Laura Novak
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How Wee See It

8/17/2011

23 Comments

 
A reader sent me this comment from another blog. It is buried deep in the thread of the Political Animal column of the Washington Monthly. Take a look. Tom, the writer, gave me much to think about:
  • Tom on August 11, 2011 10:54 AM:

    The predominately white progressive intelligentsia don't see Obama clearly because of our racial blind spot. We don't see the role of race in how he seems to understand himself and how other perceive him.

    First of all, we think that he understands himself as one of us. A progressive activist, heir to the radical and New Left movements most of us were raised in. He is not; I think that he understands himself (and certainly his real base understands him) as the first African American President. We're thinking Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. We should be thinking about Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago. Washington was elected and immediately faced a solid wall of opposition from most white aldermen in the city. Washington understood his role as breaking down that wall of opposition and assembling a governing majority, which he finally did after his re-election. Unfortunately, he died shortly thereafter. By the way, one of Washington's political strategists was David Axelrod.

    How does Obama break the iron unity of the GOP opposition to assemble a governing majority in the US Congress?

    If we progressives were not blinded by our own assumption that our history is the only history, we might see how Obama may be seeing his situation.

    White progressives often think that African American elected officials are politically naive. We will far more credit to Cornel West, who has never been elected to anything, than to an elected state senator, or even the President of the United States. We think that Obama does not understand the nature of John Boehner, Mitch McConnell or Eric Cantor, as though he has not sat across the table from them. He doesn't understand how mean they are, we think.

    Obama acts entirely within the tradition of mainstream African American political strategy and tactics. The epitome of that tradition was the non-violence of the Civil Rights Movement, but goes back much further in time. It recognizes the inequality of power between whites and blacks. Number one: maintain your dignity. Number two: call your adversaries to the highest principles they hold. Number three: Seize the moral high ground and Number four: Win by winning over your adversaries, by revealing the contradiction between their own ideals and their actions. It is one way that a oppressed people struggle.

    Obama has taken a seat at the negotiating table and said "There is no reason why we cannot work out solutions to our problems by acting like responsible adults. That is what people expect us to do and that is why we have entered into public service." That is the moral high ground.

    Honestly, I have been reminded more than once in the last few months of those brave college students sitting in at a Woolworth's lunch counter, back in the day. Obama sits at that table, like they did at the counter. Boehner and McConnell and Cantor clown around, mugging for the camera, competing to ritually humiliate Obama, to dump ketchup on his head.

    I don't think those students got their sandwiches the first day, but they won in the end.

    Obama is winning. Democrats are uniting behind him, although some white progressives think that they could do the job better. Independents are flocking to him. Even some Republicans are getting disgusted with their Washington leaders. Obama is not telling us about lack of seriousness of the Congressional GOP; he is showing us the vivid contrast between what we expect of our leaders and their behavior. The last two and half years have been a revelation of the essential conflicts in our society and politics.

    If white progressives understood much about the politics of the African American struggle in the United States, we would see Obama in the context of that struggle and understand him better. And you don't have to be African American to know something about the history of the African American struggle. The books and the testimony is there. It's not all freedom songs. But you have to be convinced that it is something that can teach you something you don't already know.
  •                                                                      * * * * * 
  • Tom's comment was also flagged on this terrific website which I've only now discovered. In fact, I am putting it in my blog roll. Take a look at  W.e.e. See You.
23 Comments
Rationalist
8/17/2011 05:25:30 am

I think this is really interesting. When my leftie friends start going off about Obama not being the progressive hero they thought he'd be, it would be so good for them to consider his alternatives. He's one frustrated offhand comment away from forever being painted as the angry black man.

I stand by him. I think he's doing a spectacular job in an impossible situation.

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BC
8/17/2011 06:03:58 am

Somewhere in that articular was raised the question. How effective would Obama be if he became an angry man toward his opponents?
Can you imagine the outcry of the right about the "angry black man" trying to tell us what to do? It would be all over.
Instead he's manipulated the opposition to where they either agree on a couple of trillion in reductions or he can rightfully reduce the military budget.
Now that's a first for any President.

