Kansas Republicans: We need the Great White Hope.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Yes, this was actually said--for irony points perhaps we should contrive to run James Earl Jones as the GOP candidate in 2012.

Anti-Obama 'Great White Hope' Needed By Republican Party?

5:59 pm

August 27, 2009

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By Frank James

Some observers of the town-hall antipathy towards President Barack Obama have argued that there's an undercurrent of racism in some of the criticism, that there's still a lot of anger among a fair number of whites that the nation is being led by its first African-American president.

There no doubt is truth to that. If not, why would Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Kansas Republican, tell an audience in Kansas that her party was looking for a "great white hope" to stop Obama? She made the comment on Aug. 19. A YouTube search didn't turn up the video but that doesn't mean it won't appear there eventually.

Jenkins has apparently apologized for the controversial comment. The Associated Press reported:

Jenkins spokeswoman Mary Geiger told The Associated Press Thursday Jenkins apologizes for her word choice and did not intend to offend anyone. A White House spokesman withheld comment ahead of Thursday afternoon's on-the-record briefing.

White House spokesman Bill Burton did weigh in on Jenkins' comment this afternoon. Here's his exchange with a reporter:

REPORTER: Real quick, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins made a comment to her constituents in Topeka that the GOP is looking for their "great white hope." Any White House reaction to that and any reading -- any racial implications in that?

MR. BURTON: I saw that report. I also saw that her spokesperson backpedaled and said that that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give Congresswoman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.

So the White House has decided to be charitable, probably a good strategy since Jenkins' comment is exactly the kind of repulsive, race-baiting expression many voters will find radioactive. That could redound in Obama's favor.

Still, it's astonishing that a U.S. congresswoman, in a public meeting in Topeka, in the YouTube age, would say the Republican Party needed a "great white hope" to defeat Obama.

It does go to show, again, the core of what lies in the putrid heart of this obsession with bizarre conspiracy theories even more virulent than those about Clinton in his time, ultimately, yes, it is all about racism.

[General Zod]

MR. BURTON: I saw that report. I also saw that her spokesperson backpedaled and said that that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give Congresswoman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.

I like how it's always a "poor choice of words" whenever a Republican says something that can very easily be perceived as racist.

[Broomstick]

Well, of course - openly making racist statement is always a poor choice, politically speaking. At least in this day and age. (I'm old enough to remember when it was standard operations)

[Alferd Packer]

While not youtube, here's the video.

I think it's most telling that when she makes the statement, nothing happens. No one shifts around uncomfortably, no murmurs amongst the crowd. I would take it as a positive that no one shouted out in agreement, but perhaps it's just that they were listening with rapt attention.

[General Zod]

Well, of course - openly making racist statement is always a poor choice, politically speaking. At least in this day and age. (I'm old enough to remember when it was standard operations)

Except they can easily deflect any negative media attention by simply saying it was a "poor choice" and suffer no real consequences, which is what's irritating.

[Alferd Packer]

Except they can easily deflect any negative media attention by simply saying it was a "poor choice" and suffer no real consequences, which is what's irritating.

Indeed. After all, it's not as if she's going to particularly suffer in her home district because of this. The only time racist comments really brutalize a politician is when they're said in an ethnically diverse locale. It's happened often enough in the NYC metro area.

[Lonestar]

Indeed. After all, it's not as if she's going to particularly suffer in her home district because of this. The only time racist comments really brutalize a politician is when they're said in an ethnically diverse locale. It's happened often enough in the NYC metro area.

Probably the only reason why George Allen lost the VA Senate race was because of his infamous "Macaca" comment. He'd forgotten that a rather goodly chunk of VA lives in the DC Metro area, and they cared about it a great deal more than the rest of Mississippi North.

[frogcurry]

"Great white hope" is a very commonly used and rather cliched phrase which is used in many areas well away from the boxing arena for which it was coined; it's perfectly believable that someone referring to the need for a new Republican leadership might use it without thinking. She may have been playing off the fact that Obama is black when doing, but as you don't know that for sure she deserves the benefit of the doubt for a one-off incident like this. Otherwise you start going all thought-police on people saying anything that you can interpret as unsuitable.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

You do know that it was coined in an overtly racist fashion about the need to find a White Man back in the early 20th century to defeat the first and greatest of the black men to box at the highest levels, Jack Johnson aka "The Galveston Giant". So even using it in normal conversation is 100% unquestionably racist; indeed, use of the term entirely is racist by definition. Back then it was used explicitly to frame the fact that a white boxer was needed to beat Johnson to prove the continued superiourity of the white race. The term is therefore, honestly, about as horrifically racist as a term can get, and in context can only possibly be taken to mean by a reasonable and educated person that they're referring to the need to find a white man who can beat Obama in the 2012 reelection battle to prove the continued superiourity of the white man in America. Saying that the term is in common use in some areas of the country (I've never heard it spoken out loud until now except in reference to the title of the movie, for the record, so it's unheard of in the Pacific Northwest at least) is a pointless objection: it just means there's lots of racists where you live.

