'Mutts like me' — Obama shows ease discussing race

International Herald Tribune/AP ^ | November 8, 2008

[giotto]

WASHINGTON: It popped out casually, a throwaway line as Barack Obama talked to reporters about finding the right puppy for his young daughters.

But with just three offhand words in his first news conference as president-elect, Obama reminded everyone how thoroughly different his administration — and inevitably, the United States — will be.

"Mutts like me."

In American English, a mutt is a mixed breed dog.

By now, almost every American knows that Obama's mother was white and his father black, which will make him the U.S.'s first African-American president. Still, there was something startling, and telling, about hearing his self-description — particularly in how offhandedly he did it.

[giotto]

So there were two gaffes in Obama's first press conference. I believe this was a slip. No one as proud and full of himself as Obama is, would say such a thing about himself, unless it were unplanned and inadvertent.

This slip may hold the key to Obama's psyche.

[SolidWood]

What a racist thing to say... tsk tsk tsk. Imagine if any non-Democrap had used “mutt” to describe Obama.

[Glenn]

I’m proud to be a mutt!

[giotto]

Exactly—which is why the crowd was apparently startled by the remark.

[joseph20]

"I’m proud to be a mutt!"

I am proud not to be a mutt.

[1000 silverlings]

He’s trying to get us to like him, just more of his smiling at the white man so we’re not scared of him

[LukeL]

Like a lot of people who think highly of themselves, deep down they are very fragile and aware of their shortcomings.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

He’s deeply conflicted about being half white and half black. He seems to hate it. He’s a narcissist, so he’s in love with himself, but he hates his racial makeup. That’s the impression I get from his writings and general attitude.

[Glenn]

I am proud not to be a mutt.

Too bad we all can't choose our parents.

[giotto]

I’m proud to be a mutt!

I'd rather be a mutt than a pure breed. Hybrid vigor, or whatever they call it.

But it's still not the kind of thing you expect your soon-to-be President to say.

[unspun]

I am proud not to be a mutt.

I am not proud that you are proud not to be a mutt.

PS: go back far enough in your ancestry and tell us what you find.

[Sacajaweau]

In all my life, I’ve never heard “man” of various heritage referred to as a mutt. I’m speechless.

[joseph20]

"Too bad we all can't choose our parents."

I'm positive that 0bama, if he could, would choose a different set of parents.

[Glenn]

go back far enough in your ancestry and tell us what you find

I tried to research the family tree only to discover that prisons are not the most accurate bookkeepers.

[Glenn]

I’ve never heard “man” of various heritage referred to as a mutt

Have you ever heard a man referred to as a "stud"?

[kaehurowing]

I too am proud to be a mutt!

In fact, in law school we formed the “Mongrel Law Students Association” for mixed-breeds like us that didn’t fit into any of the purebreed minority grievance associations. They didn’t think much of us.

[1000 silverlings]

Where I come from it was common to say one was “Heinz 57”, meaning he had all sorts of ancestry. They do refer to mutts as Heinz 57 too

[Glenn]

They didn’t think much of us.

Mission accomplished, eh?

[unspun]

I tried to research the family tree only to discover that prisons are not the most accurate bookkeepers.

Then, there was the Wisconsin boy who came from a long line of milkmen.

[giotto]

He’s deeply conflicted about being half white and half black.

You can't really blame him. The parent whose skin color he inherited was not there to raise him. The only role model he had was the decadent communist poet of Waikiki, Frank Marshall Davis.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Hey.

What’s wrong with being a Mutt?

I’m a proud mutt. More inputs, than I can count on a geneology chart.

In fact, this is the first thing Obama has ever said, which made me think he just might have one small clue...

[nathanbedford]

This is a splendid illustration of how the left has stolen my language and, not incidentally, your language too.

Language and its elements, including words, should be the common property of all. When some words are taken away from one class only, that is done to censor and deprive people of effective speech. Evidently African-Americans can use the word nigger but I, as a white man, cannot. Evidently, a Washington, DC official cannot even use the word "niggardly", meaning parsimonious, because African-American officials, utterly ignorant of the definition of the word, object. That man lost his position.

If Barak Obama is a self-confessed mutt, what does that make his mother? What does that make the son of his mother?

Do I now have space in the world of political correctness to refer to the President-elect as a son of a bitch?

How much more of my language will be stolen from me?

[1000 silverlings]

There’s some singer or movie star married to a Mutt, can’t remember who

[Darkwolf377]

Obama shows ease discussing race

It shows his childishness. What a retarded comment.

[Darkwolf377]

Like a lot of people who think highly of themselves, deep down they are very fragile and aware of their shortcomings.

You hit the nail on the head.

I've seen his type in my work with emotionally-troubled kids--he has a HUGE ego and LOW self-esteem.

[Eye of Unk]

Well now I can just imagine what Harlem thinks of this.

Since this comes from the Big O it now officially means its cool to call all blacks “mutts”.

Okat, and also Watts in Ca.

[Ezekiel]

"Mutts like me."

In American English, a mutt is a mixed breed dog.

The Talmud says that, the generation right before Moshiach comes will have the "face of a dog" (Sanhedrin 97a). A dog can have a positive connotation in Judaism, but, in most cases, and certainly within the context of this Talmudic discussion, it is a negative one.

