“Anti-colonial” is now apparently a term of political abuse in the country born from a revolution against a colonial power.
Jamie Dettmer points out in this post how weird American political vocabulary is becoming under the strain of the mid-term campaign. Nothing is odder than the use of “anti-colonial” as a hostile description of Barack Obama. America has behaved like an imperial power for years, certainly, but few Americans are prepared to admit any similarity other empires in history and “anti-colonial” isn’t a remotely plausible explanation of Obama’s actions and policies.
There’s no sign in this backgrounder from the Atlantic Wire that anyone bandying the word around is aware of the irony.
Tags: Atlantic Wire, Barack Obama, Jamie Dettmer
