{"id":31480,"date":"2009-01-21T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:50:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T02:50:25","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:50:25","slug":"juan_williams_on_judging_obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Williams on Judging Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: I mentioned earlier in the program today, Juan Williams, who is at the Fox News Channel and has a terrific piece in the Wall Street Journal today. The headline and the subheadline of the piece are this: ‘Judge Obama on Performance Alone — Let\u2019s Not Celebrate More Ordinary Speeches.\u2019 He, too, was one who thought that yesterday\u2019s speech was somewhat ordinary. There are a lot of people who have that view. Others have a completely different view, of course, but it was unremarkable in a number of ways. But I want to read you a portion of Mr. Williams\u2019 column here. He\u2019s black — and that, of course, in our culture will give him a little bit more credibility than say if he were white writing this. About, oh, 25% of the way through, he asks this question: <\/p>\n

‘But now that this moment has arrived,\u2019 Obama\u2019s inauguration, ‘there is a question: How shall we judge our new leader? If his presidency is to represent the full power of the idea that black Americans are just like everyone else — fully human and fully capable of intellect, courage and patriotism — then Barack Obama has to be subject to the same rough and tumble of political criticism experienced by [other presidents]. To treat the first black president as if he is a fragile flower is certain to hobble him. It is also to waste a tremendous opportunity for improving race relations by doing away with stereotypes and seeing the potential in all Americans. Yet there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. <\/p>\n

‘It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist. This is patronizing,\u2019 he says. ‘Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority.\u2019 I want to stop there, because I don\u2019t know that Mr. Williams knows how profound what he wrote is. To not criticize Obama as a president — forget that he\u2019s black, forget that he\u2019s a man — to not criticize him because he\u2019s black is ‘patronizing\u2019 and ‘it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority.\u2019 I\u2019m telling you, that is profound. Because I maintain to you — and I\u2019ve said this on several prior occasions in the 20-year history of this program — that the Democrat Party and the American left indeed view African-Americans as inferior, incapable of success without the help of the Democrat Party, without the help of government programs like quotas and affirmative action. <\/p>\n

Now, in truth liberals look at all people with contempt. They look at all average Americans with contempt, think that they\u2019re stupid and incapable of handling the rigors of life on their own. But with African-Americans it\u2019s even more pervasive. They feel sorry for them. The American left feels sorry, be it because of the original sin of slavery or what have you. The real racists in this society are our friends in the Democrat Party and on the left, and now we\u2019ve gotten to the point here where Obama is too big to fail. He\u2019s too big to fail. Why? ‘Cause he\u2019s too historic. Why? What\u2019s historic about it? The color of his skin. That\u2019s the typical way liberals look at people, the typical way the way the Drive-By Media looks at people: skin color. Yes, and ‘we\u2019ve been so mean to these people in the past that we can\u2019t be critical now.\u2019 You see it, folks. You see it in the hero worship, the idolatry of the media. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s sickening and dangerous as well, and Juan Williams understands it. Let me pick up where he left off. ‘[I]t carries an implicit presumption of inferiority\u2019 to not criticize Obama. ‘Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise. During the Democrats\u2019 primaries and caucuses, candidate Obama often got affectionate if not fawning treatment from the American media. Editors, news anchors, columnists and commentators, both white and black but especially those on the political left, too often acted as if they were in a hurry to claim their role in history as supporters of the first black president.\u2019 <\/p>\n

In the words of Reverend Joseph Lowery, ‘Say amen!\u2019 Amen! ‘Say amen!\u2019 Amen! He is exactly right. They, the Drive-By Media, considered their role in this to be historic. They wanted to be the ones to put him over the top. They wanted to be central players and figures in this moment of history. ‘For example, Mr. Obama was forced to give a speech on race as a result of revelations that he\u2019d long attended a church led by a demagogue. It was an ordinary speech. At best it was successful at minimizing a political problem. Yet some in the media equated it to the Gettysburg Address. The importance of a proud, adversarial press speaking truth about a powerful politician and offering impartial accounts of his actions was frequently and embarrassingly lost. When Mr. Obama\u2019s opponents, such as the Clintons, challenged his lack of experience, or pointed out that he was not in the US Senate when he expressed early opposition to the war in Iraq, they were depicted as petty,\u2019 the Clintons were. <\/p>\n

