The biggest question with regard to Barack Obama’s candidacy is: Is America ready for a black president? My gut reaction, sadly, is no. But I think that Barack Obama is clearly ready to be president, and for America to truly move forward we need to elect him as our next president. Sen. Obama represents the next generation of leadership, someone with knowledge of the past and the advances and mistakes that have been made there but free of the sort of legacy that makes someone just a little too gun shy to be transformational. After the destruction done to our national psyche, our global image, and all of our lives by the current leadership team, we need someone like Sen. Obama to put us back on the right path and lead us out of the valley of fear.
Unlike some in the race, Sen. Obama has made the idea of American unity one of the central principles that guide him. While I am a fierce partisan, I have never liked the idea of a 50% president. It is simply unhealthy for our democracy to have a leader who acts as if half of the country doesn’t exist. Not that he disagrees with them on principle, but actively governs and campaigns as if they are the enemy. Our union does not work with that sort of divisive leadership at the very top. If Barack Obama is elected president, that will likely be the most important task he has. America has done awesome, powerful things when it works together - like winning a world war or going to the moon - and accomplishes little of nothing when we are actively encouraged to be hostile by the presidency.
For him to make it, however, Sen. Obama will have to demonstrate the one element lacking in his campaign so far: killer instinct. He must demonstrate that his campaign will not repeat the errors of Gore and Kerry, and while standing for unity, not allow the venom of the opposition to hang unchallenged in our collective consciousness. Every move requires a countermove, preferably he will act rather than react.
When I thought about supporting Barack Obama for president, I considered his positions and the content of his character above all. What he says and what he does are by far the most important elements. But the fact that he is a black man cannot be ignored. It is not something to be papered over nor should it serve as a substitute for actual skill and ability. But it is there and it is significant. As a black man living in America I would like to be able to point out to my future children that the dream of being leader of the free world is not a pipe dream. I would like to throw off the cynicism so many of us have internalized when it comes to how far a black person can truly go in America. It can’t hurt for the world and especially this country to collectively get a kick in the butt on this issue, and since Barack Obama is already qualified to be president: why not him?
On January 20, 2009, I want to see Barack Obama raise his hand and take the oath making him the most powerful human being on the planet. Barack Obama for President.
Is America ready for a black president? My gut reaction, sadly, is no
I’m just curious if you can expand on this. What do you mean, and what would change your mind?
On a different note, I’m not terribly thrilled by what I’ve seen so far from either HRC or Obama, for similar and different reasons. I like the idea of a President for 100% of the country — I would like to think that it’s primarily been GWorstPresidentEvarBush who has been the only 49% President we’ve had since, well, since WWII at least, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
I am not thrilled with the lack of details coming from either HRC or Obama and for the failure to lead in the Senate on the big issues of the day.
My main takeaway is that the campaign is way too long. Do we know anymore from two years of running than we would from two months? If anything, we know less as each candidate mainly seems fearful to divulge anything or take any stance that can be used against them.
Gotta disagree. His “unity” is the unity of capitulation to the Republicans.
He put a gay basher on the headlines of his gospel tour, he’s parroted the meme of a social security crisis, his health care plan is the worst of the lot, and not only does he defend it using right wing jargon, but he, but he uses right wing frames to attack Paul Krugman.
No thank you.
He’s hitting back at Paul Krugman? I’m starting to like Obama more and more.
I made two separate $20 bets today that Obama will beat Hillary in Iowa and New Hampshire, so I am now financially invested in a Clinton primary defeat (I already gave to Obama in the spring, so I was already invested in an Obama victory.) Jay, Obama’s attacks aside, you should read Concience of a Liberal. It’s quite good. And at the very least, you would be able to rely on fewer strawmen arguments against us.
Or Conscience of a Liberal. That one’s even better.
My biggest reservation about Obama is his relative newness to Washington. He doesn’t have the same network of alliances among lobbyists and in Congress that most of the other candidates do.
That’s supposed to be a good thing, right?
Well, yes and no. Yes, we do need someone to shake up the entrenched powers. But no, a President can’t do it alone–he (or she) will have to bring some allies along.
If Obama is elected, I predict a very, very brief honeymoon with the beltway press. After that, the exploitation of every misstep will make the press coverage of Clinton look like Soviet pro-government propaganda by comparison. His favorables will be in the tank by the 2010 midterms.
I’m gloomy too, Quaker, but I’m no more gloomy about him than I would be about a Hillary or Edwards presidency. As long as a good health care bill gets passed and we don’t engage in any more pointless wars, I’ll consider it a successful term in office.
Doc, contrary to what you think, I don’t think in terms of “us vs. them.” If an idea is good, it’s good. Whether it’s the idea of a conservative or liberal. It doesn’t matter to me.
I read the long piece that Obama wrote in Mother Jones and while I didn’t agree with everything he advocated, what I respected about him most is that his knee didn’t jerk in reaction to ideas that most liberals dismiss simply because they’re not coming from liberals.
I didn’t say you did. I said your ideas about liberals could use a dose of “what we actually think.” Glad you like Obama, though.
My statement about America not being ready is a gut feeling I have. I sure hope it isn’t true, and I sure wish we were past this, but I think there is a non-insignificant part of the American electorate who would never vote for a candidate not because of liberal or conservative views but because the candidate is black. I think the sentiment is there, but much less so, for a woman as well. I tend to be a cynic and think the worst of people collectively, and I truly hope to be proven wrong.
But I have doubts.
Oliver, I understand but I don’t know that it is important. A large section of the country wasn’t ready for desegregation and the end of Jim Crow (a decent portion still isn’t), but MLK and Malcolm told America that they better get ready because the time is now. A large section of the country probably isn’t ready for a black president, but the majority of voters in blue states (and a few Bush states) can lead the way and end the issue once and for all.
I think the sentiment is there, but much less so, for a woman as well.
Actually, I think the opposite is true…more Americans are ready for a black man to be president, especially in a time of war, than they are for a white woman. Are there strange racist connotations to that statement? Damn right. But that’s my gut feeling.
I live in a red state and have several older white, conservative male friends. They pretty much echo Rush with regard to Senator Clinton and Nancy Pelosi but have a genuine respect for Obama and would consider voting for him. It’s because they think he is sincere and isn’t just out for himself.
There are so many intangible factors besides “experience” involved here. He could be another FDR or JFK or another Jimmy Carter (who I respect but I think was in over his head). Or he could be the first Obama, something unique.
Are we ready for a Black President? I am a 43 year old white woman who lives and works in a predominately white upper middle class area of the Bay Area in Ca., who passionately believes in Barack Obama for President. This election is not about the color of this guys skin. It’s about the integrity he possesses , the intelligence and sincerity of a truly great man. The man acts like a President. A father to an orphaned nation. The new generation is going to save this country by voting for Obamba.
In May 2007 I watched the 45 minute speech Barak Obamma made on the subject of religion. I grew up as a Methodist in East Texas. His view of religion and it’s proper place in our society and our government was exactly the same as mine. I went to his website on that day and sent him $250. I had long known that W’s view of the proper role of religion in our society and our government, while well intentioned, was in fact the undoing of his presidency. When a man believes as W does; that because he is “reborn”, that he has God on his side and God will tell him what to do, he has in fact left the world of rational thought. He has entered the realm of the “true beliver” and should be put in a place where he can do no harm. Instead, the Supreme Court put him in the White House. The rest is history as they say.