OBAMA...."The Shuffle President".......Matt Bai

July 19, 2009
The Way We Live Now
The Shuffle President
By MATT BAI

Obama is the nation’s first shuffle president. He’s telling lots of stories at once, and in no particular order. His agenda is fully downloadable. If what you care most about is health care, then you can jump right to that. If global warming gets you going, then click over there. It’s not especially realistic to imagine that politics could cling to a linear way of rendering stories while the rest of American culture adapts to a more customized form of consumption. Obama’s ethos may disconcert the older guard in Washington, but it’s probably comforting to a lot of younger voters who could never be expected to listen to successive tracks, in the same order, over and over again.

Such an approach does, however, invite significant peril. Random play may popularize your music in the aggregate, but it doesn’t foster the same kind of investment in the songs themselves. U2 may have more fans than ever, but that doesn’t mean these listeners can name half the tracks on the band’s latest release.

Similarly, Obama retains higher favorability ratings than any of his recent predecessors — about 60 percent, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted last month. But only 46 percent in the same poll were either “quite” or “extremely” confident that Obama had the right policies to revive the economy, and only 33 percent volunteered support for his health care plan. That last number grew to 55 percent when the broad plan was explained to voters, which means that even the outlines of what is arguably Obama’s most important proposal haven’t been absorbed by the public. In other words, most Americans seem to like the president, but they’re not engaged with the specific arguments he’s making.

And should the president prevail on one or another of his proposals, he might find that acclaim, in this digital moment, can be ephemeral. Landmark legislative proposals, like hit singles, can come to seem interchangeable and dispensable. Creating a new health care framework, after more than a half-century of talking about it, would be a monumental achievement for any president, but even that might seem somehow small when viewed as only one in a series of competing storylines. What about carbon emissions? How about reining in Wall Street? Too much comes at us now, too devoid of context, for any one thing to matter as much as it probably should. In a society on shuffle, we’re always left to wonder what’s next.

More of an interesting read at.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19fob-wwln-t.html

Don't even think of bringing up Stepin Fetchit.

"I is coming, Massa, I is shufflin' as fast as I can"

I think the NYT just stepped in a a big pile of dog shit.

I sometimes wonder if it isn't more indicative of a younger generation of writers unfamiliar with previous generations stereotypes.

unless the author is an imbecile, which I doubt.

Words can have multiple meanings, and clever people know how to use double entendres.

As so many seem convinced of in this case.

either he is incompetent to do the job, or he is malicious.

You chose.

I prefer less black/white thinking when it comes to evaluations.

I hope you are less charitable when judging other professions, like the surgeon who may, someday, have to work on your living brain.

"Oh, I'm sure he meant well when he accidentally cut my optical nerves. Clearly a misunderstranding...."

and that our president is faced with boatloads of it, I'm just not ready to assign conscious racism to every act.

Even by a wordsmith.

On this we disagree.

At least we disagree civilly.

Hope we have an opportunity to converse in the future!

:hi:

I care very deeply for the health of our country and desire, work, and literally pray for the success of our president in the enormous tasks that are facing him and us.

And I despise the political opportunists/ideologues who are working to defeat him by placing their own craven purposes ahead of the benefit of the nation.

:hi:

use of the term.

To miss something like that is impossible for a major publication.

They did it with purpose.

The question is why.

:eyes: What WERE YOU THINKING? But then...so many of you don't read past a subject line ...I shouldn't have bothered to ask.

Don't judge me by your reading standards.

:eyes:

I still think it was a racial slur, thinly veiled.

If it wasn't, the writer should be fired for sheer ignorance and incompetence.

or do they hire incompetent editors too?

of racial baggage -- and is entirely inappropriate in the context of a Black president.

with people of a certain age when that word is used.

Not everyone owns a frigging iPod, or even knows what an iPod Shuffle is.

Tone Deaf Times.

of that connotations of that word.

I wouldn't call this guy a particular FOO--Friend Of Obama. He thinks he's Too Cool For School, though.

