Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Making it Rain on These Hoes
Posted by Bossip Staff
Barack Obama is on the cover of the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. This is his second cover to date.
It would stand to reason that a complex man would have complex tastes.
Click HERE to discover who’s on Barack’s iPod playlist and learn more about his thoughts on hip hop.
Image via Splash
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BOOOOOOOOOO
My man!!!
and the winner is……
third my peeps…..
GREAT Barack Cover
@ Hannibal ur a hater…but ne ways…GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
o yea and 3rd!!! lol
WE WANT MCCAIN!
His’s the Man!!!!
Obama and his sexy ***** smile and swag…GO BARACK!!!
Ooops
He’s the Man!!!!!
Finally I AM in the TOP 10 !!
@_@ see my user name~
yeah Obama!
Bossip i don’t want to click on LIVES*****..why can’t you just tell me here?
LOOOOOL..as if Obama will let his lil girls listen to move b*tch..wow
After all the fear some white people have of a black (half-black) man becoming president…I am ashamed that Bossip would run his picture with “MAKING IT RAIN ON THEM HOES”
The man doesn’t need that kinda support..he needs to seem decent…not ghetto. Help him out man….
I don’t care for this pic, it makes him look like a bobblehead doll. N E way…GO OBAMA!!
God, i love this man. so articulate, thoughtful, and genuine. if he doesn’t win in November, this country is going straight to hell.
Barack is kinda sexy to me. And he likes my boo Ludacris. Obama for President!
To me he’s what a leader is supposed to be like:
- someone you respect
- someone whose decision you can trust if you happen to not have all of the facts on the issue
- someone you admire and actually want to be like (******ody’s perfect, but you know what I’m saying)
- intelligent
- charasmatic
- not too out of touch
I really like him a lot, everytime I hear him speak – I get overcome with a sense of pride!
I sincerely hope and pray that he makes it into the Oval Office… God Willing!!!
We’ll see what happens and how this plays out…
That’s “fresh to death” to see that he is musically rounded in different music genre’s. I just worry that he will get a bit like a young Bill Clinton….too much of a “rock star’ image…I guess it’s that way when they are technically both from the same kind of background and upbringing…being brought up by two white single mothers…both aspiring to Ivy League law schools etc….I just do not understand why Bill just don’t see what all of us see?….More than 80% of the countries around the world polled (Source BBC World News), have said that they want to see Obama as the next President! The world can’t be wrong! The sigh of a beautiful family in the White House with beautiful kids running around the Rose Garden
I am praying for unity of the Clintons people and this party to come together and smash the hell out of the G.O.P.!–GO B-ROCK! GET’ EM!
YES WE CAN!!!
I hope alot of people see Barack for what he is and strive to be high achievers like he and his wife. This man is not the second coming, but an example to all of us. That being said Yes, I will be attending nnumerous events in NYC on Sat. in support of Mr. Obama
.
WE ARE THE WORLD, WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREAN;;
TO THE TOP WE GO…….
Why did Obama let them set him up like that. I can see it now. Fox news doing story “Look what Obama listens to , pu$$ypopin on a handstand by ludacris”
I luv Obama…
which leash do you choose
words no longer have any meaning. empty headed suits and ties blather the most inane gibberish as legions of their loyal supporters sit gl*****y eyed, enraptured by these fluffy, protein free *****ouncements, parroting the words, thinking that they have meaning.
the war party sells you two candidates. we, like good sheep do our part and believe we have a choice.
the democrats and republicans are two rest rooms in the same greasy spoon diner. we all eat the garbage food they serve us on the dirty table they have set. then run to take an emergency ***** in whichever bathroom stocks our favorite brand of toilet paper.
they all yammer about freedom and liberty but can’t wait to take it away from their neighbor.
we live in a nation run by gangsters and thugs. shock troops stand at the ready to silence decent and burn any heretics at the stake if they dare to leave the path.
republicans like testosterone wars, where then can shoot their big missiles down humanities throat. they revel in their power and the right of their might. conquest is their aphrodisiac.
