I have been waiting for someone in the MSM to play the race card. Many have danced around the subject, but finally the New York Times lays the “R” word right out there. They take him to task for not talking enough about race. I have read blogs that have done the same. I am of the pov that we all want the best life possible, regardless of race. We all want the war to end, regardless of race. None of us, regardless of race wants to choose between gas for our cars and medication for our health, just as an example. We all want a good job and to make the best life possible for ourselves and our families.
From the NYT writeup:
His style is more conciliatory than confrontational, more technocrat than preacher. Compared with many older politicians, he tends to speak about race indirectly or implicitly, when he speaks about it at all.
It sounds to me like the boyz and girlz at the old Grey Lady are trying to egg Obama on. I hope he doesn’t fall for it and take the bait.
Because the media should report what is going on, it shouldn’t lay down the agenda. They already have an overblown view of their power as it is. At least they do quote him accurately. I tend to agree that there are subjugated whites as well, and the common thread is poverty. Yes, people of color will get the short end of the stick based solely on their skin tone..but I appreciate that Obama includes all poor people when he talks about an issue. From the NYT piece:
After Hurricane Katrina, he did not attribute the lumbering federal response to the race of most of the storm’s victims. “The incompetence was color-blind,” he said, adding that the real stumbling block was indifference to the problems of the poor. After six black teenagers were charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white schoolmate in the “Jena Six” case in Louisiana, he said the criminal justice system needed fixing to ensure equal justice “regardless of race, wealth or circumstances.”
Even African American’s want Obama to talk more about race, as witnessed by Jesse Jackson’s inane comment that Obama “needs to stop acting like he’s white” recently. People of all colors seem to want to make it a race-related issue, Obama’s candidacy. Its all bullshit in my book. The bottom line is we are all humans and our color, sexuality and religion or lack thereof doesn’t matter one fucking iota.
So I was getting my jaw all jacked up as I read the Times article. I was mumbling to myself as the cats looked quizzically at me. Then the article allowed Obama to address the ‘issue’ he never seems to address. They went into his reasoning for how he views issues as not just a black issue. As a brown bitch who lives in a white world, I can relate to Obama’s pov on issues of race. I am only half brown so I know both sides of the issue. Obama has this to say in the writeup;
“Beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.”
Obama was elected to a district that was evenly mixed. His ad’s that use prominent white folks is pointed out in the article. But he defended himself and his actions thusly:
In a telephone interview, Mr. Obama denied that he had spoken less about race issues than other candidates. But he said he focused when possible on “the universal issues that all Americans care about.” His aim, he said, is “to build broader coalitions that can actually deliver health care for all people or jobs that pay a living wage or all the issues that face not only black Americans but Americans generally.”
He suggested that his critics were comparing him not with Mr. Edwards or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton but with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton. “That comparison is one that isn’t appropriate,” he said. “Because neither Reverend Jackson nor Reverend Sharpton is running for president of the United States. They are serving an important role as activists and catalysts but they’re not trying to build a coalition to actually govern.”(emphasis mine)
Julian Bond has the last word in the article: “A portion of black voters want Obama to give them some raw meat,” said Julian Bond, chairman of the board of the N.A.A.C.P. “Because they want so badly to have their concerns addressed and highlighted, and they expect it of him because he’s black.”
When will we ever get past race in this country?
I am still not sold on Obama, for various reasons, his lack of time in grade the major reason. The bulk of his experience is at the local and state level. But his color never entered into my mind.
It shouldn’t for anyone.
Tags: Obama, racial equality, Jesse Jackson
