The Black and Progressive Sociologists for Obama blog supported the Presidential Campaign of Barack Obama in 2008. As we approach a new election season, there is a need to examine the political climate in the "age of Obama." The goal of the white nationalist Tea Parties and the Republicans is to “make Obama fail.” From the left, the President is perceived as “selling out.” The blog will explore this dialectic when it comes to re-election of America's first African American president.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Is He Left Enough??? : Expectations for what? Where?
This piece saddens me. It saddens me that this historic energy that is focused on redefining America and what it will mean to be a black in America if Barack Obama serves as America's president can be so distorted, so misunderstood, and propagandized, as opposed to a sound analysis of what is taking place . Nonetheless, readers of this blog should be interested to know some of the perspectives floating around out there. Allow me to point out a couple of things: 1) with Obama elected president, the face of America will change; 2) that changed face of America will have an enormous impact on how America sees itself and how the world sees America. To begin, should he be elected, the office of the presidency must be respected. I am reminded of the Sunday morning talk shows before Ronald Reagan. Each of the shows had "liberals" as their talking heads with the token conservative. From the day Reagan took office, there was a total flip. The major contributors became conservatives with a token liberal, maybe. The media and the body politic will insist on respect of the office, the institution. I believe “Donahue” was beating up Bill O’Reilly in the ratings when Bush declared war. He was taken off the air because the Bush administration labeled his anti-war stand as being unpatriotic. Even the racist attacks of Fox Noise will have to be muted. Attacks that undermine the democracy and the legitimacy of Obama's presidency will be attacks against the nation and electorate that put him there. Obama is not a revolutionary. He makes no such claim. This sounds like one of these "Is he black enough?" arguments. I would have hoped we were beyond that. He is running to be the president of the United States of America not the NAACP! I agree with Nell Painter who says if Obama becomes president we will speak in terms of "before Obama and after Obama."
This piece saddens me. It saddens me that this historic energy that is focused on redefining America and what it will mean to be a black in America if Barack Obama serves as America's president can be so distorted, so misunderstood, and propagandized, as opposed to a sound analysis of what is taking place . Nonetheless, readers of this blog should be interested to know some of the perspectives floating around out there. Allow me to point out a couple of things: 1) with Obama elected president, the face of America will change; 2) that changed face of America will have an enormous impact on how America sees itself and how the world sees America. To begin, should he be elected, the office of the presidency must be respected. I am reminded of the Sunday morning talk shows before Ronald Reagan. Each of the shows had "liberals" as their talking heads with the token conservative. From the day Reagan took office, there was a total flip. The major contributors became conservatives with a token liberal, maybe. The media and the body politic will insist on respect of the office, the institution. I believe “Donahue” was beating up Bill O’Reilly in the ratings when Bush declared war. He was taken off the air because the Bush administration labeled his anti-war stand as being unpatriotic. Even the racist attacks of Fox Noise will have to be muted. Attacks that undermine the democracy and the legitimacy of Obama's presidency will be attacks against the nation and electorate that put him there. Obama is not a revolutionary. He makes no such claim. This sounds like one of these "Is he black enough?" arguments. I would have hoped we were beyond that. He is running to be the president of the United States of America not the NAACP! I agree with Nell Painter who says if Obama becomes president we will speak in terms of "before Obama and after Obama."
ReplyDeleteObama is my brand of hope.
Bob