Monday, July 9, 2012

Fifteen Kids and Three Baby Daddies: Of Welfare Queens and the Guilt of President Obama by (Black) Association


This is going to be a huge story in the Right-wing media. 

The 2012 presidential election is going to be very, very close. It is a given that Mitt Romney and the Tea Party GOP will use any means necessary to defeat Barack Obama--honorable or otherwise. In addition, they are much buoyed by the recent unemployment data which suggests a further stagnating economy and an extremely vulnerable incumbent: no President in the modern era has won reelection with unemployment figures as dismal as those offered up on Friday.

In these next few months I am going to be detailing the nuts and bolts of how Mitt Romney and the Tea Party GOP are going to use sophisticated appeals to white racial resentment in order to defeat the country's first President who happens not to be white. 

For example, as I suggest here, Mitt Romney's "Obama isn't working" slogan is one of the most nakedly racist campaign slogans which American politics has seen in many years. 

This is part of a broader strategy. The Republican primaries featured almost every degenerate and racist stereotype that can be used to slur black personhood and humanity: their strategy was so brazen that it even included a "black" candidate named Herman Cain who was a walking double-corked, race minstrel. 

The 2012 election will only see more of this Southern Strategy 2.0 redoubled for the Age of Obama.

To this point, the Tea Party GOP has successful deployed Ayn Rand conservatism, with its language of "surplus/unproductive" people and "job creating" citizens, to hoodwink the white authoritarian inclined populist classes into supporting policies which are against their immediate political and economic self-interest(s). 

Attitudes about the State, "big government," and taxes are closely tied to racial animus and hostility. These are dog whistles and code words for white conservatives which enable them to talk about "lazy" black and brown people. Without exception, these appeals are rarely, if ever, centered on how the white middle class is subsidized by the submerged state.

Consequently, the mouth-breathing Tea Party Populists who want lower taxes and a strong national defense (or alternatively, love Social Security and despise "big government") can valorize themselves as "real Americans" and the "guardians" of the national prosperity despite the internal inconsistency of their own political views.

As Martin Gilens and others have smartly detailed, beliefs about poverty are inexorably connected to stereotypes about race. In the white popular imagination, to be poor equals to be a person of color. Gender is part of this narrative as well. This is especially true in the Right-wing conservative imagination: women are to be controlled by men. Black and brown women especially so. 

Political narratives about poverty are also claims about morality, as well as the value of certain groups of people over others. Because conservatives are incapable of acknowledging the force and power of social structures in determining life chances, poor people are framed as being immoral, lazy, craven, decadent. and
They deserve their circumstances. As such, they should be "dispensed" with.

Stories such as the above about a black woman with more than a dozen children by numerous men are going to be increasingly common as the 2012 Presidential election approaches. 

Why? Stories about "professional victims" activate white racial resentment. Such feelings work to win over independent leaning whites and solidify conservatives in their hostility towards President Obama. Because political ideologies are part of a bundle of beliefs that are not cleanly separated, political attitudes which link black and brown folks together (in however tenuous a manner) with poverty and crime have great currency in American politics. 

This racial frame can be easily applied to other issues. It synergizes with the ghetto underclass meme and the Welfare Queen stereotype. Consequently, it also hurts President Obama on issues like healthcare reform and the economy. On the surface, these issues would appear to have little to do with matters of race. However, conservatives understand that if they can attach a black or brown face to any matter of public concern, this move could potentially undermine white public support for the President. 

Ultimately, it does not matter that health care reform should be a race neutral issue, or that poor whites outnumber poor people of color. Alternatively, that we can construct similar stories about wayward white baby daddies, fecund irresponsible white women with kids by multiple fathers with no resources or jobs, and who live on the public dole with hands out expecting Joe Q. Public to support their irresponsible habits, and said narratives are rarely circulated via the mass media.

Since the 1960s, the face of poverty in America has been African American. As such, "black" poverty and "black" degeneracy will be repeated themes in Romney's Ayn Rand-like campaign language of "productive citizens," "job creators," and "lazy" "parasites."

President Obama is guilty by (black) association. There is little, even allowing for a Bill Clinton Sistah Souljah moment, that Obama can do to remove such a vulnerability. Consequently, it is critical that this Right-wing con game be called out at every opportunity.

29 comments:

CNu said...

