(Liberal) Fear of a Black President
Jesse Jackson's ridiculous comments about Barack Obama "talking down" to black people -- as opposed to Jackson's totally reprehensible comments insinuating violence being committed against Obama (click here to see the video) -- are only the latest in a litany of derisive remarks directed at Obama from stalwarts of the left. Ralph Nader and Geraldine Ferraro and Al Sharpton and Bob Johnson and South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford have all maligned Obama as being everything from a "lucky" black man to not being black enough.
While it's never a shock when operatives of the far, far right have trouble with a person of color achieving stature (though I do believe they play ball better with those in the fold), what a long strange trip this campaign season has been watching so-called liberals fumble the hot potato that is Barack Obama.
Why? Why is Obama of such consternation to the Old Schoolers?
For one, Obama and his candidacy challenge the liberal establishment; by not miring himself in the politics of hand outs Obama elevates blacks above and beyond a herd that was fed the grain of entitlements in exchange for votes. In addition to extolling blacks to take more personal responsibility (a position a Pew research study finds the majority of black Americans hold), Obama has also questioned race-based affirmative action and understands -- again, as the majority of black Americans do -- that what's good for the country is good for all of us. To Jackson that's "talking down" to blacks. To Nader that's "talking white." But to the tens of millions of Americans who helped Obama win the primary (as opposed to Jackson and Nader who have yet to win an election) Obama is simply talking to America.
Moreover, what scares the Old Schoolers is that Obama's potential election removes from them the victim stick with which they flog their diminishing relevance. Obama as president would be empirical evidence that, while there are and probably always will be racists in America, America is no longer a racist nation. There are a lot of liberals who've made good bank stretching out the "you done me wrong, now gimme something" politics of the sixties well into the new millennium.
Obama wants change.
And change for the Old Schoolers ain't a good thing.
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Obama has his way. It is not like mine (liberal, middle class progressive, white skin, famous artistic lineage), but his own. I view the world in my own way based on my beliefs, values, and experiences. So do we all. He may be more conservative in some ways than many progressives might "approve of," but he believes in what he is doing and when he lacks informatio
A good topic, poorly executed.
I wish the author had deepened his analysis, especially if he's going to insist on making such bold claims as that the election of Barack Obama would prove that this is no longer a racist nation.
In fact, it would prove no such thing; that the author marshals that as evidence suggests to me a rather shallow understanding of racism.
In any event, the point is debatable and I object to its being made in a cavalier way that suggests it is not.
Not to say there isn't any substance here, just that it's woefully underdeveloped.
It seems to me Mr. Ridley's statement was much simpler and more direct than you suggest. The fact that a Black man could be elected by the majority of voters would, on its face, demonstrate that a majority of Americans had come to grips with the disease of racism, at least to the point where it was not determinative in their choice of presidential candidates. It goes without saying that even that sea-change would not evaporate 350 years of real and imagined white-entitlement. Certainly, a simple majority in Jesse Helms five senate elections was enough to convince most Americans that North Carolina was an unrepentantly racist state. Why should the reverse not be true? Because racism was institutionalized here, American racism is more overtly ugly, but hardly unique. I grew up in California; live mostly in France and work in Africa. The only places without race prejudice I have ever been are places I did not stay long enough to really get to know people and learn what was going on.
This would be true if 100% of the nation voted...si
The same logic could be used about the election of a conservative President.
Excellent comment.
MR. RIDLEY:
There is no fear it is simply racism, bigotry and egotism rearing its ugly head.
The old line black civil rights leaders are fuming that a young up start who has not needed to grovel at their heels, has usurped them.
The Democratic leaders who have taken the black vote for granted are appalled that an uppity black man has unseated the Clintons and further threatens the status quo.
The racist who don't want to see a black man elected president and will do everything in their power to make sure Obama does not win - despite the fact that as McCain gets more media attention it has become evident why he was in the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy and the fact that McCain is far from presidential material.
