Obama himself wasn't very woke, but that does not necessarily mean that his administration didn't introduce some woke policies. The classical example is the "Dear colleague" letter on Sexual Violence (2011), which introduced a rather low standard (preponderance of evidence) for punishment, plus mandated a de-facto dual system for a specific subset of crimes that are normally investigated by police and for whose investigation is the academic system fundamentally unsuitable and unprepared.
The practical implementation of this system was far from gender neutral, which was almost certainly the intent. It also resulted in several high-profile cases which played ther part in channeling young men towards the right and away from higher education, which started to be perceived as institutionally hostile against males. Nowadays, some universities are scrambling to get some young men back on board, as the gender imbalance has exceeded comfortable levels and young women suffer from a lack of dating opportunities on campus.
That's all very good. I spent two years, 2007, 2008, fund-raising for Obama. We asked people who had never donated more than $200 ever to a political candidate for $2,500. I spent a lot of time on the phone waiting while the person on the other end recalculated their finances so they could say yes. That's how much they wanted "Change We Can Believe In." What we got was a fakakte the mistakes of which still echo. Right after inauguration, he did the dumbest fucking thing of the entire adminstration and put that motherfucking sonofabitch Rahm Emanuel in as CoS. I watched while that bastard fired Howard Dean - author of the 50-state Strategy that was responsible for the fact Obama had that 60-seat Senate that allowed him to accomplish anything the first two years - and then established that the DNC would support "winnable" races. The next thing he did was decomcission Obama For America, the most effective grassroots operation I had seen in 40 years of political work in the Democratic Party (including 10 years in the 70s "going pro"). The month after that happened, the GOP set up the Tea Party astroturf operation. And then in 2010 - a decennial year! - nobody in the administration including Obama did anything to get people excited about voting, there was no grassroots GOTV, at least not like 2008. The end result of Emanuel's"genius" was the Republicans won the majority of state legislatures and then won redistricting, and the result is 18 years later we are *still* digging out of that hole, while the fascist asswipes are well on the way to destroying this country before the mid terms and may just pull of the Big Steal in the mid terms.
I just today told the "Hey, vote for me, I'm YOUNGER than the incumbent so I'll be good" former Obama Admin staffer currently trying to win my congressional district that I wouldn't vote for him or any of his buddies because I don't see one of them who appears to have learned one damn thing from their many mistakes. But he says all the shit the "professional consultants" - all former Obamans looking for real jobs - tell him to say.
As far as that $850 million Chicago Taj Mahal (because it's a shrine) obscenity - paid for as thanks by all the billionaire scum he let off the hook in 2008 instead of calling them to account for their financial chicanery because "we must look forward" - is concerned, it may look classier than whatever piece of corrupt shit Dilbert will come up with, but it's still a monument to his service to the people who have stolen this country.
Being that I am not now some "wild-eyed lefty" by any of your definitions, I don't think one has to be a "wild-eyed lefty" to see that administration for what it was. More of the same Doim-o-crap Bullshit from Carter to Clinton to Obama (and I worked for all three). People like you, Noahpinion, ARE the problem.
I will never again vote for any inspirational "there aren't any red states, there aren't any blue states, there's the United States" inexperienced and naive nitwit who didn't "get it" till he found out too late the other side really did want to see him dead.
That's a good post. The people I saw becoming disillusioned with Obama in real time saw him listening to designated experts like Geithner when an entirely disinterested examination of the problem might mean listening to people without the establishment credentials but who were able to argue for the more progressive thing based on their experience in the weeds (or as consumers of health insurance). (Not MMT folks) The people who thought that Obama could do anything and everything I never saw becoming disillusioned.
Obama himself wasn't very woke, but that does not necessarily mean that his administration didn't introduce some woke policies. The classical example is the "Dear colleague" letter on Sexual Violence (2011), which introduced a rather low standard (preponderance of evidence) for punishment, plus mandated a de-facto dual system for a specific subset of crimes that are normally investigated by police and for whose investigation is the academic system fundamentally unsuitable and unprepared.
