{"id":84,"date":"2010-10-19T14:43:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T18:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=84"},"modified":"2010-10-19T14:43:52","modified_gmt":"2010-10-19T18:43:52","slug":"adventures-in-rhetoric-with-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/10\/19\/adventures-in-rhetoric-with-barack-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Rhetoric with Barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My liberal friends recently received a taste of the lecturing, condescension and caricature that Barack Obama has consistently cast in the direction of conservatives. \u00a0Progressives needed to \u201cbuck up,\u201d said the President in a Rolling Stone <\/em>interview<\/a>, and appreciate the truly wonderful things that he had accomplished on their behalf. \u00a0To those who felt that Obamacare should have moved toward single-payer, or at least included a government option, he replied that they should not complain just because the reform did not include \u201call the bells and whistles\u201d they had wanted. \u00a0(As though single-payer or a government option would be a mere add-on.) \u00a0Instead of taking their concerns and criticisms seriously, President Obama belittled them, psychologized them, and then gave a little criticism in return. \u00a0He likened disappointed liberals to children who, when the game does not go their way, pick up the ball and go home. \u00a0He was starting to believe that they had not really been true believers after all.<\/p>\n

One wonders what world Barack Obama lives in, where he believes that this kind of stern talking-to, dripping with regal condescension, would be well received. \u00a0In a sense, however, I was glad that my liberal friends could feel what it is like to be on the receiving end of one of these lectures.<\/p>\n

Now let me be clear: I have made it the goal of this blog to speak honestly of both sides of the political aisle. \u00a0Are conservatives guilty also of rhetoric that is belittling and deceptive? \u00a0Absolutely. \u00a0I happen to believe that President Bush sought to be more straightforward and honest, but I do not for a moment believe that this kind of criticism only runs way. \u00a0My only point \u2014 my only point \u2014 is that Obama is guilty \u2014 frequently guilty \u2014 and should be called on his verbal manipulations. \u00a0In this post I will point to two examples:<\/p>\n

FIRST, Obama\u2019s diagnosis of the American electorate and why it is upset with his leadership: \u201cPart of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and [part of the reason that] facts and science and argument [do] not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we\u2019re hard-wired not to think clearly when we\u2019re scared. And the country is scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is reminiscent of the infamous \u201cbitter clingers\u201d quotation, where Obama, addressing elites in San Francisco, explained the social conservatism of flyover country (\u201cclinging to God and guns\u201d) as due to fear and hopelessness. \u00a0The pattern is identical \u2014 and a classic interpretive move in academic circles. \u00a0You can call it the\u00a0What\u2019s the Matter with Kansas<\/em> approach, named for the book which explained the great mystery of why a state would be conservative. \u00a0Since the liberal point of view is obviously correct, and any reasoning person would see so, those who choose the conservative point of view are either deceived or deluded. \u00a0People do not believe X for the reason they think; they really<\/strong> believe X because they are afraid, insecure, bigoted, hateful, educated, etc.<\/p>\n

What is so convenient about this explanatory maneuver is that it lets the (in this case) liberal pretend that people\u2019s rejections of their views have nothing to do with reason. \u00a0There is no need to take this rejection seriously; it is not a failing of the ideas themselves, but a failure on the part of liberals (who just don\u2019t understand what it\u2019s like to be so dominated by irrational impulses) to get those ideas through the thick skulls of the plebes.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s diagnosis of the electorate is classic Obama. \u00a0Science and facts and reason are on his side \u2014 and apparently his side alone. \u00a0Those who oppose him are so paralyzed with fear that they are unable to think clearly. \u00a0I don\u2019t think it is unduly partisan to say that this is arrogance on a grand scale.<\/p>\n

SECOND, observe the way in which Obama makes his allegations regarding the Chamber of Commerce receiving foreign funding, so that foreign entities could be influencing American elections through the Chamber. \u00a0If the first example was one of caricature; this is just an example of duplicitousness. \u00a0I cannot break it down better than George Will<\/a>, so I will just turn it over to him here:<\/p>\n

[Obama] recently said: \u201cJust this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations. So groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.\u201d It takes a perverse craftsmanship to write something that slippery. Consider:<\/p>\n

\u201cJust this week, we learned. . . .\u201d That is a fib. The fact that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce \u2014 this is what he is talking about but for some reason is reluctant to say so \u2014 receives membership dues from multinational corporations, some of them foreign-owned, is not something Obama suddenly \u201clearned.\u201d It is about as secret as the location of the chamber\u2019s headquarters, a leisurely three-minute walk from the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegularly takes in money from foreign corporations.\u201d Obama cites no evidence to refute the chamber\u2019s contention that it sequesters such funds \u2014 less than one-twentieth of 1 percent of its budget \u2014 from the money it devotes to political advocacy. The AFL-CIO, which spends heavily in support of Democratic candidates, also receives money from\u00a0associated labor entities abroad<\/a>, but Obama has not expressed angst about this.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.\u201d The \u201cso\u201d is a Nixonian touch. It dishonestly implies what Obama prudently flinches from charging \u2014 that the \u201chuge sums\u201d are foreign money.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obama\u2019s statement is carefully crafted to give a false impression. \u00a0The Chamber receives a very small amount of funds from overseas, and is spending huge sums on this election, but we are obviously supposed to blend these two innocent facts together into one guilty contention \u2014 that the chamber is receiving huge sums from foreign corporations to influence American elections.<\/p>\n

Such is the rhetoric of Barack Obama. \u00a0Subtle, slippery \u2014 and, in the end, dishonest. \u00a0We cannot accept rhetoric as usual. \u00a0We need to call for honesty. \u00a0In these last two weeks of campaigning that will be filled with insinuations, guilt by association, digging into college and high school records, anonymous allegations, and the like \u2014 we need to call for a charitable and honest conversation on our political future.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My liberal friends recently received a taste of the lecturing, condescension and caricature that Barack Obama has consistently cast in the direction of conservatives. \u00a0Progressives needed to \u201cbuck up,\u201d said the President in a Rolling Stone interview, and appreciate the truly wonderful things that he had accomplished on their behalf. \u00a0To those who felt that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-approach-to-politics","category-the-ethics-of-rhetoric"],"yoast_head":"\nAdventures in Rhetoric with Barack Obama - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My liberal friends recently received a taste of the lecturing, condescension and caricature that Barack Obama has consistently cast in the direction of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/10\/19\/adventures-in-rhetoric-with-barack-obama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adventures in Rhetoric with Barack Obama - 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