Mr. Ridley, those in power will not go gently into the night when they are being challenged by a movement that seeks to restore control of the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
... a movement that seeks to restore control of the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Obama failed that test with his vote on FISA...you
"Why? Why is Obama of such consternation to the Old Schoolers? "
Because he's a few terms short of being just another run-of-the-mine senator, among other inadequacies. Not to mention his list of unsavory associations. Listening to two decades of anti-America screeching from his "spiritual guide," lifting neither finger nor tongue in defense of his country, and then expecting to be commander in chief of its armed forces...B
TheHILLBILLY, judging from your comments, your screen name is appropriat
Lastly, America is not God. Yes it is a great, but it is not perfect, no country is. And it is this superior attitude of some Americans that makes relations with other countries difficult.
You know nothing about Rev. Wright other than the snippets you saw of him on Hannity & Colmes...
Evidently you missed his minstrel show before the Press Club where he reiterated every one of the comments that were on videos...t
The joke will be on you.
THEhillbilly
Yes it is amazing that Obama stayed in that church for so long kind of like Catholics staying in their church - a church that has sheltered pedophile priests who ruined lives
these priests created a cycle of violence against children - many of these children who grew up to become adults who abused children or have lives wrecked by alcoholism, drug abuse or depression resulting from the abuse they suffered from at the hands of their priests who continue to be sheltered by the likes of Bernard Law and the Pope
PioneerKing, that is an interesting argument, although it might offend Catholics.
Would those be the same Catholics who use birth control, even though the Pope says it is a sin?
It makes me glad to be a Whiskeypalian.
Oh hell yeah! That hits the sweetspot! Mr. Ridley thank you for your clarity and soul searing honesty. Let's just see if the Old Schoolers can look away with that amount of light shining onto their dark dirty little secret. I am a black female who has been accused of "talking white," and not being "black enough" because my grandmother saw fit to insist on the clarity of language spoken by most in this country, and not just the dialect spoken in my neighborhood. I'm educated, the first, but not the last, in my family to obtain a degree, and I'm a English professor and a writer. I never saw my childhood surroundings as everything, in fact, I knew they were just a jumping off point and proceeded to break every mold I was forced into. Barack and I are what the civil rights movement fought to obtain, and yet we both at times have become victim to the wrath of those who were once courageous. Personal responsibility was always the goal. Too bad those who fought and struggled didn't get the memo they posted.
It tickles me to read comments by younger people who are free of the baggage of my generation. I can see the promised land. It will look very normal, and the memories of the older generation will be considered peculiar.
There is no baggage among the older generation
Obama says over and over: Change won't come easily.
That, and a zillion other platitudes.
Which tell us nothing about his ability to lead the country. OR if he, in fact, has that ability.
By the way, Obama is dropping in the polls. It appears McCain has more than a fighting chance to win, something a number of non-Obama-addled Dems, such as myself, predicted a while back.
We need to retire the race card for a bit and figure out what the hell we're going to do to survive. When things aren't so dire, Ridley and his similarly-inclined thinkers can go back to beating up people for fun. But we don't have the luxury for such sadistic in-games right now.
Your claims against Obama can be used against any politician running for office which is why I think you do have a racist agenda. You don't know what you are going to get ever in any pollitician running for office. But at least Obama has an intellect which seems to be woefully missing in John McCain and was certainly missing in Bush. I will take the smart guy over the guy who finished in the bottom five of his class any day.
Obama 47% - McCain 42%
Why do you think McCain has the ability to lead the country? Because he's been in congress for half of his life? Because he was in a POW camp? McCain is 71 years old. He's older than the old schoolers who're having a problem with change. He endorses every policy of Bush's presidency, and is as eager as any of the neocons not only to continue the war in Iraq, but to go to war ... with anyone! He admits himself that he knows nothing about the economy, and his own economic advisor has told us, on McCain's behalf, that we're just imagining the economic crisis that we are experiencing. In fact, McCain himself suggested that we just need a psychological booster to make us feel better about high gas and food prices, not to mention that he believes that the social security check which is helping some of us to merely survive is a disgrace. He will bring more conservative judges into the Supreme Court, and we already know that the GOP agenda is to reverse Roe v. Wade with more conservative judges. When standing next to Senator Obama, and debating with him on the issues that matter, the choice will be clear, and Senator Obama will win the election.