The practical implementation of this system was far from gender neutral, which was almost certainly the intent. It also resulted in several high-profile cases which played ther part in channeling young men towards the right and away from higher education, which started to be perceived as institutionally hostile against males. Nowadays, some universities are scrambling to get some young men back on board, as the gender imbalance has exceeded comfortable levels and young women suffer from a lack of dating opportunities on campus.
That's all very good. I spent two years, 2007, 2008, fund-raising for Obama. We asked people who had never donated more than $200 ever to a political candidate for $2,500. I spent a lot of time on the phone waiting while the person on the other end recalculated their finances so they could say yes. That's how much they wanted "Change We Can Believe In." What we got was a fakakte the mistakes of which still echo. Right after inauguration, he did the dumbest fucking thing of the entire adminstration and put that motherfucking sonofabitch Rahm Emanuel in as CoS. I watched while that bastard fired Howard Dean - author of the 50-state Strategy that was responsible for the fact Obama had that 60-seat Senate that allowed him to accomplish anything the first two years - and then established that the DNC would support "winnable" races. The next thing he did was decomcission Obama For America, the most effective grassroots operation I had seen in 40 years of political work in the Democratic Party (including 10 years in the 70s "going pro"). The month after that happened, the GOP set up the Tea Party astroturf operation. And then in 2010 - a decennial year! - nobody in the administration including Obama did anything to get people excited about voting, there was no grassroots GOTV, at least not like 2008. The end result of Emanuel's"genius" was the Republicans won the majority of state legislatures and then won redistricting, and the result is 18 years later we are *still* digging out of that hole, while the fascist asswipes are well on the way to destroying this country before the mid terms and may just pull of the Big Steal in the mid terms.
I just today told the "Hey, vote for me, I'm YOUNGER than the incumbent so I'll be good" former Obama Admin staffer currently trying to win my congressional district that I wouldn't vote for him or any of his buddies because I don't see one of them who appears to have learned one damn thing from their many mistakes. But he says all the shit the "professional consultants" - all former Obamans looking for real jobs - tell him to say.
As far as that $850 million Chicago Taj Mahal (because it's a shrine) obscenity - paid for as thanks by all the billionaire scum he let off the hook in 2008 instead of calling them to account for their financial chicanery because "we must look forward" - is concerned, it may look classier than whatever piece of corrupt shit Dilbert will come up with, but it's still a monument to his service to the people who have stolen this country.
Being that I am not now some "wild-eyed lefty" by any of your definitions, I don't think one has to be a "wild-eyed lefty" to see that administration for what it was. More of the same Doim-o-crap Bullshit from Carter to Clinton to Obama (and I worked for all three). People like you, Noahpinion, ARE the problem.
I will never again vote for any inspirational "there aren't any red states, there aren't any blue states, there's the United States" inexperienced and naive nitwit who didn't "get it" till he found out too late the other side really did want to see him dead.
Obama ran on a super simplistic slogan, “Hope and change. " He fed us pipe dreams, but it's our fault that we believed him.
Incidentally, the gentleman owes you a very nice dinner.
Very good analysis, and a timely reminder, Noah.
Isn’t eigenrobot a leftist though, not a right-winger?
I couldn’t agree with you more Noah
That's a good post. The people I saw becoming disillusioned with Obama in real time saw him listening to designated experts like Geithner when an entirely disinterested examination of the problem might mean listening to people without the establishment credentials but who were able to argue for the more progressive thing based on their experience in the weeds (or as consumers of health insurance). (Not MMT folks) The people who thought that Obama could do anything and everything I never saw becoming disillusioned.
And that is a completely un-Obama thing to talk about "whiteness" as if it has any agency whatever.
(Does not. People have agency. They are not vessels for abstract concepts that have agency.)
100% on point!!