I’ve been meaning to get to this, but Buster brought up something in comments that I meant to address but haven’t had a chance to get to. In fact, because my blogging has been so light, in the wake of so much bloggable material, I’ve considered making this a group blog. I’ve made an offer to one person, and am going to make an offer to a few others. We’ll see what comes of it.
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to comment on the new Attorney General’s comments about our nation being a “nation of cowards.” Although Coates, P6, Rachel among others addressed this, I think they mostly missed the point. From the Attorney General’s website:
The Attorney General represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive departments of the Government when so requested. In matters of exceptional gravity or importance the Attorney General appears in person before the Supreme Court. Since the 1870 Act that established the Department of Justice as an executive department of the government of the United States, the Attorney General has guided the world’s largest law office and the central agency for enforcement of federal laws.
…and all he can ask is that we…TALK about race? To the extent that we talk about cowardice…who is the coward?? Where is the cowardice?? Buster is absolutely right. I expect an Attorney General to talk about something more than…talk.
Last weekend the New York Times ran a poignant story on the plight of the new American poor. Middle managers forced to work menial labor after being let go as a result of the current economic crisis.
Mark Cooper started his work day on a recent morning cleaning the door handles of an office building with a rag, vigorously shaking out a rug at a back entrance and pushing a dust mop down a long hallway.
Nine months ago he lost his job as the security manager for the western United States for a Fortune 500 company, overseeing a budget of $1.2 million and earning about $70,000 a year. Now he is grateful for the $12 an hour he makes in what is known in unemployment circles as a “survival job” at a friend’s janitorial services company. But that does not make the work any easier.
“You’re fighting despair, discouragement, depression every day,” Mr. Cooper said.
More here.
Craig Nulan has done yeoman’s work in uncovering the causes and consequences of this dynamic. And reading stories like this literally breaks my heart. But note the move here? The challenges that Mr. Cooper and others face as they struggle making $10/hour is the struggle that some of us have been trying to wrestle with for decades. Obama’s attempt to shift the nation leftward is only possible when the neoliberal exception becomes the rule. I still argue that exception is worth our time and our political energy. That we should care about the people who’ve BEEN making $10/hour as well as those who NOW make that much.
I think there's a point to be made here that economic policy is so hijacked by the political whims of Congress and the Executive that rational discourse has completely exited the picture.
There's nothing to suggest that the Bush Administration policies which gutted the middle class were held in high regard or influenced by the majority of economists. In fact, there was often very vocal opposition to many of the moves made during that time. JHU's Economics Department is hardly a hotbed of leftist thought and I can recall countless instances where professors demonstrated the underlying problems behind current fiscal and monetary policy.
Regarding the New American poor. These stories pop up all the time on CNN.com and they are infuriating to read because they are presented merely as quirky human interest stories without really addressing the fundamentals or issues.
I realize I may not be getting the whole picture of the attitude stateside now that I'm in China, but it strikes me that the US public sphere and media are in a state of complete paralysis when it comes to doing *anything* about the crisis. This is far and away the biggest disaster in decades and yet we're sitting there idly as jaw-dropping amounts of money are being yanked out of future generation's pockets without any transparency regarding what it's being used for and how it will be repaid.
…I can only hope that Holder's speech is a prelude to something greater. As is, it rings hollow.
No Mark. You aren't getting the whole picture…but you are absolutely right. What you miss being in China is how deep the rabbit hole goes, so to speak. Check out my friend's blog. He's predicting a sort of crisis point that flips everything on its head. I don't see that necessarily…but I do see a set of minor crises that will briefly put everything in stark relief, only to have the media go back to its former (wack) equilibrium.
“…in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,… we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.” – Eric Holder
Well, the pot can’t call the kettle black.
“The United States has decided to boycott an upcoming UN conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel.”
This decision is a cowardly act by the Obama Administration.
……”If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.”– Eric Holder
Obviously, President Obama has no tolerance for certain “frank conversations” on the subject of race. The refusal to engage in dialogue with people who disagree with you on this most difficult subject sends the wrong message to both America and the world. This is an indication that Obama lacks the courage and conviction to morally defend his position on the subject.
Apparently the real issue is that the President disagrees with Attorney General’s language.
“I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language. I think the point that he was making is that we’re oftentimes uncomfortable with talking about race until there’s some sort of racial flare-up or conflict, and that we could probably be more constructive in facing up to the painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination.” — President Obama
“The US also did not want the document to take up the issue of reparations for slavery, which was another hot topic in the Durban 2001 conference.”
Well practice what you preach brother regarding facing up to painful legacies, because your refusal to sit at the table of UN Conference on Racism is a recapitulation of what the white supremacy dynamic has done for the past 144 years.
Funnily enough I have just written on this on my own blog.
I don't think the amount of talking about race is the issue – it's the type of talk about race that gets done. Discussions about race need to be constructive and meaningful, otherwise I don't see the point in them at all. I agree with Obama's latest comments that talk does little – if we want to see more forward motion that will be through actually doing something about inequalities and injustices in education, economics and so on.
The politics of national cowards plus a bit about under-employment http://t.co/Dds914QZ