democrat’s estrogen wars are like the darkest, most romantic corner of the finest restaurant. there is no concern about how the butchering is done as long as they are soothed with candle light, soft music, a good meal and clean utensils.
the people killed are just as dead. the expansion of the empire and policing of it’s rabble goes on just the same. they are both just as evil. the difference is style. the republicans are upfront about their love affair with conquest and destruction. the democrats speak like human beings but their actions reveal the real face of the beast beneath the facade.
republicans go on and on about free enterprize, then use our soldiers as a mercenary army to subdue weak nations so their pals get rich from the slave labor and oil.
the dems wring their hands about poverty all the while they are using the poor as stepping stones to help them keep their own fetid pile of power.
the republicans want you as a slave.
the democrats want you as a pet.
which leash do you choose?
the lesser of 2 evils
the lesser of two evils is still evil
I think its better to choose a side, then just set back and watch. Everyone knows the government is messed up let people maintain some hope.
voting for a third party is picking a side
why think outside the box when they make it so easy for you lol
While some U.S. Presidents get highways, schools or monuments named after them, that doesn’t seem to be the case for George W. Bush.
A group in San Francisco, which call themselves the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco (sounds very official, huh?), is asking voters to sign a petition to have a nearby building named after the Prez.
The building they’d like to honor Bush with is none other than the water sewage treatment plant on the nearby coast.
Purrrfect!
And the name? They’d like to have it called the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.
Sweet and simple!
The plant is currently called the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant.
Brian McConnel, one of the organizers stated, “Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs. So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history.”
The plan is to place a vote on the November ballot which will supposedly provide “an appropriate honor for a truly unique president.”
The group already has plenty of signatures to qualify for being on the ballot.
Howard Epstein, chairman of one of the San Francisco Republican Party and one of the few Republicans in the city, is obviously against the naming, calling it “an abuse of process.”
He adds, “You got a bunch of guys drunk who came up with an idea and want to put on the ballot as a big joke without regard to the city’s governance or cost.”
Oh yea, the idea to name the sewage plant after Bush apparently came to the organizers while drinking at a bar.
If approved, the renaming would take effect on January 20th of next year.
since you put it that way…:)
obama in 08
i mean the only reason why i would like for obama to win the presidency, is just to make history, but beside that i dont think he can handle the responsiblity of been a president, a lot of blacks think that if obama becomes president it will make it better for them ….nah …this country is gonna fall …its already falling ….only god himself can make this country right again …but that not gonna happen
such a beautiful man – inside and out.
i love him. lol.
I am so glad for him, his wife, their children and the Nation. GOD Bless America!!!
Barak Obama = the anti coon
i.e. marries a woman who is actually balck. stands up for black womens’ rights and honor. a stand up guy with an education who is not scared of a GOOD black woman
the LIST
Obama
Common (i see black dudes walking wit a white girl on the arm/ i be mad at ‘em like i kno they moms}
Denzel
Gerard Butler..i just love him
thats all…pretty sad…plz add on
When Barak gets in the office T-Pain is gonna sing “Hail to the Chief” Hell Bound Phony Bishop Magig Don Wan is gonna read out the Oath.arakhan is gonna be appointed to International affairs. Jeramiah Wright will be apointed Vice President. John Singleton is going to be secatary of the press. He will give tax breaks to major corporations like Popeyes, KFC, Bojangles,Churches chicken. LOL j/p
He’s gonna fire all the cooks in the white house and hire Garvin LL Cool J wanna be a$$!
@ J-C
I agree. “Makin it Rain on Them Hoes” is a completely inappropiate title for a man who may be our first black President. Especially since in the article he talks about how Hip Hop/Rap has lead to some Misogyny and Materialism.
With that said, Bossip is just hilarious and we know that they don’t mean it in ill-will. The writers have written some very intelligent posts about Obama in the past.
I was more disappointed when I saw a young black man wearing a “Obama is my Ni@@a” shirt yesterday in Hollywood surrounding all the BET Awards.
