Saturday, March 07, 2009
The dog whistle blows "mad cool"
TigerHawk friend and regular comment troll Chris Chambers links to this interesting article and video about Barack Obama's "dog whistle" politics. Lede, but read the whole thing:
On his pre-inaugural visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a landmark for Washington’s African-American community, President Barack Obama was asked by a cashier if he wanted his change back.
“Nah, we straight,” Obama replied.
The phrase was so subtle some listeners missed it. The reporter on pool duty quoted Obama as saying, “No, we’re straight.”
But many other listeners did not miss it. A video of the exchange became an Internet hit, and there was a clear moment of recognition among many blacks, who got a kick out of their Harvard-educated president sounding, as one commenter wrote on a hip-hop site, “mad cool.”
How are Republicans going to compete with that? The answer is that they should not try.
12 Comments:
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Sat Mar 07, 02:54:00 PM:
I love the Chili Bowl, it's the greatest!
You have to go there when you are in DC.
My nephews (3 & 5) love it too!!!
By 
, at
Sat Mar 07, 05:28:00 PM:
Actually, Republicans should post that on Youtube and make a big deal of it.
The First Black President is indeed, Black.
That is, he puts his race and racial identity to the forefront, and favors Blacks over Whites.
"Naw, we straight" among Blacks is a big giant flag that Obama cares about being "Black Enough" and catering to the racist, anti-White feelings of most Blacks.
A White guy cannot and will not get a break from an Obama and Democratic administration that hates Whites and favors Blacks.
The nation is 12.5% Black. It is about 70% or so White. A President who reflexively adopts "black" ways of speaking around Blacks, and hip-hop, rap, and all the anti-White and anti-mainstream views therein, is the enemy of White voters (excepting those so rich and powerful that it's irrelevant).
This is why Robert Reich said no White Men need apply for spendulus money, and why Obama constantly adopts either Jeremiah Wright "evil Whitey" attitudes, condones, them, allows them in his AG, or speaks "Black."
This should be in every Republican commercial. "Nah we good" tells every White voter that Obama does indeed hate them, like nearly all Blacks cling to an outmoded "Black" identity constructed around hatred of Whites (see Kanye West, calling OJ "amazing.")
By Steve Burri, at
Sat Mar 07, 06:49:00 PM:
That Obama is really groovy. Neato!
See, we conservative gots the hip, mad language skills, too.
By , at
Sat Mar 07, 06:52:00 PM:
Criminy! There goes the hip-hop vote.
What will David Brooks say about that?
-David
By , at
Sat Mar 07, 07:46:00 PM:
Oy vey.
We're going to feel threatened if a black president acts black? Is he going to be criticized if he tucks into a bucket of kfc?
I'm finding this presidency to be dismal and Carteresque already. At least we can enjoy watching the journalists thumbing through their Urban English Quick References.
Check out this week's Bagehot, in which the President teases PM Brown about tennis, "I hear you gotta game". Oh, those limeys crack me up. Salves some of my chagrin over the gift DVDs.
By Automatic_Wing , at
Sat Mar 07, 08:39:00 PM:
I'll only object if he mandates bilingual English/Ebonics street signs a la Canada.
By Escort81, at
Sat Mar 07, 08:44:00 PM:
Anon 5:28 -
catering to the racist, anti-White feelings of most Blacks
Most Black folks are anti-White?
Who knew?
I don't know any African-Americans who fit that description.
This is not to say that racism and "reverse racism" are not present in the society. I don't see it much (except for your post). Hate is an awfully strong word. Perhaps resentment?
By , at
Sun Mar 08, 03:46:00 AM:
that's "dawg whistle", you morons.
By , at
Sun Mar 08, 10:40:00 AM:
I saw this as more telling about the fawning media coverage Obama gets. He uses some slang, and he's credited with mystical communication skills.
Now if he had flashed some gang hand signs, I'd be really impressed.
Link
By , at
Sun Mar 08, 11:04:00 AM:
Didn't Obama give a speech in Iowa (Vermont?) where he promised, if elected, to NEVER integrate college basketball or the Congressional Black Caucus?
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Mar 08, 07:11:00 PM:
By Noocyte, at
Mon Mar 09, 12:35:00 AM:
Actually, this makes me uncomfortable not for the slang itself (because, seriously, whatever), but for the glimpse unto the man's process.
I recall listening during the campaign to the interview in which he was talking about the courts not having enough of a hand in redistributionist policies (you know the one). His vocabulary, inflection, and cadence were strikingly neutral and professorial, in very sharp contrast to the Baptist-pulpit-inspired intonations, with rising and falling notes, and call-and-response style from the campaign trail. Nary a colloquialism nor a bit of prosodic embellishment was there to be found in that earlier interview.
Some might think of this ability to "code-switch" so smoothly and completely as an advantageous versatility. But it makes me a bit itchy, since it speaks to me of a lack of a coherent inner voice. For someone to slip so seamlessly between such different modes of speech in order to infiltrate the the back channels of a given target group's communicative comfort zones so as to influence and persuade gives me a bit of a chill (or leaves me much less chill, depending). He's doing eerily well the very thing which Hillary made such an ass of herself trying to do so transparently and cartoonishly during her run.
Unity and coherence and steadfast congruence are qualities I seek in an Executive. Colloquial cuttle-fish are much better suited to the Hill or to Foggy Bottom.
