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The Spectacle Blog
I saw the video of this interrogation of Joel Pollak of Breitbart.com on CNN by Soledad O’Brien over the video of a then Harvard Law Review President Barack Obama embracing the late Harvard professor Derrick Bell followed by Harvard Law’s Charles Ogletree bragging about how he hid the tape during the 2008 election.
O’Brien began the interview dripping with contempt towards Pollak. By the end of the interview, the drips had crescended into a waterfall. All the while, Pollak remained calm, composed and erudite. Then, all of a sudden, in the middle of the interview I see Jay Thomas ask Pollak if he is afraid of black people. I think this is first time I’ve seen Thomas on television since he left Cheers twenty years ago. Was Bernie Kopell of The Love Boat not available?
The liberal media is going to learn real fast that they are going to have their hands full with Joel Pollak. Back in April 2009, I saw Pollak make mincemeat out of Barney Frank at the Kennedy School of Government. Pollak may not fill the shoes of Andrew Breitbart but he can certainly fill his own and then some.
With that said, I do have some concerns. It appears that Breitbart.com will be releasing more video of Bell. I’m not sure how wise it is to dwell on Bell. I say this because Bell died less than six months ago and this could be seen as picking on someone who cannot defend himself. Pollak calls Bell “the Jeremiah Wright of academia”. While Bell and Wright might have been in simpatico, according to Stephan Thernstrom of Harvard, Bell wasn’t a firebrand in the way Wright is. And if the American people weren’t dissuaded by Obama’s preacher then I doubt they’ll be dissuaded by Obama’s professor.
That is unless the folks at Breitbart can show a direct link connecting Bell’s Critical Race Theory to President Obama’s policies be it in the Justice Department and elsewhere. If Bell is part of Obama’s intellectual development then I think it is more important to establish how Bell’s thinking has shaped Obama’s policies rather than to cast him as a new Reverend Wright. If people are going to change their minds about Obama it is going to be because of things he’s done during the presidency of the United States, not the presidency of the Harvard Law Review.
View all comments (38) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/03/09/soledad-obrien-that-guy-from-c
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JmsA| 3.9.12 @ 9:40PM
Thank you for your reporting on this, Mr. Goldstein, and kudos for Mr. Pollak, as his very aplomb accentuated what's in the hearts of the media and others, and give heed to others such as Dr. Thomas Sowell, and his very fair and eloquent reflections about Mr. Bell's circumstances at Harvard Law School.
albert constantine jr.| 3.9.12 @ 11:47PM
Years ago, the first time I saw Soledad's first name and thought of George Jackson, I considered she migh not be an objective journalist. Beyond the video, was there another clue?
Julian| 3.12.12 @ 12:16PM
Soledad is a Spanish word that means solitude; it is one of the names of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nuestra senora de soledad (our lady of solitude). Surely you can articulate your disagreement without resorting to such foolishness.
albert constantine jr.| 3.13.12 @ 11:16PM
Now Julian, on the other hand, was the name of my favorite baseball player as a lad.
On the other hand, your useful Spanish translation notwithstanding, are you saying she is not named after the correctional instititution?
RJ| 3.10.12 @ 2:08AM
"If people are going to change their minds about Obama it is going to be because of things he's done during the presidency of the United States, not the presidency of the Harvard Law Review." - Exactly true. We must focus on his record as President.
Here is some of it:
- Unemployment rate of 8.3% (official); 9.1% (Gallup), not counting the under-employed and those who have given up.
- Trillion dollar deficits every year. This government is bankrupting our future.
- Crony capitalism, including violating the creditor rights of Chrysler bondholders as well as subsidizing the business interests of campaign contributiors (E.G. "green energy"). After what happened to Chrysler, no wonder lending institutions are reluctant to issue more loans.
-An $800 billion "stimulus" which failed to stimulate the economy but was a slush fund for political supporters. More debt to burden the economy and our future.
- ObamaCare, where the government takes control over the health industry, requires you pay for insurance it deems you need and ultimately decides what care you may get.
- Promoting abusive regulatory interference, such as working to shut-down Boeing's South Carolina plant because it is in a right-to-work state. I believe it was the CEO of Coca-Cola who said that China has a more favorable business climate than the United States. No wonder businesses are slow to hire and the economy is weak.