GO OBAMA!!!
THEY FOUND A WAY TO LEAD ‘us’ TO THE SLAUGHTER WITH SMILES ON ‘our’ FACES.
how soon we forget about the 2000 ELECTION FRAUD.
“let me get this right: 8 years ago THEY go through elaborate lengths to supress OUR votes and now their going to put one of ‘US’ in the white house?”
DEMOCRACY IS AN ILLUSION
i believe there some people posting here who have been sent by the GOP (REPUBLICANS) YOU BIT**S need a big HOE SIT DOWN.
@mindslave:amen
@nudar cages
is that lil ditty your original work?
looks like bossip won’t let me really speak…i guess the term: henny without the *****e…was a joke
think
Making it rain of them hoes? WHAT? bOSSIP..who are you guys?….10?
This is the future president of the united states?(makin it rain on them hoes?
Bossip: i.e.–the true problem with black america..
think
@mindslave,yes
Also..blacks come on this site and talk about Obama like he’s some rock star….STUPID TAR BABY’S…
WHITEY WILL SELL YOU A bill of goods ,and you tar baby’s buy them …hook,line and sinker!! hahahahhaha—-
(the bill of goods)—(whitey puts Obamas face of a rock magazine,and we all shout: YES WE CAN—all the while , his identity is cheapened!
don’t be a tar baby coon! Think past your collective *****es and try to evolve..(possible for black america
keep the idea of obama presidencial….don’t cheapen his persona..
think
I love this man. I can relate. There were some cool white groups/singers back in the day. Who didn’t love Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets”? Obama gave the right answer.
Warning – don’t expect him to resusitate a dead body ( America) overnight. Give him time and the body shall rise again like a phoenix from the ashes.
@nudar cages
what do you think about the 938 lies told by the administration? and the VIRTUAL SILENCE BY THE AMERICAN SHEEPLE
i think we live in an age of distraction…we are fat ,happy and entertained while our masters wreak havoc here and abroad…has there only been 938 lies? i *****ume that every time they open their mouths they are lying…the people are silent because they choose ignorance…
YES WE CAN! YES WE DID! YES WE WILL!!
no matter what anyone says, we can be proud because history has already been made in this election.
Here come the naysayers. Obama 08 is where it is. Geez, some people getting all philosophical. If you don’t like him, don’t vote for him, but leave the rest of us alone. Thank you. The end.
MAKING IT RAIN ON THESE HOES? COME ON YALL. BOSSIP YALL ARE STARTING 2 B WORSER THAN MTO. YALL MUST HAVE NOT READ THE ARTICLE YA DAMN SELVES CUZ HE SAID HE THINKS LUDACRIS AND JAYZ ARE GOOD BUSINESS MEN BUT HE WISHES THAT HIS DAUGHTERS COULD LISTEN TO THAT KIND OF MUSIC W/O GETTIN A BAD MESSAGE ABOUT THEMSELVES. I.E “MAKING IT RAIN ON THESE HOES”. YALL ARE TO GHETTO AND IGNORANT.
arbitrary division is also used daily to keep ‘us’ from remembering that we are all 98% the same.
explain your name.
@WordtotheWise…i hope your attitude is not representative of the majority of obama’s supporters…if it was not for the freedom to disagree obama would never be where he is…
@mindslave…i agree wholeheartedly…we are force fed a false dichotomy to keep us at each other’s throats while the powers that be tighten the noose…
the name is derived from the idea that we are now in the “new dark ages”
@wordtothewise
why is ‘getting philosophical’ bothering you to the point where you would ‘need to be left alone’?
Does knowledge scare you? Does an educated opinion not coinciding with your ‘trained thought’ make you feel uncomfortable? Have you ever ‘thought for yourself’? NO, THANK YOU………..the end
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression. — Thomas Paine
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell
LOL @–”thank you…the end!
He’s so f*ckin’ cool…
^^^^nice try ( obama 8 )
Keep going man! all my horsey friends on _RIDERLOVE.COM_ are always behind u!! go win the war!!
