The Normalizer-in-Chief
Published on
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
by
Common Dreams
The Normalizer-in-Chief
by
Thomas S. Harrington
U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he meets with President-elect Donald
Trump (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on
November 10, 2016. They talked for 90 minutes on a range of issues as the
transition of power begins. ( Photo: Pat Benic/UPI)
Got an unsavory past? Does a great moral stench attend to you as you go
about your daily business? Tired of having people see the things you do as
grotesque vulgar and savage?
No problem. Call the Normalizer, Barack Hussein Obama.
He's cool, or so they say, he's relatively articulate and best of all he's
got a skin color that suggests to people that he is naturally disposed to
taking the side of the downtrodden and morally righteous.
And therein lies his secret power.
He long ago figured out that most liberals today are long on the celebration
of semiotic perceptions and short on the empirical analysis of political
actions.
Secure in this knowledge, he set up a lucrative racket, starting way back in
his days at Harvard Law, of posing as a saint of progressives while
shamelessly doing the bidding of society's most regressive forces.
He was at his normalizing best this week after his meeting with Donald
Trump. While immigrant families and young people of color-the people it is
casually and automatically assumed are the apple of his moral eye-are
quaking in their boots across the country, with some spontaneously breaking
into fearful sobbing in classes taught by yours truly, there he was
providing a much-needed moral whitewash for the Donald.
On a day when Trump was appointing the white supremacist Steve Bannon as one
of his two top aides, there was the Normalizer giving the president-elect
the establishment seal of approval, going so far as to bestow on him what is
arguably the most coveted descriptor in American politics: that of being
"pragmatic."
And the very real fears of the constituency that, incredibly, still idolizes
him after eight years of constant, in-your-face betrayals? Well, all that
can wait for another day, another day, way, way far in the future.
The Normalizer knows the key right now is to make sure there be no
disruptions in Empire Inc., that he provide no openings for those that might
question the essential decency and good-heartedness of his paymasters in the
U.S. Deep State.
Mission accomplished.
Is there a shadow of moral opprobrium pursuing you?
If so, call the Normalizer. Make your appointment now before his fees go up
astronomically on Saturday, January 21st, 2017.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Thomas S. Harrington
Thomas S. Harrington is a professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College
in Hartford, Connecticut and the author of the recently published book,
Livin' la Vida Barroca: American Culture in a Time of Imperial Orthodoxies.
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The Normalizer-in-Chief
Published on
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
by
Common Dreams
The Normalizer-in-Chief
by
Thomas S. Harrington
. 13 Comments
.
. U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he meets with President-elect
Donald Trump (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C.,
on November 10, 2016. They talked for 90 minutes on a range of issues as the
transition of power begins. ( Photo: Pat Benic/UPI)
. Got an unsavory past? Does a great moral stench attend to you as you
go about your daily business? Tired of having people see the things you do
as grotesque vulgar and savage?
. No problem. Call the Normalizer, Barack Hussein Obama.
. He's cool, or so they say, he's relatively articulate and best of
all he's got a skin color that suggests to people that he is naturally
disposed to taking the side of the downtrodden and morally righteous.
. And therein lies his secret power.
He long ago figured out that most liberals today are long on the celebration
of semiotic perceptions and short on the empirical analysis of political
actions.
Secure in this knowledge, he set up a lucrative racket, starting way back in
his days at Harvard Law, of posing as a saint of progressives while
shamelessly doing the bidding of society's most regressive forces.
He was at his normalizing best this week after his meeting with Donald
Trump. While immigrant families and young people of color-the people it is
casually and automatically assumed are the apple of his moral eye-are
quaking in their boots across the country, with some spontaneously breaking
into fearful sobbing in classes taught by yours truly, there he was
providing a much-needed moral whitewash for the Donald.
On a day when Trump was appointing the white supremacist Steve Bannon as one
of his two top aides, there was the Normalizer giving the president-elect
the establishment seal of approval, going so far as to bestow on him what is
arguably the most coveted descriptor in American politics: that of being
"pragmatic."
And the very real fears of the constituency that, incredibly, still idolizes
him after eight years of constant, in-your-face betrayals? Well, all that
can wait for another day, another day, way, way far in the future.
The Normalizer knows the key right now is to make sure there be no
disruptions in Empire Inc., that he provide no openings for those that might
question the essential decency and good-heartedness of his paymasters in the
U.S. Deep State.
Mission accomplished.
Is there a shadow of moral opprobrium pursuing you?
If so, call the Normalizer. Make your appointment now before his fees go up
astronomically on Saturday, January 21st, 2017.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
/author/thomas-s-harrington
/author/thomas-s-harrington/author/thomas-s-harrington
Thomas S. Harrington is a professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College
in Hartford, Connecticut and the author of the recently published book,
Livin' la
Vida Barroca: American Culture in a Time of Imperial Orthodoxies.
