In looking to see whether I'd posted an essay with that title on Dailykos, I found that I hadn't, but the search engine brought up this from 2010, which is also still relevant.
For example:
Cook clearly assigns more importance to what something looks like and ignores who's doing the looking. Also, the agents of legislation--i.e. the Congress--are again, conveniently, left out of the equation, while an inanimate object (the stimulus package) is assigned a life of its own. That's what conservatives, whether they're legislators or pundits, do; they deny their own agency and assign functions where there are none.
It's not because I'm getting old and lazy that I'm now
repeating stuff from
five years ago. It's because, when we're living with conservative pundits and politicians, the issues are always the same.
I do, however, admit that I hate repeating myself and it's one of the things the internets make more palatable.
Anyway, what I wanted to share is this post on
Hannah Blog from 2009. Because what I wrote, apparently in response to a post on
Daily Kos is still on point.
Superiority is indeed the issue.
The conflict is between inherent or inherited superiority and superiority based on achievement. Many of the heritage crowd simply can’t achieve. In part that’s because they’ve been weakened by their inherited advantage and the subordination they must practice to keep it.
The patriarch is a harsh master. The family value he’s after is absolute obedience. That’s not a prescription for mental agility and innovation.
But, I think the problem Obama presents is bigger than that from the perspective of conservatives. The Republican base is made up of people who are directed by instinct and habit. That’s what makes them conservative. But, it also makes them groupies or fans. And what the leadership is most concerned about is that fans are notoriously fickle. If Obama catches on, they haven’t got a chance.
That, I think, was what was behind the “The One” and the “Magic Negro” effort–an effort to inoculate the base against flipping for the new star, the Magic Johnson of the political game.
One drawback about organizing around a negative prejudice is that prejudice is always vulnerable to being overcome by “the exception that proves the rule.” If the Republican base flips to Obama, the exception will rule. And that’s what has them all het up.
Just my two cents.
And that, friends is still the problem in 2014. Obamacare has to be a disaster because, if it's not, the Republican goose is cooked.
Which is why it strikes me as useful, in addition to promoting democrats for Congress, to focus as much attention as possible on Obama's star power. The media have been schooled to give him as little coverage as possible (even in connection with the ACA victory lap). Truth is that, no matter how many dollars Adelson spends on publicity, he'll never look as good as Barack Obama in grey hair.
Obama is not naturally inclined to hog the Klieg Lights. So we have to make sure the images get passed around. Some people only get what they can see.