Not really feeling this pic of him. His head looks HUGE
obama
i mean the only reason why i would like for obama to win the presidency, is just to make history, but beside that i dont think he can handle the responsiblity of been a president, a lot of blacks think that if obama becomes president it will make it better for them ….nah …this country is gonna fall …its already falling
**************************************************
@OBAMA
Sorry but blacks aren’t as niaeve as you think we are, most black people know that putting a black president in the white house isn’t going to magically make all of our problems dissapear, I want him in office because he’s the best man for the job, and yea beacsue he’s black most of us would like to see him make history, but it’s not all about race or believing that Barack is some kind of savior of black people.
***************************************************
BOSSIP
YOU NEED TO PUT RALPH NADER IN THE HO SIT DOWN SECTION FOR TALIKING ***** ABOUT BARACK OBAMA.
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obama,all the way ,,but that smile
what did he say he was going to do for black people
and, the problems that we are faceing now,,,,,
did any one hear him talk about the homeless, low houseing yet,,or any other issues, surrounding black people, i cant wait till he gets in office.
THis dude is a politician. YES WE CAN do what? There will be no major changes during his term other than slight changes in foreign policy and 20″ rims on the presidential fleet of cars.
LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I is last!
Strong BM:
I couldn’t even bear to type your screen name. You suck.
lolo127:
Why don’t you ask your locall politicians about these issues? The executive office does not have the reach to deal with every dilapidated ghetto in every corner of every city in America. Nor should it. Locally elected officials and state reps are there for that. Not to mention those of us who could work a little harder to take care of ourselves so its no one else’s responsibility.
*****ody respects a loser — or a loser group. Black people need to stop percieving “our” issues as those synonymous with poverty, crime and unemployment. Many non-blacks have these problems but the problem I think with us is that too many blacks don’t expect a life without these hinderances. Obama can demonstrate by example what someone who is a self-starter and a hard worker can earn for themselves. More than any promise to the ghetto, Obama offers an aspirational template in his very existence — and contradicts so many tired, insidious notions of blacks’ inherent limitations as a people. So I say, Black America: ask not what Obama can do for you, but what you can do to be more like Obama.
What’s up Jay? What did I say that is not true???? Sometimes the truth hurts but I guess millions of Americans deserve to be filled with false hope about what will change in this country. The powers that be are too strong for him to overcome.
I can’t wait to see the Obama’s, Oprah, Tyler Perry, and other wealthy Black folks doing the Electric Slide, the Tootsie Roll, and the Cupid Shuffle at the Inauguration Ball!
First of all, neither of us is clairavoyant here (I’m *****uming you’re sane). So the only truth is of the presumptive, hopeful kind. We presume, based on his background, education and record, that he will be a capable steward of a country already in change but not yet chaning with it, as the world is a dynamic place and the last ten years have seen a lot of action the last administration has responded to and initiated less than in the best judgment. My beef with you is: not only do you *****ume the brother won’t make any changes (based on, interestingly, his motto which hinges on that very term) and then you make a cheap and not even very interesting racist put-down regarding 20″ rims on the presidential fleet which is only provocative for its lacking imagination and predicatability as an easy-shot insult. Now you speak of powers of be “too strong for him to overcome?” You must be speaking of the stubborn and cynical self-hatred of many individuals who have that very power at the voting booth.
Some advice: when you realize you aren’t as powerless as you really think you are, you can not only live up to that screen name, but you might also have a clue as to why someone like Obama isn’t afraid of “the powers”: he’s one of them. That is, unless you’re some weak white man perusing black sites from one of Karl Rove’s or Rush Limbaugh’s chaos centers.
And…..
You are an obvious Rethuglican Redneck who has permeated this site to shoot your racist blanks and think you’re really getting off good.
Get a life.
The above post was directed to “And….” something about 5 Dots, by the way.
That, anyone for whom the life behind the screen name well fits.
Well said Jay
Damn that….LAST……….