At the end of Parashas Beshallach, Rashi indicates that the dog even symbolizes Amalek. If so, then maybe the Talmud means:

Before Moshiach, the generation will have the face of Amalek!

The "face of Amalek"? What kind of face is that?!

As we have discussed on so many occasions before, Amalek epitomizes doubt more than anything else in creation, specifically doubt in G-d and Torah ... a doubt that results in losing appreciation of Torah, and its depth. Whether Rashi was hinting at this point or not is hard to know. However, it remains to be true nonetheless, and an important idea to integrate at a time in history when so many, Rachmanah L'itzlan (Heaven help us), are prepared to "throw" Torah to the dogs.

LINK

Face of a dog...

Check!

[thesetruths]

He has no clue how to act; he has no concept of the gravity of holding that office. He is an embarassment.

[Beloved Levinite]

"There’s some singer or movie star married to a Mutt, can’t remember who"

Shania Twain...to Mutt Lange.

[giotto]

I guess one of the reasons I found his use of the word offensive is because I've heard the mobsters on The Sopranos sometimes call someone a mutt. In that context, it seems to be one of the worst insults you can hurl.

Of course that's TV. I don't really know any mobsters.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

What’s wrong with being a “mutt”??

Is “cross-breeding” not acceptable?

What then to make of Irish-Americans?

Italian-Americans?

Mexican-Americans?

My own position is we’ve long ago passed worrying about the first part of those hyphens, and we’re simply Americans.

Do you not agree?

[Glenn]

I guess one of the reasons I found his use of the word offensive is because I've heard the mobsters on The Sopranos sometimes call someone a mutt

What other valuable lessons have you learned from entertainment?

[CanadianMusherinMI]

you and me both! i have called myself a mutt many times or heinz 57. no other way to describe what i am. it means mixed,not a pure bred. big whoop!
there are far bigger things to be concerned about when it comes to obama than whether or not he thinks he is a mutt. makes us look petty:(

[1000 silverlings]

thanks

[Mila]

“There’s some singer or movie star married to a Mutt, can’t remember who”

Your thinking of Shania Twain. She and “Mutt” Lange are separated now, I think.

[Darkwolf377]

I don't know if you'll believe this, but when he won I thought "I hate this, but for the good of the country..."

It's now a matter of DAYS later, and after his BS acceptance speech, the Rahm Emmanuel pick, the "Youth Corps" or whatever it's called, his stupid insult of Nancy Reagan, the run on Wall St. and his pointless press conference about puppies, I have to agree, he is indeed an embarassment.

I've always lost my optimism when Dems have won, but this was a record-breaker.

[1000 silverlings]

It’s not petty. It’s fascinating to see the man reveal something for a change. He will continue to do so as he really is, after all, only human

[MartinStyles]

I’m a white mutt, far eastern soviet bloc old areas and far western euros areas.

Can I be president now?

[giotto]

What other valuable lessons have you learned from entertainment?

That it is great excuse for not working on taxes, paying bills, loading the dishwasher, loading the washing machine, answering emails, etc etc

[1000 silverlings]

Yes, I remember now, thanks

[snoringbear]

“So there were two gaffes in Obama’s first press conference.”

Obama’s been hanging with Joe, “Gaff a Day” Biden too much...

[ChiMark]

Obama is an empty suit. He is obsessed with race. the people who cast their votes for this empty head did so because of his race.

He is demonstating that he is not a unifier but a divider.

[1000 silverlings]

Well arguably, Obama is the first, so you have to run as “the other white mutt”

[snoringbear]

“I’m proud to be a mutt!”

We are all mutt's. With all the various migrations, military expeditions and wars, international commerce, etc, that has taken place over the past several millenia it's difficult to envision any racially pure populations left on the planet - except perhaps some small tribe in some very remote area.

[browardchad]

So there were two gaffes in Obama's first press conference.

Not gaffes, actually, as much as a glimpse of the real Obama -- the cynical manipulator.

This is a good example of why he didn't hold any press conferences in the last months of the campaign and why he needed a teleprompter -- to prevent lapses into the normal patois of his everyday associates. No unscripted moments.

We saw the mask slip in the "guns and religion" comments in San Fran, and we saw it in his response to Joe the Plumber. The hapless McCain, the collegial DC hack, backed by the hapless party of beltway hacks, couldn't capitalize because he has swum in the same sea of clever political cynicism for too many years, and has lost the ability (if he ever had it) to interpret the potential impact/significance of those gaffes.

I do hope Obama holds many pressers, followed by many unscripted comments. It will be most instructive for those able to interpret.

[Glenn]

patois

Good word. Never saw it before this day.

[citizencon]

How sweet...

[giotto]

Even if it’s not a derogatory term, even if Obama didn’t mean it to be self-deprecating, to me it indicates that Obama felt ill at ease in the situation. Will he, like Clinton, forever be afraid of being found out for the empty suit he is?

[CanadianMusherinMI]

i did not mean it makes him petty, but some of us when we make a big deal out of it. i agree it is fascinating to see!

[Cindy]

Ditto.