Chester DailyLocal.com, USA
April 6 2008
Are we ready for a black president?
NO … I DON’T THINK SO
Barack Obama will not be our next president.
Why?
Simple. You see, Sen. Obama was right when he discussed race on
sports station 610-WIP last week. This country still is made up of
those who are `typical white people.’
The bottom line is that this country for all of its political
correctness and self-pronounced modern attitude toward race, religion
and sexual orientation is no better than it was 50 years ago.
The only thing we’ve gotten better at is hiding it and lying about
it. We all smile and discuss race, religion and sexual orientation in
forums and panels, and it all sounds so great.
But really, it’s all a lie. We all know it; I know it.
Look, I am the first person to admit either laughing at or telling an
inappropriate joke targeting a group of people. But I also tell as
many Armenian jokes (my heritage) as Polish jokes. And despite the
humor albeit in bad taste, I don’t really take it to the next level
of ethnic or racial hatred.
No, Barack Obama will not be the next president because he’s black.
This country is not ready for a black president. It’s not ready for a
woman president, but if you ask many white people privately, they’ll
tell you they’d prefer a woman president before a black president any
day of the week.
And that’s sad. And it’s also shocking. But it’s also something I’ve
only accepted over the past few weeks.
How did I come to this realization? I suppose it’s come from
co-workers past and present, people in the neighborhoods, people in
the grocery store, even people at the ice hockey rink.
Mention Barack Obama and they roll their eyes, their faces turn red
or they simply make inappropriate remarks that I haven’t heard in a
long, long time. They use the `N’ word, say they’ll move to another
country or worse.
Why did I believe things were different? Maybe I got caught up in all
of the energy and buzz that’s come with the continuing battle between
Obama and Hillary Clinton. Maybe I thought the country had finally
realized he best person for the job of president would be the person
most qualified – whether it be Obama, Clinton or John McCain.
Maybe I thought that age, gender or race really had no matter this
time and that people were really ready for change. Maybe people were
really tired of the same old thing, tired of the repeated mistakes of
the past.
I was wrong.
We’re still a nation of Archie Bunkers. We’ve just got the marketing
and packaging down a little better. In other words, we’re still
bigots, just bigots in a better box.
But you know, there’s nothing I can do about other people. I can’t
make people not be racists or bigots. If they’re going to hate people
because of color, national origin or sexual orientation, that’s their
problem.
And when it comes to the election, I will be making my choice based
on an analysis of the candidates’ views, positions, plans and ideas.
It will have nothing to do with anything else.
Some people should take long, hard looks at themselves in the mirrors
and ask: Am I being the kind of person I want my kids to be?
Unfortunately, they may not like the answer.
{Andy Hachadorian is the editor of the Daily Local News. His e-mail
address is [email protected].)
YES … I THINK WE ARE
Sen. Barack Obama can be elected the first black president of the
United States of America. I’m not saying he will, just saying he has
a shot.
American politics is filled with firsts.
A country as diverse as the United States is bound to have plenty of
firsts as the nation grows and invariably changes.
The president elected this fall will be a `first.’
Presumptive Republican candidate Sen. John McCain would be the oldest
person elected to a first term. (He would also be the second who was
a prisoner of war. The unlucky first was Andrew Jackson.)
Democratic presidential contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would
be the first woman.
And, of course, Democratic contender Obama would be the first black.
Racism undeniably exists. It is still bad in some places. It is
ebbing.
Prejudices against groups in American politics have always existed.
Racism just happens to be the worst.
The Pennsylvania Democratic primary for president is a politically
delicious test of prejudices and conflicts: a choice between a white
gal and a black guy. Both are left of center – need we say, gasp,
liberals? They struggle to differentiate each other. They know they
can’t whack each other personally too much because the winner needs
– desperately needs – the loser’s supporters in the fall.
A wickedly funny political cartoon by Rob Rogers of The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette pictured a black female TV reporter asking a blue-collar
white guy: `Will you be a racist voter or a sexist voter?’
The resolution of prejudices in American politics is inevitably
conflict. Whether it was the Irish, Italian, Jew, whatever, the
prejudices of the status quo in American politics is generally
settled by electoral battle. Occasionally, a riot helps things along.
Each group was treated with suspicion as they immigrated here. (Need
we say Mexicans today?) Each group spent a couple generations or so
integrating into American life.
The most important actions to level the playing field for the black
community in the United States were passage of the Civil Rights Act
and Voting Rights Act in the mid-1960s. Those laws guaranteed
protections that were especially important for the black community at
that time. It should be noted these rights also apply to all
Americans as well.
The political progress in the black community has been remarkable
since then: mayors, state legislators, governors, federal
legislators. Many blacks, particularly those politicians with strong
people skills, have been elected in majority- white areas, too.
Presidential election, however, is the ultimate test.
The wicked commentary of the cartoonist Rogers will be applied to a
national stage with either Clinton or Obama.
Just don’t count Clinton or Obama out. The Iraq war is unpopular. The
economy is just-about-officially in recession.
McCain has issues as well. His aforementioned age. He supports the
war. His incumbent Republican president is handing him a rotten
economy. Republican conservatives are suspicious of his maverick
style.
Running for any office in America is about opportunity and timing.
It is an admittedly high bar for Clinton to overcome sexism and Obama
racism – and for McCain to explain himself.
Overcoming suspicions and prejudices in politics is a fact of
American life. Good pols, going back to the battles of Alexander
Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson at the founding of our nation, have
seen it as an opportunity.
Jim Callahan is a columnist for the Daily Local News and can be
reached by e-mail at [email protected].
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