Now I am white because I don’t agree with what you say? Get real brother, it is 2008 and we can have whatever view we decide to express. I live in the deep south so your vocabulary is a bit much for me.
LAST…
I is and always will be last
Stop that……….LAST….
Barack would be so damn attractive if he didn’t have those black ***** smokers lips!
I was reading on another site, but I WILL ALWAYS BE LAST
Bossip,
That title is not appropriate for Obama. Let’s show some respect and show people that there is more to him than just a black man and the image that comes with being a black person.
That’s your problem, you expect to be last.
Congratulation!!!he is a great man,support him.
many fans on a tall dating site:
___T a l l m i n g l e . c o m___ will be happy now,especially those models.
jay@ YOU ARE SO RIGHT,,,,,,,,,
AND REALLY ONLY CHANGE IS GOING TO COME IS WHEN
JESUS COME’S HOME…SOON.
OBAMARAMA!!!! I keep him in my prayers, we need him…..
jay(Check me out!)
And…..
You are an obvious Rethuglican Redneck who has permeated this site to shoot your racist blanks and think you’re really getting off good.
Get a life.
___________________
Ummm, no sweetie think again. I am a Black female who was responding to the post at hand—Obama’s taste in music. Nice job on your political tirade, but let me remind you that this is a GOSSIP (i.e. entertainment) blog. When I want serious political content and dialogue, I don’t look for it here. So you need to get your tight draws out of your ***** and take your own advice and get a life.
jay
(Check me out!)
lolo127:
Why don’t you ask your locall politicians about these issues? The executive office does not have the reach to deal with every dilapidated ghetto in every corner of every city in America. Nor should it. Locally elected officials and state reps are there for that. Not to mention those of us who could work a little harder to take care of ourselves so its no one else’s responsibility.
*****ody respects a loser — or a loser group. Black people need to stop percieving “our” issues as those synonymous with poverty, crime and unemployment. Many non-blacks have these problems but the problem I think with us is that too many blacks don’t expect a life without these hinderances. Obama can demonstrate by example what someone who is a self-starter and a hard worker can earn for themselves. More than any promise to the ghetto, Obama offers an aspirational template in his very existence — and contradicts so many tired, insidious notions of blacks’ inherent limitations as a people. So I say, Black America: ask not what Obama can do for you, but what you can do to be more like Obama.
=====================
well said.
he is so handsome, haha
Congratulation!!!he is a great man,support him.
____________________________________________________
obama is not a great man – maybe a good man
he just a regular black man ( well mixed) with an education …
the GREAT ONE is the father above
jay
(Check me out!)
lolo127:
Why don’t you ask your locall politicians about these issues? The executive office does not have the reach to deal with every dilapidated ghetto in every corner of every city in America. Nor should it. Locally elected officials and state reps are there for that. Not to mention those of us who could work a little harder to take care of ourselves so its no one else’s responsibility.
*****ody respects a loser — or a loser group. Black people need to stop percieving “our” issues as those synonymous with poverty, crime and unemployment. Many non-blacks have these problems but the problem I think with us is that too many blacks don’t expect a life without these hinderances. Obama can demonstrate by example what someone who is a self-starter and a hard worker can earn for themselves. More than any promise to the ghetto, Obama offers an aspirational template in his very existence — and contradicts so many tired, insidious notions of blacks’ inherent limitations as a people. So I say, Black America: ask not what Obama can do for you, but what you can do to be more like Obama.
=====================
But Jay, there have been many more people who have offered “aspirational templates” for blacks but we tend to dismiss them if they don’t cater to us as if they are less relevant if they don’t have Jay-Z on their ipods. Examples that come to mind: Condeleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Corey Booker (mayor of newark, nj), thelma golden and tracy reese for you artist. All of the above mentioned men and women have fascinating lives and great stories that should inspire us all.
We wait for “mentors” to be ordained for us as opposed to stepping outside of our comfort zones and seeking them out for ourselves.
Other than that, your post was spot on.