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Viola-Alex
8/17/2011 06:21:08 am

once again, L, you cool my fevered brow. I confess to wishing Obama were more forceful, and this gives me a new perspective.

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Laura Novak link
8/17/2011 06:27:31 am

In a way I understand the frustration with Obama, but in many ways I don't. He inherited an impossible situation and a group of "mean kids" who don't want to sit with him at the cafeteria table and who can't stand seeing him get the best grades.

There is a Zen force to the man that I perceive, and that I rely on as being his motivator. My husband keeps saying that he believes Obama knows exactly what he's doing and how to play these fools like "Boner" for who they are.

This last go round on the debt ceiling was particularly tough to witness.

But you're all correct: the angry black man mantra is what they are waiting to pounce on and it would be his undoing faster than anything.

I honor Obama's ability to think clearly - if not perfectly - and with great dignity.

I'm grateful he was willing to take on the job. And that we don't have an angry old white man and his hillbilly side kick with her trashy family side show soothing our fevered brows daily.

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GypsyGirl
8/17/2011 07:49:57 am

While Obama is viewed by those on right as only a Black man because they keep forgetting the other half of him that came from an American WASP family, it shouldn't matter what color he is.
Because no matter if he's half-N-half, all white or all black, he's still a "man." And being just a man, when [of if] he gets angry, why is it that he just can't be called, considered or referred to as just that, "an angry man"?
I don't recall anyone saying that any of other presidents were "angry white men" presidents when their feathers were ruffled.
But no, when it comes to anything with Obama, suddenly it's all changed & the ground shifts.

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curiouser
8/17/2011 08:31:29 am

Thank you, Laura! Tom gives us much to consider.

He definitely has a zen quality. His serenity frustrated me during the campaign but I also had a deep sense that he was calling me to be a better person. It was clear even then that he had a long-term view. It was also clear to me that, as a nation, we wouldn't catch up to him during one 4-year term in office. He has changed the direction of the country already but he needs to be a two-term president. And we need to do our best to give him a Democratic Congress in 2012.

Instead of bashing him, progressives need to promote their ideas at the grassroots level. Progressives are a minority in this country and need patience to build support for their ideals and elect representatives at all levels of government.

Pres. Obama is governing as the president for all U.S. citizens and not as a partisan ideologue. And yet he's still called a socialist/Marxist/Fascist. Look at the backlash to 'Obamacare'. Can you imagine what would have happened if Congress passed single-payer health insurance? We really can't take the growth of militias during Democratic administrations lightly, nor the threat of Second Amendment remedies. Unlike progressives, far-right conservatives have been organizing and planning for 30 some years.



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Dis Gusted
8/17/2011 08:39:24 am

Voters may not like Obama, but they care for the GOP field even less. Obama's popularity numbers are currently low, but guess what? No other candidate comes even close.

I like Obama and will vote for him again. He's worked hard, but now it's time to stop giving in to Boehner and buddies.

He needs to stand up and PUSH - PUSH HARD and don't look back. America is behind him.

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Bobcat Logic
8/17/2011 08:52:30 am

I grew up in the Deep South and have vivid memories of the attitude of "whites" before, during, and after the civil rights struggles. It was, and remains, intensely ugly, and vividly embodied in the Tea Party Movement.

Bill Clinton, who grew up at the same time in the Deep South, once remarked about the 2008 presidential campaign that if Obama were elected, the whole racial thing would become the main issue whenever the Right Wing attacked. He was right.

But it would have been just as hard, if not worse, for Hillary -- as a woman. Misogyny is even more prevalent than racism among the right wing. (Look at the ridiculous attacks on Michelle Obama for a double dose of rabid right fury.)

Obama and his wife have nerves of steel to stay as patient and reasonable as they do. I applaud their courage.

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bees-wax
8/17/2011 09:43:18 am

Bobcat, I agree about how it would have been difficult for a Hillary Clinton administration.

It has become gasp-worthy to be openly racist, so instead of leaving that bias behind, our society has just moved it behind closed doors. That's why supremacist (i.e., racist or sexist) jokes always start with a look over the shoulder or "I'm not racist or anything, but..."

And about Mrs. Obama, I'd be happy if I never read a headline about her fashion again. Yes, she's beautiful, but both Obamas have much more going on than how they appear in photos.

