May 16, 2008...5:34 am
Cinque Henderson is no Obamamaniac
Maybe We Can’t
The black case for Obama-skepticism.
Cinque Henderson, The New Republic, 2008-05-28
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“I disliked Obama almost instantly. I never believed the central premises of his autobiography or his campaign. He is fueled by precisely the same brand of personal ambition as Bill Clinton. But, where Clinton is damned as “Slick Willie,” Obama is hailed as a post-racial Messiah. Do I believe that Obama had this whole yes-we-can deal planned from age 16? No, I would respond. He began plotting it at age 22. This predisposition, of course, doesn’t help me in making the case against Obama, especially not with black people. But, believe me, there’s a strong case to be made that he isn’t such a virtuous mediator of race.
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“So much of the educated white people’s love for Barack depends on educated white people’s complete ignorance of and distance from the rest of us. Barack is the black person they want the rest of us to be–half-white and loving, or “racially transcendent,” as the press loves to call him.
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“Why do black people love Obama? In large part, it’s because of the dark-skinned woman on his arm. Black people (especially black women) are nuts for Michelle. Had Barack married a white woman, his candidacy would’ve never gotten off the ground with black people. And would whites really be so into him if he hadn’t had a white mother? Based on U.S. political history, you would have to conclude: not a chance.
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“It’s worth remembering that the majority of blacks still think O.J. Simpson is innocent. [Or think he's guilty and don't care.] And, in times like these, when a black man is out front in the public eye, black people feel both proud and vulnerable and, as a result, scour the earth for evidence of racists plotting to bring him down, like an advance team ready to sound an alarm. Barack needed only a gesture, a quick sneer or nod in the direction of the Clintons’ hidden racism to avail himself of the twisted love that rescued O.J. and others like him and to smooth his path to victory, and, therefore, to salvage his candidacy. After Donna Brazile and James Clyburn started to cry racism, Barack was repeatedly asked his thoughts. He declined to answer, allowing the charge to grow for days (in sharp contrast to how he leapt to Joe Biden’s defense a month earlier). But, while he remained silent about the allegations of racism, he gave speeches across South Carolina that warned against being “hoodwinked” and “bamboozled” by the Clintons. His use of the phrase is resonant. It comes from a scene in Malcolm X, where Denzel Washington warns black people about the hidden evils of “the White Man” masquerading as a smiling politician: “Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us,” he says. “You’ve been hoodwinked. Bamboozled.”
“By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin.
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“As the son of a Baptist minister, I can attest that Wright is and was an extreme aberration from how the overwhelming majority of black Christians worship. In church, black people hear about Peter, Paul, Mary, and how to get into heaven. How to forgive. How to love. Not how to vote.
“But here was Barack suggesting that Wright’s behavior was commonplace in black churches: “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.” He generalized Wright’s ridiculousness to distract from his individual choice to worship under a buffoon for two decades. I have a cousin who attended Wright’s church for three weeks and then left, never to return. She had no interest in hearing his nonsense from the pulpit.
“Barack obscured the true nature of black religious life because, to do otherwise, he would have had to answer the question, “Why are you a member of a church that is this racially divisive and such a sharp aberration to how the rest of black people worship?” When Barack beautifully suggested that the beliefs pronounced from the pulpit of Trinity in Chicago are not uncommon, he was feeding us garbage. But Barack needed to protect his reputation as a race-healer and unifier, so he told a lie about black religious life to help keep the glow of his own reputation alive. And now the evidence suggests that Barack didn’t, in the end, break with Wright over his outrageous racial claims, but over his suggestion that Barack is just a politician.
“That so many people have a stake in ignoring these real concerns is troubling. At least the Hillary supporters I know seem to be aware of her more unsavory traits: that she carries a knife with her that she could pull out at any minute. Not so with Obama’s fans. It’s nearly impossible to get them to admit any wrong in him. Given the choice, I prefer to side with the group that knows their candidate can be a jerk, rather than the group that believes their candidate is Jesus.”
Cinque Henderson is a TV writer, working on a book about Abraham Lincoln.
2 Comments
May 16, 2008 at 12:51 pm
As a black person, I ask you to please speak for yourself. Black people love OJ? Most black folk think OJ is a fool and he was guilty! I also believe that OJ was accused of murder, Obama was not, so how you even draw comparison here is dubious. I dont recall anyone saying that he was perfect only that they were inspired. I think that people like yourself who liken Obama to a messiah feel they need to scream from the fringes cause they feel left out cause they dont get it. That is fine, but why insult those that are truly inspired. As Americans, it is our individual choice, and our own individual vote to cast for whomever we choose. Everyone who does not vote for Obama is not racist but some are and that is a fact. And guess what, in America, they can vote for whomever they want for whichever reason they choose, even without “champions” like you defending them.
And what is wrong for having respect for fellow black folks who acheive? Their respect is deserved. I dont understand why black folks are not allowed to acknowledge our pride of our own unless its some mainstream accepted icon like MLK. What has Michelle done to deserve your disrespect? We are only allowed to be Americans, no one asks Irish people to not be Irish, and we even let confederates fly their flags above our capitals and as decendents of slaves we are asked as Americans to “live and let live” and respect their “culture” although they lost the war and there is no confederacy.
Plotting? So he made a career choice, since when is being ambitious a crime? I thought it was the American Way? My black mother voted for Hillary and she is no racist, neither are my Aunts. Who exactly do you claim to speak for?
