You probably missed this, but it's been the lead story at Fox Nation for much of today, and the dregs of the right-o-sphere have picked up on it:
Double message: Arrogant blacks rising above their station! And it isn't just that the boaster is a black guy (and not a black conservative like Herman Cain, which would make it all OK) -- he's a black guy who hates America and wants it to fail while his kids succeed!
Fox Nation cites a Washington Examiner blog post, which cites a White House transcript. Now, from that transcript, here's what Obama actually said, in context:
... At some point our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents came to this country seeking opportunity. And they had to work hard; they had to hold themselves personally responsible, they had to take risks. But they also knew that there was a country here where if you did try hard, then somebody might give you a little bit of help; that we were in it together, there were ladders of opportunity that existed.
And that's what we have to rebuild for the 21st century. And that requires us to make some decisions about, are we going to have the best schools in this country, are we going to have the best infrastructure, are we going to do what it takes, so these guys end up being part of an America where everybody can still make it if they try; regardless of whether they came from Russia, or they came from Poland, or they came from Mexico, or they came from Kenya, that they’re going to have a chance to succeed, and live out the same kind of dreams that the Rosen family has been able to live out.
Our kids are going to be fine. And I always tell Malia and Sasha, look, you guys, I don't worry about you -- I mean, I worry the way parents worry -- but they're on a path that is going to be successful, even if the country as a whole is not successful. But that's not our vision of America. I don't want an America where my kids are living behind walls and gates, and can't feel a part of a country that is giving everybody a shot.
And that's what we're fighting for. That's what 2012 is going to be all about. And I'm going to need your help to do it. (Applause.)
If you have a head full of Fox propaganda, that's not a simple acknowledgment that the Obamas have done well in life and can really provide for their kids -- it's a sign that he's arrogant.
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And meanwhile, we have Chris Matthews, Tina Brown, and Chris Christie claiming that Obama is disengaged and unhappy in his job -- but, well, it takes a Foxster to give this new meme the "uppity" spin. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Fox's Michael Goodwin:
Does Obama Think It's Beneath Him to Be President?
... we know what the president has been doing and why. He plays golf and campaigns.
Governing is beneath him.
He doesn't talk much to members of Congress or his own Cabinet.
They're beneath him.
His connection to the public consists of speeches before large crowds, and he ducks behind the curtain and into the security bubble as soon as he finishes.
The people are beneath him.
Warped by a sense of entitlement and self-aggrandizement, Obama refuses to take responsibility for finding practical solutions to problems. He prefers the glory of transformation rather than the roll-the-sleeves-up work of reform.
When he can’t get his way, he appoints a czar and ignores Congress.
Democracy is beneath him....
Maybe it's not about race. Maybe it's just an acknowledgment that even people who disapprove of the job Obama has done mostly think he's a decent guy, and so it's vitally important for his haters to try to make him unlikable -- the best way to do that being, apparently, to argue that he's the opposite of what he seems to be, the way a wife-beater would tell the cops that his victim was the real aggressor.
Either way, it's just some of what's poisoning Fox fans' minds today.