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Suelu
8/17/2011 10:01:31 am

I think Tom's commentary was very insightful and I think true. I see President Obama as the change we said we were waiting for, but now are either resisting, or unable and sometimes unwilling to recognize because of preconceived expectations, or reliance on previous standards of measure.

I see something quite remarkable in President Obama, I've done my homework.
And I am politically active in making my voice heard. He has my vote and my commitment to help him get reelected, and also to help him get the Congressional support he needs. I can respect the voices of others who disagree but I know Barack Obama is not a magician so in addition to their ideas, I want to know how they would get them into law. Pretty complicated process, and very complex issues, and talking points and sound bites do not reveal the solutions to our problems.

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ginny11
8/17/2011 11:28:51 am

I read that comment/post after it was tweeted a few days ago. While I am not on the "whining/bitching about Obama" progressive bandwagon, this post by Tom also offered me another perspective into the "why" behind the way President Obama operates. I agree that he knows exactly what he is up against, and he has accomplished/is accomplishing alot considering the wall of absolute obstructionism he has been up against since day one. I have disagreements with Obama, but I trust and respect him, and I will support him and vote for him, and will likely work for his re-election campaign.

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V ictoria link
8/17/2011 02:36:44 pm

Very interesting and a perspective I had not considered. And I think that if Obama had raised the debt ceiling unilaterally they would have tried to impeach him. But there are things that Obama could have done without being considered angry - such as some recess appointments - which would make the government run more smoothly.

A couple of months ago an episode of the daily show pointed out that the birth certificate issue was more opportunistic than racist. The right will use racism, because it's there. The right will use real scandals to break people and things if the real scandals exist - think Weiner and Clinton - and manufacture them when they don't - think John Kerry and ACORN and of course Obama's birth certificate.

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Up
8/17/2011 11:38:07 pm

When you are part of the dominant group in a society it can be difficult to recognize that people from other backgrounds experience the world differently. Tom explains that very well.

Re: the racism, I've been shocked recently to hear racist remarks from young members of my own family, up here in the Godless Liberal Northeast. The comments are usually mixed with resentmnet over the preferential treatment they perceive some people of color receiving (college admissions, etc.)

I don't know if it is a generational difference, or if their elders are sensitive enough to not make such comments in my presence as my husband & children are not white. Either way, I'd hoped we had gotten past this decades ago.

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Michael
8/18/2011 01:55:19 am

Laura, Thanks for posting this. After reading it I find myself re-evaluating my perception of just what Obama has been through and what he is up against. Talk about a titanium spine. Always better to walk in anothers shoes to gain perspective. Go see the new film just out "The Help" With southern whites dictating policy in Washington it is reminescent of what African Americans in Mississippi and elsewhere were facing in the early 1960's. Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, Perry & the Tea Baggers et al are acting like the petty housewives in the film, self absorbed, racist and entitled. I hope for all of our sakes that Obama prevails and helps make this a better country for all.

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Laura Novak link
8/18/2011 02:11:17 am

Thanks Michael, and all of you. After being a "medical mom" for so very long, I have learned that it is not up to me to judge anyone else's journey. Until I've walked in their shoes, lived their life, or had to make their decisions, I cannot criticize or judge. At least I try not to.

Unless we've travelled the Obama's journey, we simply can't know or appreciate what they've been up against. And that's as people and citizens. Add to the mix the undercurrents of hatred and racism that flow through his political career, and it's beyond my imagination how he can possibly stay so calm and focused.

I'd like to see him to tell Old Orange Boner to go bleep himself. But Obama is a bigger man than I. And I'm grateful for that.

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Bennett
8/18/2011 02:32:21 am

In case you missed this comment on The Daily Dish a few months ago, it is a far better explanation of why President Obama is the way he is:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/05/obama-as-a-third-culture-kid.html

Like President Obama, I am a Third Culture Kid. In fact, my first experience outside of my passport country was at the same age, same country (Indonesia), and same time as Obama. It is as impossible to describe what it's like to be a TCK as it is to describe a color to a blind person. And this is, what I think, confounds the white conservative Republicans more than anything else--they simply can't figure out where he's coming from or what makes him tick, and they certainly can' goad him into playing the race card.