That, and the fundraising well is running dry...the honeymoon is over and people are waking up to his faults and flaws. Most of America is little impressed with speechifying, bobbing and weaving on issues, and shallow pronouncements.
As I said before, I have no intention of compromising my vote for either major political party...
Really? Can't be that hard, he did half a dozen times last week.
Watch it. The Obamites will attack you and ask you to defend things you didn't say.
They're such a rational bunch, you know.
Considering the condition our country is in today, coupled with challenges we face from around the world, I cannot see why so many folkks are hung-up on Liberals vs Conservatives rhetoric. America need a true leader who can steer this country in a different direction.
What about this hypothesis: these "older" liberals have long seen Obama as untrustworthy, as so many of his "new" liberal supporters are now coming ruefully to understand?
The "older liberal" supporters and the "new" liberal supporters are the same liberal supporters. They are ALL out of touch--all pre-21st century supporters. Thye filter Obama's position on issues from their own 20th century frame-of-reference.
I am an "older white liberal," and I am "on board" with Obama, much to the chagrin of many of you youngsters and Republicans I guess! We see him as the best thing to come around the pike in 40+ years, and we will be voting in record numbers!
What about it?
Ridley's post hit the sweet-spot with me:
Few Words
Clear Thinking
Courage
Truth & Accuracy
I know nothing about him except, he's a man who knows how to use the language.
A rare treat here and on most other lib-Blogs.
enough of this nonense. barack is neither black nor white. in fact, if there has to be a determination , he is white, as his body is powered by his mother's white mitochondr
His body is also powered by his father's black mitochondria, and in America, Senator Obama will always be a black man. It's odd that although the dictates of our society says he's black, and Senator Obama himself says he's black, some simply refuse to accept him as a black man. They support him, but seem to always seek to diminish his blackness. I wonder if those who do this have even considered how it makes someone like me - who also happens to be black - feel! Most African Americans are interracial, half-white, mixed, and all of the other ways in which Senator Obama is described, yet to most Americans, we are simply black. Yet, when the same people who see us as black, engage in verbal gyrations to dissect Senator Obama's race, it becomes a little offensive. If you can't embrace him as a black man, then how do you feel about the rest of us?
That said, I agree that he is an extraordinary man and will be an extraordinary leader for all Americans. This is a challenge for our nation, and many people, black and white, are struggling with the potential of our first black president, especially those of an older generation. But when we can not only support him, but truly respect him for who he is, beyond his skin color, then we will be one step closer to the America we envision.
The mitochondria, and therefore the mitochondrial DNA, usually comes from the egg only. The sperm's mitochondria enter the egg but does not contribute genetic information to the embryo. [ Kimball, J.W. (2006) "Sexual Reproduction in Humans: Copulation and Fertilization," Kimball's Biology Pages (based on Biology, 6th ed., 1996)]
Obama is also part Cherokee on his maternal grandmother's side.
No genius, his body is not powered by his father's mitrochondria.
Mitochondria is inherited through the mother
Mr. Ridley. Would it be impolite to suggest you consult a dictionary and select an appropriate verb to insert between the Candidate and person (in this case a "liberal") who in a discourse happens to mention his visible ethnicity. To do so is not necessarily to malign. Some suggestions: to observe, to mention, to explain, to praise, to compare, to fear?...Oo
Transcende
If it does not matter why don't you and others in the media refer to the other canidate as the white POW?
Why is it that the black canidate has to transcend race but NEVER does one question the ability of a white canidate to transcend race?
