×
Jamie Kirchick, who recently and to my delight spent a whole post denouncing me as part of the "indecent left," argues that Barack Obama is embracing "partisan identity politics." What does that mean? I have no idea. Kirchick, writing on the blog of the neoconservative magazine Commentary (which amusingly has almost the exact same favicon as the shopping blog Consumerist), uses as evidence for this claim the fact that Obama has been endorsed by Charles Barron, a rather unpleasant member of the New York City Council. Except that, as Kirchick notes, Obama's spokesman distanced the campaign from Barron:
Sen. Obama disagrees with Councilman Barron’s statements on several issues, but this campaign is about asking people to unite instead of divide, despite our differences.Somehow this, plus Obama's refusal to completely sever his ties with anti-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, is evidence that Obama is secretly planning to support reparations for non-gay descendants of slaves or something because "endorsements are nonetheless useful in making educated assumptions about the policies a candidate might pursue, and values he will reflect, if elected." But McClurkin's views are very socially conservative whereas Barron's are very left-wing. Sure, they're not talking about the same issues and they both have views that appeal to some black (and white) voters, but I don't quite get how the two endorsements are supposed to tell us anything coherent about Obama's secret policy positions. Somehow, Obama's acceptance of endorsements by two people from opposite ends of the political spectrum, both of whom he clearly has expressed difference with, is evidence that "Obama’s talk about his purported wish to “unite” people" is bunk. Seems to me, it's evidence his wish is becoming a reality. (Full disclosure: I did some volunteer work for Obama for about a week.)Fun bonus highlights: Kirchick's casual dismissal of Jesse Jackson as a "racial huckster" is extra special classy. Also, you gotta love that a post wildly speculating based on two endorsements starts with the caveat that "endorsements are somewhat over-hyped occurrences." Take your own advice Jamie. Finally, I also enjoyed that Jamie Kirchick's source on Barron's faults was an article by... Jamie Kirchick. --Sam Boyd
