Obama Presiedncey: Death Blow for Racism

[sdwilson2002]

A generation of children will see a black president. They will see a black person holding the most important job in the country and receiving the highest level of respect afforded by a country and its people. Given the level of attention and respect a president receives, it will be impossible for kids to believe that black skin is a weakness.

[d0rkyd00d]

@sdwilson2002

A generation of children will see a black president. They will see a black person holding the most important job in the country and receiving the highest level of respect afforded by a country and its people. Given the level of attention and respect a president receives, it will be impossible for kids to believe that black skin is a weakness.

If he gets elected. I think he’s already set the bar for not only blacks, but for people in general. As somebody else mentioned, to come from a middle class background and go on to be educated at Harvard, graduate with honors from Columbia, become a Senator, and less than two years later be the Democratic Presidential Candidate, is an inspiration for anybody really.

[Peter_Kropotkin]

Not that I want this, but even money
says he will be assassinated within 2 years of being elected.
And the right wing will dance and be overjoyed because
it shows what happens to uppity niggers who don’t know their
place.

Racism will never die, it will simple go underground

Kropotkin

[d0rkyd00d]

@Peter Kropotkin

Not that I want this, but even money
says he will be assassinated within 2 years of being elected.
And the right wing will dance and be overjoyed because
it shows what happens to uppity niggers who don’t know their
place.

Racism will never die, it will simple go underground

Kropotkin

Sure it won’t be the cure for racism, but it will give blacks nation-wide, to whom it never occured they could be anything other than a musician or athlete, another career choice.

[Faust]

churro - your racism is so naive that it actually has a certain appeal.

[MagsJ (Surya Loka.. triumvirate)]

This election is showing just how truely pathetic most people are…

[PavlovianModel146]

A very intelligent black friend of mine once said to me, “A black man can be whatever he wants to be except president of the U.S.A.,” I’m hoping that this will end up being the first argument I ever win against him.

[Xunzian]

Death blow? I doubt that. However, it does shatter a lot of the limits that systemic racism has forced people to apply to themselves. There are a lot of problems with racism in this country, that is simply a fact. But because of those problems, a sizable group of minorities have decided not to strive, to impose limits on themselves. Pretty basic strain theory, actually. Obama pulls that rug out, which is fantastic. The system is still keeping a lot of people down, but given the right person, hard work, and a truckload of luck, it can be beaten. That is really important. I think the psychological impact his election will have on the African American community will be incredible, and I think that many other minorities will also realize what is available to them. As Colin Powell said, “Why shouldn’t a Muslim child born and raised in the U.S. not be able to dream today that she could one day be the President of the U.S.?” Obama helps make those dreams seem achievable. It lets parents say, “You can be anything you want to be” to their children with a touch more honesty than before (though it is still pretty much a big fat lie).

Good stuff all around. Sam Crane, who usually has some interesting things to say, said the following:

Thoughts on President Obama

It’s been busy of late. I have a pile of seventy five-page papers that demand my attention. My department just underwent an external review, which took some time as well. And then there is the usual class preparation, writing anxiety, family stuff, etc. Thus, blogging has been a bit off (even if those papers are not nearly all graded).

In any event, this evening [update: no, next week!] I have the pleasant task of going to dinner with a group of students here. They are holders of very prestigious scholarships and they have asked me to make some remarks about the imminent presidential election. So, I am going to sketch out my comments here.

First, I think at this point it is a safe bet that Obama is going to win. So, instead of getting down into the details of the campaigns, the strategies and speeches (which I follow fairly closely), I want to step back and think for a moment about the meaning of an Obama presidency.

I notice how critics of Obama sneer at those of us who support him, saying that we are making him into a messiah. That is not at all my perspective. He is a politician. He will do some things that I will admire, he will do some things that I dislike. He will pragmatically compromise. The policy changes he brings will not be as extensive as his most ardent supporters suppose. And his shortcomings will not collapse the republic (indeed, if we can survive eight years of W. we can survive just about anything!). Yet, for all of that, there is a way in which an Obama presidency will be transformational.

Obama has been very careful and smart in the ways that he talks, and does not talk, about race. He does not play it up; he brings it up only when others introduce it into the discussion. His victory speech after the Iowa caucus, a key turning point in his campaign, was remarkable in this manner, in the unity message it presented. But, however shrewd his political strategy, race matters. The fact of a black man as president is of historical significance, and we must recognize it as such.