Mind you, it's more an issue with there being lots of racists in parts of the country than any politics persay, but the ugly undercurrent in these objections to Obama is a symptom of that; the Republican party can't again be a player on the national stage without confronting the racists that it accepted in during the 1960s, and driving them out, even if it means continued minority party status for some election cycles.

[Broomstick]

The term is therefore, honestly, about as horrifically racist as a term can get, and in context can only possibly be taken to mean by a reasonable and educated person that they're referring to the need to find a white man who can beat Obama in the 2012 reelection battle to prove the continued superiourity of the white man in America. Saying that the term is in common use in some areas of the country (I've never heard it spoken out loud until now except in reference to the title of the movie, for the record, so it's unheard of in the Pacific Northwest at least) is a pointless objection: it just means there's lots of racists where you live.

Unquestionably the term is and always has been racist. I have heard it outside a movie title, but not since I was a child (that's 30 years ago) and even that it was rapidly falling out of fashion. Even many people who don't like races/ethnicities other than their own would refrain from speaking the term in a public forum and would understand why and how it could be offensive to other groups.

So no, frogcurry, I'm not going to give the bitch a free pass on this. If it was deliberate we don't need that sort of racist in our government at any level. If is was not deliberate, we don't need someone that socially/politically inept in our government at any level.

What it comes down to is that these assholes who like to speak one way to their favored "constituents" and another to the world at large have to come to grips with the fact that their gaffs not only are rapidly disseminated around the world, but show up as videos on YouTube where it gets a LOT harder to explain this shit away. The only good thing about their current fumbling is that it makes them easier to spot than if they were actually adept at hiding their horseshit.

[Surlethe]

The mere fact it can be defended (how many people are familiar with the origins of the term? I'd be curious to know) means that it's great for crypto-racists. "Dog-whistle" politics requires that the whistlers be able to appeal indirectly to racists by using symbols that are innocuous or meaningless to some people but racist to racists.

[General Zod]

The mere fact it can be defended (how many people are familiar with the origins of the term? I'd be curious to know) means that it's great for crypto-racists. "Dog-whistle" politics requires that the whistlers be able to appeal indirectly to racists by using symbols that are innocuous or meaningless to some people but racist to racists.

I'd be more curious at how familiar people are with the term in general. I can't say I've ever heard it used in real life conversations even though I've come across it on the internet. Then again I've never lived in the southern parts of the US where I'd imagine its usage would be more well known.

[Slacker]

I've heard it used a fair amount actually, but never in a racial context, more in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. "Oh boy, here comes the Great White Hope for the Mets this year, he can replace all the bums on the DL!" sort of sense.

[Aaron]

I've heard it used a fair amount actually, but never in a racial context, more in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. "Oh boy, here comes the Great White Hope for the Mets this year, he can replace all the bums on the DL!" sort of sense.

Same here, I've always heard it in a "white elephant" manner. IE: a dud, loser, POS etc.

[Samuel]

I am only familiar with it in the rascist boxing sense.

[Surlethe]

It occurs to me that a lot of the reason the right can get away with it is the tendency of the political center to be complacent, naive, or willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to the Republican party. "Dog whistle politics" has to take conscious account of this fact: if the "mindless middle" understood how the strategy worked, it wouldn't.

[frogcurry]

Duchess, Broomstick:

You are either sheltered or lying for effect. I cannot believe that you are unaware of its cliched used in a wider context today; both of you are educated and well-read enough that this seems unfeasible. I've heard and read this phrase plenty of times, never once in any racist context. Nor would I ever expect it to be used in a racist context, or viewed as such if refered to in a conversation. I think I'd be bemused if someone used in such a manner, it'd seem absurd to do so. Its well used in both the senses that Cpl Kendall and Slacker refer to. I consider this phrase to be divorced from its origins, both in the UK and USA.

Examples of its use in newspapers from 30 secs googling:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... mment=true
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 42261.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 14_pf.html

Please explain the inherent racism of a term used to refer to such diverse persons, only one of whom is white and including Obama himself, in a range of contexts and by well-known news organisations.

[Patrick Degan]

Nice little group of red herrings. The WaPo article only uses the term in the title and takes it's readers toward an entirely different direction. The two British articles are irrelevant to the argument at hand and clearly do not reference any meaningful context by which that phrase is understood as a racist dogwhistle in this country and in the terms presented by Lynn Jenkins.

And even if we grant the alternate usages elsewhere, Jenkins is very clearly employing the term in it's original contextural meaning: to find a white knight able to recapture American politics from a black man.

[frogcurry]

Nice little group of red herrings. The WaPo article only uses the term in the title and takes it's readers toward an entirely different direction. The two British articles are irrelevant to the argument at hand and clearly do not reference any meaningful context by which that phrase is understood as a racist dogwhistle in this country and in the terms presented by Lynn Jenkins.