Must one be white to resent the inordinate resources squandered because this irresponsible simpleton can't seem to keep her legs closed?

{not to mention the "platoon of ignants" in production at the intersection of the state and irresponsible simpleton}

Anonymous said...

It's pretty impressive that she was able to have 15 kids in the less than 4 years Obama was in office. Isn't this really a product of the W. administration?

(But yes, I see your point. Very Reaganesque.)

Anonymous said...

Sad. I have to get to work right now but, sad. Not that I resent that others need help. She clearly has some developmental issues. But, this is exactly what is oftten used and will be used to justify all of those anti-black policies.

Bruto Alto said...

The last three stories on this page have been about the "extremes"
of black culture. Coonery of Cain TV, Baby Momma drama, and Hip hop and sex. Are you taking these as the norm? Could you have found stories on the other side of the same spectrum just as easy as this stuff? These stories are found in every race. My question is what was the purpose?

If you think this is a reason to use the them and Us thing again then it's of bad taste.

chaunceydevega said...

@Bruto. I appreciate your concerns. Remember, this site is not about hugs and nice stories of the day to build up the self-esteem of undersiege black folks who need to be empowered emotionally.

I am calling out some serious matters in the hope that we can get ahead of the curve. There is lots of content here on WARN. I am sure you can find something that fits your mood. As we get ready for the upcoming election, and the kitchen sink is going to be thrown at black and brown folks in order to unseat Obama, what would you prefer we discuss?

@Nicole. She is a member of the "productive" class.

@Sabrina. As I said, she fits perfect with the Ayn Rand Tea Party GOP themes we are seeing now.

@Cnu. Of course not. But reasonable folks do not conflate this hot mess with black people more generally.

Anonymous said...

How is reporting a legitimate news item an attack on President Obama?

Is it also racist when Obama repeatedly says that efforts of the other party aren't working?

Would this lady be better off if she had a nice white limo to ride around in? http://www.suntimes.com/13679106-761/limo-riding-men-charged-with-wrigleyville-beatings-were-shooting-a-rap-video-relatives.html

Anonymous said...

Bruto

Super post and insight of course CD's response was expected his level of denial is acute now along with his defensiveness.

Of course CD and his cheerleaders will vomit out some nonsense about this type of blogging is productive and evidence if tough love he has for the Black community .

CD will soon if you continue to target this destructive race driven mantra of late on WARN will start calling you names etc..

It is tragic observing the meltdown and decay of WARN it offered so much value and function until CD got the 'big head' and employed a inverse race model to validate for his white liberal posters how he can with some standing attack negroes and coloreds with the same verve he does the usual red necks..

Of course none of WARN's efforts this year have really indicted white liberal racism much CD loves the laziness of cheap hanging fruit racism( redneck shit )..

Thanks again for your post I do expect more angst from other posters who agree with you and me ..

Just sayin....

chaunceydevega said...

@Anon1. Read my original post on the subject. Romney's claim is that Obama isn't working. Given that the GOP is a de facto white nationalist party, how its candidates have historically based their post 1960s campaigns on white resentment against "lazy" and "criminal" blacks, and we had a panoply of 2012 gop candidates calling black people lazy parasites who should learn a work ethic, the intent is pretty clear.

@anon. Again, Really? I am playing chess and you are hung up on checkers. Do you even read what I write or are you just reacting to a video? Up the reading comprehension. Please. At this point you are just a heckler who is writing long responses to blog by proxy. You are not contributing at all to the conversation, moving it forward, or engaging the claims.


Again, as I keep asking, if you are so disappointed and miserable, why waste your time here? Move along.

Anonymous said...

@ Mr. Chauncey:

If Romney's intent were really that clear, he would have called Obama lazy. Instead, he said "Obama isn't working", just like millions have said "Obamacare isn't working" (and Obama also calls it that), Democrats say "Conservatism isn't working", and some could say "your argument isn't working".

Then again, based on the amount of time Mr. Obama spends not working, it would be fair to say that "Obama isn't working full time at the job he's getting full time pay to do." Or one could settle for the bumper sticker version that Romney selected.

chaunceydevega said...

@Anon. "Then again, based on the amount of time Mr. Obama spends not working, it would be fair to say that "Obama isn't working full time at the job he's getting full time pay to do."