- Unreasonably restricting development of America's oil reserves at a time when we exporting our wealth to foreign interests to purchase oil and when the supply of oil is at risk. How do you like $5 a gallon gas, and going up?
- Sending US forces into a military conflict in Libya (and now perhaps Syria) without a direct threat against the United States nor Congressional approval. This is an act of a dictatorial Roman Emperor, not an elected President of a republic.
If Obama can get re-elected with his record, then he really has changed America.
martin j smith| 3.10.12 @ 7:46AM
Aaron you are too sensitive for my taste. Bell is not the point it is the behavior. I am sorry to say this too you but your oh so careful behavior is very dangerous and honestly I will not spend too much of my time which is valuable on your views until I see something making more sense.
Aaron Goldstein| 3.10.12 @ 11:12AM
You are free to reject my views if you see fit. I am merely pointing out the potential problems this Breitbart campaign could face if they make Bell the centerpiece of it.
The bigger overall question is will this actually change peoples' minds about President Obama. Folks like us who have no intention of supporting him will continue not to support him. Folks who have been his biggest fans will continue to be his biggest fans. The audience Breitbart's folks should be concerned about are the people who could go one way or the other. Can Bell's rhetoric be directly linked to Obama's policies? If so, will it change enough minds for people who might have otherwise voted for Obama not to vote for him in November?
It makes perfect sense to ask these questions in relation to the current Breitbart video and the ones due to be released.
Occam's Tool| 3.11.12 @ 9:34PM
Aaron: my own idiot parents voted for Obama in 2008. One can do Dai'ainoo on these people from now until doomsday, but most Libtards I know suffer from too much methane toxicity brought on by chronic asshattery to be able to think this one through.
Mike| 3.11.12 @ 8:56AM
It's not that Aaron is too sensitive, he's just being realistic. Barack Obama was elected in 2008., despite Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, etc. If people were going to hold that against him, they would have in 2008. But they didn't. Stacking Derrick Bell on there is next worthless. We may not agree, but people already made their decision on that. Voters will reject or reelect the President on the basis of the last 4 years, not what happened before. You don't have to acknowledge that, but you're only fooling yourself.
David W| 3.11.12 @ 2:10PM
Remember though, the media did everything they could to cover this up or make it sound like it was something innocent.
Perhaps the idea is to tie Obama's current behavior to his past to show that he is and always be a racist, anti-American who is up to no good.
BD57| 3.11.12 @ 3:17PM
IMO, voters no longer care "who Obama is" (if they ever did). That was a "2008" question.
If things follow their usual cycle, in 2012 voters trying to decide whether to "re-hire" an incumbent president should focus on the usual issue ... "How's he doing?"
IMO, talk about Obama's radicalism, etc. distracts. Our focus should be on THE CENTRAL ISSUE - - - - he's not at all good at this "President" thing. He has no understanding or appreciation of economics (we can count on him to do the wrong thing) and no understanding or appreciation of America's place in the world & the threats she faces.
If this was "The Apprentice," Obama would be fired.
Purple Lips| 3.10.12 @ 9:41AM
All it would take is the RNC or one SuperPac to craft a video of different clips of Barry O'Bammy at different points in his brilliant career as Rabble-Rouser-in-Chief. The elections would be over in a week. But that requires connsumate skill and fortitude - something the GOP lacks in depth.
No back to previous conversations of Sandra Fluke. She is co-starring in the docu-drama "No taxation without Rubberization!"
Bob Grant| 3.10.12 @ 9:47AM
Aaron,
I hate to take issue with you, again, but your seemingly even-handed approach plays right into the hands of the left.
Quit making excuses for obama associating with radicals during his college years.
The fact is, and as Mr. Pollack points out, throughout his life he's been exposed to radicals EITHER willingly or not.
* Baby obama was exposed to radicals; ones who fed him, clothed him, changed his diapers, and encouraged him. His mother STANLEY and grandfather were radicals in every sense of the word
*College student obama willingly exposed himself to the the most extreme elements on campus as evidence by the Harvard protest video and instances. One doesn't have to stretch the imagination much as to why his transcripts remain secret
* The few excursions into the real world, working a real job, he described it as working "behind enemy lines"
*He becomes a "professor" at University of Chicago and by all accounts designs and teaches courses straight out of Rules for Radicals
* He launches his political career out of the home of a terrorist and acolyte of Saul Alinski
* He befriends and attends the Church of one of the most radical preachers in the country
* His voting record and statements during his stint as state legislature is unquestionably far, far left wing.
