The One-Note Presidency
The man with the twelve cylinder Ferrari mind? The man Valerie Jarrett described as being just so smart that the rest of us mere mortals should give up trying to comprehend his thought processes? The man who listens politely to learned disquisitions from counselors and experts about the economy, foreign policy and domestic policy but is hardly more than mildly bemused?
All this seems to confirm the Jarrett interpretation. He tolerates lesser minds and their take on problems besetting the US and the nations of the world. He will listen politely to theories of business cycles and money supply and the complexities of Mideast politics and Black unemployment but he knows what the real problem is: racism. Racism in all its transformations, reincarnations and disguises. And it is his gal-Friday, Holder, who has spilled the beans.
Lack of Black home ownership? Racist banks.
High rate of Black unemployment? Racist hiring practices.
High rate of Black high school dropout? Racist high school disciplinary practices.
Income inequality of Black and Hispanics? Racist, exclusionary corporate culture.
Turmoil in the Middle East? Hatred of the US? Orientalism, imperialism, colonialism, jingoism - aka racism.
The President presents his vision in sonorous bromides about fairness. Fair shot. Fair shake. Fair share. Then there is the "togetherness" gambit. We are all in this together. We can accomplish great things if we all pull together. Appeals to fairness and togetherness are dog-whistle shibboleths to ending racist exclusionary practices in the workplace in housing and education.
Our post-racial, postmodern President with the ivy league pedigree knows better than to overtly play the race card. That is what makes his alluring presence enigmatically transcending. There is something mysterious about the man. There is something we just don't get. It must be that he really is the high-minded transcendent leader with a compelling vision for the future which we should trustingly follow ["Just give us our orders"- Chris Matthews] since his Ferrari mind is beyond our comprehension and the petty squabble of politics.
It was his doppelganger Holder who was tugging on Obama's cover. But now the President has tipped his own hand and it all falls into place.
Obama blames low approval numbers on racism