Re: Great article
 

Your expectations are fucking ridiculous. The system is no longer built to allow such a person to succeed. Obviously you should vote whatever way you see fit. But the fact that you can so easily overlook the good that he's done and attempted to do (and I've seen you make no mention of all that he's accomplished) in the face of the disrespect and unprecedented opposition means you can go ahead and retire your vote (in all but the closest of races, of course) for the rest of your life. Close the door, pull the blinds, unplug the phone, turn off your computer and tv, and stew 'til it's time to go.

TM

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Thurgreed, isn't that one of the points of the Atlantic article you posted that started all this off? It is something that all black people live with every day. Isn't part of what Obama is supposed to be doing living without showing that hesitation? He's the leader of the free world. If he won't stand up and say "no more" then who will?

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What the fuck are you talking about? The Republican party doesn't throw that term around to influence people in Chicago. That's why I'm telling you what it means outside Chicago.

And I've spent plenty of time in Chicago and based on my experiences and my friends' input, it's always been segregated and racist.

But I truly don't understand your point. If Chicago voters who aren't black are afraid of putting a black person in local office, and I say the same general thing about people outside of Chicago, then what the hell are you actually trying to say? Somehow Obama's reluctance to come across as too black is a symptom of local Chicago politics? That may be part of it, but I'm telling you as a black man who is neither a politician or from Chicago, that this is not a phenomenon unique to black politicians from Chicago. It is necessary for many of us to perform our fucking jobs--just like it is for Obama to perform his.

TM

Re: Great article
 

I was simply trying to answer Ty's question about what a Chicagoan means when he says someone is a Chicago pol.

I don't think that it is the same for Obama as it is for any other black man. POTUS should not look at the first term as little more than a platform from which to begin the race for a second term. That applies to black and white (as well as brown, yellow, or a Skittles rainbow of flavor). He has the office and has had it for almost four years. I wish he had used it more forcefully. I wish he had changed the discussion more.

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I don't know what it means outside Chicago, but Rahm, Daley (and Blago) and all of Daley's cronies (white or black) are/were considered to be "Chicago" politicians. It's the mafia-like attitude of you pat my back I'll pat yours exchanges that have gone on for decades.

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I'm not sure prosecuting murders in Florida is his job.

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Also because Congress, which controls the pursestrings, has been adament that he not do so.

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He's the Commander-in-Chief. All he needs is a signature to shut it down. Congress and its purse strings are irrelevant. You don't need a budget appropriation to not spend money on something.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1968 enacted 18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(2), which permits federal prosecution of anyone who "willingly injures, intimidates or interferes with another person, or attempts to do so, by force because of the other person's race, color, religion or national origin."

Re: Great article
 

In Chicago it doesn't mean black. But that's not what the rest of the country hears.

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Don't be silly. You need an appropriation to spend on everything, and displeasing Congress can get very uncomfortable.

Especially when the displeasing you're doing is so easily demogogued.

Don't get me wrong, if he was an extraordinary visionary of the type you seek, maybe he would have done it. I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that he isn't.

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Okay. I learned something today.

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I don't see a reluctance specifically to upset the Democratic Old Guard in Chicago -- please go on -- nor do I think that makes one a Chicago politician. As Coltraine says, the term has a different significance.

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So you think it would have been better to test (and quite possibly lose) the case in federal court first?

Also you left out the rest of that subsection, listing the circumstances in which such violence becomes a federal issue. It's not clear that any of them apply to Trayvon.

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Agree with this, and don't think it fits Obama much at all.