Shelby Steele: No, Obama’s victory is not a triumph for conservatism
Glad I’m not the only minority conservative who rejects the increasingly popular notion on the Right that Barack Obama’s ascension should be embraced as a moral victory for our side. The promise of post-racialism is a bogus one.
Shelby Steele, one of the most articulate voices on race matters, weighs in in the WSJ:
Barack Obama’s victory was an ideological defeat for modern conservatism and a devastating blow to the Republican Party. It wasn’t just a case of one centrist candidate slipping past another centrist candidate at the finish line. This defeat — helped along by a sinking economy — was on the level of ideas. It points to nothing less than a new and still unfolding Obama “progressivism” in which Keynes replaces Friedman and “trickle-down” gives way to “bottom-up.”
This progressivism sees economic inequality as America’s gravest problem, and blames it on the conservatism of free markets, lower taxes, fewer regulations and smaller government. It wants to engineer equality through redistributive tax policies, the restructuring of markets through increased regulation, an expansion of entitlements, and more governmental activism.
Of course the bad economy has checked some of Mr. Obama’s progressive ambitions. He will live with the Bush tax cuts for the time being, and he may include some business tax cuts in his stimulus package. But he clearly wants a more redistributive and socially activist government. And he will be helped in this by two unique sources of authority: the urgency of our economic troubles and his moral authority as the first black president. Again, I am not hopeful for him here, and I despair at seeing the moral capital of my race put to these ends.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- The Cult of Obama; Didn’t I say something about this cult-like worship before? « Northern Thoughts And Reflections
- President Obama’s Internet Attack On The American Family, Marriage and Values « Pronk Palisades
- Hello world! « Watchman’s Clapper Blog
- But As For Me » Shelby Steele: No, Obama’s victory is not a triumph for conservatism
- Americans Don't See Quick Turnaround for Recession
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Race Hustlers, Race relations
Power Line
» More From the East Anglia Archives
Pundit & Pundette
» Various and sundryStop The ACLU
» Obama To Hold Another Prime Timer To Explain Our Afghanistan Strategy To Islamic ExtremistsAmSpecBlog
» Lieberman Says He's "Stubborn" on Gov't PlanTigerHawk
» Negative equity
GOP=WHIG
The Republican Party under GWB seems intent on political suicide. Pandering to citizens of other countries illegally in our country while telling us we must be vigilantes if we object to illegal aliens ignoring our borders and laws. Mel Martinez was RNC Chairman to ensure an open borders candidate in ‘08. The cheap labor express will be kept running, regardless of the consequences, to party or country.
GOP-RIP
I wrote that two years ago over at Townhall, warning of the disaster a McCain nomination would be. The GOP seem just as determined today to ignore the wishes of the citizens and more importantly, their voters.
Look at the bright side, socialists always ends up running out of other people’s money, (just try to ignore the fact that that includes yours).
I do agree with Shelby Steele. Obama defeated conservatism because conservatism basically stayed on the sidelines on racism and if they are not careful, republicanism and conservatism will become a dinosaur ideologies.