Is it racist to say that Obama is owned by the establishment? regardless of whether you agree with

the statement, is it racist to say so? some Obama supporters here think so. just asking.

edited to add, the whole post said:
OMG. Obama is not some anti-establishment radical; he is *owned* by the establishment, and any one w

who thinks otherwise will be sadly disappointed. no big deal though; dems are used to disappointment.

Wake the fuck up.

I'm the biggest sexist in the world. Everyone knows that about me.

They both are to a certain degree, but there is a vast difference in severity.

We are all woikin' for 'The Man'.

I work in academia...it pains me to know that in the past, protest against major right-wing movements started from academia. Not so nowadays...everyone is too busy trying to please the administration's increasing demands on smaller budgets. Very few professors are really informed on politics...tunnel vision is the main culprit.

Sorry to ask such a weird question. I see you are an entomologist.

About Academics, there is no place where the politics are nastier than Academia. Right?

To some people, a Daddy Long-Legs is the name given to the cellar spider (Family: Pholcidae). This is the more uncommon reference to Daddy Longlegs. In this case, the species in question is certainly an Araneid (a spider). Class Arachnida is a classification above the level of Order Araneae (the spiders).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

The harvestmen (Order Opiliones) are what most people call "Daddy Longlegs". They can be identified by having one major body segment rather than two (like a spider), and their mouthparts are very different than spiders. These are Arachnids, but not Araneids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

And yes, politics at work can be brutal, but there is less sniping between professors and more smiping from the admin downwards nowadays. Precious little time for ego-driven crusades.

And I thought their front two "legs" were their antenna in disguise. Thus not 8 legged. Sound familiar?
Looks like it is Arachnida - Opiliones - Palpatores -Sclerosomotidae - Leiobunum.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/30137

But nor would I say it's accurate.

where you got the notion


nope don't think it's racist as a general statement.....

whether or not it's racist would depend on your line of thinking when making the statement

but some people here who will remain nameless, took exception to the word 'owned.' they didn't come right out and say 'you're racist,' but the suggestion was that it was serious faux pas(?) to use that expression (wrt a black person?). i try pretty hard to be sensitive to these kind of things, but that one was a surprise to me.

establishment no matter what color our skin is.

Context matters.

I am paying $3.79 they "really" own me!:shrug:

I think there's some serious ownin' goin' on coast to coast!

It's a circular Rovian argument, fight your competitor with your own Achilles heel.

But racist? No, of course not.

....is totally wrong.

How can Obama be owned by the establishment, when the Clintons ARE the establishment.

and a problem for Obama.

Couldn't it have been phrased some other way?



Besides the simple fact that it isn't true.... Hillary is the establishment candidate

establishment, and certainly women have been 'owned' in every meaningful sense of the word by men in practically every corner of the globe at one time or another. i understand that a person could make the connection that you did, but there was *nothing* else said that could have suggested such a thing.

and I don't remember anything in the Constitution about women being only 2/3 of a human being

Sexist.

another unfair attack, who would a thunk it?

If you said "he had to talk to his masters before he could say anything", well, you're pushing a line there. If you said "he's just following orders", same thing.

Do you have a more exact quote, with context?

Or are you perhaps referring to the stream of one-step-away from racist comments (like "empty suit", "all talk"), that only show a clear pattern when you notice they all happen to be stereotypes of black people?

OMG. Obama is not some anti-establishment radical; he is *owned* by the establishment, and any one w

who thinks otherwise will be sadly disappointed. no big deal though; dems are used to disappointment.

Not outright racist off the hook, so lets look into follow ups:

Post 41 asks if it was a veiled (or not so veiled) slavery reference.
Post 91 notes that it can be a dangerous word.

Now, lets look at overall thread context:

The OP was a cheer thread, pointing out Barack's successes. The particular sub-thread brought out the following:
"bought and paid for"
allusions to pickpockets
..and several points noting that there is no such thing as an anti-establishment candidate (a minor tautology).

I'm not seeing blatant race-baiting (or assertions that you had done as such), but a pattern of using similar terminology could suggest so.

Which you are willing to post.

Othersiwse, why did you waste one of your three per day threads on nonsense like this?

Please explain!

point to much, but you can see it in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5819166&mesg_id=5819166

insults, but the complaints about saying he was owned by the establishment seemed like a bit of a stretch to me.

But in certain contexts it could be.

Obama has made some rather "establishment" votes in his history...I'm sure partially to please the "establishment" in his own party enough to get the nod to run for President. All politicians have elements of the "establishment" pulling their strings to one degree or another.

The difference lies in degree. Obama's ties seem far more by political necessity and non-binding than Hillary's. That is credit to his campaign strategy of appealing to the grassroots and organizaing their small donations into a juggernaut. Her puppet strings now extend through the BFEE with her association with the PNAC-allied DLC...not to mention the many, many corporate interests that put themselves in her willing pockets.

Any criticism of Obama on any level, by anyone not firmly in the Obama camp, is considered racist.

Give me some examples--just make up some criticism, and I can show you how they turn it to race every time.

....to a certain extent, they all are....I think most of us would agree that Obama going to have to be 'pushed' to govern from the left....

....if he takes on the corporate forces, does battle, and wins in the name of the people, he will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents....

....if he's weak or panders to these forces, he will be 'rolled' daily just like clinton....he'll go down in history as an ineffective president with a footnote referring to him being black....