I made the point about this phrase, referring to:

its cliched used in a wider context today...heard and read this phrase plenty of times, never once in any racist context

and you refer to my examples as red herrings, pecisely and solely BECAUSE they show that this phrase is used in a wider and non-racist context? Eh?

I made a point and backed it up with examples - specifically to show that "great white hope" does not equal "racist dogwhistle" in most usage, and so its not appropriate to assume a racist context just becasue it suits your political viewpoint to do so. The initial posts on this topic assumed that there could be no non-racist interpretation of this cliche as did those I responded to, which I believe to be wrong from its use in many diverse non-racist contexts.

I'm not trying to shift the argument here. Whether the phrase used is inherently racist or has an equal non-racist application (as in referring to a new hero for a group or organisation who lack one) is surely a critical factor in whether this was racist. If it has no non-racist context then clearly it is racist. If it DOES have a non-racist context that it is commonly used in, then that means one cannot assume racist motive without knowledge of the speaker as an individual (and not simply as a white female republican from Kansas). Do you have such knowledge, on which to base your claim that Jenkins was using the phrase in a racist context?

edit: Or knowledge of the rest of the speech in which this phrase was spoken - the video linked above isn't viewable for me, so I've not seen the actual speech.

[Patrick Degan]

No, it is logical to assume a racist context to "Great White Hope" in Lynn Jenkins statements when she is a) speaking in an environment of heightened racial tension and animosity aimed at Mr. Obama, b) is speaking as the representative of a party which has been dropping anti-Obama racist dogwhistle phrases for more than a year now and c) said party having another candidate for office in another state making jokes about hunting President Obama and whose recent vice-presidential candidate did nothing but smile her indulgent, Barbie-doll Miss Congeniality smile at a crowd at a McCain rally as voices in that crowd called for Mr. Obama's death. Given these facts of the present political landscape and the original meaning of the phrase, which your examples do nothing to erase, it is impossible to take Lynn Jenkins' statement in any other way than as yet another dogwhistle aimed at stirring up racialist sentimentaiities before a receptive crowd and for any racist who sees the video.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

No, frogcurry, I am not sheltered.... I simply grew up in a civilized part of the country (aka, the Pacific Northwest), where I have never heard a reference to it in my life. I suppose it makes sense, though, that in the parts of the country that are still very racist like, apparently, your's, there is a tendency to keep using it. Jesus, I remember riding the Metro in D.C. and the Marta in Atlanta--I was the only white willing to sit down on the same seat with a black person, and several of them commented on this. They were just taking their groceries home, too, so why not? But in places near or in the south, you don't sit on the same seat in a transit vehicle with the blacks if you're white. But it's simply not that way in Washington State, and nor have I ever heard "Great White Hope" here. So, stuff it. If it's a normative term in your part of the country, it just means your part of the country is filled with racists.

EDIT: I see that you're in Scotland, which makes this worse, because you're trying to argue American culture with Americans..

[Pelranius]

Well, to see if it's an 'honest' mistake we'll have to see how much Congressperson whats her name knows about boxing.

And I can only hope that history repeats itself again.

[Questor]

No, frogcurry, I am not sheltered.... I simply grew up in a civilized part of the country (aka, the Pacific Northwest), where I have never heard a reference to it in my life. I suppose it makes sense, though, that in the parts of the country that are still very racist like, apparently, your's, there is a tendency to keep using it.

I'd like to point out that I grew up in a very different part of the country (Texas and Southern California), and have never heard the phrase outside of an arguably racist context. In fact, the only people I can even remember using the phrase were my father's mother and my mother. Neither one of them would have set any tolerance records.

[Slacker]

*snip*

I live in a very non-racist portion of the country, and, again, hear it in a very non-racist context fairly often. Sorry, I just don't agree with you entirely here-it's absolutely being used in this context with some racial sub-context, but that doesn't mean it's not always used that way.

[Haruko]

Here is an interesting coincidence pertaining to Rep. Jenkins, as explained by blogger Pam Spalding:

the original Great White Hope, Jess Willard, who was picked to defeat the big black buck champion Jack Johnson (and lost), was born in Jenkins' district. 30 miles from where the not-so-enlighted Congresswoman grew up - St. Clere, Kansas. And not too far from Topeka, home of the Westboro Baptist Klan. ROTFLOL.

That certainly does not prove that she was lying about being simply ignorant of the racist history of the term (which should have been enough to get any reasonable Representative to avoid using the phrase), but it certainly does not help her case.

Also, for more on the history of the term and context on Rep. Jenkins' use of the phrase, here is political commentator Keith Olbermann's take on the matter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH0sBOosnMw

And another clip featuring Rep. Jenkins' speech that included the phrase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Jma8RZ0_w