‘Bill Clinton got hit hard when he called Mr. Obama\u2019s claims to be a long-standing opponent of the Iraq war ‘the biggest fairy tale I\u2019ve ever seen.\u2019 The former president accurately said that there was no difference in actual Senate votes on the war between his wife and Mr. Obama. But his comments were not treated by the press as legitimate, hard-ball political fighting. They were cast as possibly racist.\u2019 This is what caused Clinton to say they played the race card on him. ‘This led to Saturday Night Live\u2019s mocking skit — where the debate moderator was busy hammering the other Democratic nominees with tough questions while inquiring if Mr. Obama was comfortable and needed more water. When fellow Democrats contending for the nomination rightly pointed to Mr. Obama\u2019s thin proposals for dealing with terrorism and extricating the US from Iraq, they were drowned out by loud if often vacuous shouts for change.<\/p>\n

‘Yet in the general election campaign and during the transition period, Mr. Obama steadily moved to his former opponents\u2019 positions. In fact, he approached Bush-Cheney stands on immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperate in warrantless surveillance. There is a dangerous trap being set here,\u2019 writes Juan Williams. ‘The same media people invested in boosting a black man to the White House as a matter of history have set very high expectations for him. When he disappoints, as presidents and other human beings inevitably do, the backlash may be extreme.\u2019 This is where I differ. I don\u2019t think there will be a ‘backlash\u2019 in the media. He\u2019s too big to fail, Mr. Williams. They\u2019ve set it up this way because of their historic role in his historic election. And then Juan Williams writes this. Mr. Snerdley, listen to this. <\/p>\n

‘Several seasons ago, when Philadelphia Eagle\u2019s black quarterback Donovan McNabb was struggling, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh said the media wanted a black quarterback to do well and gave Mr. McNabb ‘a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn\u2019t deserve.\u2019 Mr. Limbaugh\u2019s sin was saying out loud what others had said privately. There is a lot more at stake now, and to allow criticism of Mr. Obama only behind closed doors does no honor to the dreams and prayers of generations past: that race be put aside, and all people be judged honestly, openly, and on the basis of their performance,\u2019 which is what Dr. King wanted. Juan Williams fears we\u2019ll not get that with Obama. We won\u2019t get a judgment based on honesty, openness, and the basis of his performance, but rather, that his criticism will only be behind closed doors. The Brokaws of the world might criticize him, but they\u2019ll never do so publicly because he\u2019s black. ‘President Obama deserves no less\u2019 than the standard of other presidents in treatment by the press, writes Juan Williams. That\u2019s in the Wall Street Journal. Actually, it ran yesterday. Well, it\u2019s in today\u2019s paper. It was posted 11:30 last night. Juan Williams, contributor, commentator at the Fox News Channel. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: I mentioned earlier in the program today, Juan Williams, who is at the Fox News Channel and has a terrific piece in the Wall Street Journal today. The headline and the subheadline of the piece are this: ‘Judge Obama on Performance Alone — Let\u2019s Not Celebrate More Ordinary Speeches.\u2019 He, too, was one who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJuan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Juan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: I mentioned earlier in the program today, Juan Williams, who is at the Fox News Channel and has a terrific piece in the Wall Street Journal today. The headline and the subheadline of the piece are this: ‘Judge Obama on Performance Alone — Let\u2019s Not Celebrate More Ordinary Speeches.\u2019 He, too, was one who […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/\",\"name\":\"Juan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T02:50:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T02:50:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Juan Williams on Judging Obama\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Juan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Juan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: I mentioned earlier in the program today, Juan Williams, who is at the Fox News Channel and has a terrific piece in the Wall Street Journal today. The headline and the subheadline of the piece are this: ‘Judge Obama on Performance Alone — Let\u2019s Not Celebrate More Ordinary Speeches.\u2019 He, too, was one who […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125113.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/","name":"Juan Williams on Judging Obama - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T02:50:25+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T02:50:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/01\/21\/juan_williams_on_judging_obama\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Juan Williams on Judging Obama"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}