Wednesday, June 30, 2010
A metaphor too far
Tom Maguire takes a long, hard look at Kathleen Parker's "Big Idea" that, just as Bill Clinton was "our first black president" (itself a claim forever offensive to fans of Warren Gamaliel Harding), Barack Obama is our "first woman president." Dang, that's a big old mountain of stupid shit. Y'ask me. Fortunately, Tom, as usual, is deftly subtle where I can only drop S-bombs:
What, a woman couldn't have handled the gulf mess? Geez, cleaning up after others is one of the many things they are good at. Stereotypically, of course.
I'm going to climb out on a limb and say that Barack Obama is not be nearly as happy to be Parker's "first woman President" as Bill Clinton was about Toni Morrison's approval. Not that he has the guts to say so, of course.
Natch, RTWT.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Jun 30, 03:46:00 PM:
So there I was this morning reading my WAPO and I spotted this from Kathleen Parker and I thought this will be good. It was not. It was awful and I did not get it. I find her to be extremely hit or miss and unfortunately way more misses than hits.
Personally her knocks on G.W. have grown tiresome and her desires to try to play it down the line is unnecessary as a columnist.
By 
JPMcT, at
Wed Jun 30, 03:56:00 PM:
Sooo...what are the qualities that Ms. Parker things are "womanly"?
Incompetence.
Deceitfulness with long standing friends.
Embarassment for one's own roots.
Budget destructive behavior.
Giving cheesy gifts to important people.
Befriending those who threaten your home.
Disdain for the concept of hard work.
Obsessive vanity.
etc. etc. etc.
I will take this opportunity to apologize to American women on behalf of Ms. Parker. My mom certainly didn't raise no Obama.
By frostbite9, at
Wed Jun 30, 04:23:00 PM:
So glad you're posting regularly again. Generally speaking, I'm a Maddow-loving, Clinton-reminiscing, dyed-in-the-wool ivory tower liberal, but I read your blog regularly. It's the only conservative one I can quite stomach.
By , at
Wed Jun 30, 11:00:00 PM:
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Wed Jun 30, 11:44:00 PM:
JKB over at neo commented "Well, if Obama is a girly man, he’s a mean girl. Small, petty, vindictive, and always deride those who are his betters."
Actually, there were guys in high school who hung around with the Mean Girls and could do them one better.
By Sissy Willis, at
Thu Jul 01, 10:35:00 AM:
As I asked rhetorically in Ben Smith's comments at Politico:
And if Sarah Palin were to become Leader of the Free World, given her SURPLUS of the "rhetorical testosterone" Obama lacks, will she be our first transvestite president?
By , at
Thu Jul 01, 05:36:00 PM:
I've looked at several Harding pictures. I see no hint of black ancestry. Perhaps his great grandmother was 1/4 black??? I've seen many black people in the District of all shapes, size, and colors. I'm wondering if this is fact (that is, irrefutable fact).
I thought the race for first woman President was between Woodrow Wilson's wife (after his stroke), Nancy Reagan, and Hilary Clinton.
Michelle Obama?
By victoria, at
Thu Jul 01, 11:05:00 PM:
Guess Kathleen Parker's program will be one less I'll be watching. Please.
By , at
Fri Jul 02, 11:57:00 AM:
Like Warren Harding, John Boehner hails from Ohio -- actually just over the border from Kentucky. A lot of white folks in that region have some black ancestry. Just speculating, but this might account for Boehner's perpetual tan -- Boehner might even fail the Paper Bag Test. If so, Boehner would have more Afro-American roots than Obama.
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Fri Jul 02, 07:36:00 PM:
Harding was rumored to have a black great grandparent - considered a stain in those times. His biography 30 years ago was called The Shadow of Blooming Grove in reference to that. I read it about 20 years ago, maybe more. Harding may have been unfairly maligned, as his level of corruption was not much worse than was common. Still, the corruption seems to have been real, and even the benefit of all doubt would not raise him up much in the estimation of historians.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Blooming-Grove-Warren-Harding/dp/0070543380
