Black Like Me
Glenn Reynolds links to this US News & World Report blog entry on Ralph Nader’s remarks today on the disappointment that is Barack Hussein Obama. Paul Bedard writes:
On Obama, Nader, who once hit the Democrat for trying to “talk white” to win their votes, said the presidential candidate is a disappointment to civil rights advocates. He noted that during the civil rights fights, activists dreamed of a day when an African-American president and congressional committee chairs would focus on the unforgotten poor. “People who have fought the civil rights battle economically, politically, legally, as we have since the ’50s, would often talk about, ‘Look what would happen if we have an African-American president or chairmens or chairpersons of major congressional committees.’ It doesn’t look like it’s going to be what we all thought it was going to be,” he says. The old vision, he says, was that a black would understand the plight of minorities. “There would be a real crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos and poor rural areas. The poor pay more, they die more earlier, healthcare, et cetera, and African-Americans with seniority or in positions of power we thought would really pay attention to that,” he says. But he could only cite hearings by white Rep. Dennis Kucinich who delved into those areas. “Where’s the Black Caucus?” he asked. “It’s very disappointing.”
It may be disappointing, but it’s not surprising. As with Obama’s conspicuous opposition to the reparations scheme, being the visionary of a “post-racial” America means ignoring black issues for the sake of not seeming to be too black. And everybody’s just fine with that:
“Let’s not be naive. Sen. Obama is running for president of the United States, and so he is in a constant battle to save his political life,” said Kibibi Tyehimba, co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. “In light of the demographics of this country, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect him to do anything other than what he’s done.”
It doesn’t matter that Obama was saying no to reparations before he ran for the Presidency. What matters is that Obama’s supporters are race-conscious where they think it will benefit him and suddenly neglectful where it would not. These people —of all colors, mind you— will tell you how wonderful and historic and paradisiacal it is that a black man could be so close to winning it all in this mean-spirited, gun-loving, Bible-clinging Amerikkka that has lost us the respect of the Eurodhimmis. But will they burden their messiah with any expectation of addressing the issues that specifically and disproportionately impact Black America? Of course not. Even when it would show a real cognizance of legitimate problems that black moms and dads have with wretched schools and violent neighborhoods? Does Obama even talk about crime? What does he have to say about education problems in our suburban ghettoes?
I think Nader is right. Obama is so fearful of appearing to be too black that he never allows his experience as a “community organizer” to move him to speak to Black America’s deepest concerns. And don’t even suggest that his highly-publicized Great Race Speech in Philadelphia —widely regarded by the Libtard Left as the Gettysburg Address Redux— was any sort of movement in that direction. That thing was all about him —and not Black America. And there’s a reason for that: he doesn’t come from Black America; he comes from Barack-America.
