Obama Separates The Men From The Boys
When Barack Obama told a large African-American church in Chicago over the weekend that African-American fathers ought to stop acting like boys and start acting like men, he said something only a black man could get away with.
And he proved once again that he is a man with extraordinary political instincts.
In his Father's Day sermon, Obama made big progress with three tough voter groups, and all without making the slightest reference to any of them.
But they got his message. Their favorite Fox News channel couldn't resist playing it up. It's a message middle America likes a lot. Especially coming from a black man.
The first group he scored with was the great bulk of white evangelical voters who have traditionally gone for Republicans.
Obama has a good shot at winning them in November. He's got no chance with the hard-core 5 to 7 percent of voters who are Religious Right diehards. For that reason, he's quite correct in sticking to his pro-choice stance. And far too smart to court the likes of Ron Parsley or John Hagee.
But in this presidential election, there's another set of evangelicals to be considered: the 18 percent of voters who identify themselves with evangelical denominations and have voted Republican in the last two presidential elections.
A good percentage of these are cultural conservatives, pro-family, hard-working patriots. They may not read the Bible much, but they believe in it. They don't go to church nearly as much as they tell pollsters they do, but they know they ought to go.
For them Obama's message was support the family. Work hard. Live right. Don't whine about it. They like it.
The second group is another segment of that same 18 percent swing vote made up of evangelicals who do read the Bible but don't support what they see as authoritarian, mean-spirited, power-grabbing by Religious Right leaders. These dedicated Christians don't make the headlines much.
For them, Obama bolstered his message with his own testimony as a child left by his father and as a father who is determined to be around for his children. He even confessed his own failures. They like humility. They like hope and reconciliation. Paired with Obama's strong Christian faith and his pitch-perfect use of religious ideas, it's a strong package for them.
The third group is made up of white men who won't tell pollsters that they're too racist to vote for a black man, but inside the voting booth, they'll vote for a white man every time.
Obama doesn't seem to have a rat's chance at a cat convention with these guys. They're the ones his supporters really fear. They won't surface willingly. They're the kind of guys who like to say "There are n----s and then there are black people. I don't have any problem with black people. It's the n----s, I don't like."
Could any black man win their vote? Not likely.
But if it could be done, it would be done by a black man who points to African-Americans as their own worst problem. It would be a black man who doesn't rile these guys with guilt or shame, or any kind of notion that they might be owing anybody anything for past or present wrongs. Obama is expert at that. And he was never better than Sunday morning.
And then there was the fourth group, his actual, on-site audience at the Apostolic Church of God. For black Americans, Obama's call for black fathers to take responsibility was a private need made public, a voice speaking with understanding that only an insider could have. Bill Cosby had taken the controversy out of that admonition by saying the same thing a few years ago. In February when Obama told a predominantly African-American audience in Texas that parents need to shape up, he drew wild cheers.
And so Sunday morning, Obama was a winner all round. If his admonitions inspire men to change, the payoff for black and white America could be immense. But change or no change, he was preaching to a very big choir, one that he convened and communicated with expertly.
White America can't resist liking him for his words. For them, such a message was deeply satisfying to hear. It took them off the hot spot, even if only for a minute. It was an echo of all they hope is true -- that any man, no matter the odds against him, can pull his socks up and get with the program. It was a respite from helplessness.
A good morning's work for any politician.
By Christine Wicker, author of "The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church."
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Ms. Wicker, Thank you for another essay. I think Barack Obama is the real thing but was so very sorry to hear that he granted an interview with CBN, Pat Robertson's so-called "Christian" network. I know that Pat Robertson is completely immoral and only interested in money and power. I know that those people on his show use deception and stagecraft to bilk and hook their gullible viewers.
I had a comment after reading this essay the other day and I am glad that I waited. I have read all the comments now and feel that I am completely unqualified to speak on this subject. It is a shame that color still matters so much in our society. We still have a lot of healing. For certain, there are too many absent fathers, white and black and otherwise.
H.C once said " it takes a village to raise a child" from an African proverb .
.B.O has turned that on its nose and by talking up the personal responsibility of black fathers given he has signaled
1. that the end of government support for families is over from Dems.
