I AM PROUD

I'm late coming to this thread also, but I've read all the posts quite diligently. Maybe it's just me, but it seems strange that most of the emphasis in many of the replies is on "race." What does that have to do with the new chief executive's abilities or agenda? "Race" is nothing more than an identifying characteristic e.g. height, weight, color of eyes, hair etc. This emphasis on the fact that Barak Obama is partly of African descent doesn't show how far we in America have come. It shows how far we still have to go to realize that a person cannot, in fairness, be judged by one's ethnicity.

I share your feeling of pride, Set. I was relieved to see that perhaps the people of this country aren't quite as dim-witted as they seemed to be in 2000 and especially in 2004. I just couldn't believe that we actually elected that clown from Texas for a second term. We didn't give his equally incompetent father the same second chance. (That, too, was a moment of elation for me. I voted for Clinton the first time, knowing absolutely nothing about the playboy from Arkansas; I would have voted for virtually anybody to get Bush pere out of Washington.) In 2008 we did the right and sensible thing.

But, that said, I think we're now getting into an uncomfortable position by patting ourselves too much on the back. The fact that President-elect Obama has an African father has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It is an irrelevancy. (Aside: I was in Hawaii this summer. There hardly anyone considers Obama black. They're proud that, in their eyes, he's Hawaiian! I heard that exact opinion expressed when some haole referred to Obama as "a black man." ) Again, this emphasis just shows how far we still have to go in this country. I'm proud that the American people apparently saw beyond "race" and elected Obama on his merits.

And, at the risk of alienating all my left-leaning friends, I must come to the defense of Finn. I think you're all reading things into his original post which aren't really there. To me, at least, Finn's call for unity sounded quite sincere, reminiscent of Sen. McCain's gracious concession speech.

Go ahead. Fling yer rotten tomates at me.

1 Reply

@Merry Andrew,

Jesus Christ . . . et tu MA?

Quote:

Maybe it's just me, but it seems strange that most of the emphasis in many of the replies is on "race." What does that have to do with the new chief executive's abilities or agenda?

Are you're reading skills that poor? Have you not seen that i have commented more than once that Mr. Obama is elected not because of or despite his "race," but without reference to it? Certainly "race" is an artificial and actually non-existent category. The entire point, however, is that the people of this nation have gotten far enough past that once overpowering artificial distinction to elect the man.

The snide, sneering crowd like Cash and Finn are just going to love your post, MA. Thank you for being so very, very dense.

I have elsewhere, and in fact, at the very time he was delivering it, congratulated Mr. McCain on the speech he gave conceding. As for Finn, his original remarks were, nonetheless, a sneering comment (note his ironic comment that it's good that something would make one proud of one's nation) in his typical condescending and didactic style. Note further, that at the earliest opportunity, he jumped on Cash's bandwagon, to deplore anyone who would for the first time be proud of this nation as a result of this election, as though he were somehow arbiter of what is an acceptable degree of patriotism.

Frankly, Finn is a snake, and the holier than thou tone implied when he subsequently quoted the posts which praised his tone are an example of just how low brow and calculating he is. His only concern is to get a rise out of people, and his false piety here is just another example of his desire to do so. I was content to ignore his bullshit after a certain point. But i am saddened, MA, that you can't see through him, and that you failed to notice how quickly he was eager to pile on about what can be considered an acceptable expression of one's pride in one's nation, or the refusal to express any such pride without what any citizen will rightly see as their own good reasons.

I consider your response, MA, to have been rather ill-considered.

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@Setanta,

Well, there's the first rotten tomata.

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Call it a rotten tomato if you like.

Point One: I have stated since the outset that the extraordinary character of this election was precisely that people had gotten past the "race thing."

Point Two: You are hopelessly naive when it comes to Finn. Even his first post has a "left-handed" quality of congratulation, with it's irony and his typical condescending tone. The subsequent posts are pure snide Finn. I urge not to engage in any business dealings with the man.

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A week after the election, and despite the quibbles and sneers of anyone else, and precisely in view of my experience of racism for most of my life, i am proud of my nation that so many people could get past the racist stumbling block and elect this man as the best choice, without reference to the artificial qualifier of "race."