And should the president prevail on one or another of his proposals, he might find that acclaim, in this digital moment, can be ephemeral. Landmark legislative proposals, like hit singles, can come to seem interchangeable and dispensable. Creating a new health care framework, after more than a half-century of talking about it, would be a monumental achievement for any president, but even that might seem somehow small when viewed as only one in a series of competing storylines. What about carbon emissions? How about reining in Wall Street? Too much comes at us now, too devoid of context, for any one thing to matter as much as it probably should. In a society on shuffle, we’re always left to wonder what’s next.

thinks he is.

He is definitely not post-racial.

an iPod Shuffle is. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw this. Is it even possible that neither the writer not the editor know wht the word means to African Americans? ...I mean, WOW!

People do things for money, sometimes.

And other times, people do things because they want to evoke a reaction--it's "cool" or something, maybe they even call it "art," to see people get outraged, or even annoyed, or irritated, and they then smugly sit back and say "Ewww...look at your silly, pedestrian reaction--we're be-YOND that, you see...to "US" the word "Shuffle" refers ON-ly to the EYE pod, doncha know!" They won't come right out and say "You dumbass geezer" but that's what they might mean when we take a bit of an exception.

Of course, the third possibility is maybe this guy is really just young/dumb, and thinks he's clever.

Whatever--I will have to second your "WOW" when I think this pile got past what passes for editors at NYT...that's pretty astounding to me.

And then I read the article, and it got worse.

you're reading too much into it!"

If this is "post racial" America, it smells like a kinder, gentler version of dogs-n-fire-hoses. I don't like it.

is through one of his girls.

On the other hand, I'm sure he's very familiar with Stepin fetchit's famous shuffle. It was all over TV (though mostly in old movies) when we were growing up.

Gottcha! :D

An innocent reference to IPod shuffle....

Yea, that's the ticket...

I guess you couldn't get past what you viewed as some kind of "Negro Joke" to read the rest...huh?

Whose meaning the author clearly understood.

I know what an Ipod shuffle is, despite my years.

But I don't believe for one minute the author didn't understand the other meaning of the word.

to shuffling back and forth from issue to issue.

"Obama is the nation’s first shuffle president. He’s telling lots of stories at once, and in no particular order. His agenda is fully downloadable."

Did I get that right, or is there some profound meaning that only the illuminati are privy to?

And if it takes such enormous brain power to understand the subtle meaning of the authors' true message, why didn't that wondrous brian power warn him of the pile of dog doo he was about to step on?

shit of the most profound order. "No matter what Obama does, it won't be enough. What's NEXT?"

This is death by a thousand cuts, served up by a smartass who thinks he's cool because he mentions Bob Dylan and sends the whole mess out under a modern term that can be taken more than one way. Shuffle your songs, or step-n-fetchit.

Dylan couldn't sing very well. This guy can't write very well.

Dylan had talent, though. At least his compositions made sense.

This guy is trying to pull a Judge Judy--pee down our legs and tell us it's raining.

i.e. the "Shuffle Generation" who can listen to things individually but that unlike the vinyl days where Albums gave a narrative and you watched a musician and music developing and could watch the step by step evolution of the Music (i.e. the narrative) what Obama might fall short on in translating the "narrative" to the People...while he steps through the shuffling of music that has no connection beyond the listener's shuffling of tunes that fit their own music preferences.

In Other Words: Obama is great at doing the multi-tasking of shuffling through our problems like we do on our I-Pods listing to one song and then another...but in the end it might be cautionary for him to realize the Public really might need a NARRATIVE...a way to understand how his programs for America and our Recovery from War, Financial Disaster, Climate Change can be addressed in a way that logically evolves from Point "A" to Point "B" and through...rather than "shuffling around jumping from program to program (song to song).

Got It? That's why I and many others read. Obviously You and Others read a very different article in your minds looking for prejudice when the article writer was using a metaphor for the world he lives that he thought most of his readers would get.

Just like a crappy old vinyl record or CD.