You proved my point. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

@ Mr. Chauncey
Sorry, no. Point NOT proven. There is considerable real estate between calling somebody lazy and pointing out that his considerable efforts are not being used for the job he's being paid to do.

"It is critical that this con game be called out at every opportunity",
if you don't mind being quoted.

chaunceydevega said...

@Anon. Again, you prove how deep these anti-black stereotypes are: they are a type of common sense for many people in this country.

What evidence do you have of Obama being "lazy?"

Got to be careful, one of those shiftless negroes may con the country into being president so they can party, play basketball, and tear up the White House all day and night.

Anonymous said...

@ Mr. Chauncey: I must admit, you are a hoot and a half, a veritable
conundrum of counterintuitivity.

On an article tagged "black respectability", you are the only one connecting Obama with "lazy".
What evidence do you have?

Be careful, you may end up disproving your own point,

Anonymous said...

Was it really expected to be any different? In modern America, since the Southorn Strategy Republican have been banking the political careers on being able to sufficiently demonize blacks. It's worked for them more times than not. And of course, we've not exactly made hard targets. Jesse Jackson provided ammo, Al Sharpton shouldn't have even tried, Colin Powell along with sane black Republican know better and Cain sought to make it an opportunity rather than a serious consideration. I think Obama stumped them. They couldn't go back and find a childhood friend with rollers in her hair to put in from of the camera and claim he is her baby daddy they couldn't go back to his thrid grade teacher and shove a mic in her face to explain how he had behavioral problems and violence prone. He was a puzzle because his white parents knew how to keep jim out of the cycle. A unique case indeed, not so easily knocked down. They tried though. Shocked the hell out of them when he won with a huge majority. People liked him, had hope with him. And to some extent many of them still do.

When people look at him they don't see welfare queen material. How much of that is carefully crafted by his image advisors ensuring that most of his photo ops are with poor whites or others and, if black, mostly children who represent the future? I don't know. Sure, we'll get the usual fare, actually more than usual given the money being thrown at this but, it is going to be tough making it stick to him.

Obama is stuck between liberals being dissatisfied with him and Republicans who hate him because, well, just because. The liberals are not going to be swayed by the video and the Republicans will only have their resolve confirmed. Those two combined and he is still polling above Romney. Obama will be his own worst enemy if he can't link the Republicans with sabotaging the country for political gain.

Full disclosure:

I am one of those dissatisfied liberals but I am going to vote for Obama again. I cannot bring myself to vote for a Republican after these past few years. Before Bush, i was in favor of blacks hedging their political bets, playing one party off another but, there is no way I can, in good conscious support what that party embodies. Too, for me, not to vote is the same as voting for a Republican. And third party, at this point, is the same as not voting.

Anonymous said...

CD,

You are a hack..I am a heckler...Works for me

Sabrinabee

Yawn..

Anon,

Keep em coming..

Anonymous said...

Anon,

You know, i've tried to be civil with you, even when half the stuff you say makes sense only to you. You prove yourself, more and more, to be an envious little troll. No wonder you take such offense to criticism of ghetto culture, it embodies the same childlike, undeveloped, emotional, lack of awareness that you display here. I can easily see the woman illustrated in te video, being a baby momma of yours.

So, i looked up the term Jigaboo because I wanted to make an informed decision on whether CNu was correct in assessing you as such. The Urban dictionary has a slew of definitions but, I picked number four, just for you.

Jigaboo:

An African American who: Sits on someone else's stoop all day, drinks 40oz constantly, trades food stamps for crack, and stares at the neighbor's kids.

I thought it a fitting metaphor for what you do here.

CNu assessed you correctly. At least you'll be in like company when the death squads do come.

CNu said...

Rotflmbao...,

Sistah Bee is TRUTH!!!

Accept no substitutes...,

Anonymous2 said...

See? That's probably the worst thing about kimosabe's calumny. It's contagious. Don't go there, bee.

nomad said...

"I think I would pick up on that part of the black oral tradition of signifying and the like."

Is a racial slur like "jiggaboo" playing the dozens? I move that that be banned. Is threatening to kick someone's ass playing the dozens? Ban that too. Then I won't have to curse nobody out again.

bruto alto said...

@CDv
I understand the need to call out these stories but what I don't understand is who in your eyes gets the blame.

