Oh, the irony.
The very personality traits that made him appealing to enough "whites" to elect him the first "black" president of the U.S. of A. may prevent Barack Obama from being the transformative leader America desperately needs now.
Of course it's still way too early to tell, but I'm getting that same queasy gut I got during Barack's now famous "Race" speech.
I gave him a gentleman's B at the time. My un-colored friends (who gave him an ecstatic A+) asked "Why?". I said, "because he didn't go far enough in acknowledging the realities of race in America and the legitimacy of Reverend Wright's grievance if not his rhetorical excess." No, Obama only said what he knew would to play to the "white" liberal masses, and not a mumblin' word more.
But deep down I understood that sometimes you have to play to the crowd. Sometimes you have to smile a little wider than you feel to get the job. As a "first black" many times in the big ad agencies in the late '60s and 70s, I know the drill.
But now that he's got the job, he has to perform or become the old token "black" of that era -- whose most important qualification was that he was sufficiently "melanous" -- if you know what I mean -- to fill corporate affirmative action guidelines. A nice smile and a non-threatening manner helped too.
Barack would have been a shoo-in.
Remember his then-opponent Joe Biden's famous foot-in-the-mouth soundbite during the Democratic primary? "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," he said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." It was Joe's ingenuous way of expressing what many felt, including some "black" folks who knew the realities of making it in white America.
Here was a telegenic, intelligent, well-spoken family man whose life seemed lived to become a First Black something. No Clinton-Kennedyesque rumors of bimbos in his closet or under his bed (or desk).
But, as I quickly found out in my early days in the ad game, if you can't do the job a lot better than your "white" co-workers, you soon become as mobile in your career as the giant mahogany table in the client conference room. Tokenism may get you in but it didn't get you anywhere else.
Barack Hussein Obama, the candidate who had to assuage "white" fears to get elected is now the President who must show us all the way to a new America. In normal times, his Nice-Guy-in-Chief persona would be fine. But eight years of incredible incompetence at best, criminal malfeasance at worst, has put us in a very, very scary place. All apologies to Tina Turner, but we don't need another token. We don't need an Affirmative-Action President. We do need another hero -- of the Abe Lincoln/Franklin Roosevelt variety. Fast.
The verdict is still out, but does Obama suffer from the condition I named after the politician I think personified it -- Clintonitis? I define it as "the debilitating condition that causes a great politician never to be capable of becoming a great leader". There seems to be something about the skills it takes to win the approval of the majority of Americans in an election that mitigates against the kind of backbone it takes to really lead once you're in office. I said Lead, not manage and make eloquent, feel-good speeches. Leadership requires the ability to take people where they've never been...and make them like it. But the leader must be sure of where he wants to go.
Obama has shown he has the skills of a great politician. But does he have the vision and strength of purpose to become a great leader? Both Lincoln and Roosevelt were big question marks at this point in their presidencies, so there's still time.
But not much.
You didn't ask lil' ol' Lowell, but here's my advice. Your name is Obama, not Oprah. You were "hired" to change this country before it's too late, not to make "white" housewives in Paducah feel good about themselves because they let your family move into the White House on their block. Let Ms. Winfrey be their only "black" friend. You're the "Leader of the Free World".
Lead.
Great post. I got my first in-depth look at the perils of being "the first black in the door" in Nate McCall's great book, "Makes Me Want to Holler," which chronicles his coming up as a journalist in the newspaper business in the 1980's. The rule was: For every 20 mistakes yr. white collegues make, you are allowed exactly one. It is enough to break a man. Thank gods it didn't break Nate. You drew a fantastic connection between that dynamic and the dynamic of trying to please "white" folks with a copacetic attitude -- when an attitude of leadership is called for. Barack's got it in him. Now is the crucible.
-- DH
Thanks for your concise comments.
I have to confess, although I remember when it came out, I haven't read McCall's "Makes Me Want to Holler" myself. But I plan to remedy that soon.
I can't let a "white" guy know more about the perils of being "black" than I do, now can I?
But then again, I don't consider you totally "white".
I'm happy to report : In this country, at least, NOBODY is totally "white" (yes, that even includes the late Pat Boone). Nor is anybody is anybody totally "black" (sorry Louis Farrakan). This, thanks to both cultural forces and ethnic roots. I know you know this, LT. I just wanted to put it out there.
Apropos of this idea , I was playing some Alan Lomax-recorded Appalachian string music music the other day in my classroom and my student from Mali asked, "Is this music from Mauritania?" "You mean Montana?" I asked. "No, Mauritania," she said. Oh yeah, I thought, the banjo traces to the ngoni from West Africa and the circular laments of the Appalachian hills echo directly African village musical gatherings. The recent documentary, "Throw Down Your Heart," which chronicles banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck's trip to Africa to reconnect with the banjo's roots, brings it all back home for us. (I guess that's why Ishmael Reed calls the American South an Afro-Celtic culture!)
