Another Teaching Moment

IM (an American citizen with an inquiring mind):  Gadfly, I know you are terribly busy right now with teaching and your book project; but, I must interrupt your train of thought.
 

Old Gadfly:  What is it, IM?

IM:  This morning, I watched President Obama’s press conference about the impact of sequestration.  Of course, listening to his speech while observing the fire fighters standing behind him seemed to overwhelm my consciousness with strange signals.

Old Gadfly:  I had the broadcast on in the background, watched the same theatrical display, and immediately thought: this is another “teaching moment.”

IM:  What do you mean?

Old Gadfly:  Do you remember the rare Obama press conference when he actually entertained a question from the press corps, and the question that caught him off guard involved the Cambridge Massachusetts police officer that confronted the black Harvard professor attempting to break into his own home?  Do you remember how Obama responded?

IM:  Yes.  He said the Cambridge police “acted stupidly.”  He also, added, “that it is ‘just a fact’ that African-Americans and Latinos are disproportionately stopped by police—evidence ‘that race remains a factor in our society.’”

Old Gadfly:  That is correct and it generated a lot of reaction from the public.  A Google search produced almost 10 million articles, blog entries, and so forth.  For damage control, it was inconceivable that Obama would admit that he made a mistake, and really did “act stupidly”; thus, it was time for a teaching moment at a picnic table on the White House property over a glass of beer and in full view of photographers.  A complicit media collaborated in portraying a touching scene of the all-knowing one descending down to the ordinary man level, to lecture those (which does not include the Harvard professor) who actually live a life full of risk, cost, and consequence. 

In his book Intellectuals and Society, Thomas Sowell provides a powerful description of people like Obama, intellectuals who are full of ideas without risk, cost, or consequence.  Obama’s trip to Florida was at no personal cost to play golf with Tiger Woods.  Ironically, both suffer from a character flaw called fidelity--Woods with his former wife and Obama with the people he serves (see Honeymoon Tonight, Marriage Tomorrow?).  And, far more importantly, Obama’s role in setting the conditions (i.e., the result of debt ceiling negotiations) for what we call sequestration was a tremendous risk to others (especially those who will lose jobs) and at a tremendous cost to others (especially those who actually pay taxes), which will be very consequential.

IM:  This may explain why I felt overwhelmed by signals.

Old Gadfly:  How would you describe the signals?

IM:  One signal was the nameless fire fighters coopted into the visual frame.  Fire fighters provide safety from harm for nameless and faceless people.  So, the subliminal message is that Obama wants to keep the public safe.  The other signal was the theme of Obama’s speech--to blame others, especially the Republicans and the top 1% that has not paid its fair share, for getting us to this point and for not getting us out of it.  In other words, he used this speech as an opportunity for a “teaching moment.”  In the process, he threw out a bunch of ideas, knowing he had absolutely no risk of incurring cost, that is, political capital, or consequences.  There is no risk of consequences for Obama because, when conditions get progressively worse, Obama, Democrats, and the remaining intellectual class (i.e., journalists, the Hollywood cohort, and academics) will blame Republicans for the cost and consequences that burden primarily taxpayers and secondarily, trickle down consequences through reduced subsidies to, non-taxpayers.

Old Gadfly:  Obama’s teaching should only resonate with Copernican drones.

IM:  My concern is that, even considering George Soros’ intellectual concept of an Open Society, these Copernican drones and those who are susceptible to joining their class are offered little in terms of alternative teaching.  All they get now are the intellectual ideas associated with hope and change. 

Old Gadfly:  There’s another subliminal signal here, IM:  The Animal Farm pigs have successfully protested and now conspicuously walk on their hind legs.