During a very recent interview with Piers Morgan, CNN, Sean Penn spoke frankly about his thoughts on the political climate for President Obama.
Penn comments:
It is not a pretty picture to think in terms of such frank words. Most would avoid such language, even if they felt a smidgen of truth in that statement.
Fifty Four per cent of the voting public cast ballots for Barack Obama. Obviously, President Obama was elected with a moderately higher per cent victory over McCain/Palin; his electoral margin was vastly superior to McCain/Palin. Thus, the perception of a landslide victory. I suggest that there was no landslide based on the popular vote (the one that should carry the most weight).
For Obama to be elected president at all is an astonishing mark in U.S. History. Astonishment that did not sit well with millions across the nation, despite the oft cry of, ‘he was elected by people who did not regard race.’ Statistical evidence clearly proves that was the case. I think we are fooling ourselves if we allow ourselves to completely dismiss Penn’s remarks into the File 13 repository. A look at 2008.
Pew….
The Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data also finds a distinct regional pattern in the state-by-state increases in turnout. From 2004 to 2008, the greatest increases were in Southern states with large black eligible voter populations: Mississippi (where the voter turnout rate was up 8 percentage points), Georgia (7.5 points), North Carolina (6.1 points) and Louisiana (6.0 points). It also increased in the District of Columbia (6.9 points).5
According to the exit polls in last year’s presidential election, the candidate preference of non-white voters was distinctly different from that of white voters. Nearly all…
(95%) black voters cast their ballot for Democrat Barack Obama.
(67%) Latino voters, voted for Obama
( 31% ) voted for Republican John McCain.
( 62%) Asian voters, voted for Obama
(35%) voted for McCain
In contrast (55%)white voters voted for McCain
(43%) for Obama.
As the charts above show and the exit poll data reflects, there is no way that Obama could have won the 2008 election without considerable support from white voters. Yet, the data just posted tells a story that is worthy of consideration. A majority of white voters voted against Obama. That is not a surprise and there are many reasons for the vote. It is not even sane, however, to say the most critical factor was race. Similarly, it should have been no surprise that the vast majority (and overwhelming) of black voters would have voted for the first African-America to top the Democratic Presidential Ticket. Let’s not act as if the nation does not have a history that has not always included African-Americans as full partners.
As I think of Penn’s “N” Word in the White House comment. Two things come to mind. If you did not see the interview, Morgan quickly took the interview away from Penn’s surprising words, and right quickly
Another ‘point of light,’ if I may, is the fact that President Obama seems to draw an inordinate among of vitriol and contempt after only three years in office. Why? I certainly do not have the answer, but it is hard to say that Penn does not latch onto a point in fact in his statement.
A look at his years to date (without fine detail).
President Obama’s record.
* Legislative: Signed into law or practice 500 pieces of legislation, executive orders or administrative guidelines.
* Commander-in-Chief: Set focus on ‘taking out’ Al Qaeda from the first three months in office until elimination of combatants through this very week. Of course, bin Laden, the Butcher of Baghdad, and the Yemeni U.S terrorist among the top leaders. Alas, Somali Pirates have not fared well in Obama’s term either.
* Foreign Policy: Much improved relations with Russia, China, and other Asian nations. Respect from Latin Central and South American Leaders including Chavez). Obvious great relationship with top leaders in Europe (Britain, France, Germany, Spain). The Arab Spring, specifically Libya.
* U.S. Economic policies: reversed sure slide into economic depression. Saved Automobile industry. Stimulus that may have stopped unemployment from growing past 11 %, even if it wasn’t large enough. Preponderance of spending has been to counter Bush Era waste and over-spending. If you looked closely at those charts it is clear that anyone elected to the presidency should have administered as Obama has. You have to know that McCain and his team would not have done so; the potential for disaster is obvious, looking back.
* Likeability: clearly a positive for the president, even if for nothing more than not hunkering down in the White House or Crawford Ranch as did his predecessor.
* Campaign Promises: DADT (took too long), Afghanistan (should have pulled out, although bases there are helping to kill AL Qaeda), GITMO (Blocked by GOP, Union support (slow at best if at all)
* Unemployment: A major failure, but that was due to happen to any president post-Bush.
OK, three years into his presidency, I am not seeing why so many people, “Hate you, they hate you,” as Bill O’Reilly once told the President. Sure, he has compromised far too much with the Right. He has worked as a mediator when he should have led more definitively. He has also tried ‘Golf Gate.’ All to no avail in an effort to develop a positive relationship with the Speaker.
Penn’s remarks still resonate in some way. Penn states the Tea Party wants Obama ‘out of the White House’. He may have overstated based on his focus on race. He does not overstate in regards to the GOP’s predominate infestation with this thing called the ‘Tea Party.’
Most do not have the luxury of celerity to make a point. Penn has clearly exercised his celebrity in response to Morgan’s question. How can I assimilate Penn’s point into what I know?
I know….
* The Tea Party after a short period became infested with a degree of racism that was impossible to shake. I posit that it was a tool of the ‘mega’ powerful Kochs and others to win in 2010, thus doom the nation to Far Right Agendas and policies. It worked! Its racist elements were solidified as David Duke and others openly admitted to an affinity for the Tea Party as a tool to deliver their venom.
* About clear cases of disrespect for the president in the Chamber of the U.S. House. Joe Wilson and the judiciary activist Alito (mouthing about Citizens United the result of which are showing everyday). Even in the darkest Days of Bush, those acts never took place.
* Secret Service data that indicated a 400 percent plus increase in the number of threats to the president and his family.
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President’s Secret Service.
* Public proclamation from the GOP about working to ensure the president has a failed administration. “His Waterloo’, make sure a one-termer,’ etc.
* Rolling and consistent cases of race based vitriol or visual garbage from conservatives. The list is long, “the magic Negro, hates white people, welfare comments, Media comments about the president’s racial composition (Ingraham, Cain, and Limbaugh).
Again, Penn has the basis of celebrity to make his comments. I only have the opportunity to commit a few words in treatise form. The comment from Penn that the Tea Party wants the “N” Word out of the White House is–perhaps–a bit of a stretch. I am sure there are many people who subscribe to a mistaken affiliations with the Tea Party who would not ‘go’ to the “N” Word. And, I am damned certain that many who would never affiliate with the Tea party want the president out of the White for the very reason stated by Penn.
And the statistics show that the number of possible voters by demographic do not reflect the numbers the Kuk Duke klucks, and wants you to swallow.
Statistics don’t lie. Statisticians do. And the GOP. And Faux Entertainment “News” And “Dr.” (really?) David Duke…