I’m glad, we all need to be reminded that we are all pretty much mutts.  America isn’t called the melting pot for nothing.

Oh, man, the same sentiment caused such a sh*tstorm here five years ago…

http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/news/2003/05/27/City/i.Am-A.Mutt-1911639.shtml

Is it because he’s “mixed”? That is hilarious. I’m sooooo glad we have someone who isn’t afraid to make a joke about himself. I’m assuming he meant it as a joke, of course.

Greg, I thought that article was really interesting. I’ve been calling myself a mutt since I was a kid, and I really don’t see the comparison to other racial terms, because I’m pretty sure it comes from multiracial people, not directed at them.

I could “reclaim” and call myself a cunt or a nigger or a kike, but I’d still be very aware that those were words used against me or my parents at various points. But I’ve never heard anyone call a biracial person a mutt (or mongrel) other than biracial people. It’s just an easy way of getting around the “Well, my dad is a quarter black and half Japanese and my mom is a Russian Jew and . . . ” when people ask the irritating and patronizing question “What are you?”

It’s also totally cool that he’d prefer to get a puppy from the animal shelter . . .

Barack Obama just called himself a “mutt” during his press conference.

See, Obama is refreshingly down-to-Earth and normal. Wow, what a change.

I call myself a “mutt” as well, to keep things simple. Either that, or “I’m a Heinz 47”.

It’s also totally cool that he’d prefer to get a puppy from the animal shelter . . .

Even if it’s ‘cause it’s PC it’s nice to know that either he and/or his people get it.  That’s the thing that drove me craziest about the Bushies (I & II) is how utterly clueless they were.

My kind of executive: smart, cultured, no drama, sense of humour, reality-based, serious about the job but not about himself. Everything the last guy wasn’t.

January can’t arrive soon enough.

No clue on the dog thing, but shelter cats are definitely the best cats. When I get a pet I want a friend, not a decoration. I’m going for personality, not looks

So am I going to have this dopey, hopey grin on my face for the next 8 years?  “A mutt”.  Hell yea.

There’s something wrong with me.  Ever since Tuesday, I tear up at everything, I feel all light inside and my gait is somewhat bouncy. 

Is this what’s known as “happiness”?

To extend the metaphor, mutts are healthier and often more stable than purebreds.

I love even more that he tied it to getting a shelter dog: “a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me.”

I’ve called myself a “mutt” before and all the ancestors I’m aware of were white, but they were of different ethnicities.  I’ve never thought it was derogatory, although it’s definitely the sort of thing you say about yourself, not other people. 

I’m going for personality, not looks

I hardly know anyone who has a purebred cat.  Mine is an absolute beauty—black, sleek, shiny, big anime eyes—and she’s a mutt, half Siamese and half whatever was wandering the neighbour’s back yard.

I’m so glad that the president-elect wants to adopt a shelter dog! He’s so in-vogue now that more people will surely look at rescuing dogs instead of patronizing stores which buy from puppy mills. We also nee to get rid of the stigma attached to having mixed heritage, regardless of whether it’s a dog or not. I really don’t get why people need to have very specific-looking pets.

Like killjoy, I often refer to myself as an “American mutt” even though (AFAIK) all of my ancestors came from Europe.  From one side of the books, I could join the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) because one of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War.  On the other, my grandfather immigrated from Italy when he was two years old.

Let’s face it, everyone knows that mutts in general are smarter, stronger and healthier than purebreds in general.  George W. Bush was a purebred; Barack Obama is a mutt.  Who better to lead a nation of mutts than a man who’s one, too?

Or, as Bill Murray said in Stripes:

We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts! Here’s proof: his nose is cold! But there’s no animal that’s more faithful, that’s more loyal, more loveable than the mutt.

I guess technically my cats aren’t “shelter cats” since I got them from a rescue organization and they never spent a day in a shelter.  One was brought to the rescue lady by a homeless person who knew she collected cats; the other one was living with a feral colony (though she doesn’t seem to be feral herself).  But either way, they’re definitely mutts. 

That line made me swoon, too.

I’m racially mixed also.  My family tree spreads from northern Germany to north-central Germany.  I’d appreciate it if you’d keep that to yerself.

Hybrid vigor, baby!

That’s the thing that drove me craziest about the Bushies (I & II) is how utterly clueless they were.

Yes! We’ve been without a self-aware president for eight-years and his [willfully] mentally-vacant ass is going to be evicted on January 20, 2009. And as a mutt, it’s good to see other mutts such as President-Elect Obama ‘make it’ and proudly remember where they came from. Forty-four!

**SOB** I’m a boring Irish pureblood.

But, I love mutts!

I love the next 8 years already.

I’ve called myself a “mutt” before and all the ancestors I’m aware of were white, but they were of different ethnicities.  I’ve never thought it was derogatory, although it’s definitely the sort of thing you say about yourself, not other people.

Me too - My four grandparents were Polish (Jewish), Hungarian/Romanian (Jewish), German (Jewish) and Scotch-Protestant.  And everyone who looks at me assumes I’m Irish, so I’ve always corrected them by stating my “mutt-ness”.  I always get a double-bonus since my Scotch-protestant grandfather was disowned for leaving his first wife to marry my orthodox german jewish grandmother (who was also then shunned by most of her family). 

(and I have to say, as someone who can “pass” for not jewish given my irish looks, it’s amazing how many anti-semitic things I’ve heard over the years said by people who thought they were talking to a “safe” audience - really opens a window onto things).

It is nice to see a President-Elect with a sense of humor.