I HAVE THE GREATEST RESPECT FOR BARACK OBAMA AND MICHELLE. THEY MAKE ME PROUD…HE’LL BE OUR MOST MEMORABLE PRESIDENT EVER! HE’S GOING TO DO ALOT OF POSITIVE THINGS FOR OUR COUNTRY!
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BostonBitty
Barak Obama = the anti coon
i.e. marries a woman who is actually balck. stands up for black womens’ rights and honor. a stand up guy with an education who is not scared of a GOOD black woman
the LIST
Obama
Common (i see black dudes walking wit a white girl on the arm/ i be mad at ‘em like i kno they moms}
Denzel
Gerard Butler..i just love him
thats all…pretty sad…plz add on
__________________________________________________
Ok I will:
Michelle Obama is awesome:
Never said “I don’t need no man” or ‘*****z ain’t *****”.
Never dismissed Barack or called him corny 4 speaking proper English.
She’s poised, cl*****y and feminine….sans nasty attitude.
Got her degree without complaining about who the black men on campus were dating.
Matter of fact, I’ll betcha she ain’t complaining about a black man shortage either, huh?
GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!
This older white guy asked his older black friend, ‘Are you voting for Barack
Obama just because he’s black’? So the older black guy fires back and says, ‘Are
you not voting for him because he’s black?
***** Why can’t I vote for him just cause he’s black? Hell in this country men are
pulled over everyday just cause their black, p*****ed over for promotions just
cause their black, considered to be criminals just cause their black, but you
don’t seem to have a problem with that This country was built with the sweat and
whip off the slaves back, and now a descendant of those same slaves has a chance
to lead the same country where he wasn’t even considered to be people, Where we
weren’t allowed to be educated, drink from the same water fountains, eat in the same restaurants, or even vote, so you damn right I’m going to vote for him!
Not just because he’s black,
But because he is hope, he is change, and he now allows me to understand when my
grandson says he wants to be president when he grows up, it is not a fairy tale
but a short term goal,
Because he sees, understand, and knows, he can achieve, withstand, and do
anything just because he’s black!
Bossip ya’ll are so freaking late, put something up about Ralph Nader’s bull***** comments against Barack.
For those of you who don’t know Nader said that Barack has not addressed any “African American issues” and was “talking white”.
He also said that Barack was manipulating “White guilt” to get elected.
First of all, since Nader is so concerned about championing African American issues, I would like to know what African American issues he has taken up throughout his political career. I’m African American and one of the biggest issues I’m concerned about is the economy, which Barack has addressed. Secondly, why doesn’t he critque McCain about addressing African American issues. Barack is not campaigning to be the President of Black American he is campaigning to be the President of the United States. He wants to represent all Americans.
@ lil latte
very heartfelt and inspiring message. almost made me tear up a lil bit.
Obama is so handsome in this pic.
One thought comes to mind…
“I’m like na-na-na! Laughing at you *****z like ha-ha-ha!”
OBAMA YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who cares whats on his Ipod? He going to be president not a DJ.
alb:
Bossip is behind it and not in front of it for the same reason they have a dumb-***** headline over the Obama/Rolling Stone story: they underestimate their readers as being so immersed in a hip-hop bubble that Nader’s comments don’t blip on the radar.
I appreciate your comments and I’d like to add that I hate it when blacks and whites make it seem like black people “own” poverty as an issue. Poverty is NOT an African-American issue. It is a national issue that disproportionately but certainly not exclusively afflicts African-Americans. It is the kind of mindset that takes ownership of something like poverty as an issue that sees it manifest as a reality. What people like Nader need to realize is that there are actually huge swaths of black people out there for whom poverty is not an option and seems as surreal and abstract as there are whites who are embedded in it, like Appalacchian whites, even for generations. This is a stereotype we should not claim.
