Obama and the African-American reaction

[howeird]

I am somewhat bothered by the news channels running around interviewing random black people for their reaction to Obama's apparently clinching the nomination. One station did this in a beauty parlor, where at least one of the employees was miffed that Hilary didn't win. IMHO the contest was more between a man and a woman than between a black and a white. Obama was brought up in the white world, and had all the advantages of it except for the stigma of his mother being a single mom. I doubt that he was razzed about the color of his skin in Hawaii, though he may have been on hoity-toity Mercer island. His color certainly didn't keep him out of good schools and he was not economically disadvantaged.

He did choose to move to a black community, change his religion and join a black church, and concentrate on working in the black community. But I know whites and Asians who have done that, and it didn't make them black. :-)

What Martin Luther King said works both ways -

they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Comments

[howeird]

but rather as a race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
Yup, me too.

Though the fact that you can have a black man running for President, and honestly claim that he has not been disadvantaged by the color of his skin, says a lot about how far we've come.
Yes and no. I personally feel the reason he was funded is the party felt they needed a token. A young white man with the same achievements would never have made it onto the ballot. Take away the color of his skin, and he's not all that extraordinary.

[herufeanor.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. I personally feel the reason he was funded is the party felt they needed a token. A young white man with the same achievements would never have made it onto the ballot. Take away the color of his skin, and he's not all that extraordinary.

Ah, I actually very much disagree here. Obama has an extraordinary level of charisma. Almost nobody in the political field right now has his skill for public speaking.

His actual achievements, in terms of his political career thus far, may not be that exceptional, but his speaking power is TRULY exceptional. I know that when I saw him give the speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004, I immediately thought, "This man is Presidential material." It's possible he wouldn't have gotten onto that stage in 2004 if he hadn't been black. I don't know what went into that decision. However, once he was up there, it was up to him to make an impression on the audience, and oh boy did he make an impression! THAT is what made him a Presidential contender.

[howeird]

His stage presence doesn't impress me. He's an actor playing a part - notice he has aquired a hint of a southern accent, something he certainly didn't grow up with. I'll take action over talk any day.

[herufeanor.livejournal.com]

Well, you're the exception, then. Most people are VERY impressed by his stage presence, and again, that's what has catapulted him into the spotlight. It seems that even most people who don't like him give him credit for being incredibly charismatic, they just characterize his charisma as misleading, a sham to cover up whatever it is they don't like about him.

[howeird]

I'm not impressed because I can do that too. In fact I'm doing it on stage in Saratoga tonight at 8 o'clock, and for the next two nights after that.

Yes, charisma goes a long way in politics, and I think that's a shame.