Everybody's a critic when you're president. Some people don't like your politics. Others don't like your policies. Some don't like your personality. Then there are plenty who don't like any of the above. But few presidents have faced as much criticism as the current one has for one personality trait in particular: not being angry enough.
Since taking office, President Obama has endured seemingly endless criticism for what supporters and foes alike deem his inability to emote, or at least to emote enough for their liking. He received so much criticism for failing to appear angry enough, early enough following the Gulf Coast oil spill that an entire column was devoted to how many Washington pundits were angry with him for not being sufficiently angry.
Meanwhile cantankerous funnyman Bill Maher expressed disappointment that the president wasn't acting more "black" which apparently from his vantage point involves flashing a gun during disagreements. (I've never tried it but perhaps Bill's black friends and I are, well... different.)
But of course when you're president it's often a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. When he said that he was looking for "whose ass to kick" during an interview about the disaster some accused him of un-presidential like behavior.
With the jobs crisis escalating, so are the calls for President Obama to show some anger. Actor Morgan Freeman even weighed in saying recently, "What I wanted to tell him is to get pissed off, get fighting mad." As I noted on The Dylan Ratigan Show, what many of the president's critics fail to understand is there are limitations to how far anger will actually take you, particularly when you're black. The stereotype of the angry, dangerous black person is so embedded in popular culture, from the earliest days of Hollywood, to present-day reality TV, that it's a stereotype those of us in the public eye find ourselves fighting on a daily basis. Case in point: Days ago the Drudge Report sparked an outcry when it published a photo of First Lady Michelle Obama playing tennis. Let's just say it's clear that the goal in publishing the photo is not to make you think she's just enthusiastic about the U.S. Open.
By coincidence right around the time this photo appeared I happened to conduct an interview with Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, widow of tennis legend Arthur Ashe the first African-American man and American, period, to win the U.S. Open. (Click here to see a slideshow of the greatest black tennis players.) She mentioned that she has long seen similarities between President Obama and her late husband. One of the main similarities? Their temperaments. (Interestingly, Ashe considered the possibility of pursuing a post-tennis, political career.)
Mrs. Ashe shared that, "During the period of time Arthur won the U.S. Open in 1968 he was criticized for not being proactive in his militancy in the '60s, but what did he do? He let his talent and his racket speak for him." She added, that her husband was "Someone who came from the segregated South... into a sport that was not welcoming that went on to honor him because of his ability to be able to be non-confrontational, completely about conflict resolution and one of the kindest human beings you'd ever meet." Describing him as a man ultimately about "love and logic," she went on to note that because of that he was able to open doors for players like the Williams sisters and to become one of the most iconic and influential names in sports history. The main stadium of the U.S. Open bears his name. (He also left an indelible impact as one of the first high-profile athletes, along with Magic Johnson, to be diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS, which claimed his life in 1993. Click here to learn how you can support the foundation named in his honor.)
To Mrs. Ashe's point, anger certainly has its place, but as Serena Williams learned the hard way at the 2009 US Open, (and again this year) it's very rarely well received on the court, particularly if you're black. President Obama clearly knows that. So in the court, or rather arena of politics, he appears to be going the logic route. Who's to say if it will work in the long run, but let's at least give him the space to let his racket -- or rather his policy and his pen -- do the talking in the meantime.
Keli Goff is the author of The GQ Candidate and a Contributing Editor for Loop21.com where this post originally appeared.
Follow Keli Goff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/keligoff
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President Obama is a typical DLC "centrist" who eagerly and reflexively panders to Wallstreet, to the military/security/industrial complex and to the Israeli lobby. Time and again he has shown that he has no use for Black people other than as a guaranteed source of votes and that, like most American politicans, he does not recognize the existence of any legitimate Black interests. I have no use for him, his party, or for the so-called opposition party which also offers nothing. We need genuine muti-party politics in this country.The current system is a sick, dysfunctional joke.
Ashe chose to win practically. The progress made in taking that approach is often slow and frustrating, but progress is made nonetheless and it's the kind of progress that sticks. However, this measured, calmer approach seems to lose when pitted against the instant-gratification-geared society that we inhabit where whoever shouts the loudest and the most wins. Our president understands that dichotomy better than any of his predecessors yet has stayed the course. He knows, and Ashe knew, that loosing his cool would put center stage the black-bogeyman-comin'-through-the-woods imagery referenced by Ms. Goff.
Having said that, I'd like to see our president be more assertive about his calm, more demonstrative about his resolve. Given the pushback against the way our society is inevitably headed, winning practically has to feature reason, calm, and some moxie, too.
We have all seen what 'emoting' can do, other than whipping people into irrational frenzy, nothing much. Case in point Beck, Limbaugh.........
personalities of President Obama as well as the incredible Arthur Ashe.
That said, I would appreciate reading and learning about how our reptilian brain influences our perceptions and expectations for leaders' actions and how and why we project our own thoughts, feelings and emotions onto them and feel angry disappointment when they fail to act out our expectations. Why don't we learn from the previous leader/disappointment? In addition, how about looking back at our American Indian heritage and how the various personalities of tribes and their leaders dealt with each other in conflict; how did the did the nicer, gentler Indians survive the more warlike and aggressive tribes..or did they? Does this kind of history influence an evolutionary type desire for an in-your-face, win at all costs kind of angry president?
Saw a black comedian's monologue on Comedy Central, saying "we elected Obama. How come I don't have a white slave yet?" I think in this case Maher stole his routine:-)
He's got stuff plastered all over his face. It's his actions that people have sizable clamor about.
While President Obama may well be to blame for what he IS, he most certainly is NOT responsible for YOUR hopes, dreams and illusions - or delusions. While you may genuinely FEEL you were "sold a bill of goods" in him. The reality is most of the letdown is from your own wishful thinking.
I remember well seeing those "Obama is the Messiah!!!!" signs from the last election. I also remember thinking, "Those folks are in for a pretty rude awakening."....... The man never billed himself as a Messiah, so what right does anybody have in expecting him to be one?