2.highligh
3.signifie
Fathers in and of themselves do not hold magical powers . Only a person like Obama, deprived of one, think that.Ask anyone who was physically abused or sexually molested. by their father or trapped in a family in which domestic abuse has made life a living hell.. they'll say they'd be better off without one. What they do provide in the best cases is a caring adult committed to the child and its welfare over the long term..This can be provided from friends, relatives and others in the community.
Too many children are being brought up with mothers who are working long hours and little community back- up.Its not just fathers who are missing - the whole village is.
This is a message he has been on for a while not (spoke about it over a year ago)...fun
naaah! That wasnt something any black man could get away with.Only Obama can get away with it.
For some reason,people listen whenever he speaks.I think its because they trust him and believe its comming from his heart. He may be wrong but the fact that people believe he is honest by his opinion and not trying to deceive or pleases any one for any particular reason makes them receptive.
He is just a natural leader.
I think his speech also appealed to women, especially the single moms and first wives who Hillary attracted.
I will be glad when this election is over. This/it is getting to be way too much!!!!
Whether they so-called "evangelicals" vote for Obama or against him it will be for racist reasons, but hopefully White Supremacy is indeed going out of business, and we will be able to finally replace it with a system of justice. That system of justice would make sure that no one is mistreated any more and that the people that need help the most get it.
"There are n----s and then there are black people. I don't have any problem with black people. It's the n----s, I don't like."
I know lots of the people your talking about. Know them very well. Obama can do a lot better than you think with them. They want to know that if a man is willing to work he can make a living and feed his kids in this country. They remember thats how it was under Clinton. Thats why they like Hillary. Obama knows how to think like a white man. He knows how to talk with us. If Obama will address kitchen table issues in plain engilsh he will make a big dent in the redneck vote.
For some, yes. Many honestly mean those words, and react to everybody that way regardless of color or creed: if you act stupid, I'll treat you stupid. Not correct English, but it's the sometimes-voiced undercurrent that people who don't act respectable can't expect to be treated with respect.
There are bound to be others who just haven't met any or many people of any "minority", who either get their view from television or local opinions.
For these and other subgroups, it's possible to find a resonance with and even votes for Obama because of his messages, his speeches, his record, but mostly his actions and interactions.
Others will gravitate towards somebody who speaks commonsense and promises practicality, but there are of course those who would never believe a black man deserved, or could fulfill, a leadership role so high. Many won't voice it that way--they'll speak of Obama being "different", "inexperienced", "foreign", "non-Christian", and a host of other terms that really all mean he's black and, before all else, they don't trust that. Hopefully this number is decreasing.
Here's what I say: There are ignorant, angry and hateful people and then there are informed, responsible people who get angry over the former.
. I don't buy the idea that any significant number of evangelicals are going to vote for Obama. Unless that is the realize the need for yet more refinement of racism. Maybe instead of giving African kids gruel, they start actually sending canned food setting up more Christian schools to brainwash the locals and make White Supremacy even stronger. The truth is whatever they do is in self-interest.
But there comes a time where there is more critical thinking that is required. Like asking what am I celebrating? Why am I going to church to bounce around and sing, just so that I don't feel bad?
continued
What is rarely mentioned however is how did we get here? To this point where we are in the racial arrangement so to speak. After years of slavery, educational, economic, political oppression etc. which has set back black people back generations, blacks are supposed to be on par with whites with no reparation or restitution. We all know that assets transfer, and I don't think that any white people are going to give up the assets that were transfered to them. So white "Christian" types like Ms. Wicker, pat themselves on the back by maybe flying to Africa a couple of times and spooning some gruel into plastic bowls. The answer to the race problem is simple: Make sure that the people that need help the most get it, the second part is guaranteeing that no one is mistreated. This is called justice. There is no reason why the two things I just mentioned shouldn't be happening right now, but for the enemies of justice. And they
See this is why I stopped Christianity. A couple of black people one young first asked me: Why does Jesus hate black people so much? Of course I laughed a little bit but it was true. Then an older black male told me that White Supremacists think that you can have any religion you want, so long as it doesn't interfere with "their religion."
