How will we judge Obama?
A commentator Erin Aubry Kaplan, for the Chicago Tribune wrote an article titled "How will we judge Obama?" Certainly, she has the facts identified and neatly lined up, but her conclusions are so small scale and lack vision.
For instance:
That hoped-for change was not just political but also spiritual — it was supposed to finally forge One America across racial lines. But the racial lines have held. The clearest evidence of this is that from the beginning, Obama has always meant something different to black people than he does to everyone else.
What the hell is she talking about. I don't know anyone who thought right wing racist southern confederate Republicans would be anything else but who they have always been. Their views on blacks is very similar to their views on gays. They may hold "kill the gays" rallies, but they are not nearly bold enough to do that to blacks, at least not any more.
Simply negotiating the space of the presidency for two terms, Blow wrote, will bolster blacks’ self-image for generations to come. But that is only part of the picture, and not the most important part. (The title of Blow’s column, “The Other Obama Legacy,” acknowledges as much.) Chiefly white opponents of the first black president view him as immeasurable in another way: an utter failure, an abomination or something worse.
Black's self-image is not that important? I suspect to blacks, it's very important. And why this "blacks and whites"? I know lot's of white who are just as fond of Obama as blacks. And not all blacks are fond of him. It's crazy. But the Tribune is a conservative paper who endorsed Bush twice. And when it came to "an utter failure, an abomination or something worse", Republicans felt that way when he was running the first time, just because he is black.
simply another black man trying to find his way in a hostile white environment. In this way he followed in the modern folk-hero tradition of Jackie Robinson and other gifted black “firsts” whose main task, besides playing baseball or being president, was to overcome overwhelming odds and gain acceptance in the face of racial adversity
Jackie Robinson was a transformational figure. To think otherwise is crazy. What he did went far, far beyond base ball. And this idea that blacks want to gain the acceptance of whites is simply silly beyond belief. This is white racism at it's worst. To assume black people's goal is to petted by whites. Hello, most black don't give a flying fuck what whites think.
The gaze of white supremacy prevails. No matter how much Obama resonates with black folks — no matter how much he has transformed us — it is his resonance, or lack of it, among whites that is assumed to matter more. Black support is a given, the reasoning goes; white buy-in is the brass ring that will ultimately determine Obama’s importance.
So much arrogance with these crazy assumptions. And the author is a black woman. Strange.
The gaze of white supremacy prevails. No matter how much Obama resonates with black folks — no matter how much he has transformed us — it is his resonance, or lack of it, among whites that is assumed to matter more. Black support is a given, the reasoning goes; white buy-in is the brass ring that will ultimately determine Obama’s importance.
Oh give me a break. So transformation is blacks being liked by white people. Ridiculous beyond belief.
There are children who have only known a black president. That in itself is transformational. Something that will last far beyond the end of Obama's second term. Without even trying to, Obama has exposed the racisim of the GOP. Obama just existing was enough for them to show the world who they are. Trump's "wall" proves it.
Because of Obama, America will now have to work with the Middle East. No more invasions and random bomb drops.
Obama getting millions of Americans covered exposed the GOP immoral policy of "let them die" for what it is. UnAmerican and Satanic.
Voter suppression has shown America how far Republicans are willing to go to keep America white. Well, it's not going to work. They have been "exposed" and just that makes Obama transformational.