I am not that old. 51. Born in 1957. But I have a clear memory, from when I was about 5 or 6 years old, of visiting relatives in Virginia. We were at a restaurant and my sister, four years older than me, burst out crying. She had seen a sign that read: “Whites Only.” She knew what it meant and it frustrated and saddened her to the point of tears. I remember her face, her cries. I didn’t understand what was going on myself, but I came to understand. Her reaction became a tangible sign post for my gradual awareness of segregation and racism in America. It wasn’t that long ago.

Of course, since then there has been a colossal struggle to redress the historical wrongs inflicted on African Americans. We can talk about progress but we can also talk about continuing problems. An Obama presidency, however, suggests a transformation of sorts. To the extent that the president is the face of the nation, that face will now be black. The years of restriction and repression, the obstacles of prejudice and bias, the pain and sorrow of so many dreams deferred, will now be transcended. He will be a powerful symbol of possibility for all Americans - not only African Americans but those of Hispanic and Asian and other heritages. He will stand as a sign of opportunity for all. He will not solve all of our problems, but he will allow us to see ourselves in a new light, a new color. And that is a beautiful thing.

I also agree with those who point out that Obama as president will improve the way the world looks at the US. Racial prejudice has long been used by critics of America to point out the hypocrisy of our democratic ideals and promises. While racism will not disappear with the election of one man, Obama’s presence will powerfully work against that critique. The multiculturalism that he symbolizes will display for the world a revived sense of American justice and opportunity. And that is all for the good.

I am not a wild-eyed idealist. I fully expect disappointments and mistakes from an Obama administration. But the historical moment is remarkable. His election will be an achievement in itself. And there is a possibility for a coming-together that might produce a more participatory and just society. The hearts of many, many of us, to remember another transformational president, may well be touched by “the better angels of our nature.”

Yes we can!

More Thoughts on President Obama

Last week I started to ruminate on remarks I will make tomorrow at a dinner with students. They asked me to speak about the upcoming elections. As I mentioned, I am looking past what I take to be a very likely Obama victory. My question is: what does an Obama presidency mean?

I am now thinking in a more Taoist manner. Passage 11 from the Tao Te Ching is in my head:
Thirty spokes gathered at the hub:
absence makes the cart work.
A storage jar fashioned out of clay:
absence makes the jar work.
Doors and windows cut in a house:
absence makes the house work.

Presence gives things their value,
but absence makes them work.

That last line says a lot.  In relation to this presidential election, it would lead us to ask: what is absent?  What is missing?  Whatever is it that is lacking may be key to understanding how the election, and possibly an Obama presidency, might work.

 One thing that is absent is the obstacle that race has been in American history.  As I suggested before, at any other time in my lifetime, up to this point, if I had been asked if a black man would be elected President of the United States, I would have answered, "no."  That was not the outcome I wanted, but it was the outcome that seemed to me inevitable, given the legacy or racism in American society.  But now, rather suddenly, that obstacle has been removed.  It is absent.  Not completely, of course.  I would never suggest that racism has wholly disappeared here.  But it has been diminished to such an extent that it no longer bars a capable man from becoming president.  It is effectively absent as an obstacle in this election.

Some may want to reject his idea.  In my previous post, a commenter, "Taoist Voter," asks, among other questions: "What good is a black President if there a million black people in prison, and this President has no initiatives to help them?"  The suggestion here is that Obama is sufficiently ensconced in the political establishment and status quo that he cannot be an agent of significant social change.  He is simply more of the same.  His race is not politically relevant because his politics will not yield genuine social transformation.

This strikes me as too pessimistic.  I do not expect Obama to transform American society to the extent "Taoist Voter" might desire.  Politics rarely works that way, especially American politics, which more often advances incrementally.  In my more radical days I, too, would have scoffed at mere incrementalism.   But the election of a black man for president is a significant step, however overdue, for the US.  It is a generational change.  Young people who have grown up in a more integrated and more multicultural society (compared to my own experience in the 1960s and 1970s), are not as easily swayed by racial stereotypes and fear-mongering.  They listen to what Obama has to say, size up his character, place him in the broader political context of the moment (which works so powerfully against Republicans - thanks W!), and see in him a promise for the future.  Race matters less to them then other qualities of mind and character.  And that's an important change, perhaps one that has come about incrementally over the years, but now seemingly one that has reached a critical moment, a tipping point.

