http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/09/08/470_drizaboneapec,0.jpg)
The Che poster is obviously more of a concern - except that it was in an office that I don't think he ever stepped foot in.. So while it says something about his supporters - I'm not sure it says much about him. (Granted - you can tell a lot about someone by their followers - but the flag itself does not reflect directly on him..)
Cap'n -
ReplyDeleteMy initial impression was that they're equally disturbing, but the longer I think about it, the more I find the Che poster in one of his offices to be the worse of the two.
Part of my reasoning here is that he's made no effort to get rid of the poster or to distance himself from it. There is no secret that Obama is an extreme socialist and some of his positions carry a decidedly Marxist theme.
Net - to me, the Che poster in the office sticks more firmly to Obama.
Dr. Bob
The Che poster just reinforces what I already think of him, and I doubt many people who would be inclined to vote for him know or care who Che was.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that he'd wear Somali clothing doesn't bother me at all. It's not like he stuck his wife in a Burqa.
That shouldn't necessarily be considered 'his' office. It looks more like a temporary election support staff area that I'm willing to bet he never even went to. Just something to ponder.
ReplyDeleteNow if it were truely his office, I'd be more worried about that than playing dress-up with the Somalis.
If you want my completely un-PC opinion, I think Obama is a closet Muslim and a racist, with questionable loyalty issues towards this country. He is also a hard socialist.
ReplyDeleteI say I believe he is a closet Muslim b/c both his parents were Muslim, he has a Muslim name, he attended a Muslim school for awhile, lived in a Muslim country, he was married by a man who gave an award to one of the most radical Muslims out there, Farahkhan, and he continues to remain a member of that church.
No Christian I know of would ever be married by a man who gave an award to a radical Muslim like Farahkhan. I think Obama only became "Christian" for political reasons.
And before anyone starts on the, "Not all Muslims are terrorists!" bit YEAH I KNOW THAT, but ALL TERRORISTS LATELY ARE MUSLIMS!
I think he is a racist because of his wife's doctoral thesis which surfaced, and also because the church he belongs to is black separatist, and adhere to a loyalty to Africa.
His policies alone indicate an ardent socialist, he wants to nationalize healthcare, create a bureaucracy to "enforce" fairness in policing, let's nevermind the government has no business in policing, but to "enforce fairness" will be impossible and will really mean no one gets arrested, he want so "negotiate" with Iran, etc...
IMO, all this Barack Obama-mania is a textbook, TEXTBOOK example of how Hitler got elected.
Drop any notions you have of Hitler as a screaming, manical, military-uniform wearing nut job. Those speeches of him in the military uniform, standing and screaming like a nutcase were done very, very rarely, and were filmed and shown in America for precisely that reason....to portray him as a nutjob to most Americans.
In reality, Hitler would speak with a very strong, firm voice, and he would wear a blue suit. He was reknowned to be able to sway and carry an entire audience, and he was greatly admired by the intellectual and media elites all throughout America.
I am not saying Obama is a Hitler, my point though is all this mania over him demonstrates how folks like Hitler got elected. All of these people feinting over Obama would have fallen hook, line, and sinker for Hitler and his German National Socialist Party.
And of course there's this issue of the Che Guevera poster in his campaign HQ.
So Captain, what is it you feel would happen if he doesn't win the nomination or the election?
wouldnt be too worried about the somali clothes, just trying to show cultural empathy. Any future political carer I plan will be ruined by pictures when people see this MN white-boy in a mexican sombrero that reads "VIVA MEXICO CABRONES" and a bottle of tequila in my hand when I was in Mexico for their independence day.
ReplyDeleteHe can't be blamed for having a staffer that has a Che poster. But that staffer needs to be publicly humiliated though
The Che flag definitely bothers me more. The consequences of Che's efforts were horrible. The garb doesn't bother me much at all. I'm 95% sure it's cultural and an effort to build bridges or celebrate his own heritage (his name is Obama after all.)
ReplyDeleteThe Che flag. Definitely. The consequences of Che's efforts were horrible. But, I'm 99% sure that the Somali/Muslim garb is an effort to build bridges. General Schwarzkopf wore Saudi garb when attending Saudi State functions, as the head of USCENTCOM during the Persian Gulf War. It doesn't bother me.
ReplyDeleteI find it most disturbing that when people support him you evidently get ear plugs to block out anything he is actually saying. Looks like they will start having to hand out blinders as well.
ReplyDeleteTwo things:
ReplyDelete1) Neither of the images are as upsetting to me as this one. If you don’t want to follow the link, it is Mr. Obama standing with his hands over his crotch during the singing of the National Anthem.
2) If you get a chance, please hop over to the comments on this article. While the article itself has nothing to do with economics, I have gotten myself into a little bit of a back-and-forth on the subject in the comments and your insight would be quite valuable.
Thanks!
Tim
I'm not disturbed by either one.
