Reponse to Lloyd (1 January 2009)

Lloyd, research does nothing if one is the mood to imagine someone a certain
way. Everything you're saying about Obama's mother could lead to different
conclusions, though. She could have woken up at 4 o'clock every morning in
order help her son become the person he wants to be, but how many mothers
devote themselves to their kids primarily out of their own self-assessment
needs, out of a desire to fashion for themselves their preferred son? Every
hockey mom in Canada wakes up at 4 in the morning ostensibly for their
children, and how many of these kids end up living out their mother's
dreams -- of course, not all, but many, many, many. You write of her
"abandonment by her spouse and [of how she] had to work." Come on, Lloyd,
you're the one who always talks about how put-upon mothers are hardly the
ones to look to for great nurturance. And why narrate it as of her being
"abandoned." You know this type of narrative plays to our desire to protect
the mother and demonize the father, the nasty patriarchal ass, who is
unwilling to show any gratitude for all his wife's love, any sympathy at all for
all her considerable hardships. Further it works against looking at other
motives behind spousal break-ups. Many mothers are primarily interested in
hoarding their children all to themselves, and DIRECT the fathers elsewhere.
Many mothers are masochists who direct their spouses to abandon them. And
what healthy, happy mother ends up marrying someone who "abandons" her,
anyway? If he was that awful, she couldn't have all that great, either
(Seriously, don't like end up marrying like?).
I don't think he had terrible mothering. But I actually don't think either
he or his wife rise even to the level of the Clintons -- and I don't think they're
all that great, either. Right now there's a lot of people who are just so quick to identify Obama as
a good guy. I think this in done in part to demonstrate our own
goodness – for we are progressive/advanced/good enough to cheer the arrival
of the first black president, and recognize both he and his mother’s benevolence. Even Joan Walsh, the editor of Salon, after being an early
holdout, has succumbed to this desire. But watch out!, for Joan was right
to think something terribly amiss about Obama's willingness to allow his
operatives to shut down progressive critiques of his policy goals through
charges of racism. In fact, my guess is that it will be through Obama
that progressive thought -- which won the 60’s cultural war -- is effectively put
on the defensive, as progressives are effectively characterized as white
elitists, as those fundamentally insensitive to the real needs/desires of
those they aim to serve. I will be watching for this to see if I've
guessed right -- hopefully to those willing to believe I might just be right.

patrickmh

Link: RealPsychohistory