It’s not often I watch the television news and feel humbled.....
It’s not often I watch the television news and feel humbled, especially when it comes to politics. Normally when a politician speaks (of pretty much any persuasion) I’m busy reaching for my cynical hat, so I can pull it forcefully over my head, ready to sit with arms folded and poised to call them all liars.
However, with Barack Obama I had a different feeling and, yes, I admit that some of this was because he was black. Firstly, and most importantly, he has intelligence and comes across as a decent bloke, the sort you could have a drink and talk sense with. Secondly, he’s apparently trying to pack up smoking, which means he has flaws just like the rest of us. All this together with the beautiful, successful in her own right wife and well behaved children, you can see how he appealed to people.
Barack Obama is a bit like Bill Clinton, just he’s black and doesn’t have extra-marital shenanigans. Of course it shouldn’t matter what colour anyone is and it’s what this chap can do for America that really counts. However, when I saw old news footage from the 1960s on election night that depicted a country being torn apart by racial segregation, with images of black people being water-cannoned out of the way and treated worse than animals for daring to attempt to take their children to a “whites only” school, the enormity of what the election signified took hold.
While I’m sure there will be some Americans who aren’t happy with the result for reasons of race, after all John McCain did have to back away from a lady, during one of the many televised events where she began her question to him: “Well, the thing is John, the other guy’s a ni**er!”, the fact remains that Obama’s win took place in a country that just forty years ago saw the assassination of Martin Luther King, the civil rights activist. It’s not that long ago and it’s not just stuff in history books that black people, long since dead experienced. Therefore the fact that real and necessary change has taken place, albeit relatively recently, is a big deal.
Yes, Barack Obama is just a guy who will be the next American President who happens to be black, but the fact that American citizens, from all walks of life, elected him in the here and now is absolutely massive.
As published in the December 2008 edition of The Kemptown Rag.
However, with Barack Obama I had a different feeling and, yes, I admit that some of this was because he was black. Firstly, and most importantly, he has intelligence and comes across as a decent bloke, the sort you could have a drink and talk sense with. Secondly, he’s apparently trying to pack up smoking, which means he has flaws just like the rest of us. All this together with the beautiful, successful in her own right wife and well behaved children, you can see how he appealed to people.
Barack Obama is a bit like Bill Clinton, just he’s black and doesn’t have extra-marital shenanigans. Of course it shouldn’t matter what colour anyone is and it’s what this chap can do for America that really counts. However, when I saw old news footage from the 1960s on election night that depicted a country being torn apart by racial segregation, with images of black people being water-cannoned out of the way and treated worse than animals for daring to attempt to take their children to a “whites only” school, the enormity of what the election signified took hold.
While I’m sure there will be some Americans who aren’t happy with the result for reasons of race, after all John McCain did have to back away from a lady, during one of the many televised events where she began her question to him: “Well, the thing is John, the other guy’s a ni**er!”, the fact remains that Obama’s win took place in a country that just forty years ago saw the assassination of Martin Luther King, the civil rights activist. It’s not that long ago and it’s not just stuff in history books that black people, long since dead experienced. Therefore the fact that real and necessary change has taken place, albeit relatively recently, is a big deal.
Yes, Barack Obama is just a guy who will be the next American President who happens to be black, but the fact that American citizens, from all walks of life, elected him in the here and now is absolutely massive.
As published in the December 2008 edition of The Kemptown Rag.
posted by Mister H at 9:41 PM
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