Should Idi Amin Have Been Supported Because He Was African?/ Joan of Arc is NOT Like Maggie Thatcher

[McCamy Taylor]

You remember Idi Amin. Ugandan dictator. Murderer. Cannibal. Mean as they come. But, he happened to be African. Something that Barack Obama also happens to be thanks to his father. If you allowed Obama's heritage to influence your vote for him--even just a little bit as in "A man who has endured the slights and arrows that African-American men must endure in this country has the experience and sensitivity to stand up against oppression and to identify with the oppressed" then you must also support Idi Amin. Why? Because Amin was African and Obama is half African and all Africans are alike.

Hold on there, you say! That's racist! It's bigoted! All Africans are not alike. I'm gonna have to alert on this thread, because we can not have this kind of bigotry at DU.

Fine. Alert. But, while you are at it, take a look at the threads which claim that a vote for Clinton is a vote for Margaret Thatcher---British PM. Murderer of the soul of the UK, presumably because she had no soul of her own.

Clinton set the course which her political career would follow when she delivered a speech in Bejing in which she declared "Women's Rights are Human Rights!"

In that speech, she defined herself as a champion of women. There is a big difference between being a female politician and being a female politician who champions the rights of women. Both possess two x chromosomes. But only the champion of women devotes herself to causes that are often overlooked--like human trafficking, child labor, women's attempts to raise themselves and their children from poverty.

How about this logic: Joan of Arc was a woman. If you admire Joan of Arc, then you should vote for Clinton---because obviously, all female political leaders are the same.

[BootinUp]

1. K&R. nt

[Kalidurga]

2. Yeah Joan of Arc that's the ticket.

[tularetom]

3. OK, you win, Clinton is not as bad as Thatcher

But she is far from being a champion of women's rights. Opposition to a $15 minimum wage hurts low income women. Opposition to universal health care hurts poor women and children. Warmongering foreign policy hurts (and actually kills) women and children in many parts of the world. Actions of Wall Street, which she firmly supports, harm women. Espousal of continued government surveillance of private citizens, hurts women.

Sure, she ain't Margaret Thatcher. But she's a loooong way from Joan of Arc.

[CharlotteVale]

4. Exactly, and she also had no problem hurting women when

she went back on her word to Elizabeth Warren and voted for the Bankruptcy Reform Act, which she knew would hurt them.

P.S. That Joan of Arc graphic is creepy as shit.

[AZ Progressive]

5. You don't think Clinton is like Thatcher? Tell that to Mark Penn, Clinton's '08 chief strategist

From an article talking about the 2008 election:

Clinton’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, said he believed voters view the president as the “father” of the country. But he also believed they would accept a female “father,” provided she were tough enough.

Penn told Clinton there was “a yearning for a kind of tough single parent—someone who can combine the toughness they are used to [from a male leader] with the negotiating adeptness they believe a woman would bring to the office.”

Penn’s Platonic ideal of such a female leader was Thatcher. “We are more Thatcher than anyone else,” he wrote. Clinton, like Thatcher, he believed, was an “Iron Lady” and should present herself as such.

- http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-04-08/what-margaret-thatcher-taught-hillary-clinton

And policywise, it seems like Hillary is to the right of Thatcher in foreign policy.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Well, her outfit looks like she's ready for another gloious crusade.

Iran? Iraq? Afghanistan? Yemen? Libya? Honduras?

She looks to be the epitome of American foreign policy.

[TM99]

7. Both Clinton and Thatcher are neoliberals.

That is why they are compared to each other. They share similar social, economic, and foreign policy positions.

Joan of Arc?! OMFG that made me laugh!

[BootinUp]

9. All that you have demonstrated with your comparison

of Hillary to Margaret Thatcher the conservative former UK PM and Ronald Reagan ally, is that your view of politics is so far outside the Democratic party view as to make one laugh. Seriously, consider adding a sarcasm tag to the first part.

[TM99]

10. Hardly.

Clinton is a neoliberal. She is a founding member of the DLC. She is a New Dem.

The Democratic Party has been taken over by this faction so yes, as a traditional progressive, you would think my position radically out of the ordinary. It is not.

What you have demonstrated to me is that you either buy the faux progressive facade that hides the neoliberal truth OR worst of all, you agree with neoliberalism.

[SunSeeker]

8. K & R

[erpowers]

11. False Comparison

I am a fan of Hillary Clinton, but I think you gave a false comparison. There is a big difference between comparing President Obama to Idi Amin and comparing Hillary Clinton to Margaret Thatcher. It would be easy to compare Hillary Clinton to Margaret Thatcher. Not because they are both women; because both are regarded as right of center politicians. There is nothing wrong with someone saying a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Margaret Thatcher, or if you would not vote for Margaret Thatcher you should not vote for Hillary Clinton. There is a thought that a Hillary Clinton presidency would be similar to a Margaret Thatcher PM tenure. Clinton supporters as well as Clinton opponents could point out policies/ideas that Clinton and Thatcher have in common.

On the other hand, it would indeed be wrong to compare President Obama to Idi Amin. The only thing they have in common is that they both have African heritage. Any supporter of President Obama could say that President Obama has not promoted any of the ideas/policies of Idi Amin.

People of a similar political persuasion tend to have the same political ideas. People who are of the same race do not always act the same. In addition, we do not usually make an extremely horrible person as an example of how a race acts. However, we expect all Democrats and Republicans to act in a similar manner because there are sets of ideas and policies that the parties support. If you do not like the policies of either party you can leave the party. Most people cannot stop being white, or black because they do not agree with what the people of their race do.

[BootinUp]

12. As I said in another post yesterday, the definition of the center

around here is usually wrong. The center is defined by what resonates most strongly with the American people, and this is a moving target over time. To say that one of Ronald Reagan s greatest political fans and ally is closely comparable to either of the Clintons is just a joke.