To repeat, an Obama presidency will not end, once and for all, racism in the US.  There will be critics ready to pounce on any preceived mistake he makes as evidence of the folly of electing a black man to the highest office in the land.  But his presence in the oval office will symbolize new national possibilities.  And that presence will have been facilitated by an absence of the race obstacle this time. 

[tunis]

@sdwilson2002

A generation of children will see a black president. They will see a black person holding the most important job in the country and receiving the highest level of respect afforded by a country and its people. Given the level of attention and respect a president receives, it will be impossible for kids to believe that black skin is a weakness.

Well said. I can’t help but reminisce when “Clarence Thomas” (a man with black skin) was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in 1991. The overwhelming level of respect he received from the Democratic Senate and feminists made kids get all choked up with pride. I can only hope that Obama, if elected president, will recieve the same level of respect that was granted to the Honorable Judge Clarence Thomas.

[Impenitent]

@tunis

@sdwilson2002

A generation of children will see a black president. They will see a black person holding the most important job in the country and receiving the highest level of respect afforded by a country and its people. Given the level of attention and respect a president receives, it will be impossible for kids to believe that black skin is a weakness.

Well said. I can’t help but reminisce when “Clarence Thomas” (a man with black skin) was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in 1991. The overwhelming level of respect he received from the Democratic Senate and feminists made kids get all choked up with pride. I can only hope that Obama, if elected president, will recieve the same level of respect that was granted to the Honorable Judge Clarence Thomas.

-Imp

[Ingenium]

I’m pretty sure about one thing: Obama, had he been in charge at the time, would never have nominated Thomas in the first place. You see, Obama happens to be a superior legal scholar and thus would’ve been able to see by talking to Thomas and reviewing his work that he wasn’t qualified to be a Supreme Court justice.

He wouldn’t have had to wonder about the guy’s odd fascination with Coke cans. And the rest of us wouldn’t have had to listen to the story of it.

[The_Paineful_Truth]

@tunis

Well said. I can’t help but reminisce when “Clarence Thomas” (a man with black skin) was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in 1991. The overwhelming level of respect he received from the Democratic Senate and feminists made kids get all choked up with pride. I can only hope that Obama, if elected president, will recieve the same level of respect that was granted to the Honorable Judge Clarence Thomas.

Outstanding point.

Not to mention how they go around Trashin’ & Tommin’ Condy Rice, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams etc… But then again sometimes it pays off in spades ( ), e.g. Colin Powell.

Ingenium, not to worry. As soon as Obama and the filibuster proof Senate are installed, they can either impeach Thomas or appoint Ayers and some other Marxist to counter his vote in an 11 member court.

[Wobbly]

Yes, there is no difference between a popular election and a presidential nominee/senate appointment. Naturally, they must have the same psychological impact because, afterall, they are both black, and that is all that matters.

This thread is remarkably racist.

Anyway, I’m off to go stand in line for the next 7 hours to make sure that I get a good seat for Obama’s speech on the MU campus. Naturally, no matter what reason I give for why I do this, my actions must be considered first and foremost in terms of Obama being black.

[The_Paineful_Truth]

@Sittlichkeit

Yes, there is no difference between a popular election and a presidential nominee/senate appointment. Naturally, they must have the same psychological impact because, afterall, they are both black, and that is all that matters.

Funny how the Democrats never appointed anyone as high as the Supreme Court or Secretary of State (twice). And Obama has had to promise to stick it to The Man in order to buy all those class warfare votes.

This thread is remarkably racist.

Exactly. By far the most racist group in the country today have been whipped up by the race warloards like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, and of course Barack Hussein Obama over the last 40 years. But then I’m “just a typical white person”. Btw, I was an activist for equal rights in the South perhaps before your father was even born.

Anyway, I’m off to go stand in line for the next 7 hours to make sure that I get a good seat for Obama’s speech on the MU campus. Naturally, no matter what reason I give for why I do this, my actions must be considered first and foremost in terms of Obama being black.

Ah, one of those attack Democrat operatives I’ve been reading about they send out to flood the political message boards. And no, it is not because Barack Hussein Obama is black, it’s because he’s a Marxist (he isn’t even black anyway).

[Peter_Kropotkin]

The Paineful Truth: Ah, one of those attack Democrat operatives I’ve been reading about they send out to flood the political message boards. And no, it is not because Barack Hussein Obama is black, it’s because he’s a Marxist (he isn’t even black anyway)."