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@Setanta,

Be careful Settin'. Your shirt buttons will all be popping and pinging if you get your pomposity up much further. You really do take yourself seriously don't you you silly old fool.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

Point One: I have stated since the outset that the extraordinary character of this election was precisely that people had gotten past the "race thing."

And I contradicted you ...how? All I said was that we still have a long way to go.

(I'll plead guilty to your second point. I do tend be naive sometimes and give people the benefir of the doubt, even people I don't particularly like.)

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@Merry Andrew,

In response to a typically incoherent post by Rex Red, Finn tipped his hand, and showed what he really thinks about this thread, when he wrote:

Quote:

But that's not very literary Rex.

It doesn't lend itself to a maudlin expression of sanctimonious personal realization.

Normally i just ignore Finn, because he's a turd merchant, throwing stink bombs into threads. However, in this thread, i decided not to let his bullshit go unchallenged, especially his attempt to portray himself as he tried to do in his first post.

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The following is from a very good WSJ article by Juan Williams.

Pretty cogent I would say.

Quote:

And now comes Barack Obama, the son of a black Kenyan who came here as a scholarship student and his white American wife. There is no other nation in the world where a 75% majority electorate has elected as their supreme leader a man who identifies as one of that nation's historically oppressed minorities.

The idea of black politics now tilts away from leadership based on voicing grievance, and identity politics based on victimization and anger. In its place is an era in which it is assumed that talented, tough people of any background will find a way to their rightful seat of power in mainstream political life.

The Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons and Rev. Jeremiah Wrights remain. But their influence and power fade to a form of nostalgia in a world of larger political agendas, such as a common American vision of setting the nation on a steady economic course and dealing with terrorists. The market has irrevocably shrunk for Sharpton-style tirades against "the man" and "the system." The emphasis on racial threats and extortion-like demands -- all aimed at maximizing white guilt as leverage for getting government and corporate money -- has lost its moment. How does anyone waste time on racial fantasies like reparations for slavery when there is a black man who earned his way into the White House?

Make no mistake, there is still discrimination against people of color in America. And inside black America, there is still disproportionate poverty, school dropouts, criminal activity, incarceration and single motherhood. But with the example of Mr. Obama's achievements, from Harvard Law to the state legislature, U.S. Senate and the White House, the focus of discussion now is how the child of even the most oppressed of racial minorities can maximize his or her strengths and overcome negative stereotypes through achievement.

The onus now falls on individuals to take advantage of opportunities. That begins with keeping families together and taking responsibility for the twisted "gangsta" culture that celebrates jail time instead of schooling. With Mr. Obama as the head of government, discussion of racial problems now comes in the form of pragmatic discourse for how to best give all Americans opportunty, for example, how to improve schools.

The change in black politics has been slowly coming with the growing black middle-class. It now accelerates with Mr. Obama's victory. As King said at the end of the 1965 march for voting rights in Alabama -- when he reached the state capitol in Montgomery -- the result of black political participation is a "society that can live with its conscience." There are no quick solutions, he added, but no matter how difficult or frustrating there will be success because "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."
In terms of racial politics, the arc of justice took a breathtaking leap.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122628263723412543.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

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@Finn dAbuzz,

could be

but why does obama have to use the back entrance to the white house? Sorry black entrance.

ok now you are all going to get very annoyed with me but it was just a little joke.

like saying he's not really black he's barack.

so just to set the pitch square let me tell you all that bo is the best think imho ever to hit humanity.

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@Steve 41oo,

when obama spoke of mccain, the crowd cheered.

when mccain spoke about obama, the crownd booed.

enough said.

some people are ready for the inevitable global equality about to hit us, it might bring violence, it might bring peace.

but everyone has to admit, a dark skinned man is president of the usa.

i hope these brings enlightenment of the igorant, trapped in cycles of hatred. but then i think they will just slowly be displaced by other more intelligent people.

god bless obama, or allah bless him, or thor,or gaia,or satan, or zues, or who ever the **** u want...

we all came froma afrikka obviously.

let us abandon this idiotic hatred of color of skin.

finally and completely and find global peace.

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@OGIONIK,

well of course it is idiotic.

i was struck by the picture of the American First Family...

Still is Obama all hat and no cattle? We are soon to find out. Good luck to the fella anyway.

