Saturday, July 20, 2013

New York Times Editorial, "President Obama’s Anguish": Once Again, It's All About the One

You see, it's all about our Narcissist-in-Chief.

After the tragedy involving the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, President Obama, a Constitutional lawyer, went on record as saying:

"But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

Had I been a defense attorney for George Zimmerman, and if he had been convicted, I would have claimed that Obama's statement was the basis for a mistrial.

Yesterday, Obama doubled down on his earlier remarks:

"You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is: Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago."

Why doesn't this ring true? As a teenager, Obama attended the Punahou School, a top private school in Honolulu. From the Punahou School, he went on to Columbia University and Harvard Law School. After becoming the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama received a fellowship from the University of Chicago Law School to write "Dreams from My Father." And from there, eight years in the Illinois Senate, a "nifty" real estate deal with Tony Rezko, four years as a US Senator, and then two terms as president of the United States.

Bottom line, Obama was always on an entirely different trajectory from that of Trayvon Martin.

In a prior editorial entitled "Trayvon Martin’s Legacy" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/07/new-york-times-editorial-trayvon.html), The New York Times went on record as saying, "Mr. Zimmerman’s conviction might have provided an emotional catharsis." Regrettably, however, for the Times, the purpose of criminal trials is not to provide "emotional catharsis." Rather, criminal trials by jury are intended to determine guilt or innocence on the basis of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Today, in a editorial entitled "President Obama’s Anguish" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/opinion/president-obamas-anguish.html), The New York Times gushes over Obama's speech yesterday:

"President Obama did something Friday that he hardly ever does — and no other president could ever have done. He addressed the racial fault lines in the country by laying bare his personal anguish and experience in an effort to help white Americans understand why African-Americans reacted with frustration and anger to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

. . . .

He said there are 'very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store' or 'the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off.'

'That,' he said, 'includes me.'

. . . .

Mr. Obama called on the Justice Department to work with local and state law enforcement to reduce mistrust in the policing system, including ending racial profiling."

Excuse my naivete, but where was there any evidence during the trial of underlying racism on the part of George Zimmerman?

And if we're about to end racial profiling, let's also put an end to all profiling. When persons are passing through airport security, let's undertake added security checks on a purely random basis, even if this means frisking ninety-year-olds in wheelchairs. Heck, what a relief for someone like me! I'm often dishevelled and not always clean-shaven. (There's a reason why, when I do an occasional TV commercial, I'm often cast as the bad guy.) And back in the 1980s when I was at college, my handlebar mustache somehow fit the "hijacker profile," and inevitably, while waiting for a flight, my name was called over the public address system for a pat-down. "What, not again . . ." You should have seen how other passengers cast wary glances at me; however, this never led to violence.

Yes, there is still much racism in America, and there is a proclivity to violence. But while racism was not demonstrated by the prosecution in the trial of George Zimmerman, President Obama insisted on explaining away the violent response to the Zimmerman verdict by alluding to racism, and in so doing, he again added fuel to the fire.

This was not the occasion for President Obama to go grandstanding. There is always a need to address and confront racism, but this was neither the time nor place. Timing is everything.

The New York Times editorial concludes:

"It is a great thing for this country to have a president who could do what Mr. Obama did on Friday."

Rubbish.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, rubbish.
    BTW, few people are more bigoted than so called American "liberals"
    A friend, a former professor at Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Ph.D. and several masters, both Polish and American) and an Eastern European Jew, tells interesting stories:
    - during Q&A question period at some general/non academic "liberal"/progressive events, the moderators or guests go out of their way to prevent her from asking her question and go to some Black person - yes, something in her physiques they don't like. She seems to be pretty attractive to me.
    - at a political event organized by Move On for example, the young activists "knew" what she thought (nothing of value of course) and "knew" this even before she introduced herself and opened her mouth and went directly to some fashionable "minorities." The same treatment she received at a Greens party in Manhattan.
    - at the showing of "The Corporation" [sic] at Barnes and Noble, the host ignored her hand even when this was the only one hand in the air and waited until the "worthy" minority hand was raised. This is pretty typical.
    At an Demos Occupy event, a young Black moderator didn't allow her to open her mouth.
    She is now considering wearing hijab.
    More facts. She isn't an activist and participates at these events rarely. She isn't a celebrity and nobody knew her at these events. The events she mentions took place during many years, invariably with the same result.
    I am pretty sure that other individuals who unfortunately for them don't belong to the fashionable in the hypocritical, dishonest circles groups, can tell similar stories.

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  2. In this must watch video, Bill Whittle examines the death of Trayvon Martin and trial of George Zimmerman:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebu6Yvzs4Ls#at=603

    BTW, the concoction Whittle was talking about is not 'Lean' but rather a dangerous cocktail popular in the southern Hip-Hop community called 'Purple Drank' AKA 'SYZURP' or NOX.

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  3. JG: you play the bad guy in tv commercials?
    Here's a new opportunity for you. Oded Fehr plays Mossad operative-extraordinaire on USA channel's CIA romp "Covert Affairs", but also played the now dead Deputy Mossad director Ilan Bodnar on "NCIS". Very confusing.
    I think you should try to be the new face of Mossad next time NCIS needs a new story arc. (episode "Enemies Foreign": "oh, good, the Israelis are back" )

    As for whatever Obama said in his 18-minute talk about American racism? Well, no one in America can ever speak about the surge in reverse racism the past twenty years. That is a greater tragedy.

    btw, you should try to see "World War Z" even though it does not appear to be scheduled for release in Israel. Israel is a hero, but IAF's Segen, played by Israeli star
    Daniella Kertesz, is an amazing character.
    The final edit/reshoot worked out well.

    K2K

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  4. 1) Correction: WWZ opened in Israel on July 11. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=worldwarz.htm

    2) the NYT should read Zuckerman's NY Daily News.
    2a) Friday night: multiple shootings, 2 dead, 8 injured, worst at public housing on Lower East Side.
    2b) Saturday night: Sharpton has five Dem mayor candidates on sleep-overs in public housing in East Harlem.

    Interesting to see how NYT covers that sleepover. No mention of the Friday shootings in the Saturday NYT except for the piece titled "No Shootings or Killings for 363 Days"
    Probability always bites.

    K2K

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