Secondly, even if it is a legitimate “black issue”(and in reality, there are so many poor black folks that it’s almost its own demographic)that poverty exists, anybody who really wants this man elected should know that he has to keep appealing to centrist/moderate and even conservative whites who worry he may put black interest above their own. Unlike Nader, his is not a symbolic candidacy, a vote against rather than for. He can’t just say everything he may be thinking (Good God, can you imagine? Would he have even made it to Iowa if he had?). In fact, he can’t even say everything that he tries to censor and render delicately (“typical white person” flap)so how is he really supposed to go stand up for poor blacks, the group everybody skeptical about him is so afraid of, is afraid of him because of and generally disdains, and then expect to beat McCain and his “I’ve always loved my country” rich ***** wife? So he talks about the other pressing issues in this country that affect us all regardless of race and cl***** (the war, the economy, gas, et al.) and that’s “talking white” to Nader, and presumbably to others. Well if he were Rev. Jackson, he’d be accused of “talking black.”
I almost just said, “You can’t win with these people.” Then again, YES WE CAN!
Barack Obama: The Peace Candidate?
by Sheldon Richman, June 25, 2008
Why would anyone think that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is the peace candidate?
True, before President Bush sent an invasion force to Iraq and before Obama was in the Senate, he made a speech saying intervention would be a mistake. But after the invasion, in 2004, he said he wasn’t sure how he would have voted when the resolution authorizing Bush to use force to overthrow Saddam Hussein came before the Senate. Since being in the Senate, he has voted to continue the occupation.
That doesn’t sound much like a peace candidate, does it?
Obama has made speeches and written articles demonstrating his full embrace of the interventionist policy that has characterized the U.S. government’s approach to the world for many years.
What’s truly frightening is that Obama doesn’t seem to realize that U.S. foreign policy has been interventionist. For example, he said, “We cannot afford to be a country of isolationists right now. 9/11 showed us that try as we might to ignore the rest of the world, our enemies will no longer ignore us. And so we need to maintain a strong foreign policy, relentless in pursuing our enemies and hopeful in promoting our values around the world.” (Emphasis added.)
In the last hundred years, when have “we” ignored the rest of the world? U.S. administrations have been interfering in Middle Eastern affairs for more than 50 years. They have been interfering in Latin America even longer. Anyone who takes a close look with an open mind would know that 9/11 was a consequence of U.S. interventionism, not isolationism, which is a smear word. That someone opposes invading other countries doesn’t mean he opposes commercial or cultural relations with them. The great liberals of history (when that word meant freedom and minimum government) favored peace and free trade.
Fear of nonintervention is something Obama has expressed before. In the July/August 2007 Foreign Affairs he wrote, “After Iraq, we may be tempted to turn inward. That would be a mistake. The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. We must bring the war to a responsible end and then renew our leadership — military, diplomatic, moral — to confront new threats and capitalize on new opportunities.”
Those are not the words of peace candidate. Obama has often talked about the need for the United States to project its power around the world.
He has made it clear that he supports wars that are not strictly defensive and has expressed admiration for the first President Bush’s war against Iraq: “When we use force in situations other than self-defense, we should make every effort to garner the clear support and parti*****tion of others — the kind of burden-sharing and support President George H.W. Bush mustered before he launched Operation Desert Storm.”
Obama engages in the same fear-mongering that we have gotten accustomed to with George W. Bush. Obama says, “This century’s threats are at least as dangerous and in some ways more complex than those we have confronted in the past. They come from weapons that can kill on a m***** scale and from global terrorists who respond to alienation or perceived injustice with murderous nihilism. They come from rogue states allied to terrorists and from rising powers that could challenge both America and the international foundation of liberal democracy.”
Again, he shows no understanding that it is interventionism, not “liberal democracy,” that makes Americans targets. He’s fallen for the Bush line that “they hate us because we are free.”
Even parts of the U.S. government know that is nonsense. As the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board put it in 2004, “Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather, they hate our policies.”
And Osama bin Laden himself said that same year, “Contrary to what Bush says and claims — that we hate freedom — let him tell us then, why did we not attack Sweden?”
With Obama in the White House, we could look forward to more Wilsonian military adventures: “We have heard much over the last six years about how America’s larger purpose in the world is to promote the spread of freedom. I agree.”