Laura, we're never going to see the "angry black man" because that's just not part of who he is. TCK's don't survive their upbringing that way, so it's not a strategy we bring with us to adulthood. As children we've had to navigate our way through foreign cultures and learn new languages, sometimes every two or three years and that makes us very adept at fitting in wherever we need to be at that moment.

Boehner and McConnell and Cantor are easy compared to that because they're so arrogant and predictable, and cause far more damage to themselves when they open their mouths than President Obama could ever do. And he knows it.

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Laura Novak link
8/18/2011 03:00:37 am

Bennett, thank you so much for that link. I'd not read that comment nor heard that term.

That comment on Sullivan's blog is a post unto itself. And it explains much of who Obama is perfectly. It certainly moves beyond unsophisticated thinking and simplistic labels. He does have experience way beyond what we think of as necessary. His whole life has been experience at figuring out who he is and how he can fit in.

Thank you again for this. I recommend everyone click on that link.

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Viola-Alex
8/18/2011 03:13:36 am

great links, all. My belief in Obama has been revitalized by your comments.

When my son was in middle school in NC he was suspended for punching a racist classmate who taunted the black students. I argued with the Black vice principal, and said I was proud of my son for standing up for what was right.
She calmly told me that she could not condone violence in a school and that my son must learn to fight those battles another way.

Thank you for reminding me of the incident. I remember thinking at the time that she would "like" my son for being on "her side." But we were worlds apart. . .

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Bennett
8/18/2011 04:43:33 am

Your welcome, Laura! That's my all-time favorite "article" on Obama.

John Richardson, a fellow-TCK, wrote this article in Esquire in June 2010 and does a much better job of explaining why we'll never see the "angry black man":

"...This is what the deeply committed liberals who blog and broadcast their complaints with Obama just don't get: He isn't trying to be bipartisan so he can heal the country and bring us together in some great Kumbaya group hug. Confronted with the BP spill, he instinctively looks at the other point of view. If we crush BP for its many sins, how does that affect gas prices? What about the armies of schoolteachers who have their pension funds invested in BP? And why do Republicans hate industrial policy again? Let's review their arguments and see if they have a point.

Again, this isn't a strategy. He's not looking at the November elections and thinking, Gee, maybe I should pretend to be sympathetic to the concerns of Republicans. He really means it. And that's why, unlike the "Real Americans" on both sides, Obama takes his freaking time before he blows his mouth off. He's not getting in touch with his anger. He's not venting America's frustration. He's trying to understand."

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/barack-obama-opinions-062110

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Bobcat Logic
8/18/2011 06:01:07 am

@Victoria

It is my understanding that Obama can't make recess appts. because the GOP has kept Congress (technically) in session for the summer to prevent him from doing so.

The Dems also did this under Bush, but then they were more cooperative about approving Bush's other nominees than the GOP has been with Obama.

The GOP is simply engaging in direct and indirect sabotage of all the governing processes.

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curiouser
8/18/2011 07:44:51 am

Bennett - Thanks for the TCK article and your comments.

This may be a good time to review Pres. Obama's speech at the memorial service in Tucson. He called for more than simply toning down the heated rhetoric. He asked us to respect one another and to attempt to understand opposing views.

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V ictoria link
8/18/2011 02:52:22 pm

@Bobcat Logic - I did not know that about the recess appointments. I agree that the right wing is sabotaging the country. Patriotism, indeed.

@Viola-Alex - what an interesting incident. And right now I am having a very minor struggle with a black woman, who is, alas, in my opinion both touchy and incompetent. If I go about severing our business relationship - which I will do when/if I find a substitute - I'm afraid she will think I'm a racist. But that isn't it at all.

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physicsmom
8/20/2011 08:10:17 am

I read this comment a few days ago and was blown away by its insight. I'm one of those liberals who has been frustrated by Pres. Obama's lack of fire and seeming reluctance to fight for core Democratic principles. These observations have helped me look at the situation from a different perspective, which was enormously helpful. The later addition of links to the articles about "third culture kids" (TCK's) was also informative. Thanks, Laura, for providing this forum to discuss this.

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