Anti-intellectual crusade against Obama continues
OPINION - Perhaps Perry was too busy digging Texas into an even bigger ditch to notice at the time, but the 'otherizing' of Barack Obama already failed in 2008...
Though it takes Rick Perry a little longer than most of his peers to remember complicated matters like his own political agenda, he seems to recognize at least one thing: His dreams of the presidency are fading fast amidst one embarrassing gaffe after another. And like most people in his situation, he’s desperate and doing whatever it takes to return back to both the spotlight and his old position in the polls.
Gov. Perry’s methodology continues to prove increasingly nefarious — beginning with revisiting the stale conspiracy theory about President Obama not being a real American citizen and currently resorting to making up his own stories about him along with his background.
WATCH REV. AL SHARPTON’S COVERAGE OF ‘LAZY’ GOP ATTACKS:
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In a new campaign ad entitled “Lazy” released earlier this week, Perry takes the president to task over for believing “that Americans are lazy.” Perry says, “That’s pathetic. It’s time to clean house in Washington.” Problem is that Obama’s comment wasn’t directed at Americans specifically, but rather America’s policy-matters who have failed to appeal to global businesses. Obama said: “We’ve kind of taken for granted, well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America.”
Texas two-stepping around the facts hasn’t prevented Perry from still talking and carrying on with his projections. In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Perry claimed that Obama’s “lazy” comment was a signal that he comes from a certain pedigree. “He grew up in a privileged way,” Perry said. “He never had to really work for anything, he never had to go through what Americans are going through,” Perry noted, in an attempt to paint Obama as someone far removed from the average American.
Perhaps Perry was too busy digging Texas into an even bigger ditch to notice at the time, but the “otherizing” of Barack Obama already failed in 2008. Despite several attempts to paint Obama as an elitist liberal so unlike the average American (re: white), most acknowledged and actually celebrated him for coming from modest means, working hard and becoming successful as a result. Moreover, Obama was further lauded by opting to work as a community organizer instead of accepting a job at a high-powered law firm once he graduated from Harvard Law School.
Obama’s narrative is the quintessential American story yet Perry wants to not so subtly rehash the stereotype that the president is nothing more than a product of affirmative action. Oh and a know it all. Perry also opined: “His thinking that he’s the smartest guy in the room has hurt America around the world, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. And I think that mentality of ‘I’m the smartest guy in the room and therefore it couldn’t be my fault’ is really hurting America.’”
Exploiting anti-intellectualism is nothing new for Republicans, though trying to paint Obama as some privileged pedant won’t make Perry a GOP favorite again. If anything, all it does it highlight just how privileged white men like Rick Perry are.
Although he himself grew up poor in rural Texas, Rick Perry is fortunate that being the smartest man in the room is a burden he has never had to bear. Where as President Obama’s academic highlights include being elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Perry graduated from Texas A&M with a 2.2 GPA.
Of the 8 D’s he scored in college, one was in principles of economics. Now if Obama traded his Ivy League education and community organizer background for Perry’s so-so student and college cheerleader past his place in politics would probably be nothing more than being Herman Cain’s hype man.
Grades aren’t always an indicator of intelligence, but not being able to form coherent sentences is — a constant of Perry’s presidential bid thus far. The same can be said of his inability to see something when it’s staring right in front of him. Say, a sign for a hunting camp called “Ni**erhead.” That is a testament to Rick Perry’s actual privilege. As is that whole story not disqualifying his quest for the GOP presidential nomination.
Right now many major cities are enthralled with mass protests complaining of the growing economic inequality in this country. Though I support their efforts, for many blacks this reality is nothing new. America does indeed deserve frank discussions about unfairness in our society, but not in the form of fallacious and hypocritical rants from stupid white men like Governor Perry who benefit most from it.
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