The Great Debate
Ok, let me just get this out upfront.
As a black American I was beyond proud of Barack Obama in the debate last night.
From the visceral standpoint of being a minority, specifically black, Obama was flawless in his representation of people of color.
From a bi-racial person’s standpoint, he embodied the perfect distillation of the balance between two disparate cultures.
From an average American’s standpoint, he successfully addressed the issues that affect those of us who are the backbone of this country.
From a feminist standpoint, the jury is still out.
As a Hillary supporter, I paid little attention to Obama in the primaries. What I heard from him was rhetoric rather than substance. That changed a great deal last night. For the first time I heard more facts and figures. I was pleased he reiterated what he said earlier this week – that he was not going to be able to meet all of his goals now that the government has this $700 billion bailout albatross. However, the issues that are important to me are on his short list – energy independence, healthcare, competing education and rebuilding our country’s infrastructure. (Yes, I took notes.) He was specific on who would have an increase in taxes and who would not (I so fall into the less than $250k yr category.) He was clear on how we got into the financial mess on Wall Street and how that has got to be better regulated.
Let me say this outright – I wouldn’t vote for McCain now if you paid me. He was condescending, dismissive and disrespectful. I’ve been on the receiving end of that kind of behavior my whole life. I know it when I see it; I know what it means, I know the subconscious message it screams and its time is PAST. Had Obama been a white male you wouldn’t have seen that kind of performance.
My favorite line of Obama’s was “Trickle down hasn’t worked”. Damn right it hasn’t. Unless you’re talking about shit rolling downhill. That HAS been working for a while.
I’ve read a lot of commentary where people felt Obama should have gone for the jugular and gave McCain the beat down. Ok, most of those comments are from white folks. And if Obama was white yeah, he should have. But I can’t stress enough – even at the risk of being called a Tom – for such an historic moment as this, Obama has GOT to keep his cool and not come off as an angry black man. Period. Racism is still too deep in this country and his position is too tenuous for him to play all the political games we’re used to seeing. He is well aware that he is paving the road for future people of color to take an active role in representing this country.
Obama/Biden ‘08
now playing on my iPod - "Evolution is Revolution", Nadir
As a black American I was beyond proud of Barack Obama in the debate last night.
From the visceral standpoint of being a minority, specifically black, Obama was flawless in his representation of people of color.
From a bi-racial person’s standpoint, he embodied the perfect distillation of the balance between two disparate cultures.
From an average American’s standpoint, he successfully addressed the issues that affect those of us who are the backbone of this country.
From a feminist standpoint, the jury is still out.
As a Hillary supporter, I paid little attention to Obama in the primaries. What I heard from him was rhetoric rather than substance. That changed a great deal last night. For the first time I heard more facts and figures. I was pleased he reiterated what he said earlier this week – that he was not going to be able to meet all of his goals now that the government has this $700 billion bailout albatross. However, the issues that are important to me are on his short list – energy independence, healthcare, competing education and rebuilding our country’s infrastructure. (Yes, I took notes.) He was specific on who would have an increase in taxes and who would not (I so fall into the less than $250k yr category.) He was clear on how we got into the financial mess on Wall Street and how that has got to be better regulated.
Let me say this outright – I wouldn’t vote for McCain now if you paid me. He was condescending, dismissive and disrespectful. I’ve been on the receiving end of that kind of behavior my whole life. I know it when I see it; I know what it means, I know the subconscious message it screams and its time is PAST. Had Obama been a white male you wouldn’t have seen that kind of performance.
My favorite line of Obama’s was “Trickle down hasn’t worked”. Damn right it hasn’t. Unless you’re talking about shit rolling downhill. That HAS been working for a while.
I’ve read a lot of commentary where people felt Obama should have gone for the jugular and gave McCain the beat down. Ok, most of those comments are from white folks. And if Obama was white yeah, he should have. But I can’t stress enough – even at the risk of being called a Tom – for such an historic moment as this, Obama has GOT to keep his cool and not come off as an angry black man. Period. Racism is still too deep in this country and his position is too tenuous for him to play all the political games we’re used to seeing. He is well aware that he is paving the road for future people of color to take an active role in representing this country.
Obama/Biden ‘08
now playing on my iPod - "Evolution is Revolution", Nadir
posted by greer at
6:36 AM
1 Comments:
"But I can’t stress enough – even at the risk of being called a Tom – for such an historic moment as this, Obama has GOT to keep his cool and not come off as an angry black man. Period. Racism is still too deep in this country and his position is too tenuous for him to play all the political games we’re used to seeing."
You're absolutely right. Obama's
walking a very, very fine line. Even in a visual sense he is an affront to many white people. Verbally he's got to be very circumspect; if he goes for the jugular it would evoke even more conscious and unconscious racism from whites.
Andromaches
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