Grounds for Complaint
Let me acknowledge now that Prometheus 6 has *enormous* *justified* grounds for complaint--not just in 2006, but now and for as far in the future as eyes can see.
I'm reminding you of this now so I have all the grounds for complaint I need in 2006 | Prometheus 6: There are three posts from my archives I'd like you to read, in order.
Come get yer identity politics right here http://www.prometheus6.org/node/1564
Atrios and Tapped never read my blog (with comments by Brad DeLong) http://www.prometheus6.org/node/1577
I think I have too many RSS feeds http://www.prometheus6.org/node/1578
The point?
1. The issues that inform the posts have never been addressed
2. I have always been difficult-don't expect that shit to change
All are well worth reading.
Also worth reading...
The Carpetbagger Report notes Dan Froomkin's jaw drop at the idea that 31% of Americans think that George W. Bush doesn't care about African-Americans:
Carpetbagger: Dan Froomkin raised a point today that should be a striking wake-up call to the entire Bush gang: a significant percentage of the public seems to believe the president is willing to leave African Americans behind. Froomkin pointed to a Gallup poll that asked respondents whether they believe Bush does, or does not, "care about black people."
Among blacks, 21 percent say he does and 72 percent say he doesn't.
Among whites, 67 percent say he does and 26 percent say he doesn't.
Overall, 62 percent say he does and 31 percent say he doesn't.
Obviously, that's a pretty dramatic rift. But consider the absolute numbers: Three out of four blacks, one out of four whites, and one out of three people across the country regardless of race actually believe that President Bush doesn't care about black people.
Sorry, but the question: "Does the president of the United State care about black people" should be a no-brainer. Of course he does should be the overwhelmingly common answer.... Here's a question for Washington's punditocracy: What percentage of people believing that the president doesn't care about black people should be considered alarming?
And Ezra Klein observes Dan's brother Michael saying:
Ezra Klein: How It Is: Michael Froomkin is 200% correct here:
The Bush administration has an admirable record of appointing African-Americans to top posts. And despite the occasional strange incident, I don't think it is a racist administration. Rather, it's thoroughly classist. Kleptocratic even. For as far as I can tell, what George Bush -- and his team -- don't care about is poor people. All poor people. No sympathy (in the sense of a sympathetic or shared understanding) at all.
I think that Michael is correct: Bush's lack of care about poor African-Americans in New Orleans is a result of his not caring about poor people, not of his not caring about African Americans per se
But Ezra adds an important corollary: George W. Bush is very willing to--eager to, even--send the standard Republican signals that if they don't like Black people, the Republican Party is their home:
The one thing to remember, though, is that Bush is happy to exploit racism in favor of kleptocratic ends. He didn't, for instance, run for president to screw over black people, but he did win the South Carolina primary by embracing Bob Jones U., home of the nation's most racially regressive dating policies. Intentions-wise, it's not quite the same, but it ends up looking awfully similar.