Do you blame the Latin owned Florida company that did the vision for the Albert video? (the shooting of his "hose" on the girls face) Do you blame the parents?

Do you blame the puppet Cain or Media Research Center? MRC had a known history of these stunts (Allen West)

My point is don't crap of Cain for Cain TV. The general public knows "Cain is insane". Call out MRC for their slanted views of black culture.
Call out the Latin studio for it's poor vision. The Black people here are out for money and are willing to sell their souls to get it. Yet how many other races do it just as much.

Some people here are using name calling as a way to seperate themselves from other black people. I would like to remind them that it takes the best of us to improve the worst. Not much seperates them from the ignats they mock. Education, Wealth, and white friends still means your skin is less than respected in majority of america. I don't need black people to echo the same crap that's fed to me daily by whites.

CNu said...

Some people here are using name calling as a way to seperate themselves from other black people.

Don't pussyfoot Bruto Alto. I call whiny-assed old crabs in a bucket, mad about their own serial failings, and insistent on thought-policing other notmad black folk - "jiggaboos".

One of the most fascinating characteristics of the jigga-BOO is his aggressive and belligerent insistence on racial solidarity defined as conformity with and acceptance of whatever he says or does - and - racial partisanship above all else.

I reject that POV and I reject its proponents.

I would like to remind them that it takes the best of us to improve the worst.

Read Schuyler's Black Empire and then read his autobiography Black and Conservative. Everything else is foolish, hollow, and fruitless conversation...,

Anonymous said...

Sabrinabee

Thanks yet again why discounting your comments is the approach that you deserve,

Not only did you post petty and snarky retort but to yet again validate CNu's death squad theme for me is sad.

I would wager your persona is also in the urban dictionary as a functionary of ghetto crew always in the background agitating and pumping up the bullies ...

Anonymous said...

Anon, 

Always, in the background agitating? What are you talking about fool? I have hardly been here in the past few weeks and when I do, believe me, I make an effort to skip your nonsense.  I am waiting for that discounting to begin. It should be evident by now that I don't really care if you do. I was not the one trying to bait you into "an audience" As I said, I practice ignoring your posts and cannot honestly place what most of your moaning is about? You have been chalked off as an envious poster long ago. I have been perfectly willing to let you run around and make an ass out of yourself. You got the audience but not the one you would like. Now, let's go back to the way we were before this past week, with me ignoring your nonsense posts and you acting as if I didn't exist. Somebody has to start the ignoring so I will gladly begin from, now.

Anon2, 

Don't go where? I responded to anon exactly the way he wanted me to. I didn't goad him, I didn't seek his attention, nor did I ask for anyone's help in defending me when he was making his disparaging comments in the prior post, seeking my collusion in defending him in the fights he picks with CNu and CD. I have taken the position that it is their fights and let them have at each other, without comment.  The poster has taken to attempting to verbally attack me with comments such as his mammie comment, because I did not take a side in an argument. That's childish. Now, that I have responded in kind the pearl-clutchers come out?

Bruto Alto

It does, take the best of us to improve the worst but, how do you respond to irrationality with reason? Especially when the irrational person obviously has an agenda and is suffering blinding envy? You can't improve upon a person if they are unwilling to see how they are part of the problem. And that is blatant in this Anon poster. He has decided to take it upon himself to dictate how the blogger and posters here should react to any given subject and when they don't he launches written tirades. It's an immature distraction tactic used to disrupt the flow of conversation here. He has a right to his opinion in his critique of the material presented, he doesn't have the right to expect respect when he turns it into an attack on the person. Still that was between him and the blogger, until he turned them on me. I am not going to allow myself to be subject to it and I am not going to look to others for defense. I gave him what he was seeking when he began his attempt to marshall me to his defense by verbal harassment. If that has offended some then, it was not my intent but, i will not apologize for defending myself.

Adam Gh said...

I'd be curious to see more of the 'ole herrenvolk (?) meme you had going for a second as we continue into the election season. The guy interviewed here:
http://www.labx.com/v2/adsearch/detail3.cfm?adnumb=472378
mentions his disapproval of abortion, and his desire for tax breaks.

The woman shown here didn't have any abortions.... Tax breaks? eh?

Finally, is there a breaking point for herrenvolk politicking? Would it be possible for Obama to develop heresthetics to use this kind of politics against Romney? I know you've talked about this being a sunk cast in Obama's political battle, but I just feel there's got to be more there....