Your iPod is loaded with only so many tunes--it isn't like it is a SURPRISE to you, since you put them on there yourself. Unless you were drunk or stoned when you uploaded them.

And really--even in the ancient CD era, you could pick up the remote (or punch the button in the car) and listen to track two, again and again, if you wanted. In the vinyl era, you had to haul your fat ass off the couch and...move the needle. It's not like you couldn't get the same experience--it just took a hair more effort.

What's the glory in not being in control of your agenda? You get to load your agenda, but you can't be "the decider" about what you deal with, when? That's like going to a pricy restaurant and being told you HAVE to have your dessert first.

Makes the President seem a bit "controlled" to me.

In any event, the double meaning IS there. You cannot wish it away, either. It's not cool.

The whole analogy sucks. Reread his last paragraph.

This guy struck out with his strained little metaphor. And his editor should be fired.

that don't hang together. One more unfortunate connection. Also, he sang a lot of songs.

And you think all this -- the black man shuffling, the songs, the suitcase metaphor, the stories that don't hang together -- it's all just a coincidence?

Even if it IS, it's the job of the editors to make sure coincidences like this one don't happen.

If you're still unconvinced, take a look at this google page and all the references connecting Stepin Fetchit with "shuffle." I think you'll be surprised.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22stepin+fetchit%22+shuffle&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

to get past it since the metaphor, and all its racial connotations, is woven through the article.

"Bullet Points."

Since Stepin Fetchit was known for both, it's hard not to make the association. The article also makes an unfortunate comparison of legislative priorities to suitcases – unfortunate, since the actor who defined Stepin Fetchit – Lincoln Perry – often played a porter.

It is possible that the writer didn’t know what he was doing – but someone at the NYTimes should have caught this.

judging that I posted some racist post by a NYT's writer who is not know to be racist ...but acting like I posted Glen Beck and was supporting what Glen Beck says.

I see post after post pushing Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and the Faux News Teams rants along with Limbaugh and Drudge most days here on DU. And folks seem so fine with seeing post after post of their racist filth along with the Palin Promotion posts.

But, a well reasoned cautionary article gets attacked as a poster who posts on DU is posting a "Obama the Negro Shuffler" article and few bother to read and those who CLAIM they read the "whole thing" can't really explain what bothered them about the CONTENT of the ARTICLE but accuse Matt Bai of being a racist and by "inference" that I posted it on DU that I must be posting racist "Shuffle" stuff...which we all know is a "back room code" for latent racism and so one needs to not read beyond the subject line before slinging arrows and mud...and trashing.

It's really Hipocracy at the ultimate...if you think about it...dontcha think? :D

You can't associate "shuffling" with a black President and pretend that that is an innocuous reference.

You gotta be clueless in today's world that you think any writer for a "going out of business newspaper" is going to put themselves on the line to lose their job by throwing out racist invectives.

Maybe you confuse Matt Bai with Lou Dobbs or maybe Glenn Beck of CNN? Those are the REAL FOLKS you should be concerning yourself with. Obviously "reading" was not something you could deal with ...being a more "visual learner" who can only discern what's worthwhile from the folks on the TEE VEE MEDIA?

:shrug:

Or maybe an editor did catch it and decided, for reasons only he or she knows, to let it slide.

But he'd have to be "clueless in today's world" not to know about the Stepin Fetchit shuffle. You can bet that Obama would have instantly picked up the reference.

not when you use just the single word. he didn't say iPod shuffle, or shuffling cards....just "shuffle".....Incredible!

Just to see what the article is about? You pre-judge...and assume I'd post a racist article attacking Obama on DU just for the thrill of it? :eyes:

doesn't have anything to do with gay people?

This is similar.

about your posting of the article. Actually, i initially thought you postedt it to show the absurdityof the headline. Now I think you posted it simply because you don't really understand the implication.

Touché.

45/78 Turntable and some old 8-Tracks and a WHOLE LOTTA CD's.