K: I must ask because I am curious, do you have any idea what a marxist is? Clearly you have no clue about
socialism, marxism, communism or stalinism, all of which are different things. And as far as being black, um
having a black father means you are part black. Just as my family has been in the U.S since before the 1700
means I have a percentage of black and native american in me, just the way it works.

Kropotkin

[Wobbly]

Funny how the Democrats never appointed anyone as high as the Supreme Court or Secretary of State (twice). And Obama has had to promise to stick it to The Man in order to buy all those class warfare votes.

You do realize 90% of African Americans vote Democrat, don’t you? That’s right, putting a couple of black people in a position of power doesn’t make you any less racist. It just means you want to appear to not be racist. The very fact that you have to bring up the fact that Republicans have put a handful of African American’s in a position of power shows exactly how racist it is. It’s interesting that you bring up Clarence Thomas though, considering there was a large disturbance among African American’s when he was nominated, precisely because he doesn’t represent their values and any more than GHWB did. And because he was to fill the Republican named “black seat” left vacant by Marshall. The daddy Bush administration was quick to point out that if Thomas wasn’t confirmed then the “black seat” would be lost. Nixon, the rabid anti-semite, had his kissinger, and the Republican party has it’s Clarence Thomas.

Exactly. By far the most racist group in the country today have been whipped up by the race warloards like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, and of course Barack Hussein Obama over the last 40 years. But then I’m “just a typical white person”. Btw, I was an activist for equal rights in the South perhaps before your father was even born.

I think you’ll find that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright don’t speak for nor “whip up” African Americans in general, just as GWB, Rush Limbaugh, and John Hagee don’t speak for or “whip up” white’s in general. The fact that you think a few men represent an entire racial group is latent racism 101.

Ah, one of those attack Democrat operatives I’ve been reading about they send out to flood the political message boards.

I don’t know what this means, but It’s interesting to note that I got there 6.5 hours before Obama is set to speak, and the line was already so long that I didn’t think I had a realistic chance of getting in.

And no, it is not because Barack Hussein Obama is black, it’s because he’s a Marxist

Like Peter said, you obviously have no idea what “Marxist” means, not in the slightest.

(he isn’t even black anyway).

Of course he’s black, just as he is white. He has ancestral, community, and social ties to both races. There is no dichotomy here, this is not 1960’s American, you do not have to be one or the other.

[felix_dakat]

“Funny how the Democrats never appointed anyone as high as the Supreme Court…”

Funny how your bias caused you to forget that Democratic President Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, a black man, to the Supreme Court in 1967.

[Wobbly]

@felix dakat

“Funny how the Democrats never appointed anyone as high as the Supreme Court…”

Funny how your bias caused you to forget that Democratic President Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, a black man, to the Supreme Court in 1967.

I think you’ll find, as I have, that much of what these anti-obama posts amount to are fox news talking points. Which means, you cannot expect them to know anything but what has been spit at them. Because if they did, they would not be posting such blatantly false trash. This is Especially sad considering this is a guy? that claims to be old enough to have lived through the exact things he is oblivious of.

[Scales]

All I would like to point out is, look at EVERY relevant ruler of the world. Every country that has dominated the world. It wont ever be different. You can dream an fool yourself if you would like.

Scales

[The_Paineful_Truth]

@felix dakat

Funny how your bias caused you to forget that Democratic President Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, a black man, to the Supreme Court in 1967.

OK, I screwed up and forgot him, I guess because I pigeonhole him as an unusual case. He had used the Constitution to fight for integration, but then just when Johnson was shifting racial attitudes based on the KKK paradigm to the reinstitution of the plantation, Marshall accepted his appointment as Justice becoming an advocate for affirmative action. At the time, I agreed, but his (and my) idea that affirmative action was only temporary turned out not to be so, and I’ve since come to the conclusion that it was wrong to begin with and unconstitutional as well.

Marshall believed that once individual rights were accepted then blacks and whites could rise or fall based on their own ability–thinking that betrayed the inherent flaw with affirmative action. Any way, we will never arrive at that point satisfactorily for the left in any case, even if we elect a black President.

If he’d have been nominated when Clarence Thomas was, the Democrats would have dragged out every bit of hearsay evidence, coke cans and rumor to use against him as well, why? because a black being nominated by a Republican automatically makes him an Uncle Tom, justifying any tactic in defense of their holy cause.