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@Steve 41oo,

The good luck Steve was finding a large continent stuffed with rescources in the hands of a small disorganised aboriginal population which only had bows and arrows to face European firearms and general knowhow with. And minus a lot of restrictions. The people are like any other people. On genetic theory the melting pot itself is an advantage. Our salubrious suburban zones and country house sets are a bit inbred and they get to mark each others exam papers.

Has the US rode its luck too far is the question these days.

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@Steve 41oo,

"The best thing to ever hit humanity?"

Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "hit."

If I do, this has to be one of the most ridiculous comments ever posted to A2K.

I am reminded now of how many Obama supporters took umbrage when accused of being part of a cult following.

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@spendius,

That's a pretty gratuitous knock on Americans.

(It's also a pretty self-serving distortion of what Steve wrote)

The Europeans found themselves in roughly the same position in Africa and yet what a different result.

If luck put both groups in the same position, what led to such disparate outcomes?

The vagaries of Luck?

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Well--we have to suffer under gratuitous knocks from Americans. Are we not allowed to reply?

What disparate outcomes?

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@Steve 41oo,

Steve wrote:

Quote:

Addressing the subject of this thread...I watched the Remembrance Day ceremony in London this morning. Am I supposed to feel proud? Of the Glorious Dead? Or angry that so many millions died in a squabble between the ruling elites of Europe? I honour the sacrifice of course...then you read of the utter naivety with which millions flocked to join up in 1914. But the older I get the more angry I become that governments heads of states and royal families solemnly lay wreaths and we all stand and bow our heads and forget that it was those same ruling elites who sacrificed millions of ordinary men and women..

Steve, your post reminded me of the following:

"I do not say that children at war do not die like men, if they have to die. To their everlasting honour and our everlasting shame, they do die like men, thus making possible the manly jubilation of patriotic holidays."
--------Bokonon (by way of Kurt Vonnegut)

Now to the issue of race. Barack Obama himself said early on, in reply, I think, to some mean-sprited thing Reverend Wright said while wallowing in his fifteen minutes, that race, to some extent, was still an issue that this country needed to address.

That said, it has become clear that the "Bradley Effect" had no bearing in this election. On one of the news shows, studies of voting patterns showed that there was, in fact, just the opposite. It turned out that many voters who hadn't made up their minds, got into the voting booth and voted for Obama. They based their choice on watching and studying both candidates and choosing the one who seemed best qualified for the job.

Maybe our responses on this thread haven't been fully understood. Of course I'm happy that a black man has been voted in as president, based on the history of civil rights in this country. We finally see, especially those of us who are old enough to have lived through the civil rights movement, that what we had thought impossible, had now become a reality, that that wonderful dream never died. And yes, we were elated, overjoyed, almost overcome by the proof that race is finally seen as evil and obsolete.

That does not mean that we voted for Obama because he was black. Too much is at stake in our country now. G. W. has destroyed so much of what our country stands for and has left us with so much destruction, that if I hadn't thought Obama was more than able to be a strong, well respected president, I wouldn't have voted for him.....Well, maybe I would have, but only because the thought of Sarah Palin as VP scared me silly.

This was probably the most important election in our lifetime. If Obama is to make even a dent in healing some of the deep scars, he will have proven himself to us and to the rest of the world, that he was the best possible choice.

BTW, it has become the norm that young people of mixed race are refusing to put a mark on forms that call for race. There are now so many people of mixed race, that they resent being made to choose just one for the convenience of those who have a deep, abiding need for labels.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

"The best thing to ever hit humanity?"

Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "hit."

If I do, this has to be one of the most ridiculous comments ever posted to A2K.

I am reminded now of how many Obama supporters took umbrage when accused of being part of a cult following.

To the honour of posting the most ridiculous thing ever...well I'll let that one ride, but quietly pleased to be a contender...

so let me explain further. Without radical and determined action this planet is dying. Only America can give the necessary lead. With BO we might just have such a man. We will see at COP 19 next year.

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@Steve 41oo,

Quote:

Only America can give the necessary lead.

Don't hold your breath Steve.

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:
Only America can give the necessary lead.

Don't hold your breath Steve.

come on you cynical old bastard, give the boy a chance.

1 Reply

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