Ayyyy... Like I'm gonna post some "Shuffle" article that dates back to the dancing "black folks" days.

Give me a break. I've been here since 2001! :eyes:

I am accusing the New York Times of using deliberate Racial code words.

Thank you for bringing this article to our attention.

I think the New York Times has some explaining to do, not you.

will you? :shrug:

with Nelson Mandela on his days off.

There's some sort of "drama" behind this article. As I've alluded to in other posts, perhaps he's playing a "little shithead" game, jerking the chains of us geezers who lived through those dreadful stereotypical days, and who remember them without fondness, so he can point and laugh at how "mired in the past" we are, or something. Or maybe he's just really stupid and clueless, and so's his editor.

Let me put it this way--you don't put the word Shuffle up front when you're talking about a black man. Why couldn't he have said iPod NANO? It's like using the word "booty" to talk about a woman with a generous behind, and then insisting, disingenuously, that you were talking about pirate loot, not her junk in the trunk.


It's just a crappy bit of work, is what it is. And his editor/s should be shot.

SHOULD have been well aware of the deeper meaning of that metaphor.

Let me be very, very clear: I'm not accusing YOU of anything. I imagine you're fairly young, and perhaps aren't as sensitized to the OTHER meaning of the word shuffle, aside from music and cards.

But I'm old enough to know what kind of bullshit game this writer is playing. It's a bit of "code" and "cleverness" by a guy who is clumsy and not clever.

That's no hit on you--just reread his last paragraph, and see very clearly what he's saying there. It will probably temper your defense of him.

:D

We missed our chances. But, I'm glad I still have my collection. After I'm gone they go to the landfill..which is sad...but maybe hundreds of years from now...they will be in a dig...and some new future beings will rediscover the MUSIC! Those damned "Eight Tracks" will have vaporized by then.

VINYL will LIVE FOREVER!

Everyone had to sit in front... :rofl:

And every Beatles LP record released.

Don't have the jacket cover, though. So, that devalues it to nothing. Also have first of "Heart Break Hotel." No jacket cover there, either. Friend gave them to me. Love 'em though.

they're a bit "trashed." They were used, after all. A LOT.

Amazingly, they were treated well all those years--no scratches, anyway.

and that's why I'm so proud of having them...and my good friend who gave them to me when he knew I was a late Elvis fan ...and thought I'd like to know his earliest recordings. By then my friend was onto new music...so he was happy to give them to me.

with the full understanding and expectation that readers will absorb both the obvious meaning, and the more subtle ones. And this one isn't even subtle.

get them publicity so they could get the ratings that TRUE RACISTS like the Fox News Crowd, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck of CNN and Pat Buchanan of MSNBC can get.

You think Bai's article was about him EXPLODING from the dying "Print Media" to get a job at Fox or the other propagandists cables and this is why he wrote that "Obama the Negro Shuffler is able to Multi-task" and that's why I posted the article here for you all to read and get all flustered about.

:D

of one if not several editors on the Times staff.

A deliberate choice. Made for what motives?

Are you "seriousness" about this? I am shocked a fellow DU'er would make such a simplistic reversist racist charge.

The article had racial undertones that were clear, or should have been clear to the author, and to the editors at the New York Times.

Am I being clear enough for you? Or do I have to spell it out?

I need to know what your objections are. So far, I've not gotten anything but some rantings about "shuffling."

Thanks if you can try to give some points.

And probably a couple of the references, too.

My personal belief is that it IS racially charged (insensitive at the very least) language and that the Times is being negligent by using such language.

Honestly, it sounds like Pat Buchanan.

What's next? Is someone at The Post going to allude to "strange fruit"?

Just my 2 cents. Wondering if the author's background/age is such that he never encountered the word used in another form as well. Hopefully he will address it. If it is a common term and someone above did know it and 'let it slide' that would be disappointing.

you will understand that when he says shuffle he is talking about an I-pod shuffle
but you can make it about race if you want. As Woody Allen once said, I know he's an anti-semite
did you hear the way he said, "did jew?"