I think most blacks thought Rev Wright acted like a bufoon, but BELIEVE that there are many black folks far from the American dream living in projects in inner cities or rural communities who have similar views as Rev Wrights. And guess what, they are Americans too, just like you, just like the confederates, the right wingers. Their view, everyone’s view formed by their experience is as valid as yours.
The point is, that is important to listen to what people think so as not to be as naive enough to convice yourself that these views dont exist. You and your cousin have the luxury walking away from what you dont like, but the people that we entrust to govern MUST listen to ALL people if not for any other reason but to turn the tables of their own ignorance upon them and diagnose the issues that divide us. Ever heard that that phrase, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?
And guess what, it is politics, they all use phrases to stir their constituency or base. And guess what else, Bill was out of line and so was Hillary on several occasions. And they have used code words to excite particular constituencies as well. They arent racists, but Bill proves he was not the first Black president. That was joke that people took serious and was given that moniker not for positive references to black folk but stupid stereotypes like we all smoke weed, stud with lots of women play the sax and more moronic comparison of the like.
And Obama didnt lie, most politicians do only come around when they want something, namely our votes and dont come to our aid when we need them. I live in NY and I am really tired of the police shooting without cause, because black people are scary especially when they are unarmed. We give them a chance when they say something we like, why not give him one?
So the case you made clearly spells out your personal position in your black & white world, but some of us who live more in the gray zone dont share your personal disdain. We understand that people are the sum of their parts and experiences, what i dont understand is if how your religion makes you so loving and forgiving, why such dislike for someone you dont know and decided that you dont care to know?
May 16, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for your comments.
Re: “Black people love OJ? Most black folk think OJ is a fool and he was guilty!”
- I agree. That’s why I added: “[Or think he's guilty and don't care.]”
Re: “I dont recall anyone saying that he was perfect only that they were inspired. I think that people like yourself who liken Obama to a messiah…”
- There is no shortage of gliberals falling over themselves to worship Obama.
Please see:
http://brianakira.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/barack-obama-is-the-triumph-of-word-over-flesh/
Re: “why insult those that are truly inspired.”
- It’s reasonable to ask, “Inspired by what?” Personally I feel that Obama is a huge phony, even moreso than other famous phonies like the Clintons and Romney. Perhaps not as bad as Kerry or Gore.
- Part of his popularity comes from the fact that he’s more image than substance. Personally, I feel that with time more and more people will become disappointed.
- He’s also so popular because of racism. “Oh look. That black boy is so clever! He’s articulate. He’s not mean and nasty like that awful Sharpton. So what if he was into crack? It’s not fair to ask if he ever sold the stuff. He’s black. That’s what they do.” Etc ad nauseum.
Re: “I don’t understand why black folks are not allowed to acknowledge our pride of our own unless its some mainstream accepted icon like MLK.”
- Isn’t Obama the “mainstream accepted icon?”
[By the way I think MLK was a buffoon, and in his speech on the Vietnam War he was indecent, pathetic, immoral and just plain dumb.]
Re: “What has Michelle done to deserve your disrespect?”
- She is anti-American.
Re: “No one asks Irish people to not be Irish”
- I despise the Kennedys and other Irish-American supporters of terrorism.
- Jean Kennedy Smith was a national disgrace as the US Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. She was a traitor to America. Clinton appointed her even after she said in public, referring to Ireland, that “momma always raised us to be patriotic to our real homeland.
- Wikipedia: “As Ambassador, Smith played a pivotal role in the peace process in that region ['That region'? Northern Ireland is not part of the Republic of Ireland. She disgraced America by getting involved in internal politics. She did so because she is an Irish nationalist.] for almost five years before resigning the post. Smith’s time as Ambassador was marked by controversy. She was reprimanded by Secretary of State Warren Christopher for retaliating against two foreign service officers at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin who refused to grant a visa to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. The Foreign Service Journal called the Department of State’s report on the matter “scathingly critical.” In 1998 she was awarded honorary Irish citizenship by the Irish Government.” - Some ambassador! [http://www.afsa.org/fsj/July/julfocus.cfm]
Re: “Bill proves he was not the first Black president. That was joke that people took serious…”
- He “proves” it? Why would anyone need proof. He’s not black! So how come so many Black people support(ed?) him? It was Toni Morrison who called Clinton that: “Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas.” I guess, by that criteria, Obama is not very “black”.
- The whole “debate” is just typical of the constant race-baiting, race-hating, race-mongering, revolting rhetoric of gliberals.
Re: “[He] was given that moniker not for positive references to black folk but stupid stereotypes like we all smoke weed, stud with lots of women play the sax and more moronic comparison of the like.”
- Right. A black writer used the term affectionately, and the morons in the Congressional Black Caucus adopted it and referred to him as their “First Black President.” Disgusting people!
Re: “Obama didnt lie”
- He lied about ever being Muslim. He lied about his name. He lied about the extent of his involvement with Ayers and other terrorists. He lied about “The Black Church”. He lied about Wright. Etc etc etc
Re: “I live in NY and I am really tired of the police shooting without cause, because black people are scary especially when they are unarmed.”
- So what? Is that a reference to the lowlife gangster Bell, who was shot by Black, Arabic, Hispanic and White cops when after he attacked a cop with a deadly weapon? Or are you criticizing Black cops for being too trigger-happy? What has that got to do with Obama? You mean that a President Obama would illegally order New York City cops to stop defending themselves? You mean there are too many black cops? I don’t get it. You should express yourself more clearly.
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