10 Barack Obama Revelations

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1. Obama's Charter School Policies Spread Segregation and Undermine Unions

I have witnessed repressing acts of bigotry throughout my life. In middle school, I remember classmates being teased about what religion they were. In high school, lunch was eaten in groups determined by your nationality and what after school activities you participated in. Now as a twenty-two year old college student in Burlington, I encounter narrow-mindedness in students my age who respond to questions about their racism with "I was raised this way".

When Barack Obama was voted President, I was sure that this segregation in adolescent learning would lessen, making way for new school systems without a struggle of race. Instead, charter schools are being supported, "Charter schools, particularly those in the Western United States, are havens for white re-segregation from public schools." (Censored, 103)

The Obama Administration is wielding federal stimulus funds as a financial weapon to force all states to increase the number of charter schools they host, as well as all states that do not have them to pass legislation authorizing their creation (104).

Of course, none of this is discussed in the media.

Tisk tisk Obama, you big bully.

2. Oh My Media

In his book, Street discusses Barack Obama's involvement in the media, and OH! how the media adores Mr. Obama. It seems, that we Americans are easy buyers. Most of us just listen and believe, never question or wonder. What happened to wonder? This is what goes on in the media we watch everyday, ranging from topics as important as Obama to nonsense such as Kim Kardashian.

Like Croteau and Hoynes said, "The media may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about." (242)

OMG! I thought the picture below was ironic.

obama media group

3. The Obama Brand

In my opinion, brands are what most people rely on in order to identify themselves. Clothing, music, furniture... By golly, just about everything's got a brand, even our own darn President!


What does it mean when we turn our presidential candidates into brands? I think it means that as a society, we have made it more appealing to live by brands than by intellect. Your great ideas won't get you into the White House, but an awesome campaign will. "In a four-hour meeting stoked by pepperoni pizza and great ambition Senator Obama and his senior advisors crafted a strategy to fit the Obama 'brand'...Obama as a unifier and consensus builder, an almost postpolitical leader.: (Street,2)

We pay more attention to the look of something than its message and true worth...
illustration by Ward Sutton

Oh, did you notice I inserted hyperlinks for pepperoni and brands? What a relationship. Do you really know what Obama's goals are? Have you thought about what ingredients are in your pepperoni slice? Probably not. Keep eating and don't think about it. After all, that packaging is just so bright!

4. Puppeteers

One of the perks of being president is money. So, naturally, Obama has a lot of it. How does one get so much money? One interesting thing about Obama's $ is that although he preaches about shared wealth and giving citizens back their money that has been stolen by large corporations, he relies on those very companies for his campaigns.

"Obama's reliance on big money and corporate funders was hardly new to his presidential campaign. According to the New York Times, Nearly half of the more than $5 million Obama raised for his 2004 Senate Primary came from just 300 donors. The charmed circle of 300 included the Pritzker family founders of the Hyatt Hotel chain. The Pritzkers donated $40,000, and the self described "centrist" Penny Pritzker became and remained Obama's national finance chairwoman." (Street 15)

I wonder if these fat cats have anything to do with what Obama wants?

illustration from Star Tribune

5. The Machine is Us/ing Us

In the video we watched in class "The Machine is Us/ing Us", important facts about our media usage was brought to light. With current technology, we can easily manipulate most texts online and can access an endless amount of information about a single topic. There are thousands of websites dedicated to Obama-- millions of blogs and news articles floating in cyberspace. Technology has allowed us to post our opinions online and share our thoughts, whether they be good or bad.

I haven't figured out if this is good or bad. Part of me says "why not?" while the other is sprinting full speed into the forests of Vermont with no intention of returning to this life of "civilization". I don't know if I want to access so much empty information. I don't think I want to know what everyone is thinking. I want to figure it out for myself, or from the New York Times, or from a book.

I think that our access to the internet has given a lot of ignorant people the capability to skew other people's minds with false information. I think a lot of the crap we read on the Internet about Obama (like whether or not he is a U.S. citizen) is very disappointing, and some people are just too lazy to figure out answers on their own-- to dig deeper.

6. The Media is Corporate

Okay, this one is short, sweet and inspired by the film, "Control Room".

The media needs money to flourish. Corporations have lots of money. Corporations give a lot of their money to the media so that the media will speak kindly of them. The media lies in order to make money. The Media is corporate. Lots of corporations love Obama.



7. Forgive and Forget

"Another media contribution to Obama has been its failure to subject his claims of "freshness" and originality to sustained and meaningful historical scrutiny. This is a reflection of that media's own amnesiac, market-driven attachment to novelty." (Street, 178)

It seems that we have ignored the fact that a lot of Obama's statements and beliefs are recycled. (Don't get me wrong I love recycling, but not when it comes to presidential promises).

Carr said that the way we live and learn is directly affected by evolving media, and that our attention spans are rapidly diminishing. "Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged". No wonder we have a hard time remembering what our previous presidents have said.

photo by: carryabigsticker

8. Defying Social Norms

Why do you like President Obama? That is, if you do at all. I like him. There's something about him that is inexplicably endearing. But that is not why I voted for him. Unfortunately, facts state that a lot of people voted for Barack simply because of the color of his skin. They wanted change that defied social norms.

Many supporters of Clinton and Obama "indicated in no uncertain terms that the real basis for their choice was their candidates racial, ethnic, and/or gender identity." (Street, 67) They supported Hillary or Obama in terms that related in no substantive way to their favorite candidate's policy agenda or public record.

bostonist.com

9. Party Like a Barackstar

We all know it. Barack Obama is a star. He has won the hearts of millions of people across the world, in and outside of the United States. Obama has successfully turned himself into a desirable brand-- he knows he's good looking/ has an amazing voice and he has used it to win you over.

But it's not all his fault. In fact, I give him credit for his clever marketing skills. As citizens, we are responsible for our own research. If we neglect to do so, then shame on us.

Neil Postman would most certainly agree with me. Postman would not be alarmed to see that many people voted for Barack Obama because of his image, in fact he would have said he predicted it. "We may have reached the point where cosmetics has replaced ideology as the field of expertise over which a politician must have competent control." (Postman, 23)

laughingsquid.com

10. Big Business

To sum all of this crazy, ever important information about the problems in politics up, I have decided to base my last revelation on the book, Feed. Because of Feed and many other readings in this class, I have realized that almost all of our influential media and people within them are owned by big businesses. Politics, it seems, is all about money--winning, losing, stealing and cheating to get money. I think this can change, but I do not think it will change if we keep things up the way they are.

"... Nothing's ever going to happen in a two-party system. She was like, da da da, nothing's ever going to change, both parties are in the pocket of big business... It's not a democracy... It's a republic. We elect people to vote for us." (Anderson, 112)

onepennysheet.com