Oh, it’s good to know I’m not the only “American mongrel” (my mom’s term) who is almost entirely of European ancestry.

btw, my grandmother told us only a few months before she passed away, that in all probability her father was an Orthodox Jew. (Both his sisters were, and what’s the probability they both converted rather than he left the community?) So now I have something else to add to the mix.

My jaw dropped, just before I burst out laughing.

You go, Mister President-elect!!!

The “mutt” thing was cute, but as a reporter pointed out on NPR, he was just as serious & deliberative when talking about getting his kids a dog as he was about the economic meltdown. That and the high “uh”-to-actual-word ratio tells me that the guy actually thinks.

I still can’t get my head around it—at least four years with a president who I’ll probably disagree with on a whole host of issues… and there’s a chance I’ll be wrong. Maybe even frequently. As it should be.

Damn.

Just ... damn!

Much of my family has been in this country for a very long time, and some for even longer.  I had ancestral DNA on both the Mayflower and the Trail of Tears.  Part of my mother’s family suddenly sold out all their holdings in eastern Tennessee 1868 and went to Oregon ... three guesses as to why.  Hint - straightening combs!  (but there were no black people in Oregon ...). When my eldest son was small, an excited black woman in a store showed me pictures of her mixed race “grandbaby” that looked just like my son ... maybe one people crayon shade darker at most.

If your Euro ancestors arrived early and moved often, chances are that you are a mutt too!  Whether you know it or not.  Guns, germs, steel and MUTTS! MUTTS!  MUTTS!

*hearts* I’ve always called myself an “American mutt”. I know I have German, English, Moravian, Spanish, and Choctaw ancestry, but I am sure there are at least a half-dozen other bits of the world from which my ancestors came. When I met my best friend, who knows not only exactly where her family came from (Lusatia, in eastern Europe), but the name of the ship on which both great-grandfathers arrived in America, I was stunned. This person knows where they come from? How…how can this be?

So I say WOOHOO to an American Mutt president. XD And awwwwww to his puppy.

I love that he has a sense of humour, too, and that he seems to be aware of all Internet traditions.

“I still can’t get my head around it—at least four years with a president who I’ll probably disagree with on a whole host of issues… and there’s a chance I’ll be wrong. Maybe even frequently. As it should be.”

Thanks, gil mann, for that thought.  I’ve been puzzling over the choices Obama is making and worrying about whether I agree with this one or that one.  I have to remember that he’s a very sharp dude - and he’s on my side on a vast number of issues - and he’s the President!  I want to just step back and let him run things.  As you say, we’ll disagree sometimes.  But there’s a good chance he’ll be right.

When I met my best friend, who knows not only exactly where her family came from (Lusatia, in eastern Europe), but the name of the ship on which both great-grandfathers arrived in America, I was stunned. This person knows where they come from? How…how can this be?

I envy people whose families came from the “mother country” late enough for them to get fun things like European citizenship.  My own ancestors arrived in North America between 1635 and 1880-ish, so all I get to be is a boring old Canadian. 

I love finding out little details about what it has meant over the years to be “mixed” or a “mutt”.  I had ancestors from Germantown, PA who anglicized their names in the eighteenth century, a generation or two after arriving in America.  Clearly they thought this would be of some benefit to them.  So many Canadian families (outside of Quebec) have one parent of Catholic heritage and one of Protestant heritage that I think it actually represents some sort of norm, but there was a time quite recently when that was Not Done.  The Irish were overtly racialized for ages (and still are, just not so much in North America).  And so on, and so on.

That and the high “uh”-to-actual-word ratio tells me that the guy actually thinks.

I’ve never thought about that, but that’s a good point. One might think that saying “uh” a lot would = stupid, but it does mean he’s not just regurgitating talking points.

My heart was soaring during that speech.  Hearing a President (not yet, but should be. so…) speak who can actually say the words he needs to say and doesn’t need to read each sentence, say it in his mind, and then say it out loud was so refreshing.

I love having a smart man in charge again.  I love having a man who can make witty jokes about himself on the fly in charge.  I love this man.

And I hope he does make some choices that I don’t understand.  It means he knows more than I do, which will be a refreshing change.  Damn, that’s so depressing.  Somehow, we had a guy in charge for eight years who was completely clueless and we all knew it.  Well, all of us except that weird 23% percent who still think he’s doing a good job.

Hybrid vigor, baby!

Doesn’t that only applies to hybrids between species?

Also, the best dog I’ve ever had is one I got from a shelter. She’s a mix of god knows what (the shelter called her a lab/pit bull cross, and she’s got a purple tongue like a chow, too), but by far the smartest dog I’ve ever known.

As for me, I’m one of those European mixes (I’m a head of blond hair away from being about as white as you get, and I used to have that as a kid).

“Doesn’t that only applies to hybrids between species? “

Not necessairly since certain hybrids between species can be quite weaker then parent species as well as sterile.

Purebreed dogs depending upon the level of inbreeding can develop a number of debilitating conditions that aren’t in mixed breed dogs.

I am glad that his ploy to assist your acceptance of his leadership worked.

Must.convince.the.frightened.White.People.that.I.Am.Not.Really.That.Black.

Interesting, Uhura, considering that many Black leaders didn’t think he was nearly black enough last winter ...

<i>I have to remember that he

Interesting, Uhura, considering that many Black leaders didn’t think he was nearly black enough last winter ...

Ms Kate on 11/08 at 10:24 PM
What Black Leaders?

Jessie? Al?

As far as I know - they don’t represent Middle and Upper Class Blacs - who are mostly the Blacks that vote.

Jessie and Al are a laughing stock (or an embarrassment) within that particular demographic group.