Posted by
C. L. Palmer on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 10:32:34 AM
I know we're all thinking it. Geraldine Ferraro even had the nerve to say it out loud, and was practically denounced as a racist. Barack Obama is where he is today because he is black.
I know, some people are probably thinking, "Well, it's about time it started working for people instead of against them!"
In a sense, I can see why you'd feel that way. In racial terms, it certainly shows the growth we've had over the last fifty years. But at the root of it all, we still have the problem. We're still considering a man's race. To me, race is about as important as eye color. Would I care if the president-to-be had green eyes or blue eyes? Would that ever overshadow his foreign policy, tax policy, or energy policy? Of course not. For many Americans, however, that is precisely what is going on with regards to Barack Obama.
He is, for liberal white America, salvation from original sin. The original sin in this case, of course, is slavery. Our ancestors enslaved millions of Africans, or at least purchased and imported millions who had already been enslaved by their fellow Africans. In psychological terms, this is our unpardonable fault, at least to those who suffer from the mental disorder known as White Guilt. So we freed the slaves, thousands upon thousands of us dying in the fight to do so. Republicans fought to overcome a Democrat filibuster to pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. At that point, officially, blacks had all of the legal rights that whites did. That was over forty years ago.
I'm thirty-five years old. Segregation was never a reality in my lifetime. In school, I was always taught that the races were equal. I sat in a classroom with black, Hispanic, and Asian kids, and never noticed until we were taught about the racial conflicts that had occurred before our day. I don't feel guilty.
I want Obama to win because he'll show us all just how bad Liberalism truly is for America. That is very selfish of me; I'm a teacher, so my job depends less on the economy than on simple population. As long as there are kids, I'll be employed. Maybe that's why I have the luxury of feeling this way. My job isn't really at risk if Obama wins.
Getting back to the main point, we all know, despite how much he protests to the contrary, that if Barry Obama were as white as the grandmother who raised him, he'd be nobody. He wouldn't even be a senator from Chicago. That isn't racism, that's just plain observation. His views don't make him stand out. He's only considered eloquent because of the soft racism of lowered expectations. What does he have to offer besides the potential to assuage the conscience of white America?
In one word: Nothing.