* The list of radicals he brings in to his administration is almost to long to mention but here goes: Cass Sunstein, Anita Dunn, Van Jones, Steven Chu, Eric Holder, the 2 Supreme Court Justices, the radicals on the obamacare IPAB, ...and others
... For pragmatic (political) reasons - As any president would do - he throws a moderate bone to the republicans from time to time and, yes, his demeanor IS ALWAYS moderate but the evidence is clear this mans' inclinations are always radical. His history is too glaring NOT to notice.
Aaron, your statements give him a free pass and HINT that he's somehow evolved over the years but that is simply not true and we should give him NO QUARTER over this.
We need to make sure people understand this man HAS NOT changed from his college years, nor does he have any intention of doing so!
Aaron Goldstein| 3.10.12 @ 11:22AM
I am not excusing Obama's radical associations from college right up to his presidential run.
As I have said previously, the video I would be interested in seeing is the Rashid Khalidi video given that it was made while he was an Illinois State Senator and was a year before he made his famous speech before the DNC Convention in Boston.
I am merely suggesting that overemphasizing Bell could backfire. However, if the videos can clearly demonstrate that Bell's rhetoric have translated into Obama policy and, as you put it, he hasn't changed one iota since his days at Harvard Law then voters could have second thoughts about re-electing him.
But we shall see what the folks at Breitbart have to offer in the coming weeks and months.
Mike| 3.11.12 @ 8:58AM
When I heard Breitbart was releasing these tapes, I thought, "Get a time machine and take them back to 2007, when someone might have cared..."
Occam's Tool| 3.11.12 @ 9:35PM
The Khalidi video is more important than the Bell stuff, particularly with Iran coming to a head...
RJ| 3.10.12 @ 3:17PM
No doubt, Obama is a radical. It is shocking that this man was elected President. I am sure that there are more unsavory aspects of his life to uncover and, for the historic record it is important to find and publicize them. But to me, the most important issue of this election is his public record as President which demonstrates how radical, corrupt and dictatorial he is and directly affects the lives of us all. It is often said that people vote based on their pocketbooks. Well, except for those people on the dole, Obama has been a disaster for the economy and he has conducted a war against personal freedom. He runs this government like a corrupt third-world dictatorship. If Americans value freedom in their daily lives and honesty in government, that ought to be enough to defeat him in November, regardless of who the GOP nominee is.
The American Hitman| 3.10.12 @ 9:59AM
I'm not sure how wise it is to dwell on Bell.
There is no downside. Whether it will penetrate the fog that surrounds the typical jaywalking voter is another matter, of course.
In any event, Breitbart.com is not running for anything. They are press. They need not (and won't) sweat the blowback, as your typical GOP pol almost certainly would.
ER| 3.10.12 @ 10:33AM
C'mon Mr. Goldstein, grow a pair! Oooo, let's not offend people talking about the racist academic who provides the intellectual framework for the CREDIBILITY of Jeremiah Wright, Farrikan, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton; and the POLICIES of Eric Holder, Van Jones and Hussein Obama? Forgotten already the SEIU thugs with clubs intimidating voters that Holder refused to prosecute? Forget the Black conservative beat up by SEIU thugs for passing out conservative leaflets? Are you ignoring ANY of the non-"firebrand" professors who dare to utter conservative opinions and are condemned and fired forthwith? No sir, the problem with conservative bloggers and journalists is that they live in fear of vetting this Pretender in Chief, and because of that we have this disaster. I am fed up with conservatives with the megaphone self-stifling to not risk hurting anyone's feelings. Tell the TRUTH, man, and the TRUTH will set us Free! Trust us dumbo conservatives to do the right thing, but YOU need to beat the drum, speak loudly about these criminals that have hijacked out country. Heck, you are louder and more bitter critics of Republicans than you are about the Marxists, Liberals and useful idiots that have amassed 17 trillion in debt, and are now going to divulge our Missile Defense secrets to Russia!
Aaron Goldstein| 3.10.12 @ 11:26AM
By all means, the folks at Breitbart should release the videos. If the Breitbart videos can change peoples' minds about President Obama then more power to them. But there are risks in doing so and I am merely pointing them out.
JJ| 3.10.12 @ 12:31PM
I understand, but you fight the battles that present themselves. You just measure the situation and act accordingly.
