America's first half-White president

[jimpeel]

Note that our new president is not being touted as the first half-White president of the United States. Everyone dwells on the Black half and ignores the White half.

So why is he not being called the first half-White president? Why is only the Black half being vaunted? Because it would be politically incorrect to call him what he is -- half-White and half-Black.

My fear is that Obama, who is being drummed into the American psyche as the first “African American” or “First Black” president will be remembered for nothing more than that fact if he manages to screw this up.

If he does screw this up, I fear that he will set back the gains that Blacks have made fifty years.

People will only see the fact of his blackness and they will dwell on that fact. It will reinforce the thinking that Blacks cannot rule effectively and that they cannot handle power. Look at the numbers:

Charles Taylor

Idi Amin Dada

Seargent Doe

Papa Doc Duvalier

Baby Doc Duvalier

Robert Mugabe

Ibrahim Babangida

General Sani Abacha

Mobutu Sese Seko

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

And on and on. The common bond -- they couldn’t handle being in power.

This is not to say that our new president will become a dictator or that he will attempt dictatorial rule. That is not the point.

The point is (for those who constantly ask "What's your point" even when it is obvious) that if he manages to preside over a failed presidency it will be tragic if all he is remembered for is “That Black guy” who screwed up the nation.

We shall all have to wait and see; and we should hope for the best for all -- including Mr. Obama.

 

[randomJACKASS]

Nice spin, did Carl Rove train you?

 

[randomJACKASS]

I can't believe I am going to try to explain this to you Jim, as either you are not bright enough to understand it on your own, you are so bright that you completely miss the obvious, or your agenda is so important to you you refuse to admit to reality, (I actually suspect a combination of all three) but here goes....

If a non orthodox ordinary looking Jew goes into a bar full of, lets say....Aryan Brotherhood bikers, everyone there may hate him, but yet not even realize he is that which they hate. Hell that guy could be making Jewish babies with a "fallen" white woman!

If a man with any negroid blood, and who shows even the mildest characteristics of African descent, walks into the same bar, chances are he is going to be sorry he did! Perhaps even more so than if he looked fresh of the boat from Nigeria, because obviously he is a mixed breed.

You see there are lots of things people hate about others that can be hidden, but African descent can not. Everyone with any of it in their heritage could tell you that. Granted, the fact that we elected him and the climate surrounding racism has never been so enlightened in the history of America, but make NO mistake; racism is alive and well in America. Add to that the prejudices and biases of people about things like inner city black culture and we have a long way to go!

I suggest you do a reverse Eddie Murphy, (the skit where the makeup artists make him white from classic SNL) and take a walk around the richer white neighborhoods in any city in the deep south with a beautiful young white girl on your arm if you are still too thick to grasp this concept.

 

[spike]

Jim you just tried to generalize (go figure) blacks as not being able to handle power when there are in fact many examples of succesful black leaders and many examples of whites that could or couldn't handle power.

The fact that he is half black is the notable part as there have only been whitesin this position before.

I do find it annoying when people call him african american instead of mixed. It is not however "politically incorrect" to call him mixed or half black/half white and it is actually widely known.

As for the idea of "screwing this up", that shouldn't really be an issue considering the low bar set by the last pres.

 

[catocom]

so, is he half empty, of half full?... (rhetorical)

 

[chcr]

Luckily, none of the whiny, spurious objections that are continually harped on by our intellectually challenged members is really about race, huh?

 

[MrBishop]

The more obvious connection between Jim's cast of characters shouldn't really be their 'race', but the areas they tried to control. Haiti, Zaire, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Liberia.

Known for poverty and corruption, high crime rates, war, genocide etc...
the fact of their country's racial makeup notwithstanding.. nobody could've rescued any of their 'presidencies'.

 

[MrBishop]

As for the 'half-white' thing... not to muddy the waters, but 'one drop of black blood' used to be considered enough to call a person 'black'.

 

[catocom]

"A man cain't count on what used to be."

heard that somewhere
True in people.

 

[2minkey]

Luckily, none of the whiny, spurious objections that are continually harped on by our intellectually challenged members is really about race, huh?

nothing to see here...

it's not that they are intellectually challenged, exactly. it's just that they have a very small amount of cultural resources to draw upon. raise an einstein on NRA literature, taped rush limbaugh episodes, and the wisdom of a drunk abusive stepfather, and see what you get.

(i think it might become fond of the phrase "you betcha.")

 

[catocom]

that's some truth....
my ex gf was pimped out, by her mother, while being preached at from a bible, when she
was way under age, and it screwed her up bad.

 

[chcr]

nothing to see here...

it's not that they are intellectually challenged, exactly. it's just that they have a very small amount of cultural resources to draw upon. raise an einstein on NRA literature, taped rush limbaugh episodes, and the wisdom of a drunk abusive stepfather, and see what you get.

(i think it might become fond of the phrase "you betcha.")

Sure it is.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

i'm sure someone can easily come up with an even longer list of leaders from other races who couldn't handle power...

 

[H2O boy]

it does not matter if barack obama is black, white, mixed, polka dotted, spotted, striped, o negative blood type, prefers mustard or ketchup on his cheeseburger, which designer's dress his wife wears to do laundry in, or anything else equally irrelevent

what matters is the same for him as any other leader at any level any where

policy

when not if he fails in that, he should be keelhauled the same as anybody else

 

[jimpeel]

The more obvious connection between Jim's cast of characters shouldn't really be their 'race', but the areas they tried to control. Haiti, Zaire, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Liberia.

Known for poverty and corruption, high crime rates, war, genocide etc...
the fact of their country's racial makeup notwithstanding.. nobody could've rescued any of their 'presidencies'.

But they won't think like you and I. They have had the "HE'S BLACK!" crap pushed down their throats for so long that this is all they will see.

They will not think of Obama as simply a failed president. They will thing of him as still one more failed Black man and that's the tragedy of it all.

Why is it that the same people who stood in the schoolhouse door; the same people who refused to seat a Black man to the Senate until ordered to do so by the court; the same ones who stood against the Civil Rights Act; the same ones who see a man's race before they recognize him as a man, the same ones who call others racist when that fact is brought to their attention? Pelosi, Reid, et al see Obama as "Our Boy" and you can bank money on that.

I see an American. I see a man. Maybe I don't like the man's politics or his ideology but I certainly don't equate his race with those things. He is a politician whose ideology and direction for this country suck out loud and he also happens to be Black -- or half-White, or half-Black, or half African, or whatever else anyone wants to make of it.

I for sure don't see his race as his most defining feature. I fear, however, that most Americans do; because it has been beaten into them for a year-and-a-half.

Maybe, now that this inauguration, coronation, ascension, or whatever else anyone wants to call it is over, we can get past his race and start trying to figure out what direction he wants to take this country.

 

[Gonz]

None of it matters. When those in the hood don't get their checks, he'll be deemed as too white & not a true brotha.

 

[2minkey]

wow. your social consciousness is just beaming tonight, isn't it?

 

[Gonz]

What social consciousness?

 

[Cerise]

Komrade, he speaks of the one Fearless Leader expects you to have........

 

[Gonz]

All HAIL the KING!!!!