Wow, did you miss the message! You project the very point the post decries. To insert an adjective such as black, white, fat, old, female, Hispanic, Indian, as a modifier to an candidate for the purpose of classification is stereotyping and certainly illiberal. To identify such individual personality traits is ethically neutral and, to a proud liberal. more likely presented as a person's objective and positive quality, neither demeaning nor maligning. The persons Ridley decries certainly did not make the reference to Obama in a condescending or maligning sense; however, he certainly intended to prejudice the reader by using the NeoCon's favorite maligning adjective, "liberal" with just that intention.
Presenting someone as a martyr for the country invokes the guilt and sense of indebtedness of the nation...s
John, why are you always taking gratuitous slaps at liberals? It's especially annoying when you diss liberals when talking about Barack Obama. You seem incapable of acknowledging that liberals and moderates are the staunchest supporters of Barack Obama, while your conservative friends have already started their nasty attacks on both Barack and Michelle Obama. You seem desperate to caricature liberals according to some tired, old, conservative formulas. Lucky for you, Jesse Jackson slipped up; it enabled you to use the anecdote to tar all liberals with accusations that have nothing to do with liberalism. Message to John Ridley: your conservative ideology has been thoroughly discredited. It's time to get a new song and dance rooted in political reality and in the hope that Barack Obama represents.
Like your 40 hour work week? Thank a liberal.
I suspect this post is an attempt to distract from the FISA issue and by slurring liberals (and a few well placed posts equating "single issue" "far left" "blazing liberals" ... some would think "mission accomplished".
good comment and right on the money.
As is evidenced by some of the posters on this blogsite, some self-professed "liberals" are indeed troubled by Senator Obama's race. However, I believe that Mr. Ridley was speaking in particular about the media magnates or nationally recognized "liberals," some who have led the "liberal" movement so to speak, who have been critical of or, for many different reasons, have expressed misgivings about Senator Obama, and their criticism or concern has generally been in the context of his race. Jesse Jackson, for example, feels that he's not addressing black concerns explicitly enough, and Ralph Nader thinks he's talking white. Mr. Ridley is not talking about ALL "liberals," but he is simply pointing out that race is ultimately as much a problem for "liberals" as it is for Republicans, who as a party, has a history of racial discord and fear. As a sometime "liberal" and an African American, I did not take Mr. Ridley's comments personally at all, because I know he's not talking about me! But I also know that his perspective is credible.
Oh please, get real. John Ridley is a conservative who bashes "all liberals" for a living. He did not help Barack Obama get the Democratic nomination. If you identify as a liberal, then he is talking about you, and he had virtually no respect for you. Inform yourself about his writings and conservative advocacy.
One thing this points out is that liberals can be just as bad at debating on the issues as conservatives. In this sense we are no better at having a discussion on differing opinions and policies without reverting to personal attacks on the opposition. Obama has shown extreme and saintly restraint this week by not throughing McCain and his campaign completely under the bus. Why resort to this when they are doing such a good job of destroying McCain's campaign themselves. I don't however think liberals are freightened of a black president. I think it points out the state of our politics in this country where personal attacks replace real discussion and analysis.
John,
I agree with you 100%. These old schoolers are in fear of becoming irrelevant. And they can see the end of their careers at hand. So many of them, well meaning though they may have been, have made a living out the victimhood of AA and deflecting self responsiblity to blaming government and the "man". With Barack Obama's candidacy, not to mention should he actually become POTUS, that honey pot will be drained dry. They may have to find a new career...a
You really should become familiar with how the world works - it *is* the "government " and the "man". We're trying to change that.
Just because Obama is black does not automatically confer upon him every positive attribute known to mankind. Cynthia McKinney is black also, and I'd sure feel a lot better about her being where he is. I know where her heart is and it's not with the new world order.
Cynthia McKinney? You have invalidated your entire point with that.
What scares these Old Schoolers is that Obama wants to unite, not divide, America.
How's that working for him so far?
Great point!
What are you talking about?
Segregation divided America.
Integration, which was demanded by these no hated "old schoolers" is one reason that people like Obama is where he is today. Integration caused young whites to become personally familar with blacks.
Pointing out racism is no more divisive than reporting a crime in your neighborhood divides the neighborhood or reporting rape divides the sexes.
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