The anger and contempt of O'Brien is very telling and its wise to push these buttons. The irrationality of the left comes from not having any original thoughts. The are easy to defeat one at a time.
Aaron Goldstein| 3.10.12 @ 1:31PM
You make a fair point. Although there is always a risk of stepping on a mine we can only cross bridges as they come.
If liberals continue to be shrill in their reaction as O'Brien was and Pollak remains composed then the focus shifts to the overwrought reaction of the liberal media. In which case, people might be more receptive to what Pollak, Ben Shapiro and others at Breitbart have to offer.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 3.10.12 @ 9:23PM
I came upon a interesting video of Soledad O'Brien being interviewed by a radio station in 2006. In it, she talks about the income gap between Blacks and Whites, but then she goes a "little" bit overboard!! In it she says, "The White middle-class exists because the Government created the White middle-class, they gave them homes at 0% mortgages, you know to (garble) enable to to buy a home, and now those homes have increased in value, Levittown Long Island, (garble) that's a community that was basically created, so now those homes are worth a lot of money, because there's money in those homes, they can send their kids off to school, they can take a loan out for college, right?, based on the value of their homes, but if you don't have wealth, if you only have income, then you're in trouble, the minute the economy goes south, which we're obviously seeing right now". I transcribe that all by myself, thank you very much!!
Wow!! I didn't know the Government created the White middle-class? But if Soledad O'Brien says it's true, well then, it's got to be true!! It's a very interesting video, you should give it a watch!! She's very angry, and I think she's very angry at White people, or at least White people from Levittown, Long Island!!
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
There's a part-II to this interview, but I couldn't put up with anymore of part-I!!
gearjammer| 3.10.12 @ 11:52AM
Wasn't Soledad on Jepardy once. I recall she did not exactly set the world on fire. Then again I did not hang around for double Jep. Maybe she took off in the second half.
albert constantine jr.| 3.10.12 @ 12:12PM
Celebrity Jeopardy usually reveals that that most celebrities are airheads.
gearjammer| 3.11.12 @ 12:10PM
Actually, it was either Cheech or Chong-get em mixed up-was pretty good.
JJ| 3.10.12 @ 12:27PM
I knew nothing about the so-called CRT. Its quite obvious that Bell was a step in Obamas anti-American mindset. There is no doubt Holder follows the CRT thinking as he laughs off the concept that a white person could be a victim of a hate crime.
We have an unvetted President. We had a candidate Mc Cain who refused to challenge Obama's past and very few media people beside Hannity and Breitbart who even brought up the connections to Ayers and Wright.
Any wonder we do not trust Romney, who comes from the same camp of GOP professional who gave us Mc Cain. Sleeping at the switch is not the way to defeat Obama.
beebop2| 3.10.12 @ 3:07PM
If Mitt Romney showed half the courage of Mr Pollak -- who I am sure is "not the right kind of Jew" for most of the people who watch CNN and whose African wife is "not black enough" for the same crowd -- he could vanquish Newt and Rick in a flash. I am tired of hearing that 0bama is a nice enough nebish. He isn't misguided ... he is doing exactly what his background would lead him to do. He was raised up and educated by radicals who want this country to be brought down a peg. If Romney would just speak this plainly, he would not need to worry about where his delegates are going to come from!
Oldefarte| 3.10.12 @ 3:16PM
Aaron I disagree with the theory that '...If people are going to change their minds about Obama it is going to be because of things he's done during the presidency of the United States, not the presidency of the Harvard Law Review....' I think it will be because of BOTH, since the latter is a determining factor in WHY he has done the former. If these tapes exist and are released, they will hopefully define this man's political and general philosophy as being NOT what he protrays in his usual disguised propaganda intended to obtain the votes of typical Americans. As the congressman shouted at the SOTU address, HE LIES, and the sooner people are forced to understand same the better it will be for this country's survival!!!!!!
Bob Grant | 3.10.12 @ 5:10PM
Olde Flat,
Spot on. People will either attempt to rewrite his history OR imply that he's evolved into some pragmatic leader, putting politics aside for the sake of the country. Both are flat out falsehoods, or, as Joe Wilson would say...lies!