With a peace candidate like that, who needs a warmonger?
Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, author of Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State, and editor of The Freeman magazine. Visit his blog “Free *****ociation” at http://www.sheldonrichman.com. Send him email.
ityopia:
Thanks for the information.
So Obama is not an isolationist but an interventionist. You say that this country has been interventionist and not isolationist for a long time. So then, do you actually think its possible for someone to just walk into the WH and change the whole foriegn policy paradigm and for our national and global relations mechanics not to miss a beat? We are not nor should we become Switzerland overnight. There’s always been a ball buster on the global stage and for a century it was us. We’re losing that and no matter how liberal you are, *****ody wants to live in an American that is subordinate to, say, China — or anywhere else.
There’s life between being a warmonger and being a U.S. president, even if the two have closed in on each other in the last 8 years. Obama is inside, not above, that spectrum. And what Obama is is a politician: a calculated steward of economic, domestic and foreign policy. He is so much less caught up in the messianic perception others have of him than in what are simply his goals as a candidate. What serious voters need to consider, aside from his historical undertaking, or at the very least along with it, is this very color-blind rendition of his policies, his record, what the nickels and dimes are that make up the “change.” And, for me, there is nothing here or anywhere else that I’ve read so far that doesn’t reaffirm to me that he’s the right man for the job.
No, he doesn’t want to jerk us out of Iraq on a dime – that’s unrealistic. No, he doesn’t want to turn the most powerful country in the world into a neutral island. And no he’s not going to appear at Tavis Smiley’s next birthday party or at the BET awards. But is he a warmonger? Is he another Bush? Is he an autocrat? No. He’s a hard-working, very deliberated scholar of the law, of policy, a critical thinker in the web of domestic and international politics law and an intuitive yet *****ytical reader of the moment in time we’re living in, it’s context in history and a man with an idea of how to get this country back on course. The people caught up in the fact that he’s going to turn us into Switzerland (or Sweden) and that every progressive liberal idea ever blogged about is going to materialize the minute he gets into office are the ones who are going to be very disappointed. He’s applying for a job as the President of the United States. He’s going to be tough, smart, break ***** and promises, make deals and threats, and do his best to return this country to the one most everyone respected and that even those which didn’t still relied on. Only he’ll do it in a way that makes us safer not more at risk, better engaged with the world, not more remote and inaccessible and totalitarian. He will aim for the U.S. to stand impermeable to the kind of hatred by others who could justify the kinds of acts that happened on 9/11. He will not act recklessly or expect to do so without impunity. He will listen articulately and explain contemplatively. This is what he already does. This is why he is the Dem nominee. This is what I think Obama stands for. Of course, he has to express this in a limited motto that people can understand and be inspired by (Change We Can Believe In) but that doesn’t mean he’s not a politician. He’s just a good politician. Which is a good thing. To me.
The other thing I’d like to add is that Obama I don’t believe has ever thought America was isolationist. Of course, relative to the way we are percieved today one could make the argument, but on an objective scale, there is nothing isolationist about America and never has been. But before Iraq (if you want to include Vietnam amnesia and ends-justify-the-means view of the first World Wars), most Americans thought of their country as a generous facilator of global balance, purveyor of amnesty, the democratic stronghold in an international jungle. Until 9/11 we also thought that this is what everyone else thought.
Obama is a smart negotiator. Smart negotiators don’t teach people things to make a point. They speak at the level of those whom they want to reach out to and make the point by teaching the lesson in a subterranean fashion. He could have explained that America has always been interventionist and that he will have to work within that as president. But Americans can’t handle a perturbance of self-perception. So he told them what he thinks they were and makes points within that how he will have to change that. Smart people don’t try to show people how smart they are when they explain things. They don’t teach. They inspire. The lesson takes place between the lines and you learn without knowing how much you didn’t know in the first place. Imagine this kind of talent on a diplomatic scale and we can look forward to a whole new foreign policy paradigm. Now that’s change I can believe in.