Happy Father’s Day from Barack Obama
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Saw this today.
Obama is taking a super risky strategy, and I’m loving it! This is awesome! Yes, I’m a liberal, but I also have some conservative leanings, and I hate the victim mentality. Of course Obama is not the first African American person to empower his people by creating a message primarily of responsibility: Bill Cosby did it, and Malcolm X did it before him. But Obama, to my knowledge, is the first outward proponent of this “responsibility” philosophy to simultaneously:
a) Have a strong standing with black people
b) Have a strong standing with white people
b) Have the charisma to say what he says while connecting with people
I was surprised that Cosby wasn’t able to connect with people, especially after he put his money behind his words by paying for kids’ college tuition (which I thought was awesome). Malcolm connected with people, but he got pushed out of the mainstream because of his more incendiary public statements. Obama has a special gift of oratory and connection that allows him to truly connect with people, AND he has a good standing in both communities. He’s getting some great opportunities, and he’s really using them well. I hope it’ll help him win the presidency.
By the way, I’m waiting for more Asian American leaders to tell it like it is. I’m waiting for one of our leaders to stand up on Father’s Day and say, “You know what, we gotta end this IR disparity! Together! Once and for all!”
(That’s a joke. Kind of.)
From the beginning of the article:
CHICAGO — Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city’s largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying “we need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception.”
In an address that was striking for its bluntness and where he chose to give it, Mr. Obama directly addressed one of the most delicate topics confronting black leaders: how much responsibility absent fathers bear for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.
“Too many fathers are M.I.A., too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”
Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who sat in the front pew, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, laid out his case in stark terms that would be difficult for a white candidate to make, telling the mostly black audience not to “just sit in the house watching ‘SportsCenter,’ ” and to stop praising themselves for mediocre accomplishments.
“Don’t get carried away with that eighth-grade graduation,” he said, bringing many members of the congregation to their feet, applauding. “You’re supposed to graduate from eighth grade.”
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groinpull
4:18 am | Jun 16, 2008geeez, do you have a strong hard on for this guy or what? enough with the obama features already.
jaehwan
3:29 pm | Jun 16, 2008Sorry man, but it’s relevant to our discussions on race. I cover both the good and bad about Obama. If you think McCain is the better choice for minorities, definitely share your opinions!
nycjoc
5:02 pm | Jun 16, 2008I can tell you why bill Cosby didn’t get connected. Bill Cosby was on record too many times claiming he ain’t got time to be down for black folks. Many people have been working in the trenches for years doing things in the community but Bill came out foul. He comes into the conversations with this attitude like he knew something about poor people’s problems after he’s been removed from it for years. Secondly, some of his criticisms were just damn stupid (ie use American names like John…), third he has no connection with the very people he was criticizing, acting just like a number of Negros after they got all these people to support then disappearing into the sunset seemingly never to be seen again, only to reappear when they want to dump of them in a every way.
If Michael Eric Dyson made the same comments (which he does) nobody would twitch because Mike Dyson stayed in the trenches fighting for those folks through the good and the bad. The main problem with Bill was his classist tone. Who the hell is he? What is he doing to uplift black folks? Yes I know about the HSBU contributions but what else? While he was giving money to Howard he should have been chastising said school for buying up dilapidated house then leaving them to rot in the black community instead of building it up. Where was he when all these rich Negros took off living their integrated dream only to hit a glass ceiling; then they started railing against the lesser Negros as a way to make themselves look better in the eyes of others (Not everyone does this, I know). Bill has no street cred that’s why no one listen to him speak.
Obama is walking a thin line. Not for saying what needs to be said. However the truth is that its an American problem and not unique to black men contrary to popular belief. However, Obama is like Cosby. He has only so much street credit and people took notice in the black community when he barely campaign there (unless it was a heavily black voter state) in an effort not to seem like a man only for black people. More than once Obama used the mike to talk crazy to black folks (despite the truth of his statements) in a way he will never talk to some bigot whites, or other non black people. His open chastisement of black folks while his silence in their other struggles, makes him seem like he’s beating up on black folks for the approval of whites and other people of color.
I agree with his statements but even I’m getting wary. If he wants social change he needs to change everybody or be like too many leaders using black folks as a tool to gain access or approval from everyone else. The national pass time of a token negro and the growing trend of finding someone black to throw under the bus.