I recently read an article about Barack Obama that got me incensed. All I could think was “Player Hater!” After calming down and looking over a post + comments on the Barbershop Notebooks, I came across a great comment by “Afrikabelle.”
Comment on “Barack Obama – Professional Bulls***er?” Article:
“Here, Obama stands, with the potential to single-handedly brush the 450-year old chip off the African-American shoulder, destroying whatever venom lives in little Black boy psyches, whispering to them that their kind could never be president. And yet, all the talented tenth men and women want to do is to hop on big media and use Obama as an excuse to hear their own selves sound intelligent.”
(Via The Barbershop Notebooks.)
Politics in a well functioning democracy is about the art of the possible, the art of compromise. Al Sharpton has as much chance of becoming president as Ralph Nader. Yet that’s what all too many black folk expect in the first black president. My father-in-law (a man who had to drive around with a gun in the South) said something to me about Bush I won’t soon forget, “He [Bush II] forgets that he’s president of all the people.” Not everyone in this country is a card carrying pro-Lifer or communist. In fact, no one is “red” or “blue.” I’m pro life, pro gay rights/marriage, pro business/entreprenurship, pro worker rights, pro affirmative action/civil rights, and pro environment. What does that make me? Your typical voter.
It’s surprising how many people who claim that Obama takes no stands are really saying he takes no hyperbolic, media oriented, out of touch with ordinary American citizens stands. It also demonstrates in spectacular fashion, their ignorance. The man has taken positions on the war, abortion, and ethics in a town devoid of them. Hell, he authored legislation! Walking the talk with topics that aren’t exactly milquetoast around the political campfire. More importantly, what must a politician do to take a stand: talk smack in front of a microphone or author legislation, i.e. doing his/her job?
Lastly, how do any of these critics know if Obama is a phony? What exactly is false in him? Do they know him well enough to lay that out? Personally, I’ve withheld judgment since I have no facts with which to form any. Yes, he has a remarkable set of clichés sticking to him: “articulate” black man, the desire for good government and honest leadership with a touch of real humanity. Anyone care to ask why they are clichés?
I am amazed at our ability to sabotage, with the willing aid of our enemies, any progress we might make as a people.