* Grew up in a dysfunctional, leftist family. Even his extended family were not what you would consider normal
* Plenty of what we know about his college days at minimum paints a picture of a student with a serious chip on his shoulder who time and time again chose to associate himself with radical elements AND NOT individuals with moderate views. A passage from his book (Dreams From My Father) described how he shunned and belittled a girl friend who had moderate views about race
The progression from baby obama to president obama indicates one constant: The people who he chose to associate himself with, his closest advisers and allies, are ALL very leftwing, at minimum:
Valerie Jarrett, Michelle Obama, Rev. Wright., Obama's current spiritual adviser Rev. Jim Wallis...on and on it goes....
Riddle me this: If obama became this pragmatic, apolitical leader some are making him out to be, when did this transformation occur?
Don't let his calm demeanor cloud the facts about him!
The past IS prologue!
If we only focus on his record as presidency AND not his past, we are doomed.
Oldefarte| 3.10.12 @ 10:20PM
Amen, agreed BG! I was saddened by Braitbart's untimely death, but hope and pray that his announced tapes on Obama will be forthcoming from his Braitbart.com associates [and hopefully in a timely fashion as to seriously effect the november election's outcome]. Someone blogged the suspicion that possibly Braitbart's death could have possibly have been CAUSED [even though his heart condition was known and being medically treated], and the speculation was that if the tapes are published then the CAUSATION was unsuccessful, but if not then they sadly were so. We'll see!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 3.10.12 @ 10:26PM
PS: If by chance you haven't to date had the time to read Paul Kengor's outstanding editorial/cover story on David Axelrod, please do so ASAP [as it thoroughly explains the political influences surrounding Obama]!!!!!
MyGirlFriday| 3.11.12 @ 3:08PM
Olde....I read this article about David Axelrod. What immediately came to mind is a story that is unfolding on the Instapundit website how millions of illegal robo calls were put out in Chicago and across the country calling for Rush Limbaugh's head (so to speak). The calls were being made in Democratic "Turn Red to Blue Districts." The tactic smells like an Axelrod rotten fish. Everyone should read Paul Kengor's article as it says much about the about the Obama Administration and the tight group of thugs he surrounds himself with.
AVCurmudgeon| 3.10.12 @ 10:51PM
I take your point about the focus, Aaron, but I think the Breitbart group is committed to doing that which was not done in 2008, i.e., thoroughly vetting Obama's history. And while I agree that what Obama is doing today is what is most important, if in fact the link can be made between what Obama does today and his radical academic career, then some questions can be clarified: for example, is this a decent man making some mistakes while trying to do some good things, or a raging ideologue doing exactly what his ideology dictates? Put another way, while it's perfectly OK to prune the branches, it can also be important to know about the roots.
Conservatives say Obama is "socialist", "radical", "divisive" and so forth. Liberals, of course, say "pish tosh". The people in the middle may well think the political accusations are just name-calling and reject it as such. The Breitbart tapes may be helpful in convincing them otherwise; that we got a stealth President in 2008 who prevailed in large part because he concealed who he was; if he is to prevail in 2012 let's at least not allow it to happen because he conceals who he is.
Nick| 3.11.12 @ 11:16AM
Pollak ran for congress in 2010 against crazed leftwing hag Jan Schakowsky here in the Chicago area. He had no chance,as the district is very liberal(Evanston,Skokie,plus very liberal Lakeview and Rogers Park areas of Chicago.
firefirefire| 3.11.12 @ 12:35PM
Mostly I'm disappointed in my American brothers and sisters of african decent. Here I was, all these years since August 1963 thinking that we were building a color-blind society by giving each other the benefit of the doubt that each was not racist and treating each, as they would have others treat them.
Then the Chicago Jesus comes along and reveals that it was all just for show and that black racism has been seething below the surface all these years just waiting to get some payback. Now Obama and his cronies loot the treasury and destroy the future of this great country while they tell me that "I" am the racist coward who is afraid to discuss racism.
InOhio| 3.11.12 @ 5:58PM
If the soon-to-be released tapes make it clear that Obama was NOT vetted, that information concerning his character and acquaintances was deliberately hidden by the mainstream media, it will be worth it.
If one person at a time wakes up from his kool-aid induced stupor and sees the truth . . .
Helen Roberts Spingola| 3.11.12 @ 8:44PM
What makes you think the Liar-in-Chief was
vetted????? He never was; if he had been, chances
are (discounting the morons who voted him in, in
the first place) he would have NEVER been voted
in! God save America....