Adam GH said...

*sunk cost

chaunceydevega said...

@Adam. If this is the Adam I know here from HP and MI we need to build.

Yes, you are right in reminding of that connection. I totally dropped the ball there. I use a good deal of language here that I do not qualify. I will do a post on that theme. What are some other concepts that all of us should work on being more transparent with? I am thinking the Common Good would be another one too? Any suggestions or insights to offer?

Ms. Bunny Easter said...

It isn't just the politics of the Republican Party that humiliates and scandalizes black people. There is also a billion dollar industry created from displaying black people in a most obscene, dehumanizing manner.

If you have consumed any of daytime television, certainly you know what I mean. Women like Ms. Adams can be seen daily on Maury Povich Show, Steve Wilkos, Jerry Springer, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Greg Mathis, etc., etc. These extremely degrading images of black life are beamed all over the world. Mathis and Brown, two African American former judges, disturbs me the most. Brown in particular, loves to berate women who rely on the dole.

But the truth about women like Ms. Adams is that they are usually victims of neglect, violence, untreated sexual abuse, and lack of education. It is also probable that she has a psychological disability. Looking at her age, it appears she may have started having children at 13. This is tragic on many levels. Most likely the father's were adults. However, trying to explain this to the world would imply she is a victim, and most of all human. The humanity of black people is not something mass media is about.

So indeed! The purpose of these stories like Ms. Adam's are to provoke anger. Especially toward African Americans. Never mind that TLC is paying a Utah Mormon a million dollars to film him and his 4 wives and 19 children. It's the a reality show, Sister Wives. A lot of these Mormon families officially marry one wife, and the church conducts a ceremony for the rest. Of course this indicates that the women who are not legally married can collect welfare. In some Mormon towns as many as 75% receive welfare.

But then again, they're white.

MaMu1977 said...

@Ms Bunny Easter

In NYC, the orthodox Jewish community spurns the idea of civil marriage. (Fundamental) Muslims as well. Does it make them "bad" people? No. Does it lead to a *lot* of quasi-exclusionary Jewish marriages/Islamic multiple marriages in which the "official" wife is either rendered null (over 75% of all Hasidic women over the age of 18 in nyc are said to be collecting welfare, as the scholar class of the community are mandated to spend all of their time in study) or act as frontwomen (there are plenty of Muslim fundamentalist women who live in a home with their "sisters/cousins", as well as hubby. When their "sibling" conceives, the putative "father" is referred to as a man who took advantage of an inexperienced immigrant woman. The fact that some of the "sisters" are conceiving children at a regular clip, and that most of those children look like the husband of their sister gets ignored.) I'm not trying to slur either group, I'm just noting that their usage of welfare (food stamp, supplemental income, *section 8* ) is far higher than black rates of usage (by population percentage. As I said above, more than half of all orthodox Jews in NYC use some form of social welfare, assuming that this statistic changes in other areas of the country is foolish. Likewise, polygyny among fundamentalist Muslims doesn't disappear as soon as their passports are stamped.)

As far as poor white people are concerned, I'll just say this: there are more legitimate working poor and flat out poor white people in America than there are people of any minority group (yes, including the big, bad Mexican boogeymen.) If you include "would be dead broke in a month's time if the breadwinner(s) lost their job(s)"-poor white people into the equation, there are more "poor" white people in America than all minorities put together.

Adam H said...

@CD: This is indeed the Adam from MI and HP (Formerly responding as Adam GH).

As far as further connections, I don't know what might be here, but it is a question I'm interested in: What is the connection between Herrenvolk/"White Anger at poor underclass" and Anger at white liberals. The motivation for this question comes from your earlier post on Herman Cain's recent activity and it's accompanying "We are not stupid" tag line. It's a tag line that makes me think of poor white people feeling jealous of there wealthier liberal couter parts who "Think they're so smart with their college education".

Is Hermain Cain (and will the Romney Campaign) shift their anti-Obama focus from "That uppity negro" to "Those liberals that think they're so smart, but are really taking all of are money". In short, how are these two populist battle calls over lapping with one another/how will they be spliced in future attacks against Obama?

This could be interesting stuff, and perhaps just the right fault line through which to develop clever heresthetics for Obama.

Thoughts?