In my recent post about the different takes on Obama, I direct readers to Pat Buchanan's website and his post describing Obama's speech as Reagan-like. There is a commenter there (Andrea Freiboden) who vehemently disagrees, but more interesting is her comparison of Obama's style to jazz music. I didn't know what to cut out, so I have left most of her comment as it is. The writer has her own rhythm, which makes this long piece much shorter than its actual length suggests, and it even has poetic and, ironically, jazz-like qualities:
Obama is a total liar and actor. I suppose it’s Reaganesque in that Obama is a good performer. But, Reagan stood for firm principles, expounded them, and stood by them. Obama is a rather jazzy character and will say anything to anyone to win plaudits and approval. In this sense, it’s more Clintonite than Reaganite. Reagan was not a panderer. Reagan wanted unity, but he said I’m for this-and-this and the country should unite around me. Obama’s spiel is just more of “I feel your pain with bit more lofty rhetoric.”
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He’s into ‘play with the white boy’ mode. In his book, he talks about ‘how not to make sudden moves’. In Jazz music, there is the art of sneakery, syncopation, hipster slipperiness, elusiveness, cool catness, etc.
Though Obama acts like a spiritual leader, he’s a jiveass Kool Kat mofo on the inside. Indeed, he won the presidency by playing with the white boy(and especially girls).
Smart blacks always understood what the game was about. They knew that white folks were drawn to blackness cuz it be so sexy, dazzling, cool, hip, and slickity slack as opposed to bland, slow, drab, flabbyass whiteness. White girls be swooning over the tough, manly, slick, cook negro stud. And, white boys try to emulate the negro and try to act cool and tough and badass and etc. But, there was also a fear element among whites, especially white males who felt threatened by black masculinity and superior cool. This is the difference between Jazz and Rap. Rap loudly and brashly establishes the badass superiority of the negro. Rap tells the white boy, ‘if you wanna join the rap culture, submit to black power’. So, white boys who are into hiphop and rap culture are a bunch of pathetic clods.
But, jazz has been different. It too was about how ‘we blacks be faster, cooler, sexier, and slick than you white boys’, but it had an air of class, sophistication, friendliness, and subtlety. White boys and girls would feel both intimidated and charmed by Jazz music. On the one hand, the white boy would think, ‘woah, this is too cool and fast and slick for my white ass’, but then the music would slow down, become a bit sweeter and mellow… so that the white boy could feel, ‘heck, maybe I’ll stick around because it sounds awful friendly and nice’ and then the music would pick up and blast again. The white boy would be dazzled and frazzled, frightened and lightened, and etc and etc by Jazz music. Was it pornographic or was it art? Was it street music or was it serious music? Was it for strip joints or was it for fancy clubs? Jazz was very subversive and very tricky, and its rule was always to ‘play with the white boy’.
There is an aspect of ‘pulling the punch’ in Jazz music. It’s more like shadow-boxing, amply featuring black superiority in sexuality and coolness but not pounding the white boy in the face and frightening him away. Jazz developed during a time when most of America was still segregated, when most whites were still very distrustful, when it was still risque for most blacks to shout out loud, ‘hey honkey, I can whup your ass and steal your girl!’ With Jazz, blacks could suggest and intimate all these emotions but with a degree of subtlety so that the whites may be fooled that, gee, this music was a valentine to white folks.
Jazz, unlike rap, makes the white boy thinks he’s safe when he’s being hustled and spiritually pickpocketed in a 1000 ways. (Sure, it’s great and brilliant music, but I’m talking the political nature of Jazz).