Good post Intelligentia. Gosh, where to start. One doesn't even have to read between the lines on this one. Look at what Ms. Wicker is saying. First of all, when she reads your post Intelligentia, is will be dismissed as whining. I guess pointing out that there has never been justice for non-white people is whining to her. She says "work hard. live right. don't whine about it. they like it." No she likes it too. Of couFrse she isn't a victim of White Supremacy so of course she does. She also says that Obama "points to African Americans as their own worst problem." This is what Ms. Wicker thinks. Mr. Obama has actually said that while African-Americans are to blame for things they do that aren't correct, they don't need to hear is this constant bootstrap talk, which she refined a bit into pulling up one's socks.
Now look at this paragraph:
"White America can't resist liking him for his words. For them, such a message was deeply satisfying to hear. It took them off the hot spot, even if only for a minute. It was an echo of all they hope is true -- that any man, no matter the odds against him, can pull his socks up and get with the program. It was a respite from helplessne
Anything that takes the spotlight off of the White Supremacists, of course will be greeted favorably.
Continued from page 1:
Maybe, this is news to White America: We Black men have pulled our socks up as high as we can pull it, yet we are not getting the same things as White men who barely have their socks on! Although I am excited, but I am not bamboozled by the mere fact that Obama will potentially be the President of the United States. Pulling your socks up and getting with the programs do not have the same rewards for Blacks as they do for Whites. Please, stop the patronage. White men are not any better when it comes to family and family values. I, as a Black man, is tired of being maligned and denigrated so that White America will feel good about themselves!
I agree. White people aren't always shining examples of family values. And I've never seen McCain on the spot for the sins of Vitter, Foley, Gingrich, et al. Or even on the spot for the sins of McCain. I'd like to see a Republican get up and say, "We really need to stop chasing pages and prostitutes and divorcing our wives so we can marry richer ones." That would be the day.
Part 1
While I understand your frustration Intelligentia, we (Black Americans) do have issues. You are correct that the rest of America is not exempt from the same problems we have, but it is disproportionate. Some of the problems that exist are from actual discrimination that people discount because they do not experience it and the other part of the problems is what S. Obama discussed on Father's Day. From my perspective, it bothered me that the media is unaware that a class of African Americans (and some other black americans) exist that discuss and try to address the issues that S. Obama discussed in a non-Bill Cosby kind of way. Building family and the discussion in communities about building families to last are important -- particularly when black males are disproportionately arrested, incarcerated, executed, uneducated, etc. There is a high risk group among young black males of a certain age in America that does not exist for other groups of males -- it is likely for those men to be dead or in jail than in college.
Part 2
In part, it is society's fault (reading statistics where black men are recently being exonerated from death row at alarming rates), a once racist criminal justice system that has failed to right its wrongs and permits those with prejudice to act them out. The failure to recruit positive role models in teaching and policing positions (particularly those of color or those that will help and understand people that do not like them). However, it is also more so the person's fault who has the control of his or her own destiny, the family's fault that failed to watch, protect and encourage its children. It is a circle of life for some families -- they have never learned and may never learn how to care for each other until some one shows them a better way of living.
My point is that Obama isn't the black person who has these thoughts are attempts to express them -- he is just the only one in the position to reach people and make a CHANGE.
Page 1.
In this article the author states: "White America can't resist liking him for his words. For them, such a message was deeply satisfying to hear. It took them off the hot spot, even if only for a minute. It was an echo of all they hope is true -- that any man, no matter the odds against him, can pull his socks up and get with the program. It was a respite from helplessne
My question is: Why is it always satisfying for Whites to hear criticism of Black men? Are White men not guilty of the same malfeasance that afflict Black men? I am offended as a person who would be considered a Black man in the United States, because of the stereotype and generalization of Black men as absentee fathers! Which Black men are we referring to? Uneducated Inner City Black men do not represent all Black men! Also, I am tired of the nonesence about "pull[ing] your socks up and get[ting] with the program." Why should pulling the socks up only be restricted to Black men? Why should Black men pull their socks up when White men only have to put their socks on?
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