Mellow Yellow
I got a gypsy woman givin' me advice
I got some red hot tips I got to keep on ice
--I Got My Mojo Working, Muddy Waters
Look how the world's poor people
are amazed at apparitions, signs and prodigies!
--Venus and Adonis, William Shakespeare
_____________
In his first news conference as president-elect, Obama said most dogs at animal shelters are "mutts like me." AP dutifully reported, "It popped out casually, a throwaway line."
Can anyone be so gullible as to believe this was not scripted?
You are going to talk about the cute puppy dog you have promised to buy your kids, and you have not rehearsed the pound puppy talk before its presentation to the word? This was another brilliant-but so-contrived sop to the still skeptical masses ("I'm just like the best doggies -- a combination of breeds, hybrid vigor and all that. . .")
What has happened to our news outlets, that they must overlay their interpretation of every comment, like a play-by-play sports announcer. Is their audience so malleable or lacking in discernment or brain dead that they feel entitled to do this?
The Obama persona we are being fed is that he is ingenuous. Definitely not uppity or "god-like," as was the unfortunate first impression he gave.
Yet later in the same talk, he gave a jab to former First Lady Nancy Reagan. When talking about consulting with all living former Presidents for input, Obama said snarkily, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."
Some unsolicited advice for Obama: Not all will find your "mutt" comment to be self-effacing, nor your seance comment to be inoffensive. To some blacks, being a mutt equates to being high yellow, a designation that can carry overtones of racial superiority.
In addition, many blacks (as well as whites) put confidence into things of the fifth dimension. Much of the clientele at black palmists and cardreaders arrives after church in their Sunday Going-to-Meeting clothes. This is no slam on card readers. People of all races and affiliations hedge their bets.
But Obama's missing one side of the street if he doesn't know that a large contingent of people haven't cast off superstition. Haven't rejected the thought of getting their mojo working by taking a John the Conqueror bath. Still believe in Conjure Women, and the Pathetic Fallacy.
So by his second comment, Obama negates an absolute ingenuousness. His "muttness" is not enough to ameliorate his apparent separation from the common folk.
Will someone please tell Mr. Obama that if he needs a social adviser from the Deep South/militia/minority p.o.v. to aid him in avoiding these sorts of gaffes, I'm available.
Can anyone be so gullible as to believe this was not scripted?
You are going to talk about the cute puppy dog you have promised to buy your kids, and you have not rehearsed the pound puppy talk before its presentation to the word? This was another brilliant-but so-contrived sop to the still skeptical masses ("I'm just like the best doggies -- a combination of breeds, hybrid vigor and all that. . .")
What has happened to our news outlets, that they must overlay their interpretation of every comment, like a play-by-play sports announcer. Is their audience so malleable or lacking in discernment or brain dead that they feel entitled to do this?
The Obama persona we are being fed is that he is ingenuous. Definitely not uppity or "god-like," as was the unfortunate first impression he gave.
Yet later in the same talk, he gave a jab to former First Lady Nancy Reagan. When talking about consulting with all living former Presidents for input, Obama said snarkily, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."
Some unsolicited advice for Obama: Not all will find your "mutt" comment to be self-effacing, nor your seance comment to be inoffensive. To some blacks, being a mutt equates to being high yellow, a designation that can carry overtones of racial superiority.
In addition, many blacks (as well as whites) put confidence into things of the fifth dimension. Much of the clientele at black palmists and cardreaders arrives after church in their Sunday Going-to-Meeting clothes. This is no slam on card readers. People of all races and affiliations hedge their bets.
But Obama's missing one side of the street if he doesn't know that a large contingent of people haven't cast off superstition. Haven't rejected the thought of getting their mojo working by taking a John the Conqueror bath. Still believe in Conjure Women, and the Pathetic Fallacy.
So by his second comment, Obama negates an absolute ingenuousness. His "muttness" is not enough to ameliorate his apparent separation from the common folk.
Will someone please tell Mr. Obama that if he needs a social adviser from the Deep South/militia/minority p.o.v. to aid him in avoiding these sorts of gaffes, I'm available.
Labels: conjure woman, high yellow, hoodoo, mojo working, obama as mutt, obama says nancy reagan holds seances, st. john the conqueror bath
posted by Lisa at 8:18 PM
12 Comments:
superstition just a
careful not to awaken the demons.....
Oh Brother, where art thou?
Teh brother is a mutt
This movie is a work of referential genius and makes me realize how little I know and how little it matters.
Or, as Will Smith's character says in Mutts in Black: That's a good shot though...
this here mutt, pound puppy, half breed, what have you found more than a little humor in that remark, scripted or not.
p.s. i've kicked more than my share of pedigreed ass.
jay,
I love the Coen Bros. films, and thanks for the review. But... are you saying mine is an "eggheaded socialist vision"?! I don't say things like, "Its ostensibly comic tone is also belied by the bleached colors of its desiccated fields..."
Well, I like the fact that you're open to highly allusive interpretations.
MB,
My family has only ever owned pound puppies; they are the best. (I do feel rather like I'm on the campaign stump right now.)
We are all mongrels in this country, except those who have just arrived from a "pure" lineage, whatever that might be. And the one papered dog we had was a poor excuse for a dog.
Re. your kicking ass comment, I have no doubt about that, bad boy that you are :)
I don't think Obama cares about the deep South POV. They didn't vote for him and won't, after all.
I really don't understand the issue. But then I'm just a mongrel. I thought it amusing and self-deprecating.
Maybe we should impeach the guy.
Lisa: I never quite know how to answer your questions -- are they rhetorical?
The thing about Obama is that he straddles so many divides, he has had to come to terms with all of the [apparent] contradictions in his life. This is something America has yet to do, if ever. (Tuesday was a step forward.) But Obama seems to have taken this approach throughout much of his adult life, trying to reconcile supposed oppositions. Humor is one way of achieving this.
His comment on the seance was essentially an attempt to put the questioner (Lynn Sweet) at ease after she had asked him if he had spoken with any living ex-presidents. It was an infelicitous phrase. Obama made an equally infelicitous response, channeling Nancy Reagan. But it was pretty funny as well.
I don't think he was trying to belittle anyone, but simply finessing a poorly worded question with a less-than-judicious joke.
Maybe he can atone by adopting a voodoo economist along with a mutt? Anyone? Anyone?
Old Bogus,
The point is simply: the press should not be interpreting meaning and intent for us. I feel patronized when the AP says to me, "Gee whiz, what a regular guy -- he just tossed that one out here like a dog biscuit. He didn't even think about it. . ."
No, let me decide if that was a clever use of the mongrel imagery, or if it was spontaneous. The press should report, not impose analysis of intent.
Badtux,
[stifling a sniffle.]
Jay,
No, I'm serious -- I'd like to help O. bridge that militia/regional divide. I'm available, with impeccable references.
"It was an attempt to put the questioner at ease after she had asked him if he had spoken with any living ex-presidents" -- why should that straightforward question req. putting anyone at ease? It deserves an equally straightforward answer.
I just look for fair and balanced (me and FOX.) If, say, Bush had said it, we might be fairly horrified at the insensitivity, flipness and obliviousness of the response.
I don't give anyone a pass. And the press is giving Obama passes, and in fact, forcing positive interpretations on what should be straight reportage.
I resent being patronized.
Now, a voodoo economist might be a balance. I appreciate the thought, but I think we've all had enough of them, right?
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