Sen. Obama is going to force me to take a position on him. Not only is he playing the Magic Negro,
"I suspect Obama has a special license for that kind of discussion," said Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who listened to Obama's speech in front of his state's black legislators but has not endorsed any of his party's presidential candidates.
...he's going to be the officially licensed Magic Negro?
And for the record...Oliver...
I caught some kind of heck for saying this stuff a few months ago, but maybe from his leadership position people will actually listen to Senator Obama.
You caught heck for saying Jamaican-Americans were better/superior/more wise and wonderful than native-born Black Americans. Don't make me bring up the crime figures from Jamaica...and don't make me dig out the conversation on your own site.
Anyway, Obama is not playing Magic Negro. That is the powerful yet passive Negro that exists to make the white hero a better man. What Obama offers is more seductive to white folks than self-improvement. He offers rheotorical absolution.
Think about it. When Sen. Biden call him "clean," it wasn't a reference to hygiene (were you really stupid enough to think it was?). He used the word it the same way Bush did in demanding a "clean" war supplemental bill. He meant "unencumbered." John Ridley says if Sen. Obama is elected President Black people can no longer say America is racist (and how many other events have passed beyond which America could no longer be called racist?).
I understand the appeal he has to mainstream America white folks. And I have never had any illusions about his being a representative of Black people, or his championing any of our causes.
Much is being made of this "third Black Senator" thing, which is why I can't help but go back to the first article I read about Mr. Obama wherein it was said:
voters should not expect a fiery leader who pounds his fists, but rather, a measured collaborator similar to the late Paul Simon
That's an obvious reference to the militant Black leadership of yesteryear...
Barack Obama will do politics, make both deals and appearances, and if he continues his current voting practices you can probably be satisfied…the worst that will happen is he'll do no harm. But he will not be a "Black representative" because that's not what got him to the party. He will inject a few new images into the brain soup of our culture though, and those images can be useful to Black partisans.
But way too much of his current rhetoric is empty repetition of things we already know and would have been working on if not for what feels like active disruption of our efforts. Telling us how wrong we are for being pretty typical American-branded humans. Telling the world we teach our children reading and writing and conjugating your verbs was something white.
I'm becoming unhappy here.
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Oliver Wills
Oliver Wills is being dishonest. And he is fast approaching that curve in the road where when you slip by you become dishonorable.
Barack Obama
He offers rhetorical absolution.
P6 on target as usual. Yes, when what is needed is rhetorical revelation, which is the absolute most you can expect from any politician. Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson excelled at this. Ronald Reagan did too but he never addressed or included the concerns of black people in his rhetoric. Black politicians, however, in order to be granted any legitimacy or national standing are only allowed to offer rhetorical absolution.
one can only hope...,
that his big ass will have enough momentum to squish Cobb as he goes sailing around that bend....,
Obama is a st8 up hustler of the highest order
I am getting tired of the "tough love" conversations that is based on nothing but emotional angst. There was a study that disproved the 'acting white' theory amongst Black Children by white and black sociologists nearly two years ago. Are the 'Black Thought Police' so out of touch that they have to repeat the same themes, no wonder so many don't listen to them anymore. Obama may win white and other votes but he needs at least 95% OF THE BLACK VOTE TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY. I had reservations about Sen. Obama before he ran for national office, I will not be voting for him at all like in the last 17 years it either be Lenora Fullani or the Green Party. Everytime I hear white people say they are pleased with his 'candor' on race issues because they 'walk on eggshells' everytime they try to broach the subject to the black community, I thought Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, David Hororwitz and other whites do that everyday on their shows.
P6's point, though
is that Barack offers absolution - and Limbaugh and the others cannot, do not, would not. I'm not suggesting you missed it - but that does not necessarily constitute a reason to reject his candidacy.
If he keeps using tired,
If he keeps using tired, incorrect memes about Black folk to solidify his support among white folks, that WILL be reason to reject his candidacy.
Sen. Obama may have a crack fundraising crew but his marketing crew sucks. And he's lucky Republicans panicked when an unencumbered Black candidate popped up. Their thrashing plus the early start to campaign season may give him time to recover.
But he has to learn. In Black churches, it's still like
But for me, if you disown the title of "Black candidate" you can't talk to me like you're the Black candidate. Especially if it's just an extended Sister Souljah moment.
Obama Mistake
Let me try casting my feelings about Obama's so-called talk about race in a rather emotionally bald way: I don't need a Daddy. I had one and now he is gone and he loved me everyday that I took a breath. I don't appreciate at all Obama allowing himself or, worse, subtly encouraging the perception at least among whites that he is willing to serve as a National Daddy for Black Folks (NDBF).
P6 is dead-on about Obama's and his campaign's use of dead, hackneyed, trite and cliched memes about black people in order to solidify his support with whites. I put up with enough of this condescending nonsense when the now sainted Br. Bill was living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I ain't fattening no mo' frogs for snakes. If Obama wants to recalibrate his position on Israel and give the Israelis a free pass but thinks he can cut black folks a new ass then my vote is going to another candidate.
Pandering politicians...
It's always been dump on black people day. Obama just caved in to peer pressure.
Obama's Critique Is Far
kinder and gentler than the traditional critiques offered up through the Garvey Movement and by extension through the Nation of Islam. This is light stuff - and if it coincides on a certain level with what white folks want to hear, I don't particularly care. Where I take issue with the critique is where it is empirically flawed - and it is in many respects - and that, to the credit of the WAPO writer, was highlighted in the article. Thanks for the link.
Well, like I said it is
Well, like I said it is empirically flawed...coincidentally in in ways that support the accusations that Black folks are the major pollutant in this country's culture.
And the PROBLEM with that is, as President he would initiate and support policies that also make that assumption. WHich means they will be empirically flawed. Which means they will fail.
WHich means they will be empirically flawed
conceptually flawed?
Empirically...they will not
Empirically...they will not work.