The McCall book is an excellent and edifying read and you will really enjoy "Throw Down Your Heart."
-- DH
He ran a campaign with a message that we're all in this together. He can't appear as if he's exclusively helping one pet cause over another. That's why health care is number one. It effects us all. As much as I would have liked to see Obama transform himself into Shaft the minute he took the oath of office, it just doesn't get anything done...
Besides, he hired two attack dogs in Biden and Emmanuel. If they can hold feet to the fire without eating their own, we'd all be better off.
If that weren't enough, don't overlook a sizable crowd bound and determined to see that he 'fails' or the vested interest who resist changing the status quo because they have a vested interest in keeping things just as they are.
Given the problems besetting the country, be happy we aren't even worst off. What,do you think Palin or McCain would have been a better choice?
As for his campaign promises, you're astute enough to know that no pol can deliver all the goods promised when they campaign even when they have the best intentions. Politics is give and take. Compromise is the grease on the wheels of change, nobody gets everything he wants.
Obama is leading. Give him time, the man's only been in office nine months. It took Moses forty years to lead the Israelites to the promised land. Can we at least let Obama finish out his term before we start writing him off?
Thanks for joining the fray(ed).
If you re-read my piece, you'll see that I'm saying "leading" is not sufficient. We're in a situation where a merely good leader is just not good enough. My point is that we need a "transformational" leader who will help turn around a ship of state that has been heading in the wrong direction for eight years (really, a lot longer, but that's another article).
I use Lincoln and Roosevelt as the models, but as I said, I'm sure they had people pushing them during their administrations. With Lincoln, in particulars, there was Frederick Douglass who was on Lincoln's case from before Day 1 to go further, faster to free the slaves and win the war. I like to think of myself as a sort of mini-Douglass, pushing Obama to free the mental slaves of America, "black", "white", "brown", gay, straight, "red", "yellow" and "other".
I visit the White House website on a weekly basis. President Obama is in the process of undoing 8 years of George Bush policies.
"What surprises me though is same people that hated when President Bush did the "my way or the highway" style of leadership and disregarded any suggestion or criticism , now want President Obama to do the same. As far as this author referring to President Obama as a "token", I find that as offensive and untrue as the Joe Wilson shout of "You lie""
Mama O,
If you read my piece, you already know what I think of Bush and his regime. But hating what Bush did does not mean I have to love everything about Obama.
It's always fun to engage in battles over extremes, but it's usually a waste of time. I voted for Obama, but I didn't vote for Jesus Christ or any other deity. Obama is human. I was just pointing out my concerns about what seems to be his flaws with the hope that he'll grow into the great leader we need and prove me wrong.
The title of this piece ended with a question mark. And to equate my concerns (which many of the people who commented here seem to share) with what Joe Wilson said is just rhetoric...right?
"I agree with your post. With Obama, we thought we were getting Rocky, but instead, we got Mr. Rogers."
Funny. I wish I had said it. But remember that I did say the fat lady hasn't sung yet - the Obama opera 's curtain just opened in January. There's still time for Obama to get his leadership act together. My piece is designed to prompt him to step it up. (Yeah, like he's gonna read it...right).
BethS
"Mr. Thompson-is your post written with a mind's eye geared to the 1960's and 1970's? Just doesn't sound like 21st century strategy to me."
Huh? I only used the 60s and 70s as point of reference for when the word "token" was most popular (at least as it related to race). But the fact that the term is no longer in vogue doesn't mean it disappeared. And the fact that white media is pushing the idea that we're in a "post-racial" America, doesn't make it so. If you think tokenism and racism are history, you've never heard of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Joe Wilson, the Republican party and the millions of "white" folks who think Obama should be shipped back to Africa.
god help us.
President Bill Clinton - led America to the longest period of economic prosperity top to bottom in US history, 22 million new jobs.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt - saved America with the New Deal, led America through WWII, elected to serve 4 terms.
President George Washington - literally led America to independence in the American Revolution.
President John F. Kennedy - restored belief in America, brought a new generation into politics.
Barack Obama ??? NOPE
On the point of his race speech... yes, to make a truly insightful, complete, and transformative assessment of race in America, he would have had to hit harder. No, a campaign speech during a Presidential election is not where that needs to happen, nor is a Presidential candidate necessarily the person to do it. I find Obama's lack of racial discourse slightly disappointing, but it's to be expected of a leader who needs to keep wide approval to maintain his office and enact his agenda. Leadership on racial issues will most likely need to come from outside the Washington establishment, with support from within.
But of course, as Aaron MacGruder, creater of The Boondocks, said, "if you want to convince me that, as President, you care at all about racial equality in America, end the drug war. It's that simple."
So it would take more for Obama to convince me he cares about racial equality, like Obama openly admitting that he does and standing up for ordinary African Americans who aren't tenured at Harvard.
He's not going to do that.