"Just Because He's Black"

Wow, thanks to everyone for such thoughtful responses.

I was definitely not talking about why Obama was elected. She would no more have voted agaisnt him than I would have voted for him based on his skin color. Indeed the bunny did get right at my question and Thomas' counter-questions did give me food for thought. i would have been horrified more than excited about Palin as VP.

And, gosh, Joe Nation said I was smart! Thud!

Gus, who is TJ?

Deist - good points re the oppressive vs the oppressed. That's what I was trying to get at with my comment about balance.

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Doh! Thomas Jefferson!

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@roger,

Quote:

I am proud of my country voting for him on our perception of what is best for the country.

Very nearly.

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@littlek,

littlek wrote:

It's not just because he's black, it's because we, WE, came together and voted for him.

Obama lost the primary in Massachusetts to Hillary Clinton. So, where was the "coming together"?

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Well, I know you probably didn't, Miller, but I and a couple million of my closest friends in MA voted for him in November, and I'd say that's "coming together".

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@Miller,

Stop the presses!
Obama lost the Massachusetts primary!!?? Omigod, I wasn't made aware of the that.!!

Joe(Well, we have to do the whole thing over. Darn.)Nation

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I did not vote for Obama. Saying that, I am very pleased that he is going to be our new president. From what I have observed so far, he is one of the most intelligent politicians that I have seen in my lifetime.

Yes, the fact that he is black may have been a factor in his election. But his race is only a small part of it. Years ago, when women were finally able to break into careers that were heretofore closed to them, it was said that a woman had to be 10 times better than a man in order to achieve her career goals.

I think that we have a similar situation here. From what I have seen, Obama has the potential to be not a good, but a great president. Only time will tell, and I wish him all the luck in the world!

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@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

I think a real smart A2ker once said
Quote:
It's not just because he's black, it's because we, WE, came together and voted for him. And we did that less than one lifetime away from the passage of civil rights.

Joe(and she got it right)Nation

"We" didn't come together to vote for him. Almost half of "we" voted against him.

1 Reply

@Brandon9000,

Brandon9000 wrote:

"We" didn't come together to vote for him. Almost half of "we" voted against him.

Sorry for your luck

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@Intrepid,

Intrepid wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

"We" didn't come together to vote for him. Almost half of "we" voted against him.

Sorry for your luck

Don't be, it's democracy. My intention was to point out the ludicrous assumption implicit in the quotation that everyone is happy about today. Almost half of the country isn't.

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i'm not sure what i feel about the whole black angle, i firmly believe that of the two candidates he ran the best campaign and represented himself as the best choice

i saw something vaguely disturbing during coverage of the inauguration, one of canada's major news networks was interviewing canadians in washington and asking them what they thought of the "historic occasion", the two women, both black, said they felt it was time that canada had a black prime minister, this sort of thinking sets a dangerous precedent, politicians need to be elected on their merit and merit only

if margaret thatcher could be reincarnated as an american, she could easily be the first woman president for the conservatives, while this would be a historic event, i would not be nearly as excited about the prospect

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@Brandon9000,

and yet he has an 80% approval rating

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@Brandon9000,

"Almost half the country" is a ludicrous statement on your part. Just less than 46% of those who voted, voted for McCain. It cannot be reasonably assumed that, although their candidate did not win, that this makes them ipso facto unhappy about the outcome. Furthermore, the voter turn-out was 62.5%. That means that less than 30% of eligible voters voted for McCain. In fact, just fewer than 60,000,000 people voted for McCain. In a population of 300,000,000+ people, that is just less than 20% of the population. You may be correct, but the numbers don't show that almost half the country is not happy about today.

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@Brandon9000,

Brandon9000 wrote:

Intrepid wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

"We" didn't come together to vote for him. Almost half of "we" voted against him.

Sorry for your luck

Don't be, it's democracy. My intention was to point out the ludicrous assumption implicit in the quotation that everyone is happy about today. Almost half of the country isn't.

What about articles like http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/18/poll.obama.rating/index.html

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@djjd62,

Quote:

and yet he has an 80% approval rating

Right now we are in the "honeymoon stage" with Obama. I think that people are listening to Obama, and liking what they hear.

I think that this president came on the scene at the most tumultuous time since FDR took office. His presidency confers with it some of the most serious challenges, terrorism, the economy, etc. I do not envy him. I think that he has inherited a plethora of extremely serious problems.

I think that Obama has the ability to calm people, with his laid back demeanor, and thoughtful utterances. I think that this is what this country needs at this juncture.

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@Phoenix32890,

That just about hits the spot. His first big test will be war with Iran imo.

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@littlek,

I think the key here is that the word "racist" has two definitions.

One: A prejudiced belief that one race is superior to another.

Two: Anything that is specifically about race, positive or negative.

(Probably more definitions than that too, but I'll keep it to those.)

I think your relative is using the second definition and you're using the first definition. Since you're using different definitions, it's not really resolvable.

My own take is that yes, celebrating the fact that Obama is the first black president and what that means is "racist" in the narrow sense that it's about his race. However, I don't think that is how the word "racist" is usually used or understood, and I wouldn't call it "racist" in any pejorative way.

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@littlek,

littlek wrote:

Can anyone help me sort it all out? It has to do, in my mind, with the imbalance of power and the long hard history that got us where we are now. It's not just because he's black, it's because we, WE, came together and voted for him. And we did that less than one lifetime away from the passage of civil rights.

What makes me proud is that we voted for Obama because he is the best man for the job. I think very few people voted for him because of his color and very few voted for McCain because of his. Two years ago, many people would not have predicted that outcome. Bill Clinton infamously said he couldn't win. Media pundits went through the hinterland until they could find someone racist enough to say it on the air. There were slanderous emails, veiled racial slurs, playing on old fears, etc. But the majority of Americans rejected it. Not everyone but the majority, and that's worth feeling good about.

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@engineer,

I must admit I am quite astonished. I never thought America would elect such a thoroughly decent guy.

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@Steve 41oo,

Why?

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"Just Because He's Black"

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