Jack & Jill Politics

I’m not drunk on haterade like Tavis Smiley, but I think Obama’s position on reparations for slavery, plus the heckling he’s starting to receive from people when he’s campaigning, continues to be reasons for why there are still Black people not willing to get on the Obama train.

Just so you know, these aren’t black people from the “I love Missy Hillary” crowd, either.  They are like me – undecided on either of them, but in my own honesty, I didn’t support Obama until Missy Hillary played her stacked deck of race cards and lost anyway.

It is more than that.  We are now starting to see why Obama may not be able to fully relate to the Black diaspora in the United States.  I don’t blame him – he didn’t grow up in the United States; he was brought up by white parents and grandparents, and even if his father stuck around, it is hard to say how Obama, Jr. would have turned out if Obama, Sr. was on the scene.  My take is that Barack, Sr., probably took off because he knew he was going to catch hell on the mainland as a Black Man in 1960s America and wanted no part of it; even if it meant forsaking his wife and young son.

Two weeks ago, in the panel at Netroots Nation, “Strategies for Black Bloggers Beyond Obama” I asked the question out loud -“Is criticism of Obama; critiquing of his political platform, OFF LIMITS”?

I’ve heard “Let’s get him elected, and THEN we can start keeping his feet to the fire.”

Sorry, folks, that’s like saying “Leave the gate open; the horse won’t run away” and then shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

I know the CBC has pissed him off, and whether or not he’s petty enough to engage in tit-for-tat payback (I hope his ego is beyond that kind of strategy), even though in some cases, they may well deserve it, but, think on this:  the CBC may actually resume engaging in standing as a caucus and return to influencing legislation on the floor of the House, as a result of Obama’s actions.  Make no mistake; whether Obama likes it or not, he’s going to have to make peace with the CBC at some point; even if they can’t do jack for him – but if they decide to stand together as a caucus, they could do some major damage to his agenda.

It makes you wonder why he won’t address our issues, and yet, McCain is actually using that against him.

It should make us wonder why a white man (Steve Cohen) got the formal apology for slavery, and the first Black Man with a legit shot at the White House (Obama) is oh-so-ready to denounce it.

If there is any time Blacks need to put on their analytical thinking caps, and not be willing to allow things to slide, it is NOW.  Even Brits are wondering why Obama’s taking this position – especially, Black Brits.  There’s a documentary over here called “Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack”  that I’m going to try to see, because Black Brits have it slightly more easier than we do, that’s because there’s more discrimination on the basis of class more than race, but it’s still there. That heckling clip made its way to the BBC and it was played in full video mode.  Obama’s basically telling that heckler to “sit down and shut up” does make him sound as arrogant as McSame is trying to portray him.  However, I take what McStain does with a grain of salt – one day he’s saying race has no place in the campaign, and then he goes right out and plays the race card.  When Obama answers him, McStain retaliates with accusations that Obama plays the race card.

I know Obama has good staff, but there are strong indications that there are no Blacks with influence on his staff, because if there were, he could have avoided stepping into the muck on the slavery reparations issue, and he would have been better equipped to silence that “heckler” with a more comprehensive answer.  The problems of racism, past, present and possibly future, are not going to go away with better schools, healthcare, etc. They help, but they don’t eliminate the racism altogether.  Apologies for past wrongdoings goes farther because it acknowledges that a wrong has been done to the injured party. 

Sweeping it under the rug, is nothing more than a band-aid on a gunshot wound, and it is highly naive of Obama to think that not talking about this problem makes it vanish.  Or, is Obama already telling us, people of ethnicity, what his administration is going to be doing about addressing issues of racism, and we’re deciding we don’t care, or ignoring what’s behind the cliches?  As the Bible says, “Meditate (think) on these things…”

I expect to get flamed, but I love y’all, anyway.  I will get back to you with a post on the visit to the European Parliament ASAP.