Prometheus 6

...will wait until next generation deployment, when the bugs are ironed out, before i decide to adopt

If Obama cannot win, place or show based on what he has said and done as a candidate to date, then what will be offered to the folk (I mean our folk) on the next go-round will be Harold Ford, Jr. or Michael Powell or someone like them.

If someone like Obama can't run without the race baiting and racial innuendo kernels popping up and being scarfed down by the MSM, then black folk need to give up any notions of ever seeing any black person elected president of this nation. I am not arguing here that Obama should be elected or that white folks should feel obligated to vote for him just because. I am arguing that he should be able to run without white folks insisting that their baggage is actually his baggage and that he needs to explain their baggage in a way that reassures and comforts their souls.

You're gonna love the next and last installment.

if the race baiting inuendo is met with a sound response from obama--something that no black candidate hit with race baiting has done that i am aware of--and he gets stiffed THEN i think you're on to something.

but even then the candidate won't be ford jr. or anyone like him. a corey booker maybe, but those two are different animals.

something that no black candidate hit with race baiting has done that i am aware of

True. Sen. Obama did NOT handle the attack on his church properly. 

I am willing to lay odds and wager money that no black candidate, in particular a black male candidate, can extricate themselves from these racial pincers no matter how forcefully and clearly they enunciate and explain their position. In the case of Obama's church it would not have made the slightest difference if he had responded differently. Rereading Atrios's piece on identity politics this morning has only reinforced my beliefs in this regard.

check out THE RACE CARD by tali mendelberg. the power of implicit racial appeals (implicit meaning "implicit to white people") totally dissipates once the sheets are removed. 

"the power of implicit racial appeals...totally dissipates once the sheets are removed."

True, but Obama and other black candidates are not being jerked around by "explicit racial appeals." Y'know how a lot of folks on the left are convinced that rich people are always conspiring when the truth is just the opposite. Rich folks don't have to conspire about anything because they are in basic agreement about all that matters in their universe. If you live in the same communities, attend the same colleges and universities, summer at the same resorts and your children socialize with and marry each other then what need would you ever have to conspire about anything of consequence?   

    It never ceases two amaze me how we as Black folks continue expect America [read: white America] to see and treat Black political candidates as they see and treat there own, or anything other than what they have historically treated Black candidates. The very fact that our good Obama is Black necessitates (in the minds of America) the “race baiting and racial innuendo” that upsets those of us who awake enough to be upset at that race baiting. I know this may sound repetitive, but white America is simply not comfortable in the presents of minorities, ESPECIALLY BLACKS, and especially in their power centers. To paraphrase Dr. Welsing, white supremacy is at once exploded in the face of equitable circumstances with that of “non-whites”.

    Furthermore, anyone with any understanding of the political process knows that co-option is an established component to getting anything done politically. One cannot be in politics, especially at the level as Obama, without selling his/her soul to someone. In addition, Obama has a constituency to pander to – a constituency that will EXPECT him to carry their “baggage” and “explain their baggage in a way that reassures and comforts their souls” to Blacks, while delivering our votes at the same time. Even in the “long shot” event that he is elected president, his true base (Blacks) will not see any real change in their condition. (And since that is the case then we must question the true value of having a Black president.)

     Don’t get me wrong, I think Obama is the best candidate for the job and I hope he is elected. But as a Black man I am under no illusions about his chances or the reasons for his treatment, and neither should any one else. Because I guarantee to all that white America will never elect a Black person president “just because”, and that there will be a white woman elected president long before there is a Black man or woman elected president. White America will always say one thing in the poles and vote another behind the curtains at the voting booth.         

PT I know you responded to me but for the life of me I don't understand what you're saying. It's likely on my end because it is one of those days. But could you repeat that?

One for everyone else, and one for the Black candidate. He didn't handle the Dr. Wright situation well. He should have invited him to his kickoff. I maintain that most White folks (left, right, Dem, Rep) would be dumbfounded going to Trinity UCC because it would be against any sensibilities that they have.

 If someone like Obama can't run without the race baiting and racial innuendo kernels popping up and being scarfed down by the MSM, then black folk need to give up any notions of ever seeing any black person elected president of this nation. I am not arguing here that Obama should be elected or that white folks should feel obligated to vote for him just because. I am arguing that he should be able to run without white folks insisting that their baggage is actually his baggage and that he needs to explain their baggage in a way that reassures and comforts their souls.

 I believe that you are right about Obama and race baiting and innuendo kernels popping up...but, that is I thought would happen during the race, so nothing that has happened has surprised me.

“I am saying though that if someone white SAYS they'd vote for black candidate X, then at this point in time it is likely that he will.” 

   What terrible confidence in the word of white America, even if we are talking about individual whites!! I disagree, there are times and circumstances where whites will, indeed, “hide their preferences”.  Individually or collectively they simply will not be honest about their true intentions, at least not in terms of who white America chooses to rule them. How many times have we seen whites say they will be voting for a Black candidate, or Black candidates winning in the poles, but loose terribly at the booth? 

    We have only white America’s actions to gauge their intentions or to predict their actions. And in this case I think it prudent on our part that we expect nothing more than what white America has already shown us.  

One for everyone else, and one for the Black candidate

That's the point I made at the end of There's a point, but it's all the way at the end.

He didn't handle the Dr. Wright situation well.

That came up during the "make mainstream folks comfortable enough that I can run at all" phase. I think he should have just said, hey, you complain that Black people should take responsibility for themselves and complain WHEN Black people should take responsibility for themselves. There's nothing wrong when a church takes on a mission that needs doing. That would have done a service for Black people at the same time.