sozobe wrote:Lots of people here were on my Gallaudet thread, where I discussed the "not Deaf enough" concept. It is, unfortunately, really common amongst oppressed minority groups I think. Counterintuitive but common (and as a swing of the pendulum I think that overall it might be healthy -- that is, it's a step towards empowerment and self-regard, just that the stage itself is unfortunate.)
I forget if it was posted here that Al Sharpton has been "interviewing" Democratic candidates -- I don't remember how it went exactly, can find it, but he clearly appreciated Hillary and expressed some reservations about Obama. While this is completely paraphrasing, the attitude towards Obama was "I'm open-minded, but he needs to convince me."
I think some of this is just not wanting to be taken for granted, which has been the bane of the black electorate for a long time. "You're black, you'll vote Democratic, so I'm going to spend my time trying to convince those white soccer moms over there..." Or, showing up to get votes every 4 years but not the rest of the time. I think that's valid. A certain frustration with the fact that all of these pundits are talking about how Obama will get the black vote yadda yadda and then black people are crossing their arms and saying, "Oh, will we...?"
So while that makes a certain amount of sense to me, I'm optimistic that Obama will be able to show his civil rights cred (which he HAS) and win over a good proportion of that group.
We'll see...
Snood, did I tell you I got Obama's books? I'm making my way through them kind of piecemeal, haven't sat down and read them cover to cover yet, but I'm so impressed. Especially, "Audacity of Hope" is way more specific than I expected -- proposals, strong beliefs -- which I like in two ways. One is that I like the proposals!! (Some stuff about making it easier for working parents that is absolutely stellar.) Another is that it defies a label he's gotten as being all about the comforting platitudes -- that book has meat to it. It's not like I wasn't already a fan (ahem) but reading these books is kicking everything up another notch.
I know whatcha mean - I am going back and rereading passages from "Audacity" occasionally, and much of my reason for doing that is because of the buzz on Obama about "platitudes", and about how he doesn't have strong or definable views. That's a crock, stirred by folks who are predisposed to oppose his legitimacy, and candidacy.
I've read some of what Sharpton has been saying in the news, about Obama having not yet "convinced" him. And I think you are right on about the motivation for the reticence expressed by him and some others.
I too believe that those who will honestly look at his views will see the substance.