ReplyDeleteEconomists that can't talk about the planned obsolescence of automobiles 38 years after the moon landing are very disturbing however. Are the American people WINNERS for not being told what they have lost on DEPRECIATION of that junk for the last 50 years? LOL
Economics and Politics are too much about psychological bullshit. PBS is for losers.
psikeyhackr
First gut reaction, the Che flag. But then I thought about it more and realized that Obama probably had nothing whatever to do with it. Is that a picture from his campaign headquarters? Or more likely from some far-flung local office he's never even been to?
ReplyDeleteI suspect the person behind the desk chose what to hang on the wall. Not Obama.
FYI the African garb doesn't bother me, but I think it looks silly.
The fact he has a Che Guevara poster in one of his offices!.. says something about the people that supports him.
ReplyDelete:-) The Che flag for me, but then I'm here in IL where I am somewhat familiar with the Machine he is a product of, and so not much in the line of "dirt" would surprise me. The Somali thing would be like a picture of me in a Kilt, mostly a "So What?" thing...
ReplyDeleteThe Che poster hands down.
ReplyDeleteSomali dress doesn't make an economic statement.
The Che poster screams, "I LOVE socialism."
Only people who don't understand socialism and its long bloody history think "socialism's born of good intentions."
Che Guevara was a LOSER. After failing to foment a Marxist revolution in the Congo, he was captured and executed in Bolivia.
His death came about ten years later than it should have.
Definitly Che.
ReplyDeletePig, you are well named.
ReplyDeleteballoonist say what you will, I believe Obama has some serious questions to answer.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Capitalist Pig.
ReplyDeleteAfterall, I am one myself.
Who CARES about this nonsense?? This is a distraction! Aren't you something of a libertarian, Aaron? Why are you engaging in the same far-right bullshit tactics to smear Obama that guys like Sean Hannity used? We're ABOVE that, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteWhat's important are Obama's views and his policies, not whether he wore Muslim garb at one point. Besides, why does it matter if he's a Muslim or Christian? Are all Muslims automatically extremists? That seems to be the implication when someone bitches about how Barack Obama is a "secret Muslim." Otherwise, why care? You really think a Muslim president is inherently gonna be pro-terrorist?
Capitalist Pig's comments sound more like a far-right douchebag than a capitalist. I think he's ridiculously conflated economic conservatism (which believes in FREEDOM) with social conservatism (which believes in taking away freedom for certain minorities, like gays, to "promote morality" or some fictional 'social order'). Libertarianism is the true capitalist ideology.
ReplyDeleteCome on, man! Don't tell me you fell for that all that right-wing bullshit about Obama. Sure, Obama's certainly not the most desirable candidate, but I don't see any reason to somehow doubt his loyalty to the US as a whole. Where has he shown proof otherwise? Yes, he was at Rev. Wright's church and all that other crap, but how does that necessarily make him a racist? You can't compare Obama to a guy like Al Sharpton, for christ sake. Obama may not be totally colorblind, but he's not a black supremacist, either. He's a little rough around the edges, though.
Stop focusing on outside nonsense like that anyway! Focus on his BELIEFS and his political platform and his agenda. Focus on what he actually DOES or plans to do, not implying crap based on spurious evidence. This is so out of line.
No other political candidate running for office has been under the microscope in this way so much. It's just insane. You're telling me John McCain, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Bush Sr. and Dubya don't have ANY skeletons in the closet?? What about McCain accepting the support of Pastor John Hagee or Rod Parsley? Both are ICONS of the bigoted, authoritarian Christian Right!! They actually have some political power. Rev. Wright doesn't really matter in politics at the end of the day. Probably very few Americans even KNEW who he was before Obama ran for president.
Get over this crap. It's all a Fox News distraction. Focus on the shit that matters. Focus on shit that you can actually prove, not blind speculation. How can you possibly prove that Obama's a Muslim? Sure, you can say "A, B and C were Muslim, so therefore", but that's just CORRELATION. A basic statistics class shows you that correlation is NOT causation. I grew up in a Christian family, my mom is a Republican (lived iwth her most of my childhood), and my mom's bf is very Republican. I went to sunday school when I was younger.
But guess what? I'm a libertarian agnostic! The way capitalist pig sees it, he might think "Well, he's gotta be a Christian Republican", just making silly assumptions. It's this kind of judgment that really puts the right-wing and a lot of anti-Obama people to shame. We should be above this. How can I feel comfortable as an anti-obama person with bedfellows like this??
Plus, the che picture is nothing. Yes, Che was a murderous thug socialist, and that's certainly not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, let's put this in context. Obama's supporters were, obviously, liberal Democrats. In a sea of MILLIONS of liberal Dems, one might expect to find a few who are so far to the left that they like Che. It's the Law of Large Numbers. I'm sure you could find at least one person who campaigned for hilary who had a che poster either in the office or in their house. Hilary was a big liberal Dem as well, although she did have that weird faux hawkish stance in 2008 on foreign policy.